What a great day it was…in so many aspects. I mentioned yesterday that it is National Day today. I just didn’t realize how many Emiratis were out celebrating it. Nearly all of them!!! I don’t think that is much of an exaggeration. We got to the Marina area in Abu Dhabi early around 2:00 PM. Already there were families setting out chairs on the side of the road and setting up picnic barbecue areas. There was a sense of anticipation in the air. What they do for revelry here is to decorate their cars. So many Mercedes, BMW’s, and Corvettes among many others were covered with Emirati flags along with pictures of the leaders. The late Sheikh Zayed, the father of the country, is usually pictured with his two sons on each side. They still hold Sheikh Zayed in such high regard. His portrait is everywhere. I guess it’s a little like how the US treats George Washington.
The atmosphere here is so incredibly festive. Its like the entire country goes to just cruise the streets. People hanging out of the windows of their cars (not very safe I know), or standing up through the sunroof. Emirati flags are being waved with horns honking, engines revving, and boat horns sounding. The big thing is that people shoot silly string and confetti at each other. People will walk up to cars with their window open and spray this confetti like foamy stuff at the people inside and the people inside just spray back. They have a lot of fun doing it. There is such an amazing sense of patriotism and camaraderie that I’ve seldom experienced before.
We got to a festival with my camera man and Lady Lebanon. Lady Lebanon is an amazing producer. She knows how to use her charm well in this region. She is very savvy too. She can get into places and get permission where I probably would not have much of chance because Im a man. Arab men are incredibly respectful of women out here. At least the ones I encountered. There was this traditional dance that we covered. This was really special. It had men with Arabic drums, chanting and dancing along with women dressed in this type of national dress uniform doing another type of dance. There was a big boat race. There were maybe 20 guys in a boat paddling to the encouragement of the captain. There were maybe 20-30 boats in the water. This race is apparently a big deal with people putting a lot of money on these boats. Lady Lebanon was able to sweet talk her way into getting our crew into a boat. So we had a perfect vantage point of the race. We also got some incredible footage of the corniche (Beach road).
Afterwards Lady Lebanon was able to talk her way into one of the nicest hotels in the World, Emirates Palace. Normally crews aren’t allowed to shoot there but we gained access. It seems like everywhere I go, I just keep getting favore thrown upon me, and Im not really doing anything special to deserve it, other than being a child of the King. Now I realize that virtually all of the favor for this shoot has been the result of Lady Lebanon’s skills at producing in this culture. However, meeting her and having her be on this crew was no accident. I believe it was a divine appointment and that is God’s way of continuing to give me favor through indirect ways.
I was able to get away from the Abu Dhabi area around 10 pm. There were still thousands (no exaggeration) of cars descending on the same corniche area. Its now about 1:15 am. As I look out my window in the trendy JBR part of Dubai, there are more cars stacked up now, than there ever were during Eid. I think they are going to be cruising to the early hours of the morning. Traffic is barely moving (It took me an extra 45 min. to get ¼ mile) But everyone stuck in the jam doesn’t seem to mind it all. It just adds to the excitement of it. There is so much unity and pride amongst the Emirati people. It is quite amazing really. Why can’t the media portray that?
Kudos to Qatar for getting the World Cup in 2022. I know a lot of people are complaining about it in the US. Well…the US already had the World Cup. Its nice seeing the Middle East get some representation. Hopefully we can start changing some perceptions and promote understanding of our differing cultures.
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