Wild Times in the Middle East

Many of you in the States have expressed some concern about my safety here in Abu Dhabi with all the unrest in the Middle East right now. There is nothing to worry about. The UAE is very stable and very safe. Cairo, where protests brought down Hosni Mubarak who ruled for over 30 years, is 1000 miles away and in the opposite corner of the Arabian Peninsula. After Tunisia fell the citizens of Egypt came together and through peaceful protest changed their government. Talk about a step towards democracy? Wow. It was a very momentous few weeks or so to watch on television here, especially seeing so much of it live. I felt a slight connection to what was going on there because I had been there only 18 months ago on a trip.
There are of course other countries in this region going through their own protests and potential changes. Some a little more violent than others, Libya for example. It is so violent there because Moammar Gadhafi is fighting back with his military actually using fighter jets on unarmed protesters. He is not longed for office after 41 years. No big loss or at least that's what most people think.
Change can be good or at least that's what most people think, as do I, but in the end no one knows what they're getting into when they push someone out of office.
So what are we keeping our eyes on now. We see Bahrain just up the coast on this side of the gulf dealing with organized mostly peaceful protests. The other thing to understand is that most of the protesting going on is peaceful and only turns violent when the government starts the violence with the military or the police. Then it can get ugly like in Libya. Manama, Bahrain is experiencing peaceful, scheduled protests mostly because the government has opened the door to discussions with protesters and their representatives.
Jordan is seeing scheduled organized protesters on Friday afternoons after prayer time. Up to about 10,000 people or so. The King of Jordan dismissed his the Prime Minister weeks ago as Cairo erupted, simply to head off some issues. Protests will continue until changes are made in Jordan.
Things are quiet here in the UAE. It seems there was activity in Muscat, Oman which borders us to the east and some protesters were killed by some rubber bullets. A significant factor in these uprisings is the unemployment rate, especially among the young and educated. There are no jobs for them at home and they want to contribute to their country and its success. So after being denied for years they are speaking out against dictators that have been running and plundering their countries for years and in some cases decades.
Jordan has a high unemployment rate, the UAE is relatively low for Emirates and any ex-pats (workers from other countries) that are unhappy are simply allowed to go home. Another thing we see happening is the governments and leaders over some countries are coming up with payments for their citizens, such as Kuwait giving the equivalent of $3500 to every man, woman and child in the country based on oil revenues. I guess if we keep driving those big SUV's they'll keep getting checks. I also know that over 1000 families in Sharjah, one of the 7 Emirates, received free homes courtesy of the Sheikh there. I don't live in Sharjah so I didn't get one.
So where does that leave me and the rest of us here in the UAE. I think pretty safe and secure in the idea that NYUAD will continue to grow and build a new campus on Saadiyat Island and I expect to be here for that. There is no unrest here, very little unhappiness so no protests.
On Wednesday I fly through Bahrain to Jordan as one of the group leaders for 21 NYUAD students who we're taking to run the Dead Sea to Red Sea 150 mile relay. 2 10 person teams and one cyclist who will be on a 3 person team. We'll also take about 6 staff and a few other students as support to drive vehicles and be student trainers. The students we're taking represent 13 countries. The cool part is we'll start at the Dead Sea with a little swim and then finish at the Red Sea. In between we'll run and drive all night. Then we'll head to Petra in Jordan, an ancient city started by the Bedouins in the cliffs and caves. A rather unique experience that I look forward to writing about when I get back.

I need to write about two visits I had recently, yes people do want to come visit me, or at least Abu Dhabi. I even have pictures to share.

QOB - "Unstrange a stranger". It comes from my friend Kathleen who was here in November. I think she got it off a Life is Good calendar. I like it and hope to "unstrange a stranger" in Jordan.

Sports

Oh, come on read the blog despite the title and whether or not you like sports, it's about life in Abu Dhabi. Or at least the last two weeks and the life of an Associate Athletic Director in Abu Dhabi.

On Tuesday nights the Yas Island Formula One racing track allows runners and cyclists on it to run and bike and sometimes do both if you're a triathlete. So we've had some students and staff going out to participate, it's a treat for riders because they get to ride at pretty good speeds without worrying about traffic or any other hazards they might encounter on the highways and byways of Abu Dhabi. It's a treat for runners for the same reasons and plus we get to avoid having to step up and down on the extra high curbs.

