Today was all about the primary reason for our trip - NYU Abu Dhabi’s 2019 Commencement for Jean, my other little brother. But first EJ and I started our day with another hearty breakfast in the hotel cafe. We ended up eating just the two of us since mom and dad slept in. With a couple hours after breakfast to kill before we made a trip to the mall with Jean before going to his graduation ceremony, EJ and I went back to our room to watch tv and relax. Before I knew it there was a knock on the door and it was 13:15, about 15 minutes past the time we were due to meet Jean in the lobby. We quickly got ready and then hopped in a cab to go to the Marina Mall.
The cab was an interesting one. We grabbed a bigger one and when I went to get in the back noticed that there were 3 seats, like any other car, and then two seats facing backwards and attached to the bulletproof looking plastic divider between the backseat and the driver. It was reminiscent of NYC yellow cabs in that respect. I watched the cars behind us nearly hitting each other along the whole ride and I thought to myself it is a miracle there aren’t more accidents on the road. We finally pull up to the Marina Mall and got out to one of the biggest malls I’ve seen next to a replica of the London Eye style Ferris wheel on the beach. At the horizon I could see the meager skyline of Abu Dhabi glinting in the afternoon sun. We quickly made our way inside before we died of heatstroke.
Once inside the mall it looked like any other mall. Except the first few stores I saw were Rolex, Tissot, and Chanel instead of American Eagle and H&M. There were a lot of UK based brands there as well like Marks and Spencer and a Boots coming soon. We wandered our way through the mall for a while, Mom picked out a new bag from Gucci and a new wallet from Louis Vuitton that she wants EJ to buy her one day while EJ browsed the shoes and all the different watch stores. Eventually Jean asked if we would be ok grabbing lunch and while most of us weren’t hungry it seemed like a good idea to sit and relax for a bit before exploring the rest of the expansive mall.
Naturally Jean brought us to Five Guys. The summer that he came to live with us for a month I think he and EJ must have eaten there at least a dozen times so I was hardly surprised that he wanted to go there. We entered the curtain of shame to find an exact replica of the Five Guys that you find in the states. If the signs didn’t have Arabic on them and if the “where did our potato” sign didn’t say Netherlands then I would have sworn we were back in Fresh Meadows, Queens. It was nice to chat and spend some time hanging out as a family and eating delicious French fries. We finished up and then Jean lead us to our next destination, Carrefour in the basement of the mall.
Carrefour is like if Coles from Australia and Target in America had a baby and that baby was Arabic/British. Jean suggested it saying that we might like to see it and I was like OMG HAVE YOU READ MY BLOG?!?! I live for visiting foreign supermarkets. I was so excited to walk in and take in all the different sights, smells, and foods. So much of the food area was set up like a Coles that I had to take a closer look to notice the Arabic to remind myself of where I was. I was amazed at all the different kinds of dates, who knew there were so many permutations and kinds. There were tons of exotic honeys as well from all over the world in all kinds of flavors that I never knew existed. I went through all the different food aisles making a bunch of mental notes where I internally commented on what was the same as other places I’ve been and what was different. I was surprised to see how much of it was the same as Australia, I even found original flavor and cappuccino flavor Tim Tams. I grabbed them and a few other kinds of Kit Kats that I hadn’t tried before going to the checkout and then made our way out of the mall.
Back in the hotel we had just enough time to unwind for 10 minutes before getting dressed for the NYU Abu Dhabi commencement ceremony. It was scheduled to start at 8:45 and go until midnight which I thought was unusual for a graduation but when we got into the auditorium (and fought off competing families for front row seats, literally) I realized that it was probably so late because a huge group of the Royal family of the UAE attended the ceremony. They sat front row center in between the two groups of graduating students and had waiters serving them tea and dates during the ceremony. There were so many speakers and fluff that I was anxious to get out of there, not to mention hungry because we weren’t able to make it to the Ramadan meal that they served before going to our seats. Finally the students got called up and when Jean’s name was called we all screamed and shouted, louder then any other family in the ceremony in quite New Yorker fashion.
After the ceremony the parents went back to the hotel. EJ and I waited for Jean to get his stuff and planned to go out to a cafe together. We played a bunch of games in the student lounge like foosball and air hockey while Jean got his stuff since he planned on staying at the hotel after we ate. In the uber back to the hotel (so EJ and I could join Jean in changing out of our formal wear) we were trying to figure out where to go eat. Finally Jean asked the Uber driver if he had any recommendations and he did. The driver even let Jean use his phone to check to make sure the place was open late and then waited for us to change and come back down to drive us to the cafe.
The cafe was amazing. It’s apparently the most famous one in Abu Dhabi for locals and when we arrived we were the only foreigners there. In a huge open plaza there were tables and couches and a big tv screen playing local television. It was all locals. The food was amazing and we got to enjoy some shisha (hookah) as well and relax outside on the ocean. I couldn’t have asked for a better way to end the evening. By 3am the cafe was closing and we made our way back to the hotel. I spent the next hour writing this post and packing up for our road trip to Dubai tomorrow and at 4:07 we got a chance to hear the morning prayer, signifying the beginning of the fasting period for Ramadan, that was broadcast from the Grand Mosque.
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