Iowa vs. the Himalayas, which has better weather?

It's not even close. As Cedar Rapids is facing two inches of snow according to the NWS, the high in Katmandu will be 72.

If you could only see the smug look on my face.

Street views

This city is truly beautiful as National Day approaches... the next few blog posts are pictures I took two nights ago. I'd like to take a few more and post more but, umm, I'm leaving for Nepal in 26 hours.
I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt while running around to take these pictures. It was warm. I broke out in a sweat, more due to being out of shape than the temperature.
Everyone was wearing long sleeves and many wearing jackets. I encountered a child wearing a winter parka. I didn't bring my flash so I couldn't get the picture.

Another round-about

There are several R-A's with waterfalls or water fountains. I live in a dessert where the sun shines everyday and it never rains. This place is green because the water usage is unbelievable.

Clocktower Round-About

Long before I arrived they removed the clocktower round-about and replaced it with a street light. They recreated it on one corner of the stoplight.

Reference

A student asked me if I would be a reference. 

“Sure” I responded, “What job are you going for?”

He explained that he has the job; listing references is a formality.  He’ll be working for the city.

He’s 19… graduated from HS last year.  He will be making $84,000 tax free.  I asked, “Will you be quitting school?”

“No, on days I have classes I don’t have to go to work.”

He has classes four days a week.

What to do in Katmandu...

Since we can't fly to Thailand Ann found even cheaper tickets to Katmandu. We fly out very early Tuesday morning. (That would be Monday night in Iowa.) That means in less than 48 hours I will be in Nepal... Plus I have classes tomorrow. Have I packed anything or done any planning at all? That would be no.

** I have black friends **

Katon Dawson wants to be the new head of the national Republican party.

I have a question for him: How can you be a member of an all white country club - for 12 years - in South Carolina and not notice that it's all white?

You could be forgiven in Iowa or North Dakota. Those states are really white. You might not even realize you didn't see another person of color, but South Carolina?

Maybe I need to start a Keith Olberman "Worse person in the world" category. This guy would be my winner today.

He disgustingly tries to justify his membership by saying he's friends with a prominent black Republican.

"I believe we are all God's children, and that it is a sin to discriminate against any person of color," Mr. Dawson said, adding that Mr. Steele, who is black, is a "friend of mine."

Go ahead, Republicans, make this guy your leader. My party will remain in power for a long, long time.

Camel, shmamel, let's go see the horses!

This boy was excited to show me the horses on the other side of the wall. Horses were the exotic animal to him. I had to explain that I've seen horses many times.

He looked puzzled. "They don't have camels where you are from?"

Camels

Today (Saturday) was a work day because we get 12 days off starting Tuesday. I have no problem working Saturdays if I get to play with camels!

The only camels I've seen up close before were the camels at the state fair. They had a dreary, "Please shoot me" look to them.

The camels were remarkably well mannered and gentle. This dignified camel pose with a flag waving in the distance could be a postcard.

The one on the left is a female and the male is on the right. She liked to rub her wet nose in my face. At one point she wrapped her neck around mine and started rubbing my back with her chin. Not surprisingly the male didn't get jealous.
What a cute couple!

She's so cute! Who knew I'd move to the middle east and fall in love with a camel?

National Day lights

The country celebrates its independence on Tuesday. The town is covered in lights. Over the course of the next few days I’ll be posting some pics.

Borrowed human resource model

I love that phrase. 

The next time you hire someone to do something you could do but don’t want to do say, “I’m using the borrowed human resource model…”

The phrase explains why I’m living in a country with 80% ex-patriots and 20% native Emiraties.  The Emirates have been able to afford to hire labor – including me – from other countries to do the work that locals are not willing/able to do.

In the unlikely event that one of my superiors is reading this, let me say that I love my job and I like turtles.

Anyhow, 50% of the population of this country is from India.  Indians do everything from pumping my gas to installing my internet to handling my bank transactions.  Fifty percent!

One of my colleagues is doing research on the effect of Indian repatriation.  As India’s economy grows Indians living here may decide it is time to move back home.  What impact will that have on the Emirates?  I’m completely fascinated by his research. 