We entered 3 teams in the two different triathlon events, the olympic distance and the sprint distance. We had 9 students signed up, but due to a late scratch because of illness we ended up with 8 students and one middle-aged AD participating on January 14th. We had students from Russia, Australia, Chile, Ecuador and the US participating. Everyone had a great time competing with the other 600 athletes and even just being around the other athletes.

One of our teams (not the one I was on) finished 2nd out of 21 teams and ended up on the medal stand. Our other olympic distance team was 13th in that race and our 3rd team was 9th of 13 teams in the sprint distance event. I only had to run a 10k with the 13th place olympic distance team. Here's a picture of us after we finished swimming, biking and running.

January 20th found me and my boss out at the Abu Dhabi National Golf Club for the HSBC Tournament which was being contested by 6 of the top 10 golfers in the world. Mostly from the European Tour, but including Phil Mickleson from the US, although his big nemesis Tiger Woods is absent.

We watched some great golfers make some fabulous shots and that was only the first day of the tournament. I'm heading back tomorrow to watch a little more.

Finally, this morning I headed down to Dubai at about 5:00am with two co-workers. One was running the 10k taking place and I was going down to watch the Dubai Marathon which offered a purse of $250,000 US to the winner. I'm pretty sure that makes it the highest 1st place prize money at any marathon in the world. The men's winner crossed the finish line in 2:07:20 and the women's winner was finished in 2:22:00 The winner's are in there somewhere. They're both in the picture on the left can you spot them?

On the right is a picture that certainly may leave you rubbing your eyes. Yes, that is a group of Arab men playing the bagpipes.
All I can say is that yet again it's something I never contemplated seeing in my lifetime, but there they were today at the marathon.

By the way it rained today pretty much all day. That's a first.

QOB: "Don't stand between me and my dreams, there's not enough room for you anyway." Courtesy of my youngest daughter Sarah, who is studying to be an actress.

I know those of you in Michigan and Massachusetts are dealing with some tough winter weather. I wish I could be there to help you shovel.

Stay warm,

Wayne

Another point of view

I thought I'd save you from reading the junk I write and let you read something from a professional, if you're interested.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/27/arts/design/27museums.html?_r=1&emc=eta1

QOB: "Worse than not realizing the dreams of your youth, would be to have been young and never dreamed at all." Jean Genet

Maybe if you know a young person you can help them have dreams.

Stay warm,
Wayne

How I spent my Christmas vacation

This is a shot of Sarah welcoming me home to Boston or at least the Boston Common.

As I said I headed "home" to Massachusetts. I was born and raised there and have spent 1/2 my life living there. So although the last 17 years were spent in MI, I now call MA home again especially since our home has sold in MI.

Got off my flight to cold weather and a smiling 18 yr old. Sarah and I were pretty excited to see each other after almost 6 months of only skyping. She was actually more excited to see me (I don't want Rachael and Courtney to get jealous). While home I was able to see family to include my brother Tom and his wife Judy in N. Andover. Their home is a showplace for Christmas decorations and Judy showed Sarah and I her 12 themed Christmas trees.

While in MA, I stayed with Mr. Charlie Markey. He is a friend and mentor of 35 years and lives alone in the house he raised his family in so has extra space and doesn't mind having me or the girls around when we're in town. Fortunately for both of us it snowed the day after Christmas so I got to help him shovel the 15" of snow that was dropped on us. I was happy to help although I thought I gave up shoveling when I left MI. Of course when an 84 yr old says he's going out to shovel you better follow and help.

Charlie and his wife Pat kind of adopted me long ago when I dated one of their daughters and I've become a member of the family over the years, essentially like the son they never had. At least they've made me feel that way. They've also treated my girls like their own grandchildren. So here's a shot of us after shoveling. Charlie is the good looking guy on the right.

Christmas Eve was spent at his youngest daughter Susan's home with her husband, David, their kids Dylan and Danielle and David's parents. Sarah came with me and Susan snapped a few photo's there. Susan is the youngest sister of Kathleen who was here to visit in November and also the sister of Mary who is the person Sarah lives with in MA. They are all sisters of Patti who I dated oh so many years ago.

