Curious George

He knelt down in front of me, waiting patiently for the water to trickle over his neck, shoulders and back. As my fingers worked through his rough curly hair, he let out a long, happy sigh. It sounded more like a long burp if you ask me... but I know it was from pure pleasure and not the dry straw he had consumed minutes before!

The big white guy, as we call him, rested in the sand while the suds flowed around him. It took 20 minutes to wash just one side of his body, but once he was clean and he stood up, he was a clean smelling, fluffy camel once again! It's amazing how responsive he was. To get a camel to kneel down you have to pull down on the rope around his neck, while saying "hack" - and not hack as in hack...but rather HRRAACK like you're clearing your throat for plegm, the true Arabic way. I thought my throat was going to turn inside out, but the big white guy soon bent his knees and down he went on to his thick leathery chest plate. Piece of cake washing a camel!

We have just had a nice addition to our herd of 5 camels. 14 months ago when the Desert Ranch opened, nobody knew that one of the "long legged ladies" had been mounted by a bull camel - the big white guy is neutered so he is not the daddy....they sold off 6 camels before establishing the current herd and to our surprise, after 14 months of gestation...heeeeeere's George! What a whoolly little gem! Still walking like Bambi on ice, he is so friendly and curiuos (Curios George) and he wants so bad to explore the desert. Already 3 feet tall he has the cutest little hairy ears and beautiful deep brown eyes that look into your soul.

Hunter came with me last Saturday to see what the Ghecko club is all about. I don't think he will come with me again. After he had pulled a little girl all around the ranch on her horse, he was longing to get back to World of Warcraft on his PS3. He did think George was adorable though.

My Silent Revolution

You can say we are sort of right smack in it! Here I am, planning my North Africa 'Tour de Cisco' with government workshops, customer visits and awareness campaigns on how ICT can be the catalyst of self-sustained economic and social growth - and next thing you know...the region erupts in demonstrations and ousting of presidents, dictators and other corrupt scumbags and vermin who suppress people's freedom. Well, so much for my awareness trip. The news of the demonstrations catapult me back to my own sit'ins at Christiansborg Castle Square in Copenhagen, where we marched by the thousands, to get reforms in our schools - better curriculum, better state support for students and better hours (longer in fact, not shorter!!) - those were the days of chanting "out with the education minister" ! Yes, I am a rebel, a loner, a dangerous voice among fellow Danes!

It's not too close for comfort here just in case you were worried about the Aults - yes, I know when you look at a map, it looks like we are one inch from the chanting and the gunfire, but then again, danger's our middle name; even as civilians and diplomats are running for the airports in Cairo, Tripoli, Muscat and Manama, we follow the plight of the citizens and youth who really just want progress and opportunities, food security and stability. You'd think the days of Amelda Marcos' incessant shoe shopping were in the past. You'd think that nepotism and fixed elections couldn't continue to happen in a world of so much media. Lest we forget, we live in a world where one day it's hip to save the whales and the next it's revolution and demonstrations that become the headlines. Heck, they're even demonstrating in Madison, Wisconsin, that's close to home!! and you thought we are in danger in the Middle East?? Look out your back door ;-)

People in the UAE, and I talk about the locals, the Arabs, the expats from North Africa, Beirut, Yemen and Oman, are following the developments closely and quietly discuss whether such a situation can occur here. Of course it can. We are bordering Oman and Saudi where the disparity between the ultra rich and the ultra poor is so vast something has to give one day. At the moment the next generation Emiratis are busy playing video games, doing donuts in the desert or at minimum trying to figure out what the identity really stands for. In 5-10 years these teens will have to face lack of education and jobs as the economy turns from oil based to hospitality/tourist based.

The UAE imports 95% of the food consumed here. Very little will grow in this desert, so Africa is becoming the fertile spot for food development. China wants food security too; there is one hungry nation rising! So what does this do to the food prices over time? My little patch of herbs and veggies will not even sustain our own family (despite Hunter's refusal to eat greens). We are truly on the verge of the tipping point. I have to admire the Egyptian, Libyan and Yemen youth as they gather in strength and courage to fight the regimes that have so long kept them in poverty and oppression.

