Etihad

My flight to Singapore cost $50 in airport tax.  The ticket was free because I used my Etihad miles.  Etihad is the "National airline of the UAE."  It's much smaller than its Dubai competitor Emirates - which is close to becoming the world's biggest airline.

I fly Etihad because it has a direct flight to Chicago.  I like getting on a plane in this country and getting off close to home.  By being an Etihad member I get free flights like this one and access to the premium lounges before I fly.  (The lounges are nice:  Free food, free internet, and free drinks.)

Etihad doesn't charge for luggage and has luggage allowances nicer than any American carrier - 70 lbs per bag.) They give free in-flight drinks and the food is usually pretty good.  On my trip back the dinner was outstanding!  I wanted more!  How often do you hear anyone say that about airline food?

They also offer on demand movies and TV shows with a decent sized 9" screen. (I've been on Delta and United flights with on-demand movies on a tiny 6-7" screen.  Yes, size does matter.)

They also offer this feature:

At any point in the flight you can see the distance from where you are to any two cities in the world.  As we were approaching Singapore I checked it to see that I was over 10,000 miles away from Cedar Rapids.  I was pretty much on the other side of the planet.  (The Emirates is 7000 miles away from CR.)

I really love Etihad.  They have great service and by using their credit card I rack enough miles to fly free twice in one year.  Yippee!

Unfortunately, they are not a high quality company.  They serve Pepsi.

Singapore's MRT

Singapore is a country that is 1/3 the size of Benton county (where I grew up) and has a population of 5 million people.  (Benton county has 26,000 people... and, again, Benton county is 3x the size of Singapore.)

So coming to a country that is smaller than the Benton Community school district was a little mind blowing.

However, for such a small country they have really learned how to get around.

What I loved most about Singapore was the train system.  The trains went everywhere and there was a stop every couple of blocks. They had routes going north-south, east-west, southeast-northwest and even a circle line around the downtown area.  It is so amazingly simple to get around I am still shaking my head at the simplicity.  There is no reason to own a car in this city.  Amazing, amazing, amazing.

Singapore's Marina Bay

The Sands hotel in Singapore is right on the Marina Bay.  There is a huge shopping area, arboretum, cool walkways...

 ...and what appears to be a giant boat built on top of the three buildings of the hotel.

This is the view from the 56th floor (on top of what looks like a boat).

 I did not ride the Singapore Flyer - basically a giant Ferris Wheel.

This is a picture of the heart of downtown.

Right next to the sands is a beautiful garden area with giant man-made... umm, I'm not sure what they are but walking among them made me feel like I was in a science fiction movie.

Food in Singapore

Before arriving in Singapore several friends said that the crab was the quintessential Singaporean food.  I'm not big on sea food but I went ahead and ordered the chili crab.

I got to pick which guy I wanted and the price was based on his weight.  I chose the most active guy trying to escape. (I later learned that was a good call.)

Twenty minutes later I was served this.  I wish I could say it was good... but it was not.  The crab had very little meat. Imagine trying to pick about the crab covered in chili.  It was easily the messiest thing I have ever tried to eat.

Singapore is known as foodie city... a place where if you like to try new things you could spend days, weeks, or months trying it all.  I had absolutely horrible luck.  I had two good meals in Singapore and both of those were with people from Singapore choosing what to eat and where to eat.

The food part of this meal was the chicken and rice flavored by different spices and a fish broth at the top of the picture.  At the bottom of the picture was "Fried carrot cake." It did not taste anything like carrot cake because, well, it is made from turnips(?), not carrots.  It was certainly interesting.

Anyhow, the worse meal of the trip was on my last night.  I was on the riverwalk and saw a Mexican restaurant serving margaritas.  The margaritas pulled me and I ordered enchiladas.  They had clearly been frozen and simply heated in a microwave before being served.... boo!  And the total cost was $35US - $20 for the horrible enchiladas and $15 for the horrible margarita.