Best Buy Black Friday

It is currently 3 AM in Iowa. My friend Sam is standing in line to buy a Garmin Nuvi and a monitor for me. The good news is that it's 26 degrees, 16 degrees warmer than last year.

I need the nuvi. I borrowed one last year when I was in north New Jersey for my niece's wedding. It was great! I hope it works as well in Dubai. The bad news? I have to pay an extra $200 to get the maps of the middle east. The model I'm getting also has an MP3 player. Driving here is boring with no radio stations playing anything but arabian music. (I haven't developed a taste for it.)

Anyhow, I'm thinkin' about you Sam. Sending warm thoughts!

Update: Sam arrived at Best Buy at 3:15. The doors opened at 5:00. He was out of the store by 5:10. He got the items I wanted. Thanks, Sam!

Thanksgiving dinner

My lunch was at Hardee’s.  No big deal.  I eat there so often that the woman said “Big Roast Beef or Mushroom and Swiss?”

Tonight I ordered Pizza Hut for the first time.  I got it around 10PM which would have been noon for my friends and family back in Iowa.  It was easily one of the worse pizza’s I’ve ever tasted.

Normally that wouldn’t bother me too much but knowing all of you were sitting down to a great meal at the same time I was eating flavored cardboard, well…

Just how screwed are we?

It’s a question I’ve been thinking about a lot… and an oddly appropriate question on the day we give thanks. Will we have as much to be thankful for next year? The year after? Five years from now?

Imagine it is 1929 and your family is sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner. It is very unlikely you have money in the stock market. You’ve read the news, heard it’s bad but really, you’ve been unaffected. You have no clue what is coming for the next decade.

Is 2008 the new 1929?

I have no idea, but over the course of the next couple of weeks I’m going to post my thoughts on the crisis.

And, by the way, Happy Thanksgiving!

You say tomato…

I spoke with an Indian colleague about the current situation in Mumbai.  I continually used the term Mumbai but I noticed he said “Bombay” repeatedly.

I finally said, “I thought your country changed the name of the city to Mumbai.”  He smiled, “Yes, to show we are independent of Great Britain.  They gave us the name Bombay.  To show our independence the government changed the name to Mumbai.  Everyone I know still calls it Bombay.”

Happy Thanksgiving!

As you sit down to a nice meal with all the trimmings think of me... my Thanksgiving dinner was a mushroom and swiss burger at Hardees.

Actually, I'm celebrating Thanksgiving with other American ex-pats tomorrow.

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I have a lot to be thankful for... For the past several years I had been stuck in a rut. There's nothing like moving to another country to shake things up. This has been a 95% positive experience. Starting this blog is one of the things I thankful for. I love the new experiences and the blog is great opportunity to share.

I appreciate all of the blog readers and comments. Thank you!

Insult?

I don't know or care who is selling this shoe. My students, however, were fascinated. "Isn't it an insult?"

Me: "Umm, if Nike wanted to put my face on a shoe I wouldn't see it as an insult..."

To have your face, name, whatever on a shoe would be considered an insult here. A student explained that feet are dirty and disgusting. To be associated with the foot says the same about you, I guess.

I then learned of the real controversy concerning Nike... which I'll save for a later post.

Arabic trivia of the day

We write "Sheik" and pronounce it like the shake in "Shake the snow off your shoes." In reality it should be "Sheikh"... as in "shake-ha". I can't get the "h" sound right. Every time I say a name like "Ahmed" my students laugh. To me the sound is guttural. When I try to do it sounds like I'm about to hack something up.

Then again, after four years of Spanish I never did learn to roll my rr's. My German brain raised in America is apparently not capable of a Spanish "rr" or an Arabic "h".

Update: Ann pointed out that writing “Shake-ha” sounds too much like a common girl’s name here. It’s really more like “Shake-heh”

Either way I can’t make the sound.

Long trip home

So two Iowa Hawkeye fans had sex in a public bathroom in the Metrodome. Big deal. Last year an Idaho Senator was also seeking action in a public restroom. (That begs the question, is there something special about Minnesota bathrooms?)

The real story is in the last two lines from KCRG:

Lois Feldman, 38, of Carroll, and Ross Walsh, 26, of Linden, were both cited for indecent conduct. Feldman was released to her husband and Walsh was released to his girlfriend.

