Rediscovering Latinidad Season 6 Episode 3 Alrededor del mundo: El Viaje de Jellissa a Abu Dhabi

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Dear listeners, we are excited to have you join us
for another season of Rediscovering Latini Dan. We hope you
enjoy this sixth season as we port a tremendous amount
of time, research, and loyalty into our episodes. We also
know that these are unprecedented times, and then many of
our listeners or their family members may be living in
fear and certainly anger about the recent developments with immigration, deportation,

(00:35):
and birthright citizenship.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
We hold space for all of.

Speaker 1 (00:38):
The emotions here, and we hope the information we provide
you will help you not only in your journey to
discovering your ancestors, but also leading you to documentation that
may secure your safety. We will list all resources in
the show notes and update them as we uncover more. Now,
we hope you enjoy this episode.

Speaker 2 (01:02):
Welcome back everyone to season six, episode three, where we're
going to be talking about Melissa's trip to Abu Dhabi.
I'm Fausto, Hey, I'm Edward, I'm Brian Rose.

Speaker 3 (01:15):
And I'm Julyisa. This episode is all about.

Speaker 4 (01:17):
Me and this starts our episode per season where Latinos travel,
we go places, we move around. Where's Latina down around
the world?

Speaker 2 (01:26):
We'd be doing things.

Speaker 1 (01:29):
Yes, Julius will tell us all about it.

Speaker 3 (01:32):
I had the great pleasure of spending two weeks in
Abu Dhabi this past fall. I was there over Thanksgiving
break to visit my brother who lives there. It is
a very lovely and beautiful place, very very very far away,
fourteen hours flight from New York. And did not enjoy that,
even though the Emirates flight was very lovely. Flew into Dubai.

Speaker 2 (01:51):
Oh wait, tell us a little bit more about that flight.
I've never been on light. Like, what is it different
from American airlines or you know the spirit?

Speaker 3 (02:02):
Their entertainment system is award winning, like and not just
me saying that. It literally has won whatever the plane
Entertainment award. It's our ice, it's in flight something something,
and oh I might figure out what it stands for.
But yeah, they've got hundreds of thousands of movies, including
the movie the review recorded a couple of seasons ago.

(02:25):
I was like, oh my goodness, look at that. I
know that movie, loads of movies and TVs and concerts,
and just their in flight entertainment system is kind of
world class. And the you don't call them hostesses anymore.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
What do you call them?

Speaker 3 (02:37):
The flight attendants are very hello, fowstoe, how are you today?
And can I get you this? And they know your
name and they come and check on you every few hours.
Would you like something to drink? Would you like a snack?

Speaker 2 (02:48):
Like not even?

Speaker 3 (02:49):
Oh we're passing by. Here's some chips, like would you
like anything? Do you want me to get you something
from the bar? Would you like tea? Would you like coffee?
So yeah, very would you? Here's a hot towel, just
very attentive. It's like, and oh, you were flying first class?
I see I was in business, not even first but yeah,
I've heard like the premium economy is even there's that

(03:11):
commercial with I think Penelopan crews are like, oh, they
should call it something other than economy because it's so
luxurious or some nonsense they say. But yes, it's very
It was a very unique flying experience. I was telling
my other brother who didn't travel with us, that it
felt a little bit like preschool because when they want
you to sleep, the lights dim. They put stars are

(03:31):
projected onto the ceiling plane and there's very like low lighting,
and then when it's time for breakfast, the lights change.
To like this ambery glow like it's the sunrise and
the lights slowly come up and they are like, here's
some breakfast. I'm like, yeah, you're just like sleep training. Yeah,
kindergarten nap time. Now it's time to wake up and
have some food. After you eat, like after half an hour,

(03:54):
the lights dim again, the stars come back out again.
Time to take another nap because you still have another seven.

Speaker 2 (03:59):
Hours on this day. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (04:01):
So yeah, that's fourteen hour flight. Was not my favorite
thing to do, but it was not It wasn't too bad.

Speaker 2 (04:08):
Okay, okay. So and then may I ask, what is
your brother doing on that side of the world.

Speaker 3 (04:13):
He's a contractor, so he works for RTX and they
do a lot of like government work. So he's been
there since COVID so a few years now that he's
lived in Abu Dhabi, and he absolutely loves him. I
don't blame him because I mean he's living a life.
He where he lives, the beach is right outside and

(04:34):
there's a pool and he has a gym and where
he lives like he's.

Speaker 2 (04:37):
Living the life. And oh, I feel so bad for him.

Speaker 3 (04:39):
I know, like us here in very cold, wintery New
york I. Meanwhile, it's about eighty five degrees where he
is right now, and he's probably at the beach right
now as we speak, so because the time difference is
about nine hours, So yeah, it's probably. Yeah, I'm working
up right now, head into the beach before he's going
to work, living the.

Speaker 2 (04:57):
Good life before going. He goes every single day. You
mean he's not supposed to be at work at six
o'clock in the morning.

Speaker 3 (05:03):
Oh no, he's got himself alice cushy job out there.
He goes to the beach for about twenty minutes to
get some sun'll get some salt. Then he goes to
the pool and he does some like laps in the pool,
just you know, get his morning work out. Then then
he comes up, takes a shower, and then he goes
to work. Okayeah, he's living a life over there. Oh
my goodness, Like this is not this is unreal, and

(05:25):
just the whole country overall is just unreal. Everyone is
almost unnervingly polite. Yeah, the weather is beautiful, there's no
trash on the street. It's it's almost I was telling
one of my friends, it's like Stepford Wives esque. The
lawns are perfectly manicured, the streets are free of debris.
Everyone is so polite, They're all so helpful. Everyone speaks English.

