Have you found that you’ve picked up a lot of bad habits since you moved to Abu Dhabi? Yep, us too. From taking taxis for a two-minute journey to cooking ourselves in the sun and wasting every weekend stuffing ourselves silly at expensive brunches, we’ve turned into a particularly lazy and unhealthy bunch. But that’s all going to change this year (honest!). We’re going to stop blaming our lovely city for all these bad habits and start afresh. We’ve counted our vices and worked out the best ways to break those bad Abu Dhabi habits.
1 Quit shisha
You probably ditched the cigs years ago since, as everyone knows, smoking is a deeply unhealthy and anti-social habit and anyone who does it is a total mug. Right? Right. Yet somehow shisha, despite being just as bad for you as cigarettes, seems to have managed to escape even the most zealous anti-smokers’ attentions. But according to World Health Organisation (WHO) research, the amount of smoke you’d breathe in over an hour smoking shisha is approximately the same as smoking between 100 and 200 cigarettes, depending, of course, on how deeply and how often you inhale. So our advice is to just knock it on the head completely this year – no matter how tempting you find that sweet smell in the evenings!
Get motivated: Choose coffee shops that don’t even have shisha on the menu, such as Café Arabia or Jones the Grocer, so you won’t be tempted. If you miss having something to do with your hands, order some nibbles for the table even if it’s just nuts or mezze, and snack instead of smoking. For more information about the health risks of smoking shisha, visit the health section of the Abu Dhabi government website,
www.abudhabi.ae.
2 Look after your skin
You’ve seen them: the expats who have lived here for ten or more years and look as though they wouldn’t recognize a bottle of sun tan lotion if it squirted itself right onto their noses. Let their wrinkly, leathery faces be a reminder of how important it is to take good care of your skin in this harsh climate. You’ll need to wear a high sun protection factor all the year round, even in the cooler months, and avoid staying out in the sun altogether during the summer. It might be trendy to sport a year-round tan here in the UAE, but it’s really not worth it in the long term, so invest in a good quality brand of sun lotion and bring it with you everywhere you go
Get motivated: If you have to sunbathe, avoid the hours when the sun is strongest (between noon and 3pm), but if it’s just the tanned limb look you want, you might as well get a fake tan. Sisters Beauty Lounge (02 222 2501) do a full body spray tan for Dhs250 or you can try Madonna Beauty Spa (02 674 0666) who charge the same.
3 Walk more! (And stop taking taxis for short journeys)
It’s a surefire way to tell someone’s been living in Abu Dhabi for over a year when they hail a taxi for the shortest distances, regardless of the weather. So if you’re one of those people who has got into the habit of calling a driver for distances such as Emirates Palace to Marina Mall, make a resolution to start walking around the city more, especially when the weather is as beautiful as it is at the moment. You’ll save yourself a bit of change, get to know the city better, and squeeze some extra exercise into your day.
Get motivated: Visit walkers.meetup.com and select Abu Dhabi from the list of regions to find local walking and jogging groups. Or download the Abu Dhabi Walking Tours app on your smartphone, which has six suggested routes and a map of the city – those should get you going!
4 Get to know the rest of Abu Dhabi
Never set foot off the island? 2012 is the year to change all that! Make a point of going on an adventure every weekend while the weather is good, and visit all the parts of the emirate you’ve never seen before. Liwa, Mirfa and Al Ain are all under two hours drive away, and you’ll be amazed at what there is to see in these nearby locations, from enormous sand dunes, to rugged coastlines and historic sites.
Get motivated: There are a number of festivals coming up in Al Gharbia this year – Liwa Date festival, Al Gharbia Falconry festival and Mirfa Watersports festival to name just a few. Take advantage of these as an excuse to make the trip – you won’t regret it. www.algharbiafestivals.com.
5 Keep your air conditioning down
Although it seems to be the trend in public buildings to crank up the aircon so much you need to dress for a Serbian winter to feel comfortable, there’s no need to do the same in your own home. If you live in a shared building, you might find that you don’t need to even switch your apartment’s a/c on at all since the building is already kept so cool. But if you must, keep it at a reasonable 23 or 24 degrees. You’ll save energy and it’s better for your health too, since you won’t give your body such a shock every time you step outdoors into the sunlight.
Get motivated: Try spending an afternoon wearing light clothes in your apartment and no air conditioning to see if you feel comfortable. If not, just stick a post it note on your a/c unit to remind yourself to keep the temperature a few degrees warmer than usual.