Cultural day

The nation's independence day is next week and tonight the women hosted cultural dances on the women's campus. I am a lucky guy to have had an opportunity to witness the event. There were hundreds of students but only a few faculty and of those only 2 others were male.
It was spectacular to watch the dances from the Sudanese, Emiraties and Lebanese. I would have loved to have taken pictures to put on the blog, but they would have probably marked my last day in the Emirates.
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Tonight Mike, Ann and I drove to the top of Jebel Hafeet to listen to a French band. It was also great. Unfortunately, it was very, very cold. It's the first time I have been cold in six months.
This is a pic from my hotel room during my first week. Jebel Hafeet is the mountain you barely make out in the background.
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I left my apartment at 7:30 this morning and didn't get back until 11:30 tonight. Long day. Good day, but long. On top of all that Mike has forwarded me a picture of Pedro, a pug in Dubai in need of a home.
First, I hope Pedro's head grows. Those are the most serious bug eyes I've ever seen on a dog. There's a Pedro pic that's even worse but I can't put it on the blog because I don't want to see it again.

Second, I've told Mike to let the guy know that I'd be interested in shared custody. I won't take full custody. There's no way I could own a dog that had to be kenneled for the extended time I'm back in Iowa.

Update: No Pedro. He's been given to an agency that finds homes for dogs. I'm going to believe that he's found a good home. I can't think otherwise.

Vacation in Thailand

December 2 – 13 is holiday.  Ann, an old friend of hers and myself have decided to head to Thailand.  Ann found dirt cheap tickets and hotels.  I’ll write more about the plans in the next couple of days.

First, read this story.

My life as a dog continues.

We are living history

If you want to see a silver lining to our current situation it is this: We are living history. I’m not referring to electing a black president. That is so yesterday.

It is entirely possible we are facing a crisis the world hasn’t faced since the 1930’s… and it might take a decade to recover, if we do.

Fareed Zakaria sums it up:

Some of us—especially those under 60—have always wondered what it would be like to live through the kind of epochal event one reads about in books. Well, this is it. We're now living history, suffering one of the greatest financial panics of all time. It compares with the big ones—1907, 1929—and we cannot yet know its full consequences for the financial system, the economy or society as a whole.

Dogs greet soldier after 14 months in Iraq

I wonder what kind of response I’ll get from Gus.  It tears me up that he has no idea why I left or where I am.

I wouldn’t blame him if he pee’d on my leg.

Quote of the day

A case has been made that the most important people in the world are the Secret Service agents guarding Barack Obama. 

The first comment on the story was this:

Even I would join the Secret Service my own self to protect Barack Obama and I know since I'm 61 and a retired teacher, I wouldn't be much help. I would take a bullet for him! He is so important to our world now. Please, please guard him with all your might.

I am with ’ya, sister… 

Another way to look at it

One of my brightest students has a different take on the Prince Waleed interview.  (Before going further, the GCC are the rich gulf countries:  Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.)

I asked my class, “Why would the GCC allow oil prices at $50-$60  when they could cut production just a little and see prices go to $80 or even $100?”  After some discussion they got around to Prince Waleed’s answer of “help the world economy now so they will be our customers in the future.” 

My bright student said, “They are doing America’s bidding.”

I went on to explain how this is hurting the countries of Iran, Venezuela, and Russia who are all dependent on oil revenues.

My bright student repeated, “America doesn’t like those countries.  The GCC is doing America’s bidding.”

Talking Turkey

I failed this trivia quiz with only 9 out of 20 right.

Quote of the day

"If this team can’t inspire confidence, the economy is truly mission impossible. It doesn’t get better than Geithner in Treasury and Summers in the White House."

- Economist Gary Clyde Hufbauer in Politico's arena. I have no idea who Mr. Hufbauer is, but I agree with the statement.

30 years of sanctions didn't break Iran, but this might

Last Thursday I wrote:

Saudi’s are saying, “Screw you Iran, Russia, and Venezuela. You are so dependent on oil revenue you need prices at $90/barrel. You don’t listen to us when we tell you to do something so we’re going to pump lots and lots of oil. We can live well on $50 oil. Can you? Oh so sorry.”

