New Digs

This summer, Cindy and I, along with the other faculty members at the business school will move into a new building on campus.  The new business building will be a nice upgrade in terms of technology, classroom space, furnishings, etc.  We're excited to move in.  Here are a few pictures of the new building.  

Exterior (during construction)

Interior Hallway of Office Area

Faculty Office - When the building is finished, the glass "wall" at the front of the office will be frosted so we have a little privacy.

This is one of the new classrooms - the tables aren't in yet, but you can still see that we've got auditorium-style seating and nice technology in the rooms

This is one of the three atriums in the building.  Each one is three stories tall and has the dome on top.

Magnets

by Cindy

For those of you that have known me for a long time or have ever been into a house of mine, you know that I am one who loves order and prefer the minimalist style.  Less is more.  As such, I have never been one for "stuff" on the refrigerator.  No reminders of dentist or eye appointments, no soccer schedules, no freebie magnets from the local pizza delivery joint.  Nothing.  Nada.  Zip.  I like a clean refrigerator.

This Christmas many of you were kind enough to send us your Christmas cards. It was so nice to receive cards and pictures of people half a world away and be reminded of the season.  It was special to us to be included on people's mailing lists.  When the pictures and cards arrived, I placed them all over our house so we could be reminded that it was Christmas and be reminded of our friends.  When it came time to put away the tree and decorations, I could not yet part with all of the cards and pictures.  (That in itself says something because I am not one to keep things around.)  After moving the pile of cards around from place to place in the house I finally decided that I needed to make a decision on what to do with them.  I know it sounds ridiculous but it took me about two weeks to convince myself that it was okay to 1) keep everything and 2) put the pictures on the refrigerator.  

Little did I know that making the decision was only half the battle.  Since I had never had refrigerator magnets before, I was not even sure where to find them.  On top of that, add that I live in a foreign country and things are not always where you expect them to be in the store (that can be another blog for another time).  I looked around in a few stores to no avail so I finally sent out an email to my local friends asking where I might find some magnets.  I appreciated their feedback but there was no way I was going to get the "tourist" magnets that show pictures of the buildings here in the city, palm trees, beaches, etc.  It is a big enough deal for me to do this in the first place, I can't give in completely!  Thankfully one of the suggestions was an art store that Jeff and I really like.  Sure enough, they had some tasteful magnets for me.  

It is ridiculous, I know. I'm willing to take baby steps to get over myself.  Here are my cute magnets and some of the pictures we now see each and every day. 

If you are not part of our collection, we would love to add you.  Let me know and I will send you our address!

My First Wedding - Part III

by Cindy

I think I mentioned in my first post that the wedding invitation said the party started at 8:30 but my students told me to arrive around 10 or 10:30.  Well, we were at an event prior to the wedding and didn't make it to the wedding until 11:00.  Today one of Jeff's former students saw him in the hall and said, "I saw your wife at Fatima's wedding.  She was late."

Oops.

My First Wedding - Part II

by Cindy

I had a great time at the wedding!  It was a crazy evening because before the wedding we joined some other friends at a culinary fund raising event.  There we were working in the kitchen preparing the evening's meal and wearing hairnets.  After dinner I exchanged the hairnet for an evening gown and headed to the wedding.

The wedding was in a ballroom at the Atlantis hotel and beyond that I wasn't exactly sure.  The hotel is huge with three large buildings on the property.  I really had nothing to worry about - these were the road signs leading us the right building. 

We arrived at the wedding about 11 PM and the bride arrived shortly afterward.  The event had about 750 attendees, all women, of all ages.  We were seated at tables and you could get up and walk around all you wanted.  It was a cross between a dinner reception following a wedding and a Holiday or Charity Ball.  The feel of the event was joyous like a wedding but the dresses and jewelry were more like what you find at a charity ball in America.  If this had been in America and men were there, it would have been called a "black tie" affair.  The food was served buffet style after the bride arrived (about 11:30 PM) and was a mix of everything.  Servers were bringing around juices, cokes and tea for drinks. 

