Rules of the Game

One of the side-stories of last week's National Championship football game was the attention attracted by Alabama quarterback A.J. McCarron's girlfriend, Katherine Webb.  Miss Webb - a former Miss Alabama - instantly became a top search on the internet and attracted a massive number of followers on Twitter.

Here in the UAE, Twitter has also been lighting up over the presence of women at sporting events.  This time it's over Emirati women attending football (soccer) matches as fans.  While Emirati women have a considerable amount of freedom here inside the UAE - sporting events are still considered pretty much male-only territory.  I'll post a recent article in its entirety from the newspaper, The National, for you to read.  If you would like to visit the newspaper's website, the story is here, with another follow-up piece here. 

Social media erupted with hundreds of comments from Emiratis supporting or criticising as many 25 women who were scheduled to fly to Bahrain on Tuesday to see the UAE's Gulf Cup match with the host country.

Nasreen Ali Darwish, the president of the Women's Committee of the UAE Cycling Federation, approached the Football Association (FA) about Emirati women attending the game, and the FA reserved room for 25 among the six flights departing the country yesterday for the game at Manama on Tuesday night, as well as for 25 chaperones.

The Arabic-language discussion began trending almost immediately, with the hashtag that translates, from a two-word Arabic phrase, to "women supporters of the national team".

"If I had time I would take my kids and go, and if you don't like it, it's not my problem," tweeted the user @nailaalnuaimi.

"If the woman is escorted by her father or brother and will be seated in a family specified area, I see nothing wrong with that."

The user said, "It's personal, as long as there is decency. At the end these women are representing the UAE population."

However, the majority of Twitter users seemed opposed to the idea, which represented a first: UAE women travelling to a national football match outside the country. User: "I'm not against equality, but this is something against our traditions and culture. Don't run blindly behind what you think is 'development'."

One user said, "It is sad to see the UAEFA encourages women to unveil and discard their decency under the flag of supportiveness." User @wafa_als suggested it was silly for women to attend a match. "If she wants to support she can do it from home," she wrote.

@Bnshaheen1 tweeted that it was the fault of the parents and guardians for allowing their daughters, sisters or wives to go to such venues. Agreeing with him was @bomoath75, who feared women at a match would "lose the spirit of modesty and chastity".

The user "I know that we had women present at the stadium back in Gulf Cup 18, but they were in their own country. Who knows what can happen to them if they travel alone to another country?"

User @jumaira_ tweeted that this idea was "foreign and alien to what we are used to and will distort the image of our country".

It's all about Perspective

by Cindy

One of the courses I teach at the university is project management.  I love the end of the semester when students present their projects.  It always amazes me the assumptions they make and the conclusions they draw.  I pick up on numerous cultural differences.  For example:

One project was to open a day care.  Their justification?  Maids are abusing the kids and not taking good care of the kids.  The underlying assumption here is that if you have a child(ren) then you also have a maid.  And some maids do a terrible job.  There's never really even a consideration that you might raise your child(ren) on your own, without a maid.

As for the funding of almost every project?  The UAE government will provide the money through "loans" that do not have to be paid back or the Sheikh donates the money.

During the Q and A time for one project, a student in the audience asked how the proposed day care planned to make money so it could survive.  The answer?  We don't make money each year, we plan the daycare as a "social responsibility need."

Another project was issuing bonuses to their employees.  You were eligible for a bonus based on how long worked with the company (signifying loyalty) not based on how much of the product you sold.  Loyalty is definitely the highest virtue here.

For the same project you got an additional bonus for 1) being married or 2) having kids or 3) working long hours.  It is presumed that those who are married or who have kids can't work long hours.  Those without a spouse or kids should be the ones working more as that's their contribution to society.  Once you get married (everyone does) then you will work to have kids (everyone does) and you are monetarily rewarded for it.

Cliff Notes

As the US careens towards the "fiscal cliff," I thought I would take a brief moment to give you a little insight on how countries in the Middle East balance their budgets.

The countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) - Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates - are all major oil exporters.  And not surprisingly, oil revenues make up a large proportion of their governments' income.

