Long Weekend

Yesterday it was announced that in honor of UAE National Day there would be a four day weekend. As I mentioned in an earlier post, we never quite know when holidays will be. Two days notice is pretty common. Luckily this holiday goes by the regular calendar and we don't have to have a Saudi Arabian moon sighting or anything to know when it is. We had an idea that it might be a long weekend, so we planned a trip to Oman. We leave today for a 5 hour + 1 border crossing drive to Muscat and will be back on Sunday. I hope to have some blog-worthy experiences whilst there and will share them with you next week. The map is for you Dad!

It's petunia time

For the past few weeks, preparations have begun for UAE's National Day on Dec. 2.

This is may look like a normal car, but in Abu Dhabi during National Day preparations, it is considered

"blank canvas".....

.... because you must take your car and put giant pictures of Sheikh Zayed and sons (the sons are optional) over all the windows. Since that makes visibility virtually zero, then someone must hang out of the sunroof and help navigate all the while blaring arabic music. This must go on all night.

These may look like normal high rise buildings.....

WRONG....more blank canvas

My favorite part of National Day is that they consider the sand a canvas too....behold all the petunias.

Sheikh Zayed would be very proud.

Blazing Wheels

How do they get to fires in Dubai? In a Corvette of course. Huge engine in front....tiny portable fire extinguisher in back. Okay, it may not be that great for fighting fires, but damsels in distress can't resist it.

Abu Dhabi Ladies Book Club

This month I hosted the monthly meeting of the Abu Dhabi Ladies Book Club. We have 12 members from 7 different countries which makes for interesting book choices. One of our members is an English literature teacher and she forces us to actually discuss the book. (Very annoying...we're going to have to kick her out I think. )

Here are some books about the Middle East that our group found interesting and enlightening. We're making you proud Oprah.












Mother without a Mask by Patricia Holton tells the true story of a westerner that befriends the wife of the sheikh of Abu Dhabi. She observes what really goes on behind those veils and is a baffled as I am about their obsession with Kleenex.

In Search of Fatima- A Palestinian Story - by Ghada Karmi - We don't hear this side of the story in the USA. Oprah, are you listening?


Princess by Jean Sasson - Is Scarlett O'Hara in a burka. I would laugh out loud on one page and be completely horrified on the next. I couldn't put it down.


Blood and Sand by Frank Gardner - This tells the true story of a BBC reporter sent to cover the 2004 Al-Khobar massacre (as seen in the recent movie, "The Kingdom"). He finds himself on the wrong side of Al Qaida and is gunned down in the streets of Riyadh.
(This is of extra interest to me because one of the American survivors of the Al-Khobar massacre is in my bible study group. We have been praying for her as she undergoes her sixth surgery for gunshot wounds.

Nine Parts of Desire - The Hidden World of Islamic Women by Geraldine Brooks- Brooks is a Wall Street Journal reporter who spent seven years living and working in the Middle East. She seems very much aware that the average westerner has been exposed to only negative and one-dimensional views on the subject of Islam. I found that she filled in many of the gaps in my understanding of this culture.

The Burqini

The Islamic law, or Sharia, sets several bounds that impact Muslim athletes. This includes rules regarding the awrah,(those parts of the body not to be exposed in public). The hijab or burquas required by strict Islamic societies can make it difficult for women to engage in many sports. Also, men are not allowed to have clothing that shows the area between the knees and bellybutton, prohibiting them from engaging in, for example, competitive swimming. (No Speedo for Abdullah). For some time, Iranian women at the Olympics only competed in shooting because it was the one area unaffected by their dress codes. There are also several other concerns for Muslim athletes. For example, it is noteworthy that the name Olympics originates from Greek mythology, deemed by Islam to be a pagan religion. This is why you don't see many Muslim countries represented at these games. The biggest surprise for me was that there are restrictions on heavyweight boxing, since it includes harming on purpose. ??? (There must be a loophole in that rule somewhere.)
I don't know if a study has ever been done, but I have read enough articles about burqua-wearing to think that there has to be a connection between walking around in a tent and weight gain. The cumbersome garment makes even going up and down stairs difficult and at the same time conveniently conceals any extra pounds that may have accumulated due to restriction of movement.
Having said all this, my hat is off to a feisty Muslim lady who had enough of trying to be sporty in layers and layers of fabric. Even though she has received death threats for her "racy" designs, she has invented a sporty hybrid mix of about 1% bikini and 99% burqua called the Burqini. No worries about skin cancer, shaving, waxing, or lumps and bumps in the wrong places. I think she is on to something.

