Fleeting Bliss

An absolutely delicious mango ice tea that I enjoyed in a nice restaurant right next to the ruins in Byblos, Lebanon. The shot was taken right before I managed to knock the entire thing into my lap. I may have said bad words.

Baby-Sitting the Barbarians

One of the best parts of living at Quarry Hill was spending time with Mike and Jamie and their boys, referred to lovingly, albeit fearfully, as the Barbarians. I've posted pictures of Jack-Jack before, including his startling similarity to Jack Nicholson.

Here are a few pictures of a time when I was watching Nick and Jack-Jack while Mike and Jamie ran errands. Here they are tussling, shortly before Jack-Jack cracked his nose on the railing and had his daily nose bleed. Then there is a picture of Nick, completely unconvinced by my attempt to convince him that the 1975 Reds are the greatest team of all-time. I even had my starting lineup figures out to explain the logic.

Now, Jack-Jack was a little easier to convince, although he was still concerned that many of the Reds had "ploppy pants." However, he was very enthusiastic when it came to belting out his famous/infamous version of the National Anthem, which tends to circle back on itself and never quite get finished - but he enjoys it and so do I. Now, on the end of the spectrum is their younger brother Sam, aka Slug or Spud, who has not quite reached pure Barbarian maturity yet, and who, for some unknown reason, adores me. The older boys put up with me and will, especially Jack-Jack, demand to be put into the torture rack.

Spirits in the Rain

I wish I would have had more time to spend in Lisbon. It was one of those crazy trips that you throw together on the fly, and I am so glad that I went - but I can't wait to get back for a longer stretch. Oddly, or not so oddly if you know me, one of the best parts of the trip was a very wet and windswept couple of hours that I spent in a cemetery that I stumbled across at the end of the trolley line. The entire cemetery was filled with fascinating mausoleums, a couple of which were broken in to (or at least in the midst of serious and clumsy repair). I still think in the one picture looking into the mausoleum you can see a ghost, but maybe I'm the only one who can see it. There is something soothing about walking around a cemetery. Lord knows I spent hours of my time in graduate school loafing around Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati, often bringing books there to read. Even now when I head back to Cincinnati every spring for my fantasy baseball draft Dave and I always head out to Spring Grove for a long walk (made longer by the fact that we lose the car every time). I really like a couple of these pictures (along with the picture of the yellow roses from the same cemetery that I posted last week). The statue featuring the death mask is really creepy, and the mask, with water running down it, looks like it is ready to talk or spray mist. Mary and the flowers is also quite beautiful, and, stealing a line from Simple Men, "she's also the mother of God."

Creation Museum

Of all the amazing things that Sanford and I experienced on the way to Guymon, Oklahoma, the one that we discussed the most - literally it came up in conversation almost once an hour for the rest of the trip - was our utterly bizarre visit to the Creation Museum outside of Cincinnati. I had heard about it and cajoled Sandy into making the trip, although he was more than a little aprehensive. It was easy enough to reach, sitting right off of Interstate 275 on the Kentucky side.

I think we were both a little shocked at the cost - $25 a piece, but, truthfully, it may be the best money I ever spent. If you want to understand America - today's sadly warped America - you definitely should visit it. Still, $25? I could have paid my way into the Herimtage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia (my all-time favorite museum) almost three times over for what it cost to get into that ridiculous place. Sandy and I figured that it must have been to keep out the riffraff, although we made it in anyway. One the way over we had a serious discussion about what percentage of people would at the museum solely to giggle and mock. Sandy boldly predicted 50%. I'm not certain the exact percentage, but you could figure it out by taking two and dividing it by the number of people who strolled through the turnstyles that day. We were the only scoffers; every one else were true believers. And a lot of them. Just in our row in the parking lot we counted cars from over twenty different states. This was definitely a vacation destination spot.

If you haven't figured it out already, the Creation Museum is dedication to creationism, although in a very clever/evil way. It presents itself as a fair and balanced (Fox News, anyone?) attempt to get at the truth and beyond the tyranny of the leftward leaning secular "scientific" community. Although I don't know how fair and balanced it is to refer to Voltaire as an infadel. I don't know if I can truly do it justice. I wish that Blogspot as better for posting videos, because I have priceless ones (some of which you can see if you click on the link to Oklahoma Excellence blog). Some of the claims are wildly, creatively absurd - I didn't actually know the role that the theory of evolution played in Germany's entry into World War I, for instance. Others are more subtle, and thus, in my mind anyway, more dangerous.