Prince Al Waleed of Saudia Arabia just confirmed it on a live CNBC interview. He said he has no problem with the current price of $54 and thinks the price should remain near the $60 level for years to come.

No support whatsoever for the OPEC countries that want a higher price. Not even lip service.

Thanksgiving week homework

For some reason several of my students have asked this week “What is the American Dream?” I’ll save my answer for later.

What is your answer in 1-3 sentences? You can send your answers to stevekranz@aol.com

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I know this will be the oddest Thanksgiving for me. It's hot outside and it's time for turkey? I will be going to a friend of Ann’s to celebrate on Friday.

I’m curious to know what the mood is back in the US. I spend entirely too much time watching CNBC where it is one bad economic story after another. Will the gathering around the table be a depressing affair this year as families wonder if they will be employed next year?

Miscellaneous

A guy who predicted our current economic mess makes even worse predictions for the future.   In case you don’t watch it I will summarize:  1. The dollar’s current spike is temporary.  Soon it will “fall like a stone”.  (I agree).  2. “The world has learned a valuable lesson: Don’t lend America anymore money.”  (Possible, no evidence yet.)  3.  Gold is your best investment.  He forecasts $2000/ounce next year.  (I’ll bet against that.) 
His bottom line:  It’s going to be much worse than any of us are thinking right now.

*****
Candace Gingrich tells her brother Newt, “Stop being a hater.”

*****
The story you won’t hear about today’s Obama economic press conference…  He had four people standing behind him.  Three were economic heavy weights well known and well respected by the markets.  The fourth was Melody Barnes who will head the “Domestic Policy Council”.  I have never heard of her OR the Domestic Policy Council.  The reason she was on the stage was Obama’s attempt to throw a bone to the left wing of the left wing of the Democratic Party.  Many progressives have been rumbling that all of his appointments have been mainstream… you know, grown-ups.
This group will only be satisfied with Dennis Kuchinich as Secretary of State. 

*****
Have you ever heard of 16th Ave. Music?  I must live somewhere near it but I’ve never heard of the company.  One thing is certain:  They love the Obama campaign.  They were paid $84,601 for staging sound and lighting.

Black Friday

For someone reason I like to get up at 3AM, get pushed around, and stand in long lines on the day after Thanksgiving. Last Thanksgiving was a particularly miserable experience as I stood in 10 degree weather for which I did not dress properly. I was able to get a TV for Mom & Dad’s kitchen but I’m not sure it was worth the feeling of frostbite in my toes.

You can see almost every store’s ads here.

Update: Sandy says this is a better website.
But, can you trust someone from Minnesota… the turkey capital of America?

Change

I live in a culture that thinks a lot about change. My students' grandparents got around by camel.

America is viewed as the agent of change. Generally, I think that's good. I like new inventions. I don't want to go back to the pre-internet, pre-google, or pre-cellphone world.

There are moments, however, that give me pause. A teenager in Florida committed suicide online while 185 people watched and chimed in with catty comments?

First day of the work week

Sunday is the equivalent to Monday in the US. You know those Mondays from hell? Well, I had a Sunday from hell. I guess it has nothing to do with the day of the week as much as it does being the first day of the week.

Hmm... being raised in Christianity there seems to be something wrong with writing "Sunday from hell".

As I was driving tonight I thought about tomorrow. I had to think for a second, "Is tomorrow Tuesday or Wednesday? Oh, wow, tomorrow is Monday. Yeah, this has been a long day."

Good ideas

Over the course of the blog I want to show things that I like better here. First up, shopping carts.
The carts take a quarter to unlock in the mall. To get your quarter back you have to return it to the corral and hook it to the cart in front of you. This way all the carts are properly returned. (This is also the reason that poor laborers spend their one day off in the mall parking lot... hoping to take the cart back for the quarter.)
Also, the carts have all four wheels that can go in any direction. That's much better than our front wheel drive shopping carts!

Many escalators are more like moving walkways you see in major airports. The wheels on the shopping carts fit into the grooves of the escalator and act as a brake. Whether I have a cart or not I really like the walkway type of escalator more than the step type in America.
*****
I took this picture quickly. Shortly after arriving I found the mall interesting and began taking pictures. Let's just say that I quickly realized I was breaking rules and left before I was escorted out.