In order for these countries to balance their budgets, they can work through OPEC (the Organization for Petroleum-Exporting Countries) to set the price of oil at a level high enough to balance their budgets.  The list below shows where each of the GCC countries needed to keep the price of oil in 2012 in order to break even on their budgets.

Bahrain  -  $110
Kuwait  -  $60
Oman  -  $90
Qatar  -  $55
Saudi Arabia  -  $85
United Arab Emirates  -  $80

So as you can see, there's no complicated political wrangling in these countries when it comes to putting together a government budget.  The US and the EU countries may have problems ironing out their budgets, but not the countries in the GCC.  The governments here write whatever budget they need or want - then set the price of oil in order to be sure the rest of the world can fund all of their expenditures.  Simple.

[As a final note on all of this, the "shale oil boom" in the US and other countries has the potential to change the shape of global petro-politics, but that won't happen until production increases substantially. And that will take several years.  In the meantime, I would say we should all look for oil prices to remain about where they are now - north of $85 per barrel].

Ask Ali

by Cindy

We have this great resource here that answers all kinds of questions:  Ask Ali.  We mostly see his stuff in the paper but it's common for us to say among our friends, "did you see Ask Ali yesterday, I didn't know that..."  We all enjoy reading the articles and trying to be culturally aware.  If you find that you still have some questions about our life in the UAE, just ask Ali!

Thinking of visiting us and wondering what to wear?  Ask Ali

When we told my in-laws that we were moving to the UAE, my mother-in-law wondered whether there were camel lanes on the road or if everything was in the same lane.  We don't have camels on (or anywhere near!) the road but Ali can tell you about the crazy driving here in the UAE:  Ask Ali

Wondering what a mosque is like?  Ask Ali.

Ali even has his own YouTube videos:  Ask Ali

Still not sure exactly where we live? Ask Ali.

HHSHKMOHD

by Cindy

We recently celebrated the 41st Independence day for the UAE.  It is the equivalent of the 4th of July in America - full pf parades, picnics, fun clothing and the like.  In addition to all of that, I got a cool text from the ruler of Dubai.  I'm wondering how many of you got a text from Obama last 4th of July?!?!?!?!

In English

In Arabic for those who want to try to translate.

One of many reasons to be thankful on Thanksgiving

by Cindy

Jeff and I are fortunate to be able to celebrate multiple Thanksgiving dinners each year.  We always have at least one meal with our friends on campus and one meal with our friends from church.  We do get the usual fixins' of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, etc. but sometimes we get a few extras - depending on the culture of those in attendance.  These pictures are from our dinner with our church small group.

We had a beautiful sunset to start our evening.  The tallest building in the world is on the far left of the Dubai skyline and the Dubai Creek golf course in the foreground.

The crew that celebrated Thanksgiving together (only four Americans).

All the usual stuff plus a little Indian, a little Chinese and Papa Johns.  Is that considered Italian?

And the biggest event of the evening...a wedding proposal!

It's No Secret

One of the more common questions that we get from people in America is, "What's it like going to church over there?"  I think our response usually surprises them.  We say that it's a lot like going to church in America - we have contemporary worship, solid preaching, children's and youth programs, and weekly small group meetings.  There are about 500 people that attend our worship service each week.  If you'd like to look at our church website, it's the Redeemer Church of Dubai.  We're a protestant, non-denominational, evangelical congregation.  There are numerous churches in town - including Baptist, Anglican, Catholic, and Orthodox churches.

What's different or unexpected, you ask?  Well, first of all, we meet on Fridays, not Sundays.  Friday is the Muslim day of worship, so most businesses and offices close on Fridays, so Friday is the most convenient option for us.  Friday is the day that most churches in Muslim countries meet.

Second, some are surprised to hear that we don't have to hide the fact that we're Christians.  Nobody has to meet in secret - it's all perfectly legal.  Our pastor's visa even lists his occupation as "PASTOR".

