Graduation

by Cindy

Our semester finally ended and we had graduation this past week. We graduated the largest class ever, 604 students. We have a beautiful hall for graduation, modeled after Albert Hall in London if you have ever been there. Rumor says that the Sheikh attended a function at Albert Hall and thought the venue was beautiful so he built one for himself. That kind of rumor is not too far fetched over here in the UAE!

The ceremony is as you would expect - a few words from the Chancellor, a student shares a few words and the Sheikh speaks then they call out each student's name. The Sheikh also awards the degrees to all of the graduates. It really is pretty cool. It is like the President awarding the degrees at your university every time there is a graduation.

Here is a picture of the graduating class and of the Sheikh giving his address:

Sand Storms

by Cindy

Even though we left West Texas, we didn't leave sand storms! We had a crazy one this week. Thankfully Jeff and I were at home because it was a mess. I stole some pictures from some friends and from the local newspaper. This is just like West Texas!

From The National, one of our local papers, "The rain and thunderstorms reported were anticipated by a squall line with winds of up to 111kph (68.97 mph)," said the forecaster. "The storm lasted for about an hour and the mean wind speed was around 55kph (34.17 mph)."

My Hero

Hopefully you remember reading about our regular end-of-semester ritual here, the Grade Souk. This is when students drop by after finals to try to negotiate a better grade. [If you missed our original, full-length post about the Grade Souk, check it out last year on December 31].

Anyhow, it's that time of year again, and I thought I would share this photo with you. It's outside my friend Sal's office. Sal is my hero.

The Grand Canyon of Arabia

There are mountains here. I know you don't want to believe me, but it's true. There are real-deal mountains - not just sand dunes. Last weekend, Cindy and I went to Oman to go hiking. We hiked a trail on Jabal Shams ("Mountain of the Sun"). The elevation gain was from 2,000 meters to 3,000 meters [for those of you reading in less-developed, backward countries that haven't migrated to the metric system, that's approximately 6500 feet to 9800 feet]. So this is a legit mountain.

As far as the canyon below the mountain goes, it's approximately 1,500 meters deep and about the same distance across at its widest point. So it's not quite on the same scale as THE grand canyon, but it's still pretty big. Enjoy the photos below.


Cindy makes new friends everywhere.


The Canyon.


Cindy's new ad for The North Face.


An abandoned village at the lower end of the canyon that is a great place to explore.

A Little Scoop of Heaven

by Cindy

I have blogged before that we can find Blue Bell ice cream here. It's a strange world because my friends in San Jose and Washington, D.C. lamented how they could not find Blue Bell in their respective cities. Last night though, I found a treasure - not only Blue Bell but a pint of our favorite kind of Blue Bell.

I had to take a few bites before it made it to the freezer and I had to force myself to tell Jeff it was there or else I would eat it all. That's not nice when it is so hard to come by...

I checked the receipt and I paid 10 AED/$2.72 for the pint. I'm not sure how much they are in America but I'm guessing I didn't pay much of a premium. Not that I care, mind you, it went into the shopping basket without me ever even looking at the price. Some tastes of home are worth the sacrifice!

Saudi Arabia

by Cindy

I always love the game "Two Truths and a Lie." One of my truths is that I lived in Saudi Arabia, although no one ever believes me. I don't know if my desire to live abroad started back when I was a wee kid or not but either way, this is technically not my first experience living abroad. The first one was short lived and I was too young to remember much at all but we did live in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia once upon a time. I love to tell my students because they are always shocked and I can totally see it on their faces. It does give me some "street cred" with them though. We saw this shirt so I thought I would pose for a quick pic.

New Years Eve Special

by Cindy

Happy New Year! I hope it has been good so far. While we didn't have any time off, we did have some friends through town so it was good to catch up with them. We rang in the New Year at a friend's house but Jeff and I are apparently old - we left the party about 12:45 AM only to find out later that the party lasted until 6 AM. Oh well, we enjoyed our sleep.

We had numerous fireworks shows around town and some fun activities, one of which I wanted to share. I know I have shown pictures of the fountains before but now I have some video for you. The fountains had some new songs and water shows, especially for New Years Eve. Watch these, or more importantly listen to them (each one is about 10 seconds). I think you will be quite surprised at the music, I know we were!!

Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'

by Cindy


We were rolling down the highway with His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan Bin Mohammed al Qassimi, Supreme Council Member, Ruler of Sharjah.