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?

What are we up to?

If you'd like to see our kiwi custard, the local beach, and pictures from a run in rural UAE, check out this link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=66976&id=536358651&l=0940e

In the Absence of Hippies and Pork

A little ranting on the local culture and touching on my mild and intermittent homesickness was what I was after in my last post. But it seemed to strike people mostly on two chords: A. Who on earth would miss the smell of hippies? and B. What a bummer about the pork.

So do I really notice the absence of hippies when we take in live music on the Gulf? (Get ready for some American pride here) I think it's really a sense of nostalgia for a society that doesn't quash things counter-cultural, rebellious and anti-authoritarian. It is true that hippies bring with them to music venues their dreadlocks (fun to look at), body odour (no thanks), patchouli oil (in passing it's ok) and various smokables (put your own assessment here). But remember they also share an off-the-grid lifestyle that is abolutely attainable in the US, and even cherished by those of us who sometimes wish we weren't too straight to embrace the unconventional. Doing such a thing in the middle-east is simply not an option.

But on the topic of pork, I made it seem as if it weren't available at all here, and I need to set the record straight. There is a chain of stores that has the proper license to sell pork, but the experience of buying it is unique. Go into any Spinney's in Dubai, and look for a small room with a big NO MUSLIMS sign, and that's where you'll find it: bacon, sausages and pepperoni, ham in several varieties and even pork chops. You'll also find it in the high end hotels who have the facilities to separate pork from everything else, and a discrete code can be found on the menu to alert you of anything containing it. But consider this: a pound of bacon in the US might cost six bucks, where a pound of bacon here might cost twice that, and it requires a special trip to a special store - suddenly it feels like a prized and shameful ordeal all at the same time. And then when you discover on Saturday morning that your nanny has cooked the whole pound of salty pork for the kids as a snack, that's when you truly miss the comforts of home.

Am I a Global Citizen?

Someone recently asked whether I still felt good about our decision to come here. My answer is overwhelmingly yes, but it is my nature to make the best of any situation. Whether it's the snippy shop clerks of France, the underpant stealers in Japan, or the rude librarians of New York City, a good cry or some retail therapy usually does the trick to bring me back to my sanguine state of mind.

But here in the UAE, there are days when frustration bubbles up out of nowhere. This could be explained by reckless drivers, road rage and babies in the front seat, a littered desert, sewage spills into our favorite gulf swimming spot, as well as blocked internet sites, enormous speeding fines and students who are holier than thou.

However, I think it's really more about the stuff that's missing. Having stored our precious belongings (my estimate is 1 1/5 tons) in a block-long chain of storage units in dusty Colorado, we've come to the other side of the world without our sheepskin houseslippers, our quirky collection of coffee table books, seldom-used kitchen appliances, and art. And even though we had plenty of time to think about what life would be like in another country, (we'd been casually job-seeking for years), our own domestic attachments didn't become apparent until the dust settled and we started spending time in our new home. My longing at times for bagels, uncensored movies, unfettered Internet access, cheap bacon, and the smell of hippies at concerts is a sad but true betrayal of my fantasy self-image as a true citizen of the world.