The 800 pound gorilla in the room is Jesus and the archly-evangelical wing of Christianity, but beyond a few sly references he is almost non-existent (I included a picture of the stone being rolled back from his tomb, about the only direct reference). This, of course, is part of the not too subtle attempt to make it seem like a real museum and not a glossy propaganda vehicle. Most of the material featured is Old Testament, which is amusing/astonishing because, in addition to being anti-Arabic and misogynistic and racist, there is more than a hint of anti-semitism to the displays. Keep in mind that these are the same evangelicals who are so fascinated in Israel, not because they feel any true kinship to the Jews, but rather because of the role that a very specific destruction of Israel will play in the end times.

Probably my favorite part of the museum was the overwhelmingly pseudo-scientific attempt to promote the idea that the world is only around 4500 years old and that people lived at the same time as the dinosaurs. The display of dinosaurs walking up onto the ark was pretty convincing, along with the picture here of the dinosaurs resting comfortably on the ark in a bed of straw. The signs even explained that Noah brought baby dinosaurs on to the ark because they took up less space and were easier to control. One of the best discussions Sandy and I had was in response to the sign that explained how poisonous plants became poisonous after Adam and Eve were ejected from paradise. I launched into a theological argument with him, unfortunately too loudly, on the spot about the logical implications of that belief - and I thought we were going to be asked to leave by the security guards if not beaten by the true believers. The atmosphere was, to tell you the truth, pretty oppressive.

Now, before anyone gets insulted, please understand that this is not a specific anti-Christian or broader anti-religious rant. In my own peculiar fashion I am a deeply spiritual person. This is not even an attack on Creationism or the people who expouse that point of view. It's not what I believe in, but the world is a lot bigger than me and my belief system. Rather, I am horrified by the shameless bait and switch propaganda of the place. Come for the dinosaurs, stay for the sermon. I mean, it is just evil. All kids love dinosaurs, so why not draw them in and sell them this pseudo-scientific sermon. We live in a complicated age where people face serious issues, and promoting this brand of "thinking" doesn't benefit anyone. And, I would argue, it hurts religion itself more than anything else. Science can take care of itself. For that matter, God can take care of him/her/itself. Young children being indoctrinated - and taught very faulty logic - can't take care of themselves. There were children there on school trips, the buses lined up, waiting for the brain-washing and the gentle pithing.

What I Saw on Mulberry Street

Another picture from the epic trip to Guymon, Oklahoma from this past summer. Once again, Sanford Zale happily put up some one of my odd requests (although I guess when you cajole your friend to spend two weeks driving to Guymon you have given them a lot of ammunition). Here's the house where I grew up in beautiful little Rising Sun, Indiana. And, yes, it is on Mulberry Street, in Rising Sun, Indiana. And how I got from there to Kasgar, China and Beirut, Lebanon and Mumbai, India and St. Petersburg, Russia and Nairobi, Kenya and Port Elizabeth, South Africa and Melbourne, Australia and Amman, Jordan and Muscat, Oman and Lisbon, Portugal and Alexandria, Egypt and Lucca, Italy and Fez, Morocco is anybody's guess. Wow, I am tall.

The Left

Here's a nice picture that the excellent Sanford Zale snapped of me outside of the Eugene V. Debs home as we passed through my home state of Indiana. Sandy was a good soul to put up with my odd requests such as visiting the Debs homesite, the Creation Museum (more on that later), Holcomb, Kansas etc. Debs has always been a hero of mine and I can't believe that anyone could ever make a compelling argument against him being the greatest Hoosier. It is so odd to think that Indiana, such a grossly arch-conservative state, could have produced the most famous and influential American socialist. I am the black sheep socialist born into a family of Republicans (all of whom are much more socially liberal than they would ever let on) so it is natural that I would have been drawn to Debs. Now, granted that I am a hopeless romantic, but I've never believed that the left, specifically socialism, is dead. Today's Democrats are, for the most part, nothing more than Republican posers anyway - which is one of the things that I love about living in such an unabashedly liberal state like Vermont. We do have, in Bernie Sanders, the only socialist Senator in the US. However, even the Republicans in Vermont are a different breed, and I always argue that the average Indiana Democrat is more conservative than the average Vermont Republican. As the economic situation grows more and more dire, and the rich carve off more and more of the world for themselves, there has to be an alternative. The latest sobering statistic I saw is that one in two Americans is either living in poverty or has a low wage job. 50%. Is this what has become of the American dream? And yet we as a nation continue to dream that we'll, against all odds, become the rich ones, the ones that shouldn't have to pay the "death tax", the ones who shouldn't have to fund governmental assistance that more and more of us are queueing up for every year, the ones who will soon, soon, all too soon, benefit from the loop holes that allow the rich to escape without paying taxes. The Europeans, and with a touch of sadness, will sometimes speak of the passing of American democracy - has the same thing happened to the American moment? To me, the moment is past if we continue down this ridiculous path. For all of the old fear about socialism killing the American dream, in the end it might be what saves the American dream. But how to get there? Maybe the key question is figuring out whether the Occupy Wall Street movement actualy means something or if it is just fashion? Still, you have to start somewhere. As Marx reminds us, "I am nothing, but I must be everything."

