You may be interested to know that Valentine’s Day is also celebrated in the Middle East. I’m not sure why that would be a surprise to me, but it was. Like Christmas I only expected expats to have anything to do with the holiday. I suppose it is comforting to know that with all of our differences we can all still agree that love should be celebrated.
With that said, Valentine’s Day in the states and Valentine’s Day in Abu Dhabi have a totally different vibe. Back home I remember constantly getting bombarded with advertisements about it, Valentine’s Day sales, commercials, etc. In Abu Dhabi it is much more low- key. In fact, I didn’t even know that it was celebrated here until one of my students started talking about what he was going to get his girlfriend (which, if anyone asks, he does not have because it is against their culture. I find that there are a lot of students that “do not have girlfriends” at the other female schools). Then I did start to notice that the florist and gas stations stocked up on flowers around the big day.
So this year I thought I might do something creative for Valentine’s Day. I can’t bring myself to write another letter or poem, not that there’s anything wrong with it (the poems always turn out very expressionate) but I just want to do something different. So I went into deep thought and meditation, and then it miraculously came to me like a divine light (though my idea may or may not have been loosely inspired by the articles from the Google search: “Creative Valentine Day Ideas” which I read moments before my epiphany). Instead of a Valentine’s Day, I decided to do a Valentine’s week. Every day, I gave a small gift (i.e. flowers, massage, cooked dinner, etc) until the last couple of days where I gave her the big gift, which in this case was a weekend in Dubai.
We had been talking about going to Dubai for weekend trip for quite a while ever since the day visit we did with our friends. We were interested to see the Global Village, which is a something like a combination of a carnival and a huge souq. Different parts of the Village is split into different countries, like China, India, Egypt, etc., and for each part their décor, food, and goods reflect the part of the world represented. She was excited about the weekend, as I knew she would be. I made the reservations, found a good hotel near the Mall of the Emirates (we had previously been to the Dubai Mall in our last trip). According to the map, the Global Village was also nearby, maybe a ten minute taxi. So we were all ready, but apparently Mother Nature wasn’t.
If you recall our first trip to Dubai, the day we went ended up being one of the 4 or 5 days a year that Dubai sees rain, so the place was kind of gloomy most of the day. This trip was even worse as far as weather, but at least there was no rain. However, we ended up going the weekend of a sand storm. Nothing dramatic like you see on Mission Impossible or anything like that. But it was hazy the whole weekend and the wind was blowing in incredible gusts, carrying the sand with it. As we caught our taxis to and fro we saw people walking on the streets covering their mouths and face as they walked. Arab men wore a covering that wrapped their heads and covered their nose and mouth. The sand here is different from the sand back home. It is not heavy and gritty like the crystalize stuff you may have in your back yard. This sand is as fine as powder, like dust, so it’s very easy for it to stay in the air and travel with the wind. Natova and I would debate on whether it was fog or sand in the air, because you couldn’t tell. At any rate, whatever it was, it prevented us from seeing the city the way we wanted to. The buildings, one of the main draws of Dubai, were blanketed so we couldn’t get a good view of them.
So we decided not to do the Global Village but we did do the Dubai Aquarium in the Dubai Mall. The Dubai Aquarium boasts having the largest indoor tank of water in the world (don’t ask me how many tons of water it is, I forgot). I thought it was interesting that they called it a water zoo, and once you get in you kind of see why. Even before you even make it into the Aquarium, there is this huge glass tank with an obscene amount of fish. The variety of fish is ridiculous, but the most impressive thing was the size of some of them. Fish, not even a special type of sea animal like a shark or swordfish, just “regular” fish like what you see at the fish market, literally the size of me and probably weighing just as much. There were sharks and a lot of Sting Rays as well, one particular Sting Ray that was even longer than me.
When we got inside, there is an instant shock because the tunnel you walk through is completely glass with the tank surrounding you, and what do you see directly next to your head upon entrance? How about sharks, not just a shark but multiple sharks all swimming around that particular part of the tank. I don’t know if they have them roped off so they don’t go anywhere else, but they like 5 feet away on the other side of some glass. It even kind of freaked me out a bit, maybe because I wasn’t expecting it. We got some pretty good pictures though.
After the water tunnel, there were smaller tank habitats on either side of this path we follow to move through the place. It was really nice, seeing all the different types of fish and other animals. There were a few crowd favorites. Everyone seemed enthralled by the otters. I personally like otters, they are one of the coolest animals I know, though this was my first time actually seeing one up close. I like that they are smart and have a personality on them.
The other very personable animal, also a crowd favorite, was the penguin: who knew? They were all the way in the back towards the end of the walk through. Lots of people lined up to see them, and for good reason. I didn’t know they were so… active. When I walked up to the tank the first thing I saw was one penguin getting into it with another penguin. They kind of yelled at each other, maybe a few bumps, but no major rumble. The next thing I saw was the penguins swimming around in the water, and when they get in that water they can move pretty fast. Some guy figured out that the penguins are highly attracted to cell phone light and started moving it around on the outside of the tank. Where ever he shined the light a pack of penguins bolted trying to catch it. It was kinda interesting to watch.
There was a section upstairs devoted to the creepy crawlies we all love to hate. There were beetles and bugs and snakes and lizards and so on. I particularly intrigued by the giant hissing cockroach exhibit. It was both disgusting and fascinating at the same time; I couldn’t look away. There was some lady that worked there trying really hard to get Natova to take a picture with a huge Boa Constrictor around her neck. It was like a hundred and something dirhams. Their pitch was “conquer you fear.” Didn’t work.
All in all a pretty cool experience. One of our more adventurous Valentine’s Days. They also have packages where you can snorkel or scuba dive around the tank with the fish. Never know maybe one day, I do want to learn to scuba. Till next time.
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