I have my own silent, but deadly revolution going in my kitchen - this one against the army of invading ants. Last night they must have planned a full-on attack after lights were out and was it not for my increasing thirst, that had me up around midnight, they would have succeeded in carrying off the kitchen bin, with old banana peels and crumbs. They tried desperately to scatter their infantry divisions when I walked across the floor in flip-flops, but none escaped the weapon of all weapons: Pif-Paf ant powder! With mountains of white flour looking powder all over, the kitchen floor was a vast killing field of writhing ant bodies, taking their last breath.

So you see my friends, food security will always drive the Masses to desperate measures, and like Gaddaffi hanging on to his slipping power by his fingernails, so is this fearless Dane hanging on to kitchen cleanliness and she wows to destroy every vermin and bug who ventures into our space to threaten our food freedom!

The Ghecko Club....and Camel turds !!

When I saw the article in our 7Days newspaper, I had no idea ranch work could be so elaborate. Reading about Carrie "the horse whisperer", who recently opened an American style ranch, based on the Parelli method - a natural horsemanship way of teaching people horse training based on the way horses relate and communicate in their natural world – hence the term “natural horsemanship.” Carrie believes (as Pat Parelli teaches) in the horse and its owner building a trusting and close relationship filled with commitment, love, play and training...including riding without bridle and relying on the legs and seat to guide the horse! She has been gifted several ex-polo and ex-endurance horses, as well as horses who just couldn't be kept by their owners for a variety of reasons.

In addition to the 'whisper' and training, the ranch also offers classes for kids who want to learn more about animals and what it feels to be around them. The Desert Ranch is home to 16 arabian horses and thoroughbreds; 5 camels, 11 goats, 3 dogs, undisclosed number of rabbits, 2 donkeys, 1 tortoise, 20 quails (+/- a few when the falcons need to be fed), 7 ducks and a bundle of local wild life on the 2.5 sq km dune filled area east of Dubai.

Thinking I could help out on the weekends and thereby earn the opportunity to ride out once in a while, I emailed Carrie and asked if they needed any volunteers to help muck out or do the odd chore. ODD is the key word here! Watch out for what you wish for.... On Saturday I was surrounded by 12 kids ages 6-10, who were conveniently dropped off by their expat parents, to participate in the Ghecko Club. My remit was to take half of them to the paddock and oversee them grooming the horses before their 30 min lesson. Afterwards, I got the other half and had to oversee them learning about the points of a horse (they had to name all the proper terms of anatomically correct parts) -- which led to little Ben claiming that "the horse was relaxed cuz it's wiener was hanging down low" ! Aaah, the honesty and straight forward communications of 7 year olds! yes, indeed it was relaxed...

The end of the Ghecko club was 30 minutes of designing a dog training area with all the various obstacles. We ended up with a lot of interesting drawings of tubes for dogs to climb thru, over, under, and special stairs up the dunes for extra bright dogs who can climb!

Next on the agenda was Dubai American Academy sending 50 of their 2nd graders to the ranch for Camel Orientation. Camels are as misunderstood as Charlie Sheen. Most people think camels are mean, agressive, smelly, dirty, spitting, kicking and biting creatures. But in fact, they are gentle, sweet giants who have been domesticated for approximately 3,500 years and have long been valued as pack animals, to serve beduins and tribes for transport, meat, milk and fur. They are well adapted to the desert life and it was my job to teach these kids about just how well, based on the 9 characteristics of their body. Not a problem...I listened to Carrie's 20 min lecture and now I'm an expert on the Middle Eastern / Arabian Dromedary "one hump" camel. Not to be confused with the Bactrian cousin which has two humps and originates in Mongolia.

Did you know that a camel has small very hairy ears, double rows of eye-lashes and nostrils that can close tight, to keep out the sand? The feet are large and round, to disperse the sand. Their lips are large, thick and leathery - putting Angelina Jolie's lips to shame, so they can eat prickly, thorny and hard desert grass and bushes. They can in fact move both legs on one side of the body at the same time, to enable them to cross sand dunes without sliding down. No other animal can do this!
They have a large chest plate of rough hard skin to support their front body weight when they lay down, as most of the weight is to the front. Their hump can store up to 80 pounds of fat (it does not store water, as many people wrongly believe) and camels never sweat, making them perfect for the 45-50C (120F) temps we endure in UAE in the summer.

