The other day at work, I happened across a book in the most serendipitous of ways. The book, A Diamond in the Desert, is a travel memoir of where else? Abu Dhabi! Normally I prefer my travel memoirs to be of a more humourous bent (Sex Lives of Cannibals, anyone? Round Ireland With a Fridge?), but from time to time, something more compelling creeps in. And I mean, this one said Abu Dhabi right there on the cover!
It was a serendipitous find because if it had gone onto the shelf in the travel section, I would probably never have seen it. Even though I haunt our teeny tiny travel department like the flippin' ghost of Christmas past, it would likely have escaped my attention. But I was working in the children's department (a welcome respite from my not-altogether-sane boss) and was taking a dozen copies of a book back to the overstock shelves in the receiving room. Children's overstock is right behind the travel shelves, and A Diamond in the Desert was right on the top, face up, waiting ever so patiently for me to see it. Had it not been a Saturday, when our receiving manager does not work (as it's a book shop, and we don't get deliveries on weekends), that book would not have been sitting back there waiting for me at one in the afternoon - it'd already have been on a cart or on the shelf in the travel section. But by some delightful combination of events, it was there, I saw it, and hurrah! I started reading.
Surely this is a sign?
Anyway, after reading the blogs (I love you, UAE bloggers! Please Update!) and being 100% up to date on the facebook discussion pages, I was beginning to feel a little bit....uncertain. Especially if I was supposed to be going over there to work with people who clearly did not understand or care to understand how the rest of the world works (I'm not talking about ADEC or Teach Away, but the other teachers). Then I started reading.
I already wanted to get out my highlighters and pens and make notes in the margins...on page two! In the prologue!
Chèrs teachers in Abu Dhabi, I wish you had read or were reading this book. I'm not finished with it, as preparation (like emailing my Teach Away contact with a new round of questions, or going on a quest for a background check, or trying to find a sensible white shirt that doesn't offend my negligible style sensibilities, or collecting yet another piece of paperwork, or, you know, working) tends to get in the way. Plus, I REALLY want to take notes, which means I need to remember to have my journal with me while I read. So I don't know how it turns out. And I get a small feeling that everything is not sunshine and roses (what's the desert equivalent for that phrase, I wonder? Palm trees and oases?) in that book. But it IS giving me even more insight into a culture quite different from any I've yet encountered.
And it makes the case for Abu Dhabi's innate appeal quite clear:
It was a serendipitous find because if it had gone onto the shelf in the travel section, I would probably never have seen it. Even though I haunt our teeny tiny travel department like the flippin' ghost of Christmas past, it would likely have escaped my attention. But I was working in the children's department (a welcome respite from my not-altogether-sane boss) and was taking a dozen copies of a book back to the overstock shelves in the receiving room. Children's overstock is right behind the travel shelves, and A Diamond in the Desert was right on the top, face up, waiting ever so patiently for me to see it. Had it not been a Saturday, when our receiving manager does not work (as it's a book shop, and we don't get deliveries on weekends), that book would not have been sitting back there waiting for me at one in the afternoon - it'd already have been on a cart or on the shelf in the travel section. But by some delightful combination of events, it was there, I saw it, and hurrah! I started reading.
Surely this is a sign?
Anyway, after reading the blogs (I love you, UAE bloggers! Please Update!) and being 100% up to date on the facebook discussion pages, I was beginning to feel a little bit....uncertain. Especially if I was supposed to be going over there to work with people who clearly did not understand or care to understand how the rest of the world works (I'm not talking about ADEC or Teach Away, but the other teachers). Then I started reading.
I already wanted to get out my highlighters and pens and make notes in the margins...on page two! In the prologue!
Chèrs teachers in Abu Dhabi, I wish you had read or were reading this book. I'm not finished with it, as preparation (like emailing my Teach Away contact with a new round of questions, or going on a quest for a background check, or trying to find a sensible white shirt that doesn't offend my negligible style sensibilities, or collecting yet another piece of paperwork, or, you know, working) tends to get in the way. Plus, I REALLY want to take notes, which means I need to remember to have my journal with me while I read. So I don't know how it turns out. And I get a small feeling that everything is not sunshine and roses (what's the desert equivalent for that phrase, I wonder? Palm trees and oases?) in that book. But it IS giving me even more insight into a culture quite different from any I've yet encountered.
And it makes the case for Abu Dhabi's innate appeal quite clear:
This city demands surrender. You have to fall in with the unpredictable pace of things. Momentarily overwhelmed with terror and exhilaration (the author is in the back of a taxi), I feel an unexpected wave of affection for the place.I am so ready to surrender to the glamourous tribal sleek chaotic modern traditional sandy marbled broiling frigid appeal of Abu Dhabi. Now if they would just hire me and transport my eager self to the other side of the world!
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