Evening adventures

One of the best and the most frustrating things about life in Abu Dhabi is that you just never know what is going to happen when you go out somewhere. One of my friends found out about a free soccer game, so we all decided to go check it out. We knew the name of the stadium we needed to get to, so we hopped in our cab, told the driver the name and were on our way. When we got to a stadium (notice I said a stadium, not the stadium) it was completely deserted. We asked a man on a golf cart if we were in the right place and after about 10 minutes of confusion and driving around verrrry slowly, we determined we were not in the right place. It turns out we wanted the Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium and he had taken us to Zayed Sports City. Similar names, both with giant stadiums and both with a place to play football (soccer). We eventually got out of the first cab and went to find another, because the driver did not seem to know what we were talking about. The communication barrier is always an issue, but many cab drivers also are not great with directions since most streets do not have names and things are marked by landmarks here.

We finally made it in and the stadium was entirely empty. The woman seemed confused when we asked her for tickets to the game, like no one had ever made such a request before. We got in to see the stadium:

and a nice Australian sounding man wearing a suit told us the game would start in an hour, and that we could sit in the VIP section in the air conditioning if we wanted. We later discovered that this was likely because we were nearly the only females there. The VIP was pretty pimp with nice chairs, free drinks and best of all, free, cold air conditioning. Even though the game started at 10pm we could see how much the people sitting in the stands were sweating.

We sort of half paid attention to the game and clapped when it seemed appropriate. It was a nice, free(ish) way to spend our evening.

As we were waiting in the lobby after the game, I noticed a man sweeping the lobby. It seemed odd since it was after midnight and people were continually walking over the area he was sweeping. It occurred to me in that moment, that everywhere I go here, someone is cleaning something. Abu Dhabi is very much about appearances, so they must keep it neat and tidy at all times. When I go to Carrefour which is like the UAE Walmart, there is a guy that drives around on a Zamboni type floor washer even when it completely crowded, just to make sure the floor isn't scuffed. I've seen him there morning and night, so I think that's all he does. It's not a small machine either...when he's coming your way you better move your butt because I am pretty sure he would run you over if given the chance.

I also saw a man squeegee a side window of the VIP box (which no one would even be looking out of) at the game because it had some condensation on it. There are people that sit in public bathrooms in order to clean them after they have been used. It does make for a very clean, good looking city, but it just seems like sooo much work!