Analyze this!

It's too bad the gender analyzer can't interpret pictures. No woman would have a fridge that looks like this!

Genderanalyzer

According to this website there is a 52% chance this blog is being written by a woman.

Not that I am insecure or anything... but did you catch that Iowa football game? I woke up early to listen to it. Now I'm off to eat steak and eggs for breakfast. I sure wish I could be drivin' to the shop in a 4x4 SUV. After a long day at work, I'm gonna get me some beer and go play poker with my buddies... too bad there ain't no strip joint in this town... I look forward to shooting my shotgun when I'm back home... maybe even go moose huntin' with Todd Palin...

Update: This post didn't help. It's now a 53% chance.

Update 2: WHAT? Every time I click on the link it becomes more and more feminine!

In the wilderness

Here's an article in today's Register. Republicans won't be making a comeback in Iowa so long as they continue to eat their own.

Update: I listened to the entire painful hour. If you want to hear it you can download it here from the WHO website. I thought Governor Palin's "Obama pals around with terrorists" was over the top. This radio host tells pro-life Republican Doug Gross that "Some of your buddies want to kill 4000 babies a day."

While the whole hour is enjoyable in a root canal way, you can skip to the last five minutes to get to the good stuff.

Reflection

The windows on our apartment building are highly reflective. In the late afternoon each day the sunlight dances on the wall across the street.

Huh?

I have never noticed if you can buy Kleenex for men in the US. Why do we need our own Kleenex? Is our snot any different?

"The chocolate bar for the beautiful little
white boy with perfect teeth."

(The tag line is mine.) I would find this to be odd packaging in the US.

Here - where this kid simply doesn't exist - it is bizarre.

Dream

Occasionally I have incredibly realistic dreams.  Dreams so realistic that I have woke assuming they were real.  The illusion remains with me until I say something and another person says, “Huh?” and I realize my “memory” was really a dream.

I don’t typically share these dreams.  Who likes to hear about someone else’s dreams?

But I have to share this one.  (All but my closest friends are skipping to the next post… or deleting my blog from their favorite places…)

I was on the Price is Right.  I was in the final showcase.  The first showcase was a Coke lover’s dream.  A trip to Atlanta to visit the Coke Museum, a Coca Cola poker table, and lots and lots of Coke accessories – glasses, polar bears, clothes, etc.  I wanted it so bad I could taste.

The other guy had first choice.  He chose to bid.  He didn’t pass it to me!

He bid a conservative $2480.  Crap!  There’s no way he went over, but he probably only went $2000-3000 under.  That means I have to come that close.

Now it’s my turn.  The theme was a trip down HIllary Clinton’s life:  The first thing they showed were the first four cars Hillary ever drove.  They were modest cars, Chevy’s.  But how much are they worth?  Next up is a refrigerator.  Then four pieces of furniture.  Then some art work…

I’m screwed.  There’s no way I can come within $3000.  Plus, I think to myself, “I don’t want this stuff.  There’s no way I can take it back to the UAE.”

I bid $82000.

During the commercial break Bob (no lame Drew Carey in my Price is Right dream) asked the guy why he took the first showcase since it didn’t have much in it.  The guy said, “I told my buddies that if a showcase included a poker table I was going to bid on it.  Besides I saw the prize list earlier and I knew I couldn’t come close on the second showcase…”

A producer stepped forward.  “You saw the prize list in advance?” 

By disqualification I won my showcase.  I wanted both (something that happens if you are within $100 of winning your own showcase).  The producer laughed.  “Your showcase is worth $106,000.  There’s no way I can give you both.”

The excitement of having won on the Price is Right was so vivid I awoke immediately… realized I was lying on my couch in al Ain.  Damn.

"I'll be in charge of the turkey!"

Quote above from Governor Palin. In the backdrop you get to see a turkey's final moment of life and watch him/her thrashing to stay alive. The interview ends with the Governor's trademark wink.

Who thought this was a good setting?

When you play it in youtube go to the full screen view... the looks from the guy are priceless!

Gus

*sniffle*

Home away from home

This is the front of my apartment building.
This a picture of the roundabout from the top of my apartment building. I suggest clicking on it to see it better.

