First time at a Hyper Market

Hyper-markets are big box stores that sell everything from groceries to clothes and appliances. Two big ones are Lulu and Carrefour, but, as nearly everything in this city, each store targets a different social group. Lulu caters to the Indian and South Asian population, while Carrefour is more favored by Westerners.

The first time I walked into a hyper-market, I was amazed to see bags of spices sitting in the middle of the grocery section floor. Before we moved to Abu Dhabi I secretly imagined how I'll walk through the traditional souks in search of hidden gems: spices, silks, dates. Of course, all of these are readily available in faux souks - modern malls intended to look old, and those hidden gems are priced appropriately as well.

I love this place!

"I love this place!" - I shouted excitedly to the Frenchie as we sped down the Corniche in his spanking new "beemer" on a recent Saturday Drive.

And what's not to love? Just mere days after landing at the Abu Dhabi International airport, I had a fantastic job; still jet-lagged from my recent move across the globe, I'd pull myself to a little silver rental in the mornings and drive through the ever-sunny Arabian desert to my corner office on the island. During those 30 minute drives I'd sing along to the oldies, so lovingly selected by "Duckworth and Daisy and a little bit of Rakesh" on a local radio every morning. Then, the Frenchie would meet me for lunch at a nearby bakery. We'd laugh and gossip over a slice of quiche and our weekend plans would be drafted during those lunches, too. We loved spending weekend mornings basking in the sun over a newspaper and coffee, and in the evenings, we'd set on to explore this exotic city: its' sounds, smells, and people. Gosh, I really, really, loved this place.

As I muse over those days, it seems that we live in a different country today. Gone are the lazy afternoons in the sun, replaced instead by quick runs from an air-conditioned car to air-conditioned offices, home, malls, and restaurants. We stopped seeing our life in Abu Dhabi through pink colored glasses, too. Behind the facade of a shiny new city we discovered there’s a different Abu Dhabi; a city where ignorance and overindulgence are a way of life.