A New Chapter in Life.
Wow!
…this is one of our reactions to what we see in Abu Dhabi.
While the sense of novelty hasn’t worn off, the colors are still vivid and the local nuances catch the eye with their distinctive features, I’d like to share some surprising moments that caught me off guard:
Surprising moments of life in Abu Dhabi: cultural and everyday features
1. You are officially part of the place once you have a resident card. Without that card, you are just a tourist. Having a resident ID allows you to rent property, open a bank account and get a local phone number.
2. About mobile. Calls via messengers like WhatsApp, Telegram, Viber, and Facebook are blocked. The use of VPNs is also prohibited by law. Text messages, Google Meet, Zoom or other special (or paid) applications remain available for communication.
3. During the pandemic, the country quickly and efficiently switched to electronic services, from apps for food delivery to handling administrative matters. What amazed me most was how easy it was to resolve things with just a phone call – there’s a whole system of intermediaries that helps with everything. Of course, nothing’s free, so expect to pay for the convenience.
The city is well-lit. We don’t even have curtains in our apartment yet, and at night you can navigate around the apartment without even turning on the light. This suprised me because, starting in December last year, in the city where we used to live in France, streetligts were turned off at midnight, leaving complete darkness. It felt like there were no people at all. Residents who had to go out at 3-4 a.m. for work said it was quite scary to walk the streets.
Safety is something that really impressed me here. Abu Dhabi is ranked among the ten safest cities in the word. There are no dangerous neighborhoods, and it’s normal for kids over 12 years old to walk to school, go for a walk, and use the elevator without an adult.
Driving culture. Drivers may ignore the "stop" sign, and change lanes (sometimes two or three at once), and forget to use the turn signal. In residental areas, you might see someone parking on the opposite side of the road, ant other cars calmly driving around them. Or, someone reversing at an intersection to fit in the another lane, despite having two other cars behind them. In some places, there are no sidewalks, so pedestrians share the road with cars. At first, I was scared to walk like that with a stroller and a child. Now, I have adapted, and my axiety has decreased because it has become clear that this is just way of life. Drivers are generally tolerant of pedastrians and carefully drive around them or stop and wait until they can continue driving. However, they are less patient with other drivers at trafic lights or trafic jams, and may honk right under a "no honking" sign.
Abu Dhabi is a green city with many parks, large areas with lawns, flowerbeds, and fountains. The scale is impressive, not only because you’re in the desert, where it’s 50°C in the summer, but also in comparison to other places. This year, due to drought in France, fountains were turned off, automatic irrigation in parks was stopped, parks with children’s hydraulic trainers were closed, and washing cars at stations was banned.
Residents take great care of their national flag. There’s a national holiday, Flag Day, which is celebrated with cultural events. And overall, there’s a strong sense of love and respect for the government. It’s no surprise, considering their country is among the world’s elite and a role model.
Also, the young moon in the sky is positioned horizontally, not vertically as we’re used to. And the Moon grows from bottom to top.
Interesting household features
And some smaller details:
Sockets here have an additional switch that disconnects the circuit. So, each individual socket can be turned off locally.
There are switches for the washing machine, dishwasher, and two switches for the gas supply to the stove: one controls the gas supply to the apartment, and the other to the stove itself.
In supermarkets, you don’t need coins to use the shopping carts; they are freely available. I even have my own story with a shopping cart — I’ll share it later.
That’s probably all that comes to mind for now.