(05:47):
It's just yeah, it's like Disney World without the riots,
just like that kind of chick fil a experience of
how are you today and how can I help you?
And everyone's uber polite and it's yeah foreigners, Well they're
all foreigners, they are. The population is eighty eight percent migrant.

Speaker 2 (06:07):
Okay, oh wow. While I was.

Speaker 3 (06:08):
There, the only emorates I saw were at cafes.

Speaker 2 (06:11):
And at the mall.

Speaker 3 (06:13):
So just run by expats, yeah, so.

Speaker 2 (06:18):
Or just inhabited, inhabited.

Speaker 3 (06:21):
Yeah, the high positions of government there are emorateis, like
on the board of trustees of all of the major companies.
And I think there's a rule that you have to
have like X amount of emarati on your leadership panels
and so on. But mostly Filipino, Indian, Pakistani, Kashmir, lots
of Latinos. I did find some, but yeah, mostly South

(06:45):
and Pacific Asian are the majority of the people that
I interacted with. I found some Mexican restaurants, some Colombian restaurants.

Speaker 2 (06:55):
I did my research. I was like, I was looking
for Latinos.

Speaker 3 (06:57):
But when I went to the Mexican restaurant, it was
all run by Philippine So the pizzerias were South Asians. Yeah,
just everywhere you go there were people from.

Speaker 2 (07:06):
All over the world. But and so when you had
Mexican food and pizzad did it taste like you thought
it would or did it? It was actually very good?

Speaker 3 (07:14):
My brother said, oh, this is the best piece I've
had outside of the States, and I'm like, and my
brother has been to Napoli more times than I can count,
and I'm like, I don't believe you.

Speaker 2 (07:24):
Oh wow, he said, okay, and.

Speaker 3 (07:26):
I never reminded him of that fact. I'm like, is
this better than Napoli pizza? He's like, okay, let's put Napoli.
Let's put New York. And then he said the best
pizza beside that was Abu Dabi And I did try.
It was pretty good, but I mean, I'm from Brooklyn, Like,
you can't tell me it was better than that, but
it was.

Speaker 2 (07:43):
It was.

Speaker 3 (07:43):
It was better than I won't even say Connecticut pizza
because I used to live in Connecticut.

Speaker 2 (07:48):
I'd say better than the majority of the US. Okay,
So yeah.

Speaker 3 (07:52):
When you say Napoli, you mean like Naples like Italy?

Speaker 2 (07:55):
Yeah, yeah, oh okay cool.

Speaker 3 (07:57):
So yeah, no, when my brother he tried was way
more than anyone else I know. And yeah, when he
was telling me about how great this pizza wasn't like
we've been to Italy. You cannot tell me that this
was better than the pizza in Rome. And you can't
tell me this is better than the pizza Napoly, Like
I simply do not believe it.

Speaker 2 (08:13):
But it was.

Speaker 3 (08:14):
It was more than it was more than decent.

Speaker 2 (08:17):
It was pretty good. Okay. So with that, when you
said you did your research, like, were you trying to
find Latinos or did you end up running across Latino?

Speaker 3 (08:26):
So yeah, I ran into some by accident. Well, my
brother plays softball as his big hobby, and pretty much
there's a Latino team in the softball league Venezuelans, Colombians, Cubans,
and of course we spent a whole day at the
softball fields because it was the playoff tournament, so we
spent one entire day and a half. We went one

(08:47):
night for like the semi finals, and then like the
finals the following day. We were there from like ten
am all the way to the night. So we spent
the whole day with all the Venezuelans. So yes, I
met at least thirty Venezuelans.

Speaker 2 (09:00):
And I can also imagine that Dominicans can't be too
far if there's a bad and a ball. Yes I did.

Speaker 3 (09:07):
We so one of his very close friends, they are Dominican.
We had dinner at their house one night.

Speaker 2 (09:11):
So that's great. So we went to their home. Okay,
we had pork. I was like, why did you guys
get pork?

Speaker 3 (09:16):
Like, oh, how did you find It's like, no, don't worry,
you can find it in the markets here. But no,
they made us. We had at us, we had beans,
we had pork. It was Yeah.

Speaker 2 (09:26):
When people have this images that.

Speaker 3 (09:29):
People have this image of the Middle East, they're like,
oh my god, it's a Muslim country, like UAE is
very much more liberal compared to like a Saudier Qatar.
That that's the image, like Irannia. Those are the countries
that people have that image of, Oh it's a very
conservative country.

Speaker 2 (09:44):
Like right, UAE is very very liberal.

Speaker 3 (09:47):
Okay, like it didn't have to cover rop. I was
wearing shorts and t shirts as I walked around. I
did get some funny looks at some places, like I
was more comfortable wearing jeans, but I didn't get like
you have to leave your uncovered, right, It was none
of that. The only place I had to cover my
head was at the Mosque when we visited the Grand Mosque.
But other than that, there were no restrictions on what
I could wear or you know, being you know, unaccompanied

(10:11):
by a man, like, there was none of that. It
was very much like being in Florida in terms of
how people were dressing and how.

Speaker 2 (10:20):
And also with the conservative views. Yeah right, okay, yeah.

