Some things have changed greatly, other things remain much the same.
Mustangs
November 7, 2010Posted by Kanga.
Saturday was my first outing in a week. I’ve been down with a terrible cold and am still not truly well.
Back on October 20th, we had attended a promotional event at the Ford booth at GITEX (big technology expo). They were demonstrating the MyFord Touch system which integrates your technology with your Ford vehicle. Which means that you have a large touch screen monitor to the right of your dashboard that allows you to control your phone, music device (iPod or other player), access the Internet, etc. It is also voice activated to free you up while driving. It is very impressive, but I would not want it in my vehicle. The car is the last place I have without Internet access and therefore the last place I can count on my husband actually listening to what I say without being distracted. For the non-ADHD driver, it might be just the thing.
Because we attended that event we were also invited to the debut of the 2011 Ford Mustang. 
First we rode on the indoor track with a professional driver.
I am so thankful for the helmet. I banged my head several times. Here’s what it looked like from the outside.
Next was the outdoor driving experience. There were two options – an obstacle course timed competition with V6 models and a straight “floor it” with V8 models. I didn’t drive, but DaddyBird did. Here is his rather entertaining first run at the obstacle course. The fellows standing in the foreground are Mali (grey shirt) and Rami (white shirt).
And, then his V8 runs. DaddyBird is in the white car and our friend Mali is in the red one. (The video is somewhat disrupted by the umbrella blowing over on me.)
A fun time was had by all. Guys + fast cars = happy guys.
Menu Highlights
November 2, 2010Posted by Kanga.
Menues usually have a few amusing items no matter how nice the restaurant is.
Appetizing? Stuffed baby chicken.
I didn’t realize sheeshing was a verb.
Sunset
November 1, 2010Posted by Kanga
The best sunsets always happen while I am driving home. If I wait until I get home and go up the the roof to get a clear picture, it will be too late. So I catch what I can when I can.
Visiting Authors
October 29, 2010Posted by Kanga.
Wednesday was an extraordinary day. The Sharjah International Book Fair is happening currently. In addition to hundreds of publishers and book vendors, this year they have visiting authors from around the world. I was pleased to have the opportunity to hear Samar Dahmash-Jarrah speak. She is a Kuwait born Palestinian and has lived in several of the Middle East countries. She’s an experienced journalist. When 9/11 happened she was living in the States. Even though she is a shy person, she felt it impossible not to speak up and clarify that not all Muslims hate America and not all Muslims are terrorists. This led to her doing a lot of public speaking and media interviews. She then embarked on a wonderful project in which she collected questions that Americans wanted to ask Arabs, then (self-funded) travelled to several Middle East countries and asked these questions of random Arabs she met. These questions and answers are published in her book – Arab Voices Speak to American Hearts (2005). I have yet to read this book, but I will. She is currently teaching an honors course at the University of Southern Florida and is using Facebook to connect her students with Arabs around the world to continue the conversation, if you will. Individuals talking to each other is the best way to take the fear out of the “stranger.” They are no longer strangers.
So, that was a really excellent day, but it got better. There are other authors in town for the book fair – Lisa Dempster (Australia), Zohra Saed & Sahar Muradi (Afghan/Americans), Marsha Qualey (Cairo), and Octavia Nasr (former CNN senior editor of Middle East affairs). So, the Twitter community had a tweetup, of course. Here we are:
Below is PK Gulati, Octavia Nasr, Jenny Saleh, and Zohra Saed.
(published from my iPad)
Humor Will Keep Us Together
October 25, 2010Posted by Kanga
Typical day with DaddyBird and Kanga:
[DaddyBird is terribly sick with a cold. Kanga is preparing to go out to get him some dinner, medication, and juice.]
DaddyBird: … and some lemonade and some fresh ginger to put in my tea…
Kanga: Wait, this is getting to be a long list. [grabs iPod Touch to enter the shopping list as a note] …heh, heh, it wants to capitalize Ginger…[pause for effect] I’m not bringing you that kind of ginger.
Strawberries Around the World
October 23, 2010Posted by Kanga.
So, this picture is ridiculously blurry, but the security guard was none too keen on me taking pictures, so I only got one chance. You will have to take my word for it that it says “Strawberries USA.” 9.90 Dhs is about $2.70 for a pint. So, what does a pint of strawberries go for in September in the States?
We did not buy any. Even in the states the berries in the grocery stores are pretty tasteless due to being picked before they are fully ripe. Just imagine what they taste like after being shipped halfway around the world. Some aspects of globalization should be skipped altogether.
Risk Pays Off Again
October 22, 2010Posted by Kanga.
Once again, we wondered into a restaurant and took our chances. So far, this has always worked for us. The name of the restaurant is Barbecue Delights and the sign had flames on it, so I was a bit hesitant because I expected the menu to be full of foods laced generously with hot chilis.
Sidebar: Barbecue here has nothing to do with American style barbecue. There is no sweet tomato based sauce in sight.
I was delighted, however, when I saw that among the spicy Indian menu items there were Afghani menu items.
So here are the condiments, if you will, a bowl of yogurt, plate of cut veggies and a few sauces.
I don’t remember how this was listed in the menu, but it was basically some of everything. The rice was delicious. It had currents, pistachios and other tasty bits in it. There were several types of grilled meat – chicken, ground meat & lamb. Hidden in the rice was a lamb shank that was to die for. There was also a lovely long piece of flat bread and we had lassi (a salted yogurt drink).
We didn’t really need another favorite restaurant. There are too many already. However, whenever we are near Lamsy Plaza around lunch or dinner time, we know where to go.
Camel Crossing
October 17, 2010Posted by Kanga.
Here it is! I hit the jackpot and got a video of 22 camels crossing the highway. The recording gets all jumbly and out of control near the beginning because I was standing by the side of the road next to my car and decided that I should at least move to the side of the car farthest from the road, just in case of crazy drivers.
This was taken just north of the Oman-U.A.E. border south of Fujairah.
Made my day.
DaddyBird
kangayayaroo
Living the Travel Channel 