It's HOT....

So, today it was 36 degrees celsius in Bangalore. And the forecast for this weekend is 38 or 39. And it hasn't rained since November. It's HOT. My hair dries in, like 10 minutes because it's so dry and hot. Oh- did I mention it is HOT?! Greece is gonna feel chilly at 18-20 degrees!!

a melting...JBW

Gold....GOLD!!

An example of one of the MANY shops in the Bloe Souq that sold gold, gold and more GOLD! Some of the pieces were so huge and heavy that you wonder how/if anyone actually wears them!?

Blue Souq

The reason why the 'Blue Souq' is called the Blue Souq...it's decorated with these blue tiles....reminds me of the Mediterranean!

Black and white

Another one of my fave shots from the trip...I especially like the contrast between the black burquas and the white walls.

Liscence plate

A Sharjah liscence plate...on one of the many expensive, large vehicles on the roads in Sharjah/Dubai. Note the interesting characters on the plate!

House in Sharjah

A lot of the architecture is very similar to India's...prolly because it's Indian workers building the houses!! Here is an example of a nice house in Sue's neighbourhood in Sharjah.

Arabic cereal!

I made up this little still life to show the Arabic script on everything, from stop signs to orange juice. No French and English here, people!!

Swirling sands of time...

Here is another of my fave shots of the desert in Dubai....very artsy of me, non?!

Souq

Inside one of the 'souqs' or marketplaces in Dubai.

One of my faves

This is one of my favourite photos I took in Dubai/Sharjah. I got this one blown up to 8x12 and mounted on board etc. to hang on the wall. Mounting is cheap cheap cheap here in India, so I might as well get it done here!

You can see a mosque in the background. Mosques are identifiable by the two minarets that usually rise high above everything else on the skyline.

Me and the Burj

This is me standing on a public beach with the Burj Al Arab behind me. 'The Burj' (as it is referred to) is the World's only 7-star hotel. It's where the rich and famous come when they come to Dubai. The most expensive room is something like $12 000 US per night. That's just a little out of whack if you ask me. Anyway, it's become the 'symbol' of Dubai, sort of like the CN Tower is for Toronto.

me and the falcon

Here I am holding a falcon. Falconry is a big sport in Dubai....they keep falcons and train them to hunt etc. for them. I guess they are pretty loyal birds!

Found my charger!!

Hi all,

I can now post some of MY Dubai pics as I found my charger (in my other purse...where else?!) and my camera is charged and ready!! Enjoy! Post a comment, people!!

xo,
Jess

Dubai pics

Hi everyone,

I have got some great shots from my trip to Dubai, which you will all see in hard copy when I am home in 4 short months...but right now my camera battery is dead and I can't find the charger for the life of me...so, no blog pics! The photos below are from the cd-rom we bought from Orient Tours after our Desert Safari. You can buy a whole cd of photos and video documenting your crazy adventure...so we bought one! Here are three of me faves...

Love Jessie

Me on a camel!

I get ready to ride a camel on my desert safari in Dubai.

ps- Now I can check 'ride a camel' off my life's 'To Do' list! It really is there, I sware!

In the desert

John and I in the desert in Dubai!

Belly Dancing?!

Here is a shot of me and John (and some other people) learning to belly dance (sort of!) from the belly dancer on our Dubai Orient Tours desert safari trip!

Wisdom from my Mom

Prayer When Things are Hard
Every person you see has a collection of their own life’s stories, and every person you see has a few that would likely break your heart. We deserve each other’s respect simply because we’ve survived all we have and kept going anyway.
Remember this when things are hard.
Remember how someone you knew got through a really difficult time and know that you can as well.
Remember that you are not alone in this world, even when you feel sad, scared or lonely.
Even if you cannot tell a person what is heavy on your heart, tell the universe.
In the still awakening of the early dawn or gentle slowing of the settling dusk; in the hustle and bustle your busy day or deep in the silence of night, we are all embraced by the energy of something bigger than ourselves.
Trust the universe. Its love finds us and holds us, even when we are uncertain and afraid.
Sylvia Bass West

Dubai!

