A Study in Contrasts and Contradictions

First off you have to understand that 73% of the population of Abu Dhabi is ex pats (foreigners like me). Going to the beach it is very obvious. The westerners wear their normal beach attire and I even saw one thong bikini on the beach. I have seen WAY TOO MANY men wearing Hoagie Crushers. UGH! The Arabic women are covered. The Emirati women wear the black abaya and black sheila while others (Syrian, Jordanian, Pakistani) wear jeans and colored sheilas. Under the abaya, the women are often wearing skinny jeans and some of the most ridiculously high FM heels I have ever seen. While in Dubai Mall one Saturday night, I saw the teenage girls in the bathroom putting on more make up than I have ever seen on an American teenager. This is the plastic surgery capital of the world!! There are dermatology and laser hair removal centers on almost every block.  Make sure it’s perfect and then cover it up….

Arabic but not Emirati

The biggest contrasts are in costs. In NJ I got my acrylic nails filled for $13 and a pedicure for $23. Here, an acrylic fill costs $49 so I let them grow out, but that same pedicure costs $18. A 60 minute full body massage costs $38 versus the $60 it would cost in NJ. Housing costs here are out of control. Our housing was handled differently this year than in previous years and therefore we are not exactly aware of the rental expense but similar units in the area, which is the actual island of Abu Dhabi City, rent out for $60-100k per year while Emiratis receive free housing. Contact lens solution costs $17 a bottle but getting all of my work clothes dry cleaned each week only costs $11 with free pickup and delivery. The fact that the delivery guy isn’t hard on the eyes is just an added bonus. People are paying upwards of $30 for frozen chicken BUT you can get a whole cooked rotisserie chicken for only $2.  Delivery of enough food to fill 3 adults Thursday night cost less than $9. The best: a Whooper Value Meal Large only costs $8 delivered to your door!!  

Birth Control Pills ($10) and Antibiotics ($51 for Zithromax or free with a prescription) can be obtained without a prescription but heaven forbid you need anti-depressants or Xanax. Some teachers went to get prescriptions filled for Prozac, Paxil, etc. and found that insurance doesn’t cover them and the bill: $164 for a month’s worth!!  

At the malls, of which there are 7 in the city that I KNOW of, The Ed Hardy Store is displaying a Love Kills Slowly bikini in the window in right next to a store selling abayas and sheilas! You can pretty much buy a hookah anywhere but my alarm clock cost $33 and it isn’t even a clock radio!!I had to search high and low for a coffee maker with a timer that cost me $19 but it only makes 2 cups of coffee. If I could stand instant coffee, I could get an electric kettle that takes 30 seconds to boil water for $2. 

Midget coffee maker

You are “supposed” to have a special ID to purchase liquor that proves you are not Muslim. This is true at many liquor stores but the ones where you see Emiratis walking in and out…nope they don’t check! We haven’t even managed to figure out where to get this ID. We just know that Spinney’s checks ID!! Needless to say, I haven’t been there. The ID rule is waved for hotel bars. There are Ladies Nights at every hotel bar in the city and the drinks are FREE!! There are at least 3 every night!! Went to a “Wine Tasting Event” at the Crowne Plaza Abu Dhabi last week; for $24 we got unlimited wine, cheese, and antipasto. Well, it also cost $5 each way for the cab!! They have this every Monday night. I know what’s for dinner on Monday nights. 

Wine Tasting at the Crowne plaza: Kim, Iza, Mary, and Moi.

Our Eid Break ended on Tuesday so it was back to school for Wednesday and Thursday. We had 40 students show up on Wednesday and they were sent back on the buses within an hour. There were 5 who showed up Thursday and they didn’t even get off the buses. Can you imagine doing that in the U.S.? Districts have been sued over early dismissals for snow!! We were fed…both days. Our Arabic teachers are wonderful though that is not the case at all schools. Wednesday was a traditional Arabic breakfast and Thursday was a traditional lunch: goat. Yuk. I managed to pile enough other stuff on my plate that my dissing of the goat was missed.