So, you have to keep in mind that the UAE -- including Abu Dhabi -- has a majority population of Expats. People are from all over the world, coming to the UAE to work. Different businesses, including hospitals, colleges and universities, oil industry, construction, airlines, hotels, and more.
Which then helps to explain how I ended up an Oktoberfest party in Abu Dhabi.
A couple of weeks ago, colleagues of Tom's and Danielle's reserved a table at the Hiltonia's Oktoberfest party, and were kind enough to extend their invitation to me as well. Nightly through October, the hotel (and several others, in fact) throw this party. Complete with German food, German beer, a German band, a beer stein holding contest (try holding your arm straight out and hold a traditional-size stein of beer for any length of time), and a bit of German dancing and singing.
Some folks were dressed in traditional German outfits (the pinafore type dress for women and lederhosen for men) ... it was a warm and muggy night, so I didn't envy the wearing of lederhosen.
We attended this toward the end of my second week here. I ended up sitting and chatting for a couple of hours with some very lovely and interesting people. One couple hails from Canada; he works in the oil industry; they have been in the UAE for about five years, and are about to move to Bangkok for a new and different contract of employment. Another couple is from the States, and spent several years in Saudi Arabia and are now in Abu Dhabi. This introduced me to people who have made it a way of life to live for a few years in one place, and then as opportunities arise, move onto another international city and live there for a few years. As they shared areas of the country they have explored while living here (camping on the dunes, camel beauty pageants, driving to Oman which is reportedly quite beautiful with mountains and shoreline), you could see that they love immersing themselves in the culture and discovering all kinds of treasures within a country.
Being Muslim, pork is not popular with the UAE nationals. But it is with Expats. When pork is served, it is separated from all other foods being served. At this Oktoberfest, there were nice walled canopies with potato salads, red cabbage, sauerkraut, desserts, and I forget what else. And so many different kinds of pork -- but all pork products were isolated in one tent. Same for grocery stores -- the pork is in a separate room. Expats are just grateful you can buy pork ... think about all the different items that include pork in the States, and imagine not having that.
It was a fun evening.
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