Thrid, and related to my comment immediately above, another thing that's different or unexpected is that it is common for the Sheikhs, the (Muslim) rulers of each of the seven Emirates that make up the UAE, to provide land for churches.  The original English-speaking evangelical church in the city meets on land donated by Sheikh Mohammed, the Ruler of Dubai (the website is here).  Sheikh Saud, the ruler of Ras al Khaimah, recently donated land for an evangelical church there.  The Quran teaches tolerance for "people of the book" (that is, Jews and Christians), and so there is no real religious tension in the Emirates - certainly less than in the US or in Western Europe.

Foruth, our church is different from what we experienced in the US because it's so international.  The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., once said "it is appalling that the most segregated hour of Christian America is eleven o'clock on Sunday morning."  And it's true.  In America, whites worship with whites, Hispanics with Hispanics, African-Americans with African-Americans, and Asians with Asians.  In Dubai, we have Westerners (Americans, Brits, Aussies, Kiwis, South Africans, Dutch,  Germans), as well as Africans (lots of Kenyans, as well as a few Ethiopians and Tanzanians), south Asians (primarily Indians), as well as the east Asians and southeast Asians (primarily Chinese and Filipinos).  There are more Asians at our church than any other group.  We've got elders from each of these groups as well.

So being in church whenever we spend time in America is always good, but a little different - different day, different people, different world outside.  

Voting

by Cindy

I have to admit, I'm glad the election is over.  I'm ready to read about something different in the news and something different on Facebook.  I'm so quick dismiss the election all together that I have to be careful to not miss being thankful that we even had an election at all.  Living outside America through a major election cycle has been a wonderful reminder to me of the freedoms Americans have that many others do not.  I'm still trying to wrap my head around it all, quite frankly.  Some of the thoughts that are swirling around...

In the same week that America holds the 2012 election, China is being told who their leaders will be.  Their process was summed up well in this article by Bao Pu, "There are no laws -- or even any clear rules -- that govern the selection of leaders, leaving the matter of choosing the top leaders of the most populous nation on earth entirely at the mercy of the Party's forever changing internal logic."

A friend from Africa posted this on Facebook, "Coming from a continent where elections are not always peaceful I have so say the USA is amazing because whether your candidate won or lost your democracy works and people can be gracious in defeat and move on and no one has to resort to guns and violence. This is a very precious thing!"

Or my neighbor who is from Tunisia. They are holding their first elections in June 2013.  It will be her first time to ever vote and she's excited.  She's hopeful that the elections will be fair and honest.  She's worried about who will win.  She's aware that at this point, the process is just as important as the victor.  She watched the American elections closely this year because she longs to see something like that in her home country.

I took a very unscientific poll of my approximately 100 students, asking them if they could vote back in their home country.  About 1/4 to 1/3 of them can vote - India, Egypt, Lebanon, Palestine, Canada and America.  Yes, several of my students are American citizens and a few of them did exercise their right to vote.

As I said, I'm still running this all through my head to draw conclusions but I'll add one more point.  The underlying assumption in all of this is that everyone desires democracy, or the right to vote.  One thought that has been reinforced by living in this part of the world, is that not everyone desires democracy.  There are many people, in various countries, that are perfectly okay with the leaders that are in place, perfectly okay with the fact they don't participate in the process, perfectly okay with the idea of not voting and truly believe that their leaders will always look out for their best interests.  As someone who was educated in America, that is something that is hard to grasp.

In some ways, I think I live the best of both worlds.  I'm thankful for the right to vote and I'm thankful that I live in a country where the rulers are generous and benevolent to those living in the country, even if we had no choice in their leadership.

Name and Shame

by Cindy

Growing up in America with American parents means that Jeff and I grew up in a Guilt/Innocence culture.  It is quite different than the Honor/Shame culture that we have in the UAE.  The worst thing you can do here is shame someone or shame their family name.  To shame someone into doing something is not to "guilt me into it" or "twist my arm" but something totally different.  To shame someone is to insult their name and the name of their family.  While you should never intentionally shame someone, the one thing about shaming is that it works.  And works well.

