Culture Shock Part 1

I think the mandatory culture shock set in the 20th hour of travel.  I had made my journey from LA to NY smoothly.  Then from NY to Abu Dhabi, also without a hitch.  It wasn't until I reached the Abu Dhabi airport where things started hitting me.

Somewhere over the Atlantic, people started losing respect for personal space, personal hygiene and personal business.  Its as if the ocean drained those qualities from those susceptible and left them rude and pungent versions of themselves.  

I stepped out of the plane in Abu Dhabi and was immediately herded to the side with all the other Pakistanis going to Lahore and told to wait.  My connecting flight to Lahore was leaving shortly, in fact, final boarding calls were being announced for the flight.  And since everybody else was standing around like sheep, I asked the airline "official" why were are waiting and what are we waiting for?  He told me that it was because we (as in the passengers) did not know what gate to go to.  I said it was Gate 30.  He just looked at me blankly, perhaps in shock that I knew the correct, and apparently classified, gate information.

 

"This is the final boarding call for Etihad Flight 241.  All passengers must be on board."

Since the plane was already in final boarding stages, I figured it would be better to stay with the mass of sweaty Pakistanis, rather than venture off on my own to the plane and have no one to blame if the plane left without me. 

So, in true Pakistani style, we were taken through the departure lounge (the weird fishbowl vegas picture above), to Gate 22, which led us to a bus.  We boarded the bus, which then drove us to Gate 28 (yes, only 6 gates away). We were dropped off at Gate 28 and left to our own devices, our airline "official" had deserted us.  We climbed the stairs with all our rolling bags and boxes with gifts and computer bags, and proceeded over to Gate 30 (because I was in the know, and therefore, in the lead).  The entire journey took us 20 minutes... to walk straight to the gate would only have taken us about 10.  This is the Pakistani way, stubbornness without logic or deodorant.