Lunch With the Sheikh!

On Sept. 29th, the new Harris Atlas office was officially opened! Mr Howard Lance, Harris CEO, and other senior executives had flown out for this occasion. It was great to see familiar faces! There would be the official ribbon cutting ceremony for the press followed by presentations to the executives and press. The most exciting news was that Sheikh Nahyan would be attending the ceremony! Sheikh Nahyan is the cousin of Sheikh Khalifa (President of the UAE), and is the Minister of Higher Education & Scientific Research, and is apparently very gracious and enjoys these types of ceremonies. And not only would he be attending the ceremony but we were all invited to his palace for lunch after the ceremony!!! Wow! How exciting – but OMG – what am I going to wear!!! I must tell you that I then spent 2 days in 3 malls trying to find something appropriate!

The Sheikh arrived promptly at 10:30 for the ceremony and was extremely gracious shaking everyone’s hand. The ribbon cutting was a great photo op and even made the business section of a few newspapers here! At 12:30 after the presentations, the caravan of cars made its way to the palace! I will tell you that I was a bit disappointed when we arrived as I expected golden gates, arches, and turrets, but instead we entered through plain large gates and into a rather nondescript courtyard! Once inside, we were ushered into a very large room, with the most exquisite carpet I’ve ever seen. And I am guessing it was about 20 ft x 40 ft in size! Oddly enough 3 very modern light fixtures hung from the ceiling. I expected crystal and gold and sparkles! There were sofas lined all the way around this room and there were already about 40 people seated. They all stood as we entered the room – oh how nice! But I later learned this is the custom! The 2 other spouses and myself had been trying very hard to stay at the back of the crowd. But they would not have it. We were all escorted up front to meet the Sheikh personally! Yikes – I’m so nervous – what do I say?!!! But he stood there and graciously shook everyone’s hand welcoming us, and then we sat on the sofas.
This gathering is officially called a maglis. The Sheikh holds these fairly frequently. It is a time when anyone can visit him to discuss issues. Most of the group here had been invited but it is not necessary. There was a group of students from Cambridge University in London who were here on an exchange program. Mr Lance sat with the Sheikh and discussed the business opportunities. The staff then offered us all the traditional arabic coffee. I am not a coffee drinker but I’m not thinking it’s polite to turn down the Sheikh so I tried a very small sip. You will find this part interesting: the 2 staff each carried only 6 small china cups. After a guest was finished with their drink he would retrieve the cup and then reuse it for the next guest!! We of course, were at the end of the line – oh boy! But again, we were too afraid to say no!
The Sheikh then rose and we followed him, Mr Lance and the other 60 guests, into another room for lunch. This large room had tables formed into a large U shape, with chairs on both sides. And the food – oh my! You could barely see the table for the food! There were large bowls about every 3 feet, with smaller bowls directly on the table below. In the large bowls there was rice with various kids of meat . We later learned the meats were lamb, goat, and camel! Yes camel! In the smaller bowls were hummus, salads, curry pasta, olives, bread, and may other items we weren’t quite sure of – but we tried as much as we could! We sat for about half an hour and then it was time to adjourn back to the room with the sofas. Again we were offered coffee or tea so I opted for the tea, but still with only the 6 cups!
Then it was time for us to leave. But first another photo op. All of the Harris Atlas staff lined up on the steps of the palace and again the spouses tried to stay in the back. But the Sheikh would have non of that! He turned around and I was right there 3 rows behind but in his line of sight and he motioned to me to come forward and join the front row! Who – me? But once again you don’t say no to the Sheikh, so I joined the Sheikh, Mr Lance, Mr Pearson, and Leon in the front row! Can’t wait to get a copy of that!!
So in one week I had attended a muslim wedding and lunch with the Sheikh – I don’t think it gets much better than this! But this is what this adventure is all about – experiencing events that we would never have the opportunity to do in the States. I am so thankful and feel very lucky!
Thank you all again for your emails. I continue to be amazed at the wonderful feedback I receive when I send out these updates! I so much enjoy sharing these events with you! This is such an amazing part of the world!