I'm currently sitting in our very new, very sterile 13th floor apartment on the still under construction Al Reem Island in Abu Dhabi (population: 613, 368 and growing every day).
I'm sitting on my IKEA couch, streaming Netflix. My feet are propped up on our IKEA coffee table and my coffee is flavored with the same hazelnut creamer as I drink back home. There is a Michigan State basketball game waiting for us to watch on the DVR. By all accounts and views, this is the exact same way I might spend a Saturday morning back home.
But then, differences begin to appear, slowly and subtly at first. But differences all the same. It is these differences that contribute to the "offness" of life here.
The first one is that it's not actually a Saturday morning. It's Friday. But Friday is our Saturday and Saturday is our Sunday (because the Muslim holy day is Friday, our weekends are Friday/Saturday). I still haven't quite gotten used to it: at the end of the week, it feels like we should have to teach one more day and when my alarm goes off on Sunday at 5am, I think, "Aw, man. I should have one more day to sleep in."
In order to watch Netflix, access Twitter, or even add posts to this blog, we have to use a VPN (basically, a service that tells the internet that we are in the USA), due to the very...uh...limited internet accessibility over here in good ol' Abu Dhabi.
When I go to the grocery store, I can't wear my go-to shopping outfit: running shoes, shorts, and a tank top (because if I'm in workout clothes, people think, "Oh, she just got done working out" not "Uh, look at that lazy, lazy, woman...but I digress). But let me explain: all malls (which is where all the grocery stores are) have dress code rules, largely influenced by the Muslim community, which state: please cover your shoulders and knees. So...I can't go grocery shopping in Abu Dhabi in workout clothes.
But, in all honesty, when I say "can't", that might be a bit of an overstatement. There are some westerners that parade around into what is deemed "next to nothing" and they get dirty looks, side-stepped in the mall hallways, and sometimes, get asked to leave the premises by security. So, I guess I could wear whatever I wanted to the stores, but out of respect for the country in which I am an expatriate (and can be deported), I try to play nice and respectfully follow the rules.
And that is the world we live in: Friday is Saturday, Netflix is blocked, and I have to wear real clothes to grocery shop.
Again, it just makes life feel just a bit off.
-F
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