First pictures from UAE

We have spent the first few days in the UAE relaxing. Good food, games, some TV, some reading. A nice way to chill out. Rachel is getting a bit stir-crazy, though. She can only take so much of this.

But the best way to please her is through food, and she has gotten some yummy stuff. Here is lunch yesterday (minus the grilled chicken and lamb, which came later):



We've enjoyed the humus and bread, and there is also a lot of Indian food available here. It will be good eatin' for another week!

We stopped at a park yesterday. This town is quite un-desert like, based on the amount of greenspace we have seen. Lots of irrigation, obviously. Palms, grass, fountains...it is a nice scene to enjoy the sunshine in!



Next to the park is an old fort. There are a good number of these around town.





We tried to get in, but it was closed for the afternoon. Oh well. It looked the same inside as out (we peeked in through the back door!).

For today, we will try to make some more concrete plans about what activities we want to do in the next week. And enjoy the sun :)

-alan

We're here!

We just want to report that we are safe and sound in the UAE. All of our flights were uneventful except for the fact we road the Oakland Raiders plane from KL to Abu Dhabi. I was hoping that they might have a mini field on board for us to practice our football skills, but alas it was just a very normal plane. We slept the bulk of that flight anyway...

Before I describe the amazing place we are staying, I will highlight some of the fun parts of our journey.

Our flight from Chengdu to KL was full of people we knew, so it felt somewhat like a school trip. Middle school boys were playing games and walking up and down the aisles. I to do everything in my power to suppress the teacher in me from telling them to SIT DOWN! On that flight I did not sleep AT ALL and had fun playing Catan on Alan's new ipod touch. I unfortunately lost but it was fun. We also managed to play some card games as well. The TV shows and movies were not free on our flight so we didn't spend the whole time staring blankly at a glowing screen.

In KL we checked in for our next flight without too much worry and found some food. I don't know if it was too close to closing or what but they gave us a ridiculous amount of Malaysian food and only charged us half price. It was yummy and I definitely loved saving some money.

During the bulk of our flight to Abu Dhabi the lights were all out in the cabin. We tossed and turned in our seats, but still got a lot of rest. At one point in the flight I woke up and peered out the window. There were so many stars! It was so beautiful and the big dipper was right out the window. Also there must have been no clouds, because I could see city lights below. Everything was all twinkly.

Our hosts graciously picked us up at the airport at about 2:15 am and then we arrived at their home at 4:30am. We slept in today until about 8:30. The place we are staying is....a mansion! It is so big and our room is really really nice with a bathroom inside. We will post pictures later, but wow. All the floors are hard stone and there is a great staircase in the entrance to the house with a stained glass skylight on top. We got to eat yummy bagels and cream cheese for breakfast along with a lot of other yummy things.

We waked around the yard today (it is all within tall walls, but all houses we've seen so far have also had them). We discovered a basketball hoop and ball so we shot a little. We weren't very good so I think we are just going to stick with watching NU to see how it is really done.

I think this vacation is going to be great!

-rachel

On the Road Again!

In a few minutes, we will climb into a van and head to the airport, where two long-ish flights will take us to the Abu Dhabi airport. Some Americans will be there to meet us, even though we arrive at 1:30am!

We will (hopefully) post pictures and updates during our trip, internet permitting.

-alan

Happy New Year! (almost)

春节快乐！

Today was our school's annual Spring Festival (aka Chinese New Year) Celebration! It was a very fun event, with many opportunities for staff and students to showcase their talent.

If there was a theme, it was animals. Our school mascot was well-represented, first by the kindergarten:



And then with frequent visits by some pandas with alien-sized heads:



There were a variety of China-related songs and dances, including this group of Chinese teachers who performed a customary dance of the Yi people (a minority group south of year):



But one of the highlights (no offense, but their were some other acts with more impressive talent!) was the annual parody dance-along, this year set to the song, "Eye of the Tiger." Rachel is second from the left (sorry for the bad camera angle. She did not tell me which side of the stage she would be on!)

So without further ado, I present:
"Year of the Tiger"




[I was also part of the show - I helped sing a simple Chinese Year Song, that is somewhat analogous to "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." But I was nothing compared to the dancing tigers!]