Well there you have it! Most of the kids were much more interested in the camel turds visible around the paddock and I pointed out that it suited the various beetles living in the desert environment - a perfect ecological circle of life. The one slightly negative characteristic of a camel? It has a problem understanding personal space. So while we diligently viewed the 1.8 - 2.1 meter tall creatures, all 5 of them slowly wandered over to us, and INTO us, pushing their big heads into hair, face, back, neck of all the kids. Personally I found it absolutely spectacular, that a large animal can be so gentle when checking out a human!

It would not have been a successful day without camel milk tasting. We gathered all 50 kids around inside the madinat and served them a taste of the vitamin and mineral rich potion. The jury is still out....OK on it's own, but wouldn't recommend it in your coffee.

Pet Peeve and Picture Perfect

Our furry, four-legged friends are in danger of being alienated in Dubai! Lately there is a complete mobbing going on and this "no dogs allowed" campaign has all doggy owners up in paws! Can't have dogs on beach. Can't have dogs in parks. No dogs on the Marina promenade (good thing we moved away from there). No dogs at Jumeirah Beach Residence promenade. No dogs in Satwa or Karama....which is probably a good thing - they may get eaten!

I may have to walk Slim in Abu Dhabi.

It's bad enough the unwanted dogs are being abused and abandoned. If they don't want dogs in the UAE they should disallow import and sale. RRRrrgghhh!! Luckily there is no problem yet at our Lakes area, and Slim still has his routes in our neighborhood where he meets and greets his fellow canines.

Today I am off to a Digital Photography class - finally learning to take pictures with last year's (2009) Christmas present, my Panasonic Lumix. It has more features than a souped up Formula 1 race car and I am just not capable of using all the settings. Look out for new classy, sassy pictures on our blog.

The [birthday] Hangover - starring Aric Ault

Could have been the long awaited sequel to the cult movie....Aric had to rebuild his memory and the evening prior, slowly, piece by piece. As it was, I flew back from London early to make sure I was well rested for a night out with friends and family on the 22nd. Instead, to my dismay - the "guys" had planned a night out on Friday the 21st, to celebrate Aric and convinced me to join. 9pm started a long and entertaining night which kicked off at the Observatory, a splendid bar on the 52nd floor of the Harbour Hotel (now Mariott) our old residence when first arriving in Dubai. Views of Dubai and The Palm are normally unobstructed. Aric's view was obviously obstructed by several Vodka/Cranberry cocktails and his memory started fading at the time we left the bar for Frankie's. Frankies is generally the last place you hit on a night out on town. Owned and named by and after Frankie Dettori, the Italian jockey known for winning several Ascot races, it's an "over 50's; drinks are spiked; don't leave the place alone" piano bar with a seedy clientele ranging from Russian ladies of the night to Bin Laden's "black sheep of the family" brother! Yep, we always have a blast when we go to Frankie's but we don't always remember how we got home!

As it turns out, Lorraine, Peter and 6 other of our Swedish / Emirati friends were there for dinner. We joined their group and when the clock hit midnight, we enjoyed several bottles of Moet to cheer Aric's 40-something. It went downhill from there! Leaving Frankies (after closing the place down around 2am) I should have been sensible and taken Aric home. Instead we went to Lorraine and Peter's house on the Palm and continued the party. While the guys were silly and started doing shots (oh they so paid for that later) - the 4 gals had serious talks about life in Dubai and being married to a local Emirati: Andrea (British) is married to Rany (Emirati), and she shared the pros and cons...obviously mostly pros, given the designer clothes, boots, jewelry and bling-bling she owns. They are both sweet though so who is judging ;-)

Around 4am Aric thought it might be a good idea to go home. I couldn't agree more after seeing him hang on all the guys, saying "I love you man" over and over again. He doesn't remember going home - or even being at their house for that matter! The next day, my mom, brother, his wife, their daughter, Hunter and I, sang Happy Birthday as loud as we could while throwing the gifts on top of Aric in the bed :) He spent the entire day in bed and was not a very happy camper.