Four Sport Triathlon

Now, of course, I should be packing, but, instead, I'm getting caught up on some remarkably delayed blogging. I am doing laundry and have already worked out - and made arrangements to get my hair cut at 4:30 - so I am doing some constructive work (sort of). The end of the year - as well as the upcoming trip - have put me in a very reflective mood. As I think back upon the last year I am just consistently amazed at one extraordinary friends I have. And here is concrete evidence: the Four Sport Triathlon. Erik Eskilsen, one of Champlain's great unkown evil geniuses (besides just being a regular run of the mill genius - and an extraordinarily great guy) put together arguably the great sporting competition since the golden age of the ancient Greek Olympics. The competition featured minature golf, bowling, pool and darts. It was truly a competition for only the best and brightest, and one that severely tested even the hardiest of souls - especially when you calculate in the consumption of greasy food groups and adult beverages at every step along the way.

Now, anyone who knows me will tell you that I guard my birthday pretty tenaciously, and it was my belief that no one at Champlain (with the exception of a couple trusted souls) even knew my birthday. Normally I tell everyone I meet a different date to throw off the hounds. So, when I saw that Erik had scheduled the Four Sport Triathlon for my birthday, I figured it was a complete coincidence since there was no discussion involving the significance of that date. Needless to say, I was a big shocked when I showed up and discovered that the inaugural Four Sports Triahlon bore my name, which was proudly emblazened on the rules sheet. Beyond putting together the sports and calculating out the sporting venue logistics, Erik had also produced a remarkably complicated set of rules (and every page had a different picture of me, all swiped from the Internet).

Anyway, it was an amazing time. As it turns out I was only able to stick around for the first part of the competition because of a previous engagement, but from all accounts it was the stuff of legend. In the end Andy Burkhardt, probably because of his extreme youth, was able to outlast the last competitor and receive the laurel crown at Ake's Place (at around 2:30 in the morning, a more fourteen hours after the opening ceremonies).

Again, I am so blessed to have such amazing friends.

Vermont Bound

We've reached, if not the end of the semester (Zayed will have three more weeks of school after we get back), at least the holiday break. I've had a wonderful time here, but I'm also anxious to get back to Vermont for a couple weeks. I'll be taking off tomorrow morning - 3:30 a.m. (yikes) - on Turkish Air with a layover in Istanbul, which I've turned into a three day visit. On the 20th I'll be heading back to the frozen tundra of Vermont. Actually, I don't think it is particularly frozen at the moment, but since I've been here for four months and haven't seen any rain at all and the low temperatures here have plummeted into the lower 60's, I'm sure Vermont will seem like a winter wonderland by comparison. Today is dedicated to packing, Turkey research, laundry, working out and general lounging about. It will be great to see my friends, and doubtless many chicken wings will be consumed and darts will be thrown.

College Football Pool II: the Sequel

Time for this year's version (according to Mike Lange, the 53rd annaul) of the College Football Bowl Pool. This will only be my third. Oddly, I did pretty well both times, which makes no sense at all because I know nothing about college football. I tend to make picks based on all sorts of brilliants strategies such as: picking the team that is further south geographically, always picking against the Big 10, or choosing Troy University because I love the Iliad. I will be including my picks in bold as well as the picks of my bitter rival Cyndi Brandenburg (if she ever sends me her picks, that is). You would think the fact that I will not be in the country for the chicken wing eating competition would inspire her to take this opportunity to renew our age old rivalry.

New Mexico Bowl - 17 December
Temple vs Wyoming
Brandybuck's pick: Temple
I'll be flying out of Abu Dhabi on the 17th, which will sadly preclude me from watching the New Mexico Bowl or the Idaho Potato Bowl.