-alan

LOST Oddities?

The last season (boy, I hope it really is the last!) of Lost began this week, and we invited some friends to come and watch it with us this week. And if you have ever seen that show, the strangeness surrounding our viewing seems to fit.

First, the plug to our heating unit sparked and partially melted, leaving us in the cold. (we have since had it fixed!) So, we plugged in some space heaters and were ok. After a few minutes, the TV shut off. We tripped the circuit breaker. We started it again. And tripped it again. So we did away with the space heaters, and did not have further problems.

Then there is a mysterious knock on the door. No one EVER knocks on our door unannounced. When you live on the 5th floor, people do not just "drop by." It was a trio of Chinese women, who came asking questions about our house. We rent. We are not sure from whom...all I know is, someone other than me pays the rent each month. We had no answers for them, and they left.

Then the phone rings. It is one of my students, sobbing because his computer shut down and he lost the work for his project. I've been without a cell phone for months, and I rarely get phone calls.

It was a lot of weirdness, to celebrate the beginning of a season of a weird show. But Rachel's geeked out - after the 2 hour season premiere, she was worried she wouldn't be able to sleep when we got in bed, because her mind was racing as thought about the show. :)

-alan

Did Ole' Man Winter kick the bucket?

It's been a lovely week in Chengdu, weather wise. We've had multiple days with some sun, and temperatures have gone up along with it. Today I finally cracked - the air had such a sense of spring that I turned off the heaters and opened the windows. Fresh air does a body good...well, maybe not here!

This weekend will be quiet, as Rachel left early this morning for a 2-day meeting in Shenyang - where it will be sunny but certainly much more cold! I have an afternoon of grading ahead for me, with hopes of being caught up by Saturday night. I finished a particularly taxing middle school project today, which filled up the lesson plans nicely but left my classroom and patience in tatters on a daily basis. I can breathe a sigh of relief.

We have only 4 days of classes next week, and then we begin our Chinese New Year break. It's hard to believe we will be leaving the country in a little more than a week! This sure is one vacation we are not prepared for.

-alan

Lozzi Donuts and the woman upstairs

During our fun afternoon downtown yesterday, we gorged on gigantic ice cream desserts and oogled all the prime shopping outlets that Chunxi Lu has to offer. After nearly ODing on my double chocolate sundae, I set my eyes on Starbucks for some coffee to top it all off. While there, the woman behind me in line had a familiar, donut-shaped box. Rachel asked for directions, and we were on the trail.

After brief stopovers to watch the crowds play Wii skiing and mini-curling (promotion for Winter Olympics?) we saw more of the telltale boxes and knew we were on the right track.



Finally, there is was. A branch of Lozzi Donuts, a designer donut and coffee shop. A few such stores have popped into the market just in the last year, and this was our first opportunity to try it out. Full or not, this was not an opportunity to pass up.

The air smelled of fresh donuts, which were attractively laid out on trays behind a long glass counter. This provided an excellent opportunity to inspect and inquire about the different types (of which there were around 20) before picking which ones you want. In addition, the donut-makers were on display as well, allowing you to view the whole process from start to finish. It reminded me of the Krispy Kreme stand-alone shops.

We picked out the 6 best-looking options and brought them home for Sunday breakfast. Yum!



In other news, a mystery was solved, much to our own embarrassment. We often see an older lady walking in our building's stairway. Earlier this year, Rachel told me that she saw the woman in another building, walking. Her conclusion was that she was homeless (or just a wanderer) and that she spends her time trekking through the buildings as a scavenger. [For this reason, Rachel would not let me put my dirty shoes outside for fear of theft] I observed her on multiple occasions and had no reason to doubt this claim - she walked fairly slow, and without any particular purpose.

But this weekend, we saw her again, walking into our building. But this time, she was holding a bag of vegetables. We followed her up the stairs and watched her continue up to the 6th (and top) floor....where she was greeted heartily by a small child, presumably her grandchild. So the lady we thought was a homeless drifter was actually just our upstairs neighbor, who walks slow simply because she is an old lady who lives in a 6th floor apartment with no elevator. Wow. We make for some lousy neighbors...

-alan