Christmas Day was spent at brother Scott's house eating homemade lasagna (those Young boys can cook). Scott decided since he looked so much heavier than me for this photo that he'd stand on his toes so he could at least look taller. I don't know why we didn't get a picture with his family too. He's not that tall and I'm starting to realize he is developing the same hairline as me, albeit it 20 yrs later than me.

Sarah and I stopped to see Sarah's Aunt Mary and her husband Mark Mayall (my friends too) and we had lunch with them. I did mention this vacation was about family, friends and food right?

Movie Break: On my 15 hr flight to Chicago I watched 4 movies, saw 4 while I was home and watched 3 more coming back here. Of the current movies out that I saw, I would recommend; "The Fighter", "True Grit" and "Harry Potter". I would not recommend "Black Swan" unless you simply want to see some great acting by Natalie Portman, otherwise it was just plain weird and do not go see it with your kids unless you want to squirm in your seat during some scenes.

Now back to food, family and friends. We also stopped in to see my good friend Adam Poirier and his family, Joanne, Nicole and Luke. Adam is like the 6th Young brother. We broke bread with them too, Italian food of course which we love. We know where to go for good food and good company.

December 31st saw us in Boston to preview the First Night Celebration plans and see some of the ice sculptures along with watching people. Temperatures got up to about 50F so it was a great day to walk around the city or as much as my little gang of teenagers could take before they wanted to head home for preparations for New Years Eve parties.

Ice Scultpures were fantastic and here's a sample that was on the Boston Common. The Common and Public Gardens were already crowded with people in the early afternoon, skating, listening to live music, enjoying the sights and sounds, making snowmen and having snowball fights.

Sunday the 2nd found us back at Scott's home for home made pizza (that Young boy can sure cook) along with Tom, Judy and Andrew (their son) and Patti (Scott's wife) and kids Dylan, Madison and Cooper (whom I beat soundly on the Microsft Kinect boxing game). During the pizza fest we did what all good American families do, watch the Patriot's beat up another NFL team.

Monday, January 3rd had me flying back to Abu Dhabi and shedding my cold weather gear.

To recap I got to see family, old friends, new friends, eat some great food, mostly Italian and seafood and sometimes they were combined like the lobster pasta I had in the North End. It sounds like a normal Christmas season to me. Sarah and I did some shopping and she took me to her favorite muffin shop on the way to the airport, The Gingerbread Man in Wakefield, MA.

This final photo sums up what's it's like to spend 10 days with Sarah. She's not quite touching me, but just close enough to annoy me.

It doesn't matter, I love her and her sisters. Rachael went to England for Christmas and Courtney stayed in Hawaii.

QOB: This comes from a young man who quit his job as an engineer in NYC when he realized he wasn't experiencing life as he wanted to. So he left work sold everything and walked across the country and it has stuck with me..."What's the point of living the majority of your life preparing for the last little bit?"

I know it's an easy philosphy for a young person with little responsibility, but it sure resonates with me. How are you living? You know, there are no guarantees in life.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

I have updated the blog with all the latest goings on here in Abu Dhabi. I'm heading home to Massachusetts to spend time with daughter #3, Sarah, and some family and friends. I will leave you with these thoughts though. Despite what you might think Christmas is celebrated here. The malls have been decked out with all the usual Christmas stuff, the Christmas carols have been piped into my apartment buildings sound system for weeks now, there's a tree up in the lobby and there might even be a present under the tree down there for me, there's just no snow or cold weather.

Here's a link to a Chinese artist that has some interesting items to view. He has helpers paint him into scenes all over China and then has a picture taken of him. It's really very cool. As the artist he just stands there, while others paint him to match the background then someone else takes the picture of him.
www.ekfineart.com/html/artistresults.asp?artist=82&testing=true.

The only quote I have for you is one often repeated especially at this time of year.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your family.

Stay warm..............Now where did I put that darn winter coat?

Rugby 7's

I don't think I've ever been to a more exciting, fun, crazy and entertaining sporting event in my life. In the middle of the desert near Dubai a stadium that holds about 40,000 people was built to host the Rugby 7's and people came. And they come every year and bring friends.

