Boris Salazar
‘I came to Abu Dhabi at the end of 2006. Previously I had lived in China and had been travelling around since I left university. In my spare time I meet up with friends, go out dancing, swimming, doing sports – the usual stuff. Back in Germany I never celebrated Oktoberfest – we don’t celebrate it in Berlin, it is a Bavarian thing. Here it is all games and dancing – I like it, although I am a vegetarian so I don’t bother with all the meat.
‘With it also being Unity Day this is an important month. I remember when the wall fell. It was a big event, especially in Berlin. It was very busy and crowded, there were a lot of people in the street and there was a huge traffic jam. They had to have special travel buses because the normal ones couldn’t cope.
‘There was a huge party, but our family didn’t really celebrate. We saw it on TV; it happened, but we only went a few days afterwards. I got stones from the wall and made some business by selling them at school, but no one really wanted to buy them because everybody already had their own. Of course, now you can find pieces of wall everywhere in the tourist areas.
‘Unity Day means something extra special to me, though, because it was this time last year that I met my girlfriend. Since that day my life has become amazingly colourful and I hope to celebrate many days of unity with her in the future. I couldn’t wish for anything better than that for the next few years.’
Birte Schmude
‘I came to Abu Dhabi two and half years ago. I first came here on vacation to see my fiancée – I then moved here because of him. Celebrating Unity Day in the capital is different to back home. The years before, I didn’t celebrate much, I was just happy we had a day off and a holiday. Here there is usually a big party, and last year a German politician made an appearance.
‘I was 10 when the wall fell down. It was quite a funny time because there was a huge celebration and just a few people turned up to school. You could feel the excitement. For me, as a child, I didn’t realise how much it would change for everybody; I didn’t understand how depressed people were that they couldn’t go where they wanted.
‘Most people went to West Berlin for the day, to walk on the Ku’dam, the main shopping street in the western area, and feel what it was like. People from the west would stand at the border and give everyone travelling there gifts and sweets. My father was kind of smart, he said, ‘Let’s wait one week when it’s not so busy anymore.’ OK, when we went we were one week late, but at least there was still someone there to give us sweets.
‘This month in Abu Dhabi is also Oktoberfest. The funny thing is, even in Germany it is not really celebrated in October, mostly in September. Usually we go to the Oktoberfest at the Hilton, or to Brauhaus – that is the only German restaurant in Abu Dhabi. I went to Oktoberfest twice in Munich, but you have to get there very early in the morning, around 9am, otherwise you will not get into the tents. The last time I went I couldn’t be bothered and decided to stay in bed instead.
‘My sister has lived in Munich for two years now and she has a dirndl (traditional Bavarian dress), but it’s becoming famous that people dress up like this for Oktoberfest. I come from Berlin so I have no lederhosen. It is a funny thing for us; there is a feeling that all German people dress like this – trust me, they don’t.’
It’s German Unity Day, or is it?
October 3 is the day when the contract of reunification was signed between east and west Germany, but the average German doesn’t usually link personal events with this day – not like November 9. This was the day of the actual fall of the Berlin Wall. However, this date has very bad connotations in German history. Kristallnacht (a series of Nazi anti-Jewish attacks) in 1939, Hitler’s Beer Hall Putsch (an unsuccessful Nazi coup) in 1923 and the so-called November Revolution in 1918, which created the first German Republic, all happened on November 9. Consequently, the official Unity Day was brought forward.
