Water World

It rained last Saturday night and Sunday. When I went to work, the emergencies were extensive as this amount of rain doesn't fall at once in this part of the world and the city simply cannot drain fast enough. Leaks on roofs that prohibited air conditioning from running, etc. All the maintenance guys were soaked because they don't own raincoats or umbrellas.

This was also the weekend of my first sailing lesson. It hasn't rained in the 14 weeks I've been here and just in time for my first sailing lesson, the heavens open. We had the lesson anyway and had to successfully exit a forced capsize in order to proceed to lesson # 2. The sailing academy is on a quiet stretch of beach where the jet skis don't really hang out. After 16 hours of instruction, one can move onto private lessons and then take the racing instruction. This is the 3rd city where I live by the water - it's high time to learn these essentials!

I was invited on an 80 foot dhow the day after the sailing lesson. A dhow is a handmade wooden boat with design origins dating back centuries. Modern dhows are equipped with a single engine that makes getting in/out of the marina easy but once out, the sail is raised. The particular pleasure of this invitation was that an Omani crew would work the dhow and they play a bagpipe, drums, and finger cymbals, and sing while they work.




This is a typical dhow against the 21st century skyline.


























Nothing but joy on that vessel.

Holiday Season

Acquiring the liquor permit before Thanksgiving was high on my list and my boss and I spent the better part of 3 hours obtaining them the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. The traffic was hell and the line to present the application took an hour. One must enter a small, enclosed office and present a letter from the employer confirming position and income. The application form asked for the usual personal information and oddly enough, there was a line inquiring about religion.

The permit comes with a hideous photo snapped in the tiny office grimly lit with florescent light and one emerges and goes to the other side of the building where after clearing a turnstile, familiar cartons of wine, liquor and beer are immaculately displayed and the music is cranked up to club decibel. There must be behavioral studies demonstrating that after a morose administrative exercise, one is prepared to spend money and will likely spend more in a festive atmosphere. There are no lessons lost on capitalist opportunity here...

While at the checkout, I cracked up at the music, as "Staying Alive" by the Bee Gees was blaring at the very moment that millions of the faithful had made their way to Saudi Arabia for the annual Haj that week despite the global recession and the threat of swine flu, and I was making my first alcohol purchase with a newly minted license - a pilgrimage, indeed.

My cranberry sauce didn't happen at Thanksgiving. I expected the most difficult procurement bit would be the bottle of Pinot Noir my killer recipe requires. Lots of turkeys in the freezer section of several grocery stores but not a cranberry to be found. So my sauce was a hybrid of rhubarb and blackberry, which rocked despite the sourcing adversity.

Shockingly, there's Christmas trim in the stores - about as ugly a representation of cheap ornaments and Santas as I've ever seen, all made in China. There are some sad-looking trees with boxes wrapped underneath. Some shops display handmade ornaments made in Indonesia but they also aren't the best examples and look machine-produced with a touch or two by hand. The British Christmas pudding in a red box has been part of a front display at the expensive grocery store catering to ex-pats since October. The Reese's cups are in the green and red foil. It would be better to abandon these attempts to make the westerners feel at home...after a frankincense facial, I am going to the W for Christmas brunch on Christmas Day. If there's wind, we'll go sailing.