blue ribbon day

Yesterday, 5000 people joined in a walk-a-thon on the Corniche to raise awareness about the growing problem of Diabetes (type I and II) in the UAE. Type I diabetes is also called insulin-dependent diabetes or juvenile diabetes because it is usually discovered in children and teenagers, but adults may also have it. It is often inherited and patients must take insulin shots every day. Type II diabetes is usually found in overweight adults but is becoming much more common in children. Poor diet and sedentary lifestyles tend to bring this one on. Changing one's diet and activity level can often control this form of the disease. In a nation with skyrocketing adult obesity rates (75% in one report) this is becoming a real problem. This is even shocking to someone who comes from Houston, "the fattest city in the USA."
There are many factors at work. The westernization of the arab diet, the difficulty of exercising in the heat and within the constraints of Islam and the ancient, tribal customs of marrying within a family.
Blue-eyesight has a suggestion for controlling this disease....don't eat so much, don't sit around so much and stop marrying your first cousins.

Another Place

Several years ago, when we lived in Norway, we first experienced art on the beach.

This was a work titled "Another Place" by the Turner Prize winning artist, Antony Gormleyhttp://www.antonygormley.com/.

Another Place consists of 100 cast-iron, life-sized, naked, anatomically-correct (hey, it's Scandinavia) figures spread out along the beach and into the North Sea. Contractors spent three weeks lifting the figures into place and driving them into the beach. The figures were cast replicas of the artist's own body. The girls called this "Naked Men on the Beach" because ...well ... that is what it was.

After the statues were removed, they were recast and and reincarnated into another work called "Broken Column". This had them spread out around the town of Stavanger at certain exact levels and locations.

You never quite knew where you would find them. There was one in a shop, one at a gas station and one was hidden in a staircase outside the main parking garage. I think I screamed every time I came around the corner and found him lurking there. Here are a few of the members of The Broken Column.

(With the high gas prices in Norway, a little art was a nice distraction.)

This one liked to shop.

This is the one that made me scream every time.

Well, this story doesn't stop here. For my readers in Dallas, you too can see a work by Antony Gromley. Where you might ask? What art museum? Why in the mall, of course. If you are ever in North Park Mall, look for a work called "Three Pieces" . Who knows where else these guys might have been.

These guys like to shop too.

Please pass the tabouleh

The kiwis made the pumpkin pie an interesting shade of green

Just like the fourth of July, Thanksgiving is strictly an American holiday. When you are overseas you get to whip that holiday out when no one else can and that makes it very special. The American company that we are over here with has had a Thanksgiving buffet on the beach for the last 10+years. There are over 100 people that attend and only a few are Americans. We have Iranians, Pakistanis, Malays, Egyptians, Lebanese, Germans, Brits, Aussies, South Africans, Japanese and Chinese. Of course there are the Canadians that try to hone in on our Thanksgiving because theirs was during Ramadan and we let them because it is Thanksgiving and we have to be nice.

This is the second time that we have gone and it has become my favorite company event of the year. Tonight we had turkey, tabouleh, sweet potatoes, hummus and pumpkin pie with kiwis. Just like grandma makes, right? It didn't really matter what we ate it didn't matter where we were from, we were all very thankful for all of our blessings.

