Before coming here, I did a lot of research. Some of my family members were very concerned because we are Christians and we moved to a Muslim country. So many people told me this is one of the safest places in the world...and they are right (for the most part...more about that later.) But I must say this:
THE CULTURE SHOCK IS REAL
Nothing can prepare you for it. It does get easier...but there are things I don't think I'll ever get used to.
When I first stepped off the plane into the airport, it felt surreal being surrounded by women in abayas and men in kandoras. I mean literally there were people in all black or all white everywhere! I remember it being very busy...and that was at 10 at night!
I also remember the first moment that we stepped out of the nice air conditioned building and the heat just slapped us in the face. Abu Dhabi is SO HOT AND HUMID. You feel disgusting after being outside for a few minutes. One of the things I really miss is being outside. At home we played in our yard, went to the playground, walked at the greenway...we spent a lot of time outside. I worked at sports events outside pretty much every day in the fall and most of the spring. Here, we take taxis to somewhere just a mile away. Playgrounds are located inside malls...and you have to pay to use them. (One of the reasons is that there is an attendant who is there to watch your child play so you can go shop.)
During my research, I read that 80% of the population here is "expats" which is short for expatriates. Basically, people who moved here from somewhere else to work. Being the naive person I am, I thought that meant that 80% of the people here would look like people in America. UM, NO. I didn't realize that most of the expats here are from countries such as Jordan, Egypt, Pakistan, Philippines, India, etc. So when you are blonde haired and blue eyed like my son, you really stick out. But I've also learned that when you see another blondie, you can't assume they are American because they very well might be from Ireland, England, South Africa, New Zealand, or Australia. I really love all the cultures here...I am even getting pretty good at discerning which accents belong to which country. Side Note: I am not the only one who has trouble identifying the different cultures. Today in an elevator a man from Pakistan said "oh are you from England?" HA...no sir...I don't sound anything like a British person!!!
Architecture here is very distinct. I have not seen one building that looks like something in America. Actually, I take that back...the malls look similar...especially on the outside. But malls here are UH-MA-ZING on the inside! They have so many of the same stores as in the US: American Eagle, Aeropostale, Carters, Osh Kosh, Tommy Hilfiger, H&M...but so many other stores too! That's one of the best things about this place...the shopping cannot be outdone. One difference is that the malls all have a "hypermarket" which is like Super Walmart attached to it. Some of the ones I've seen are LuLu's, Carrefour, Megamart, and Geant. They sell clothes, household items, appliances, and of course, food.
Speaking of food, that's one thing that there is PLENTY of here. The malls have huge food courts with a variety of choices. There are fast food places from the US like Hardees, McDonalds, Wendys, Burger King, Subway, KFC, Popeyes, Papa John's, Pizza Hut, and Church's Chicken. There are sit down places like Applebees, Fuddruckers, TGIFriday's, Chilis, Cheesecake Factory, PF Chang's and I've even seen Texas Roadhouse. Of course there are local places too. In any food court you will most likely have a choice of American, Asian, Iranian...whatever you want! Finding food here is not an issue...but don't always expect it to be just like at home. For example, at KFC you do not get a biscuit with your food, you get an uncut hamburger bun. Most places have beef bacon because Muslims don't eat pork. Some things just don't taste the same, but that may not be a bad thing!
Driving is another huge shock. I have to admit that I have not driven here yet and I've been here 6 weeks. Although I miss it, I am not in a hurry to drive here because PEOPLE ARE CRAZY HERE. They speed, pass you on the shoulder, cut you off, run red lights, back up in the middle of the street, stop in the middle of the street...you name the traffic violation and they do it. They also love round abouts here but there are no rules to driving in one. Since I haven't been driving, that means that I've mostly been riding in taxis which is another strange thing for me. Today we actually got a car, so at least we can go where we want...but that means that I have to learn where things are. That is a little difficult to do because things don't have addresses here.
You read that correctly...they don't use addresses here!!!!! Most people use a PO Box...but even if you don't want to pay for one, you can use the generic PO Box 88888 and put your city and phone number and they will text you when your mail gets here. But if you need to tell someone where you are, you just give the a landmark. A roundabout is a great landmark. So is a mall. But I can tell you that it is extremely frustrating to have a taxi driver drop you off somewhere and then you wander around in the 100 degree heat trying to figure out where a business is and then call the business several times and try to decipher what the person with limited English is trying to tell you.
I know that I have a lot more to post on this topic, but I can do separate entries on some of them. If you have questions, let me know...I'd love to answer them!
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