a most auspicious beginning

Imane got the call about an hour before our first meeting with our client, the local government of Al Ain.

"We need to go to the VIP entrance," she said, "I don't know where that is."

I clutched the door and looked at her, cocking my head to the side.  "VIP entrance?  We're going in a VIP entrance?  Seriously?  That's good, right?"

She jerked her widened eyes toward me.  "Of course.  This is very good."

Several minutes later we pulled up to a small guard station with a white gate.  The guard ventured out, nodded in the direction of the large entrance in front of us and the gate glided heavenward.  Imane gleefully parked and, with the rest of the team emptying from two taxis, the 12 of us walked toward the large glass doors.

Inside, sunlight streamed through high windows onto a gleaming marble floor.  To the left, a red striped tent with gold fringe and perimeter couches and pillows encouraged distinguished visitors to sit.  Men and women in traditional clothes strolled across balconies and through hallways in every direction.  We retreated into our tent to wait.

Eventually we would be ushered through the hallways lined with a rainbow of different marbles to a conference room where the meeting would be held.  We sat around a large U-shaped wooden table, stashing bags, straightening suits and anxiously chattering.  Three men in thawbs joined us with a brief greeting.  A woman in a layered black chiffon abaya floated into the room, only her black outlined eyes visible.  She spoke briefly with one of the men and floated out again, chiffon layers wafting behind her.  Two women in abaya floated into the room - intricate black beading sparkled from her sleeves.  When she crossed her legs, the hem of her abaya yielded royal blue suede platform heels.  Small crystals sprinkled all over the shoulders of the other woman's abaya twinkled like stars as she moved.   Finally, the meeting began with a round of introductions.

The wooden door opened quietly.  A man in a charcoal-colored pinstriped vest, matching cravat and charcoal pants hurried into the room with a small tray.  He sat a red and gold patterned demitasse cup in front of each of us and hurried out of the room.  I pressed the small cup to my mouth and tasted bitter coffee combined with orange and rose.  In a few moments, the waiter scurried in with a small silver tray and collected the cups.  A little while later, he returned with lidded plastic cups of water, then with small gold-rimmed glass mugs of sweet hot tea.  No sooner had I sipped the tea, then the Emiratis stood and announced that a coffee break had been prepared for us in the hallway.

We filed out of the room to find a table had appeared.  It was covered in lavender satin and topped with a light blue chiffon fabric.  On the table was an appetizing array of crustless tea sandwiches, pastries and other foods, precisely arranged with carrot flowers, nestled in beds of shredded lettuce on large silver trays.  A silver pot, silverware and china plates with a silver pattern anchored the corner of the table.  We were ushered to eat.

"Our intent is to feed you well while you are here," said our sponsor, smiling.

We returned to the meeting, then received a tour of the offices, including the location of various individuals who would be our collaborators and points of contact during the project.  We wound snakelike through the marbled halls, past carved wooden doors, to a carved wooden double door in a corner.  It was half closed.  I peeked inside, not seeing where the trail I was following had gone.  Four men in white thawbs turned from their conversation to glance at me. I stopped abruptly, then took a step backward toward the hallway.  They gestured that I should continue into the office.  I walked through a large office with an enormous multicolored flower bouquet and heavy wooden desk, across an emerald carpet, through another set of double doors.  Inside was a large room with blue couches positioned around its ivory walls adorned with fancy wood moulding.  Members of the team were sitting in a wave on the couches and I filed in systematically, taking my place in the far corner.  The two women in abayas, who I had been casually chatting with as we walked through the halls, sat on the couch beside me.  Then the three Emirati men sat on another couch.  Four pairs of eyes stared down from portraits of several sheiks.  I recognized one as the first President of the UAE and another as the current President, his son.

After several minutes, the doors opened and an older man in a thawb slowly shuffled in.  The Emiratis stood abruptly and the rest of the team stood in a wave.  The older man went to each of us, briefly clasped our hand in his soft one, then sat with the other men.  Everyone else sat down too.  Each couch's inhabitants chatted among themselves for several minutes.   Then, cued by the Emiratis, we abruptly jerked to standing as the elder slowly walked back toward the double doors.  We had just met the mayor of Al Ain.  #ibmcsc uae