By the way, hummus tastes really good with gravy.

"Art" (???) on the Beach

Now that Abu Dhabi is the "Capital of Culture", it seems "art" is everywhere.

Walking along the Corniche road, I noticed some things laying in the sand. Is this a new playground? Nuclear waste dump. No, it is "art"! I know that because the newspaper said so. Thank goodness they tell us these things. They look like bombs to me. I was afraid that maybe this was art of the enriched uranium kind. Perhaps an early Hanukkah present to Israel from our good neighbor Iran that got lost in the mail and washed up on our beach.

The Mona Lisa needs to hurry up and get here.

Abu Dhabi gets artsy

Why is Dubai green with envy?


Well, it used to be the only cool kid on the block, but not anymore. Here in Abu Dhabi we have Justin Timberlake now.
Not only that, we are getting a Louvre AND a Guggenheim. Paris doesn't even have both. (Wait, let me check that....NOPE, they do not).
The people of France are not happy about their art going to a country that allows orange and black Rolls Royces, but to ease their pain, Abu Dhabi is paying them $1.3 billion . That should put a smile on the Mona Lisa.


(The Abu Dhabi Louvre)

Abu Dhabi is now the "Capital of Cool"

I've been back in Abu Dhabi for over a week and I have been amazed at all that has changed in the last few months.

First, the oppressive heat is gone and has been replaced by a nice cool breeze

Second, the empty beach chairs are gone and are now occupied by large German people

Third, the streets of Abu Dhabi are blooming again with Zayed's petunias

and most importantly, Abu Dhabi has now become "cool".

How did this happen? When I left, Abu Dhabi was just the place where the boring dignitaries came to talk to Sheikh Khalifa about "strengthening ties." (aka...how can we get some of your money?)

Now I'm hearing that Justin Timberlake is coming to the capital. It is costing $1.75 million dollars to bring him here. It'll be the biggest gig Abu Dhabi has ever hosted. 10,001 people (the one being JT) on the Emirates Palace lawn on Dec. 6. We can't miss this!!!

*note to a certain insurance underwriter....it was reported that JT will be traveling with his golf clubs

Somebody get the Sheriff

Today while waiting for David to get a pair of pants hemmed, I took a walk around the block. I happened to have my camera with me and these are a few of the things I saw and some thoughts....


Can you hate pork yet still love your "Hog"?

In a country that forbids Muslims to buy alcohol, do they really want their young people getting their hair cut in a saloon? Where are the swinging doors and the gun slingers? Is this guy the sheriff?

I'm going to have to go back to the saloon and get the sheriff. We need to round up a posse and find the varmint that painted this Rolls Royce because there has been serious crime committed here.

I know one thing... this country may be a desert, but it is fertile ground for blog pickin's.

Arabs and the Ubiquitous Kleenex Box

Dear loyal readers, I have stopped straddling the Prime Meridian. It is time to mentally move back to the eastern hemisphere and resume my blue-eyesighted observations of the middle east. Today I want to pass on information you just don't get on CNN. Did you know that the Arabs love Kleenex? I googled Arabs and Kleenex and actually found information about this special relationship. This phenomenon is not unique to just the UAE....boxes of tissue abound in every country in this region. When we bought our cars, they came with boxes of Kleenex and then I noticed every car and taxi in town had a box of Kleenex. We saw them on atop cash registers and on the tables in restaurants where they double as napkins.
The abundance of Kleenex boxes is not due to some mysterious Arab need for frequent nose blowing....at least I hope not. People here use tissues to wipe their faces when it is hot outside - a practice I have learned to endorse whole-heartily.

I wonder if the Pentagon knows this? If Iran gets out of hand, we just stop the Kleenex supply. I promise the country will come to a standstill.