So....Dubai. Du-bai. The Arab world....in the United Arab Emirates (of which there are seven and I am proud to say I have officially visited TWO of these!) Ah, what a strange and yet enchanting experience, probably one of the neatest experiences of my life. So, John and I set out Wednesday after school to board Emirates airlines to Dubai. Our Emirates flight there, flight EK 517, was excellent. It was a big plane, a 777 I think, and it was maybe a third full. John thinks they are running these big flights between Bangalore (among other Indian places) and Dubai twice daily to create the illusion in the market that this route is in high demand, because Dubai is so cool. Which, well, it is! So, we had room to spread out and over 100 channels on our personal seat tv, including TONS of music (I listened to a little Simon and Garfunkel and some Gwen Stefani!) and tv shows/movies. I watched Grey’s Anatomy and Little Miss Sunshine, which is quite dark and funny if you haven’t seen it! Anyway, we arrived on time (even a bit early as we were light.) Sue Thompson, my former Charles H. Hulse practicum associate teacher, was there to meet us. Before we left the airport and found Sue, John bought a phone card for his mobile...on a plan that we didn’t realize till later only offered us ONE overseas call...which John used to call his Mom’s answering machine!! Ah well. Sue is in Dubai working at the Sharjah American International School, in Sharjah. Sharjah is the Emirate right beside Dubai...kinda like Mississauga to Toronto. She is head of English there for the secondary school and teaches all highschool boys, which is a far cry from Grade Ones! Anyway, in the UAE, kids are separated by gender starting in Grade 4. Crazy. I guess all the Emirati girls bring loads of makeup to school and put it on in the bathrooms...unbeknownst to their parents :) Women seem to wear A LOT of dramatic makeup there if they show their face. So, Sue was great- we chatted the whole way home in a traffic jam (Dubai is notorious for bad traffic jams...but at least there is a rhyme or reason to the traffic there, not like India’s traffic chaos!) We arrived at her place at 11pm-ish I think and we chatted some more. She was the most gracious host, inviting us to help ourselves to anything in her cute little apartment. Her is about ½ the size of ours in India....maybe even less that that- but what more does one person need really? A place to sleep, a place to cook (she has an oven which we don’t) and a bathroom (!) (she has a bathtub which we don’t!) I promptly had a ‘tubbie’ the next morning. Sorry to those of you for whom that is too much information!! Sue had to work the next day (Thurs), so John and I followed our plan we mapped out from the trusty Lonely Planet Dubai, and had fun in Sharjah. Now, Sharjah is more conservative an Emirate than uber-hip Dubai, so I had to cover my shoulders. I brought one of my Indian Salwar Kameez sets, thinking that would be super appropriate....but I forgot it was sleeveless. So, I had to wear a shawl over my shoulders all day. Ah well, at least I didn’t have to cover my head!! It turned out not to be super hot that day, so wearing a shawl was okay. We began by taking a quick walk around Ramaquia, Sue’s neighbourhood in Sharjah. The neighbourhoods are named, like SahakarNagar in India, or say Whitehills, in London. Sue’s neighbourhood is basically the equivalent of SahakarNagar here. Kind of far from even the Sharjah city centre, (it’s basically in the desert!) and under a lot of construction. Of course, all the constructions workers are....you got it....from India. Mostly Keralites. And I guess they get treated literally like shit there. The Emiratis think of them basically as their slaves. However, most of them make better money there than they would doing the same job in India, so they work and send money home to their families in India. But, the UAE gov’t is cheeky, and does things like makes them surrender their passports so they can’t leave until their contract is over, and sometimes not even then. Dads may be away from their families for 6 years! So sad. They also do things like ‘forget’ to tell the Indian workers that their housing comes out of their salary, so they end up making less than they originally anticipated. Ugh. Disgusts me. Sue is absolutely disgusted with Emiratis, especially the men. I guess the are lazy and eat junk and are therefore obese, but they don’t care because