What happened when Chess King went of business

As a child of the '80's I bought a lot of clothes at Chess King... including a few ties.  After they went bankrupt I wondered what happened to their inventory.

I found it!

Hey Singapore! The 1980's called.  They want their ties back!

Sizable Muslim population

My second favorite thing about Singapore was the diversity.  I didn't see many people who looked like me. (The majority of Singaporeans are of Chinese descent.)  While walking I saw African women in colorful dress, women in abayas (the black garment my students wear), guys in way too tight shorts, etc.  Nobody looked at anyone cross-eyed.  On my visits to New York I also like the diversity but in NYC I never forget I'm a white guy - for good or bad.  In Singapore nobody gave a shit about anybody else...

And I liked that.

Anyhow, I had to visit the "Little Arab town" part of the city.  They were having a weekend food festival.  So these Muslims were working outside in 90 degree humid weather selling food... while fasting.  Now THAT takes willpower.

The streets of Little Arab town are named after major cities in the Arab world.

In Little India (right next door) they also had a Muslim restaurant.

Expensive alcohol in Singapore

I was told alcohol is expensive in Singapore....

I love a good margarita so I chose a Mexican restaurant on my last night in the city.  (They don't make good margaritas in the Emirates so I had a major craving.) Like the food, the margarita was awful.  Had it been good I would have ordered another before getting the bill.  This was $15... $15 for a bad margarita!

I priced this at $30 in the US.  Since the Singapore dollar is worth than the US dollar $190 Sing is $150 US dollars... in other words, Johnnie's 5x the price in Singapore.  (It makes me feel better about the high price of alcohol in the Emirates.)

Obama the Irish guy.  Wow.

Because the only worse than karaoke is family karaoke....

Hotel in the red light district

I booked my first two nights before reading reviews that said it was located in the red light district.  I ended up staying there the entire week because:  The hotel was cheap, clean and very close to the metro.  Since my room was on the seventh floor it was also very quiet.

(Picture is intentionally blurry.)

Within 100 yards of my hotel there were a couple of dozen of these working girls.  Interestingly there were more during the day than at night.  I passed by the three in this picture every time I left or came back to the hotel.  All three of them... always there... it makes me wonder how much business they get.

I wanted to have the courage to ask the price but I knew if I tried that would start a negotiation I really didn't want to have.

Singapore zoo

By most accounts Singapore and San Diego have the two best zoos in the world. 

The pandas (which American zoos have a hard time breeding) are one of the main attractions.  They are as cute as advertised.

 I read that only African lions have the full mane.

And a large turtle...

 A cute polar bear...

 Lots of different monkeys...

 Including this monkey that... well, I have to believe the other monkeys make fun of him.

 I learned from the tour that Pink Flamingos get their color from what they eat.

Overall, the zoo was pretty amazing but I kept thinking, "If you really want to see monkeys and elephants why not go to Nepal where you can actually feed the monkeys and wash the elephants?"

There is a second park where they have a night safari.  None of the pictures turned out, but it was worth going.

Crisp American money

It never ceases to amaze me... every time I go to my local currency exchange place to get American money I get brand new, never used before money.  How do I know its really new?  The serial numbers are in order.

Why didn't I just get Singaporean dollars?  Good question... and therein lies the greatness of America.

The currency shop had only $300 Singapore dollars ($234 American dollars).  They just don't have a reason to keep lots of Singapore money around.  I know with American dollars I'll have no problem converting in Singapore.

Singapore

In six hours I will be getting in a taxi to the Abu Dhabi airport and heading to Singapore.  I am flying for free ($50 in taxes, but using Etihad miles).  Singapore - according to everyone I know who has been there - is a must visit place... so I guess I'll find out.

I know I don't blog and I wish I did.  Life has been very much a really roller coaster.  Great highs and great lows... Or maybe I just to be on better meds.

Let's see... In the past month I've taken in a fundamentalist Christian, had a guy try to threaten/extort me, had a great start to my summer class and my car is literally falling apart one major part at a time.

