A Camel in a Flat Bed Truck

Now that I've had time to absorb my surroundings and get a good feel of my new "home", I am appreciating the good, the bad, and the ugly...and of course, "the funny, too!"

“The Good”
If I had a temperature gauge to describe my current “state of mind” I would set it to MILD. I’ve recently joined a Dragonboating crew called Capital Dragons. Last weekend marked my first ever Dragon boating regatta at the Shangri La hotel in Abu Dhabi. It was 2 days long with a fun beach party at the neighbor hotel, Traders. I love the team atmosphere and the fun nature of the sport.

During the Regatta, I was able to participate in a 500m, and a couple of 200m races. The team went to the finals for the 200m and won! Since the UAE is a very consumerist society, much of the free time people have here is spent at shopping malls and restaurants. Wanting to avoid that routine, I am hoping many of my future blogs will be around various outdoor events and travels I partake and not about the latest Gucci purse I bought, etc. (Although, I do intend on buying a few designer items while I’m here. How can I resist?)


“The Bad”
I have a hard time describing events as “bad” because I believe there to be a solution to every problem. However, in the last few weeks I have seen a few of my friends from Abu Dhabi who were teaching here update their profile on Facebook to, “I’m heading home.” I lost a good friend and colleague about a week ago because the situation around us was a bit too much to bear. I agree with her reasons for leaving and wish her the best. The reality is, there are issues that exist with my employer and I am unable to record them on here for fear of deportation. A few teachers went to “The National” press and were deported once the article was printed on the front page of the paper.

“The Ugly”
For me, the worst about living here in the UAE is the driving. People are utterly crazy! You need to be on guard at all times because you never know when you might have a woman wearing an abaya crossing the most random street, and a speeding Masserati flashing his brights to tell you to move out of his way all while a truck full of palm trees is changing lanes at the same time you are trying to merge over. Hitting a woman in an abaya is immediate jail time, and more than likely if you hit a local, his/her story may hold up stronger than yours. Driving here is serious and recently I was helping colleagues at the scene of an accident while at the same time hearing about other colleagues in Al Ain who were being hospitalized from a bus crash.

“The Funny”
Finding humor is very EASY in the UAE. During my normal commute to work one day I saw the most iconic image that summarizes the state of affairs here in the UAE. As I exited off the freeway and onto one of UAE’s 1000 roundabouts, I was driving behind a white Toyota, flatbed truck with the happiest looking camel peering over the back. I couldn’t help but to smile right back and laugh at the irony that the first time I see a camel in the UAE is on a Toyota heading onto the freeway to Dubai. The fact is this young country is only 39 years has just recently progressed from riding camels to riding cars. Now camels are riding IN cars! LOL! I love it!

The image of the smiling camel in the flat bed truck will be forever engrained and serves as a great reminder NOT to take life too seriously! Let’s all just enjoy the ride no matter how crazy the drivers are around us!