Mike and Danica's Excellent Adventure: September 2008

Monday, September 1, 2008

I'm baaaack!

Tomorrow will be three weeks back in the UAE, the third day of kids back in school and the second day of Ramadan. I saw one definition: "Hot enough to cook a goat from the inside."... that's hot. Today it was 45 degrees celsius = 113 F. This was my first day of golf after work. Yeah, I thought I was the goat!

The name "Ramadan" is the name of the ninth month; the word itself derived from an Arabic word for intense heat, scorched ground, and shortness of rations. It is considered the most venerated and blessed month of the Islamic year. Prayers, sawm (fasting), charity, and self-accountability are especially stressed at this time; religious observances associated with Ramadan are kept throughout the month.

Danica is not here... bummer... and I now live in Dubai. My residence overlooks the Palm Deira mega-building project. I can walk to the gold souk and the creek from here. I don't have a camera yet but hopefully soon... then new pictures.

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Eid al-Adha or the Festival of Sacrifice is a religious festival celebrated by Muslims in commemoration of the willingness of Ibrahim (Abraham) to sacrifice his son Ishmael as an act of obedience to God.
Muslims who have the means will sacrifice an animal (usually a goat or a sheep), as a reminder of Ibrahim's obedience. (Remember last year, Danica and I went for a walk near our house and saw two guys getting a sheep from the back seat of a Mazda 606.) The meat is then shared out with family, friends (Muslims or non-Muslims), as well as the poor members of the community.
Eid al-Adha is the latter of two Eid festivals celebrated by Muslims, whose basis comes from the Quran.
Eid al-Adha annually falls on the 10th day of the month of Dhul Hijja of the lunar Islamic calendar.
The festivities last for three days or more depending on the country. Eid al-Adha occurs the day after the pilgrims conducting Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia by Muslims worldwide, descend from Mount Arafat. It happens to be approximately 70 days after the end of the month of Ramadan.

Happy Thanksgiving!!
Ok... I know we're a bit early but what better way to celebrate than with a trip to Turkey!
In early November, Danica and I accompanied 23 UAE principals to Istanbul for the first ever ASCD-ME conference! Totally cool time.
So ... which came first the bird or the place?
Give up?
Actually the bird was misnamed (go figure) when Europeans first encountered it in North America so it was, in fact, named after the country.
Whatvever ... ! Anyway... Wishing you all a really happy time together!

This will probably be our final post for phase one of our totally excellent adventure. Tomorrow we fly our last leg home to finally see our family and friends.

We had no real idea what we were getting ourselves into last July when we signed on for our year in the UAE. This site shows only the fun stuff ... and it was not all fun stuff, wallah!

Yes, there is to be a phase two. We are scheduled to return on August 12. This time we will be living in the city of Dubai.
to be continued ... insha-allah!

Mountain Field Trip

Here's a field trip for you! 15 students and 2 teachers at my school were invited to fly by police helicopter to see the new resort the sheikh is building in the Hajar Mountains. When I asked where they were going everyone in the office turned and pointed up at the mountain range in front of the school. Eventually there will be a road. I tried to hitch a ride but I had a meeting in Dubai that I couldn't escape. Here is a site I found about the resort.
http://www.rakeen.com/projects/Jabel_Al_Jais.html

The Camel Mission

Ok... so Danica's sister Lee came to visit with a mission to ride on a camel. So I mentioned this to my friend Mohammed, "'da Mayor of Ras Al Khaimah", who picks up his cell phone and batta-bing-batta-boom, next thing I know, we're at a freakin' camel farm next door to the camel race track in Ras Al Khaimah!
Now this ain't no smokin' joe lame camel that poses for circus pictures ... we're talkin' racin' camels here! The Saudis come here to plunk down $650 g's or better for a single camel! That's dollars, not dirhams!
Soooo ... did we ride on racing camels? Well... not exactly. But the camels you see in the pictures hang out with racing camels all the time, kind-a-like racing camel groupies.
Did you know that the word "camel" comes from the Arab word for camel?
Did you care?

Khasab, Oman and the Mountain of Women

The slideshow has pictures from our recent trip back to the Musandam Peninsula. This time we went by 4WD into the Hajar Mountains to find Jebel Harim, the Mountain of Women. Hani, a 23 year old Omani was our driver. We exchanged language lessons while we drove over the rough and narrow single lane road.
"Mountain Bedouins" still live up here. Ancient and crude stone huts have been replaced by newer structures. The Oman government helps with construction. We were not expecting to discover terraced farming at 3000+ feet. And the village in the valley with goats, chickens, flowering trees and bees was a big surprise.
Fossils were everywhere. Danica's hand is shown on an enormous wall of star fish and other sea creatures (@6000 feet). This is why Ras Al Khaimah is the home of the best cement/concrete in the gulf area.
The reference to the Mountain of Women was an attempt to explain "ancient" rock carvings of dubious authenticity. But we let Hani deliver his spiel without contradiction.
The Golden Tulip Hotel ended our day. It sits on a rock ledge sticking into the gulf surrounded by incredibly blue water. You can look at this link for even more pictures!http://www.goldentulipkhasab.com/gallery.aspx?Language=EN
Mughamara Kabeer! Excellent Adventure!

Where in the world are we?

Try this link if you would like to put our location in a global perspective. Try all 3 map buttons for different views. The pink pin brings you down to the camel race track in Digdaga. And if you click on the pin you get a fact sheet about local birds. (for Pam and Jerry) You can find Danica's Al Nakhil ("The Palm") School very near the coast. My school in Al Rams is not labeled though you can see it! If you find the RAK Hotel on Khuzam Road, we live just to the left where it says 21B Street. I'm standing in the street waving, see?! http://www.qpqsoftware.com/gmaps/viewsite.php?sid=8315&lat=25.6666666667&lon=55.9166666667&loc=Digdaga%20-%20Hamraniyah

Happy New Year for One Last Time!

We just wrote 2008 for the first time and although we did not particu;larly like it (We were just getting use to 2007) we must admit that we have a hard time writing "Dhul-Hijja 27, 1428" on our checks. You see, the Islamic calendar celebrates new year this week. Being a lunar based calendar, we're not exactly sure when New Year's Day is! (Always about 11 days off the Gregorian calendar give or take a sandstorm.) So the word on the street is we may get a day off work but nobody knows when!! Gotta love this place!
Anyway, we hope everyone enjoyed the hoiliday season! Best wishes for 2008! And things are already looking up!!! We have a 66% shot of getting either a woman or a black man for pres. Cool or what!?

The Wedding

Desert Safari ... Dune Bashing

As the name aptly implies, this is man against dune, and guess who wins! We were picked up in a brand newToyota Land Cruiser with all the bells and whistles and driven to the middle of the desert near Hatta (almost Oman). All we were told was that we were going on a desert safari but I knew someting was up when I saw that the suv also had roll bars!

The video does not quite capture the experience... I don't perspire much and when we stopped to take a break the back of my shirt was soaking wet! The sand was beautiful ... like from an hour glass!