Speaker 3 (10:25):
Yeah, so you know, you knew if you were going
to you know more you know, a kind of fancier
restaurant or I you know, cover up a little bit,
don't go in there like jeans and a T shirt,
but or shorts and a T shirt. But you know,
as long as arms were covered or like, you know,
I could go anywhere with just you know, jeans and
you know, a three quarter blouse and it was totally fine.

Speaker 2 (10:47):
One of my friends several years ago traveled to Dubai
with she's a woman and I think with two or
three guys, and she said that when they went to restaurants,
they wouldn't speak, like the servers wouldn't speak to her.
They would ask their male companions like what would she
like mm.

Speaker 3 (11:07):
So that I got a little bit of that, like
in terms of like, oh, say we're getting into a taxi, like, oh,
thanks for the ride. You know you're used to like
shaking hands like no, they would always shake like my
brother's hand or my dad's hand. There was a lot
there was a bit of that. It was never like
upfront like oh no, we won't speak to her, but
there was a lot of hello, kind of looking away
from Brier and me and just speaking to the men.

(11:29):
But it was never very blatant or obvious. It was
just kind of, you know, part of the customs. I mean,
I'm shy anyway, So I didn't mind, do you all the
go ahead? Big brothers, Yeah, exactly enjoying it. I was like,
I didn't mind, but yeah, it was it was fine.
Like I'm sure if it was like a group of
women all together, it would have been you know, I

(11:49):
saw groups of women going out to lunch and you know,
not with men. It's not like you have to have
you know, a male family member with her at all times.
It was you know, I saw men walking alone and
we're in groups of women together at restaurants, at bars
and all over the place. So like they can sell alcohol,
they're they're not advertised.

Speaker 2 (12:11):
They're kind of.

Speaker 3 (12:12):
Like unlabeled buildings attached to like you have to kind
of know where to find them. But like, we spent
Thanksgiving there and my brother said, oh, I'm going to
go to liquor store and bring some bottles because we
had we had Thanksgiving with all the Americans because my
brother works with a bunch of ex army guys. So yeah,
we went to some guy's house he's from. We went

(12:32):
to Georgia Tech and we watched football and we had
you know, American Thanksgiving with everybody, and there was beers.
It was like being at home. You just you know,
just over there. So yeah, in terms of how much
you know freedom you have to drink and eat whatever
you want, you can obviously, you know, it's not as common,
you know, we would go to restaurants and stuff. I

(12:52):
don't think I remember seeing pork on the menu anywhere
we went, but people could buy it and make it
in the house. When we had dinner at the Dominican
family house, they had pork ribs for us and they
make bennia, like we ate pork with them. We had
ham at Thanksgivings.

Speaker 2 (13:05):
Because that's holy meat for dominic right, and of.

Speaker 3 (13:07):
Course we could not go to their house and not
have pork. But yeah, it's not as if it doesn't
exist there. It's hard to find. But obviously, you know,
you go to the supermarkets and it's turkey bacon instead
of regular bacon. Okay, you know, turkey sausage and whatnot,
So okay, but the food was very very good, very clean,
no preservatives, not no GMOs. A lot of imports obviously

(13:29):
because they're in the desert, there's not a lot, but
a lot of things coming in from the EU. Very good,
very clean, like even supermarket food, like my brother says,
like I barely cook. I go to the supermarket and
since their main population is South Asian and Filipino, like
you go to the supermarket and they've got chicken betani
like just in the surf cell, in the self serve counter,

(13:50):
and they've got like all of the different ethnic foods
from these different countries that you can just grab and go.
So yeah, the like I would never think of, like, oh,
if I'm in a pinch, I'll go to seven eleven
and grab like a sandwich.

Speaker 2 (14:02):
Like everything was so.

Speaker 3 (14:03):
Good because it's made by all of these like immigrant
populations that have really really good food. So that was
that was a pleasant surprise because I was a bit
word like, oh, we're gonna be eating hummus like a billion.

Speaker 2 (14:14):
Times a day.

Speaker 3 (14:15):
But the hummus was delicious. The yogurt was delicious. But
they did have a lot more variety than I anticipated. Okay,
that's great, but yeah, it was really really nice, very pleasant,
highly recommend quite expensive, but you know, you kind of
know what you're getting into when you're going there, so.

Speaker 2 (14:31):
We the co hosts know that you're a photographer, followed
Julissa at Artists Reward on on on Instagram. You had
some beautiful shots of just and the architecture. Tell us
a little bit about that.

Speaker 3 (14:43):
So yeah, since it is a modern country. While we
were there, we were there for National Day. They celebrated
their fifty third National Day of independence. So the country
is still from the British. So the Amarati, I think
it was seven Emarati families kind of came together and
said we should become independent. Found our own nation, what
do you guys think? And they all kind of came

(15:03):
together and like, yep, we're going to do it. And
so it was kind of the British Greater Greater Arabic
Country something. It's like Saudi Qatar UAE were kind of
all under the British rule and they kind of just said,
all right, we're gonna break from the Brits, and like
the Soviet Empire is essentially like we're going to break
from the Soviets and we're gonna have you know, Czechoslovakia

(15:26):
and that one of that one pretty much the same concept.
So they were under British rule, like Greater Arabian Peninsula
is some such name, and UAE was formed, Saudi Arabia
was formed Oman and they all kind of got their
own independent country. So fifty three years nineteen seventy one
when they founded. So we were there for National Day

(15:47):
and yeah, so all of the buildings are less than
fifty years old. Even the Etia Towers, which are the
famous towers within Abu Dhabi, are I think less than
twenty years old. Because at one point we were driving
and my brother said, those used to be the old
Etty Hot towers and it was like half the size
of what the new Etty Hot towers are. So everything
in the country is just and even that was like

(16:08):
a fairly new building. It was probably like thirty years old.
Oh yeah, those are the old Ettia towers. These are
the new Etty Hot towers. So everything is so new
and shiny and yeah beautiful. Hence yeah, because I mean
the nation as an independent nation is only fifty three
years old, so everything you see is new. Everything is
still being built. There was so much construction still coming.

