New Year’s at the Burj Khalifa

I think next year I’m going to have to go up to see this:

It gets interesting at the four minute mark and the last few minutes are pretty amazing.

I'm so excited...

... but it's not about these pictures.

Tonight the world's tallest building is being dedicated in Dubai. The event is a huge media circus and Mike said his friends videoing the event had to walk miles with their equipment because parking is so bad.

I'm not in Dubai and didn't see this. The reason I'm excited is that the one Emirati friend I had before I came here IS in Dubai and took these pics. I first met Yousef as a freshman at Coe in 2004 as he pledged Sigma Nu. I was disappointed in 2005 when he said he was transferring to Houston. Although we've kept in touch by e-mail/FaceBook we haven't seen each other since.

I very much hope to see him during his visit here. If I do I know what I will say:

Yousef! I have three things to say to you:
1. It is great to see you.
2. You are NOTHING like any Emirati I have met in the year and a half I've been here.
3. I'll repeat, it is great to see you.

As I told him on FB I have at least a thousand questions, but I won't take it personally if he doesn't have time. I know what it's like to be back home for a limited time. (The August trip still bothers me.)

If it's no problem, we'd like to stop paying our bills for six months, OK?

I took this picture of the world's tallest building last January. It's back in the news today as the government backed companies building this building, the man-made islands and many other projects asked creditors to accept a six month freeze on payments.

With $80 billion at stake Dubai has already borrowed $10 billion with a promise of another $10 billion from oil rich Abu Dhabi, the capital of the Emirates. World markets were sent down.

I don't think it is a coincidence this announcement came at the start of a four day Muslim holiday and Thanksgiving in the US. This will give markets some time to digest how big (or hopefully not-so-big) news this is.

In the internal Emirati politics, it's clear Abu Dhabi isn't quite as willing to bail out Dubai as was previously believed.

1000 posts

1000 posts is a milestone. Last August I figured I'd start the blog, reassure everyone that I was safe and all was well in the UAE and I'd stop. Instead, the blogging pace picked up and with March Madness there were 163 posts - pretty much 5 per day. I've tried to calm down a bit since then.

So if you are one of the very few who has actually read all 1000 posts... wow. I have no idea what to say.

For this momentous occasion I present to you:

A giant milkweed.

Growing up on a farm in Iowa we spent a good part of our summers walking soybean fields to kill the weeds. (Today they've developed better herbicides and nobody "walks the beans" anymore.) The two worse plants to come across were cockle bur plants and milkweeds. Cockle burs had to be pulled up by hand because they'd grow back. Milkweeds were disgusting because of the sticky milky substance you'd get all over your hands.

I had no know idea the plant could grow to the size of a tree.

The branches are like wood. The window to the right is the back of one of my classrooms. While I'm giving a lecture I gaze at the giant milkweed. Occasionally, I break my train of thought by thinking, "That's one big frickin' milkweed. Oh, right, back to break-even analysis..."

Spring = Fall

It's my first spring in the Emirates. We are on the same side of the equator and it is officially spring... but this place has the feel of fall.

With temps hitting 100 it's certainly not the cool crisp days of fall in Iowa. It's fall in the sense of watching plants mature and slowly die. The picture above is right in front of my office. Flowers all over this city have overgrown and flow out into the street.

I know I'm reading too much into this but there's also a look on people's faces that bares a resemblance to November in Iowa. The look of "I don't want to go outside for the next couple of months."

Need a phone?

I spent a couple of hours walking around downtown looking for a specific electronics shop that I never did find.

As I was walking I noticed that one street that was nothing but cell phone dealerships. In a stretch of 2 blocks I counted 43 different shops selling nothing but cell phones.

Many of the shop keepers were standing out front talking to each other. I have no idea how any of them make money.

Quote of the day: No more than two nose rubs

I don't appreciate students walking into class late. It's disruptive and it's particularly disruptive here because students who are late have a need to say, "Hello" to the class for which the class instinctively responds.

On the male campus it is not unusual for a guy to walk in late, announce "Hello" in Arabic and proceed to shake hands with half of the class. For particularly close friends they'll rub noses.

Early on this distraction drove me batty. I've come to accept that this is part of the culture but I can place limits... as one of my colleagues has:

When you come in late you can have no more than three hand shakes and two nose rubs before you sit down.

(If you sense deja vu, you're not alone. I swear I posted this before...)

No idea

These are some pics from the trip up Jebel Hafeet that I can't explain. This looks like a bunch of houses with lime green roofs.

These look too small to be trees.

Looking at this picture you could think that this place gets regular rain. Nope. I have no idea what it is but it must take tons of water to keep it this green.

Top of Jebel Hafeet

This is the last stop - at the top of Jebel Hafeet.

This is from the peak looking back towards the city.

Another view of the city in the desert.

There's the Coke cafeteria and a large parking lot.

Date farm

These are pictures (I think) of date farms. I have no idea why they'd be planted in squares.

I have no idea what is what looks like a forest off to the distance.

Lightning hits the Burj Dubai

It turns out the worlds tallest structure is a giant lightning rod.

Burj Dubai

This is Burj Dubai, the tallest man-made structure ever built.  It was started in 2004 and is supposed to be completed later this year.  Its final height has not been disclosed but it's already at 2684 feet.

I took this picture the day I was leaving the Emirates to return to America.

Update:  The name was changed to Burj Khalifa in honor of the country's ruler.  It's appropriate since he bailed out Dubai during the financial crisis.