No idea

I stopped the car, got out, walked up and down the street to get a clue. I have none. It doesn't appear to be an auto shop or a bakery. Go figure.

Ugh.

On my second night in the UAE the soccer team won some big game. To celebrate a group of men circled the parking lot of the Hilton honking their horns for hours and hours. I was seriously jet lagged but kept awake until 3AM.
*****
I've had nothing like that until tonight. A block away they've been playing music ridiculously loud for hours. It is now almost 2AM. I took half an ambien an hour ago with hopes of sleeping, but the music is too annoying.

The music has seemed to stop! Yippee! It's stopped before only to return five minutes later. If it starts again you'll be liable to hear from me again from the news, "American has been imprisoned after assaulting..."

*****
Double ugh.
The music has returned.

An entire decade lost

Sorry for so many economic posts in a row...

With today's drop in stocks, the Dow is now equal to April 1997. All of the gains over the past 11 years have been wiped out.

Think of everything that has happened since April 1997 (a period I remember vividly as I was working full time and teaching 3 of Spellman's classes after his first heart attack).

If you had invested $1000 in a stock index fund you would have $1000 today.

You might as well have put it in your mattress.

****
Before Wu corrects me, it would actually be less than $1000 because of fees.

Price of oil

Oil peaked in July at $147/barrel.  Since then the price has drifted down.  Today it closed below $50.  That’s a 2/3 decline.  The fact is $147 was never a sustainable price… but $100 or even $120 probably was.

The price of oil is down because demand is down.  But that’s only half the story.  I read the local papers every day.  Each day there is a line from S.A. urging higher prices.  It’s a statement they have to make.  But actions speak louder than words and this drop in oil prices is absolutely supported by the Saudi’s.

They give reasons why lower oil prices are good.  In summary:

1.  High oil prices encourages new discoveries.  We don’t need new discoveries to compete with…

2.  High oil prices will push the green revolution into non-oil based cars.  Can’t let that happen.

and my favorite:
3.  Oil exporting nations that are dependent on oil revenue to provide basic services need to get their fiscal house in order.

Interpretation:  Saudi’s are saying, “Screw you Iran, Russia, and Venezuela.  You are so dependent on oil revenue you need prices at $90/barrel.  You don’t listen to us when we tell you to do something so we’re going to pump lots and lots of oil.  We can live well on $50 oil.  Can you?  Oh so sorry.”

Disappearing wealth

From CNBC: The S&P 500 (stocks of the largest 500 companies) are down a total of $6.9 Trillion.

A big thank you to Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley. More than anyone else, he scuttled the President's plan to privatize Social Security. (He was chair of the Senate Finance committee.)

*****
542,000 people filed for unemployment last week. The highest number in 16 years.

On the positive side oil closed below $50.

*****
Lonnnggg week over. I'll be back to more frequent posting.

One happy student!

Red Bull came to town to challenge the students to drop an egg from 50 feet and see if they could keep it from breaking. I encouraged all of my students (male, not being held on the female campus) to participate. Several did.The winning team was led by one of my students, Ahmed Hajjo - the one with the "1"

They won frying pans!

Well, seriously the winning team wins skydiving. As one who has done it three times I couldn't be happier for them!

Keep looking for a woman in these pictures. Good luck!
Afterward, the crowd gathered around to watch break dancing.
MTV Europe covered the event, complete with a boom camera.

Miscellaneous

The first woman assigned to lead a space walk loses her bag carrying tools...

Since election night two senate seats - Oregon and Alaska - have flipped to the Democrats. It's possible we'll pull it out in Minnesota. Even as my party gains a very solid majority in the Senate, Democrats slap Joe Lieberman's wrist. This has to be delightful to Republicans as my party once again proves it has no balls... not even teeny tiny ones...

Japan, and Germany, are officially in a recession Great Britain is close. France is treading water. There is no serious doubt where the US is headed.

The City of Five Smells is one of the must miss places in the world.

And finally, this could lead to really big smiles. Eww.

