My day in the kandura, 2011 edition

December 2 is National Day, the equivalent of July 4 in the US.  In honor of the holiday I wear a kandura (robe).  Last year I had a white kandura and I wore it again for cultural night in the post below.  This year I decided to have one made with color.  I joke with students, "Don't you ever get bored wearing white every day?  I can't imagine opening my closet door and seeing nothing but white kandura's staring back at me."  I like a little variety in my closet. Anyhow...

I had a tailor make a blue one with subtle stripes.

Dr. Omar grew up in the Emirates and received his Ph.D. in the US.  He started teaching at UAEU last year and his office is next to mine.  I don't get to see much of him but we've become friends.  I love the US and enjoy teaching and living in the Emirates.  Omar loves the UAE and really enjoys his time in the US.  He and his wife return each summer to Arkansas.  (I raised my eyebrows the first time he said it, too.  He explained that he's from the one liberal town in Arkansas.  That makes sense.  Living in Iowa City is a world different than western Iowa.) 

Omar and I are wearing the egal (black ropes) because it is appropriate for our position as teachers.  The shebab (young males) only wear them when they have something formal to dress up for.

 Khaled is one of my favorite students.  Here is demonstrating the nose greeting.  While I found it unnerving last year I got over it quickly this year.  I still can't bring myself to make the "smooch" sound as I touch the other guy's nose.  Obviously I can't say it is "too gay."  I'd have to say it strikes me as too intimate as a way to greet a casual friend almost anyone.

 I have been teaching more years than I care to remember but this is the first time I have had a German exchange student.  My ancestors are from Germany and I have long believed my family has very, very German attributes - for good and bad.  It is fantastic to be able to talk at length with a pure-bred born and raised German to learn whether my German stereotypes are accurate.  The answer?  Yes, but that's a story for a different post.

Lukas also had a kandura made and right after this picture was taken he said, "I don't know what my grandmother would do if she saw this picture."  I laughed because I know my grandmother would have started with "Oh, pshaw" and gone downhill from there.

 Rashed is a student from Afghanistan.

Afghanistan... as in, a year ago he was living 50 miles north of Kabul.  One of the reasons I don't get bored in my job is that I love, love, love the chance to talk to people whose life experience is simply fascinating.  For the record, he's more optimistic for Afghanistan than most American pundits seem to be and he had some solid, yet anecdotal, evidence to back it up.

We are wearing scarfs that celebrate the 40th National Day and have pictures of the rulers of the country.  Patriotism leads to commercialism here.  (I don't mean that as a pejorative.  The fact people are willing to spend lots of money to show their spirit for National Day is something I like.  It's nationalism without any of the bitterness of the Tea Party.)

OH!  There are few pictures that have disappointed me more than this one.  This is my favorite class in my four years of teaching in the Emirates.  A few of the guys bought a Coke, Coke Zero and Coke Light (Diet Coke) for the class.  Unfortunately, there was no good place to take the picture at this time of day.  My lack of foresight on this really bothers me.  I'd like to do a do-over and probably will; this is a class I want to remember.

It's ten o'clock, do you know where your central bank is?

On Wednesday, November 23, something potentially catastrophic happened:  Germany, considered the rock-solid safest place in Europe, tried to sell bonds and there were not enough buyers.  In other words, the world market was afraid to buy German debt.

I told Ann, "This is either the first sign of Armageddon or something really big is going to happen very soon."

Exactly a week later we got something big:  The US Federal Reserve (our central bank) is leading a joint effort with Canada, Japan, Britain, Switzerland and the European Central Bank to push "dollar liquidity."

What does that mean?  The US is basically lending billions (trillions?) of dollars to the other central banks.  The world operates on the dollar - something I knew but didn't quite realize how true it was until I moved here.  Those central banks will lend them to their banks.  Those banks will, hopefully, start lending again.  The world's monetary system is on life support right now and this is a very good, albeit short-term medicine.

I can't wait to see how this plays out for the public in the US.  I see this as nothing short of "America comes to the rescue of the world" but it can be easily played by the right wing as "Obama is bailing out the rest of the world."  Never mind that the Federal Reserve is not part of the Obama administration.

I don't write about the economy much because I fear there are so many ways things can get worse that it is simply too depressing.  And, really?  If the euro collapses all bets are off.  Today's action does nothing to keep the patient alive beyond a few months.  Unfortunately, in this case the patient is the world economy.  Austan Goolsbee (the best economist Obama appointed when elected but then ignored) depressingly sees no positive outcome to the euro crisis.

