Snowing on UAE National Day

I've been in the UAE for almost 3 years.. Never saw a National Day celebration. Every year my husband goes on and on telling me about how a nice experience it is and he finally managed to take me out for a walk this year.

On our way from Dubai to Abu Dhabi on Friday it was pouring heavily and the weather was very nice, it kind of reminded me of the cold winter but without the bitterness of it :) We were planning for a BBQ at the park but got canceled because of the rain.. the next morning was beautiful, light breezes,soft sun and clean fresh air, perfect to go out and celebrate.

At night, we went for a walk at the Corniche that was PACKED! we could barely walk without stepping onto somebody's foot.. and almost impossible not to bump into people running away from each other as they spray them with snow. I got touched by the amount of happy faces I saw.. people smiling everywhere.. sharing joy and celebrating a wonderful country together. I found myself smiling to strangers and waving to cars willingly! What a lovely happy night it was.

Cars were properly decorated with flowers, flags and balloons, people dressed up in clothes with the flag's colors, the road was filled with snow spray and evidences of friendly battles. If you leave your window opened.. then you are asking for it! People would cover you with snow and leave you defenseless against their bottles! That's what happened to us the next day while we were driving back to Dubai. All I could see in front of our car was snow showers over cars and people.. a happy snow, a snow that doesn't hurt anyone and brings us back to be young and happy. And the only things you hear are the sound of the spraying bottles and the cars horns rhythms together.


The lion's share of these kinds of celebrations goes to children.. who were FINALLY allowed to go out and run in the street and play with strangers and fill them with snow!  I was pointing to children at my husband to be their new victim but I end up being covered with snow with him!  They got to sense how it feels to be happy and proud of their country, they got to share that feeling with their families and strangers. And most importantly, they got to learn more about the history of this country just by celebrating its union.


The next day we went to the mall for lunch and passed by a couple of booths that handed me over a brochure about the UAE, explaining its history and how it became what we can see today, how it started with a dream and became a success. And imagine my admiration when I received an SMS on my phone from His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum congratulating me and all UAE residents as we all celebrate National Day.

And finally.. what I loved the most about these celebrations is that a lot of people from different parts of this world got to share and see this with Emirati people, people who knew only few things about this country and its people, people like me who barely interacts with Emirati peopel and know very little about their culture, and National Day gave us a chance to see and understand more about the UAE, and gave us a chance to fall in love with it even more.