Along with the tables, the hall was set up with a long aisle for the bride to enter the hall and a stage for the bride to greet the attendees.  The long aisle was lined with small white couches that family members sat on to greet and receive guests as they arrived to the party.  The stage had a huge couch on it and the bride spent the evening on the couch.  The guests took turns going up to congratulate the bride and get professional pictures with her. The below picture is taken from a corner of the room, facing the stage.  The white wall was the background for the stage and the brides throne for the evening.  Notice the camera boom in the picture!  Along with professional photography, they were filming the whole event.

There were a few students from the university and they checked up on us regularly, made sure we had eaten dinner and that everything was okay and we were having a nice time.  One student stuck with us the whole night, filling us in with details, and eventually escorted us to congratulate the bride.  We posed for some pictures with her and then were escorted to one of the couches lining the dance floor to watch everyone.

Once the ladies finished dinner, they would go with their group of friends to pose for pictures with the bride and then the university age and younger ladies made their way to the dance floor.  About 1 AM they announced that the men were on their way so the ladies gathered their abayas from the coat check and put on their shaylas.  Some ladies had remained in the abaya all evening but most women needed to cover up before the men arrived.  My friend Chris and I both commented that until the abayas and shaylas came out, you would have thought you were in America at a big party but once all of the women covered, you were quickly reminded that you were somewhere else.  One thing to note is that the bride covered as well.  She had a white shayla and a jacket, of sorts, that she used to cover her shoulders.

When the men arrived, they walked down the aisle to greet the bride.  The fathers flanked the groom and the three led the party of about 15 men, all of whom I presume to be close family.  They all posed for pictures with the bride.  The scene was not much different than after an American wedding where everyone poses with the new couple.  There was no ceremony really just pageantry.  At some point they became symbolically married and the bride removed her shayla and her jacket; thus symbolizing that she is now a part of the family and no longer has to remain covered around them.

There was a part of the pageantry where the father (I think) of the bride or groom waved a bunch of money over the couple - I assume symbolizing a blessing - and then threw the money in the air.  All of the kids came running to collect the money and it reminded me of kids on an Easter egg hunt.

After this pretty much everyone found a seat and the cake was brought out.  It was seven layers and about five feet tall.  I'm not sure if it was for decoration or to eat but it was HUGE!  At this point many people had left or were leaving, ourselves included, so I'm not sure what happened next.  The student who spent the evening with us explained that the bride and groom would each take a bite of the cake but she wasn't sure what would happen after that.  It was well after 1:30 AM at this point and while we had an AMAZING time, we were ready for bed.  The student escorted us out and took a quick picture of us before we left. 

It really was a very fun evening and I was quite honored that I had been invited.  I am sure you would like to see more pictures but that would be totally inappropriate in this culture. 

You should know that my students were right, I saw all kinds of amazing gowns and jewelry.  I am sure they spent HOURS on their hair and makeup.  As a Westerner we did get stared out quite a bit but i think it helped that the students came to check on us regularly.  It was a spectacular event and I felt privileged to attend.

The Empty Quarter

by Cindy


Jeff and I had a quick get-a-way this weekend to the Empty Quarter.  I had really wanted to see it and we needed to make the trip before it gets too hot.  It is about a three hour drive from our house so we set out after church on Friday and spent all day Saturday at the resort.  If you are not familiar with the Empty Quarter, Wikipedia defines it this way, "The Rub' al Khali (Arabic: الربع الخالي‎) or Empty Quarter is one of the largest sand deserts in the world, encompassing most of the southern third of the Arabian Peninsula, including southern Saudi Arabia, and areas of Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen. The desert covers some 650,000 square kilometers (250,000 sq mi), more than the combined land areas of the Netherlands, Belgium, and France."


We had a nice time climbing sand dunes and looking as far as the eye can see - in all directions - at sand.  It really is quite beautiful.  The sand is very fine and soft and it brushes right off.  For our readership in West Texas, the sand here is NOTHING like the dirt in West Texas.  Running up and down the dunes is a lot like playing in snow when there is a lot of fresh powder.