Self and Jurjen in Dubai.
Quite the vacation it was, too. Jurjen's parents are living there as expats; his dad works as a biologist in the oil industry, and was hired out by Shell to ADNOC, the state oil company for Abu Dhabi. They are supposed to move back to the Netherlands this year, so they invited us to visit over Easter while they were still there, and before the weather gets too hot.
On the first day, Jurjen's mom, Riemke, drove us on a tour around Abu Dhabi, which is an island of highrise buildings surrounded by the turquoise water of the Persian Gulf. Whenever it was one of the five daily times for prayer, a drone of noise would come up from the many mosques in town: Allah akbar! Hmmhmhmmmm! We had a lovely dinner out, all kinds of food are available in Abu Dhabi these days from central Asian cuisine to Chinese to Baskin-Robbins to Trader Vic's to Mexican, Italian, Lebanese, we even saw a new Sudanese restaurant. We went to a very Disneylike place (lined with fake grapevines and orange trees, waterfalls, etc. ) and had a big spread of everything from hummous to hammour, a local fish, lamb kebabs, Arab bread, etc. Delish!
Then, we took off for a three-day weekend (the weekend of the Muslim world is Thursday and Friday, and Jurjen's dad Maarten took Saturday off of work) and drove out to the city of Al Ain in Abu Dhabi emirate to see the oasis, then through a mountainous part of Oman to Fujairah, on the Indian Ocean. We stopped in a place called Kalba to birdwatch in a mangrove swamp (Jurjen's folks are very dedicated to nature and natural history), and saw a few kingfishers. Also we watched the local form of bullfighting (bulls against each other, just locking horns and shoving, no blood or cruelty, but some amusing antics), and retired to the Fujairah Hilton. I can't even explain to you how breathtaking this trip was.
The next day we set off north through another piece of Oman's mountains, and stopped at an abandoned mountain village. They showed me graveyards and houses, and a cistern full of water gathered from the higher dew-forming mountains. It is a drive they take all their guests on; Jurjen has been this way at least once before, and Reimke and Maarten have made the trip at least 8 times, but let me tell you, it blows your mind. I do have lots of photos, which I will put up when I am able (technical difficulties).
When we came out of Oman we went through more Emirates: Umm al Qawain, Ajman, Ras al Khaimah, and we stopped in Sharjah for the night. Along the way we did more birdwatching in several coastal areas, seeing flamingoes and partridges. The next day we walked around in Sharjah, visiting an old-style Arab home that is a museum, and shopping in the Blue Souk. Once we had seen the sights of Sharjah, we drove back to Abu Dhabi, through Dubai emirate, and we stopped for lunch at the Jumeira Beach Hotel. We sat outside, and could see the world's only 7-star hotel, which is located on a manmade island just off of Jumeira Beach: the Burj Al Arab, built to resemble the sail of a ship. We could see the helipad from our lunch table.
And home again to Abu Dhabi. We were tired and sunburned, so we took it easy for the next day or so.
Culturally it was fascinating. Abu Dhabi was a tiny village, just 30 years ago. It had been a pearl-diving village, but during the hot summers the families would move to Al Ain; it was cooler inland, and Al Ain has natural springs (it's an oasis). Nowadays there is major income from the oil discovered in the Emirate, but it was a real struggle to make money from it, as foreigners had to be brought in to get the stuff out of the ground (and still have to be). Only 30% of the population of Abu Dhabi are actually natives; the rest are mostly workers brought in from Pakistan, Sri Lanka and other countries. These are mostly male laborers, and some females who are maids and so on. And then some Western expats as well. As a result, since there are so many of these laborers, there aren't that many women, and all the Emirati women generally are veiled in black in public, so while there are some Western women walking around, you're guaranteed to be stared at. Emirati males, by the way, mostly wore white dashas (floor-length robes).
I was prepared; I brought some nice linen summer clothes I have, which are loose and breezy, and have sleeves and such. It's generally understood that western women don't have to cover up like Muslims, but it's polite to be somewhat modest, have your skirt come below the knee, have sleeves, etc. and I adhered to this. I did see some gals wearing really tight clothes or shorts, and one clueless woman on a mixed beach in a bikini (I hope she likes being stared at a lot and possibly resented by any veiled women who see her). We went on a dinner-yacht cruise, pretty much all westerners aboard, and there was one woman in head-to-toe tight black leather - even at night, how could she stand it?! Sweat-o-rama!! There is a ladies-only beach, and if I had wanted to sunbathe, I would have gone there. I think some respect should be shown to the native culture, and think it's unwise and possibly disrespectful to just ignore it and blithely expose all kinds of flesh. Of course for men it's not an issue, but as females I think we should consider this. And of course, I'm not really sure I want all the stares. I got enough as it was.
But also, anytime I had to deal with a male, like a shop owner or waiter or the immigration staff at the airport, they always seemed delighted to speak to a western female and were very polite and nice. There are some political reasons why locals might not like Americans (our policy on Israel, and of course they are one of the few governments to officially recognize the Taliban - ouch!). However, individuals didn't show any signs of this, and were just nice. The Emirati guy who stamped my passport when I was leaving was actually kind of flirtatious!
It was such a great vacation, and I was so overwhelmed by Maarten and Reimke's hospitality (they took care of everything) that I did some cooking and baking and things to show my thanks, which were well-received. And we had a few more days off after we returned, but I was still just pissed that I had to come back to the real world after that, let me tell you. Back to the iffy weather and being sent all over Europe.
Naturally, real life welcomed me back with a vengeance! I was sent immediately to Brussels, to a customer site where I'd never been before, and all the hotels there were full; I ended up staying with pals in Leuven, and spending one night at a crappy hotel in Antwerp. And I caught some horrible cold. Agilent has handed out 10% pay cuts to everyone temporarily, gosh thanks, because of the looming recession in the States. And Jurjen is in Alicante, Spain this weekend at the U.N. Inter-Agency Games (he is the petanque team captain for the ICTY, and they've won about half the games this year) so when he gets back on Monday night it'll have been a week since I've seen him. So I slogged through my week somehow, dragged myself home from Belgium, sick as a dog, and have just slept, getting ambitious enough yesterday to go get some groceries. So I wanted to send this update before real life totally takes me over and I can't remember the glorious details of the Emirates.
But I can't complain too much; there is good news as well. I'm being sent to do contracts that are really important to the company. I am getting a new laptop from Agilent and have been told I'm approved for a new, company-paid mobile phone. I have some bonuses and things. The paperwork has been sent for my residency permit. I love my apartment in the Hague. And of course Jurjen continues to be fantastic, calling me every day from Alicante and sending SMS text messages. Monday is the national holiday of the Netherlands, Queen's Day, and the festivities start tonight with Dutch bands playing outdoors, although I think I'm staying home. At least I have the day off tomorrow! And even if I have to go to Belgium again this week, that's easier than having to go to Malta or Finland or something (not kidding - it's possible, we have contracts in both places, also Sweden and Switzerland).
I hope this finds you all well and hearty, let me know how you're doing.
Cheers,
C a r o l y n
Abu Dhabi Photo Page
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