Crossing Expats' Boundaries

Q and I are wexpats - expats who came from western countries. And that essentially defines our "environment" long before we even landed in Abu Dhabi: from what type of car we would drive, to what range of accomodation we would choose, to what type of friends we would hang out with, etc, etc, and surely and naturally we did just that - settled very comfortably in our wexpat environment. But once in a while we venture out of our comfort zone and into other expats' "environments". And the result? It's always surprisingly pleasant. One such example was watching the Pakistan v.s. New Zealand cricket match in the Cricket Stadium last Saturday.

The first thing we noticed was that bad traffic jam leading to the stadium turned a two-lane side street into a four-lane. Some Pakistanis opted for parking further away and made up the lost time by running towards the stadium. I can't recall the last time I saw even one person running towards a sporting event, let alone crowds. The enthusiasm caught on me before we even reached the parking lot.


It was our first cricket match ever, and it was a "50-overs" "one-day match", i.e. a long form, and long it was - the match started at 3 pm and we left at 10 pm - an almost-herotic SEVEN hours, and it still had another good hour to go by the time we left! It was an all-around wholesome experience: the crowd, the teams, the stadium, the friends, and the poster! Okay, some may argue beer was missing. :)


I can't quite describe it but the level of dedication and enthusiasm somehow made me respect the Pakistani expats much more so than before. A lot of them may be alone here, they may not earn much, and they may not be able to afford many hobbies, but for what they can manage, they really make the most out of. The cricket match was quite a display of such spirit.


I wish I had something more intelligent to say about this boundary-crossing experience, but really at the end of the day I felt truly happy, for the people surrounded me at the stadium were truly happy - and that is something I don't get when walking into the fancy hotel bars of Abu Dhabi.

Wastas + Abu Dhabi = ?

Wastas are "connections" in Arabic - they are about who you know to help make *things* happen. Think them as wheel teeth that keep the clocks ticking, and in the case of Abu Dhabi, often for free!

These are what Wastas have got us during the past two days: Beyonce concert last night, F1 Grand Prix practice at the circuit this afternoon and Jamiroquai concert tonight - all for free! A little background on these F1 concerts - AD organizers made an interesting decision that they were only available to race pass holders, and not available for purchase by general public. It turned out for the Jamiroquai concert alone, a total of 15 friends/acquaintences attended mostly, if not all, without ever purchasing any race passes. Oh yeah, the arrangements were all quite last minute as well. So even though three days ago we didn't plan on having anything to do with Abu Dhabi F1, already we've been to three events at the fresh-paint-scented venue!

Yas F1 Circuit from West Grandstand-that's RedBull car racing across on the bottom there.

Jamiroquai was only 20 meters away!

I don't think Q and I quite get the hang of this cultural phenomenon, but why should we even bother. Sometimes, it is easier to just go with the free flow.

Mistakes and Passports Don't Mix!

The following are the stories that both Q and I have gotten tired of repeating over the past month or so. Our mission was to get me a replacement UAE residency visa since my passport got stolen while traveling in China. Now that I typed it all up, I can see how tricky the situation was and that it would take a miracle for any UAE immigration office to understand, not to mention helping us.

The Story of Four Passports

Every single immigration counter we went - and trust me, there are many of them - we had to explain that my passports #1 and #2 were stolen in China, while holding a mint #4 backed up by a certified copy of #3.

#1: Regular Canadian passport issued in Toronto. I moved to Abu Dhabi with it in 2007, so it has my residency visa. It had to be replaced back in April this year because it ran out of blank pages for visa stamps, but I still kept it for the residency visa page.

#2: Regular Canadian passport issued in Abu Dhabi. It was a replacement for Passport #1. It had my Chinese tourist visa and was what I used to enter China.

#3: Temporary Canadian passport issued in Shanghai after #1 and #2 were stolen. It was issued and given to me in Shanghai on 26 August - ahh, what a glorious day! It also contained the replacement tourist visa for China – it was "zero entry" as I only needed it for leaving the country. This is the passport I entered UAE with.

#4: Regular Canadian passport issued in Shanghai but picked up in Abu Dhabi. I had to return #3 in order to get #4. For some odd reason, we were not allowed to keep temporary passports. I had a certified photocopy of #3 including the UAE entry stamp. It was essentially blank and this is where the replacement UAE residency visa should go. The problem is…

The Story of One Mistake

When I left China with Passport #3, I got an exit stamp of “31 August 2009”. It was all good until I entered UAE after the overnight flight. Instead of “1 Sept 2009” the stamp I got “1 August 2009”! Unfortunately I didn't notice the error until several days later when staring at a certified copy of #3.