they never have to do anything except father one child a year and have affairs with the Vietnamese and Thai girls who go there to work as waitresses. Their staff take care of their businesses, so Sue just says they ‘float’ through the malls (it seems like they are floating because of their long, white dishdashas) and drink Arabic coffee (like extremely weak, bitter coffee with no milk or sugar aka: yucky to me.) Anyway, enough of the rant. Sue’s regular driver Saifullah drove us to Sharjah town. First, we tried to find this Fort Al Hisn....a fort that has been there since the beginning of Sharjah....but none of the cabbies seemed to know what that was or where that was (we eventually find it but that is later.) So, we stopped by a perfumery and I got Ashi the perfume she wanted (perfume is a bit of a ‘thing’ in Dubai...lots of perfume shops.) Then, we started out in town at the ‘Blue Souq’ or ‘Central Souq.’ Now, a souq can mean anything from an open street market, to something basically resembling a shopping mall. The Blue Souq is Sharjah’s main souq and it is very pretty. The outside is decorated all, well, blue. But not just blue, those gorgeous Mediterranean aqua and cobalt that I love from Greece. Inside, it was gold shop after gold shop after gold shop. The Emiratis are rich and don’t mind showing it off! Some of the gold necklaces were so unbelievably big I had to take photo evidence so you’d believe me! Gold is a big purchase item for tourists here....but John and I are merely lowly teachers, so we didn’t indulge! We did, however, buy some trinkets from the curios type stores upstairs. I got a carved rosewood camel and some ‘Aladdin’ shoes. At this time it was around 1:30 and the shops started closing. We didn’t know until then that shops are closed from 1:30-4pm. Kind of a siesta type of deal I think. So, we decided to go and find some lunch. As it turned out, we ended up at the restaurant we had planned to go to for dinner. The cabbie took us there, so I guess it is good! It was called Sanobar and served Lebanese food. It’s funny, as 3 DHS (Durhams) = CDN $1 it seems like everything in the UAE is very expensive...but really, divide by 3 and it’s not at all! For example, my new favourite juice, a Dubai speciality of lemon with pureed mint leaves, cost DHS 10 at the restaurant but that’s really only $3.50. Sure, it’s not as cheap as India, but what else is?! So, we had the most delicious Lebanese meal of Greek and Fattoush salads, grilled prawns and yummy kebabs...and then a homemade dessert that comes free and is made by the wife of the guy who runs the place, this delicious custard-y thing with pistachios sprinkled on top. Needless to say, we were FULL! We also noted that there are no stray dogs here...a few cats but no dogs. The only thing that bothered us at lunch were the flies. After that we once again set out to find Al Hisn Fort (at that point we were pronouncing it Al Hine Fort, unknowingly...) And again the cabbie took us to the wrong place. So, we just had him drop us in the Heritage Area. Here, we stumbled upon a large wall made of massive pieces of coral (yep, coral!) in concrete. We followed this wall until we could get inside and found a jackpot. We found the Islamic Museum first and bought a ticket for DHS 20 that would get us into all 15 of the attractions in the Heritage Area.....including Al Hisn Fort (it must exists then!) So, we saw the Islamic Museum, The Sharjah Heritage Museum (the former home of the Al Naboodah family- the ruling family at one time in Sharjah), The Maritime Museum (a lot of pearling history here,) the ‘Old’ Souq or The Souk Al Arsah (more like an old market than the Blue Souk....and where we sat in a traditional coffee house and tried Arabic coffee...yick!) and then stumbled, literally, upon Al Hisn Fort. And, well, it is pronounced Al Hissen Fort or Sharjah Fort...but we still don’t see how just that could have stopped people from understanding where we wanted to go. Al well. We found it and saw it (it’s small!) and the neatest things were photos that showed the same area merely 50 years ago. And seriously, 50 years ago, Sharjah was what you stereotypically might think an Arabic country was, say 100 years ago. Sand, camels, the fort entrance, the Bedouin nomads...it was a different world. All of Dubai and Sharjah’s ‘boom’ has happened in MY lifetime. It’s pretty crazy that they have the infrastructure and livability that they