NYTimes Report: U.S. Universities Expand to the Gulf

Fascinating New York Times pictorial and written report on US Universities expanding into the Arabian Gulf region. One of the Universities mentioned is George Mason in Ras Al Khaimah in the UAE. I was just up in RAK in December teaching a seminar at the RAK Women’s College. I saw the signs to George Mason University when I drove through the town (yes, it’s not really a city).

I’d like to develop some seminar and training business at George Mason in the future. The second picture below is the women’s college. And yes, that’s a moat around the building. Though it’s not filled with water you might guess why they’d put a moat around the women’s college… (hint: the men’s college is close by

On that day I taught both men (pictured) and women. It was only the second time in their college careers that they’d done anything together. The area is very conservative. I asked about a picture with the female students but none would agree to a picture with my camera. They did take one for themselves with their camera though.

It was a great group of students and I really enjoyed working with them. I hope it works out to go back sometime. By the way, it’s about an hour drive from Dubai.

The RAK Women’s College

The male student government leaders from the RAK Men’s College

Saturday Morning Dubai Pictures

These boys let me take a picture this morning… very very cute.

The scene before I cropped it… you can see the Burj Dubai in the background on the left.

First really clear day in a while. The Burj Dubai and Business Bay construction site sprouting from the desert.

Pictures from Sheikh Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi

This mosque has been under construction for as long as I have lived in the UAE (over 5 years) and it’s finally been finished. I’m currently looking into whether it’s open to the public. I’ll let you know as soon as I find out.

Nevertheless, it’s very very impressive. Take a look…

Click here to see the slideshow

Just for Fun… Dubai Ultimate Frisbee Tournament

Ouch. I’m still sore from the Dubai Ultimate Frisbee Tournament. This was the second annual and it took place at the American School of Dubai to raise money for a school in north India. Last year my team came in 1st. This year we settled for 3rd. But fun was had by all and we’re already looking forward to next year’s tournament. (Boy, am I a “white” boy or what?!)

Water-Truck Poetry

Here’s a shot out of my window on the way home from church a couple weeks ago. The water trucks glut the road and make traffic difficult. One redeeming aspect is that the trucks are colorful and seem to have creative designs all over them. When I crept up on this truck I noticed something more creative than usual… poetry on the back bumper! Below is a cropped picture for your close-up viewing.

“Mountains can fly = River can dry; You can for – get me = But I can not you”

If anyone knows Urdu out there perhaps you can tell me if this is a typical Pakistani poem or something else that I’m not familiar with. (I’m just guessing it’s Pakistani). Help from the readers?

Eid Trip out to the Desert

We went to the desert for the first time two weeks ago. Fantastic time! We didn’t spend the night but came back late. The desert is a beautiful place… God’s handiwork is evident everywhere. Enjoy the pics.

Our favorite location almost all the way to Al Ain, UAE

My shadow!

A beautiful sunset.

Here’s a cool video of the action of the fine sand as it cascades down the dunes.

More sand detail and a panorama

Incredible Palm Island Views!

A couple of weeks ago I took my daughters to babysit the child of some church friends. They live in one of the new, super-tall high rises in the Dubai Marina. And their view is directly overlooking Palm Island and the beachfront of the Marina. I snapped some pictures and a video as well. Leaning over the railing to get the best camera angle was a little unnerving. But worth it

Looking down the coast you see the trunk of Palm Island and the Burj Al Arab faintly in the distance

A more direct view of Palm Island and the coast. That’s the beach for the Ritz Carlton

Closer view of the Palm Island Trunk and the ‘decorative’ island just off the end of the pictured marina

The Ritz Carton Beach and if you look closely you can see the para-sailer just off the beach!

Looking down on the Ocean Beach Hotel

Zooming in on the para-sailer

The tower I was in was on the right

Again, the towers from the beach

We’ve Got Visitors…

President Putin visited last week and met with Sheikh Kalifa, President of the UAE.

I sure hope they had more fun than it looks like they’re having here. And notice how the late Sheikh Zayed is looking on from over Putin’s shoulder… approval? disapproval? We’ll never know will we.

Early September Morning Dune Trip

Dunes look like the spine of a dragon tail!

Notice the camel tracks off to the right?

We had business colleagues in from out of town last week and we decided to treat them to an early morning ride through the desert. These pics were taken about 8am out by Camel Rock. You have to go early during these late summer days or the heat is just too much.

I had a touch of stomach “bug” unfortunately and so the up and down driving was causing my problems. The guys dropped me on a sand dune with some trees nearby and I just sat there for an hour til they came back. I had my mobile phone with me so I cleaned up my phone book, took a few pictures, and made important calls. I had to keep blowing my phone off as the wind was really whipping up and the fine grained sand was filling every crack and exposed opening.

It was a strange experience working away as I sat alone with no one visible for as far as the eye could see. And it was really heating up by the time they came back to get me!

We were back in the office by 11am.

p.s. Hope I can make it to the desert more frequently this year! It’s amazing.

Dubai in the U.S. News – NBC

Dubai has been in the U.S. news in the last few days. NBC’s morning show follows their lead morning anchor around the globe asking “Where in the World is Matt Lauer?”. Well, he was in Dubai a day or two ago. Here are lots of interesting videos online at the NBC site. The above shots are screen grabs of the videos.

p.s. It might be best to use Internet Explorer on the videos… I use Firefox for internet surfing and the NBC site doesn’t play well with Firefox (NBC is owned by Microsoft, of course