My Taxi Driver

I spent this morning with my favorite taxi driver, Franci, driving around my extended neighborhood on a photography quest. I was looking for Mosques to photograph. Many are unusual and colorful and provide great architectural fodder for my camera. Franci would pull up near the Mosque; and I would hop out. Then, he would find somewhere to park. He got out and walked around while I was shooting. At several of the Mosques, he walked around to stake out a good vantage point for me and directed me to spots to get a good shot. He doesn’t have a bad eye! That is exactly why I LOVE Franci and call on him almost daily to run me around Abu Dhabi.

My housekeeper Shirley and I met Franci one night while we were downtown material shopping in the textile district. We had a bad experience with a taxi driver and got out of the car in order to catch another one. Well, Franci is the next cab to pick us up. What a wonderful day in the neighborhood!!!!

Franci happens to be Sri Lankan like Shirley so they immediately began to chatter in Singhelese (one of the Sri Lankan dialects). Shirley happily informed me that Franci was from the same neighborhood as she back in Sri Lanka in the city of Colombo and they actually knew some of the same people. What a small, small world.

Since that day, we have become fast friends with Franci as he happily transports Shirley, John, and me all over Abu Dhabi. He takes me to the gym almost every day. I just call him in the morning and tell him what time I need a taxi and he miraculously arrives when I need him (most of the time). Sometimes he picks me up two or three times a day as I am running errands. He often waits in the car for me as I shop or run inside the tailor, or run in Carrefour. He will lay his seat back and take a quick catnap while I shop.

Franci’s story is the same as many of the taxi drivers in the city. He was contracted by the taxi company to work in Abu Dhabi because he cannot find work in his country. He is a highly intelligent man with a good education from a respectable Sri Lankan family who just needs a job to support his wife and children. He has two little girls, 6 and 1, and a lovely wife who he describes as a “charming Singhelese girl.” “She is a good girl,” he tells me proudly. He has brought us photos of his little girls and happily shares them with us as he wipes a tear from his eye. He misses them very much and often gets a little choked up when he talks about them. His little six year old is a beautiful little doll all dressed up in her sari along with her little girlfriends. Just yesterday Franci told me that he did not work the day before at all. “Why?” I asked. “Were you sick? “No, Madam,” he responded. Wiping a tear from the corner of his eye, he said “I am remembering my wife and little girls. I am sad. I just could not work yesterday.”

Franci works about fifteen hours a day seven days a week to earn a 25% commission on all his fares. The taxi company does not pay them a base salary. If he does not meet his quota of 200 dirhams a day, then he is fined. If he gets in a wreck and the accident is his fault, he is fined. Franci recently at fault in an accident and was fined 1,800 dirhams by the taxi company and had to pay a traffic fine as well which brought his total expense to 3,200 dirhams. He is now having 500 dirhams taken out of his pay each month until it is paid off. He told me that the contractor in Sri Lanka told him accommodations were provided (many of the contracted jobs provide dormitory-style housing in Abu Dhabi) but upon arrival he discovered differently. He is living in a small two bedroom flat in the city with 10 other people. This is quite common for the workers to live communally. “It is difficult,” he told me stiffly. Yesterday he told me he was having trouble meeting his quota the last two days as “there are too many taxis right now.” He has been a little down.

So to make life a little easier on Franci, Shirley and I often pack him a sack lunch or dinner and hand it over the seat to him when we get in the car. If he takes me to the grocery, I’ll sometimes buy him some samosas and cheese bread (Indian food) and some fruit. Any time we bake a cake or something, we give him part of it. He is so appreciative and seems to enjoy the special treatment. Shirley even went shopping for him the other day. He needed a small overnight bag and did not have time off to go shopping. He really needed to work. So, off to the Emirates General Market went Shirley to find Franci a bag for 20 dirhams (she was very proud of the fact that it was only 20 dirhams). Franci needed a bag to send home to his children. Two of his friends left a couple of days ago going back to Sri Lanka. His baby’s birthday is in May and he wanted to send the baby some gifts. His friends were going to carry the bag full of gifts to his wife. I took some photos of him in his uniform and by his car and printed them on my printer. Shirley took those and was going to meet his wife and give them to him. He was so proud of the photos.

Early one morning Shirley got a call from Franci saying “Shirley, run outside. Two men are fighting in the street in front of your house. Hurry.” Of course, Shirley dashed to the door and ran out on the patio looking around. The phone rang again. “April Fool’s,” laughed Franci. So…Franci has become our friend.

I got a text message from him about a month ago letting me know he would be on time to pick me up. It said “I’ll be there at 5:00 my Madam.” He called me “his madam.” I was touched.

