Ride The Wave

We take a moment of silence to mourn the slow and eventual death of our friend "email". You have served us well good friend but it is time to move on. Check out the newest app from Google that will completely revolutionize the way we communicate across the web. This will blow your mind! Enjoy!

Google Wave full demo presentation (80 min)

Google Wave brief overview (if you have time....watch the 80 min one)


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K&E

The Great Malaysian Wildlife Adventure - Part 2

So when we last left our brave heroes, it was the 4th day in Kuala Lumpur and they had just made it back to the hotel after surviving the pit of man-eating fish and the forbidden jungle of green-bean eating monkeys.

The next morning we got up early to head North to the Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary. Earlier in the week we were looking up various things to do online and came across this place just out of the city which is a non-profit elephant rescue and relocation operation located in the Krau Game Reserve. They specialize in caring for injured elephants as well as trapping and relocating elephants that are in danger of some kind of negative human interaction (local tribes hunting them or ones that get too close to villages and cause damage and threaten humans). As part of their efforts to raise awareness and gather donations, they offer free tours of the sanctuary and the opportunity to interact with the elephants and their caretakers.

So we hired a driver through the hotel and headed out to the sanctuary. Upon arrival, we first watched a video presentation on what the organization does and their mission. It was a story of a relocation effort to capture a family of elephants that had invaded a palm plantation and were damaging crops. It's quite the process to find and capture an elephant but what's really amazing is how they are able to transport it. They first tranquilize it just enough so that it can still walk and they load it on a truck then transport it to a boat which takes it into the game reserve. It's really dangerous and difficult for people to move an elephant around so what they do is they take the older elephants that have been in the sanctuary for a while and they train them to help in the process. They have their trained elephants walk along side the captured one both to aid in the moving and lifting process but also to "talk" to it and calm it down during the move. Apparently elephants are very touchy-feely animals and they constantly touch each other with their trunks to show affection and comfort each other.

After the video we went out to watch and participate in some of the elephants' daily routines. Each day they have a very consistent schedule of feeding, training, bathing, and play time and they open a couple hours of the day to allow tourists to take part. First they brought out a baby elephant who was probably about 5 feet tall or so and we were able to pet him and feed him some fruit. He was very sweet and also very animated and kept swaying back and forth just waiting for someone to give him something to eat.

We fed him some bananas and mangoes while we waited for some of the larger ones to come out for their lunch and bath time. While we were waiting, I took a number of photos of the baby elephant and tried to get down lower and take some head on shots which resulted in one of the greatest photos I have ever taken. Every time you put your hand out, the elephant would stretch out his trunk to see if you had any food for him. When I squatted down to take a picture, I held out the camera in front of me and he apparently thought it was food so he stretched out his trunk right at the camera to check out what I had. I was apparently the perfect distance away so he couldn't quite reach me and I was able to get the shot off with perfect timing to get a picture of his trunk right in my face. I turned out to be an awesome picture, especially since you can see his head and eyes in the background as well. It always makes me laugh every time I look at it.

After a few minutes the adults came out and they brought a couple of them out for people to pet and feed. What was strange was that we were pretty alone with the baby elephant but all of a sudden there was this new crowd of people that showed up including a ton of photographers and video cameras. From where we were standing we just saw this giant mob of cameras filming these elephants and interviewing some of the staff and it was all pretty confusing why this was going on. Then we noticed a group of guys all decked out in matching jackets and hats with advertisements all over them. We asked around and quickly figured out that this was a group of four Formula 1 racers that were in KL for a big tournament and had come out to visit the sanctuary. This got really annoying really fast though as we had now shifted to a peaceful, fun time with the elephants into a paparazzi mob complete with news crews, managers, staff people, and sexy ladies whose sole purpose was to stand next to the racers during interviews. So of course these four guys got to do all the activities first and their hordes of camera people followed them everywhere and got in the way of everything. Ugh. But we were still able to do everything and have a great time, ignoring them as much as possible.

After the craziness died down a little bit, they brought the rest of the elephants over to the river for a bath. The staff members just rode them straight into the river and sat on top of them while they scrubbed them down and rinsed off. Then it was our chance to feed them some more so they brought out giant buckets full of huge pieces of melon and other fruit. These elephants were all trained and well mannered so there were a couple of ways we could feed them. We could just hold out the food in front of us and they would grab it with their trunk, or we could lift it up above our heads and they would open their mouths and we could put it right in. We got to do this a few times and ended up with elephant slobber all over our hands...yummy.

Then it was time for the climax of the day, the elephant rides and "play time". So they do little rides around a circle which is fun just to say you've done it but really not too exciting. At the end though, they march one of the elephants into the water while you're on it! This was pretty fun. A group of people would hop on and the elephant would just take a couple steps and splash into the river. We had someone take a video of us which turned out really well (it's included in the You Tube montage if you haven't seen it yet). It was then time to say goodbye, dry off and change then head back to KL.

After another trip to TGI Fridays for our last beef fix before leaving Malaysia, we headed back to the hotel for our early flight to Singapore. We got up Thursday morning around 4am to grab a taxi to the airport. The hotel booked one for us but we ended up with some guy whose cab was seconds away from breaking down and was making awful noises for the entire hour to the airport. We were a little concerned that we might not make it and end up stranded in the middle of nowhere, but luckily his little car made it the whole way. We got all checked in for our flight and landed in Singapore around 9am. We hopped on the much more efficient subway system and headed over to our hotel.

Singapore is a really great city. It's got all the convenience and organization of a US city, it's super easy to get around, everything is spotless, efficient, and well maintained plus it's got a ton of stuff to do and a lot of very diverse parts of town. We started off by going to Orchard Road which is the main shopping area and center of downtown. We had some really great food and did some exploring around the area. We of course stopped in the national library which was HUGE! and really incredible. Elizabeth was super excited and it was a great example of what a utopian library should be. We also stopped in at the world's largest book store which was also ridiculously huge (although still only had a math section comparable to Borders....boo).

We also stopped by the Raffles Hotel which is this really fancy and pretentious colonial hotel named after the founder of Singapore Sir Stamford Raffles. They have a large portion of it open to tourists but also have a fully functioning hotel as well which we were not allowed into. It's an amazing building and was really beautifully designed with fountains and ballrooms and patios and such. Very nice.

The next day we started by heading up to Arab Street and visiting the mosque and Middle Eastern part of town. Then it was off to the waterfront by the river to check out the old colonial buildings and historic sites from the early days of Singapore and Mr. Raffles. We then headed over to China Town and did some shop browsing. We decided to buy a fancy new SLR camera so we were doing some price comparisons here and there as we walked around town. One cool stop in China Town was this Buddhist temple that was beautiful and ornate and surprisingly enough, had a service going on inside while we were there. This was a bizarre experience. First of all, we've never actually seen a Buddhist temple being used before and second it was odd that they just let everyone in to take pictures and watch while they sang and worshiped. It was cool to see such a combination of ancient culture and modern culture at the same time.

We then headed over to hawker stands nearby to have some Chinese food then back to the hotel to get ready for our night activity. Singapore has a pretty large zoo in the center of the island and they do these kinda-cheezy-but-kinda-cool night safaris where you hop on a little tram and they drive through the zoo and show you the animals. When we went, it was a week before Halloween so they had the whole zoo decked out in Halloween decor and had a special "Horror Tram" that was running along side the normal night safari. We just went on the regular one but it was fun to see what a huge event this was and how many kids and teenagers came to do it...quite a neat and elaborate program.