(16:28):
There's there was one section that we went to just
like we crossed the bridge and you could see it
was all new constructions coming. I'm sure like in the
next ten years is going to be even more.

Speaker 4 (16:40):
So.

Speaker 3 (16:40):
Yeah, it's very much up and coming and new construction
and lots and lots happening in Abu Dhabi.

Speaker 2 (16:46):
Did you have any taste of the local culture or
was it all expat experiences.

Speaker 3 (16:50):
Yeah, I don't. I don't think we had. I mean
we had to kind of general like Middle Eastern cuisine
at a few places like oh, I forget what was called.
There was like we had kebab and we had hummus,
and we had lots of like barbecue is pretty much
the style of cooking for most of their food.

Speaker 2 (17:09):
So that's what we had.

Speaker 3 (17:10):
But on it, I couldn't tell who, like if it
was like Amortis who made it, or you know locals
or you know foreigners who have kind of adapted to
the cuisine that the locals would like. But yeah, there
was a lot of that, lots of humus. I mean
less than I anticipated, because we did have a lot
of variety, like like we went to like a South

(17:30):
African restaurant we went to. We went there a few times.

Speaker 2 (17:33):
We went.

Speaker 3 (17:35):
Trying to think like lots of Chinese, like Hong Kong
Chinese like because they just came from Hong Kong, so
like some of the best Chinese food I've had outside
of New York because they came in the last five years.
You know, everyone's a recent immigrant, so the food is very,
very authentic. So we went to the Chinese restaurant. It
was I remember my dad ordered duck and he's like,
oh my god, Hong Kong duck. I haven't had this

(17:56):
in years because you know, you always have like Cantonese
style or the but you know, different styles in New
York because the different Chinese population came here versus went there.
So he's like, oh my god, I haven't had Hong
Kong duck in like twenty years since, you know such
as So yeah, there was.

Speaker 2 (18:10):
A lot of wait, when when did your dad last
have Hong Kong duck? Long ago in Hong Kong and
not in Hong Kong like here in the States. But
I guess.

Speaker 3 (18:20):
You know the place that he had, I guess it's
not a common style to make it due right, Yeah,
So I remember he saw it on the menu and
he said, oh my gosh, duck, let me try it.
And I'm like, how is it. He's like, yeah, it's
pretty good, but it's Hong Kong style. I'm like, I
don't know what that means, but I trust his opinion.
But yeah, apparently, Yeah, the people from Hong Kong are
the major population that came to the States. You know,

(18:42):
American Chinese food is not the same style that they
would make in Hong Kong, so different things like that.
People are very recent immigrants. So if you went we
had the best Indian food I ever had in my
life was at the Emirates Palace. They won a Michelin
star or two Michelin Stars. I'm like, oh my god,
why are they coming here to like the places you
would not expect, like, oh, you think you know, New York, London,

(19:04):
Berlin or you know, like major food heads of the world. Right,
we went to Michelin Star Indian restaurant and it was
the best Indian food I ever had in my life.
And coming from Brooklyn, where we've got so many recent
immigrants from South Asia.

Speaker 2 (19:18):
You would think go to Jackson Heights.

Speaker 3 (19:21):
That's the last place I did not anticipate that in.
But again, I mean it's not that far from India.
There's a lot of a lot of Indian migrants that
ended up that's I think the second biggest population behind Filipinos.
So eighty eight percent is foreign. Of that eighty eight percent,
like forty percent or Filipino, like twenty percent are Indian

(19:44):
like and then they go from there. So yeah, a
lot of South Asian that came in the last twenty
thirty years. So their food is still very unique and
it's not like it's it hasn't been assimilated into anything else.
So it's super super authentic Indian food, Chinese food. Yeah,
and just everywhere we went South African food, Nigerian food,
Like there's a lot of people from all over that

(20:04):
you would not expect to be there. Like, yeah, we
went to a whole South African restaurant and the girls
all had South African accents. It's like, oh my gosh,
I'm thinking, like, it's what's that uh where they make
the peerio period chicken. I forget the Nando's is like
South African. You're thinking like, oh, it's a chain or
you know, kind of assimilateing, like nope, this this is
the guy.

Speaker 2 (20:24):
He came from Johannesburg. And these are all the girls.

Speaker 3 (20:27):
They came from Cape Town and they all just came
in the last ten years and so it's like still
super authentic and yeah, just people. I did not expect
that level of diversity when I went.

Speaker 2 (20:38):
So just to clarify, is it that everyone's trying each
other's cuisine or is it that their their expats are
eating what they're familiar with from home.