Idaho Potato Bowl - 17 December
Ohio vs Utah State
Brandybuck's pick: Ohio
I wonder if Mike Lange will be eating extra potato-based products to support his beloved Buckeyes? I wonder if they would consider moving this bowl to Ireland and renaming it the Potato Famine Bowl?

New Orleans Bowl - 17 December
San Diego State vs Louisiana-Lafayette
Brandybuck's pick: San Diego State
I have certain solemn beliefs, and one of them is that I would never marry a woman or pick a college team in a bowl pool wherein a hyphen is featured.

St. Petersburg Bowl - 20 December
Florida International vs Marshall
Brandybuck's pick: Florida International
This is a tough one because they are both southern schools and St. Petersburg is bitterly cold this time of year. That said, my research seems to indicate that Florida International University is a hotbed of Leninist fervor so I will back them to squeak by Marshall in the Petrograd
Bowl.

Poinsettia Bowl - 21 December
TCU vs Lousiana Tech
Brandybuck's pick: TCU
This bowl bothers me because it is a constant reminder that my absurd Hoosier education kept me from learning how to spell poinsettia (along with a lot of other words).

Las Vegas Bowl - 22 December
Arizona State vs Boise State
Brandybuck's pick: Boise State
Yes, as my son would say, I could pick Arizona State, but then I would have Sandy Zale hectoring me for months on end.

Hawaii Bowl - 24 December
Nevada vs Southern Mississippi
Brandybuck's pick: Southern Mississippi

Independence Bowl - 26 December
Missouri vs North Carolina
Brandybuck's pick: North Carolina

Little Caesars Bowl - 27 December
Western Michigan vs Purdue
Brandybuck's pick: Purdue
Yeah, this goes against my anti-Big 10ish philosophy, but my cousin Steve went to Purdue.

Belk Bowl - 27 December
Louisville vs North Carolina State
Brandybuck's pick: Louisville

Military Bowl - 28 December
Toledo vs Air Force
Brandybuck's pick: Toledo

Holiday Bowl - 28 December
Califormia vs Texas
Brandybuck's pick: Texas

Champs Sports Bowl - 29 December
Florida State vs Notre Dame
Brandybuck's pick: Notre Dame

Alamo Bowl - 29 December
Washington vs Baylor
Brandybuck's pick: Baylor

Armed Forces Bowl - 30 December
BYU vs Tulsa
Brandybuck's pick: BYU
I can't in all good conscience back Tulsa in this bowl because when Sandy Zale and I were in Tulsa last summer we visited three museums and they were all closed. Plus, there was no one in the downtown area - completely shiny and nice, but no one there. Creepy. It was like Sun Belt of the Living Dead.

Pinstripe Bowl - 30 December
Rutgers vs Iowa State
Brandybuck's pick: Rutgers

Music City Bowl - 30 December
Mississippi State vs Wake Forest
Brandybuck's pick: Wake Forest

Insight Bowl - 30 December
Iowa vs Oklahoma
Brandybuck's pick: Oklahoma

Meineke Car Care Bowl - 31 December
Texas A&M vs Northwestern
Brandybuck's pick: Texas A&M
One of my more brilliant strategies when selecting a team for this bowl is to pick against the team with the better academic tradition (which makes it easy for me to support my alma mater, the University of Cincinnati). It would be hard to find a better example of that logic than this game.

Sun Bowl - 31 December
Georgia Tech vs Utah
Brandybuck's pick: Georgia Tech
OK, so this completely flys in the face of the theory I just put for in the previous pick, but this is a complete homer pick from my days living in Atlanta.

Liberty Bowl - 31 December
Cincinnati vs Vanderbilt
Brandybuck's pick: Vanderbilt
Go Bearcats!! Now, coming back to my earlier theory, this is a great fit because I would grudgingly accept that Vanderbilt might be a slightly better school than Cincinnati . . .

Fight Hunger Bowl - 31 December
Illinois vs UCLA
Brandybuck's pick: UCLA
This pick makes me nervous because I almost universally pick against the Big 10ish (and not simply to tweak Mike Lange).

Chick-fil-A Bowl - 31 December
Virginia vs Auburn
Brandybuck's pick: Auburn
I almost universally pick an SEC team (and not simply to tweak Mike Lange).

TicketCity Bowl - 2 January
Houston vs Penn State
Brandybuck's pick: Houston
OK, I will leave aside the obvious and totally inappropriate Penn State jokes to ask this question: why are their no bowl games on New Year's Day? I know the bowl season has gone insane over the last few years, but there were always games on New Year's Day. Did the NFL buy them off?

