As the Emirates is gearing up for National Day *Happy Birthday UAE you just turned 40!* the quaint desert town where I live (Al Ain, Abu Dhabi) been transformed into a land of lights, decor and local cars covered in murals of the country’s benevolent leaders.
Seriously, I’m not sure how safe it is, but people here paint over windows….
So in honor of it’s birthday, here are my top 10 favorite reasons I love UAE:
1- Hospitality to the highest degree: Emiratis have impeccable manners to welcome guests. This often involves coffee, tea and sweets.They value charity and giving help to strangers, or assisting those in need. I’m here studying Emirati women’s leadership because the ladies here are remarkable.
2- Multiculturalism abounds here: There are various faiths, everyone can have their own church, chapel, gudwara and temple. There is strictly no proselytizing. People from over 150 nationalities live here, and it is perfectly common for me to buy coffee from people whose background was in 4 different countries in one day (I drink a lot of coffee).
3- Great winter weather… It’s currently 80 degrees F/ 27 C in the winter and sunny.
4- Amazing architecture, from universities, to Dubai’s famous Burj AlArab and Burj Khaleefa (tallest building in the world)
7- Extremely patriotic nationals, but then again as they make up less than 20% of the population, they should be proud… People here are extremely proud of their nationality, their country, their rulers… and since it’s the 40th anniversary it really shows. Can you be too patriotic? Perhaps, just ask the guy who painted these fish with the Emirati flag; he’s selling them at the university.9. Really nice public bathrooms… really. I know that’s odd but no one will make you buy a soda to use the restroom & the gas station bathrooms are spotless. There are even attendants to check everything for you. If you’re Muslim or French you’ll also appreciate the bathroom hose.. if you’re not the former 2…. well at least the bathrooms are clean right? Let’s face it, everyone uses bathrooms. I have been around the world and camping in Idaho (sans bathrooms)… so I appreciate the little things.
10. Styles and fashions are interesting: There are fancy abayas, plain abayas, high fashion under-abayas, popular fashionable hand bags, shoes and clothes everywhere at my university and in Dubai. Men and women have blinged-up and name-branded their national dress (black abaya for women and the dishdasha for men.. see my next post). It’s a fascinating blend of culture, marketing, commercialized products, and all around interesting combinations (a favorite of mine is the Arab men’s clothing with a baseball cap…). There are also varieties of Muslim dress found from all across the world and region. Westerners can wear generally as they choose.
