United Arab Emirates 40th Anniversary Bash,
A bit overdue, but nonetheless....
Don't know whether Dame Fortuna had anything to with it, but our stop-over in the UAE coincided with their National Independence Day, December 2nd.
I'm the first one to admit that I'm not a patriotic person, what do you expect, ethnic Chinese, born and raised in Western Europe, thus all the while the poohaa of independence day celebrations have really left me cold all these years as I neither belong to this or that 'population'.
Don't get me wrong though, I'm proud of where I'm from, but that doesn't necessarily translate in overtly showing my 'love' for "King and Country", capiche?
As for Jess and our girl, apart from knowing how to sing the national anthem (they are drilled to know the lyrics from kindergarten onwards), I don't observe any sense of patriotism in them.......let's just say our household is too grounded for that stuff.
On the other hand, the young state of UAE which as I said before was celebrating its 40th anniversary.....and that has to be celebrated with a big bang.
That translates into buildings and malls adorned with colours and banners of the UAE.....even the local merchants jumped in on the patriotic bandwagon, displaying the UAE flag in their respective stores on their merchandise.
And what about the common folks then? The citizens of federation of 7 states do share their love for the country. What do you expect, thanks to their new-found wealth (read = oil dollars), the Emirati's are near the world's pinnacle of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) per capita. As a result of sitting on top of all that hard cash, the government doles out freebies to its citizens, and I'm not talking about titbits either.
Don't get me wrong now, it just happens that someone up there is smiling upon these folks who have been trying to make do in an utterly harsh and hostile environment for centuries.
And since the rest of the world is dependent on zillions and zillions of that glut of black oil which happens to be buried beneath that sea of sand.......the conclusion is easily made, just a question of simple economics. Bring it on....the coffers stashed with cash!! ;-)
And having 'cash', they even decorated a few super cars with the national colours, emblems and pics of the rulers......talking about being patriotic, don't see that happening though back in good 'ol Belgium....
One way that the common Emirati's show their patriotism is by decorating their cars with the national flag, emblems, images of the founders and current ruler.....you name it, they show it.
And on the night of the festivities they all drive out, honking their horns traveling in convoys up and down town. I assure you, seeing all these frenzied people celebrating like they have won the world cup, it was so contagious that I felt like partaking in the celebrations.
For once, I'm throwing out my personal opinion about patriotism....
But fact is, the Emirates have developed at an astounding pace since its inception, and they do deserve to be proud of their achievements.
As long as it's good banter, carry on......Congrats UAE!!!
And what about the common folks then? The citizens of federation of 7 states do share their love for the country. What do you expect, thanks to their new-found wealth (read = oil dollars), the Emirati's are near the world's pinnacle of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) per capita. As a result of sitting on top of all that hard cash, the government doles out freebies to its citizens, and I'm not talking about titbits either.
Don't get me wrong now, it just happens that someone up there is smiling upon these folks who have been trying to make do in an utterly harsh and hostile environment for centuries.
And since the rest of the world is dependent on zillions and zillions of that glut of black oil which happens to be buried beneath that sea of sand.......the conclusion is easily made, just a question of simple economics. Bring it on....the coffers stashed with cash!! ;-)
And having 'cash', they even decorated a few super cars with the national colours, emblems and pics of the rulers......talking about being patriotic, don't see that happening though back in good 'ol Belgium....
One way that the common Emirati's show their patriotism is by decorating their cars with the national flag, emblems, images of the founders and current ruler.....you name it, they show it.
And on the night of the festivities they all drive out, honking their horns traveling in convoys up and down town. I assure you, seeing all these frenzied people celebrating like they have won the world cup, it was so contagious that I felt like partaking in the celebrations.
For once, I'm throwing out my personal opinion about patriotism....
But fact is, the Emirates have developed at an astounding pace since its inception, and they do deserve to be proud of their achievements.
As long as it's good banter, carry on......Congrats UAE!!!
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