The good news?  I have some good stories to share when I'm back home because I really can't share them on the blog - even if I was blogging regularly.

Egypt revolution 2.0

Not that anyone - here or in the US - cares what I think about the situation in Egypt, but I have been in touch with my many Egyptian friends over the past couple of days.  Each of them is pleased to see Morsi ousted.  In each conversation I tried to play Devil's Advocate and say, "But this is not the way democracies change governments!"  Each person replied basically, "Morsi was going way farther down the Islamist road than he had been elected to do... Egypt is a majority Muslim country but it is NOT a religious country."

Each of them was surprised that Morsi was surprised by the backlash.

Update:  This account from the AP is worth reading. 

Summer trip home 2013

I will fly out on Monday, August 5 to DC.  I will stay with my niece Gina and her family for five days and fly out early on August 10 for Iowa.  I will stay until the day after Labor Day.  I have a direct Chicago to Abu Dhabi flight.

So I get Etihad from Abu Dhabi to DC and Etihad from Chicago to Abu Dhabi.  When you have to spend 16 hours on a flight it is good to be on the best airline for it.  Yippee!

******

Being the geek I am, I check four websites almost every day:  Expedia, Travelocity, American Airlines and Cleartrip.  On the weekends I check several more.

For two months I consistently saw the flights I wanted at roughly Dh 6000 ($1600).  All was good... I didn't want to book until I knew for sure of my dates.  Two weeks ago all good flights on Etihad disappeared.  Not a little higher in price, but simply disappeared.

I panicked.  I've researched countless other options.  All would cost $3-400 more and have some long layovers.

Miraculously, the good flights became available again last night so I grabbed them as quickly as possible.

Take the good days with the bad

June 2013 will be a month I will remember until Alzheimer's sets in.  Every single day for the first 12 days I got bad news.  Friend in a car accident, friend held in jail for hitting a Pakistani on a bicycle, a person I respected in Nepal killed in Thailand.  Seriously, bad news every single day for 12 days.

I also learned that the class that I thought I would be teaching this summer - strategic management - was not going to happen.  I felt screwed and had no problem telling my new boss that I felt screwed.  I think I might have yelled it.  I yelled at him on June 9th, 10th, and 11th.

So I was very surprised on June 12th to get an email, "Could you see me at 9AM?"

His proposal?  We co-teach the summer course.  

I accepted.   

*****

I am beyond-the-moon happy.  I know every one of the students.  I know the good students and I know the pieces of shit.  This is a class I have wanted to teach for all of my time here.  In less than two hours of this appointment I have received an email asking, "You won't be using the testbank, will you?"

Awesome.  Life is good.

Meet the cat

A few weeks ago I came home to find a very scared kitten in front of my door.  I took her in and thanks to some food and kitty litter from a friend she seemed quite at home.

She loved nesting in a pot where I had repeated killed plants.

I put signs around my compound.  No leads.  She was in heat and switched from going, "Meow" to "Mee-row-wer."  The local vet charged me Dh 1300 ($350) to have her spayed and get her shots.  It seemed high and later found it was more than twice the price I should have been charged.

The next door neighbors thought they'd be able to take her... but after two weeks of trying their other cat just wouldn't accept her.

Exasperated, I posted on a local animal welfare page on FB.  Less than two hours later I got a call from the cat's real owners.  They came around to get her.  The son offered up, "Yeah, she got out when Dad was drunk and forgot to shut the door."

Mom chimed in, "She hadn't tried to run before but the day before this happened she went into heat.  That night was her chance to go on the hunt."

Then, most astonishingly, they insisted on reimbursing me.  I said, "Look, I did this out of the goodness of my heart. If you want to pay some or pay half that would be great, but not necessary."

They insisted on reimbursing me fully.

This is as close to a Hallmark story as my life gets.

Student presentations

Presenting in English is hard for non-native speakers.

So I had to stifle a laugh when a student used this picture:

Too bad she didn't use common sense.

