Interesting things about Abu Dhabi so far...

“Have you been to the Corniche area yet?”

“No, I've been meaning to though.”

“Oh yeah, it’s beautiful, totally a sight to see.” She glanced over to the right while keeping an eye on traffic and pointed, “See that? It’s the old boardwalk, that’s where the beach area used to be. But they didn't like it, so they moved it.”

“What?”

“Yes, they moved the beach.” The puzzled look on my face must have been funny to see for a person who has been here a few years. She continued, “I guess the sand wasn’t as fine or as white as they wanted, so they imported sand from another country and created a better beach in a more desirable location closer to the Emirates Palace”.

I was starkly reminded once again just how far away from home I am…

***

Life here in AD is simply interesting. There’s no other way to put it. It can be great, it can be frustrating, and it can be having moments where you don’t know what in the world is going on around you. Put this all together, I came up with ‘interesting’. This past week or so has been crazy in the city and surrounding areas. Loved ones from home are naturally attracted to events they may see on the news that happen to have a connection to AD and the UAE in general. I was recently talking to my mom, and she mentioned that she saw the U17 FIFA world cup was going on. Oh yes, I said, and this week we had the Grand Prix. I also mentioned thousands of men coming ashore from Her Majesty’s Navy. “I’m surprised the island doesn't sink!” she exclaimed. Yes, I love my mother.

You can say that I’m one of those people who are in their own world when it comes to walking around town or in the malls. I like to people watch when I am sitting still and/or eating, but when I am walking around, my focus is on where I am going and how to get there. I had been getting attention that I wasn’t aware of and now I am reminded that I am in a minority situation. The other night, I went to visit this Corniche area I mentioned earlier. I went with a friend who was born in the UK, but he is of Pakistani background. Luckily, I have his permission to blog about this. I hope you find the humour in it as much as we did. AD is a conservative country, so as a woman, particularly a white woman, you just have to be careful in how you handle yourself. We were walking from a café on the waterfront back to the car. He was a few feet in front of me. I was covered with a long skirt down to my ankles and a modest top. That still didn`t seem to make a difference. The street lights are very bright, and most of the cars are white, easy to see into. “They’re looking at you!” he said. I glanced up and it was car after car of men smiling/laughing and pointing. Whether this was in a positive context or not, I am not sure. I just wanted to get back in the car. My Pakistani friend, however, found it entertaining enough to start singing George Costanza style in his own creation of “brown Pakistani guy/white Canadian woman walking to the car…” rendition of this humiliation. I wanted to crawl under a rock! Ah, thank goodness for friends, eh?

No connection to the above, but one last thing on today’s blog I thought I would mention is the striking paradox between demanding customers and it being a culture of ‘service’. The people in the service industry are kind and genuine. It is almost as if they cannot do enough for you. Trying a traditional Indian restaurant earlier this week, my rice was poured for me. You will be asked if everything is alright more than once with suggestions of more they can do for you. For some reason, however, this does not apply to picking up the check…you have to ask for that, and often more than once. Despite this service, the customers never seem satisfied. I have already been witness to a number of customer complaints that for back home would seem ridiculous. The servers behind the counters (food, grocery, phone, etc) are apologetic no matter what. In my experience, the customers that I’ve seen are simply complaining for nothing. One instance, a man was yelling at a guy behind the Tim Horton’s counter. He was upset that he wasn't served right away (there was one man in front of him who was indecisive). Apparently the clerk behind the counter was wrong to give the person in front of the line priority. When the upset customer and his wife left, I apologized to the clerk that he had to get yelled at. “No worries, ma’am…it happens all the time. It’s OK”. Ugh. I was infuriated. I’m not here to change the world in its ways; I can only lead by example.

This week coming up promises to be exciting. I will be stopping by the council to pick up my keys to my new apartment. I will be housed in a complex called “Gate Towers” on Reem Island (Reem, meaning ‘beautiful’ in Arabic). Teaching here isn't easy, but I look forward to driving home to this place. I have high hopes to be on a higher floor for the better views. There are 65 storeys in all! Now to continue shopping for the essentials… Wanna peak?

http://www.psinv.net/abudhabi/gate-tower-shams-abu-dhabi-al-reem-island-abu-dhabi.aspx