If you’re American, or have American friends, you know that last week was Thanksgiving, a holiday traditionally celebrated by getting together with family and friends to eat until you hit the (in)famous “turkey coma”.
That emphasis on food comes from the first Thanksgiving, when a native population welcomed a group of refugees utterly foreign to their shores. In an ugly irony, some officials in the US government seem unwilling to extend a similar compassion to this century’s refugees – even as those officials sit down to their own Thanksgiving feasts.
Thanksgiving is purely secular: it celebrates a moment of unity rather than any divine event. For many Americans, it’s the best holiday, probably because of the food: we’re talking multiple pies, mounds of vegetables (usually lashed with cream and butter), and the occasional smidgen of turkey-based protein.
Truth be told, I’m not a fan of turkey, but I do love gathering with my family, which is why, for me, Thanksgiving is a particularly hard time to be far from home.
No family is perfect, of course, and every gathering comes with its irritations – all those questions about who is or isn’t getting married, having a baby, leaving for college or making enough money, and let’s not even mention politics. But it’s like the poet Robert Frost said: “Home is the place that when you go there they have to take you in.” Or at least, that’s what we hope for: home as an unconditional refuge.
For most of us living as expatriates in Abu Dhabi, that unconditional refuge can be expensively far away, and although Skype offers a semblance of a connection, hugging an iPad isn’t quite the same as hugging Grandma.
Sometimes I wonder about less technologically advanced eras, when letters took weeks or even months to travel back and forth. Without the possibility of staying linked to home, were people more open to new experiences?
When we leave home and begin the process of settling in somewhere else, whether just a few towns away for university or halfway around the world for a new job, logistics take priority – bank accounts and grocery stores and the all-important Wi-Fi access (for Skyping home) – but then comes the harder, and more important, piece: finding a new tribe, that group of people who will become “home”. I’ve invoked Simone Weil’s adage before, but it bears repeating: “To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognised need of the human soul.”
In addition to Thanksgiving last week, for me there was also that little blip on the radar known as Formula One, which before living here I’d never even known was a sport, really, much less a sport with rabidly devoted fans.
This year's Grand Prix was indeed a gathering of the tribe, eagerly debating the nuances of this car or that, those drivers or these. It’s hard for me to imagine a racetrack as a source of “rootedness”, but I have an English friend who is similarly mystified by the American tendency to pile marshmallows on sweet potatoes and call it a side dish rather than a dessert.
I do not define my Abu Dhabi tribe solely by its willingness to eat sweet-potato casserole, but I derive sustenance from our Thanksgiving gatherings in ways that have nothing to do with food. The “tribe” is not all American, but we gather nonetheless, and celebrate our gratitude for having a community that creates a sense of rootedness. And just like my childhood Thanksgivings, when I would race around with my 17 cousins, so too at this Thanksgiving a slew of children, revved up on apple pie and whipped cream, ricocheted through my apartment with a noise that I’m sure rivalled anything at F1. There was familiarity in the noise, and comfort in the chaos.
In the aftermath of Thanksgiving and National Day, take a moment to celebrate your tribe, regardless of whether you gather around race cars, sweet potatoes, the Emirates or the life-saving offerings of Wampanoag Indians 400 years ago. Celebrate – and then ask someone you don’t know to join the group.
Deborah Lindsay Williams is programme head of literature and creative writing at NYU Abu Dhabi
BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh650,000
The years Ramadan fell in May
Key figures in the life of the fort
Sheikh Dhiyab bin Isa (ruled 1761-1793) Built Qasr Al Hosn as a watchtower to guard over the only freshwater well on Abu Dhabi island.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Dhiyab (ruled 1793-1816) Expanded the tower into a small fort and transferred his ruling place of residence from Liwa Oasis to the fort on the island.
Sheikh Tahnoon bin Shakhbut (ruled 1818-1833) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further as Abu Dhabi grew from a small village of palm huts to a town of more than 5,000 inhabitants.
Sheikh Khalifa bin Shakhbut (ruled 1833-1845) Repaired and fortified the fort.
Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon (ruled 1845-1855) Turned Qasr Al Hosn into a strong two-storied structure.
Sheikh Zayed bin Khalifa (ruled 1855-1909) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further to reflect the emirate's increasing prominence.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Sultan (ruled 1928-1966) Renovated and enlarged Qasr Al Hosn, adding a decorative arch and two new villas.
Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan (ruled 1966-2004) Moved the royal residence to Al Manhal palace and kept his diwan at Qasr Al Hosn.
Sources: Jayanti Maitra, www.adach.ae
THE SPECS
Engine: AMG-enhanced 3.0L inline-6 turbo with EQ Boost and electric auxiliary compressor
Transmission: nine-speed automatic
Power: 429hp
Torque: 520Nm
Price: Dh360,200 (starting)
The specs
Engine: 3.5-litre V6
Power: 272hp at 6,400rpm
Torque: 331Nm from 5,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.7L/100km
On sale: now
Price: Dh149,000
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Company: Instabug
Founded: 2013
Based: Egypt, Cairo
Sector: IT
Employees: 100
Stage: Series A
Investors: Flat6Labs, Accel, Y Combinator and angel investors
Continental champions
Best Asian Player: Massaki Todokoro (Japan)
Best European Player: Adam Wardzinski (Poland)
Best North & Central American Player: DJ Jackson (United States)
Best African Player: Walter Dos Santos (Angola)
Best Oceanian Player: Lee Ting (Australia)
Best South American Player: Gabriel De Sousa (Brazil)
Best Asian Federation: Saudi Jiu-Jitsu Federation
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
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more from Janine di Giovanni
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Citadel: Honey Bunny first episode
Directors: Raj & DK
Stars: Varun Dhawan, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Kashvi Majmundar, Kay Kay Menon
Rating: 4/5
The Brutalist
Director: Brady Corbet
Stars: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn
Rating: 3.5/5
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Alita: Battle Angel
Director: Robert Rodriguez
Stars: Rosa Salazar, Christoph Waltz, Keean Johnson
Four stars
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The years Ramadan fell in May
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
Emergency phone numbers in the UAE
Estijaba – 8001717 – number to call to request coronavirus testing
Ministry of Health and Prevention – 80011111
Dubai Health Authority – 800342 – The number to book a free video or voice consultation with a doctor or connect to a local health centre
Emirates airline – 600555555
Etihad Airways – 600555666
Ambulance – 998
Knowledge and Human Development Authority – 8005432 ext. 4 for Covid-19 queries
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Results:
First Test: New Zealand 30 British & Irish Lions 15
Second Test: New Zealand 21 British & Irish Lions 24
Third Test: New Zealand 15 British & Irish Lions 15
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Killing of Qassem Suleimani