'Became so home sick for UAE that I returned to Dubai'

"It was a culture shock. In those days Dubai was not known in Germany, at least not as a tourist destination, so I was completely unprepared."

In a week's time, Martina Venus, a marketing manager from Germany, will mark 13 years since she first arrived in the UAE. It was not only the first time she was visiting a Middle Eastern country, but it was also the first time she was travelling outside her small, rural town in Bavaria.
"It was the end of August 2002. I arrived at about 1am and it was such a shock! It must have been about 40 degrees celsius with about 90 per cent humidity," she said.
Through a friend who was already working in the UAE, Martina found out about a job opportunity here, as a tour operator in Sharjah. She applied and she got the job. Dubai, and generally the UAE was hardly heard of in Germany those days, and Martina knew next to nothing about her new home.
"It was a culture shock. In those days Dubai was not known in Germany, at least not as a tourist destination, so I was completely unprepared," she said.
"The first three months were very hard; I had no friends, no clue about the place and I felt stranded in the middle of nowhere."
Gradually, things begin to change. During her training, Martina travelled to all seven emirates on a weekly basis. She began to make friends and discover the country. Dubai, Al Ain and Fujairah were among her favourite destinations.
"I remember we had a stretch of about 20 minutes drive to Burj Al Arab when we had nothing to show tourists. So I would just get them to imagine how this place was going to look like in a few years' time, all impressive skyscrapers; and now it does look like that," said Martina. Fujairah too was a nature lover's paradise, with nothing but sandy beaches and bare rock mountains.
"After crossing the mountains from Masafi town, we would have nothing but the wild, undeveloped coast. The only hotel on Fujairah and Khor Fakkan coast back then were Sandy Beach and Oceana. It really was beautiful," she pointed out.
Abu Dhabi too was largely undeveloped back then, the main attractions for Martina's groups being the petrol exhibition (now closed) in the old Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and a tour of the old Corniche, which had no sandy beaches, just rocks and decorative water fountains. The best attraction in Abu Dhabi, though, was Qasr Al Hosn, the first concrete building in Abu Dhabi that started as a fort and over time it became a royal palace.
"In the early 2000s, Qasr Al Hosn was still open to the public. We used to walk through its gardens and visit the royal chambers, which were furnished even then." Martina's one year break in the UAE turned into two years, then, in 2004, she went back to Europe to complete her post graduation. She kept returning, though, to visit her friends, and each time was impressed at how much and how fast the UAE was developing.
"I became so home sick for the UAE that I eventually returned to Dubai in September 2008. I got a job with a major developing company and in December 2008 the financial crush hit. Within weeks, 90 per cent of our company was dissolved, but I managed to hang in there for a bit longer."
"I remember the Springs area in Dubai, which was so affluent you'd have to wait months to get an apartment, was becoming a ghost town. You could see people packing to leave, really upset, sometimes even crying. It was heartbreaking."
When Martina was contacted by Starwood group to take over the Public Relations and communications department in one of its five star hotels in Abu Dhabi, she had exactly Dh1 in her bank account.
It was December 2009 when she moved to Abu Dhabi and to this day she loves it here.
"It was like déjà vu. All the development that I previously witnessed in Dubai it was now happening in Abu Dhabi, but at a slower pace. It is really impressive, and what I love about Abu Dhabi is that despite all its developments, it still keeps its family feel, its identity."
A few years later, Martina met the man who would marry her, in Abu Dhabi and got a dream job with Etihad Airways.
"I am now happily married and have a beautiful, secure life in Abu Dhabi, with good friends," she said.
silvia@khaleejtimes.com
Interviewed by Silvia Radan Street talk is a weekly column to get a glimpse of people's lives in uae

• Abu Dhabi