So our little safari was fun. You can't take any pictures because, first of all, it's totally dark, and second because you might scare the animals. What was amazing about the "safari" was how close the animals were to the road. We were literally 3 feet from some tapirs and no more than 15 yards from a huge rhino with no fences or cages or anything around. Kinda scary, but really cool. So we drove around and saw a number of different animals and a lot of it was totally touristy and cheezy but we like a lot of that stuff and it turned out to be pretty neat. They also have a group of fire eater/blower/dancers that did a little show afterward that was kinda fun as well.

On our last day, we didn't fly out until the late afternoon so we spent the morning going down to Sentosa which is a little island connected to the bottom of Singapore that has an aquarium and a bunch of theme park/Disney-type things for families and kids. They also have a few nice beaches down there but unfortunately we didn't find time to get any beach days in. So we went down to the aquarium which was pretty cool but not as good as KL's. It's quite a bit smaller and has less to it. It is also connected to another bird park and butterfly park just like in KL (both of which were not as cool as the first ones). We did get to pet some stingrays and play with some giant bugs (a scorpion and a giant millipede) which was a good way to round out our week of animal adventures. We then headed back to the city to have some lunch and finish running errands and get all our last minute shopping needs taken care of (aka, get some art, buy a camera, and hit up a grocery store) before heading to the airport.

All in all it was a really fun week and Malaysia and Singapore left us wanting to go back and explore some more. These are both definitely places that will be on our radar for future travels and future jobs. So for the final total for our Malaysian Wildlife Adventure:

Birds, Butterflies, Lizards, Monkeys, Sea Creatures, Fireflies, Foot Fish, Elephants, Night-Time Zoo Critters, More Birds, More Butterflies, More Sea Creatures, Insects, and a Partridge in a Pear Tree.

Wait....no partridges actually. I meant parrot. A parrot in a mango tree.

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K&E

The Great Malaysian Wildlife Adventure - Part 1

We are back from our first real vacation of the year in Malaysia which means it's blog time! For Diwali this year we flew to Kuala Lumpur where we spent 5 days then took a short hop over to Singapore for 2 days before heading back to Mumbai. We were expecting to have a relaxing week in two very well developed, clean, and modern cities (which they were) however we quickly found that our activities were all centered around a common theme: animals.

Malaysia is a very nice country and we will probably go back someday to explore all it has to offer. We were staying right in the heart of KL amidst restaurants, hotels, parks, skyscrapers, and malls. However being such a diverse natural region there is a TON of wildlife and untouched jungle just outside the city. The peninsula also has some amazing beaches up north, a number of small island getaways just off the coast and a whole other half of the country on Borneo that holds more of its cultural heritage.

Kuala Lumpur is a pretty cool city as it contains some really modern aspects but at the same time still has a little feeling of a developing country. For instance they have a number of really great public transit systems in place including a light rail, monorail, subway, and commuter train. However, they were all built by separate companies at separate times so none of them really connect to each other. So all transfers between lines means you have to leave the station and walk a few blocks up the road to another station. Still, it's better than nothing and I applaud any city that has a rail system in place no matter how weird it may be. It is, however, a very hard city to walk around as there are not a lot of designated sidewalks and the roads have lots of overpasses and cumbersome intersections that often make walking from point A to point B quite an adventure. Even so, exploring cities on foot is what we do best so we quickly got the hang of things.

We left Mumbai after midnight and arrived in KL in the early morning after a 5 hour flight. We found our way on to the commuter train (after an awkward journey across the street from the airport to reach the station) and made a connection onto the monorail towards our hotel. We stayed at the Hotel Equatorial which I highly recommend not only as a very comfortable, upscale, affordable place to stay but also for its amazing location right next to the monorail stop and only a 10 minute walk to the center of the city.

We dropped off our stuff, took a nap and a shower, had some lunch then took off to start exploring the city. We started by going over to Chinatown which, like most Chinatowns, felt a lot like being in China. There were Chinese shops and a few temples here and there but mostly Chinatown was about the shopping. There were two big markets that we went to, the first being a street market selling mostly jewelry, clothes, shoes, and bags from knock-off brand names.

The second is a spot called Central Market which is more of an artisan market. This was a little more interesting as it had a lot more handicrafts and was housed in a building that was much quieter and had the shops well laid out and organized. We walked around for a while then went outside where they had a free "cultural show" which that evening consisted of a local martial arts class doing some drills for us. It was then back to the hotel to get rested for our first full day of walking.

The next morning we took off toward the KL bird park which is one of the largest in the world. On the way we stopped by the national mosque where we walked around for a few minutes before it closed for prayer time. We also stopped in at the Islamic Museum which was actually really interesting. The main galleries are divided into geographic regions where they give a brief history of how Islam developed in that area of the world along with a collection of artifacts.

The most interesting to me was the history of Islam in China which for some reason I had never really considered before. When we read about the religious/philosophical influences in China all we hear is usually Taoism, Confucianism, Buddhism, and Christianity. We never hear about Islam even though it makes sense that there would be a big Islamic influence given all the Persian and Arab trade that came through the region. It really blew my mind that I had never thought of that before and made me want to go back to China again and try to find some more of this history. It was really cool to see a Chinese mosque (which incidentally looks very similar to other Chinese temple architecture) and, my personal favorite, some old Chinese-style calligraphy written in Arabic. The other really neat exhibit was a big room full of miniature models of famous mosques and Islamic landmarks from across the globe. All in all, a very neat museum and definitely worth a visit if you ever go to KL.

After some more walking we made it to the bird park. It was a bit pricey to get in but it was definitely worth it.

The majority of the birds are free to roam around the sanctuary and you can get ridiculously close to them. We saw all sorts of birds including parrots, hawks, flamingos (which I thought were really ugly when you actually look at them), storks, ostrich, and our favorite, the peacock. They had a bunch of peacocks just walking around and we got a good show from them a number of times. We spent quite a while exploring the bird park including going to a cheesy little free bird show. We also went into the parrot sanctuary where Elizabeth paid a few ringgits to get a little cup of water and some seeds to feed the birds. She held them out in her hands and quickly had a nice little row of birds sitting on her arm. We came away with some great pictures and it was neat to be able to get that close to them.

We then walked back to the monorail to head over to the center of town and visit the Petronas Towers and the mall. On our way back from the bird park we stopped to take some pictures of the mosque from our vantage point on the hill when all of a sudden there was a giant lizard in front of us just sitting on a rock. It was a little strange after just leaving the bird park since we still felt like we were in a zoo. It was definitely wild though and it was just unexpected to see it sitting next to the road.

We steered clear of the lizard and made our way to the giant mall housed beneath the towers. It felt nice just to walk around a mall even though it was full of high end Gucci, Versace, etc. junk and there was really nothing there to shop for. It was neat to see the towers all lit up at night though as they are the key landmark of the city and they are really amazing.