On the rest of the family front, our oldest son has graced us with admission into Arizona State University, in the Industrial Design program. He starts in the fall and will be coming back to Dubai in May before heading to Tempe for his orientation June 21. We are immensely proud because this was his number one choice and it is one of the top 10 schools for Industrial Design in the US. It sounds as if he is ready to start tomorrow...he has had enough of working in a bar for a living, but will stay on Thursday Island until March 24, when we head to Sydney to visit him.
As you all know, the Aults tend to live on the edge - Aidan being no exception as he narrowly escaped the floods in Brisbane, where so many have lost their lives and homes.

Aric played 18 holes in a charity golf game yesterday, to support the victims in Queensland and they raised quite a substantial amount of money.

My mom arrived the 19th and is loving that both Mark and I live here so she can visit both in turns. Josefine has been accepted at a great local school and is friends with several other Danish children. Hunter tutors her in English so she can catch up and follow along in the classes; when he taught her the entire English alphabet, she proudly announced that now she "knows all the numbers"! She is a happy little girl and Mark, Tina and her are settling well here in their new surroundings.

Holiday cheers and farewell to 2010

Ahh the life of an expat. Never a dull moment here in the sandbox and never an opportunity to sit and relax before Aric gets antsy, or there is a call from a friend asking us to come and join them in some holiday cheer! We mustn't complain...just think of how many people have no friends, like Mark Zuckerberg for example!

So whether it's a sun-downer invite from Louise and Richard, a pizza night with Peter and Lorraine, or a 30km bike ride with Angus and Fiona, we are game. This holiday season has truly been about close friends and family, especially since Aidan is away (and he is really missed). Hunter has been the proverbial son in Aidan's absence and he is fully enjoying the attention as well as hanging out with us.

We have been to the movies a few times with he and Mariana, his new girlfriend and possibly "the ONE" (at least this year) who hails from the Greek side of Cypress. She is a lovely girl and they seem to have fun and enjoy eachother's company. He spent New Years Eve with her and her family. Just like last year, we went to Angus and Fiona's house with ten or so other Cisco folks plus another 25 or so family members and friends of theirs. It was a very nice evening with good Lebanese food and plenty of Cosmopolitans on tap!

The holidays also brought activities such as golf and wakeboarding. We were out on the last day of 2010 and the first day of the new year, and were spoiled because nobody else occupied the bay for a change, so we had mirror like conditions for boarding. Sugar is still going strong and is a favorite toy of ours.

My brother has settled in at his new home and has a few days off from flying so most of his days are spent at IKEA while I have had the kids in the pool. They have adopted up a stray female desert dog (Saluki mix) and Slim is wearing himself out in his effort to impress Sasja, a real diva dog :)

Aidan is now alone again after Courtney left Australia last night. He was very down when I spoke to him but I cheered him up by telling him the good news: He has been accepted at Columbia College Chicago in the Industrial Design Major! He is still (as am I - weatherwise) holding out for Arizona State Univeristy, but at least we have an in somewhere. Tomorrow he starts a new job on Thursday Island, all the way north in Torres Strait, close to Papa New Guinea! He is going to bartend and wait tables to make up the money he spent while Courtney visited him. We were also treated to a surprise, Christmas Eve, when he told us he had (not formally) proposed to her, with prospects of a wedding in "3-4 years, once he is done with school and if she still wants him" - we've all been there at one point, with our first true love I think!! Let's see what the next 3-4 years bring :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thursday_Island,_Queensland

Back to work and school this week has been a challenge and none of us are ready for the rat race again, but nothing comes from doing nothing. At least I got one round of Par 3 in with Lorraine and we managed to sit next to Hugh Grant for lunch....it's amazing how many celebs we run into in this sandbox!

The Christmas that almost didn't happen....

The idea to get a super special, very technical, brand new model, Taylormade putter seemed good at the time. This was after I dropped the rental car at Avis; battled onboard the shuttle to terminal 3 at Heathrow, only to stand among a million people other waiting to hear news about the Emirates flight EK004, which was, at that very minute, circling above us and would either land, or get diverted to Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris. Well what would it be? London or Paris?
Just in case everyone was hard at hearing, the guy with the MEGAPHONE made it clear that "IF YOU WERE BOOKED ON THE EK004 YOU SHOULD NOW LEAVE THE AIRPORT AND COME BACK TOMORROW"...right then - I guess it landed in Paris! Off I went with my suitcase and the three giant shopping bags that held the already acquired golf travel bag, 3 pairs of shoes and umpteen other things I had bought, before leaving for the airport.