Speaker 3 (20:47):
Everyone's trying different pugiens because when I went to the
South African restaurant, it was full of memorads like just
hanging out and eating like peerio period chicken, and I'm like, oh,
this is what we're doing, Like this is so cool. Yeah,
you would expect them to kind of be in their
little bubble, like let's foreigners do what they want. Like no,
I saw them at the Chinese restaurant. I saw them
at the Indian restaurant, like you see them all over
the place. So yeah, Chicken Varani likes. But I mean

(21:10):
they did still have pop Eyes and McDonald's and Domino's
and am all of like the American fast food places.
But you also had like we didn't get to jolly
Be's and like, I'm sure it's so good because the
real Filipinos are making jolly Bees, Like we should go
my brother's, Like we're not going there, We're going to
go to my place that I want. You know, he
took us, you know, the touristy places that you always
want to show people off.

Speaker 2 (21:30):
But you didn't write camels, or did you? We did not.

Speaker 3 (21:33):
The day that we were supposed to go was the
weekend after Thanksgiving and my brother wasn't feeling well, so
we stayed in Abu Dhabi, but everyone was yelling at
him at Thanksgiving.

Speaker 2 (21:41):
You didn't take them on.

Speaker 3 (21:42):
The desert safari? What kind of tour like what kind
of hosts are you all the way here? He didn't
take them to the desert. He's like, no, we're going
to go this weekend. And then he wasn't feeling well,
so we didn't go. Okay, But I think it's his
incentive to because when I first got there, I'm like,
I'm not flying another fourteen hours to come and do
this again. He's right, we didn't come to the desert
and ride a camel, so you have to come back again.

Speaker 2 (22:04):
You're like, we'll leave that on the bik But it
was very nice. It's it was.

Speaker 3 (22:10):
Yeah, it was not what I expected it to be,
but it was pleasant.

Speaker 2 (22:13):
Like a true cosmopolitan city. Really, it really really was.
I love American. Yeah, cosmopolitan.

Speaker 3 (22:20):
It was not at all what I anticipated it being.
And I think what the idea of people when his hair,
You're going to the Middle East, Like.

Speaker 2 (22:27):
Oh okay, well good luck. But it was it was
really nice. Yeah, because all the media, you know, we
get fed.

Speaker 3 (22:33):
Is exactly and my brother's like, it's a normal place.

Speaker 2 (22:37):
It's it is.

Speaker 3 (22:38):
It's the this was the cool season to go. I
think November to like February is the nice cool season
versus the summer. When it's like one hundred and twenty
degrees and no one even can go outside, and they've
got all of these underground kind of walkways to kind
of mirror the upper city because it's too hot for
people to even walk outside, so they've like alternative routes

(23:01):
that people can take to go on about.

Speaker 2 (23:03):
But this was a good time to go and visit.
So because I'm related, I'm going to go there. Has
your brother explored the local dating scene?

Speaker 3 (23:12):
His last girlfriend actually Dominican, so.

Speaker 2 (23:14):
He's, oh, sorry for him, but I did.

Speaker 3 (23:21):
I did speak to some of his friends at Thanksgiving
and they did say, yeah, it's kind of difficult because
one cultural and two just there's not a lot of
again since the population is so different. It's you know,
she's American, she's actually from Brooklyn. I think she is Latina.
I forget what country her family's from though, And she
was telling me she's living out living out in Abu Dabi.

(23:43):
She's a teacher and she's lived there for about ten years.
But I remember her mentioning, yeah, like the dating scene
is so difficult out there because yeah, just cultural differences
and then just the different populations and who's interested in
who and you know, she's Afro Latina and trying to
date a Filipino guy. And they're like, you know, just
distinctions and the different culture. And yeah, they did mention

(24:05):
it was kind of difficult. He did have a girl
friend from Tunisia, but never like a girl from that
specific region. We'll see, all right. It was interesting place.
And I did bring back some Okay, not the viral
Dubai chocolate since it is only available to purchase in Dubai,

(24:28):
but I did bring the Abu Dhabi equivalent back. Okay,
they're famous Pistascio Kanafa.

Speaker 2 (24:35):
Make sure oh oh yeah, actually, oh yeah, you can
do the honor. I have a nut allergy.

Speaker 5 (24:42):
Like.

Speaker 3 (24:42):
I brought this back for the rest of the team
to try. I did get a version for myself though
with Bisco off that I will try at a later time.
But the pistascio is the one that is all over
the internet taking the world by store. I'm like, oh,
I got to bring this back for the team to try.

Speaker 2 (24:56):
Okay, well, let's go ahead. Let's go ahead, and all right,
all right, let me I'm box here, let me move
some things, all of my notes to the side. It's okay,
don't forget to do the a S m R. I
know right, you're absolutely track. Actually, can you bring it
over here?

Speaker 3 (25:16):
So that begins the cracking of the chocolate bars, like
what everyone's doing on TikTok, really breaking it apart.

Speaker 2 (25:22):
You gotta get that sound. Okay, there you go. Listeners
who are watching us for the first time, we're probably
gonna edit this.

Speaker 3 (25:37):
Mm hmm.

Speaker 6 (25:44):
It is this is beautiful gold wrapping the right, mister Sheffield,
I know, okay, And and how do you is this voca?

Speaker 2 (25:56):
Oh my gosh, this is beautiful. Look at these colors. Whoa,
it's like camouflage.

Speaker 5 (26:03):
Yeah, look at that.

Speaker 2 (26:04):
And it's like it's it's like a thick chocolate bar.

Speaker 3 (26:07):
Oh my gosh's off a stuffed chocolate bar scene on TikTok.

