(I was channel surfing when I saw the nose-to-nose scene by Filipinos from a talent show over The Filipino Channel. As part of the culture, you might see Gulf men greeting each other by rubbing noses.)
I was, of course, beaming when I was sent to a (getting popular) structured cultural awareness workshop. I’m now a little over three years living (and working) in Abu Dhabi and you might ask isn’t it too late? When an expatriate or any non-national goes to another country, it’s a given that one must orient himself in many possible ways before landing in a foreign land. Especially when one crosses borders to augment and/or explore the workforce. It’s specially tricky in the UAE because it’s not simply dealing with the UAE Nationals; it actually means dealing with different Arabs and Muslims + the other nationalities. Configure the equation that not all Arabs are Muslims, not all Muslims are Arabs, and all the other nationalities could either be Muslims or not. Hence, when I was picked to attend the “proper” cultural awareness workshop, there was so much wooooow painted in my heart and face. I just really find it interesting to learn about new culture, everyday there’s always a new discovery.
