Memories of an Abu Dhabi childhood: Shawarmas, souqs and simple family weekends, it will always feel like home

Dubai: A kind fruit-seller who’d always offer her a banana, afternoons swimming with her childhood friend, ‘Choki Choki’ from the supermarket and shawarmas around the street corner.

For 35-year-old Lebanese expat Murielle Hebbo Kalash, memories of growing up in Abu Dhabi are stored in remarkably small things.

“I remember my dad used to take me to where the World Trade Centre is now in Abu Dhabi. Back then, they used to have a souq, where the shopkeepers would put everything out – toys, spices, dry fruits textiles … everything,” she said.

Then there were trips with her parents to the fruit and vegetable market in Mina, where there was always that one shopkeeper who knew the little girl who came with her parents loved bananas.

“Every time we went there, he would give me a banana,” she said.

Even today, when she visits the market with her mum, she remembers the man, and wonders if she could still find the shop.

Kalash’s UAE story began much before she was born.

“Technically, I never ‘came’ to the UAE because I was born in Abu Dhabi in 1991. My story here actually began long before I did, when my father moved to the UAE in 1973 and built his life here. By the time I was born, the UAE was already home to my family, so I grew up with this country not as somewhere we had relocated to, but simply as the place I belonged to,” she said.

Today, Kalash who lives in Dubai still goes back to Abu Dhabi to meet her parents, who continue living there. And even though the city has changed dramatically in more than three decades, the place still reminds her of childhood memories that are linked inextricably with the city itself.

Kalash spent her earliest years around Electra Street, where her parents have lived for 33 years. As the only child, some of her most vivid memories are of family weekends or trips to the bowling centre at the Tourist Cub with her childhood friend, Reem.

“Her mum, who is now my mother’s best friend, would pick us up. They had a membership there, so we would go bowling, swim at the beach and eat pizza. And then she would drop me back home. Reem’s moved back to Lebanon but we’re still friends,” she said.

Many of the spots that she frequented growing up in Abu Dhabi have made way to new developments, but even as she drives down the city, she relives the memories they still hold.

“They were never just places we went to; they were part of our family routine, the excitement of getting ready to go out together, and those simple weekends that felt completely ordinary then but mean so much more when I look back now,” she said.

Some memories, however, can still be relived fully. Oman Chips and Choki Choki chocolate tubes, for example. It was a time when even trips to the supermarket would lead to a rush of excitement.

“Those little supermarket trips felt so exciting as a child, even when you were only choosing a packet of chips or a small chocolate treat,” she said.

Shawarmas, too, are a big part of her childhood memories, as the family frequently drove down to their favourite spots – Maroosh and Zahrat Lebnan – two restaurants that have continued on to this day.

“There is something very comforting about knowing that places connected to your childhood still exist,” she said.

“Even now, shawarma is one of those tastes that immediately takes me back to growing up in Abu Dhabi,” she said.

And those are the sights and tastes that hark back memories of growing up in Abu Dhabi in the 1990s – not the monuments and skyscrapers, but the parks, the chips and the chocolate.

“Some of the strongest memories are not even specific events. They are little snapshots: sitting with family, going out for food, driving through streets I had seen hundreds of times, spending time in parks and experiencing those ordinary moments that you never realise will become nostalgic until years later,” she said.

“When I think about my childhood in the UAE, I think about the tiny things first, the details that probably sound ordinary until you realise how deeply they have become part of your memory,” she added.

For someone who truly feels a sense of belonging to Abu Dhabi, watching its astonishing progress makes her feel proud to call it home.

Even as the old gave way to modern structures, she can still instinctively navigate the roads and streets.

“New buildings appeared, roads changed, and entire areas developed, but somehow it remained the Abu Dhabi I knew,” she said.

“It feels special now because I have had the privilege of watching the UAE grow while growing alongside it. The Abu Dhabi of my childhood and the Abu Dhabi I see today are completely different in so many ways, yet the feeling I have when I return to it has never really changed,” she added.

Her life has often made her move between the UAE and Lebanon, moving back and forth for education and work, but Abu Dhabi, she says, has and always will be home.

Kalash spent some of her school years in Lebanon, but as soon as summer break would start, she’d pack her bags and come to Abu Dhabi.

After completing her university education and working for a while in Lebanon, she decided to move to the UAE for good in 2023, as she had a gut feeling that her professional and personal future were here.

A month into her move back to the UAE, this time in Dubai, she met her now husband – Sami Kalash.

On September 7, 2024, the two got married at the St. Elias Cathedral in Musaffah.

“I love that the city that witnessed my childhood also witnessed the beginning of that chapter of my life,” Kalash said.

“It gave Abu Dhabi another layer of meaning for me.”

And even as she travels ever so often from Dubai to Abu Dhabi, the 140km long trip helps her move from the responsibilities of her adult life to memories of a carefree childhood.

“Whenever I go back to Abu Dhabi to visit my parents, that nostalgia comes rushing back almost immediately. Suddenly, I am not thinking about deadlines or adulthood. I remember being the girl who grew up there. Something about returning to your birthplace makes different versions of your life exist at the same time,” she said.

And as she parks her car along Electra Street, she knows the shops, the streets and the people like the back of her hand.

“I had a nice childhood in Abu Dhabi,” she said.

“I always feel I'm home.”