Kaplan in a nutshell

It's hard to explain just what it was like to work at Kaplan, but this nugget from a friend sums it up well:

"Last week I was yelled at for not attending a meeting I was not invited to."

Coming home!

It is Monday morning... I am tired of feeling sorry for myself so I am being proactive and coming home.

You can track the flight here:
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/ETD151/history/20120326/0545Z/OMAA/KORD

It is the direct from Abu Dhabi to Chicago flight that I like.  It's insanely long - 14 hours - but the good news is that is no layover in Europe to wake you up.  I plan to take ambien and sleep most of the trip away.

I am on an American Airlines flight into CR that will arrive at 10:40.  I think my roommates are picking me.  Hitchhiking at that time of night would not be fun.

Feeling sorry for myself

I have a former student/friend that I worked hard to get into the trip to Canada.  On the trip a woman jilts him and goes off the scale crazy - so crazy we had to keep him away from the conference and tried to send him home early.

This was the same guy who was supposed to be the tour guide for Ann and me in Egypt.  Long story short Ann and Mohamed went to Egypt.  I did not and I had to eat my ticket (zero refund for the package deal of airplane ticket plus hotel).

I decided to go to Paris to visit a friend.  Under a package deal I booked the flight plus six nights hotel for just under $2000 - a really good deal.  They ran my credit card and I headed off to the local bookstore to buy travel books for Paris.

A few hours later I received a call that said they couldn't confirm the hotel - or any hotel - so they had to cancel.

I wanted to go to Paris because it would be something new.  Since I've been screwed out of Egypt Paris would have been a nice consolation.

I may end up going to Nepal or I might just stay here.

*****
I have never had a friend do to me what Mohamed did to me.  He ruined the trip to Canada for several people, including me.  Egypt was something I was looking forward to for a long time.  I know he had periods of emotional instability in the past and I've had to walk him back from jumping off the crazy cliff a couple of times. While there is a likely underlying mental illness I've reached the point where I just don't care.

Fake Nike ad

I certainly mean no offense by this... but it really does capture the Type B attitude of the culture.

No joy in my world

What's worse than realizing you can't travel to Egypt because the friend you wanted as a tour guide went crazy?  It's having the friend go crazy and then be told that your package trip is non-refundable.

It's been a tough week.  I normally teach with a lot of energy but this week I had none.  It's easy to pass this off as jet lag but really the problem is a sense of betrayal.

Tonight I had friends over for fudge.  I bought a ridiculous amount of fudge when I was in Canada and tonight I shared it.  Of the group here about a half-dozen have been to Egypt before and they all said, "Go.  You can hire guides from the hotels.  Just go."

So I guess I will.

The future is hard to know in advance

Pretty much nothing on the trip to Canada went according to plan.  In the end I lost a close friend because he decided that getting revenge on another person was more valuable than our friendship.  That has made me incredibly sad.  This is the same person I was going to Egypt with next week.  Now my Egypt plans are cancelled and I will most likely be returning to Nepal.

I am completely gobsmacked at the series of events of the past week.  My former close friend is on a warpath that - if he continues - could destroy several people's lives, including me.  Anyone can say something nasty in the heat of the moment but what's playing out here over days is cold and calculating.  I could have never predicted things could get this bad and I have no idea how much worse they will get.

Even if the matter dies here I mourn the loss of a good friend.  Given his actions - and the lack of remorse for how much pain he's caused - I have to step away.

Sad. Sad. Sad.

Return to the Emirates

Vancouver to Frankfurt:

http://uk.flightaware.com/live/flight/DLH493/history/20120316/2320Z/CYVR/EDDF

Frankfurt to Dubai:


Hmm... Flight aware stopped working. It is flight 630 on Lufthansa from Frankfurt to Dubai.

Quote of the day

As we passed by some guys fixing an escalator one my students said, "That's the first time I've ever seen a white man working."

Worst trip ever?

1980.

My family went on vacation to Texas and for two weeks before the trip I cried and cried because I had a premonition my dog (and only friend) would die.  Sure enough, he was struck by lightning.

*****
This trip has been stressful.  I can't go into it but my repeated thought has been, "I wish I had never heard of this and had never volunteered."  Part of my coming on this trip was with the plan that I would take over and do this next year wherever the next conference meets.  I'd have to say that has about a 5% chance.

Canada trip

Canada trip is two trips - Dubai to Frankfurt, Germany:

http://uk.flightaware.com/live/flight/DLH631

And then Frankfurt to Vancouver:

http://uk.flightaware.com/live/flight/DLH492

Offering food for others

Tonight I caught up with my friend Abdul Karim.  He ordered the drink whose name I dare not say on the blog (see the picture).

I told him he should be proud.  Besides my sister there are not many people I would be willing to buy a Pepsi.


We ate at a restaurant I don't usually go to and we accidentally ordered way too much food.  When we were done (and still had half of the food left) he offered the excess to the guys at the next table and they happily accepted.  I wonder why this is not more common around the world.