6 Learn Arabic
This has been one of our unfulfilled resolutions since first setting foot in the UAE, never mind New Year’s Eve – yet we’re still barely able to count to ten in Arabic. So this year we’ll be signing up for a series of lessons at one of the many Arabic language schools in town and trying to improve on our basics. If your main aim is to improve your conversational skills, than Berlitz Language Center (02 667 2287) comes highly recommended, while if you need to smarten up your business language skills, then your best bet is probably the more formal Mother Tongue Centre. (02 639 3838).
Get motivated: Enlist the help of an Arabic speaking friend. Arrange to meet up with them once a week for a chat in Arabic – you’ll find you pick up vocabulary much quicker by listening to words in context than you will by learning lists from a book. Plus you’ll get used to the speed and colloquialisms of someone who isn’t your teacher, which is always helpful.
7 Be more charitable
We don’t want to put anyone off…but with a few notable exceptions, sometimes it seems as though there’s virtually nothing going on in Abu Dhabi in terms of charity work. The odd benefit here or donation scheme there, carried out by generous individuals with an unending supply of patience. So let’s make 2012 the year to change that. You can get involved with schemes that are already up and running, for example Volunteer in Abu Dhabi who have a sporadic range of activities and events you can sign up for, supporting a range of causes. Or you can start up your own group and donate funds or time to a charity of your choice. From women’s shelters to under-resourced labour camps there’s a large section of Abu Dhabi’s population who are in need of financial and practical support, so why not turn a regular activity – playgroup, a coffee morning or a party – into a charity event? Persuade your friends to give generously and donate the proceeds to a good cause.
Get motivated: Visit www.volunteerinabudhabi.com and sign up for their notifications, so you’ll get a reminder whenever their charitable events are happening in the city. Alternatively Ewa’a, a shelter for victims of human trafficking, are always in need of volunteers to help out at their shelters. Visit www.shwc.ae for information about the organisation – and if you need any more motivation, reading through the victim’s
stories on their site should be enough to prompt anyone into action.
8 Make more friends
Whether you’ve been here a while or just recently arrived in the city, you might find yourself in something of a social life vortex. Work getting in the way? Or perhaps you just haven’t made the time yet to get out there and start meeting new people? There are plenty of ways that you can start socializing. Try one of the online meet up networking groups for starters. Meetup.com is probably the most popular in the city, and covers all sorts of interests, hobbies and age groups. The emphasis is on outings and events – all you have to do is track down a group with interests similar to yours (anything from kayaking to drinking), request membership and, pending approval from the group’s admin, you’re free to get involved with any of the events you fancy. Internations.com is a site aimed purely at expats, and you can only join through an invitation. If you don’t already know someone who is a member, you can email the site’s moderators with an application instead.
Get motivated: If you’re anxious about showing up to an event on your own, email the event organizer in advance, then you’ll have someone to meet when you arrive. The people who run these meetups are almost always welcoming types who enjoy introducing people to each other, so they’re bound to make you feel at ease.
9 Kick the brunch habit
OK, we know we’re not going to make a lot of friends with this suggestion, but if you find your weekends getting swallowed up in a brunch haze, why not make a resolution to stop going altogether? We know we’re guilty of letting entire weekends slip by while we eat plate after plate of mismatched, unhealthy food, drink far too much and then spend the rest of the evening and next day in a headachey fog of regret. So save brunches for special occasions this year, and then you can use your weekends in more productive and healthier pursuits, be it learning to cook a new cuisine, joining a sports group or taking up a new hobby.
Get motivated: Plan your weekends in advance, so you won’t be tempted to go to a brunch just for something to do. If you want a big meetup with your friends at the weekend, why not organize a sports day instead? Have a look at upcoming sports tournaments at www.duplays.com and sign your buddies up as a team.
10 Explore the city’s backstreets
When was the last time you went for a walk in the capital’s downtown area? Forget the futuristic Yas Island, or the flawless beaches of Saadiyat and make a resolution to get to know the heart of the city better. There’s no denying the Tourist Club Area might be grubby and a bit rough around the edges, but the backstreets are filled with character. Spend an hour discovering secret shops, tiny restaurants, shawarma counters and plenty of stores for getting tailoring, shoe-mending and all sorts of other services done for a fraction of the price you’d pay in the malls.
Get motivated: The curry houses in this area are renowned for costing next to nothing and serve up delicious Indian and Pakistani cuisine to rival anything you’d find in Delhi or Karachi. Start with a meal at Ruchi (02 679 5679) or Evergreen Vegetarian Restaurant (02 676 7361), then walk it off as you wander through the surrounding area.
