Traffic fatalities

I'd appreciate some help on this from those in the Cedar Rapids area:  How many deaths are there on the roads of Linn county per month?

I was shocked to learn that there have been 54 deaths on the roads in the first 8 months of 2011 in Al Ain.  Al Ain has twice the population but given the large laborer class I'd be willing to bet the number of cars on the road is about the same as Linn county.  

Fifty-four deaths is both shocking and reassuring.  I've said before that if I die in this country it will have nothing nothing to do with terrorism, it will be under the wheels of a LandCruiser.  It's reassuring in the sense that I think, "Why am I worried about flying in Nepal when I drive in the Emirates?"

Workout for life...

...literally.

I have always had borderline high blood pressure.  While back in the US I had it checked and I had crossed the line to seriously high blood pressure and I talked with my doctor about the various treatments.  I've tried round one and it hasn't worked.  If anything - according to my Walgreens monitor - it's become worse.  I average 130-100 (not good) and I've even had a reading of 140-109 (scarily stroke potential).

I renewed the gym membership that I used less than a half-dozen times last year and I've been there 3 times in the past week. 

I have parents and grandparents with good longevity, but I also have a cousin who died way too young from a stroke; I know this is nothing to mess around with.  As an economist at heart I am searching for the right incentive tool to make me healthier - beyond the "you're gonna die" part.

Any suggestions on what has worked for any of you is appreciated.

A teaching first

I have a class of 48 students and a class of 44 being held in a room that seats 33.  I moved the classes myself and got in trouble.  So today I came into class and saw every seat taken and students standing at the back of the room.  I covered a little material and said, "That's it.  Until the university decides to give us a decent room this class is canceled. I'll send an e-mail when I hear that we have a better room."

A friend saw me shortly after and could see how angry I was.  His response, "Take the money and run."  Before that he said, "Why do you care?  It's no big deal.  If it really bothered the students they would complain.  Just let it go."

Not to be melodramatic, but the moment I quit caring about my classes is the moment I need to hang it up and find a new profession.

I've been assured the problem will be fixed before Tuesday's classes.

Plane crash in Nepal

This is not the headline I wanted to read a week after booking a ticket to Nepal!  The plane that crashed was one that had taken a trip to see Mount Everest.  It's a trip Ann and I took back in 2008.

Here's one of my pictures from that trip.  I found it to be anti-climatic.  Looking at the mountains from a plane window didn't seem all the different than looking at a giant picture of them.

Our flight in 2008 was delayed because of the fog.  Apparently, trying to land in fog is what caused this plane to crash.  I still plan to fly to Pokhara on this trip to Nepal because a week in Kathmandu is not appealing and  the possibility of careening off a mountain side in a bus is equally unattractive.

I wish they published statistics of casualties rates by bus vs air.  I doubt either set of numbers would help Nepali tourism.

*****
Update:  While I was working out tonight I saw video of the crash site.  It was not pretty.  Since Buddha Air has one plane that makes the trip to see Everest, returns, refuels and heads out again, it is likely that the plane that crashed is the same plane we were on.

Oh, the language barrier

I arrived home tonight from a great dinner party followed by a birthday party.  In my Emirati life this is as about social as it gets.

As the taxi dropped me off the watchman seemed to indicate that my car could not be parked on the street in front of my apartment.  It's where I have been parking 90% of the time for the past three years.  The more insistent he became that I couldn't park there the angrier I became.  His English is all of 50 words but I was close to chopping his head off.

I finally realized what he meant:  I've been paying him to wash my car and he gets in trouble if he washes my car on the street but won't get in trouble if he washes it within the compound.

I felt so bad I gave him $5.

Skippidy-doo-dah...

Last spring I was promised a huge pay increase, but I never signed any paperwork so I kinda wondered if it would really happen.  Today I saw the September pay and it has the increase.  To avoid any issues I won't say how much the increase is but if you're good with math you can work it out:  It's the equivalent of what a person working full time at the minimum wage in the US.

That's both great for me and sad that some people work 40 hours/week for this as their TOTAL pay.

228

It's not been a great start for the semester.  My class sizes keep growing and growing.  I wish this were a joke:  Every class I was assigned had to be moved because there were not enough seats in the room in which I was originally assigned.

I'm now at 228 students.  That's insane.  My male sections are 47, 47, and 50.  As I've written before, large male sections are, well, a nightmare.

If this were a first, a second, or even a third semester of this I might be OK, but the pattern is set:  I teach more students than anyone else in my college for four semesters running.  In my department I have triple the number of my average colleague.  TRIPLE.

I'm angry because I know I can't be the teacher I want to be with class sizes of 47-50.  But why does that upset me?  My evaluations remain high, I have relative job security and I'm not selling AFLAC.

Sometimes I have to remind myself of the occupation I was facing when I left the US to come here.

So, yeah, it sucks... but living here there are constant reminders of people living on $200/month.  I pay my maid twice the going rate because of liberal guilt...

Regardless, 228 is not fun.

The age of Facebook

I appreciated FB on the day Mom died; it was a quick way to let most of my friends know the news.  I expected many responses expressing condolences and they came streaming in over the next couple of days.  I found it reassuring and warming at a moment when everything felt cold.  I was also stunned by the friends who sent plants, made food and wrote long personal messages.

For my birthday FB elicited a different set of emotions.  Somewhere close to 200 people wished me a happy birthday.  Rather than have any delusions of being popular I actually found it odd to scroll down the list of those who took the time to wish me a happy birthday.  A sizable number - 20%? - are people that I've attempted to make contact with over my trips back to the US in the past four years and was repeatedly ignored.