The next day we went back to the bird park area where they also had a large butterfly park and orchid garden. We spent the morning walking amongst the butterflies and strolling through the

orchid garden which was very pretty even though we think that many of the flowers had recently been planted and the garden was not yet up to its fullest potential. On our way back down the hill we passed some caution signs with pictures of monkeys on them and laughed and took some pictures. We then came to the same place we had seen the lizard the day before and this time there was a giant pile of bananas sitting on the ground. And of course there was a big group of monkeys jumping all around the trees and sidewalk. Again we laughed at the irony and how bizarre it was to see a big group of monkeys hovering over a giant pile of bananas. They were funny but still wild and a bit scary so we took some more photos and quickly went to the other side of the road for the rest of the walk down the hill.

It was then back to the hotel to get ready for our first trip out of the city. A couple hours north of KL there is a river that is home to one of the world's largest colonies of fireflies. They are protected by the Malaysian government and they have a few organizations that provide evening river tours to watch them. So we got a driver and headed out to see the fireflies. On the way we stopped by a hill town in Bukit Selangor to eat and see a quick bit of Malaysian history. This hill was the old capital of Selangor when it was ruled by sultans in the 18th century. When the area was invaded they build a fortress on the hill to defend themselves.

The story our guide told us was that they were far outnumbered in both soldiers and weaponry and were thus defeated. However, before they left, they poisoned the well atop the hill and over time the enemies began to get sick and die. Once their army had diminished enough, they attacked again and reclaimed their city. It was overthrown again years later and much of the area has been destroyed but there are still some neat lookout towers, a lighthouse, and some cannons from the original fortress. It also has the Royal Mausoleum where the three sultans are buried.

The other neat thing about this hill is that it is infested with silver-leaf monkeys that have become a regular part of the tourist attraction. They are very mild and you can buy peanuts or green beans and hand feed them. We were pretty skeptical about this after living in India and seeing the disgusting and nasty monkeys we have all over the place. These ones were very fun though, they just put out their hands and you give them a green bean. They all just sat quietly and waited for us to give them something. It was amazing how docile and patient they were.

We then left towards the river where we hopped in a traditional river boat (like a flat canoe) and paddled quietly up the river. It was dark out and it was tough to see the fireflies until you got close to the banks of the river and then all of a sudden it looked like flashing Christmas lights in the bushes. Our river guide would steer the boat right into the bushes so we were able to catch them and look at them up close. Of course it was dark so we just saw little blinking lights but after growing up in a place without fireflies it was really fun. I was surprised first of all by how tiny they were, maybe only half a centimeter long and how they all flashed in unison. It was crazy how they were able to all be synchronized. We tried to take some pictures but we couldn't use the flash so all we really got was blackness with the occasional little dot. It was a very peaceful and relaxing ride and definitely worth the 2 hour drive back to KL.

Day four was spent mostly just hanging out, shopping, and walking around the malls. In the morning though we went out to the Batu Caves which are some really pretty natural caves just outside the city that were taken over by Hindus and turned into a temple of sorts. There is a long staircase going up to the caves with a giant gold statue out front that was by far the most exciting thing about the caves. Once inside you realize that, although the actual rocks are amazing, the place has been invaded by Indians which means its scattered with garbage and felt like walking through the streets of Mumbai. Way to show respect for your own sacred places guys. Seriously...I'll never be able to wrap my head around that.

We then headed over to the aquarium which was really impressive. It wasn't huge but it had a great layout and lots of cool exhibits. One of the neatest ones was the piranha tank where they do feedings a few times a day which was really fun to watch. They took out a squid in 16 seconds...ouch. They also had a really nice ceiling aquarium that you could walk through and watch all the sharks and rays above. Very cool. From there we went next door to the "Aquazone" fish therapy center. If you have never seen this, there are these Garra rufa fish that live off of eating dead skin. They are about the size of your pinky finger and they have no teeth so they just suck dead skin cells off your body.

Gross?....kind of. Totally worth it?.....yes.

They are used all over the world and are commonly known as "doctor fish" as they are often used to treat skin diseases as they only remove dead and damaged skin and leave healthy skin to grow. Quite amazing little critters when you think about it. So we went in and dunked our feet into a big tank of them for about 40 minutes and it was really fun. It was totally creepy at first and you can see some of our pictures of skeptical faces when they started to nibble. After a while it started to feel nice....like little pinpoint vibrations all over your feet. Weird, but nice. And they did a pretty good job on the pedicure too. All in all a really fun time, especially since our feet were totally exhausted from all our non stop walking around town.

After stopping by the mall and having some steak at TGIFridays (oh yeah!!) we headed back to the hotel to get a good night's sleep before our next big adventure....the elephant sanctuary.

Stay tuned for part 2. Until next time, the pictures are up on Picasa. We've split it into two folders, one for Kuala Lumpur and one for Singapore. We've also made a short video of some of our favorite wildlife experiences and put it on YouTube. Enjoy!

Days: 4 Animal Encounters: 8

To be continued.....

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K&E

When Lightning Strikes Twice

The monsoon this year has been a very interesting beast. They say that it comes in quietly and goes out with a bang yet we seem to be having a lot of bang and no end.

A few weeks ago there was a feeling in the air that the rain was about to end and skies were clearing up. Besides, the monsoon this year has been very mild so it seemed it would go out unnoticed. Then the storms came.

For the first time since we've been here we experienced the full fury of the monsoon. Torrential downpour, ominous dark red clouds, and the feeling that Zeus and Thor were having a fight to the death right above our heads. If you have ever been in an east-coast or mid-west thunder storm you can get a close idea of what was happening except that I have never heard thunder that was that steady and with such a constant rumble. And the lightning....oh the lightning.

With so much humidity and cloud cover and pollution the lightning is very bright and touches down quite easily....especially on building rooftops....namely our rooftop.

Now for those who haven't had science class in a long time, when lightning strikes the air around it is superheated causing an enormous change in pressure which translates into a sound wave which is heard as thunder. So longer lengths of lightning or strikes that branch several times create many different waves which gives that rolling thunder effect. This is what we usually hear during a storm because of our distance away from the strikes. You might also remember the fun trick of counting the number of seconds between the light and the sound to tell how far away the strike was. Five seconds is a little over a mile away, one second is 1125 feet away, and zero seconds.....

Now this is actually my third time getting "hit" by lightning (some say it's my electric personality, I say it's my animal magnetism) and if you've never been that close to a bolt of lightning you can imagine that the light and sound would come at the same time....and boy do they. The big difference is you don't hear the rolling echo of a sound wave, you just hear a "crack" as the air around you explodes outwards. This happened to our apartment twice during this particular storm resulting in some hair standing on end, shivers down the spine, and the loss of a number of electrical appliances including a couple tv's and pretty much everyone's internet router.

Lucky for us that we have the most friendly and reliable internet company around so they came right away and fixed everything. Oh wait....we have You Telecom.....I forgot. They actually denied that there was any problem with our connection and refused to send anyone out until we got the entire apartment and the school involved to yell at them and force some action.

What I meant to say was lucky for us that we have the most friendly and reliable IT staff in the country who volunteered their evening to come over and babysit the incompetent You Telecom service people as they went room by room fixing everyone's internet. Our IT guys are amazing and I just want to go on record saying that I think ASB should buy some server space and set up an internet company because I know they would be miles ahead of the other ridiculous companies out there.

