Kitsch Kristmas

Cindy and I had a great Christmas this year.  We spent Christmas Eve with some friends from campus - at church and then at their place for a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner.  On Christmas Day, we opened presents, had a friend over for breakfast, and then headed off to Christmas Dinner.  So far, so good...

Then, for Christmas dinner, we drove out to the city of Hatta - a little over an hour away into the mountains.  We didn't know it yet, but somewhere on that drive we crossed over into the Twilight Zone.  We had a great time with about a dozen friends from campus, but I have to admit that it was a little like celebrating Christmas in a parallel universe.  First of all, the decorations were very Christmas-y and there were a lot of "Merry Christmas" wishes exchanged, but our mountain lodge dinner setting was still in the desert.  Hmmm.  That's odd... 

Then, when Santa came in, he wore the red suit that you would expect, but his coloring gave me the impression that he arrived on a camel from Oman or Yemen, not on a sleigh from the North Pole.  His helpers (carrying bags of gifts) were definitely in Yemeni tribal dress.  They all seemed excited to play the part.  I should have asked them how "elf" translates into Arabic.

The hotel had a choir to lead everyone in a sing-along!  So we sang maybe four traditional carols - led by the Philippino and Pakistani kitchen help and waitstaff.  Great voices, but...wow.

After Santa and the singing, a magician came in to perform for the kids - typical card tricks and sleight-of-had stuff.  And of course he gave out gifts after his tricks.  Did I mention that the magician was a Malaysian Elvis impersonator?

I can't tell you how many times Cindy and I looked at each other and said, "Where ARE we?"

Merry Christmas!

 

Jeff and our colleague Earl helping out the Malaysian Elvis.

The Yemeni Santa - and his helpers to deliver toys to the children.

Kitsch Kristmas Karols

Winter

Here's a short video (just over 4 minutes) from a local guy who wanted to document the cityscapes and landscapes of the United Arab Emirates. We like it and think it does a great job of capturing how beautiful it can be here - especially during the winter.  We hope you enjoy it.

Emirates Winter from Lewis De Mesa on Vimeo.

Dates

by Cindy

Just about the only indigenous plant life in the UAE is the date palm tree.  Dates are to the UAE what chips and salsa are to Texas.  They are everywhere.  We eat them straight off the tree, we serve them to guests when they come into our home, we munch on them when we have a craving for something sweet.  We dip them in chocolate, stuff them with nuts and now...put them in chicken.  Jeff found a great recipe in the paper this week and (rather than suggesting I make it) he made it for dinner while I was out for a run one evening.  Major points for Dr. Baker!

We thought we would pass along the recipe to give you a 'taste' of life in the UAE.



Chicken stuffed with dates
Serves 2

3 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped
1/8 white onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 tsp cumin seeds
8 large dates, pitted and chopped
2 skinless chicken breasts
2 oz. cream cheese
small bunch parsley, leaves picked and chopped (or 1/2 tsp dried parsley)
1/8 cup flaked almonds
salt and black pepper


Heat one tablespoon olive oil in a frying pan over a medium-low heat. Add the garlic and onion and cook for eight to 10 minutes, until softened and light golden brown.

Increase the heat slightly and add the cumin seeds, followed a minute later by the dates. Stir well, season with salt and black pepper and cook for a further three to four minutes. Remove the pan from the heat, tip the mixture into a bowl and leave to cool.

Using a sharp knife, slice into the side of each chicken breast, to form a pocket.

Beat the cream cheese, parsley and flaked almonds into the cooled date mixture, taste to check the seasoning and spoon into each pocket.

Heat two tablespoons of oil in a frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add the chicken breasts and cook for three minutes on each side, then reduce the heat and continue to cook for a further seven to eight minutes, or until the chicken is completely cooked through.

Remove from the pan and serve with your chosen accompaniments – wild rice works well.

Enjoy!

Happy 40th Birthday to the UAE

by Cindy

We just celebrated the UAE's 40th birthday on December 2nd.  It's hard to believe that the country is only 40 years old but it's true.  I was telling a friend this morning that it serves as a reminder to me that while things are not perfect here, they have come a long way in 40 years.  After all, they only got electricity in the 1960's!

One thing very common here is for the government to do things for the people during / on a holiday.  So Ramadan, Eid and National Day (among others) often are met with big announcements that are intended to bestow blessings on the UAE people.  This year for National day, there were three big announcements:

1) All government workers will get a 35-45% pay raise.  This is after a 70% raise in 2007 and another 70% raise in 2009.  On the surface, this seems like a good thing - who doesn't want a raise, right?  However, one of the issues we have here is that there is already a great disparity between the pay of government jobs and private sector jobs - with government jobs being extremely high-paid.  One of the implications of this is that very few Emiratis want to work in the (relatively low-paid) private sector.  This is a cause of concern for the government (which therefore must employ a huge percentage of the Emirati population).  This is a big issue that the government here will have to wrestle with for some time.