It all is a bit hard to explain and hard to convey how it permeates everything we do and see but I'll give you two recent examples from our newspaper:

This article talks about the people who have racked up the most traffic fines in the city.  We are talking one person with 12,740 offences which totals to $2.56 M in fees.  The government knows exactly who it is but it would be shameful to put their name or anything about them in the paper.  The paper has simply stated that the person is a VIP.  The other offenders are mentioned by the number of offenses and amount of their fines and specifically, "none of the people has been named."  In addition, they were all said to be "high-profile" and included figures from government institutions."  In America, someone from a government institution who had $2.56M in fines...their name and (a horrible) picture would be plastered across the front page and we would be expecting them to immediately pay up and step down from office.  Here, that would never happen as listing a name in the paper would bring shame to their family and that's simply not acceptable.

With that said, if you really want to push people here, you can 'name and shame' them.  If you take this approach, you had better do it very cautiously   I can't stress this enough.  While I personally support the notion, I was surprised to read this article in the paper where they threatened to 'name and shame.'  Someone was savvy enough to include an intermediate step of only posting a license plate number before actually posting a name.  The fact that no one has had a second offense shows just how bad it would be to bring shame to your name.

Triple Digit Weather

by Cindy

October 27 Update:  I have had to update the number of triple digit days in October - we had another one.

[Note: I have to start this blog with an explanation for our readers who are not familiar with Fahrenheit temperatures. Triple digits refers to anything equal to or greater than 100 F (37 C).]

Being from Texas, we often talk about how hot the summers can get.  After a few years in the UAE, however, a Texas summer is welcome relief from the heat of the UAE.  Lately I've been seeing posts on Facebook about the first snow in Colorado and the cooler, fall weather in parts of Texas.  I'm quite jealous because here in the UAE, it's still hot.  Triple digit hot. And the truth of the matter is that we have crazy humidity during the summer so it feels even hotter.  Here are some of the weather statistics for 2012:

The first day over 100 F was March 29th where we registered 104 F.  We had two days of triple digits in March.

April registered only three days of triple digits.

May registered 27 days of triple digits.  The four that didn't reach triple digits - 98 F, 92 F, 95 F and 96 F.

June registered 26 days of triple digits, the relief came in 98 F, 98 F, 94 F and 96 F.

All 31 days in July, all 31 days in August, and all 30 days in September reached triple digits.  It's October now and we still have triple digits.

I'll help you out and do the math for you:

Total days of Triple Digits:
2 in March
3 in April
27 in May
26 in June
31 in July
31 in Aug
30 Sept
10 in Oct
160  Total days of Triple Digits in 2012 - 43.8% of the year


Consecutive days of Triple Digits:
24 in June (beginning with June 7th)
31 July
31 Aug
30 Sept
9 October
126  Consecutive days of Triple Digits in 2012 - 34% of the year

The hottest day was July 27th at 119 F degrees. Second place is a tie at 117 F on June 22nd and August 5th.

Take 2

Well, here we are again.  Three years later.  In Dubai for our second 1001 nights [on our second three-year contract].

When we left three years ago, we had no idea what to expect.  We were moving halfway around the world to a place we had never even visited.

We've ended up loving it.  We've met people from dozens of different countries - and visited a lot of those countries ourselves.  We've got great jobs, great friends, and a great church.  We have a lot of time to spend with one another, and a lot of time to spend on vacation :).

When we received our contract offer this past year (to renew for another three years), we kind of looked at it, said, "Do we want to do this?", said "Yeah, sure", and that was it.  A day or two later, we were eating dinner and one of us - Cindy, I think - said, "Hey, should we have thought a little longer about that?  I mean it was a huge decision to move over here and we just spent less than 30 seconds deciding to stay."  So we talked, thought, visited with some friends, and tried to make it a hard decision.  But really, it was a slam-dunk.  We feel blessed to be here and we had a hard time thinking of reasons not to stay.

So here we are.  We'll try to get you all a story each week or so over the next year - about life on campus, vacations, the city, people, our church, or whatever comes to mind.  If you have questions, respond to this post on Facebook and let us know what you want us to talk about.  We'll be glad to fill you in.  Thanks for reading.