Most of the electronics around the building were fixed no problem but there were some casualties so we are now very cautious every time there is a thunderstorm to unplug all the important stuff. After the big strikes were over, the storm moved out over the water and a few of us went up to the roof to try to catch a look and get some pictures. Our buddy Dave brought his fancy camera up there and took some shots with long exposure and ended up getting some really nice results, like the image above.

As I mentioned in the beginning, we thought this would be the big finale to monsoon season but we have had at least 5 more big rain/thunderstorms since then so we're not really sure what to think. One day is beautiful clear skies and the next is a crazy storm. We had another storm last night and it has been raining non stop all day. We can't complain though, the city needs it since the rest of the monsoon has been so mild. Hopefully the reservoir is getting full enough to sustain everyone for the rest of the year.

I just hope it gets it out of it's system before next week when we head back to Matheran for Week Without Walls (although to view a thunderstorm from the hill station would be pretty sweet). So next time someone says that lightning never strikes twice you make sure to tell them that it sure can and you better unplug your appliances if it does.


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K&E

Ode to the Swine Flu Security Guard

To the brave and partially trained men who stand behind the thermal scanner in our entry way each morning who's sole duty is to watch 800 men and women pass by and stop those with high temperatures...we salute you.
_____________________________________________________

Twoscore and five days ago this author brought forth on this blog a new post conceived in frustration, and dedicated to the proposition that all types of flu should be treated equal.

Now we are engaged in a great temperature war, testing whether that school, or any school, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a testing place for those who here gave their temperatures that that school might live.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate...we can not consecrate...we can not hallow this ground. The brave men behind the thermal scanners have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.

The world will little note, nor long remember what we post here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the symptom-free, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who stood here have thus far so nobly advanced.

It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored guards we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these men shall not have stood for hours in vain—that this school, under Paul, shall have a new birth of freedom from flu—and that academics: of the student, by the student, for the student, shall not perish from the earth.


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K&E

Hello?...Anybody Home?...

Yes....it's been about a month and a half since our last post and yes...we are still alive. We avoided the swine flu and survived distance learning and now it appears that my calendar says October and it still feels like school just started. I have been significantly busier this year with new responsibilities and new committees which has meant less time for planning and school work and more time spent in meetings and working on projects.

Things are starting to calm down a little bit now as we gear up for Week Without Walls and Diwali although with two weeks out of the classroom it is going to make October go by even quicker. Before we know it, Christmas vacation will be upon us and the first semester will be over. Crazy.

It is currently Sunday of our first 3 day weekend of the year which means the first real weekend that we have spent relaxing and taking a break from work (although Elizabeth is still working on her grad school assignments as I write). So as a result, you get the treat of our first real posting of the school year. I've been keeping track of all the things I've wanted to post about over the last month and I bring them to you in a few separate entries. Enjoy.

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K&E

First Days of (Face to Face) School

Well, yesterday was the first day of school being open to students. If you have read our previous post, you will remember that the school was shut down for a week because of the N1H1 scare. The media here is pretty crazy and in our opinion, over hyping the situation. But that means our school has to take extra precautions to calm fears.

They have asked everyone, students, parents, faculty and staff to take their temperatures before coming to school. If anyone has a fever, they are required to stay home. To help enforce this, they are asked to bring a "coupon" in that has their name, division and temperature on it. For those who don't have access to a thermometer at home, we now have one of those fancy shmancy thermal cameras to check people temperature. That means getting around 1000 people in our secure, turn-style entrance, and checking for their coupon or directing them to walk by the thermal scanner. Oh, and on top of all this, the roads around our school are being re-done and are a complete mess, adding to the chaos of morning drop offs.

Day1: Elizabeth wakes up extra early to get to school and help out with directing the crowd. I get in the shower and about 20 secs later, the water has run out. This is due to the fact that the monsoon has been very weak in Mumbai this season, and there isn't always enough water to go around. The irony of this is that at the moment my shower water runs out, it is pouring down outside and thunder and lighting begins.

All in all, the first morning however, turned out to be OK. We got a little bit of water about 20 minute later, enough for both Elizabeth & Kevin to get in a quick first day of school shower! And by the time we got to school, the rain had stopped. All we had to deal with was getting everyone in collecting coupons and/or going past the thermal scanner. There were a few glitches here and there, but overall pretty successful.

Day 2: Again we wake up to pouring rain. Rain hard enough so that Suri refused to go outside to the bathroom (although, really it doesn't take much rain for that to happen!). So far the few rains we have had this year have been not so much a downpour as a medium to heavy rain, that last about 5 minutes and then are gone. Well, not today! It pours all morning as we get ready, as we drive to school. It's raining so hard that they have actually rearranged the traffic flow to get people as close as possible to the entrance. This is probably a good thing as not only is it pouring, but the street outside, as mentioned before, are under construction, i.e. muddy!

This is by far the hardest rain I have seen since I've been here. Granted that may not say much as both years so far have been pretty tame. However it is still pouring and the new secure entrance they built, with nice indoor gates and booths, has no eves on them, so excess water is pouring into the entrance or right at the threshold of the entrances. Also, the tarp overhangs that are always there has no way to get rid of the water, so the have basically poked a hole in it as a drain, right in the middle of the walkway. And, just when I think it couldn't rain any harder, it does indeed get worse...this happens at least twice in the morning. This is a classic India experience.

In all reality though, besides the downpour, which had some people rather upset, they whole coupon/thermal scan again went well. I was out collecting and directing again for about an hour, in which time my shoes, socks and bottom half of my pants got completely soaked, even though I was not standing in the rain. After the school offered to take me home to change, they jokingly told me I was not aloud to call in sick on Monday.

This whole process will continue for the foreseeable future, or at least until those advising us say we don't need to monitor for fevers. Here are a few of my favorite moments from the last few days:

1. Some parents filled in a months worth of coupons for themselves and their children and turned them in...kind of defeats the purpose.

2. Someone turned in a coupon today that said their temperature was 84 degrees Fahrenheit. There could be a number of reasons for this, but lets hope that wasn't their actual temp!


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K&E

Back To School.....kind of

Well we are back in Mumbai and have already had a pretty interesting couple of weeks. First of all our flight from Syracuse to Newark was delayed so we missed our initial flight back here. Luckily, we were able to get on a flight the next day so we ended up spending a night in lovely Newark. We were supposed to take the non-stop from Newark to Mumbai but instead got a different flight through London.

We left for the airport the next night and found out that our flight was again delayed for a couple hours which wasn't a big deal except for the fact that we had to make a connection in London which now went from 2 hours to 20 minutes. So we FINALLY leave Newark and arrive in London where we had 20 minutes to run across the airport, take a 10 minute bus over to the other terminal, go through security, and get on the flight. We arrived at the gate as the doors were closing to hear that we could still get on the flight but there was no way that our luggage was going to make the connection.

That was good enough for us since we had already wasted a day and a half of travel time. So we get to Mumbai and as expected our bags are not there. Surprisingly, the staff at the airport were very efficient and helpful and we filled out some forms and the bags were delivered the next day. And all of our stuff was still in them too! We were pleasantly surprised and lucky that it went so smoothly.

It's definitely a very different feeling being back for the second year. It was nice to be able to go run errands on our first day back and know where everything is and how to get around. The apartment was all clean and ready to go. The pug was happy and healthy and it's been a smooth transition back into things.