Speaker 2 (26:13):
The Abu dabi doupe. The smell too. Oh and it
is like, you know, nice and soft on the inside.
Get that food porn right, oh my god. And oh
my god, yeah, you're right, like the scent of it
and you gotta get that. You gotta get that crunch. Oh,

(26:36):
but it's not very crunchy. It's very soft actually, so
maybe it's because we've been in the warm so I'm
gonna take a piece over here, okay, and I'm going
to pass it over, thank you. It just looks so good, okay.

Speaker 5 (26:53):
Oh my god, Oh whoa. Yes, it is so rich,
so good.

Speaker 2 (27:03):
I feel luxurious. It's almost oh god, I hate to
compare it to this because it's gonna seem so cosh
and but it's almost like a Reese's peanut butteries, but
with like without the artificial like nasty flavor, like this
is real good, Like this is like a nutter butter. No,

(27:23):
definitely a strong nut flavor. What's it is? Similar to filo?
What to filo dough? Ma'am. You're gonna have to explain
that for me from it.

Speaker 3 (27:36):
I know.

Speaker 2 (27:36):
It's so difficult to explain to people. It is.

Speaker 3 (27:42):
Think of like a way for crisp like what's inside
like a kit kat almost, but it's shredded and they
toast it in like the pistachio cream and then they
fill it in. For the listeners who've seen the viral
Dubai chocolate, like you, I'm sure are now familiar with Kanafa.
It's kind of taking the world by storm.

Speaker 2 (28:00):
This past year. Okay, some of us are, and so.

Speaker 3 (28:04):
I know I had so many people when I told
them I was going to you a like, oh my god,
you got to bring us the chocolate. But the one
from Dubai, you have to It can only be bought
in Dubai, not in Abu Dabi or any other province.

Speaker 2 (28:16):
So otherwise it's just a sparkling. Right.

Speaker 3 (28:19):
So the one in Dubai, I think, is made in
one place, and you have to go on a waiting
list and if you get chosen, like, oh, we are
making seventy bars today, so seventy people will get chosen
to buy a bar today. And so if your name
gets chosen, you have the honor of paying sixty or
seventy US dollars to come and buy this for a
chocolate bar or a chocolate bar. Is it as thick

(28:41):
and luxurious as it is?

Speaker 2 (28:42):
Oh?

Speaker 3 (28:42):
So okay, okay. They went to Dubai and they're like,
we're just going to make a dupe. And so in
Abu Dhabi they have the Granddaddy and the different varieties
are like the Big Daddy and the Great Granddaddy. They've
all got these names of the different flavors. Right, yeah,
So the kanna, the pisachio, what is that the Granddaddy
or the Big Daddy.

Speaker 2 (29:02):
This is the Granddaddy Grandaddy.

Speaker 3 (29:06):
Yes, we also had a new tell a stuffed one,
a bi scoff stuffed one, and a coconut stuffed one.
So there's lots of variety, and each of them has
a different name, the Granddaddy, the Big Daddy, and.

Speaker 2 (29:20):
Each one, sorry, each each one has the wafers baked
in with the wow.

Speaker 3 (29:25):
So it's just a different combination of filling wow.

Speaker 2 (29:28):
So this says here and I hope I'm not buttraying
the name. It's what did you say, Voca voca voca
the taste of luxury. We believe that luxury and quality
go hand in hand. That's why we use only the finest,
ethically sourced ingredients to craft our premium treats. Each bite

(29:49):
is a true reflection of the diverse flavors of the
United Arab Emirates, made with passion and care. Indulge in
the taste of Uaes homegrown luxury with vodka.

Speaker 3 (30:04):
That's very much the vibe of every place you go to,
and they're very proud and they're very luxurious.

Speaker 2 (30:12):
Everywhere you go.

Speaker 3 (30:13):
That is the vibe. Yeah, that sums up you a
one perfect sentence like wait, it's so.

Speaker 2 (30:17):
Good in your book? Oh my god a TV show?
So wait, so do they sell these here in the States?
Do they export any kind? They do not have Granddaddy's.
There are a chocolates.

Speaker 3 (30:38):
I think lint just came out with their own the
Lintuck Tears just came out with their own versions. But yeah,
this is exclusive to you, ae. This is the one
in Abu Dhabi and Dubai has the one from Dubai
like they are, this is ours and no one else
can have it except the tourists that come and bring
them back home.

Speaker 2 (30:55):
For their friends. Okay, I'm okay with that. I'm okay
with that. I get that.

Speaker 4 (31:01):
I mean I understand that reasoning.

Speaker 2 (31:02):
Yeah sucks because I want more, right, I literally I'm
just kind of like, who pass it over? Please? I
want another piece. I'll take one of them. I'll pass
it back around. Okay.

Speaker 3 (31:17):
So that was abby, thank you, thank you?

Speaker 2 (31:23):
Yeah, I am very welcome. Yeah. So what is uh?
What is Melissa's ig So people can go and check
out her pictures at Artists Reward.

Speaker 3 (31:33):
I've got my whole Abu Dhabi feed on there and
more to come because I saw. I'm going through my
capture one feed. I've got hundreds and hundreds of pictures.
I'll probably be uploading them even when this comes out,
and I'm like, I've got I've got content. For weeks,
I took so many pictures, so so many pictures. But
now it is a beautiful place and.

Speaker 2 (31:55):
It's not very big.