At DFW about to get on the plane for the next 1001 nights.

House Calls

Car batteries usually only last a year or two here (regardless of how good of a battery you buy).  The heat here is just so intense that batteries wear out quickly.  So Cindy and I were pretty excited when we returned to Sharjah from summer in the US - and found that our car battery still worked. 

Well, after two years of flawless service (and three weeks since we came home from our summer vacation), our car battery died an untimely death this past Friday morning.  We were headed to church, supposed to pick someone up, and were in a little bit of a hurry.  Oh well.  We called a cab, and while we missed our bible study class, we were on time for the service.

So, on Saturday, I needed to get a new battery put in.  A friend at church told me about a guy who makes house calls for such things.  You just ring him up, tell him what kind of car you have and where you're located, and he brings the battery to you.  He replaces it and takes the old one away.  PERFECT!  So I called the 'battery guy' up, and he arrived at my apartment about an hour later.  

You can see that he brought his tools and a buddy.  He's from Bangladesh and has been in the Emirates for about 10 years.  They had this taken care of in about 15 minutes.  Total cost - including battery, delivery, installation, and disposal of the old battery - 680 AED (about $185).  The list price for the battery from the dealership is $187 - and that's if I drive there to have it installed.  There are no "Pep Boys" or "Auto Zone"-type stores here - just the dealerships and then a few small repair places.  So I thought that 680 AED was a pretty good price - especially for a house call.

A Dog's Life

Generally speaking, Muslims don't like dogs.  This is something that a lot of Westerners don't really think about before they move here.  It's not illegal to have a dog in the Emirates, but dogs are always supposed to be on a leash and be muzzled.  [This is good for Cindy and I since we're not really dog people.  But I digress...]. 

Some of the reasons for this were explained in the newspaper this week.  There is a weekly  "Ask Ali" column where people generally write in with cultural questions - and Ali, who is Emirati, provides his insights. 

Ali starts off by mentioning that the general dislike for dogs is not universal and that he even had a dog when he was young.  The average person's attitude towards dogs can be summed up pretty well, though, by noting that people would often say to his father,

 "Do you think your prayers are answered when you keep that dog?"

People would call the dog haram [forbidden].  Ali goes on to mention some of the specific reasons why Muslims do not like dogs. 

[Muslims are]..."afraid that being near a dog will break their ablutions, their Wudu, or bring disease, or that angels will not linger when a dog barks....  [This is] what they have been taught."

Both ablutions and Wudu refer to the ceremonial washing that a Muslim must do before praying.  So essentially, touching a dog would make the Muslim unclean and unable to offer prayers.  Obviously, however, a Muslim could still own a dog, and simply not touch the dog until after praying, and still be ceremonially clean for prayers.

This attitude towards dogs is interesting in light of the fact that the Bedouin who have lived in the deserts of Arabia for centuries have often hunted with Salukis, a particular breed of dog known for its speed (check out the photo of the Salukis racing below).  It's also worth noting that in spite of the general disdain for dogs, it's trendy right now for younger Arab guys to keep Salukis.  It's seen as a way that they're embracing their Bedouin heritage. 

It Pays to Support Your Team

The most popular sport here in the UAE is definitely soccer.  One thing that may surprise you about this is that a lot of fans get paid to go to the matches.  Seriously.

This is how it all started.  Back in the day (like, 10 or 15 years ago), the teams/clubs were primarily owned by families.  And so the team was an extension of the family.  And so just like when a family had you over to their home they would take care of you, when you go to the stadium, the family-owned team feels like they should take care of you.  The going rate for attending a match is about 50 dirhams ($13).  Admission is free.  There are bonuses for cheering, chanting, singing, and clapping.  Drinks and snacks may be included for the most vocal supporters as well.

[disclosure - I had no idea about this until I read about it in the paper today - but I'm definitely intrigued by it all - the full article is here ].