Of course this whole thing didn’t make sense and we all thought it was obvious to the UAE Custom that they made the mistake, but I was so wrong. Essentially it appeared that I was in UAE without any paper record - in anther word, illegal.

The Story of Two Residence Visas

In order to make my Edinburgh and Italy trip, we had to pull a last-minute Mission-Impossible stunts on the day of my flight. It was pure drama and I only wish we weren't doing it. Doing one of those door-to-door car switches at highway pit stop and zooming down highway at lightening speed definitely pushed our adrenaline to a new high.

In the end we had to cancel my old residence visa on passport #1, so I could leave UAE at all. While I was in Italy, Q worked with his company to get me a new residence visa, so now #4 is on its way to be completed with a visa sticker.

As we learnt from this experience, one of the fastest ways to learn the local government culture is to lose your passport. If you don’t believe us, try it. :)

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To reward those of you brave souls who reached this point of the posting, here are some photos from our trips in China, Edinburgh and Italy. Enjoy - we certainly did! And do let us know how you are doing. We miss all of our family and friends dearly. Love from Abu Dhabi!!

A breath of fresh air…

…well, relatively speaking, of course :)

This morning at 6 am, when I left work after my graveyard shift, it was a very amiable 27 degrees (81 Fahrenheit for you non-metric lot). It felt like a draw of fresh air!

It means the height of the summer is over and in a few weeks temperatures should be down enough during the day to be able to venture outside without being scorched to a crisp!

The visa saga continues meanwhile. Having spent another 4 1/2 hours at the immigration department, the new resident visa is on its way and I should have it tomorrow. That means Shu would be able to enter the country legally again! The rest of the work is mostly hers, getting all the tests required for a residence visa. But we’ll do that when she’s back next week.

The two accompanying photos have been shot at Sheikh Zayed Mosque here in Abu Dhabi. I guess the last photo sums up two important aspects in Abu Dhabi life quite well, religion and commercialism…

Shu has left the country...

That's actually a good thing! We had a lot of issues trying to replace her residence visa when she got back from China. The visa was in the passport that got stolen in Shanghai. It's not resolved yet, but the situation was such that she also couldn't leave the country without it either! We managed to resolve the issue temporarily, but we'll have to work on the rest when she gets back... I'm sure Shu will inform you later on about the whole procedure (to give you a slight hint what we've been through, so far I've spent a good 15 hours at the Immigration Department....).

She's off to attend a wedding in Edinburgh before flying to Italy to tour over there together with a friend from Toronto! This was the message she sent me yesterday:

'I found the Mound and the Prince Street Garden, and sat on the grass, and walked on the grass in zigzag. I loved and missed how nice it felt. :)'

The Princes Street Gardens, from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Or as a friend put it: 'having actual weather again is interesting!', when commenting on her move to The Netherlands after having lived in the Middle East for several years.

Other than that all is well. We're experiencing full on Ramadan, and will end in just over a week from now. We went to an iftar celebration in the posh Emirates Palace . The food was hidiously expensive, but also very good. Still only did it for the occasion...

Later this month, one of my best friends arrives for a few days before we set of to fly to South Africa, where we'll rent to motorbikes and tour the country for two weeks!

Let us know how you're doing!

The Dark Moment of Travelling

Honestly I think I've had my share of adventurous and bizarre travel situations, so it comes as quite a surprise to look at my current situation.

Here is the scoop. As Q mentioned in the last blog posting, we are taking a trip in China to visit relatives. Well, the trip came to a complete halt when my purse was stolen while dining with Q and family in Shanghai a couple days ago. Thankfully nobody was harmed or anything. Besides money and a few other gadgets, the most important travelling item was also gone missing - my passport. The damage control and police report aside, none of us could have imagined the trouble involved ahead to get me out of China. After tearing up Shanghai for the past two days, it finally dawned on me what it is:

- First, I need to get my courier package containing Canadian-government issued IDs required for my passport application. It's supposed to arrive in Shanghai tomorrow, but last time we checked it was still sitting in Hongkong for some odd reason.
- The Canadian consulate informed me that it takes THREE working days to get a temporary passport. (FIFTEEN for a regular one, which I will also apply at the same time and request to send to Abu Dhabi for pickup.)
- After getting the new passport, I would need to get a so-called "pink slip" for accommodation registration at local police station. Apparently all foreigners are supposed to do it, but nobody does. Well, not this time, because I was told that I'd need it for the next step.
- The Chinese government requires me to get a new visa in order to let me out. According to official and unofficial websites, this steps takes FIVE working days.

