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Life in the U.A.E. I spent about a week in Abu Dhabi and the first thing that struck me was how enormous and modern this city was. Glistening skyscrapers line the avenues, each competing for attention with the others with unusual, unique and sometimes even bizarre designs. And even in the midst of the furnace-like summer heat, the city was buzzing with life. That's all because of oil, of course.
The United Arab Emirates is only about the size of the state of Indiana but has the sixth largest reserves of oil in the world. The U.A.E. consists of seven emirates, which are something like states in the U.S., though the confederation is much looser here. The most famous – some would say egregious – city in the U.A.E. is Dubai, which is about 100 miles north of Abu Dhabi and has grown tremendously in the last decade, due mostly to finance and trade, not oil, since the Dubai emirate has virtually no oil. Almost all of the oil in the U.A.E. is located in the Abu Dhabi emirate, making it the wealthiest of the seven emirates, by far.
Winters in the U.A.E., from what my colleagues here told me, were pleasant with high temperatures in the 70's. But summers, as I discovered first-hand, were blistering hot, with daytime highs often exceeding 100 or even 110 degrees Fahrenheit.
And even though Abu Dhabi is in the desert, the humidity is extremely high – like Miami on steroids – because the city is located right on the Arabian Gulf. By the way, this body of water is what Americans call the "Persian Gulf," but if you're in the U.A.E., you call it the "Arabian Gulf." Persians live in Iran while Arabs live in the U.A.E., so Emiratis insist on calling it the Arabian Gulf. I had learned this lesson a few months earlier after I made my first map for this project and ignorantly labeled it the "Persian Gulf." The client politely but firmly corrected my mistake. They were Arabs, not Persians. But whatever you call it, the humidity in the summer months from the nearby gulf is absolutely stifling.
Culturally, the U.A.E. is unlike any place I've ever been. It's a Muslim country, of course, and over the next week I got a crash course in the the Muslim culture – while committing probably dozens of inadvertent faux pas. One of the first things I learned is that a man should never get on an elevator that's occupied by a woman or women. That's a big no-no in this gender-segregated culture, but I learned as I went and everything worked out fine during the next several days. There's a lot of fear-mongering in the U.S. about Muslims, almost all of which was totally dispelled for me during the week that I was in Abu Dhabi.
The religion of Islam is totally ingrained in every aspect of society here and is constantly evident, unlike religion in the U.S., which is often practiced only on Sunday (if then). For example, Muslims pray at least five times every day and the "call to prayer" – a Muslim cleric singing in Arabic while reminding people that it was time to pray – is broadcast over loudspeakers throughout the city, starting at sunrise. The fifth and final call occurs well past sunset. You can clearly hear the call to prayer inside your hotel room, and there are small, directional arrows on the furniture inside the rooms pointing to Mecca, in case you're not sure which direction to pray. One afternoon I was working with my new friend, Mohammed, who does computer mapping work for the client agency and he interrupted me. "Excuse me, Del, it's 4 p.m. so would you mind if I go pray?" "Oh, of course not, Mohammed. Please go ahead." He left the office and came back 15 minutes later, then we resumed our work.
It took me a while to adjust to being in a Muslim country. And while there's only so much a foreigner can learn or absorb in a week, I think I did pretty well and assimilated fairly easily. Like every place in the world, if you show respect to the local culture and customs – whether you're in Dallas, Denmark or Dubai – you'll be fine.
Above left: The inside of the Marina Mall, my favorite hangout in Abu Dhabi. Uh... just kidding. But seriously, because of the summer heat, the air-conditioned mall is one of the most popular places in the city. Above center: Starbucks is based in Seattle so I felt right at home. Yes, there really are Starbucks everywhere. Above right: Walking along the "corniche" (or waterfront) after work. By now it had cooled down to 105 degrees (seriously) with very high humidity. Can you say "steam bath"?
Above left: The Grand Mosque. Emiratis wanted to build the largest mosque in the world – like so much of everything else in the U.A.E. – but the clerics in Mecca frowned on that idea. So instead they built the second-largest. Above right: An Indian market on the street. Because the U.A.E. is such a wealthy country, there are many more foreigners than nationals here, and many of them are from India and Pakistan.
Above left: Sunset on the corniche. Above center: For some strange reason, the name "Butt Sweet House" makes me not want to eat here. Talk about lost in translation. Above right: I walked around for four hours one night and didn't see one other Caucasian.
Above left: My cab drivers didn't speak much English but were very friendly and curious. Above center: Hamdan Street is the heart of Abu Dhabi. There are white taxis everywhere, including four in this photo. Above right: In the U.S., they play baseball in the streets, but here in the U.A.E., the Indians and Pakistanis play cricket in the parking lots.
Above left: Michelle, an Otak colleague from Portland who moved to Abu Dhabi last year and is now my client. She's holding a Portland magnet that I had sent her for her birthday. Above right: A bustling street in downtown Abu Dhabi. This city is a real melting pot and there are people here from almost every part of the globe, all attracted by one thing: oil money.
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