I have thought about checking out some of the local soccer matches just to see what it was like.  Now though, I know I need to be sure I get a fair price for my services.

USA vs UAE

by Cindy

One of the things I was trying to do over the summer months in the USA is keep a mental log of the differences I noticed.  The longer we spend in the UAE, the more normal things become and, in many ways, normal begins to shift to the ways of the UAE instead of the ways of the USA.  Most of the things are subtle and mundane, but part of this blog's purpose is recording the changes and differences.

Some of the differences that I noticed this summer:

• Bread.  Yum.  I had no idea that I missed bread made with yeast but I found that I couldn't get enough when it was served with meals.  Here we mostly have 'flat bread' that's made without yeast.  It's really good but different from what is in America.  I couldn't get enough rolls and biscuits.  Now I can't get enough room in my pants to breathe!
• Water refills.  In the UAE we drink bottled water in restaurants (our tap water is safe to drink but restaurants don't use it) so the unlimited refills of water was a welcome change.  (A side note - water is crazy cheap in the UAE compared to the US.  We pay about $0.33 for a 12 oz bottle of water.)
• Billboards.  We have them but they don't advertise casinos or alcohol and we certainly don't have as many as the US.  Quite frankly, I don't miss them. 
• Gasoline.  We have mentioned before that we have full service in the UAE, it's cheap and the price is fixed for the whole country.  I don't miss having to look around for the cheapest gas.  I certainly don't miss pumping my own gas!
• Plastic cups.  No restaurant here gives away plastic cups.  I miss the convenience of plastic cups.  It's hard to take a drink with you in the car when all you have is glass.  And, milkshakes are hard to make in an ice tea glass!  I meant to snag some plastic from my brother's house but I forgot.  :)
• Cold water.  Weird, I know.  What I noticed in the US was that cold water out of the tap is actually cold.  In the UAE, everything is so hot that you can't get the water cold enough.  When you want a cold shower in the middle of the summer, you often get a warm shower which isn't quite as refreshing.  Jeff can even tell you what golf courses actually cool their water so there is a cold shower.  Those are the courses they prefer to play in the hot weather.
• Swimsuits in public.  Don't miss this one!  I was shocked at how many people wear their swim suit in public, particularly to the grocery store.  Really? 
• Wallets and check books.  For all intents and purposes, we don't have checks in the UAE.  That also means that our wallets don't have places for a check book.  I wrote a few checks this summer and each time I found myself double checking my work to make sure I had filled it our correctly.  Another funny side note is that if you buy a wallet here in the UAE (which was probably made in Europe) it won't hold US dollars!  They are too big for the wallet.  Ask Jeff, he knows.

Home Again - Part 2

by Cindy

When we spend three months away from home we have to plan ahead a bit.  It drives Jeff crazy but I start cleaning out the kitchen about six weeks before we leave.  You know, I start pushing to eat that can of X that I bought on a whim and then never used.  Or I start thinking about finishing off Y out of the freezer that's been there for months.

I suppose the upside is that everything, and I mean everything, gets cleaned out once a year. [Are you reading this mother???].  Ideally we clean the whole kitchen out and then only have to eat out for the last couple of meals before we head off on summer holiday/vacation.

Of course, upon our return, we have to make a major trip to the store to restock our kitchen.  Jeff was gracious enough to do a majority of the restocking this year.  Here is a picture of the goodies we purchased the first day back.  I'm guessing we got about 90% of what we need and we'll be back to the store again in a few days to get the other odds and ends.  And for those of you who know us well, you can find all of the cereal boxes on the right hand side.  I think we have seven or eight different kinds.

For those of you who are curious, we spent 844 dirhams at Carrefour and 636 dirhams at Spinney's.  That's about $403 to get re-stocked. 

Home Again - Part 1

Most people are shocked to hear that we get three months of vacation each year.  If they can suppress their jealousy, they start to ask questions like, "What's it like being gone for three months?"  Or they say, "I can't imagine what it would be like to be gone from home for so long..." 

It was a little hard for us to imagine the first time, but after three summers of three months off, we're getting used to it.  To show you a little of what it's like, the next few posts will be about the kind of things that we came home to.