Speaker 3 (31:56):
So we each day, I'm like, oh, it's a cloudy day,
and it's never cloudy, so let's go to the mosque today.
So my brother's like, no one ever gets pictures of
the mosques with clouds because it's it barely ever rains
out there, Like, oh my god, it's finally going to rain.
We were there for two weeks. It rained for like
five minutes. But one day it was cloudy and that's
the day we went to the Grand Mosque. So I
got loads of pictures from the Grand Mosque. We went

(32:19):
onto the prayer side. My brother said, oh, the line
for the tourist looks pretty long, so put on your
scarf and say we're going to go pray. And so
if you're going, if you're going to pray, there's another entrance,
and so what I don't blame them, Yeah, it's like
we're not waiting over there, Like, come on, I put
on my scarf, im like, yeah, we're here for prayer.
And then like with your giant icon camera, He's like, brother,

(32:41):
my sister came all the way from the United States.
This is the only time she's going to see the
Grand Mosque in her life. You're going to deny her
her prayer. And he's like, all right, you can come.
And then we got into the side that the tourists
are not allowed on and he's like, no pictures.

Speaker 2 (32:54):
Like I came all away from the United States.

Speaker 3 (32:56):
It's like okay, but be very fast because it's like, oh,
my colleague sees you, I'll get in trouble. So I
kind of like ran to the center of the mosque,
took like twenty pictures, and then ran back.

Speaker 2 (33:06):
But yeah, I had a similar experience in the Fatican
in Saint Peter's like, there's only certain areas you can
sit if mass is going on. And my ex was
very very religious, so she insisted. And admittedly mass there
was pretty cool, since that's what the damn building was
built for. But yeah, it's pretty it's pretty funny. And
then like tourists are taking pictures of us having masks
like it.

Speaker 3 (33:26):
Was very only allowed in certain areas if you're not
there for touristy reasons. So that was a nice experience.
And we went to the palaces and we had the
chocolate with the twenty four carrot leaf gold flakes on
top of it, and yeah.

Speaker 2 (33:41):
It was it was a time. Do you have to
go on a list for that too?

Speaker 3 (33:45):
Not even oh wow, seven dollars to come and have
the cappuccino with gold gold leaf flakes? But not I
guess not a lot of people know about it.

Speaker 2 (33:53):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (33:53):
So when we got there, I'm like, do you guys
have the gold coffee? And they're like yeah, yeah, just come, come, come,
and we sat and it was like an old school
tea room.

Speaker 2 (34:01):
I'm sorry, beautiful, I'm sorry. She just said, do you
guys have the gold coffee? She just like threw it
out there like lots nothing. You guys have it?

Speaker 3 (34:11):
They're like yeah, And so it was come over to
the back, a very sort of old school tea room vibe,
and it was all very yeah, it was like being
in the nineteen fifties, very old fashioned tea room. And
we sat down and they came and they brought us
figs and cookies and we had our gold leaf coffee.
So that was nice. That was at the Emirates Palace.

Speaker 2 (34:32):
I have to ask, since the Dominicans here is it?
Is it a big hookah country?

Speaker 3 (34:37):
Honestly I saw it like I only saw it twice.
Honestly I didn't. I thought I would see it more often,
but I didn't.

Speaker 2 (34:43):
Really, Okay, and buy Emarati's or was it the Dominicans.

Speaker 3 (34:48):
Saw Emarati honestly two times that I saw it?

Speaker 2 (34:53):
Could you tell the difference?

Speaker 5 (34:54):
Though?

Speaker 2 (34:54):
You know what?

Speaker 3 (34:56):
Sometimes because I did mention that when I was in
the Emirates Palace that an old man walked in, I'm like,
he looks exactly like Gabio Garcia Modkas. That's why he's
got like such a Latino faith. But again, Arabs and
Latinos we look very very similar. So yeah, there was
a lot of I didn't get a lot of I
was thinking, oh, you know, we're you know, black, are
we going to get looks like. I didn't get looks

(35:16):
at all because everyone's South Asian and everyone's our color anyway,
So there was not a lot of not a lot
of stairs, And I was like, oh, is it very cool?
My brother's like dumb. People don't even notice the difference.
And our last name is Alabadado, which is has Arabic
origin the owls, So everyone else's last name starts with als.

Speaker 2 (35:36):
Or it could be Filipinos. That's true.

Speaker 3 (35:39):
He's like, everyone's last name starts with owl's. This is
just a norm over here. So yeah, no, it was nice,
good times.

Speaker 2 (35:47):
All right, So do you recommend we should all Yeah? Yeah, yeah,
I think everyone should.

Speaker 3 (35:53):
If you ever have the opportunity to go anywhere, I
believe everyone should go. But yeah, it was very nice.
There are Latinos star are you could find your own food.
There are Cuban Columbian restaurants and Mexican restaurants and there.

Speaker 2 (36:07):
I found Americans people houses. You can go. There a
Dominican people's houses. I found it did come into can
It was a little weird, but it was. It was good.
But no, I mean, you can find food from all
over the world. It was. It was nice.

Speaker 3 (36:20):
There was Latino night at one of them. I took
some at not Demosta. Was because when I was asking
about Latinos when we went to the Dominicans for dinner,
I was asking h like oh, so you know, what's
it like? And so Claudio is my brother's friend that
plays softball, and his wife, Sora came a few years

(36:40):
came like a year later afterwards, and we were asking, like,
what was it like. You were here by yourself, your
family was still in the States. Oh, you know, it
was kind of difficult adjusting. But they're not like a
ton a ton of Latinos. But once you find them,
you find everyone. So they're like, once you find one,
he leaves you to the rest. So he's like, oh,
once I met like two or three, then I met
all the Venezuela and the Colombians and blah blah blah.