Rugby is normally played with 15 players from each team, but in this version it's 7 member teams on the same size field. So picture American Football with about 5 guys on the same size field running and tackling. There are very few scrums in 7's so you really don't see the guys piling on each other. It's pretty much constant action except for the 3 minute break at halftime.

The games are only 14 minutes long and continue non-stop from Thursday - Saturday. Many of the games are between club teams from different countries that have entered the tourney, both womens and mens teams. The main attraction begins on Friday when the national teams representing 16 countries compete in the pool play.

Australia, France, US, England, Kenya, South Africa, Russia, Samoa, Fiji, Scotland, Portugal, New Zealand, Zimbabwe and more. They play like crazy, run wild, tackle and score. I had never been to a rubgy match before, but we have it on our calendar already to go back next year. Much to our surprise when we showed up they were actually selling alcohol at the stadium. You could buy a 12 pack of Heineken and take it right into the stands. Of course I didn't do that (my kids are reading this), but some of the guys I was with might have done it.

Then you get the social aspect of people dressing up for the occasion in bizarre costumes that have nothing to do with matches or costumes that show their national pride. For instance these folks in their Union Jack outfits with the fake belly's.

Or these folks in their Pirate costumes (click on the picture it should open up larger)

Or the Purple crayon people.

I think these guys got sidetracked from their Mardi Gras parade. For all their NFL gear and the guy in the robe actually had a Paul Pierce Boston Celtic jersey on, they weren't even American, they were from Australia.

So if you have non-stop on the field entertainment, all these partying types, beer and wine along with food available in the stands and weather consisting of sunshine and 75 - 80 degrees you get a great sporting event.

And to revisit a classic photo: This is how you end your day.

QOB: "The man who follows the crowd will usually get no further than the crowd. The man who walks alone is likely to find himself in places no one has ever been." Alan Ashley-Pitt

Where are you walking today?

Vacation Over

Wayne and Kathleen at the top of Jebel Hafeet.

I couldn't find these pictures when I did that blog so I wanted to get them in here.

Kathleen and Fiona's vacation came to an end, but on Thursday, December 2nd perhaps the biggest holiday of the year came blowing into Abu Dhabi and all over the U.A.E. NATIONAL DAY!!!!!

What a crazy day that is. As I've said, for those paying attention the U.A.E. was born in 1971 so to celebrate their birthday each year and the national pride they have they go all out. Cars are decorated, buildings are decorated, silly string is sold by the case, cans of spray snow are sold and then the incredibly proud citizens of the UAE hit the streets and it's a rolling (okay stop and go) party.

Cars filled with families or kids or teenagers or young adults drive around festooned with the countries colors of black, green, red and white in any way they can. They also have pictures painted on them of the ruling family or Sheikh Zayed, Our Father. Or they'll have stuffed animals stuck to the cars. In the cars are people with as much silly string as they can find to spray on other cars or passersby or anyone they can find. They also have that fake snow you spray on your windows to make it look wintery.

It was just a wild celebration of people cruising, having fun and interacting. Most, if not all, alcohol free. It went on for hours on Thursday night. The whole week led up to that one night and once people hit the streets it was sheer gridlock.

The lights on the buildings go for 20 - 30 stories so you folks there in Battle Creek with the Festival of Lights, that's nothing compared to these photo's. There are thousands of lighted displays on road medians throughout the city and all the Emirates along with all the rotary's and fountains at them. It really is quite a display of national pride. Easily rivals what I've seen at July 4th in the states if not topping it.

There were fireworks off near Emirates Palace that were visible from a long way away. Of course there were thousands upon thousands of people along the beach and on all the main roads to watch the parade of cars going back and forth and everyone was spraying their silly string, I didn't have any so felt a little left out.

So December 2nd is a big celebration here and it's interesting to watch because there are many people that live here that were around 39 years ago when this was all mud huts with dirt paths. They must be blown away by where they live now. There weren't any cars here until the mid 80's.

The celebration and fun certainly seem heartfelt even if many of the celebrants are from other countries, they call this home now so have adopted some of the silly (pun intended)customs.

QOB: "The best things you can give children, next to good habits, are good memories." Sydney Harris, journalist, author of Winners and Losers."