Outback Bowl - 2 January
Michigan State vs Georgia
Brandybuck's pick: Michigan State
Total homer pick. Go Dawgs!! Oh, and Michigan State is in the Big 10.

Capital One Bowl - 2 January
Nebraska vs South Carolina
Brandybuck's pick: Nebraska
As is well-documented, Nebraska is my favorite college football team (locked in for some illogical reasons with all my other favorite teams in 1970).

Gator Bowl - 2 January
Ohio State vs Florida
Brandybuck's pick: Ohio State
Wow, Ohio University is playing in the Idaho Potato Bowl and the Gator Bowl? Is that a first? It will make for a great free tattoo!

Rose Bowl - 2 January
Wisconsin vs Oregon
Brandybuck's pick: Wisconsin

Fiesta Bowl - 2 January
Stanford vs Oklahoma State
Brandybuck's pick: Stanford
See earlier theory on betting against the better academic school.

Sugar Bowl - 3 January
Michigan vs Virginia Tech
Brandybuck's pick: Michigan
Clearly an anti-Big 10 pick.

Orange Bowl - 4 January
West Virginia vs Clemson
Brandybuck's pick: Clemson

Cotton Bowl - 6 January
Kansas State vs Arkansas
Brandybuck's pick: Kansas State
I'll be landing back in Abu Dhabi on the 6th, just in time to catch the game.

Compass Bowl - 7 January
SMU vs Pittsburgh
Brandybuck's pick: Pittsburth

GoDaddy.com Bowl - 8 January
Arkansas State vs Northern Illinois
Brandybuck's pick: Northern Illinois

National Championship - 9 January
LSU vs Alabama
Brandybuck's pick: LSU
Tie breaker: 31 points (didn't Brandybuck choose 122 points last year?) Brandybuck chose 45 for her tie-breaker.

Dreams of Samarkand

It is not often that I write about places that I haven't visited (with the obvious exception of the overwhelming dreams related to my epic trip to Guymon, Oklahoma), but I guess my upcoming flight home has me thinking of travel. For some time now I've wanted to visit Samarkand, the old capital of Tamerlane's empire and a central city along the Silk Road. The desire only grew stronger because of my CIEE Silk Road experience from a few summers back (I had it as far west as Kasgar, which is practically passing out of China and into the wilds of Central Asia) and the Silk Road courses I teach at Champlain. So, since I'm here in Abu Dhabi for the year it seems only natural that I take the plunge. In the middle of the spring semester I have a two week break, the last week of March and the first week of April. What better opportunity for a trip to Samarkand? For that matter, what about expanding it to include a lengthy trek along the Silk Road, both east and west of Samarkand - or maybe even visiting all the Stans: Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Khrgyzstan and Tajikistan - or, for that matter, throwing in Afghanistan and Pakistan as well? As anyone who knows me can attest, dreaming insanley large is an essential part of who I am (and it makes me both charming and maddening at the same time). The first step is getting to Samarkand itself, which is proving to be much more difficult than you would think. Just check out the map - it simply is not that far away from Abu Dhabi. You cross over the Persian Gulf, then Iran and Turkmenistan, and, huzzah, you're in Uzbekistan and Samarkand. It shouldn't even be that long of a flight, if only you could get there. My initial attempts to arrange something on Travelocity or Skyscanner, using the most general parameters, kicked back that there were no flights. Really? Not one flight that ran from anyplace in the UAE to Samarkand, ever? Think about that response for a moment. If you enter just about any starting and ending points into a search engine it will get you there, even if there is no direct flight - otherwise no one would ever be allowed to leave Vermont. Friends of mine who are more technologically sophisticated than me came up with options that went through Moscow, and which cost a fortune. Hmmm, Moscow? I have my Lonely Planet Guide to Central Asia back in my office in Burlington, so I guess I'll just have to check it out there. Maybe you just need to fly into another city in the region and take a train/taxi/camel back to Samarkand and it all becomes easy. At this rate I'll never fulfill my Aurel Stein dreams. And speaking of which, I definitely want to go to Kabul, Afghanistan and pay a visit to Stein's obscure little gravesite there. I am pretty tenacious so we will be discussing this further.

Everybody Comes to Pepe's

Guess I've had the film Casablanca on my mind (another obscure reference). If you're ever in Byblos, Lebanon, you have to stop at Pepe's Fishing Club Bar. It is located right on the beautiful little harbor and very easy to find. If you're at the ruins on the hill (more on that later), which is where everybody usually gets dropped off, you just retrace your steps down the winding road and you end up at the harbor. So, watch the sunset from the dock and then work your way to Pepe's for dinner and drinks.