We had our first days of training and are all ready to get back into things. The first day of school was supposed to be yesterday but unfortunately public swine flu mass hysteria outweighed the logical decisions of the government and forced all schools to close for a week. I've been pissed off about swine flu "pandemic" ever since it began so I won't waste more time complaining about how horribly it's been handled and how illogical and over-reactive people are. What's done is done and we are now closed for a week. So instead of class, we will be creating online lessons and sending them out to students next week to work on independently at home. So this week is basically just time sitting around at school planning how we are going to present this in a way that is simple and meaningful. So far so good, the school has done a great job preparing for this so it looks like everything will go smoothly on Monday when "class" begins.

It's good to be back and we are excited for the year which makes it frustrating to have this delay. Even so, it gives everyone a little more time to get settled which could turn out to be a good thing. The festivals are starting up again and Ganesh immersion will be happening in the next couple weeks so we will try and get some good coverage of that. We are planning to go over to someone's house and actually see the whole thing from a local's point of view. Should be interesting.

But for now we sit in Limbo waiting for things to get started. More news to come as the year starts to pick up. Thanks for a great summer! We are so glad we got to see so many people! Take care and enjoy your year!


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K&E

Long Time No Blog

Well its officially been 1 month since our last post which means we must be busy or something. :-) The past month has been going by very quickly with all the end of year activities at school: final performances, assemblies, meetings, taxes, travel plans, grades, exams, projects, and on and on. So yeah, we've been a bit busy.

For the most part, it's all been typical end of school business yet there have been a couple noteworthy happenings in the past few weeks. First of all, Elizabeth got a last minute opportunity to go to Hong Kong with a group of drama students. With all the worry about swine flu they thought it would be a good idea to have an extra chaperone just in case, so Elizabeth got to spend 4 days just hanging out in Hong Kong. Not a bad deal. While she was gone, Suri and I took care of the house and spent alot of time sleeping in and getting school work done.

As for school, final exams started this week and continue through Tuesday. We are finishing up some projects and gearing up for the last 5 days. I'm going in to school tomorrow to do one last review session for our test on Monday and then its time to grade and write comments one last time. I've also signed on for a number of new committees and projects for next year including being the math department chair so there is some planning that needs to take place before we leave to put us in a good place to start up again in August.

And the most important new occurance is that we are officially the proud owners of tickets to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa!! I'm much more excited about this that Elizabeth but still, we are up for a big vacation next summer. The tentative plan is to go to Cape Town for 5 days, then to Durban for 6 days, Nelspruit for 5 days, then Johannasburg for 4 days. We will go to 3 group games and 1 round of 16 game. We are also planning to do a 3 day safari while in Nelspruit. I am really really really excited and ready to start booking tickets as soon as the airlines let us.

Other than that it is just time to pack and cram in as much work as we can in the next 7 days. We leave one week from Monday and will hopefully have some time to relax in our busy summer schedule. We will be going between Seattle and Boise for the first month then its off to Syracuse for Elizabeth's classes. We are excited to be home and already have our Target and Costco lists prepared :-) Hopefully we wil be able to see lots of people and look forward to a well deserved break. Hope all is well back home and we will see you soon!!

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K&E

New ASB Video

In the last month or so we had film editor Tony Pappa at our school filming for our new promotional video. He came up with a really fantastic collection of images and interviews that really capture the city and the school. Enjoy!!

ASB Video

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K&E

No Longer in De-Nile

First, I'm going to give you a second to re-read the title of this post. Second, I'm going to apologize for writing the title of this post. I couldn't resist making a joke about the Nile and I am deeply, deeply sorry. I searched long and wide through the banks of my memory but I've been all tied up with work and couldn't dig up anything better. I even asked my mummy but she was no help. My pa piously pondered but his ideas were all dried up too. Man, this post really sphinx. Sorry, I'll just bury it. Oh siriously...I'll wrap it up, I'm getting horace from laughing so hard. I guess this is what happens when you try to post at tomb-fifteen in the morning. The ideas just kept un kamen....it's like a curse or something.

Sorry, it starts with a title then before you know it your'e in a vicious pun spiral. I couldn't help it. :-)

Well we are back from our spring break in Egypt and long over due for an update so hold on to your galabeyas because this is a long one (and I swear it will get better so please don't leave yet). The past few weeks have pretty much been filled with classes, planning, and preparations for spring break. There was a major conference for the Near East Schools Association (NESA) being held in Cairo this year so we decided this would be a great opportunity to go to a great conference and have an excuse to go to Egypt which isn't too bad either.

Our school is also doing some work around standards and assessment and I had the opportunity to go to a special NESA pre-conference dealing with math standards that began two days before the actual conference. So I left for Cairo on Wednesday to attend that two day session then Elizabeth and all the other folks from ASB arrived on Friday afternoon for the full conference.

The nice thing about conferences is that they are held at super fancy hotels. The bad part is that you have to deal with the ridiculous nature of a super fancy hotel. I checked into the Conrad Hilton in Cairo on Wednesday and immediately remembered why I hate Hiltons so much. They provided wireless internet in the lobbies and rooms which was great except that it cost 50$ A DAY!!! Oh, and you can only have it on one computer. Oh, and its a different charge if you want to connect to the wired internet cable in your room. Oh, and they have a completely different wireless connection in each of the conference rooms where we were having our sessions for which you have to pay a different connection fee.

So basically, the Hilton was hosting a giant international conference including presentations that required multimedia and internet connections but gave nobody free internet access. Brilliant. Especially when presenters had to change the entire content and structure of their talks because the hotel wouldn't give them internet access.

Anyway, we paid their stupid fees so we could get to our email and access our flight and travel info. Other than that (and the overpriced unfulfilling "gourmet" dinners that tasted like crap) the hotel was very nice. They had a very lovely pool that closed at sunset and even had rooms with beds in them. Good thing the school gives us professional development stipends to pay for the 200$ a night bill.

Stepping down from my soapbox though, it was a very lovely time. The conference was very successful and I think we both came away with lots of great ideas. The sessions lasted until Tuesday and in that time we had 5 free evenings and 2 free afternoons to explore Cairo. My first night there I walked around with Jane (the other pre-conference teacher coming from ASB) and explored the area around the Nile and our hotel. The hotel is located right on the Nile so we were able to take a nice evening stroll around town and managed to cover a good deal of ground.

When the rest of the ASB crew showed up, we started our adventures by heading down town to the Khan el Khalili market. This was a bustling tourist market full of all sorts of wonderful stuff for sale. We spent a good few hours walking around, bartering and making some good steals on a couple items. On our way out we stopped at a little place to eat. The owner of the "restaurant" was in the street like every other salesman trying to sell people into eating at his place.

We accepted his offer as it was pretty much the only place to eat in the market and had a seat. The menu was full of mostly traditional middle eastern items: falafels, shawarma, kebabs, etc. They also had a margarita pizza that sounded pretty good so I ordered that while everyone else got falafels and shawarma (which comes on a fluffy hamburger bun in Egypt...weird). After about 5 minutes they brought out some plates of vegetables, hummus, and pitas which we think were the "salads" that came with everyone's meal. We then waited and waited and after about 10 minutes, realized that nobody was actually in the kitchen making any food. The staff was all out in the street trying to "sell" their restaurant to other tourists.

