The Abu Dhabi I know is beautiful. It has complexities and simplicities. Its trees intertwine with its man made monuments, its modernity is embedded in its culture and its community is embraced by all. Maybe it’s because I had never seen anything other than it, but Abu Dhabi is as perfect as a home could get.

The Abu Dhabi I know has narrow roads painted in black and white, driven on by white pickup trucks, gold taxis and cars with colourful license plates. All around, the city flaunts its beautiful Arabic script in street names and shop signs. My view of the city is beautiful. I get to live in one of the oldest neighbourhoods of Abu Dhabi, where I can see endless rows of its signature short buildings. I’m lucky, because my building is the first row of the few tall buildings we have, at a perfect intersection of the contrasting duality of the city. It is small yet big. We often joke about how everyone knows one another here, as if it’s far from the truth.

Photo courtesy of Emirates 24/7

We live among each other, embracing each other just as we are embraced. During Ramadan, the sound of the Maghrib prayer is met with multiple doorbells from various neighbours in our apartment complex offering us freshly made food. As soon as the weather gets better, parks become filled with families and the smell of freshly grilled kofta. When you walk along the Corniche, you see dozens of fishing rods resting on the fence. It is the simplicity and the peace that makes it so beautiful.

Photo courtesy of Suzan Sadek

My Abu Dhabi has a bike rental service at the end of the Corniche — the heart of the city — with hundreds of sizes, colors, gears and brands of bikes that you can rent for 10 AED an hour. One day, I’ll make it through all of the Corniche before the rental time is up. The Corniche has defined my Abu Dhabi, beginning at the Marina Mall near the Sheikh Zayed Memorial and ending at Mina, near the fish market and the souq. On National Days, the Corniche celebrates us as much as we celebrate it, when its beautiful fireworks and bright street decorations illuminate our dancing, laughter and silly string fights with strangers.

Photo courtesy of Arabian Business

On Wednesday nights, the beginning of our weekend, our destination is none other than Action Zone, where the fun never ends. Neither the Fun City in the Abu Dhabi Mall nor the one in the Marina Mall could compete with the original Action Zone. Even outside the Action Zone, the fun only continues to grow. Right next to the Action Zone is a huge Toys ”R” Us, which we sometimes get to roam in if we’re lucky. But my personal favourite is the floor wide bookstore in the nearby building. Jarir Bookstore is the most popular bookstore in my Abu Dhabi and it has everything I could ever dream of, from arts-and-craft supplies and stationery to books translated into Arabic. In school, we would flaunt the most popular new gadget we got from Jarir, like the mechanical erasers or the scented highlighters.

Photo courtesy of Trip Adviser

One day, it all changed. Suddenly, the pavements turned blue, each colour signifying the price to park. Around each corner, a new mall was announced, where the shopping and retail culture was encouraged. Theme parks are no longer a few hours of fun in the malls, but day long trips to Yas Island. Fishing was privatized, parks put up “No Barbeque” signs in English and the horses and ponies in parks were replaced with burger stands and electric trains. There is no Action Zone and dust covers the bookshelves in Jarir. With the blink of an eye, the city expanded, the buildings grew taller and the doorbells that rang with the Maghrib prayer on Ramadan fell silent.

The Abu Dhabi I know strives for community. It is serene and beautiful in doing so. My Abu Dhabi cares for me and my family and I care for it. It wouldn’t put anyone else — tourist tastes or transient expat locations — before me. My Abu Dhabi would never do that. That is not the Abu Dhabi I know.