Long used jokes sometimes don't work

There is a chapter in every management textbook about self esteem. I explain that our self esteem is impacted by many internal and external forces. I then tell the following story:

As a child I watched the show Brady Bunch. In one episode Peter Brady thinks he's adopted. Any kid watching the show has to wonder if he, too, was adopted. I asked my mother and she replied, "Kid, if we could have picked do you think we would have picked you?"

The joke has always gone over well back home. When I told the story today the guys sat in stunned silence. I counted to three... and started laughing hard. Then they realized it was a joke and started laughing.

In the next class one student laughed right away. The rest of the class looked at him like he was horrible. Then I started laughing and they realized it was OK.

Update: All 3 female sections laughed right away.

It's 10PM... do you know where your leader is?

I asked each of my classes if they knew where the leader of the UAE is today. None did. (He's at Camp David visiting President Bush.) I pointed out that the U.S. welcomes many foreign leaders to the White House but only special guests are invited to Camp David. This is the second time Sheik Nahyan has been to Camp David this year.

I don't blame my students; the press here didn't cover it. When I mentioned I bought a newspaper and there was no story about the Sheik's trip a student said, "Maybe it was covered in a different newspaper."

Update: My students today informed that it was the brother, the Crown Prince, that was in the US. They both have the last name Nahyan, but the ruler is Sheikh Khalifa, the one visiting the US was Sheikh Mohammed.

I stand corrected!

Moon over Al Ain

Now watch my head explode

I order lunch at Quizno’s: Price 23 dirham. I pay with a 20 and a 5. The clerk opens the drawer. It has a single dirham coin in it. She says, “Sir, do you have three dirham?” “No,” I reply and she gives me one dirham change.

So my lunch cost me $.25 more than it should have.

Later I cross campus. Before I enter class I stop to buy a Coke. Price: 2 dirhams. I hand the woman a five. “Sir, do you have 2 dirhams?” She shows me her empty cash drawer. I show her my one dirham. She takes it and says, “That’s OK.”

Why the #$#^@ can’t any store or restaurant keep a supply of dirham coins in the register!

No mall walkers here!

At the malls I am practically a senior citizen. It is very rare to see someone over 50. I can’t recall seeing anyone over 60.

I asked a student why. He said, “They are at home with their families.”

Ok, but all the time? Why don’t they visit the mall?

My student said that when he goes to the mall he does it to waste time. I said, “Sure, a lot of people do.”

He continued, “Older people don’t like to waste time. They want to spend it with their families. It is not right to spend time at the mall when they are waiting to die.”

Share the blog love

I have found two Coe Sigma Nu's who blog.

Eric Smithmier graduated from Coe 2000.

http://smithmier.blogspot.com/

Nathaniel Umphrey (Duck) came through Coe in the late 90's'.

http://ducksmuse.blogspot.com/

What's in a name?

Blogging will be light the next few days as grading 222 exams is time consuming.  Because I want to know how they did on the first midterm and the make-up I'm grading them both.  That's 444 exams, oh joy.

Grading them took several hours this weekend.  Putting them in the spreadsheet is more time consuming.

Why?  In the U.S. we have a first and last name.  Here they have a first name, a middle name, a last name, a tribal last name, a second tribal last name... you get the picture.  The name a student writes on the paper rarely matches the name on the class roster. 

The roster (provided by the university) is in alphabetical order by last name.

The problem?  Which last name do you use?

I spent two hours tonight putting grades in excel and I have headache.

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Even the first names are redundant.  I have multiple Abdullahs, Mohammeds and Khalifas in every male class; multiple Mariams, Sheikas and Fatimas in the female classes.

3 months and going strong

Three months ago I arrived in Al Ain. It's been a great ride so far. Which means, of course, I'm scared! Nothing seems to go well for me for too long.

Knocking on wood... while throwing salt over my shoulder...

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Great news! Donna is doing well. I don't have many details but she e-mailed me from home saying she's OK.

Lightshaft

I was lucky to get one of the apartments on the exterior of the building. The interior apartments have no outside light except what comes through down a light shaft.

This picture was taken from my roof looking down my light shaft. The window light you see in this picture is from the front room of my apartment. (To get some perspective, it's the second picture down on the post showing apartment pics.)

The ladder is how people are supposed to escape a fire.