People come and go in our lives and we really don’t think much about it---most of the time we don’t even notice until they are not there. In his book All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, Robert Fulghum wrote about the importance of people in our lives----like your barber, the newspaper boy, the doorman----people who have an impact on you and cross your path almost daily. They do important things for you, however small. He wrote about how we take it for granted and really never thank them for being a part of your life and going about the mundaneness of your life with you. For instance, I used the same hairdresser for ten years. He made me beautiful for 10 years of my life. I love him for it. I will never forget him for it, even though I had to move on to someone else because I moved. I still check in on him now and again to make sure he is doing okay. He’ll never know how important a role he played in my life. He watched my kids grow up; he gave Katie her first perm; he shared his love of wood working; he shared is adoration for his lovely wife. He shared his grief when she died suddenly.

I think I will tell Franci thank you for making my life easier. It really does mean a lot to have good, safe transportation.

Scary Furniture

There is just something wrong with this concept! It's just frightening!

Shirley goes to The Emirates Palace

Last Friday, John and I took Shirley and her friend Rupika (Roo-pee-ka)to the Emirates Palace. Shirley had expressed to me recently that she would love to see the inside of the Palace. Shirley has a Sri Lanken friend who lives about two blocks from our house that often visits with her and helps her clean house. They help each other out when they are sick or need something, etc. She's a lovely lady and Shirley thinks a lot of her. So we asked Shirley if she and Rupika would like to go to the Palace. They got all dressed up in their going rompers and we took off to the Palace.

Even though they wanted to go very much, they were also very nervous about the experience and you could tell they were a little uncomfortable. First of all, I think they were worried that they wouldn't be allowed since they are "servants." They seem to be very conscious of their "class" as a servant. Shirley kept telling me that she can be anywhere with her Madam. I assured her that all was well and that John and I would not let anyone mess with her. Secondly, it is just so over-the-top there. John insisted on taking them to tea in one of the little cafes so they could say they had tea at the Emirates Palace. It took much persuasion on our part to convince them it was okay to sit with us and enjoy tea. I ordered some little sandwiches to go with our tea. We sat in a fancy cafe with live musicians playing Arabic music on Ouds. They laughed and giggled and looked uncomfortable most of the time.



Shirley (left) and Rupika (right) sitting on a sofa in the grand salon under the big dome. I practically had to force them to sit on the sofa. They were afraid to sit on the furniture.

They were much more comfortable when we walked around outside. The fountains are fabulous and lots of fun. We helped an Arab family get some photos together in front of the main fountain and then watch them walk around out in the fountains.

We also took them to Dubai to the Mall of the Emirates a couple of weekends ago. They had a really good time walking around and looking at everything. John gave them each some money to spend on themselves and enough to eat lunch. They came back with a few small purchases and refused to eat lunch because the "prices were too expensive." They tried to buy an ice cream and it cost 28 dirhams each which was $7. I agreed that $7 was an expensive ice cream. They refused to buy it. They said they wanted to spend their money in Abu Dhabi where they could get more for their money. Now....mind you.....Shirley was fussing because she had to spend 12 dirhams on a pair of pants in Dubai when she could pay 10 dirhams in Abu Dhabi! Shirley is one of those people who will drive all the way on the other side of town to save $1. In American dollars, she had to pay about 60 cents more for the pants in Dubai. We see that as such a small thing. To her, it is big. We just laugh and wave our hand at her. She is very frugal and is always worried about how much money she is spending ..."because it is the The Boss and Madam's money...."

They are so, so funny. We have so much fun sharing things with them. They work so hard for so little. Shirley has been here a long time and hasn't been to any of the major touristic attractions. John is convinced that she should have just a little bit of fun sometimes. She giggles and laughs and gets so shy when John tries to indulge her a bit.

We recently purchased a new pair of glasses for her as a bonus. She was wearing an old wire frame pair with only one ear piece so she always looked a bit lopsided. She had not gotten new glasses for six years. So we sent her to the eye doctor to get her eyes checked. Then she and I went to the frame shop and picked out some really nice glasses for her. She is really happy with them and she likes having something that looks so new and modern. She fussed and fussed about the price (500 dirhams-136 USD) and went to about four different shops looking for the best price. By American standards, the price of $136 for bi-focal lenses and heavy duty frames is pretty amazing.

What a gift to be able to make a big difference in someone's life! It seems so small to us. It is huge to them. We are so fortunate to have so much. We take so many things for granted.