do...but I guess that’s what oil money gets you...whatever you want.....fast!! Anyway, the museums were very pretty. Not like you think of museums back home. These were basically like open courtyards with whitewashed walls and nooks and wooden roofs. Then, in the rooms around the courtyard are the artefacts etc. On the ride back to Sharjah that evening, we had a very nice Bangladeshi cabbie, who basically begged us to take him to Canada with us so that he could be our driver. We didn’t have the heart to tell him that we are just teachers and we don’t even make enough to have drivers in India! At any rate, we gave him a big tip. We didn’t really eat dinner, just munched on nuts at Sue’s. She was out late that evening, as she had tickets for the Tennis Open that was in Dubai. All the big names were there, Federer, Martina Hingis, and all them. She showed us photos, it would have been cool to see! Oh, another thing about Sharjah that is different from Dubai is that Sharjah is ‘dry’ (no alcohol) so Sue had some funny stories about getting wine and beer home!! Most cabbies don’t even want to take you home to Sharjah from Dubai if they know what is in you ‘black’ bags!! Fair enough, they could lose their liscence! Anyway, all that to say that we had a nice glass of wine at Sue’s Thursday night. Oh- and we did see a few white tourists wearing sleeveless tops in Sharjah too! Cheeky. Some more general things about Sharjah....there are lots of roundabouts when driving..so just like when we were diving in Australia, you look to the left and yield when you come to a roundabout....and if you miss your cutoff, you just keep going around and around!! We also learned one word in Arabic...’Shakran’ which means ‘thank-you.’ (Roll the ‘r’) We’re awesome! There are lots of mosques about...all different styles but all similar construction with the two tall spiers.
So, the next day we woke up to see the sights in Bur Dubai before our 3pm pickup for our Orient Tours Desert Safari. As like other Muslim countries, the weekend is Friday/Saturday so Sue had Friday off. However, Friday is also the prayer day, so nothing is open. We did get to see the creek port though (Dubai is built on one side of a creek...the other side ‘Deira’ used to be a separate state, but is now part of Dubai.) and we went on an ‘abra’ ride (an abra is a boat taxi.) The boat taxis will take you to the other side of the creek for DHS 1 per ride, but will also take you on creek ‘tours.’ So we took a ½ hour tour. It was cool. We walked along the port and watched all the Indian workers loading and unloading cargo (anything from European used cars to oil to t-shirts....weird.) We then went to the Sheraton (cause it was there) and ate lunch at an English pub. I know, why eat at an English pub when you’re in Dubai...but forgive us, we’ve been in India too long and just wanted fish and chips and a real, live, honest to goodness sandwich! It was great. Then, we cabbed it back to Sue’s and chatted with her and packed for our desert safari.....I was soooo excited. Sue had just been on the same safari (but not overnight) on Jan 7th. She loved it. So, the safari company, Orient Tours, picked us up at Sue’s house (which, I forgot to mention is RIGHT across the street from her school! Convenient!) In our car, with us and our tour guide Jafar, was a really nice 60-something Pakistani man and his younger looking wife (not yucky younger, just 10 or 15 years it looked) and a 50-something couple from somewhere in Europe (Germany? Switzerland? Holland?). And us. They were all very interested in us- what we did etc! After stopping at a gas station to collect all the SUVs together and to take a pee break, we departed on our adventure. First up was some dune bashing. This basically means, they take you into the desert, onto the huge sand dunes and drive around like maniacs, so you are sure the SUV is gonna tip (it has roll bars), making huge sprays of sand in its wake. The Pakistani lady said that if she knew the dune bashing was going to be a part of it, she wouldn’t have come. Poor lady! I was loving it! The Pakistani man could not stop saying ‘shit, shit!’ I think our driver was a bit crazier than all the rest!! Don’t worry Mom and Dad, I am okay! The whole time too, they have a film crew following the caravan of SUVs around and taking footage, cause later you can buy a DVD or CD Rom of your adventure with video and stills! Good thing too, as it was hard to take photos while being whipped this way and that!! So, we dune bashed for close to an hour I think..stopping once to take some photos...and then we arrived at ‘camp.’ ‘Camp’ was in a hollow in the sand (so you can’t tell that the highway is actually a visible distance away!) decorated with tents and resplete with a hookah/hubbly-bubbly tent for sheesha smoking, a station for you to hold a trained falcon, a mehendi lady doing henna tattoos, camels for camel rides, snowboard-type board for sandboarding, and places for you to sit and sip wine or beer (we were back in Dubai land then) and to eat the delicious bbq they prepared (lamb chops, bbq chicken, dal and rice, Greek style potatoes and onions, salad, tabouleh salad, oh man, it was gooood.) We ate until we couldn’t eat anymore! The next event was the belly dancer, who was really good and got the crowd up and dancing and having fun. Then, everyone who wasn’t staying overnight left in their SUVs and we found out that only 7 of us were doing the overnight! A couple, Jill and Eric from the States and their friend, An Aussie dude and a Swiss dude (I think.) So, the Orient Tours people set up our Coleman tents and sleeping bags and mattresses, and we all chatted for a bit and then went to bed. It was funny, at 8:00 when the others left, it felt like it was at least 9:30...so I think we were in bed by 10/10:30. Not much you can do in the dark!! So, we officially spent a night camping in the desert. They woke us at 6:30am (ugh!) and we all ate breakfast and went dune bashing a bit more and went to see ‘camel rock.’ Then, they dropped us off at Sue’s. We showered and chatted with Sue and then headed off to see Jumeirah. Jumeirah is on the other side of the river from Bur Dubai and is totally the other end of Dubai from Sue’s. In Jumeirah we saw the beach, the Burj Al Arab from the beach (the Burj is the world’s only 7 star hotel, and sort of the ‘symbol’ of Dubai....it’s that curved building with a point at the top that you’d often see in ‘typical’ pictures of Dubai.) We also went to the Madeinat Jumeirah (you don’t pronounce the ‘t’ in Madeinat) which is a large castle-looking souq with tons of cool shops, eateries and stuff to look at (people watching prime territory.) So, after, I bought some cool, colourful Dubai prints, we ate a bite at a restaurant there (I had a Strongbow-yay!) and watched the sun set on the beach. Then, we went and had real dinner (late, Dubai style) at a Moroccan restaurant. It was great but the portions were massive and we couldn’t eat it all! We did seem to score a prime seat though, right near the two musicians who were playing and singing Moroccan tunes. After that, we went back to Sue’s. We woke up early in the a.m. on Sunday to say goodbye and to thank Sue for her hospitality. We then slept a tiny bit more and woke up to head to the airport. As usual, the airport was not a cut and dry matter. To start, the airline had overbooked the flight due to them having to put up passengers who got bumped from another flight. So, they were asking people if they would mind taking the later flight in return for a free ticket or something. We should have just said yes to that and have been done with it, but the later flight didn’t leave till 9pm, and our flight left at noon...so we said we wanted to be on our original flight. So, we were all there at the boarding gate and it was 11:45 and our flight was supposed to leave at 12...so people were starting to get a bit restless. Then, they come on the loudspeaker and say that our flight had been delayed until 6pm that evening. Everyone was shocked, especially since they had brought us as far as checking us in to the gate! So, everyone was mad of course, as were we...but we just went back out and hung around Dubai airport for 6 hours! It gave me a chance to get my duty free Bailey’s, and for John to get his Starbucks UAE city mug (he also got one from Singapore and KL). So, our flight ended up leaving around 6:30pm, and we were going ‘into’ time instead of backwards, so we got home and into our little beddies at 2am. We were tired Monday at work, but that’s a small price to pay for such a cool, fantastic experience. With all it’s Arabic Disneyland-ish weirdness, it really is something not to be missed if you are in this part of the world. I recommend it to you all highly. And go on a desert safari if you are into adventurousness!! Some photos will be accompanying this soon!
Jess

