Safe and Sound in Amman

Hamdil'allah! Hamdil'allah! Yes, we've made it to Amman! It looked a bit iffy when my dean, Betsy Beaulieu, were stuck in Burlington waiting out the storm in New York. At one point Betsy and I both had flights on JetBlue and Delta, but in the end Delta won out and we made it to JFK in plenty of time to catch the connector to Amman. The flight to Amman was reasonably uneventful - or at least as uneventful as an eleven hour flight can be. For me the big thing is sitting next to someone who doesn't talk, and the gentleman on this flight said excuse me twice - which is just about at my limit (I want quiet). The driver was waiting for me and we cajoled him into taking Betsy and Lee (Betsy's best friend) along as well for a few JD more. We dropped them off at the Amman International Hotel and then I made my way to ACOR. This time is staying in a room that I didn't even know existed. This is my fifth stay at ACOR and I never managed to see this room squirreled away the end of a hall (the bathroom is outside in the hallway) in the basement. That said, it's safe, it's centrally located, and it's room and board for $30 a night. Later I made it back to the Amman International (actually, it's very close to ACOR and I just walked across a field to get there) and met up with Betsy, Lee and Al Capone (who made it in yesterday). We walked down the hill and had Lebanese fast food and then some ice cream at a Dunkin Donuts knock-off. We have meetings tomorrow at the University of Jordan for Global Module business, etc. and a tour for the other folks and then lunch at the cafeteria. We're still working on our plans for the rest of the day. Wednesday is going to be taken up by an all-day trip to Petra and Al and I are flying out on Thursday so this leg of the trip is going to fly by.

On the Road Again

Well, I'm getting ready for another long trip - although getting ready is not particularly accurate I suppose. So far I've managed to pack nothing. I've been way too buried with my online class and various and sundry Global Module related chores - discussions with lawyers and grant-writers, sending out emails by the hundreds to interested partners (and partners who don't know they're interested yet), being cajoled into speaking at the Champlain 50th anniversary dinner of the move up the hill (the boos from the audience were deafening, but I guess that at least meant they were awake) - to do much of anything. I do have around 30 JD (Jordanian dinars) in my pocket thanks to my god friend Bob Mayer who just returned from Jordan. I guess I've come to believe that as long as I have my passport and ticket I can fake everything else. That said, I have nothing but e-tickets for the entire excursion, which makes me slightly nervous (or at least as nervous as I get). That said, if Rochelle, my long-suffering travel agent, says I'm cool then I'm cool. This trip is an odd one - three days in Jordan and then a week in Egypt and then two more days in Jordan (odd travelling glitch) then two days in the United Arab Emirates and then a week in Oman. This will be my fifth trip to Jordan and the UAE (although I'm avoiding Dubai or Abu Dhabi this time and instead spending time out in the eastern desert at Al Ain), but the first trips to Egypt and Oman. I tried to take advantage of the week in Oman to arrange trips to Iran (shot down by the powers that be, but I'll get there yet - I have two Iranian universities that are interested in running Global Modules in the fall so it's just a matter of time) and then San'a, Yemen (logistics killed that one). More from the road . . .

Favorite Moments: Paris Catacombs

OK, where to being with Paris? I know we're supposed to not like the French, but I love them. For all the reputation of them not being friendly (which is actually OK with me because, to paraphrase the Smiths, my entire life is in ruins because of people who are nice) I've actually found them to be very warm and helpful and, yes, friendly. Now getting through Charles de Gaulle airport will drive anyone to drink, but that's another story - and even that is a worthy trade-off if it means you get to go to Paris. I could fill up pages on Paris, and I've just scratched the surface there. Today, however, for some reason, I've been thinking about the Paris catacombs. Paris, being a very old city, was both running out of cemetary room and also in need of an overhaul. So, beginning in the late 18th century many of the older cemetaries were moved with the bones going into the catacombs. Of course, you can visit the catacombs and it's a great way to spend a cloudy day, which seems to add to the mood. You end up with miles of bone-lined pathways, which would be creepy enough but it's pushed over the edge because of the creative/sardonic use of the bones to create patterns. A definite must-see when in Paris.