(37:01):
So there are Latino knights at the al Huada, I
wrote down. I'm like, oh, and there's pool tables and
my brother's like, oh, but I'm kind of known there,
so I don't go there anymore. I'm like, yeah, my
brother's kind of a menace to society.

Speaker 2 (37:14):
So there are places where I was like.

Speaker 3 (37:16):
Oh, yeah, can we go to the Columbia night And
he's like, Noah, I don't go there. But if anyone
finds themselves in Abu Dhabi, Alhada has Colombian knights and
my brother uh as his on his softball jersey is
because we're panaman Oh my god. Really Claudio Junior, the
Dominican son, he went to his dad, Puppy, is he

(37:38):
really a general? He's like, no, son, it's just it's
a it's a Panamanian. He's like thirteen years old, puppy,
is he really a general? And I was cracking up
laughing the first time that he saw my brother. But no,
there are Latinos to be found, if they not few
and far between. But yeah, if you can find, they.

Speaker 2 (38:00):
Will, they will lead you to the rest so you
will not be homesick.

Speaker 4 (38:04):
And just to give someone just to give a little
more stance on that. Based on the research ice, so
there are two thousand Argentines living in the UAE, and.

Speaker 2 (38:14):
I did meet some Argentinians.

Speaker 3 (38:15):
I met some Colombians, some Venezuelans, some Cubans, two girls
from Argentina.

Speaker 2 (38:21):
Yeah, I found this, somebody I found.

Speaker 3 (38:23):
The Dominicans I found are my brother's the Panamanian contingent.

Speaker 2 (38:27):
So all of us, all of us are represented.

Speaker 4 (38:31):
They have they're either expatriots or professional footballers. For Brazilians,
the third largest community of Brazilians is in the Middle East.

Speaker 2 (38:39):
Yeah, I did need a Brazilian as well.

Speaker 4 (38:41):
Yeah. Yeah, Colombians, a lot of them, A lot of Colombia,
eighty five hundred Colombians living in the UA.

Speaker 3 (38:46):
Getting pictures from the softball team that my brother plays for,
and everyone has their country flag on the sleeve of
their jersey. So as we were watching the game, I
was taking pictures. There's Venezuelan, there's a Colombian, there's a Cuban,
there's an Argentinian. So yeah, I knew who I was
seeing because they all had their their flags.

Speaker 2 (39:02):
On their shirts. No, Salvans, I did not, but let
me double check the pictures.

Speaker 4 (39:06):
I never know.

Speaker 3 (39:07):
May I missed someone that I took a picture of
him wasn't paying attention. And there are three thousand Mexican
citizens who live in work in the EU, and for
Peruvians three hundred, many working in the food and beverage sector.

Speaker 2 (39:19):
Yes, and oh oh no, not in the UEE okay.
And then also one Venezuelan Spanish monarch, he's got it
on his shirt. Was there's one retired monarch, Yeah, Venezuelan,
they all had them.

Speaker 4 (39:34):
You're staying retired very generously.

Speaker 2 (39:36):
Yeah, So you're right shamed. Yes, they all have them. Yeah,
so they were foundicated. I found Latinos was named Frederick Nowell. No,
that was yeah. And there's my brother.

Speaker 3 (39:50):
Yeah, it's kind of blurry, but I'll hit it out
number seventeen on the back of his jersey, Bobby.

Speaker 2 (39:55):
Is he really a general? Good Yeah? It was. It
was a good time, very very pleasantly surprised. All right,
all right, do so speaking? Okay. If you love our podcast,
Rediscovering Latini dot please hit follow or subscribe. It is
different from downloading, and please leave us a five star

(40:18):
rating and review. For more family history tips, visit rediscovering
Latini dot dot com to learn how to join our
Patreon and gain access to our exclusive lessons and bonus interviews.
You can also send us an email at rediscovering Latini
dot at gmail dot com or caller text us at
six four six four seven zero nine eight two four,
and follow us on our social media at rediscovering Latini

(40:41):
dot on Facebook and Instagram, at redisc Latini dot on
Blue Sky and x and rediscovering Latini dot on Reddit.
Join us next week when we discuss hooboy, our history
of immigration and deportation. Yeah, we had our last bit
of fun for a little bit here. Yeah, now comes talks,
although you know, just more more migration. This is a

(41:03):
heck of a migration.

Speaker 4 (41:04):
We you know, we we we gave you guys, like
a little taste of it with Solis this season, and
you know then you know, Latinos going into you.

Speaker 2 (41:13):
Now we're gonna hit hard.

Speaker 4 (41:16):
We got a possible solution in the Citizenship episode, and
then we move on.

Speaker 2 (41:22):
To sounds good. We'll do it, We'll see you then
bye bye, all right, everybody, Bye bye.

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know

My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark

The Joe Rogan Experience

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Rediscovering Latinidad Season 6 Episode 3 Alrededor del mundo: El Viaje de Jellissa a Abu Dhabi

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}Stuff You Should Know

My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark

The Joe Rogan Experience

All Episodes

Rediscovering Latinidad Season 6 Episode 3 Alrededor del mundo: El Viaje de Jellissa a Abu Dhabi

Stuff You Should Know