Cultural night

Friday, December 2, is National Day - The 40th anniversary of the founding of the UAE.  (Maybe someday I'll get over living in a country that is younger than me, but I'm not there yet.)

In the run-up to National Day the college hosted a cultural night that I attended.

 I am on the left (in case you couldn't recognize me).  Here I am meeting with students who are part of the volunteer organization with a mission to improve things in the UAE.

How much do Emiratis get into National Day?  They even have headscarfs made for the occasion.

UAEU has students from many countries.  These are Omani students heading to the center square to dance.  Notice that four in the front row are walking on gravel with no shoes.

Tougher feet than mine.

 The Omanis drug me out to the dance floor sandlot. It was fun, but I suck so bad at dancing that they graciously allowed me to quit early.

You don't have to be gay to appreciate the traditional greeting among men of the same tribe.  As a member of a relatively cold German family, I find it refreshing to see this level of warmth between distant family members.

Boycott Butterball for halal turkeys?

The rightwingers in the US are stunning in their ability to raise Fox faux outrage.  The latest?  Halal turkeys.

Halal is the Islamic term for "religiously acceptable."  As Jews should eat kosher foods, Muslims should eat halal foods.  For turkeys halal specifically refers to the way the animal is slaughtered.

From Wikipedia: "This method of slaughtering animals consists of using a well sharpened knife to make a swift, deep incision that cuts the front of the throat, carotid artery, wind pipe and jugular veins but leaves the spinal cord intact."


In other words, kill the animal quickly and humanely without decapitating.

How does the neo-con right see this?

"In a little-known strike against freedom, yet again, we being forced into consuming meat slaughtered by means of a a torturous method:  Islamic slaughter."

There's stupid and then there's stoooopid...

I'm happy we'll be serving Butterballs on Thanksgiving.

Bill Flanagan

I am fortunate that I had a class with the natural Santa Claus.  A kind, gentle soul who also knew how to keep track of who was naughty and nice.  The beard helped.

Sadly, he passed away this weekend.

In the spring of my freshman year at Coe I took a class in Sociology.  (I really like Sociology but it wasn't until grad school before I took more classes.  Only in Sociology classes do I think, "I am the most conservative person in the room.")

The class with Professor Flanagan was eye-opening.  Sociology should be named the "social science that studies all the ways the world is unfair."  I have thought about the class many times since coming here.

I also think about him from a teaching standpoint:  In his class he assigned a book to read but never talked about it in class.  On the midterm he asked an essay question about the book worth 20% of the grade.  At first I was angry. I thought, "If it is that frickin' important why didn't you talk about it at least once in class?"  Then I paused and thought, "Welcome to college."

As a teacher I have never followed Professor Flanagan's example.  I pretty much give test questions that come from lecture - I consider it a reward for those who stay awake in my class... but this semester I failed to mention a topic in one of my classes and a few students were upset to get questions about it.  It was in the textbook so I had no problem smiling and saying, "Welcome to college!"

Cheers Professor Flanagan!  I really wish I had had a chance to talk to you about all that I have learned about "income stratification" since I arrived in the Emirates.  I'm one of your students who greatly appreciated you as a teacher and I'm only mad at myself for getting a B in your class.

Paragliding

Thirty minutes of paragliding costs $100.  I did it last year but the weather was cloudy and the Himalayas were not visible, yet it was still worth $100.  This year?  Priceless.

A jeep took us up to a mountain ridge where we walked up a trail to the launch.

  A paraglider is taking off from the mountain just as we arrive.  I did a tandem paraglide.  Unlike skydiving, paragliding is much more relaxing.  Rather than hang attached to the person you jump with, in paragliding you actually sit in a seat and allow your feet to dangle.

The view from the air was incredible; Himalayas in the distance and rice farms up the mountainside right below us.

This was the first good day for paragliding in weeks so there were many out.  The updrafts were strong.  We could have remained aloft indefinitely. 

Farmers in this picture are harvesting the rice.  The large black spot is a shadow from our parachute.

My feet are at the bottom of this picture just before we land.  My tandem guy nailed the landing better than a Chinese gymnast.

This is a short video I took of the trip.

Himalayas by moonlight

The Eco-village is a difficult place to get to with amazing views of the Annapurna range of the Himalayas.  We arrived there after dark on a clear night.  The moon was nearly full.  I borrowed a tripod and set my camera to 30 second exposures.  The result is a set of pictures that almost looks like daylight.