After another 5 minutes we finally see the owner walk into the restaurant with some bags from across the street. At this point, they start bustling around the kitchen and immediately bring out our meals. I had thought it funny that their menu was all traditional Egyptian food except for the pizza and proceeded to realize that was because they didn't actually make pizzas here. They had outsourced my meal to a restaurant across the street. I had paid him to go order a pizza at a different restaurant (probably for a much lower price) then bring it back in a take out bag and put it on a plate. Excellent.

We all enjoyed our meals though and only paid about 10$ for all seven of us. That's one thing that was very nice about Egypt. Eating out at the little local restaurants was very inexpensive. We probably spent about 10 times more on taxis as we did on food for the whole trip.

The next day on Saturday we decided to venture out to the pyramids after the sessions were through. There was a tour company set up in the lobby to organize a trip for 15 of us to go at 4pm. One fact we later noticed was that most things that are important and interesting to see close around 5. So we hopped on our bus and drove about 40 minutes across the river to Giza to visit the pyramids.

I think many people like myself thought the pyramids were out in the middle of the desert somewhere but in fact they are right on the edge of Giza. They have houses and shops built right up to the edge of them. Our bus arrived and our tour guide said we needed to choose an activity to do: either take a camel ride or go inside the pyramid. We've already done the camel thing before and were not too thrilled by it so we decided to buy a ticket to go inside the pyramid. Our tour guide then gave us 15 minutes of free time to see the pyramid and do our activity. What!?! 15 minutes...are you serious!!! I know...tell me about it. So we quickly snapped some photos on our way up to the pyramid then a group of us went down inside.

We crouched down and worked our way down a ramp through a tunnel about 4 ft high until we reached a couple open caverns, one of which had an large stone coffin. Everything was of course empty and dark and musty and smelly and claustrophobic but it was pretty cool to be inside the pyramids. We made our way back out and were told that it was time to leave so we walked very very very slowly back to the bus to try to get the most out of our 5 minutes by the greatest architectural achievements in the history of mankind.

We then hopped back on the bus and drove about 100 yards to the Sphinx which sits directly in front of the center pyramid. We got about twice as much time there, which was still only 30 minutes then drove to a papyrus shop so the tour company could get some commission. We spent longer in the shop than at the pyramids, but whatever...I'm not bitter. The papyrus was really cool though and they showed us the process for making it and let us walk around and buy some paintings.

Now those that don't remember your middle school ancient civilizations unit on Egypt, the pyramids were built as tombs to house the bodies of pharaohs and first began construction during the Old Kingdom over 4600 years ago. It started when early builders began building a single step or mastaba on top of the grave to signify it as higher status than others. This later evolved into laying multiple steps on each other to create the first step pyramids which were later redesigned and smoothed out to get the shapes we see today. The Pyramids at Giza include three major pyramids: Pyramid of Menkaure, Pyramid of Khafre, and the Pyramid of Khufu or "The Great Pyramid".

As the story goes, after Khufu built the great pyramid, his son Khafre tried to out do his father by building a bigger and better pyramid. If you compare the two Khafre's looks slightly taller but in fact this is only because he built it with a steeper angle and built it on a hill. Nice try Khafre. Although he may not have beat out his dad, many believe that Khafre was the one who also built the Sphinx though that is still debated.

The next night we decided that we wanted a second look at the pyramids to make up for being so rushed so a group of us got a taxi and went to the evening light show. Now any good tourist light show at a historic monument must have a few key items:

1. A narrator who is over the top and speaks with a 12th century English accent (in this case the Sphinx apparently)
2. A rainbow of lights and lasers
3. A scripted storyline written in the 1950's
4. Carefully selected background music and sound effects to create drama, drama, drama

Luckily, the pyramid light show had all of these which made it very entertaining. Though the cheese factor was very high, it felt good to have a chance to just sit and take in the experience for a while since we were so rushed the first time. The show was only 45 minutes long so we headed back toward the hotel to relax and make the most out of our overpriced internet before going to bed.

The rest of our time in Cairo was spent doing conference activities including some evening galas although we did get to go to the Cairo museum for a bit which was definitely worth the trip. They had some really great displays of statues, treasures, heiroglyphs, and mummies (both human and animal) I didn't know this but they apparently mummified all sorts of stuff to keep in the tomb for the after life including family pets and offerings of livestock. They would mummify a leg of lamb or a family's pet monkey. They even mummified local creatures that represented gods, especially crocodiles. There was a great display of a mummified crocodile that was at least 10 feet or more. I will say this again later but it is incredible how well everything is preserved.

Once the conference ended we spent our last free afternoon on a felluca

ride on the Nile which was really nice. We had a very friendly captain from Aswan who was telling us all about how he preferred his home town over Cairo because his boss was a jerk. The weather in Cairo was stunning and being out on the Nile was very peaceful and relaxing and a good way to end our work time and start our real vacation. (Notice I'm wearing jeans and a sweatshirt in Egypt, perfect weather). After some lunch we took a cab over to the Citadel and Mohamed Ali Mosque but it was closing so we only got to walk around for about 20 minutes before they kicked everyone out. Then it was back to the hotel for dinner and packing for our cruise!

The next morning we caught a flight down to Aswan where we started our 3 night cruise up the Nile to Luxor. We were picked up at the airport and taken to the boat where we met our guide Tarek. We got all checked in and immediately took off for a tour around Aswan.

I really liked Aswan. It is a decent sized city but lies right at the mouth of Lake Nasser and has a more natural and peaceful feel to it. I wish we had more time to spend there as it seems like a great place to go for a few days to really relax. Cairo was a really cool city as well but still has that populated, trafficy, dirty, big asian city feel like Mumbai.

While in Aswan we took a trip to the High Dam which was a joint project by Egypt and Russia to provide funds and resources in return for military support during the cold war. It is build on the edge of Lake Nasser and not only provides a more controlled flow of the Nile and its annual floods, but also creates a great deal of hydroelectric power that is used in Aswan and exported elsewhere. There is a lot of interesting history behind the dam especially concerning the Nubian villages that were flooded out after its creation. Upon realizing this, the Egyptian government paid to have their entire village relocated to the other side of the dam which has created some tension and ethnic disparity. The dam has also blocked all the silt that makes the northern delta so fertile and has blocked most wildlife from entering the Nile from the south, especially crocodiles. There are currently little to no crocodiles in the Nile as they are all blocked in Lake Nasser. Nonetheless, it is an impressive project.

The most interesting thing about the dam is what happened to the Philae islands around it. When Lake Nasser was created it not only flooded entire villages but also some temples and significant ancient sites, the most famous being the Philae Temple. After it flooded they left it underwater for a number of years until they discovered that it was beginning to get damaged by wildlife and that the paint was quickly deteriorating. As a result, UNESCO declared it a world heritage site and began the 8 year project of moving the entire temple piece by piece to its current location above water. To do this they tagged and numbered each individual stone which is still visible to this day.

That evening our boat took off toward Luxor. The cruise ship was decent sized although nothing compared to the big cruise ships in the Mediterranean or Bahamas. It had 3 floors including a pool on the roof and a nice bar/club/coffee shop to hang out in. There was also a massage parlor downstairs which we unfortunately did not have time to visit. We cruised on the Jamilia and it was all very nice. I would highly recommend it.