Favorite Moments: A Close Shave in Madaba

Writing this blog has actually been a lot more fun than I thought it would be, and I almost wish I could go back and talk about some of the travels that I took before we set it up. And, to think, I had no interest in writing it until Sarah Cohen pestered me into it. Although, to be fair, I've been writing in my actual physical journal that my sister Beth bought me for a few years and I've always enjoyed that. Anyway, I thought I might occasionally think back on some of my earlier experiences (which maybe runs counter to the point of a blog in the first place . . .).

Here's a picture that my friend Bob Mayer took in Madaba, Jordan in April 2007. I've been fortunate to visit Jordan several times and I really love it there. Madaba is a short trip from Amman - Bob and I went there on a bizarre taxi/van that cost about one JD (Jordanian dinar - about $1.30). It's an interesting place, especially if you love mosaics. One of the first maps of the Middle East can be found in mosaic form on the floor of a church there. Bob and I also had a great meal there - just the olives, bread and hummus alone would have sufficed. What I remember, however, about this particular trip was getting a shave from a local barber. It cost 1 JD and the guy did a pretty good job, although the water was pretty cold. A local kid kept popping in to check on us and eventually brought us coffee.

Happier Days in Eldoret

OK, yesterday I posted on the violence in Eldoret and other parts of Kenya, but things were actually very pleasant when I was there in November. We had run a Global Module with a professor by the name of Naomi Shitemi a couple years ago and I finally had the opportunity to actually travel to Moi University to have more substantial discussions about expanding their participation. Unfortunatey, Naomi was out of town and left me in the competent hands of Gilbert Nduru who heads up the Geography Department. Ironically, as soon as the semester was over Gilbert was heading out of the country to spend a semester teaching at Indiana University in my home state of Indiana (and he actually called me out of the blue a few weeks ago from IU). Moi University itself is located about an hour's drive outside of Eldoret - it would probably be a shorter drive except the roads are spectacularly bad. That didn't stop Gilbert from driving like a mad man, and it took some real muscles to force the car around some amazing potholes. It didn't help that many of the local villages along the way had decided to create their own unofficial speed bumps made out of packed earth. The countryside was pretty, and looked like a cross between Vermont and Indiana - Eldoret is big cheese country.

Moi had even more technological limitations than Kenyatta, and in some ways it was worse because the fiber optic line had not reached Eldoret (it was being laid at Kenyatta when I was there). Gilbert was using online for his laptop through his cell phone. It brought home once again the potential for running GMs through m-Learning - something else to explore. The meetings went well, and I talked to the Dean of Arts & Sciences, several faculty members, and hundreds of students. Even more so than with Kenyatta, this is a case where this visit is more developmental - and I think the potential is definitely here, although certainly tracking down some grant-funding to help with their technological needs is going to have to be a necessity. Gilbert did manage to put together a Geography lab with pretty good Internet access, so I think we can eventually start by running GMs housed in Geography classes.

I had one of those amazing moments that you can't get out of your mind when driving back to Eldoret from Moi late one afternoon. The sky was spectacular with huge, boiling clouds (which erupted later) - I was staring out the window at the scenery and the occasional villages, Gilbert was grinding around potholes, and Eunice, who heads up Philosophy & Religion, was sitting in the back quiety humming along to a gospel song on a tape. Very peaceful.

I've included some pictures. You have a distant shot of the main administrative building, one of Gilbert in front of their nice library, the main road through campus, and one of the restaurants on campus (I had the bananas).

Violence in Kenya

Fortunately, I left Kenya in early November before any of the post-election violence. I lifted this picture from the CNN website. It's of that horrific event in Eldoret in northern Kenya where fifty people were burned alive as they were seeking refuge in a church. Most of the violence in Eldoret was directed against members of the Kikuyu tribe, which makes up a little over a fifth of the population. The Kikuyu had backed Mwai Kibaki in the contested presidental election. The Luo, who make up around thirteen percent of the population, had backed Raila Odinga. Eldoret was my last stop on my Middle East and Africa trip and I had gone there to visit Moi University. Looking back, one of the things that I find most jarring about the entire experience was my Kenyan friends absolute certainty that there would be violence. At the time I was supposed to push on to Uganda and I had asked my Kenyan contacts their opinion on travel to their neighbor to the west. They said that it was would fine because Uganda had had their election last year so the violence was over, and it was also OK in Kenya because they had not their election yet so it was too early for their violence. It was as if there was never a doubt that violence would follow the election - so you just planned around it. To be fair, they were all shocked by the severity of the violence, but they were also planning around some unrest.