2) The Abu Dhabi government allotted 2,500 plots of land for people to build their house.  The government provides land (for free) to all Emiratis to build a home once they get married.  So 2,500 people on the list for land for a house just got their land.

3) All children of Emirati mothers will now be Emirati citizens when they turn 18.  This is a very big deal.  Very big.  Prior to this announcement citizenship was through the father only.  That is, if you had an Emirati father and non-Emirati mother, congratulations, you're an Emirati citizen.  But if you had a non-Emirati father and an Emirati mother, no dice.  You weren't an Emirati citizen - you could only take the citizenship of your father.  This meant that you were losing out on the opportunity to have government jobs (see #1 above), gifts of land (see #2 above), free university education, free healthcare, etc, etc.  So this change was proclaimed by the papers here as an expansion of women's rights and a real blessing for many.

Hopefully that gives you a sample of life here in the UAE and how the government bestows blessings on its people.

Happy National Day!

The Deep Sea

by Cindy

Jeff and I went deep sea fishing in the Persian (Arabian) Gulf recently.  It was a beautiful morning on the gulf with weather that was not too hot and good company.  The sea was quite choppy and we had a few with sea sickness, myself included, so we didn't catch much at all but it was still a lot of fun.  Here are some shots:

Dawn over the city.  Offshore drilling platforms on the right .

Jeff catching our bait fish.
Our captain is the guy with the white hat.

The sunrise over Sharjah.  It was beautiful.

Jeff catching a tiny barracuda.

2011 Thanksgiving - Part II

by Cindy

Jeff and I were fortunate to have been invited to four different Thanksgiving dinners this year.  We stopped ourselves at two or else we would have been exercising off way too much pecan pie!  The second dinner we attended was with some of our faculty friends.  This time of year the weather is amazing so we just move the party to the back yard.

Thanksgiving 2011 - Part I

by Cindy

Today we got to celebrate Thanksgiving with the foreign exchange students here at our university.  Our friend hosted the gathering and I cooked for it.  It's nearly impossible to cook for 20 people with a tiny oven and one rack.  I kept reminding myself that people have been doing this for years and it could be a lot worse...

The meal turned out fine and we enjoyed hanging out with the students.  Not all of them are from America so some of them enjoyed turkey and all of the fixins' for the first time.  Mashed potatoes were a hit all the way around - I think they translate to "yummy" in any culture.

Our host, Gary, trying to convince Jeevan to try some of the food .  He was skeptical as he's never seen any of this food before!

The inside crew.

Thanksgiving UAE style - outside.

Tomorrow - another Thanksgiving feast with our faculty friends. 

Visitors!

by Cindy

November 16, 2011 UPDATE - At the request of those who read our blog and comment (thank you Carolyn and Trish!), here are some additional pictures of the indoor ski slope.  We don't have any of the indoor roller coaster, sorry.

The slope is actually a L shape.  The lift curves and this is headed up to the top/upper half.

Looking at the top half of the slope.  The lift is in the middle and you can ski down to the left or right of the lift.

Skiing down the 'expert' side.

There is a lodge half way up, at the turn, where all of these pics were taken.  This is looking back down the slope, right before the lift curves.  You can see the windows at the far end, the mall is on the other side of those windows.

Looking back down the slope, the lower half.  Again, the mall straight ahead through the windows.

The upper half of the slope.

Looking down the slope with a part of the lodge on the right of the picture.

Overall, the slope is not big at all.  Sabra and I were taking 10 minutes for a round trip of riding the lift up and skiing down the slope.

November 14, 2011
We have been very blessed this fall to have visitors.  Jeff and I had a great time showing them around town and seeing and doing things we have not done before.  We would love to have more of you come see this amazing place we live!


Here are some fun pictures of the new things for us:

Ski Dubai - I'm guessing you have heard of it.  First of all, it is located in a mall - very typical of Dubai.  You "rent" your clothes, boots and skis.  For the clothes, you just pull them over whatever you happen to be wearing that day.  When my brother and Eddie skied, they had on shorts underneath their outfits.  It was really weird to ski indoors when you know it is 100 F degrees outside.  I will admit, Sabra and I got really, really cold and quit early (they keep it at -1 C).  Very strange experience but glad I did it.

Ferrari World - the world's largest indoor amusement park is pretty cool but take note, the world's fastest roller coaster is only open on the weekends!  Bummer.

Burj Khalifa - the world's tallest building.