What made everything so wonderful though was really our tour guide Tarek. He was fantastic. We signed up for this cruise package through Memphis Tours online and they took really good care of us. We were Tarek's only customers so everything we did was our own special private tour and he was such a wonderful person and talented tour guide that we felt really lucky to have him with us. Each day we would stop and visit some temples along the Nile and they were all so fabulous and breathtaking that I don't have time to tell you every detail about each one.

In general though, I think the thing that amazed me the most was how well preserved everything was. On top of that it, was really incredible how passionate and friendly everyone was in Egypt. They deeply love their country and are so proud of their rich history and, being a country that thrives mainly on tourism, is full of friendly faces welcoming you around every corner. What was so interesting is that we didn't only see this from our guide and the people we encountered day to day, but you could feel it when you looked at the temples and all that the Egyptian civilization created. They were passionate and committed and worked extremely hard. Not to mention they were a brilliant people. It's incredible how they came up with so many practical and logical ways to do things.

To give you an idea of what we saw and learned, here is a link to understanding all the different parts of the temples and what they represented: Architecture of Egyptian Temples

Every temple, depending on the time period in which it was built, has similar defining

characteristics. Of the temples we saw, most were from the Ptolemaic Period and shared a similar layout. Also, there are a number of key stories and relationships between the gods and godesses who's images are drawn on the temple walls. Again, I can't explain it all here, but it was amazing how their writings and drawings were so easy to understand if you knew the stories. Everything was written with clear and purposeful symbols to communicate ideas visually so even the illiterate could read and understand the story. Amazing, amazing, amazing.

Check out our pictures as we tried to capture all the detail, grandeur, passion, symbolism, and cleverness that the Egyptians had to offer. Not an easy task, but if you have some time to read the links in this post you might be able to decipher some of the patterns and details yourself.

We ended our cruise in Luxor with a trip to the Karnak Temple, Luxor Temple, and the Valley of the Kings. The trip to the Valley of the Kings was interesting even though it, like everything else, felt a little more like Disney Land than an ancient wonder. There was a lot of standing in line and herds of people but once we got into the tombs it was really neat to see everthing painted and its hard not to imagine yourself as the first archeologist who stumbled onto this tomb full of treasure. They were of course all empty now as the contents were either stolen or moved to museums but it was still easy to imagine what it would have looked like in all its glory. We only had time to go in 2 tombs and ended up in Ramses IV and Ramses II. King Tut's tomb was there but we would have had to pay another 40$ to go in and we didn't feel like doing that. Maybe another time :-)

After our last meal on board the ship, we had an extra day to walk around the city and visit some markets and museums before heading to the airport. All in all we had a fabulous time and I would love to go back someday. I should mention that the next day and a half was miserable as our flight time was changed and we missed our international connection, had to buy new tickets and spend a night on the floor of the Cairo airport. Happy Easter. But I won't go into that because we left having a really wonderful time and some memories we will hold on to forever.

We took some video there as well and that is coming soon. Sorry for the long post but its hard to sum up 4000 years of history in a page. Hope I did it justice. Enjoy!

Here is a list of sites we saw if you want more info: Pyramids of Giza, Sphinx, Lake Nasser High Dam, Philae Temple, Temple of Edfu, Temple of Kom-Ombo, Queen Hatshepsut's Temple, Colossi of Memnon, Valley of the Kings, Karnak Temple, and Luxor Temple

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K&E

Elizabeth's New Hobby

There are two things I have always wanted to do:

1. Learn how to use Photoshop
2. Scrapbook

Both are time consuming and often costly. Photoshop has a huge learning curve. Scrapbooking can cost excessive amounts of money because of all the books, papers, ribbons and embellishments to buy as well as all the photos to print.

So the other day at work, I was looking at a PDF document for Early Childhood standards, and some of the pages looked an awful lot like they were scrapbooked. It occurred to me there, must be a way to do it all online and hence my new hobby: Digital Scrapbooking.

I've been looking for something to do, other than watch TV and read books, since I just don' t do the same things here in India as I did in the States. I think this is the perfect thing! I've only just started, but am so excited that I get to do both the things on my list. I have found a great website called DigitalScrapbookPlace.com that has many free tutorial as well as some free page kits. So far I've learned just some basics but have had a lot of fun with what is available.

As I get more involved, I may decide to spend more money to take more intense classes or buying page kits, but for now, it's a free hobby. The other great thing about doing it digitally, is that you can spend $3 or $4 to buy "paper", "embellishments", "ribbons" and other items, and you get to use them over, and over and over again.

So here are the first few things I put together. Two pages and one "background paper" I created. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do:

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K&E

Holy HOLI!!!

It's time for another wild Indian festival and this time it's the spring festival of Holi. Of all the Indian festivals, this is one of the more well known and widely celebrated across the country. It is technically a Hindu holiday but is celebrated by all religions because its just so fun and centers around that universal idea of spring-time renewal and a time to wipe the slate clean. 

The basic story goes like this: There was a god of all the demons named Hiranyakashipu who had a son named Prahlada and a daughter named Holika. Prahlade was a firm believer in Vishnu which went against everything that his father represented so Hiranyakashipu tried to kill his son a number of different ways but was never successful. Now Holika had a special cloak that prevented her from being harmed by fire so Hiranyakashipu decided to sit Prahlade on his sister's lap and set them on fire in order to kill him. The plan didn't turn out as expected and Holika went up in flames and Prahlade survived. Because of this, every evening before Holi, families set large bonfires and celebrate the triumph of good over evil. The next day celebrated the renewal of the universe and all the positive wonderful things that flow through us, represented by a spectrum of color. 

The result is another joyous celebration full of life and energy, and in this case colored dyes and powders. People go out with squirt guns and water balloons full of colored water as well as bags of colored powder to try and color each other as much as possible. Although fun, this can be a pretty crazy and dangerous festival since: 

1. The goal is to attack as many people as possible so if you're outside, you are likely to be a target. 

2. Most of the dye comes from harsh chemicals that are often toxic and contain many dangerous ingredients

3. This is the only day of the year that marijuana is legal and is widely served in a pot-milkshake called a bhang lassi. 

Even so, it is a fun adventure and so friendly, joyous, and colorful, its hard not to jump in the fun. For the worriers out there, we did make sure that we were careful and took precautions not to get hurt which made it much more enjoyable and much less intimidating. 

We were lucky to have a day off from school today so we were able to celebrate (or avoid going outside, depending on how you look at it). We started our afternoon with a Kiara Holi party where the Stutz' brought down a bunch of water pistols, buckets, and some organic, non-toxic dyes and powders they had received through the school so we could be ensured that all the kids could participate with no worries. 

We went down to the pool and had a great time soaking each other and throwing 

around the colored powder. It was fun for everyone and the kids just hopped in the pool when they were done. We wanted to venture outside and check out the real deal so we hooked up with Dave and Martin and the 4 of us went out to brave the holi-day. It was nice to have the Kiara party right before so we were already wet and covered in colors before going out. 