Later, another student talked about her internship by writing, "I learned to toke with my colleagues."

In the US I'm sure there are colleagues who enjoy toking with each other.  Here I will assume she "talk."

International Day

One of the reasons I love living here.

Today I had a group of friends over for brunch.  In this picture there is an American, a Canadian, an Australian, a New Zealander and mother/daughter Brits.

I left them in my apartment to continue having a good time as I met up with with two Afghani students for lunch.  (I didn't mean to schedule both on the same day.)  I wish I had a picture from that but suffice to say it was the hottest lunch I've ever had - over 100 degrees where we were eating.

Later I met up with two Pakistani guys who often cut my hair/shave.  Today was supposed to be a day off - I had planned to take them up the nearby mountain, but their boss decided today was not a day off.

And tonight I've been talking with a friend from Egypt.

A day spent with people from seven different countries?

It would be 8 if I included a brief conversation on FB with my Sanjaya in Nepal.

*****
In my conversation with Abdelrahman (the Egyptian) we were discussing how much people change or don't change.  I honestly don't think I've changed that much even though the idea of coming here scared the shit out of me.  That was fear of the unknown.  I'd like to think I'm still pretty much the same person but with new experiences.

When it rains, it pours

At the last minute my boss decided that he would teach the course I was planning to teach this summer.  He informed me that the old course I teach *might* be put on the schedule.

It's June 4 and I don't know if I will be teaching summer school.

So not happy.

Depressing, depressing day

The past month has gone much better than I could have expected... But today, wow... today was not good.  The first story is upsetting, but hardly surprising.   (If you don't like long posts just skip to the second story below the ****.)  The second story... well, read it.

First, in my classes I give three quizzes and only the best two count.  My best student this semester showed up to take quiz 3 and I said, "Why are you here?  You pretty much had the full mark on the first two quizzes."  He said he wanted practice for the final.  I watched him take the online exam.  The system automatically scrambles the questions so no two students get the questions in the same order.  I saw the questions he was getting and they did not match what he was supposed to get.  There were 26 students in the room and 26 taking the test.  He was clearly logged in as another student and the other student was logged in as him.

I typed on my phone, "I don't know whose exam you are taking but I will figure it out."  I placed it in front of him and he typed back... "Okay I can let you know."  By that time I had it figured out.

That students cheat is certainly nothing new to me.  That they take it to the extremes of actually doing another student's test is also not surprising.  I don't even know why it upsets me so much.  Too many of colleagues literally avert their eyes to "miss" the cheating going on right in front of them.

As the class was over he followed me and tried to explain/justify what he did.  I stopped, looked at him and flatly said, "It is best that I don't talk to you right now."

*****
Story #2
Following this I had lunch with a guy whose story I can't tell tonight.  I simply don't have the energy but I can summarize the end:

"I feel nothing. I wish I could die.  If someone killed me I would be thankful but then the cost of transporting the body back to Sri Lanka would be an even bigger burden on my family.  Is it too much to ask to be killed and dumped in the desert?  After all I've been through I don't even feel pressure anymore.  I hear the sad stories from home and I don't cry.  On the outside I smile but inside I am dead.  I am 26 years old and I have created such a burden for my family that I know they'd be better off if I had not been born.  I came to the Emirates 3 months ago. Just before I left my mother told me when she was pregnant with me she went to have the pregnancy ended but the nurse gave her the wrong dose of medicine.  I was not even supposed to have been born and everyone would be better off if I hadn't been born."

How, exactly, did I meet this guy? He works in the mall next door and I asked him to lunch because he always has a great smile.

*****
Today was Day 56 of working out. 8 weeks down... and today was pretty much the hardest day to feel the energy to do it.

Working out

This week I hit day 50 of working out.  I used the elliptical for an hour and burned 735 calories.  My goal:  100 days.  Day 100 will be July 17th - my brother's birthday. 

I definitely feel better.  So far it's worth it.