All this development has blown every bits of my travel plan out of water. It's not just bad. It's almost disastrous. As you can imagine, I do feel like quite trapped at the moment as I cannot travel anywhere in China without passport. At the moment, I am not even hoping for miracles, I am just hoping that I will be out of the woods soon. Never thought Abu Dhabi could look so attractive right now. On the positive side - there is always a positive side - it is China and I am staying with relatives (Thanks so much, K-Pam!), so we are trying to make the best out of this situation by doing loads shopping - who knew spending money after losing money was such a great therapy! :)

I remember reading a list of emergency services provided by Canadian government and mentally patting myself on the shoulder for not calling from a jail for legal service. Truth to be told, it could be worse.

My kinda place

A hole in the wall, filled with locals, smack in the middle of town, and not a foreigner to be seen. And the food is delicious!

My bowl of noodles with spicy pork and soup - delicious!

Have a look at the hole in the wall

In Shanghai at the moment, Shu is about to board her plane in Abu Dhabi and will join me here tomorrow. Visiting family and friends, and the odd shopping and sight seeing here and there :)

Here's some more pics from my first few days here:

Tofu, veggies, meat with hot peppers and rice for lunch

Playing Mahjong on the street

All in all, seriously enjoying myself!

Dhaka Madness

Q is in Dhaka, Bangladesh for a four-day trip - Because he can, okay? Get over it, you lot!

His first text message after just landed:"Bangladeshi
passport number of the guy I'm hitching a ride with. ######. Heavy rain on
arrival. Just adds to this excitement!"

Second message:"I don't think anything can prepare you for Dhaka. It's sheer madness! I'm doing okay. On my way to a village for the night with my CS host. ... Also already met up with Andi (N.B. friend from CS who inspired the trip in the first place). Meeting up with her again tomorrow. We also already have a couch in Cairo :)"

Third:"4 hrs by bus, 10 mins in rickshaw and 20 mins by motorcycle and we are in the middle of nowhere. Lightning everywhere, so no star gazing. But the rain sounds cool. :)"

Okay, I admit that we are a bit of adrenaline junkies. But just imagine for a moment, sitting in rickshaw cutting through the heavy rain just to get to a nowhere village in Bangladesh - it does make you smile, doesn't it? :)

p.s. Here are a few photos from our recent weekend road trip to Musandam, Oman. I treated Q to a fantastic birthday dinner in an Indian eatery for a grand total of 28 dhs (less than 6 euros or 8 dollars) - Sweet!

Do You **Bling**?

Introducing the latest addition to ultra-luxury lifestyle: Swarovski-crystal encrusted bottles of water at US$70 each! Like the 7Days article pointed out, that is the same amount of money that would supply a child in Africa with clean water for life! To the UAE distributor Harvey Nichols, I think this so-called "unique lifestyle product" is ultra-low, and it's time to uncool all the glitters!

Somebody Pinch Me!

Some days I just can't help but wondering, "where the heck am I???" Today I was briefly transported to India when I received the following email from an Indian colleague, J, who I have exchanged no more than a dozen hi's in the past year.

My dear friends,

Behold a copy of my marriage invitation attached. Proof that it is finally happening! It would give me immense pleasure if you could grace the occasion by your presence. Your prayers and blessings will be appreciated in any event.

However, it would give me equal pleasure if you could come to enjoy a lunch on Monday the 17th of August at our office at 1:00 pm. It is no coincidence that the marriage ceremony is also scheduled for that day in Cochin – India. Enjoy the lunch as I bid farewell to bachelorhood.

Apparently it is very common in certain Asian and African cultures to send out an office-wide wedding invitation. Personally I think they make some of the best social celebrations, but I'd feel weird not knowing the happy couple fairly well.

Culture shock aside, it also made me smile to read the bible verse quote on the invitation, "It is not good for a man to live alone, I will make a suitable companion for him. (Gen. 2:18)"

...I'm sure they love each other very much! :)