We walked away from all the shops into some of the smaller backroads where there was a little more action. We made the mistake of going out unarmed so we quickly became easy targets. What was so surprising (and comforting) was how kind and gentle people were. It was very low key and nobody was really agressive or over the top. They would come up and greet us and spread some Holi love on our faces then give us a handshake or hug and wish us a happy Holi. This was very nice, especially since we were carrying cameras and obviously looked a little out of place. We did have some random drive-by attacks and various water balloons tossed our way but all in all it was surprisingly calm and people were very curteous. 

On our way back home we passed by an apartment driveway full of people celebratings so we decided to poke our heads in and see what was going on. Of course they welcomed us in and we all got some more coloring and friendly greetings. They even had some Holi sweets that they offered us and we got to hang out and talk with them for a bit. Its always fun to get out of the apartment and meet the people that live around us since we rarely get a chance to interact with people outside of our school. 

All in all it was a very entertaining day, even though we are all still a little stained from the dye. My face is still a little raw from all the scubbing. It will be fun to see who else comes to school tomorrow with a little Holi leftover on their face and hair. Our hope now is that it will all be scrubbed off before our big PTA gala this weekend. More to come on that later in the week (and hopefully some pictures of Elizabeth and her new hand tailored sari). 

Like I mentioned before, we did take our cameras out with us all wrapped in plastic but because of all the mess, it was tough to take lots of pictures so we have a collection of shots from our camera as well as from Dave and Martin. Its all up on Picassa so enjoy!

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K&E

Dunebuggies, Deserts, and Dromedaries...Oh My!

We are back from our 3 day weekend in Dubai and we had a fantastic time. First of all, THANK YOU TO KHALED for his generosity and willingness to put us up at his apartment and tour us around. We are so glad to have such great friends all over the world. So we left for Dubai on Friday right after school and arrived in the early evening. The flight is only 2 1/2 hrs and there is only a 1 1/2 hr time difference so it makes for easy travel to and from Mumbai. Our friend Khaled picked us up from the airport and was eager to show us his city. We weren't too exhausted and decided to go drive around a bit and check out some sites. We drove to the newly opened Dubai Mall (one of the largest in the world) and walked around a bit.

Now, when we say mall, don't think about your local mall. Think Mall of America in Minnesota with an ice skating rink and a giant aquarium. Oh, and five times the square footage with twice as many stores. Needless to say, being a mall-rat in Dubai means something different than any other part of the world. So we grabbed some Coldstone and went to check out the aquarium and the ice rink. We weren't expecting to see such crazy things right away so we unfortunately didn't have our cameras with us but here are some photos of the mall to get an idea of what it is like.

After a couple hours we finally hit the wall and headed back to Khaled's apartment to go to bed. The next morning we went

to brunch at the incredible Shakespeare & Co. Cafe located in the center of this peaceful hotel plaza with a wonderful view of the Burj Dubai Tower (The tallest structure in the world).

After a delicious breakfast we went to the old part of town to explore the historical side of Dubai.

We parked by the creek-side and wandered through old town for a while, venturing through the souks (shops) filled with rediculous amounts of gold and gems and other miscellaneous items. We had some trouble finding where we wanted to go but in the process got a great tour of the narrow roads, markets, and alley ways of old Dubai. We finally made our way to the Heritage House, a restored example of a traditional Dubai villa. Next to it was the first school ever built in Dubai, orginally holding nearly every child in the city for many years. Both buildings were simple yet elegant and the open design made it feel very comforting and relaxing. We toured through these buildings and the attached museum and displays which was a nice way to get a taste of tradition and culture in such a modern, commercial megacity.

We then took a boat across the creek to explore the Dubai Museum and some palaces and mosques on the other side. Again, we had a bit of trouble finding where we were going, but got another great walk along the water and some great pictures of both traditional and modern buildings in the area. We stopped in for some nachos at a little Mexican restaurant then headed over to the Marina and a visit to the Palm.

Now, if you're not familiar with Dubai, just picture the beach front mansions and hotels of Hollywood, Hawaii, or Florida combined with the shopping and towers of New York City smashed together with the glitz, glamour, and desert heat of the Las Vegas strip and you have a good sense of what it's like. The city is constantly under construction with billions of dollars spent on new hotels and skyscrapers. One of their most well knows achievemens is the Palm Islands and the World Islands. They reclaimed land off the coast to create new artificial islands in the shape of a palm tree and a series of islands resembling a map of the world. (See the sattelite image from google maps to really understand) The city is basically the world's shopping center and playground for the extremely wealthy.

With that in mind, we went down to the Marina which is a section of the city on the coast that is full of only hotels and privately owned skyscrapers and luxury apartments. The Palm is connected to this area and all of its branches are also privately owned luxury apartments and hotels. We went at night when everything was lit up and drove out on to the Palm to visit the brand new mega hotel Atlantis that just opened in September. It is located at the tip of the Palm and looks more like a man-made 8th wonder of the world than a hotel. For something really

crazy, check out the opening cerimony last September when they created one of the world's largest fireworks displays on the Palm. Khaled said you could hear it from miles away and anybody who is anybody was there to see it.

After the Palm, we headed back into town for some shawarma then off to the Global Village for some shopping. The Global Village is kind of like a huge county fair with rides and crafts and those types of things but instead of local arts and crafts they have buildings designated for merchants from all over the world. For example, there is an Egypt building and a China building, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Iran, Iraq, Qatar, etc. etc. each with merchandise from their home country. Some of the stuff was really nice but the majority of it was plastic junk and stupid toys and things. There was a good deal of art, carpets, and handmade items however which made it a great place to get a bargain on some really cool items. We were lucky enough to be there on the last night before the merchants all packed up and went home, so we were trying to score a bargain on a nice rug although we were unsuccessful. All we came away with was some sand art and a decorative vase and light for our apartment. Even so, we ended up staying until 1:30 then headed home exhausted after a very long day.

On Sunday we slept in then went over to Emirates Mall for some breakfast and to check out the famous indoor ski slope. We had breakfast at this amazing French cafe called Paul's and ended up going there again the next day because it was so incredible. After some food we took a look at the ski slope which, although cool and inventive, left quite a bit to be desired. We didn't actually go in since it was crazy expensive and the slope is only 400m which takes about 20 seconds to go down. We walked around and took some pictures though as it is a really incredible feat of engineering.

We then headed out to meet up our guide from Arabian Adventures for a desert dinner and safari we had booked the previous day. We loaded up 6 people in a giant Chevy Tahoe and headed out to the desert where we were driven through the sand dunes to a desert camp for some dinner and entertainment. The ride was a blast as they went up and down the dunes. We got to see some great desert scenery and even a little bit of wildlife as we drove out to the camp. When we got there, they had a wonderful set up with tables and carpets, a stage, and lots of places to relax, talk, eat, drink, or smoke the hooka. We had a wonderful dinner while watching the sunset followed by a belly dancer and some star gazing. It was a really great trip and I think we were all impressed and had a fantastic time.

The next morning we went back to Paul's for breakfast then took a quick

trip to Jumeirah to catch some sites of hotels, souks, and get a glimpse of the famous Burj al Arab Hotel before heading home.

All in all it was a really busy but really fun weeekend and it makes us even more excited to do some more Middle East exploring in Cairo next month! Check out the photos and video from the weekend.

Hope all is well! Until next time...

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K&E