Apparently Pepe was quite the character and the wall is full of pictures of him and various celebrities, including his very good friend Marlon Brando. My good friend (and ex-student) Lara says her mom knew him. The first picture is of Pepe's from across the harbor, and the second is looking out from Pepe's (check out the pointsetta in the corner). I'm also including a sadly very blurry picture of the menu, mainly because it must be a reproduction of Pepe in his splendor.

Corniche of Beirut

If you visit Beirut, and you should, be sure to check out the Corniche. I know that we think in the US that no sane person would ever go to the Middle East, it is really a very short-sighted and utterly fatuous view. Granted, there are places where you might stumble into trouble, but that could also happen in New York or Chicago, of even in Burlington. As I've often stated, I've been all over the Middle East and have never had a bad experience. The Corniche winds around for a couple miles and it is a lovely walk. I suspect it would be a lot livelier at a different time of year, but it was actually pretty nice to be there at a time when it wasn't insanely crowded. So, let me post a few more pictures. The first is of my first view of the Corniche, as it stretched out in the distance. Eventually it takes a sharp left and you end up down my Pigeon Rock.

The second picture is turning back the other direction and zooming in a bit. You can see the mountains in the distance, including the snow covering at the peaks. And, yes, there is skiing in Lebanon.

The last picture is one of those shots which has no great value other than the fact that it makes me smile. I took it at the little seaside cafe where I stopped for white coffee (detailed earlier). There are a lot of fishermen along the entire Corniche, and one is in the distance. Up close is a beautiful black cat, who sort of reminds me of my old cat, Alex the Droog, from my Cincinnati days. He determined to get my attention (and part of my lunch).

Colors of Lisbon

And here's another picture of Lisbon, this one taken from the castle above the city (more on that later). One of the reasons why I chose Lisbon is that I wanted to get away from plastic-land for awhile and spend some time in some place a little grittier. As I discussed earlier, Lisbon also provided some much needed rain. In addition it provided colors, even against the overcast sky. Grey rainy days are great for taking close-up pictures, but they are also good for snapping photos where the colors really jump out at you. I would suspect that if you visited Lisbon in the sun-splashed summer the colors would be washed out a bit, although I plan on going back then. When I was there the colors were so vibrant. I don't know if it relates to being on the coast or being Portuguese, but the colors on the houses were so bright and festive - even in the midst of gloom.

Christmas in Beirut

"In the unlikely event of a Christmas tree landing . . ."

I don't know why I find this picture so funny, but I do. It is the Christmas decoration that is centrally located in the Beirut airport. It doesn't really inspire a lot of confidence.

Lisbon

And another place I've been ignoring as I've been failing so magnificently as a blogger: Portugal. I had a chance to go there recently for a visit and absolutely loved it. There are a ton of Portugal-themed posts that I'll be making. However, I thought I'd just post this picture as a starter because I am in a certain state of mind. It rained the entire time I was there, often pouring. And considering that I've been here in the UAE for almost four months with no rain at all I revelled in getting soaked in Lisbon. Here's a shot I took in a wonderful cemetery that I stumbled across on a a windswept day. The generally meloncholy nature of the picture matches my mood today, which maybe relate to missing Lisbon or missing the rain or just my general end of the year blues.

My New Place

Wow, I really am behind in blogging - as best exemplified by the fact that I haven't even said anything about my new place. I really liked living in the Radisson Blu out here on Yas - very posh - but when you're going to be someplace for a year, simply living in a hotel isn't a good fit. So, around a month ago I moved to the Staybridge Suites, which, actually, are only around fifty meters up the road from the Radisson. I talked to Zayed about moving and they were very cool about it and made all the arrangements (when you teach at Zayed they pay for your housing, or at the very least give you a housing allowance). There are six hotels out here on the Golf Plaza, and they are tied together in pairs. So, the Radisson Blu was tied to the Park Inn (posh and not so posh). The Staybridge is designed more for long-term stay and is tied to the Crowne Plaza, which is next door. This means I can use the Crowne Plaza fitness centre and also I get a discount of eating at the restaurants there. We don't have a restaurant in the Staybridge, which I actually quite like - it makes it a lot quieter because nobody who is not staying here would be stopping by.