Working Out at the Armed Forces Officer's Club

Busy, Busy, Busy is all I can say about the last two weeks! I have renewed my commitment to live healthier AND to lose some weight. We are members of two health clubs---one downtown at the Hilton Hotel. This one is complete with spa, beach club, pools, private beach, fitness, and is located right on the Corniche (sort of like a Boardwalk only it does not have a carnival atmosphere)overlooking the beautiful marina.

The other club is the Armed Forces Officer's Club. All I can say is......well, when the Emirati build an officer's club----they build an officer's club. This one makes the US Officer's club look pathetic. Among its many amenities is a full sized, 400 room hotel complete with 8 Royal Suites, 16 Presidential Suites, and 40 Executive Suites. It has an Olympic sized indoor pool; a Billiard's Lounge; a small bowling alley; an indoor shooting range; covered tennis courts; squash courts; steam bath and jacuzzi; a paintball field; a football field and track; an indoor "children's village"; an entertainment theater; a cinema; lecture halls; banquet halls; 6 cafes; 4 restaurants; a ladies only gym; a unisex gym; VERY large hallways and atriums with escalators; gift shops; and lounging areas everywhere. Upstairs is an lounging area that looks like a bedouin tent. They have travel agencies and banks. A barber shop (men's saloon) and a beauty shop (women's saloon).


The building is constructed in the shape of a falcon. I am not surprised at this because the Emirati enjoy falconry as a favorite sport. They love their falcons (one of my neighbors has one that sits out in front of his house on a perch). The building is HUGE and over-the-top. The gardens can seat a banquet of 10,000 people. Marble and chandeliers are everywhere. They are building a kiddie playground and an outdoor pool as well as a marina with docks. People will be able to pull up in their yachts to go to the club (Emirati like big boats!).










I go to this gym to workout several times a week as it is quite close to my house and very convenient for me. I usually go to the ladies gym to work out. I could use the unisex one, and I think most of the expatriot women do. However, I wanted to experience the "real deal" and step into this mysterious world of the Emirati women. I am curious about them and I wanted a chance to see what all the mystery is about. What have I learned? That these women are the same as women everywhere else when they take off their black robes and uncover their faces. They laugh, smile, and giggle just like girls everywhere. They gossip. They sweat. They share secrets. They encourage each other. They workout together.

The women in the gym pretty much ignore me. I think they just pretend I am not there. I see other ex-pat women in there but they seem to be ignored also. On occasion I will get a smile from someone or a nod of greeting. Mostly I am just tolerated and sort of invisible. That's okay with me because then I can observe. One thing I have noticed is that most of the women are not there for maintenance. Very few young women are there working out to maintain their figure. Most of the women are obese and middle-aged. (or at least only older obese women are there in the mornings when I am there; the younger ones may come later in the day) I also notice that many of them do not know much about exercise. The other day I had a women meet up with me at the water fountain as I was refilling my water bottle. She had been on the treadmill for the last 30 minutes the same as I and had worked up quite a sweat. She was thirsty. She timidly asked me, "do you always drink water when you work out?" I answered yes, trying to hide my surprise. She then asked, "should I be drinking water when I exercise?" I explained the importance of drinking water to prevent dehydration. I encouraged her to bring a water bottle and keep it at the treadmill with her. She seemed very appreciative of my advice. She was very interested in what I was doing and how I was doing it.

The staff is Asian and Indian and they are all very nice to me. They talk with me and offer assistance. The Emirati women are very used to being waited on by servants and leave their things everywhere. The staff likes it that I pick up after myself and don't expect them to retrieve my headphones or pick up my dirty towels from the machines. They have towel bins but they don't seem to like to use them. One thing I love about this gym is that they keep a small refrigerator full of cold, scented washcloths for exercisers. It is so refreshing to use one after working out.

I don't think I want to go to the steam bath and jacuzzi. It would just be too weird. I am really not sure how they do it because they are so modest here. It is against the law to undress in the locker room (no kidding---it is a UAE law with signs posted to that effect) and the lockers have changing rooms for that purpose. I hear stories about the Europeans stripping down in the locker rooms and the women all getting hysterical over it and calling management---a real uproar. I'll have to remember never to never undress in the locker room!

I also have a fear of the pool area. The Emirati women swim in something that looks like a wet suit with a hood on it. I don't think they swim with their veil on.....:) I think it would just be too weird and I would feel uncomfortable in my swimsuit. Suddenly I think I would feel "exposed."




I love this strange new world I am living in these days. I feel so privileged to get a peek inside!

***All photos courtesy of the Armed Forces Officer's Club & Hotel Website*****(no photography allowed on the property----and they are very serious about this!)