Things Emirati

We asked our
students to talk for 3 minutes about an item connected with Emirati culture. In the pictures you'll see a burka, the mask worn by many Emirati grandmas when they're out in the streets, a traditional coffee pot with coffee beans and the saffron and cardamom used to spice their coffee, a sweet fried food with sesame flavor called Ghemat, traditional clothes for men called 'Bisht', as well as a lady's housedress and a child's 'dressup' clothes, the process of applying henna (to me), an incense burner with some very expensive wood incense from India, as well as the noseplugs worn by pearl fishers with the tiny pearls someone's grandfather found himself. In fact, before oil was discovered, the main livelihoods here were pearl diving and date cultivation.

Though we thought the gals were tired of this year's theme of 'Proudly Emirati', they (and I) really enjoyed the project, especially since the usual 'no food' rules could be broken for the sake of an educational project.

From My Students

These pictures were all taken by my students and sent to me via email, and here are their messages:

"Hi Ms.christina sorry for late to send you the picture that i take it for you'r hands. have a nice day "

"pepsi with yogurt flavor???
can you imagion this???"

Mosque Pics

Grand Mosque

One of the UAE's treasures, Abu Dhabi's Grand Mosque is the 3rd largest mosque in the world, and locals are proud to tell you that a whole Turkish quarry was emptied of its marble to build it.

By volunteering to chaperone the many themed field trips offered by my college, I can come close to the bonding experiences I had in the US, where I could easily invite foreign students to meals at home and ski trips in my own SUV, none of which are allowed here. Instead these field trips are the rare times when we can socialize with our students without being in the ever-watchful eye that is our campus.

Only two hours from Sharjah, and on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi, the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque is absolutely worth the trip, environmental quandries aside. With its real gold turret-tips, mother-of-pear inlay in bright white marble, the plushest and largest carpet in the world (a serious treat to my feet), along with a half dozen one-of-a-kind swimming-pool-sized chandeliers made of gorgeous semi-precious stones, all crafted by Islamic-trained artisans from all over the world, you will no-doubt be impressed from a design standpoint, if not also from a religious one.

In the photos here you can see a sample of the fine detail found all over the mosque as well as a few pictures of me and my students, all dressed respectfully for the occasion.

Pollination, Pirates & Found Object Art

We've had a flurry of activity surrounding our palm tree, the lone thriving living thing in our dusty square courtyard, because it's pollination season. Landlord Nasir started calling and visiting a week ago, to see if the new seed stalks had opened enough in the middle of the tree for him to do his magic. Tonight he came over with bundles of male date flowers inside palm sheaves and stuffed them, all very gently into our female tree. He also trimmed the giant thorns from the low-hanging palm branches and cut away last year's fruit-bearing stalks as well, generally neatening up the appearance of the tree. He was bemused at my request to take pictures, but he obliged and actually started to get a kick out of my questions. In his own yard, he said he's got two trees like mine, and three other types of palm, all of which bear fruit starting in late April and into October. You can check out pictures in an earlier post (Arabian Harvest August 21), where I dutifully harvested dates, at Nasir's request with my mom and kids. We're still eating those fruits out of the freezer and turning them into muffins and breads, but I'd better clean them out quick. Since our tree is 5 years old now, and in its prime, we are due to have maybe twice as many dates as last year.

Aside from keeping an eye on our date palm, we went with the kids to our first UAE birthday party. Brady's friend and chess partner Vladimir invited all of us to a water park with at least 25 other guests, to take in the water rides, cake, and games organized by a flirty Asian pirate. On a daily basis, Liam has been building art in the courtyard, with dead palm branches, shells and broken bits of choral brick. Check out the pictures at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=68932&id=536358651&l=e9064

Dodging and Evading Objects

If you'd like to know how the kids are, here are excerpts from the PE sections on Brady and Liam's report cards, issued by the Australian International School. Funny what skills are measured nowadays.

'This term Liam has exhibited an acceptable understanding and practice of running in a variety of directions, while changing pace and speed. Liam is continuing to develop the ability to dodge and evade objects while moving and whilst stationary. Liam has shown an appropriate performance when leaping, skipping and jumping in both vertical and horizontal directions, as well as landing with a variety of feet patterns.'

'This term Brady continues to work on the ability to dodge and evade objects while moving, and whilst stationary. Brady has started to show some success when leaping, galloping and jumping in both vertical and horizontal directions, as well as landing with a variety of feet patterns.'

Does evading objects whilst stationary strike any of you as a cruel sort of assessment?