The taxi line was 2 miles long, so I abandoned that idea as quickly as my head could whip around towards "Underground".... signal failure - SH*T!! A few inches of snow and all of Southern England comes to a screeching halt?? Down into the tunnel I went, lugging bags and listening to broken conversations on my way: "....saying that we can't.....first chance Christmas Day....yes we have a hotel....mom that we miss her" -- "...British Airways.....so we are in line at.....call and tell....late for work...." OH MY GOSH! I could see the elevators from my vanish point, but to reach it I would have to crawl over 326 luggage carts, 35 children, 196 suitcases and 5 "I am here to help" customer service people, trying to control the mob.

54 minutes later I reached the platform where Heathrow Express stops; I was relieved to find that there was only 4 minutes to the non-stop train to Paddington. It was shortlived! The train pulled up so far past me that it missed me by 100 yards. Like a hundred ants following a trail of sugar we all moved towards the last car and the one open door, as if our life depended on it. This was a scene out of Armageddon....I'm on the phone asking Aric to find me a hotel in the city as I knew all hotels around the airport would be booked by the horde of people stranded. Meanwhile the next train comes...and this time it stops SHORT of where I am standing...IS THIS A GODDAMN JOKE??? Finally I latched on to a big burley guy who was from Glasgow (and they are burley) - he told me to stand right behind him and when the next train pulled up he would clear a path for me...in the meantime I got to know all about the job he was supposed to have worked on in Spain, had he actually made his flight - and all about his girlfriend and her two kids and the dog who was sick and the great grandma who was supposed to visit from Edinburgh....I just tuned out and made for the door when the train pulled up.

The Heathrow Express to Paddington normally takes 15 minutes but 28 minutes later we pulled in. Dragging my luggage towards the taxi line outside I already realized it would be a lost cause. With 10 below zero and more snow in the forecast, every London taxi driver was snuggling under a feather duvet. I was dragging my suitcase through grey icy muck for two miles to the nearest hotel, so I could try to flag down a cab. At the Hilton Millenium I waited 15 minutes and by the time I reached the Grand at Trafalgar Square across London, where Aric had found a room for me online, I was so worked up that only a stiff Cosmo and Sushi dinner could calm me down!

In hindsight, I probably should have made my way out of London when my colleagues were rushing from our management meeting, because there was snow in the forecast. I thought, "what's a little snow?" I've lived in Chicago for 17 years and you don't see airport closure until you've lived there! So, I rev'ed up my Avis rental wreck and drove to my friend Sally. I did this because she recently put Harley down. Harley was my big wonderful horse whenever I was in town. Ever the gentleman, he was 18 and just got too sloppy on his front legs, so it was time to put him out to pasture. Long story short, he ended up being put to sleep just a week prior to me arriving, so Sally and I were drowning our sorrows at the "Donkey" pub in Elstead, and when I woke up the next morning, we were effectively snowed in!

That's how I eventually found myself at the Super Golf Store, off Regent Street, with a putter, balls, jacket, tees and a variety of other golf accessories, which 2 days later would find their way under the tree and into Aric's stocking, in Dubai.

Once they re-opened Heathrow, I was again struggling to find a cab and this time the golf travel bag was filled with more presents....and the aforementioned putter.

Christmas Eve we took in a few stragglers....Kevin from the US, who is here on an assignment with Cisco and whose wife hasn't joined him yet; Tina, my sister-in-law who just arrived on the 20th with my niece Josefine, who were both abandoned by my brother because he was picked for flights while everyone else in FlyDubai was off; and Elona and Andrew, Courtney's parents - alone and missing their daughter, who is off camping with Aidan in Australia!

The fridge/freezer stopped working around 9am, just when we put the icecream in. We had to rush through the turkey, so we could salvage a little of the vanilla moosh before it became liquid cream. However, in good spirit, we saluted & drank to our kids far away and enjoyed the good company around the table - (with me saying a little prayer, thanking someone above for bringing me home, while so many other families were kept apart for Christmas, due to the weather).
Aric got his putter and I got a racing bike, which I have already clocked 30km on!