Seawings - we got to take an aerial tour of Dubai on a seaplane, it was really cool.

The Star of The Show

by Cindy

Jeff was asked to lead a lecture on Decision Making to the student workers on campus.  His picture was plastered all over the campus.  Jeff think he looks fat but appreciated our friend Nick who told Jeff that his arms look big and muscular.

Ko Yao Noi, Thailand

by Cindy

Jeff and I were fortunate to travel to Thailand for a few days in early November.  We didn't plan for it but it definitely turned out to be a second honeymoon.  It was secluded, romantic and quite fabulous!  We rested quite a bit, swam in the Phang Nga Bay, kayaked through a mangrove forest in the Ao Phang Nga National Park, enjoyed the sweeping vistas, learned some Thai cooking, partook in a couple of wine tastings and just really enjoyed ourselves.  I can never get too much one on one time with my husband so I enjoyed every minute of the trip!  Here are some of the pictures - if you ever get a chance to travel to Thailand, I highly recommend it!

The view from the pool.  Wow!

Our view at dinner each night

Us with the real chef.

Watching a movie each night while overlooking the bay.  It was rough, we know.

Our villa was amazing, we called it our "tree house"

 

Our yummy creation - Pork and glass noodle salad

Eid Al-Adha

by Cindy

We have just finished celebrating the Eid Al-Adha holiday here in the UAE.  Eid Al Adha is the holiday celebrated by Muslims to commemorate the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son Ishmael (not Isaac as Christians believe) as an act of obedience to God, before God intervened to provide him with a sheep— to sacrifice instead.

One of our friends passed along a picture she took of some stamps she saw in Lubbock, TX - celebrating the Eid holiday.

It's a little bit hard for me to translate since it's in calligraphy but Allah is definitely in there.

So, as we would say here, Eid Mubarak (blessed Eid)!

The View from the Top

This photo was taken last week in Dubai.  We have fog from time to time in the mornings since we're on the coast, but above it all, things are absolutely gorgeous.

Beat This Neiman Marcus

by Cindy


If you are looking for that "one of a kind" Christmas gift for your significant other, I have the gift for you!  I checked the 2011 Neiman Marcus catalog and they don't even have this available!


This is definitely the gift that no one else in your neighborhood will receive.  The gift requires very little water or food or much upkeep and actually keeps on giving.  The keeps on giving part might be the downside of the gift actually, because the gift is smelly and snorts and spits a lot but no one else has one, I promise! The gift?  A camel!  It will set you back about $1,000,000 (yep, that's six zeros).


So, to help prepare you for your gift buying, I have a few tips for you:


Lessons with your Camel:

• Hiss to make the camel stand
• Click to make the camel sit
• Call him with a cry of "hay hay oooay"
• If you want him to slow down, pull the rope
• Never confuse your camel with a horse and say, "whoa". This will make him speed up and running without stirrups puts weight on the rider's spine
• Sing to your camel to make it forget its thirst
• Don't beat him. He will remember it for 10 or 12 years and bite you in your sleep

And don't worry, once you buy your camel, you can attend camel boot camp to learn basic knowledge of camels.  As I said, it's a 'one-of-a-kind' gift.

Merry Christmas to Me!

by Cindy

This summer Jeff and I tackled the storage unit we have back in America.  I have a love/hate relationship with the storage unit.  I like to see my 'stuff' that is familiar to me and my 'stuff' allows me, in some weird psychological way, to stay attached and grounded in America. However, it seems ridiculous to pay for storage on stuff that, by the time I get around to using it again, will be ruined or non-usable.  So, this summer we went through it, gave a few things away and shipped a few more things to the UAE. 

When we moved to the UAE, we were not sure what we would want or need so we made the best guess.  Now that we've decided to stay indefinitely, we wanted to have more of our 'stuff''.  We shipped two bikes, a lot of golf stuff, kitchen gadgets and my pots and pans.  I have missed my kitchen gadgets and pots and pans.  I love kitchen gadgets.  Every time I would go into Crate and Barrel here I would get home sick because I would see all of these cool gadgets and think excitedly to myself, "I have something like that..."  Which would immediately be followed by a sad thought "...back in storage in America."  But no more!  I now have all my kitchen gadgets and pots and pans.

More pots and pans than two people need.

Enough space for pots and pans for two people.

The obvious next task will be finding a place for all of these goodies!

The Office

The university where we teach opened a new building for the business school this year.  It's a great space for us with great classroom space, new offices, and great technology.  Here are a few photos of our new space.

Hallway outside classrooms

Jeff's Office

Cindy's Office

Jeff again.

Classroom (40 seats), where both Cindy and I teach.

Student Lounge