I take it as, "We were friends/acquaintances at one time but now we're just FB friends.  Let's just leave it that way."

I'll take a real friend over a hundred FB friends any day.  The events of the past month have left me happy that I do have some terrific real friends.

THUMPS UP!

Today I received my student evaluations from the spring.  I had over 220 students and didn't feel like I connected with any of my classes... so I wasn't sure what to expect.  Fortunately, the numbers were really good - well above the college and university averages.

Here are some of the comments.  First, the good:

• the course was fun and interesting, the instructor is funny ( in good way) and he has a good ability and mood to teach so I was in his class.
• I would like to take another class with Mr. Steven.  One of the best professors I had.
• he's a succesful teacher, his way of teaching is very interesting and not like any other teacher

Here is a sample of the "I feel my head expanding" comments:

• he is the best
• He is my best teacher ever
• Dr. Steven Kranz is the best - keep it up ^^
• He's AMAZING, his class is one the best classes in the uni, u learn and u have fun in the same time, with him u never bored and if u like and respect the sir ur grades will be high.

I'm not sure what "respect the sir" means but it sounds kinda naughty...

The one somewhat negative comment:

• I really enjoy this course with your class but sometimes you put some questions in the exams you don't covered in the class. This is the only negative you have but in general you are the best ;)

It's true; there are some questions I don't cover in class, but hey, welcome to college.

And there's always at least one comment that makes me laugh out loud:

• THE BEST TEACHER EVERRRRRRRRRRR , THUMPS UP .

With no "p" or "b" in Arabic, it's not surprising they get this confused.  Remember, a year ago I was called "the pest doctor."

The farm

My niece Gina took this awesome picture at the farm while they were back from DC for Mom's funeral.  Her husband Jim is the one looking out on the splendor of Iowa.

Gina and Jim deserve some kind of award for finding a way back to Iowa with a seven day old son to attend the funeral... and then be delayed in the return by hurricane Irene.

Valuable shoes

In February I travelled to Sri Lanka by myself.  I know my ability to lose things and the fear of losing my passport and/or money was scary.  As a precaution I put two $100 bills underneath the soles of my shoes.

A week ago I went to buy an iPad and my credit card was inexplicably declined.  "Wait a minute," I replied.  I went to the bathroom, removed the money I needed from my shoes, and went up to pay.

Since it was under the soles this entire time the money didn't even smell bad...

Flying on Etihad

A nice thing about flying Etihad is that they have a large 9" inch personal TV for every passenger.  There are many movies and TV shows to choose from on demand.  They also have some interesting features like allowing you to see how far you are away any two cities in the world.

 This is from the trip back to the US in early August.

The green line on this map shows the flight path.  Check out the Titanic and Egypt.  What I do not understand is why they show major boat sinkings on the map.  Why would anyone show disasters on a map that passengers are looking at?

Two years ago an Emirati airline started flying directly from Chicago to Abu Dhabi.  It's the only direct flight from this country to the Windy City.  This summer I was finally able to take it.  In anticipation I paid $270 for an Etihad credit card to earn "miles."  I was supposed to get tons of benefits all of which turned out to be a lie.

On Sunday, however, I received my first benefit:

When I checked in at Chicago I was given a pass to the Premium Lounge.  I could lie and say the place was amazing - personal chefs, massage therapists on demand, bartenders at your service for whatever cocktail you could dream up (believe it or not there are some premium lounges that are that great).  Instead I have to say they kept out a fresh bag of chips and rotated the bottles of wine quickly.  The atmosphere was almost Ikea-like (functional but nothing cool).

At this point in my Etihad membership this glass of wine has a $270 pricetag.  I do think I'm collecting enough miles to maybe get a trip to Nepal but I'm not holding my breath.

The trip, however, was perfect.  I boarded a plane at about 8:30 PM Iowa time Sunday, flew overnight for 12 hours (we made good time) and got off the plane in Abu Dhabi at 6PM Monday.  I slept well on the plane and I can't think of a better trip.  Usually jet lag is worse flying east but I'm doing well so far.

Anyhow, I'm in and almost all is well.  One of my bags is missing.  I'm going to hope it shows up soon. My much more well traveled friends have said it always shows up eventually so I'm not going to panic... Although if I did panic I wouldn't know what affect that would have on my blood pressure because the machine I bought to measure BP is in the missing bag...

Maybe not such a good idea

I am typing this from the "premium"lounge in the international terminal.  It sounds better than it is, but hey, at least they have free wine.  It's the first benefit I have received from paying $270 for the membership.  More on that in a future post.

*******
The week Mom died I couldn't bring myself to listen to my voicemail.  I thought,"'I'll save it for the airport on my way out...'"  Don't ask me why that sounded like a good idea in the first place...

I just listened to them and it has, umm, reduced me to a bucket of tears.  Enough so that it's made everyone else in the lounge look at me.  In particular was a call from my HS friend Martha who got the news two weeks ago just before she was to board plane back home.  Her heartfelt/tearful memory of Mom is a voicemail I wish I could keep.

Anyhow, I have to go... Seeing how I am now I can't fathom how I would have made the trip home had Mom died while I was in the Emirates.  My plane for Abu Dhabi boards soon. - Steve

Trip back...

Here is the flight tracker for my trip back to Abu Dhabi:

http://flightaware.com/live/findflight/KORD/OMAA

The itinerary is Cedar Rapids to Chicago at 4:15... and then Etihad flight #150 direct from Chicago to Abu Dhabi.  I basically get on a plane at 8PM Central time on Sunday and get off the plane at 8PM Abu Dhabi time on Monday.  14 hour trip + 9 time zones = 23 hours.  I lose day going this way.

I'll let you know when I get in.