 It was nearly pitch black at the time I took this with the Himalayas shimmering in the distance.

How the trees here appear green is quite amazing to me... they were black to my eyes.  

I love how the Himalayas seem to float with stars above the plants and flowers in the foreground.  This may be my favorite picture I've ever taken.

Back in Al Ain

The Nepal trip of 2011 is over and it was incredible.  Unfortunately, I have a lot of work to do in the next two weeks so blogging about the trip may take some time.

Also, I need to amend/correct the post below.  As a single male waling the streets of the tourist area I had plenty of offers of "hasheesh... mareeejuana...?" I learned on previous trips that if Ann was with me there would be much fewer offers.

On this trip, however, I didn't get one single "a good clean girl?" offer.  Perhaps they've cracked down on prostitution.  Maybe the Finnish guy really did have a hard time finding it.

Also, I should note that the offers don't happen in Pokhara - the resort city I spent most of time on this trip.  And as far as annoyances go, hearing guys offering pot as you walk along the street is just not a big deal.

Until I have time to post more, here is a shot from paragliding above Pokhara:

Surreal moment of the day

I am sitting at a bar in Kathmandu - the place where anything can be had for a price and a Finnish guy just asked me where he could find a prostitute. I basically responded, "Are you serious?" Wow. Imagine someone saying, "Where can I find corn in Iowa?" that would be equally humorous.

Nepal update

I think... think... I may have taken a few of the best pictures of my life last night while on a mountain ridge looking up at the Himalayas. I have to wait to download them back in the emirates to be sure. They were valuable enough that I paid a ridiculous fee to have them copied onto a flash drive and gave them to my Nepali friend Sanjaya for safe keeping. (My propensity to lose things is simply too high.) Today Sanjaya took me by motorcycle around the Pokhara valley - to see where he teaches and to see where he calls home. The world for Nepali's is so different from where I'm from that my head is constantly spinning. To see the "real life" unfiltered and non-touristy was a great gift. I feel so lucky for the experience and the trust he has given me.

In Kathmandu...

... a day late.  The flight was delayed a day by a mechanical problem.  Etihad put us up in a nice hotel and flew us out this morning. 

Less than a minute after leaving the terminal I heard my first "hack a big loogey and spit." <-- One of the not-so-appealing parts of the culture here.

Less than five minutes later I saw two monkeys playing games with each other.  <--- One of the great things about being here.

I also was successful in booking a morning flight to Pokhara, getting a hotel for $12 (this is high tourism season so I was happy to get a room, period), AND a two hour massage where I fell asleep.

A very successful first day!

The on again, off again trip to Nepal...

...is back on.

I booked the ticket over a month ago.  On Tuesday they told us we had to be back to work next Wednesday.  I changed my ticket.  Many had package vacations they changed that cost them thousands of dollars.  Most of my colleagues said, "Screw it.  I'm not changing my plans."

Late today we were told, "We changed our mind again.  You get all of next week off."

I changed my ticket again.  It will cost me $500 more BUT I'll be flying back in business class and get a chauffeur to drive me 90 miles back from the airport to my home.

In the fiasco my travelling companions understandably gave up.

*******
Ann and Mike are also going to Nepal but they are headed to an orphanage.  I'm giving money and carrying clothes for the orphans but I'm headed to Pokhara - a resort that I loved last year.  Depending on how much time they spend with the orphans they may join me in Pokhara.

If anyone wants a Nepal t-shirt like the one below leave a comment or contact me on FB.  And let me know what color you want:  Black, grey, hunter green or deep blue.

If there's anything you want from Nepal let me know.  I will have several days on my own so I'll have plenty of time to shop.

Professional sucking up

After one of my students got a C on his midterm he sent this e-mail:

"Walla I don't believe I how I get this great doctor and I score so poorly on the test."

Walla = I swear to God.

Bad luck comes in three's, right?

Yesterday I get the news that my health is bad.

My car gets an inspection and I'm told its health is bad.

Today we get the news that we have to report to work next Wednesday... meaning my trip to Nepal it is quite possibly canceled.

The silver lining?  Today I gave a midterm where the students who pay attention in class did well and the students who don't were trying madly to cheat off of those who knew what was going on.  Having multiple versions of the test and a friend to help watch kept the cheating to a minimum.

This doesn't quite make up for possibly losing Nepal, but for me this is a huge silver lining.