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Culture Shock: From Belize to the U.A.E. I flew from Belize back to Portland on a Wednesday night, worked in my office on Thursday, and on Friday I was on a 22-hour flight bound for Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.). As I described in my entry from last July after my first trip to the Middle East, Abu Dhabi is the capital of the U.A.E., a small, oil-rich country in the Persian Gulf where Otak, my company, has been working on a large contract.
Our goal was to develop a land-use zoning framework plan for the city and emirate of Abu Dhabi – in other words, determine the best places to build schools, parks, housing, and commercial developments for this rapidly-growing city of a half-million people. Abu Dhabi had no land-use or zoning plan and construction was occurring here haphazardly, without any thought to the future. Otak's goal was to provide the city with a framework plan to give them some general guidance, and I was in charge of the mapping for this $6 million, three-year project called DMAP, short for Development Management Program.
I was looking forward to seeing Abu Dhabi again. This time I was traveling with a large group of Otak folks who were going to attend a workshop there that week with the client. Meanwhile I planned to spend most of the week working in Otak's office in Abu Dhabi. While my colleagues flew up front in Business Class, I opted to fly in coach once again, a $2,000 ticket instead of the $10,000 ticket in Business Class, trying to save the company some money. Like I've said before, I'm thrifty (but certainly not cheap).
Actually I'm glad I flew in coach, because I sat next to a nice woman named Amy, a grad student at the University of London who was returning to England after spending winter break in America. We talked for several hours, then around midnight we decided to watch a movie ("Vicky Cristina Barcelona") on the seatbacks together. We started the movie at the same time so we'd laugh at the same scenes, and after the movie we dozed for a while, had an exquisite breakfast (o.k., I'm kidding – this was coach after all) and then resumed our conversation as we disembarked in Amsterdam.
I wanted to take Amy's picture as we were walking through Schipol Airport in Amsterdam but she was too embarrassed about her "airplane hair," as she phrased it, so I can't show you what she looks like. However, she's about 5'-8" with dark hair and green eyes, if that helps. After wandering around the Amsterdam airport for a few hours, and buying some Dutch chocolates, I boarded another plane and arrived in Abu Dhabi around 10 p.m. and made it to my hotel.
This was in the middle of winter, so it was pleasantly cool outside that evening, around 60 degrees. The temperatures during the day that week would reach "only" about 75 degrees – compared to the 110 degrees (with high humidity) that I'd endured during my first visit here last summer. Abu Dhabi understandably is a major wintertime destination for Europeans on vacation, and as busy as it was here last June in the sweltering heat, it was absolutely crazy now in January with throngs of tourists enjoying the pleasant temperatures and balmy breezes.
After the 22-hour flight across countless time zones – how many sunsets had I seen from my airplane window? – my head was spinning. I was also groggy because, not being able to sleep on planes, I hadn't gotten much if any sleep during the previous 36 hours. I checked into my hotel room, my head hit the pillow and two minutes later I was fast asleep.
The alarm clock buzzed much too early the next morning and, after a team breakfast in the hotel, we all headed off for our workshop. The workshops that week were being held in the massive Emirates Palace Hotel, a few miles away and one of the most expensive hotels in the world, with some suites costing up to $10,000 a night. But I left the group as soon as I could, after a few hours and without eating the fancy banquet lunch that was prepared for us, then took a taxi back to the Otak office where I enjoyed a simple sandwich. The gaudy wealth and excess of the Emirates Palace, with its golden gilt hallways, was just too much for me.
I had spent the previous week doing volunteer work in the rural villages of Belize, where villagers appreciate every small token, so now suddenly being in Abu Dhabi with its egregious wealth that bordered on the ridiculous was a drastic culture shock. I had come from one of the poorest countries in the world and was now, a few days later, in one of the richest. The attitudes here in the U.A.E., especially among the Emirati elite, were totally different from what I'd experienced in Belize a week earlier, a difference that wasn't so much Arab vs. Latin American , but rather the universal difference between rich and poor. Certainly, I was glad that I came over to Abu Dhabi but boy, I sure missed Belize.
Above left: I slept very well after my 22-hour flight. Above right: This is one of our workshops at the Emirates Palace hotel. Nice maps, huh? They should give that guy a raise.
Above left: And here's more ridiculous – a restroom at the Emirates Palace Hotel. I've heard that if you see anything in this hotel that looks like gold, it probably is. I couldn't help but laugh at this ostentatious display of wealth. Above right: I escaped the gaudy Emirates Palace and took refuge back at the Otak office, where I had a nice chat with Liz, an Otak engineer from Arizona. She was very proud of her utility plan for a new city nearby. But she also shed a few tears while telling me how much she missed home.
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