(When dignitaries are in town, they get out the special, golden Kleenex boxes)

Fog Blog and Rule Britannia

The last two mornings Abu Dhabi has been covered in a blanket of fog. I know I promised I would get back to business and blog about the middle east, but all this fog makes it hard for blue-eyesight to focus on what's actually outside. When I see fog, I think of London and that reminds me of something I was reading the other day.

I love the British because they march to a different drummer. They invented the Imperial measurement system (only used in the UK, US, Burma and Liberia) based on the size of the king's foot back in the dark ages. The European Union is trying to get them to go metric, but they have told Brussels, "We will be sticking with the king's foot, thank you very much". By the way, that is why that little 12" stick we measure stuff with is called a "ruler".

This one is for the birthday boy

Is seems as though blue-eyesight is having trouble focusing on life in the middle east. I promise that the next blog will be about something interesting and exotic and foreign, like the Arab's obsession with Kleenex. However, some of you will find this blog topic interesting and exciting and very foreign as well.


In honor of a certain birthday, I am going to report on the phenomenon know as Professional Bull Riding. You may have been to a rodeo so you know that the most exciting part has always been the bull riding http://www.pbrnow.com/. The rules are simple. "Place a wiry 150-pound cowboy on the back of a hulking, snorting temperamental 2,000 pound bull and see if he can ride the beast for an eternal eight seconds...with one hand strapped to the bull's massive backside."

Lashing yourself to a giant bucking bull makes for some good fun. The boys have taken this to a new level and now the show is just about the bulls. No barrel racing, calf roping, or steer wrestling to get in the way. Of course there are the Jack Daniel's girls and the Copenhagen smokeless tobacco girls as sort of cheerleaders with chaps. However, my personal favorite is the Flint the rodeo clown or "The Lord of the Clowns" as he likes to be known. http://www.flintrasmussen.com/about_flint.html. Reported to make over a million dollars for entertaining the crowd between rides, it wouldn't be the same without him.

In this sport, the bulls are just as popular as the cowboys. The cowboys are all named Cody while the bulls have great names, my personal favorite being "Cheeseburger with an Attitude."
Now the bulls are bred just like the thoroughbred race horses only instead of fast, they want mean and ornery. They say the "mean gene" comes from the mother's side....hmmm.

Our tickets have already been purchased for next year's finals in Vegas and my money is on Cody to win.

The Real Grand Canyon

This year we celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary and we wanted to do something to celebrate this milestone. Knowing that the whole family would be in Vegas in October for the Professional Bull Riders Finals (yes, you read that correctly), we decided to forgo the matching tattoos and take a helicopter trip to the Grand Canyon instead. After being ex-pats for over 10 years, we have been privileged to see a lot of the world. However, there are many places in our own country that we have never laid eyes on and none of us had seen this famous American landmark. After being in Vegas and seeing fake New York, fake Venice, fake Paris and a lot of fake Elvises, it was nice to see a part of America that was real and unspoiled.

My face has a book

(Facebook profile picture for life)


I'm back in Abu Dhabi and ready to do some blogging, but first I must check my facebook. I find that occupies a lot of my time ... good for jet lag nights. I think I have almost 30 friends (using preacher math) and I actually had to block a creeper yesterday. I still haven't figured out how to change my profile picture and I really think facebook needs spellcheck, but I'm hooked. Did you know there is an "over forty and on facebook" group? I don't think you are allowed in the group if you know how to change your profile picture. If any of my loyal readers wants to add me as a facebook friend, I would be honored because I haven't figured out how to add friends yet either.


My short trip home was a fun one. I got to rake leaves (this is only fun when you live in a high rise in the desert and never get to see falling leaves). I went to ACU for Homecoming and got to see my younger daughter dressed up like a peanut. I got to see my other daughter dressed up like a grown-up going to work. Nebo, OK was fun in a hard-work, get really dirty, never wear make-up or fix your hair kind of a way. Of course, Vegas deserves it's own blog. So stay tuned to hear about helicopters, Grand Canyon, and celebrity bucking bulls.