Canada/Egypt

On Thursday I will be travelling with a colleague/friend and 19 students to Vancouver, Canada. I am more excited about this than I probably should be considering I've been to Canada before (but never the west).

This trip is for the Model United Nations.  I've spent many hours working with students to prepare for the trip and I honestly can't believe it is finally becoming a reality.

I will return to the UAE a week later -  spend five nights in my bed - and then head to Egypt.  I am off the scales excited about this trip.  Egypt!  The pyramids, Nile... Two weeks in Egypt?  It's almost hard to believe that it could be true.

And, oh, today is the four year anniversary of Susan firing me... easily the best day of my life.

Andrew Breitbart

I am troubled that Andrew Breitbart is dead.  He was a total piece of shit but the guy is my age so I don't like hearing he died.

*****
Speaking of death.... I did not buy the 60" TV.  My numbers came in better but not spectacularly better.  Will I live to a ripe old age? Not likely.  Will I live past tomorrow?  Yeah, I think so, but then again so did Andrew Breitbart.

Pan flute

Tonight I had a good massage - a rare treat in the land where they often charge a lot and give really bad massages.

During the massage the music in the background was all pan flute, which I find nauseating.

I don't know if it is worse for me because I know the music behind the pan flute or if it would be worse if I had never heard the music before.  A song early on was "Feelings" followed shortly after by "Groovy kind of love". Again, no words, only pan flute.

By the time they were on the third pan flute Bryan Adams song I realized I have to bring my own music for any future massages.

Recession fatigue?

Consumer confidence made a huge jump in February.  There are a few signs the economy is getting better but the increase in confidence was much higher than expected.  Basically, people are getting tired of feeling worried and want to feel better.

This should sound familiar because it happened exactly a year ago and almost exactly two years ago.  Signs of spring bring out the optimism in Americans.  There's no other explanation I can come up with.  There hasn't been much hard economic data to justify the sense of euphoria.

Stopping by to help a student

Mansour is on the trip to Canada.  He was in a car accident two days ago (he's OK).  I offered to stop by to get him up to speed on what he missed.  Take a look at this picture carefully.  In less than five minutes after I arrived we were given a plate with six bottles of water (there were two of us), Arabic coffee, and green tea with mint to drink.  The yellow things you see in front of me are called "Camel eyes."  They are very chalky with a creamy filling.  As I bit into a "camel eye" it crumbled, which sent one of Mansour's brothers searching for a Kleenex.  His other brother explained that they are to be eaten in one gulp.

Behind the bowl of water to wash any dishes we use are fresh dates - the red and black ones - and processed dates.  Over to the right is a huge gift basket Mansour received yesterday.  Whereas we send flowers and cards when someone is hospitalized, here they bring lots of food... and in Mansour's case, a ferret.

A ferret as a gift for being in a car accident.  I'm sorry I don't have a picture; the ferret was sleeping and it was in poor light.

I keep saying that I will stay here as long as I keep seeing new things.  Obviously, I'll still be here for a while.

This is the first Emirati house I've been in.  I've lived here for 3.5 years but today was the first Emirati house I've been in.  That's pretty amazing in itself.

What I'm missing in Iowa right now...

A friend posted this on FB.  I love late winter snow storms... no matter how bad they are you know they will be over soon.  Seeing this in November would depress me but in February?  I so wish I was in Iowa right now.

Pug love...

... it's a wonderful thing...

Bad cop

Update on the trip to Canada:  As of right now I may be paying my own way.  Yippee!  When I found out they may not be paying for me my first thought was "C'est la vie" - it's OK if I don't go.  Later I realized I NEED this trip.  Being around thousands of energized students is something I need to recharge my batteries.

Long story short, tonight I had to e-mail two students to inform them they will not be making the trip.  Each student delegate is required to write position papers in advance.  They are supposed to be short - 1 to 2 pages.  In the six weeks we've had the assignments two delegates have submitted nothing.  Nothing.

I simply can't imagine how this happened.  As a college student (or even now) if someone said, "You can go to a conference on the other side of the planet but first you must write a 2 page paper..." I would have had the first draft written the next day.  If I had nothing submitted six weeks later I would not be upset at getting kicked out.

My friend who has been the adviser for the past two years warned me that there would be students who wouldn't do even the minimum and I said, "Oh, come on!  It's a free trip to Canada!"  Either Canada is less appealing than I expected or I overestimated students' motivation.

Realizing she was right and I was wrong I ate my crow and volunteered to send the expulsion e-mail.

Mitt - they're just not that into you.

Summing up the race for the Republican nomination from Rachel Maddow's blog:

We knew Rick Santorum was running a lean campaign operation, but we didn't know it was quite *this* lean.  He has no paid advance staff, he's getting outspent in Michigan 29 to one, and he's leading in the polls.

The guy has no money and very little campaign staff and he is leading in the Michigan and national polls.