It is still really nice, just not as posh as the Radisson Blu. We still get complimentary breakfasts in the morning and a happy hour. That said, it is decidedly less spectacular than the Radisson. Ours is only four nights a week, but is more family-friendly (as you might expect, there are a lot more kids here) with dishes like pasta (which, again, I find preferable) and the drinks are just coffee or fruit juice. The hub is open twenty-four hours a day and is stocked with a coffee-maker (passable lattes) and fruit and cookies. The lobby is quite nice with big comfy chairs for reading and there is a little side library. Sometimes I just come down of an evening, grab a latte and sit in the lobby or outside and read. The rooms are smaller than the Radisson, but also a lot brighter (the RB is a lot darker). I also only have one bathroom now, as compared to having two bathrooms for some reasons in the Radisson. I am most excited (and I know this sounds really pathetic) to actually have a kitchen and a washer/dryer. It means I don't have to do laundry math anymore (at the RB I had 14 free items of laundry a week, which meant that every Friday morning I had to lay out all my dirty clothes and decide which ones were going to be laundered and which ones were going to be cleaned in the sink and hung out to dry on the balcony). Having a kitchen is really nice, even if it is for nothing more than making myself a cup of soup. After some extensive shopping around I bought myself a new slow cooker (my old one is in storage back in VT). Who knew it would be so hard to find a slow cooker - apparently they are not popular in the UAE - and the one I bought it pretty huge, but it was the only one I could find. Plus, I will be leaving it here when the year is up if I come back to VT, because I certainly am not going to ship it and the plugs are completely dirrent. So far I made a very good batch of chicken soup and a blisteringly hot batch of chili. The problem with the chili, which I am still eating on, is that I was working with new ingredients - and the chili powder was incendiary Indian chili powder and not the usual American chili powder I am used to. It is pretty brutal, but I am eating it nonetheless because I am stubborn. So far I am really enjoying my stay here, although I miss my friends back at the Radisson Blu. It does feel very homey here. I was tossing my dirty clothes into the corner of my bathroom because I had not managed to buy a clothes hamper, and I came in one day to find that the Staybridge folks had given me one. Occasionally I will come in of an evening and the dishes, wish I had left out to dry have been put away - always a pleasant surprise. I have one of those combination washer/dryers, which means that it is fairly small and doesn't dry completely, but there are also free washers and dryers downstairs. Yes, very nerdy, but even the washers and dryers make me happy.

Picnic at Pigeon Rock

And I even had some cake (now there is an obscure film reference). Beirut itself does not have many areas of natural beauty, although the Corniche itself is quite pretty. However, if you follow the Corniche along you eventually come to Pigeon Rock, which is a very lovely place to watch the sun go down (although not as pretty as Byblos). There is a nice little cafe right on the Corniche called Bay Rock Cafe, where I snapped this picture. The Corniche itself is rather odd in that although there are buildings that run along the entire way there are not many restaurants (I counted about four) and only a few coffee shops. So, be sure to grab something to eat at the Bay Rock Cafe before heading a little further inland for a drink. At the other end of the Corniche there is a cute little hotel called the Bay Watch Hotel, which has a nice, albeit completely deserted, outside bar on the 7th floor which has a great view of the Corniche. I went there twice and both time it was completely abandoned in an almost spooky fashion. The folks working there would not have been nicer and it was very clean with good food and drinks, but I couldn't quite figure out why I was the only one there. Weird.

Byblos Sunset

I guess after that last depressing post I needed to put up something a little happier before getting back to work. Well, maybe posting pictures of the ravaged Holiday Inn is not really that depressing. Maybe, as my good friend Sandy would propose, it is really a story of redemption (although he will usually follow that up by opining that it always ends in tears). For all of the horror Beirut is still standing, and I am really looking forward to getting back for a longer visit. Here is a picture that I took as the sun was going down in Byblos, which is a lovely spot about forty kilometers north of downtown Beirut. I'll have a lot more to say about it later. At this point I just wanted to post this picture, which may be the nicest one I've ever taken. Of course, the sun was going down over a beautiful little Mediterranean harbor, so it would have taken some effort to muck that up. Still, as I sat out on the end the dock watching the sun disappear in the west, it was about as serene a moment as I can ever recall.

Ghosts of Beirut

Holiday Inn. And, sadly, not the Christmas-time classic movie. While in Beirut I stayed right around the corner from the iconic Holiday Inn, made famous/infamous during the dark days of the civil war. It was just about completed but never occupied, and it became a favorite location for snipers (as you can tell from the bullet and rocket holes). Many building around it (including a shiny new building which almost touches it, which you can see on the right in the last picture) have been rebuilt/rehabbed, but the Holiday Inn itself remains untouched.