Camels

OK, so I have a thing about camels - and thanks to my friend Bob Mayer for this great picture. I've ridden them in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates and just about did in India. On my first trip to Jordan our tour leader, Pierre, just about had a fit because he was making a great theatrical point in front of the Treasury when he had to stop because everyone was laughing at yours truly who had run off to ride a camel. When they sit down it is a pretty dramatic and clumsy movement and if you're not careful you'll come close to eviscerating yourself on the metal portion of the "saddle." At the same time, I've also eaten camel in the UAE and in Kenya. I suppose I should feel bad about it, but after reading T.E. Lawrence's Seven Pillars you see how often that would end up happening during lean times in the desert. Maybe I like camels because of they are generally stubborn, mean-spirited and cantankerous - although, personally, I'm completely unfamiliar with that personality type.

Dubai

Dubai in the United Arab Emirates is a fascinating place and it was the first international spot I ever visited. For that reason alone it will always hold a special place in my heart. That said, it's not a place that I find as interesting as Jordan or especially India. I think the reason is that for a historian there's simply not a lot of history to see. Everything is completely new and bright and shiny. Occasionaly you'll turn a corner and wander into something like the old Gold Souq (which is an amazing place to just grab a bench and watch the world go buy), but beyond that there's less to do unless you have lots of disposable income - and, let's face it, I'm a professor so we know that's not the case. It is astonishing, however, to see how the Emiratis are rethinking their place in the world. Still, spots like the Burj Al Arab (the world's only seven star hotel) and the Burj Dubai (the world's tallest building - picture above) will take your breath away. Essentially, the Emiratis know that oil wealth will not last forever and they have decided to create a new persona, one that may or may not (probably not) ever truly be a comfortable fit with Islam (although, to be fair, Muhammad was a merchant himself). The result is glossy thin veneer over a very conservative foundation. I remember several years ago walking into a little shop to buy some water and the religious officials had just left - they had been using markers to conceal the naughty bits on the models in the fashion magazines. And all I could think was - OK, if this is what you're reduced to then you've officially lost the culture war. And that's something to keep in mind - there is a segment of the population in the Middle East that is far more afraid of the West than vice-versa, and really has much more to lose.

Reflections on Africa

Again, I'm, at long last, trying to fill in some of the spaces from last year's travels - especially before the next round starts this summer and then fall. One of the things that I wondered about before arriving in Africa was how open a subject HIV/AIDS would be. Obviously, it's difficult to get completely accurate figures on these things, but it's estimated that just under 7% of the adult population in Kenya is has HIV/AIDS. It's a terrible figure, although certainly much smaller than what you would see in Swaziland (almost 39%), Botswana (just over 37%) or South Africa (just over 21%). I visited two universities in Kenya, Kenyatta and Moi, and they didn't shy away from addressing the issue. One of the first signs you see when entering Kenyatta University - and one of the biggest on campus - deals with HIV/AIDS. When I visited Moi University in Eldoret in northern Kenya there were actually free condom dispensers in the hallways (and one wonders how much of a firestorm it would cause in American universities just to put up pay dispensers).

Entebbe Airport

OK, so I've been very bad in getting back to my travel blog after the mad rush of last fall's travels. So, I thought I would get back to filling in some of the blanks. Here are some excerpts from my actual travel journal in regards to my crazy trip through the Entebbe Airport in Kampala, Uganda on Friday 9 November 2007. I had decided to leave Kenya early for several reasons and embarked on a mad five flight odyssey from Eldoret, Kenya to Burlington that took around 36 hours. A big chunk of the time was spent in the infamous Entebbe Airport in Kampala. I have a theory that the Israelis never actually raided Entebbe because there were hostages - rather, I think they were just trying to get trapped flyers out (grin). I ended up spending around ten hours trapped in the airport and had plenty of time to write in my journal.