Sandstorm

We get so little weather here that a mild afternoon sandstorm is exciting.
These pics were taken from the roof of my apartment building. Directly over my apartment is massive power lines. I hope the research that says power lines increase the risk of cancer are wrong.
The top picture is looking west, the picture right above is looking east.
This is the roundabout right next to our apartment building. I chose to live under power lines rather than hearing the traffic. Since they added rumble strips after we moved in I'd say I made a good call. (Until I have cancer.)
This was my first trip to the roof. It's proof that they were consistent in the crappy construction. Plant debris was all over the roof before they applied the sealant. They could have cleaned it up... or simply paint over it.

Gawkistan

What do you do when you have a day off and very little money?Laborers work six days a week. Friday is their day off. They gather downtown to socialize.
These pictures are a mere sample of the hundreds (thousands?) gathered across downtown.
Have you noticed that there's not a woman to be seen?
You can see people sit on their heels for hours. My knees hurt just looking at this.

Great idea (for me)

To lock my door (from the inside) I have to use my key. That's great for me, the person prone to losing my keys, billfold, phone, etc.

Sadly, I have to confess that several times I have spent 10 minutes looking for my keys only to remember they are in the door.

I've never seen this in America. Do we have it? Also, washing machines here come with their own heater (no need to hook up to hot water). I've got a load of whites in the washer right now set to 170 degrees. Do we sell washers in America that do this? I'll bet we do, but it must be deluxe models.

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Unrelated: For some reason it was hot today. I'm sure it was over 100 degrees. This is nothing like August, but I had become accustomed to fall.

Lists

To bring back to America:

Gifts. Want one? Let me know. I know it's odd to ask for a gift. It's OK this time. What would you like? T-shirt, bumper sticker, coffee pot (really cool), discounted airline ticket to come visit...

To bring back to the Emirates:

1. Cinnamon Scope. You have no idea how lucky you are to be able to buy Cinnamon Scope! Never tried it? Please do. I'm afraid they'll stop making it since I'm not in the US to buy a bottle per week.

2. Saline solution (Here's why)

3. Dress socks (why didn't I bring more before?)

4. Ties (why didn't I bring more before?)

5. Polo's - very acceptable dress here, should have brought more.

6. Long shorts. Must cover the knees.

7. Iowa, Iowa Iowa! I have never felt more of a need to wear Iowa stuff than living here. If you see a sale on Iowa clothes buy for me. I promise I will reimburse. I wear Large... but with the weight I'm gaining you better make it XL.

8. Coke coffee cups. I own over 100 Coke coffee cups. I need to bring 20 over here and leave them on the men's and women's campus. We get served coffee in our office (a wonderful perk). I'd like mine in a Coke coffee cup.

9. Dial soap. My favorite, not sold here.

10. Coke shower curtain.

11. More Coke mugs. In August I brought a few Coke plastic glasses and two of my favorite Coke mugs (the ones I keep in the freezer back home). I saw more on sale on ebay and Denise was kind enough to get them for me.

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This list is for me more than the blog. I have a habit of losing things. (I can hear those who know me saying, "Really?") By posting it on the blog and updating it I won't forget my list...

Thank you Ann and Mike!

Late last spring Ann and Mike went to a couple that was leaving the UAE. They offered to buy everything in their apartment. Ann and Mike stored all of it in their apartment over the summer... and for the next eight weeks after we arrived and I was staying at the Hilton.
I have great stuff... nice furniture, stove, washing machine... all for a fraction of the cost of buying new. I have the best looking crappy apartment of the new people.

Thanks again!

Apartment pics

This room is supposed to be the living room. There's no window so I made it my bedroom. I have lived in the apartment for over a month and have yet to sleep on the bed.

This is the view from the doorway. One of my Coke bears keeps an eye on the door all day long.
The window is to a "light shaft". It allows some light to filter in but not much.
This is the spare bedroom. Big enough for a double bed and a foot on the side.
The kitchen (with washing machine).
The bathroom. At least it's better than this.
This is supposed to be the "master bedroom". I use it as my living room.
A week after we moved in Gwen (living right across the hall) and I threw a party. It failed. Not because nobody came, but because people came and there was nowhere to sit.
I had the door to the kitchen and this room removed. The door took up too much room.