Life...

Take It easy, take it easy Don't let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy Lighten up while you still can don't even try to understand Just find a place to make your stand and take it easy -The Eagles-

And each time I tell myself that I, well I think I've had enough,But I'm gonna show you, baby, that a woman can be tough. - Janis Joplin

I feel like I am having a quarter life crisis....first of all I realized that next birthday I will be turning 26. Twenty-six?!?! That is closer to 30 than 20....when in the heck did I get so old?! Not to put down all of you people who are older than me....it’s just that somehow this age snuck up on me....that’s all. One of my best friends is having a baby and I am sure that other married friends will have some on the way soon. Oh yeah...married friends?! I feel like I am still in highschool, despite all the ‘life experience’ I guess I have. I feel mature...yet so...I dunno what the word is. I don’t want to relive my University years because I think I lived them pretty damn well, but, I kinda want to live them again. I figure this is a pretty standard way to feel at 25...so I am not looking for a pity party. I need to learn how to be in flux and how to deal when things aren’t black and white and set in stone. As Max Ehrman says in ‘Desiderata’ "No doubt the universe is unfolding as it should." And no doubt it is. I am pretty okay with my decision to come back to Ontario next year. I think I am, however, going to experience PITS (or Post-International Teaching Syndrome!) on which my previous Principal is writing a book! The world just opens up to you over here...all these countries are so close by, and you can visit some pretty crazy places simply on a long weekend!! Take next week for example...John and I are jetting off to Dubai. DUBAI!! How cool is that!? I mean, I never would have chosen to travel to places like Singapore and Dubai had I not come to India. The world seems pretty small actually with air travel. A few sleepless nights on an airplane and you are somewhere so incredibly different it knocks you to the ground...and then it just takes a little while for it to seem altogether familiar. Leap and the net will appear.....I love leaping. Will moving to Toronto or somewhere be enough of a leap for me? I think so...I have never LIVED in Toronto...and it’s close to my fam in every city...and I can prolly get some Indian food that is as close to the ‘real’ stuff as possible in Southwestern Ontario!! However, it will likely cost 10 X the price!! Ah well. Hope lots of schools want me to supply teach for them!! Please people...please :) I put these Eagles lyrics above cause I NEED to learn to give myself a break....and stop this perfectionism...I DON’T NEED TO BE PERFECT, I JUST NEED TO BE ME. Sounds like the simplest of mottos, but lately I have been struggling with my sense of self. What do I believe in? How can I help the children in India who are undernourished, undereducated etc, when they make me bananas with their begging and ‘Mah, mah.’ It’s so awful how being in a place like this can make you so angry and so MEAN sometimes. Sometimes India makes me want to hit people, and I NEVER would do it, but it makes me think about it. I know, I know....it’s just different views on things like staring....I think every North American child learns very quickly that staring is rude...but Indian people will stare....and stare..and stare...even if you look them RIGHT in the eye back....but most times lately I am winning staring contests. I think my glare is getting pretty good. I know, I know...poor little me. Poor little me who has enough to eat, a good job, a home, people who love me...poor me. I have a hard time with guilt about my feelings because I feel I don’t deserve to feel angry or sad about trivial things because I have a great life, and have so much more that so many people in the world. But, I can’t put my feelings down.

Feelin' Better Since I surrenderedYou can't Climb'Till you're ready to fallYou're not a land mineYou're not a gold mineNo you're not mine at allSo tell me babyCan you hear me?I sent a message out into the darkIt's a mysteryWhen you're near meI've gotta find my way to your heartI learnt my lessonFirst impressionsMore often right than wrongIt's not a slow danceThis modern romanceFeels like we've already waited too longDon't worry baby 'bout how it should beI sent a message out into the darkI'd rather talk to youAbout how it could beI've gotta find my way to your heart

My favourite books:
- ‘The Kite Runner’ by Khaled Hosseini
- ‘Hey Nostradamus!’ By Douglas Copeland
- ‘Unless’ by Carol Shields
- ‘Love you Forever’ by Robert Munsch
- ‘The Reader’ by Bernard Schlink
- Banana Yoshimoto stuff
- Amy Tan stuff
- ‘A Fine Balance’ by Rohinton Mistry

My favourite foods:
- cheese
- chocolate
- cashews
- Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal
- wine
- chimichangas and fajitas
- Thai curries
- Indian curries

Current Obsessions: LOST, Aussie wines, figuring my life out
My favourite names:

Boys: Zion, Quinn, Holden, Sebastian
Girls: Sarah, Annie, Corrine, Piper, Sadie, Priya

My favourite things about myself:
- my strong calves
- tummy
- reliability
- trustworthiness (if you don’t have trust, you have nothing else)
- generosity ( I hope.....)
- world curiosity
- strong stomach (I mean for things like roller coasters and crazy food...)

My least fave things about myself:
- tendency to over-analyse
- tendency towards intense bouts of anger at myself for no good reason
- tummy
- the fact I bite my cuticles till they bleed (TMI, I know...)

My salt of the earth: Andrea, Ginny, Milli, Cayls, Sarah, Cheryl, Ash, Porter, Jenny Girl, my Fam and John