Its only inhabitants today are soldiers and tanks. It seems that they intend to leave it as a sad reminder of a horrible time in Lebanon's past. I got pretty close and busily snapped away with my camera, and finally one of the soldiers, politely, told me not to take any more. I apologized and he just waved me along. There was much less of a military presence inside the city that I thought there might be, just the occasional small grouping of soldiers on key street corners or above sharp bends in the road.

At no point did I feel in danger, except when the taxi drivers were taking me somewhere at breakneck speed (but that's another story).

White Coffee

Here are a couple shots from a pretty little seaside cafe in Beirut where I stopped for a cup of coffee. You can get a sense of the sweep of the corniche, and also of the mountains in the background. I ordered a white coffee, which is usually code for coffee with milk. However, in this case it was just a cup of hot water, which, with the color of the cup, did turn out white. It wouldn't have been so odd if they had brought along some tea bags, but it was just hot water (although with plenty of sugar). The waiter seemed a little mystified that I sent it back.

Beirut

I am very far behind in my blogging duties, but have absoloutely no time to even think about it now. Between two new preps and administrative chores - and Mike Lange just sent me the college football bowl pool form - I am buried. So, I'll just post a quick picture as a place-holder and get back to this later. Many things have happened lately, but the one that is freshest in my mind is the trip I just took to Lebanon. I have always wanted to visit Beirut, and I took advantage of the long National Day weekend here in the UAE, and a cheap flight, to fly over to Lebanon for three days. I had a lot of fun, and the requisite screaming match with a taxi driver, and can't wait to get back. Several of my friends back home were concerned about me flying to Beirut, but it is an odd result of the Arab Spring that Beirut is now one of the "safe" places to visit in the area. And they certainly would love some visitors. Right now a visa, which you can pick up at the airport easily, is free. Here's a fairly nice picture I took as I was walking along the Corniche looking out at the Mediterranean.

Dragon Boat Race

This past weekend we finally participated in the Dragon Boat Race. Hopefully in the next week before taking off for Eid break I'll be able to post a lot of pictures - in between the race and the post-race barbecue/Halloween party I took over a hundred pictures. Now, first off, it was a lot of fun. It some ways it was a typically odd Emirati event in that we spent the time shuttling between posh hotels (which made it different than most Emirati events wherein you're shuttling in between posh hotels and posh malls), which always makes everything feel pretty artificial. This is especially so when I read about my good friend Trish's amazing adventures this weekend in Wadi Rum in Jordan (and let me throw in my usual pitch for folks to read Trish's blog, which can be accessed from my blog list at the lower right).

Now, that said, the folks who made up the Zayed teams were great and we had a blast, even if it did drag on for hours. We had to report at 9:30 on Friday morning, and our first race wasn't until 12:00 and the semi-final was at 4:00. My suspicion is that everything was set up this way so that you were trapped there all day and forced to buy food and drink (and towels for 75 dirhams and robes for 100 dirhams) from the venders. Luckily we found a great shady spot under some palm trees and it made for a pleasant day, interrupted by swimming, napping, eating and sneaking inside the hotel to grab cool drinks at Starbucks. Everything went off without any problems, although there was some initial concern that our start time was too close to afternoon prayers, especially a big deal on Friday, but we made it work. Now, our team, after a couple great practices, rowed horribly in the first heat, leading to the appearance of the famous/infamous/epic Scudder teamper. I don't mind losing (much), but I hate being incompetent and we just were. We were much better in the second heat, but still finished well back of the pack. That evening there a fun barbecue behind Traders Hotel, which is maybe a hundred hards down the road from the Shangri-La Hotel where the race was run. Fantastic food, and some interesting costumes. Around half the costumes were devils, and I'm not certain of what to make of that.

Here are a few quick pictures to get things started. At the top I have one of those odd pictures which seems to capture the ridiculous and the sublime, which is an essential part of life in the UAE. In the foreground is one of the corporate teams heading towards the starting line while in the background is the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. Then I've posted a picture of myself, which is something that I normally never do, but since it is apparently snowing back in Vermont I figured I had to post it if for no other reason that to tweak (or as my British friends here say, wind up) my friends back home in VT. Then there is a picture of my good friend Laura posing with the dragon, at a happier moment before they had a big falling out later that ended in accusations and threats/counter-threats (which she normallyu reserves for her running argument with the female voice of her GPS machine). Finally there is a fun picture of Liane and Tanja engaged in a very animated discussion. Definitely a great time, although it's left me moving pretty slow today.