Exhibit 1:  Our Car.  It's a 2009 Volvo S80.  It's dark gray - not that you can tell that from this picture.  Here is what it looks like after we get back.  You can see that I've wiped off the windows so that it's drivable, but a substantial coat of fine sand covers the car.  We have covered parking outside our villa, but not a garage, so this is one of the things that we come home to.

We were fortunate that we didn't need a new battery after letting the car sit for three months in the heat.  During the summer, the low temperatures are about 90F and the highs are between 110 and 120F.  So it's pretty common to come back to a dead battery.  It's rare for anyone to have a battery last two years (regardless of the quality of the battery).

Also, if one of your tires happens to lose air - and then sits flat for three months - you're going to need a new tire.  Tires here usually only last 3 years (regardless of the warrantied mileage) because of the heat.

Here's a neighbor's car - just so you can see what one looks like untouched for three months.  On the positive side, the sand that you see coating the car doesn't scratch the paint.  This may sound strange (especially to our readers from West Texas), but it's true.  The sand wipes off easily and does not scratch the paint.  I've been told that the sand doesn't scratch because the chemical composition of the sand here makes the grains of sand round - while the chemical composition of the dirt in West Texas makes the grains more like tiny cubes (with relatively sharp edges)  [disclaimer:  this is what I've been told, but I am not a geologist and have no idea if this is true - if you're reading this and you are a geologist, let us know if this is right].

OK - so there's our first example of something we come home to [after three months].  More to come later in the week and early next week.

Texas

by Cindy

Jeff and I are proud Texans, no doubt about it.  We were both born, and for all intents and purposes, raised in Texas.  There are some things that are decidedly Texan and/or Southern that you forget about until you happen upon them.

Summer grilling.  Ribs and corn in this case.  In the UAE they call it BBQ.  In Texas, BBQ is a food and grilling or cooking out is a method of food preparation.

Drinking from a mason jar.

The Ladies restroom/toilet/bathroom/loo/(insert your appropriate term here)

A Texas size taco!  Everything is bigger in Texas!

Where else do you find dish towels talking about how great your state is?

This one surprised me a bit - a Texas plate that supports Obama and we saw it in George Bush's neighborhood in Dallas.

Our summer thus far

by Cindy

I arrived in Dallas on June 6th and have been busy with my nieces since then.  I'm learning about Elmo, dolls and poop.  I have had more conversations about bowel movements than I care to discuss.  Such is life with a 2 1/2 year old, I guess.  Here are some pics of our summer adventures thus far:

Hollis Kate Vowell was born on Jun 18, 2012.

Aunt Cindy and Uncle Jeff with the girls.

Daddy.

Big sister Reagan and baby sister Hollis.

Baby Hollis around three weeks.

Our cool float that my brother and I made for the 4th of July parade.  We pulled it with a golf cart. 

My multi-national niece - I brought her a Jamilla doll and her great aunt brought her a doll from China. 

Going for an afternoon walk around the block.

Going to school - it's just a few blocks away so she rides her tricycle and we take the dog.

I brought two bobble heads for my niece.  We call them Fatima and Mohammed and they show up in the most random places...

Our Summer Home by the Lake

Cindy and I have a new summer place in Dallas.  Cindy's brother finished out his garage apartment for us to spend the summer - and it's fantastic!  It's about a five-minute bike ride to White Rock Lake, which has some nice hike-and-bike trails.  Plus, it's close to a lot of great restaurants, museums, other great stuff to do in the city.  We love our new place (as well as being close to family).  Here are a few photos of our new place.

The Living Area - featuring Brazilian street art
as well as Picasso's Guernica [not the real one, though]. 
We're thinking that maybe we'll get another chair for this space...

The kitchen, with the door to the balcony (and the living area in the background). 
Did I mention we're thrilled to have hardwood floors
after nothing but tile and marble in Dubai? 

The exterior, showing our stairs and balcony. 
It's a little bit like living in a tree house.

The bedroom.