"I've made it to Entebbe Airport in Kampala, Uganda, and arrived a little after 2:00 p.m. I'm not supposed to fly out until midnight, which is just as well because it may take that long to sort out this mess. I walked into the terminal and the only lines were for immigration. So I ended up at the makeshift desk (the whole place is under renovation) talking to a woman by the name of Harriet. For some reason there is no plan for just moving on to a transferral flight, let alone the confusion over changing my ticket. Harriet is trying to call someone from Brussels Air, which is co-listed with American, but no one is answering. How can you have a terminal that doesn't lead to other flights? Bizarre. Nevertheless, Harriet is unfailingly pleasant and patient. Plus, while I was sitting here I saw my suitcase, which is supposed to be checked through to New York, spinning around on the carousel, so I grabbed it. Absolutely amazing. The latest is that I am in fact booked on the midnight flight, so now we're just waiting to figure out how I pay the extra fee. I'm glad I didn't have a two hour layover as compared to ten. Oh, and it's noticeably hotter and more humid than Nairobi. From the window of the airport you can see Lake Victoria and the headwaters of the Nile, which is pretty cool - and a trip down the Nile might be my only way out of here . . .

It's now a little after 4:00 and I've made it up to the transit lounge, which is also under construction. They have taken my passport and my ticket, over my strong objection, because that is how they do things here. Again, I'm still unclear on why I couldn't just go to the American/Brussels office and pick up my own tickets, but apparently that would require one to pass through immigration - and buy a visa to walk to the other side of the airport. So, I'm stuck up here in a noisy, under-construction transit area with no passport and no tickets. Allegedly around 7:00 or 8:pp they will come find me with my passport and my actual boarding passes. A representative from Brussels Air finally came down to tell me all this and then pass me on to Henry who took me up here. Henry is a very pleasant young man who has been assigned to look after me. He pops up occasionally to see if I need anything. I still don't know how I am supposed to pay the ticket change. Henry ran off to change my Kenyan shillings into dollars, for which I gave him $2 as a carrying charge (which made him very happy) . . .

The adventure continues. I dropped into the cafeteria for fish and chips and to watch CNN. However, the reception was terrible and kept getting worse until they finally shut it off. So, then I went to take a nap on the seats next to the restaurant. I had not quite drifted off when I heard, "Mr Gary," and it was Henry introducing me to his replacement, Ambrose - which was actually a nice thing to do because now I had someone to look for in case of disaster. Once again, I brought up the question of paying the extra fee to change the ticket. Ambrose didn't know but said he would check on it for me - and, true to his word, he returned before I had gotten to sleep. He needed $200 for the change, which was OK except that I did not have $200 in cash. We decided that we would go find an ATM, although I kept bringing up the idea of actually going to the ticket office. We went back through immigration - with the tired nod of this old agent's head (although he kept my passport - Ambrose had returned it finally - now it was gone again) and then through security - this time with the nod of a young woman's head - and made it to the ticket office. Somehow I managed to talk him into that aproach as compared to the ATM approach, mainly because he realized that no one would really want Ugandan shillings (exchange rate - 1800 to one US dollar). At the office we found the woman I talked to before and she made it happen - and I actually have a bulkhead seat. She also signed off on the my ticket so that I could go sit in the Business Lounge because I had been here so long. Then we went downstairs to actually pick up the ticket - went through security and had my laotp bag searched - and even picked up my ticket. For his trouble I gave Ambrose $5, which probably made his year. So, I have my passport back, my boarding pass with bulkhead seat, a receipt for the price change, and the trip from Brussels to NY is confirmed. Whew. . .

It's almost 9:00 p.m. and I've finally made my way to the Business class lounge. If nothing else the couches are very comfortable. I did manage a brief nap on the uncomfortable chairs outside, but I could do some serious damage on these. So, I'm sitting here reading Lipstick Jihad and enjoying a Bell Lager, which is apparently Uganda's best beer. I asked if they had Tusker, a Kenyan beer, and they were justifiably appalled, albeit quietly so. . .