how

I went to the mall yesterday to pick up a few things that i wanted and as I entered the mall a family came in at the same time, you know father in jeans and a t shirt, children dressed like average kids and mom looking like casper the black ghost. I have wondered about this for awhile and I finally got the answer. As I entered there was a bit of a clusterfuck in the entry and one of the daughters of the family in front of me got turned around. She regained her composure (she was about 5) and walked off following the draped black form that walked away. The only issue was it was not her mom. her mother had gone the other direction with her siblings and father. I watched in amazement as the kid got further and further from her family until it dawned on her that her siblings were not there. she looked around and then ran to her father who was across the mall. Her parents had noticed that she was gone so it wasn't like they were bad parents but it stuck me that this sort of thing must happen all the time here. After all there are no visual clues to go on when every woman is covered in her entirety. I wonder how many children get lost like this, how many husbands walk up to the wrong wife at a supermarket how many miscommunications are caused by this coverage?

darwin

so i get the whole darwin evolution thing. what i have been pondering recently is sex. how does that work. if at first it was all asexual reproduction and then some mutant came along without the capability to reproduce asexually and needed a partner then ...
or if it had both capabilities where did its partner come from and what are the odds of finding them? and what evolutionary benefit is sex. seems like it is easier and better to just clone oneself. Don't get me wrong here, I love sex. It is great fun. If I didn't know better I would say it is divine. I am just having a hard time seeing how needing a partner to continue the species is a benefit. I understand the genetic mixing and improving the stock of a group through breeding, but where does it all start? What is the lowest order of living thing that sexually reproduces? And what is the lowest order that does it for fun? I would research this topic more completely myself but alas all searches for sex are blocked in KSA. An unfortunate fact of life.

on you marks, get set, no.

I realize that there is the old saying about right hands knowing what the left hand is doing, but today the university made it abundantly clear that they have developed this to an entirely new level. There were as always a slew of emails sent out and there was one that had dire warning about turning in some of the grades that the teachers have been holding onto. We have had theses particular grades for more than two months at this point, so presumably they are not actually that important for any real reason.The email said if these grades were not submitted within the next two days there would be some kind of portal opening causing a doomsday scenario ending all life. This is just my paraphrasing of the email but you get the gist. The very next email sent not more than 20 minutes later from another department was about how the website which the teachers use to submit the grades was having work done and thus can not be accessed for a few days. Pure joy. Things like this make me so happy I can barely contain myself. I dont think it could be planned any better. I have actually watched TV shows where the comedic timing was less well developed. I am hoping for the next email to be about how no teachers completed the absolute necessary tasks and how we all have to do some sort of penance.

better

My foot has healed well enough for me to go out and run again. There has been a dust-storm in the city for the last few days and running was made difficult because of this. On a related note the gym where i play squash is being renovated. I think that aside from myself and the other teachers that use it to play I have seen a total of about 10 other people there. Mind you this is the main gym for a university of thousands of students. In any western nation it would be full of students. Here no one goes and yet they throw money into it. I am certainly not complaining as it will benefit me, but it does seem strange that the monetary resources are not utilized in a more generally productive way. The gym will be closed for about 4 days and then partially reopened as parts are finished. Until then I will be out in the dust running from boredom, wasting time and watching the world pass by.

human

I have been thinking lately about what it is that makes us different from animals. I know that in a technical sense we are animals but somehow we are different. I have been trying to place it but it seems that everything we can do other species have also mastered. Tools? Lots of animals use them. Caring for the sick or injured? Again it is done in the wilds. Communication? I have read reports that it is done by a multitude of animals. So what is it that makes me, me? Is it my ability to just ask that question? That seems like a funny trick. If you are able to ponder your nature and place in the scheme of it all than you may not have a place. Whereas if you never question your nature then you are assured to spend your life in harmony and concert with nature. Being able to contemplate this idea moves one further from being part of it. I am not sure what else there is that makes us human, maybe the ability to remember and hate. I know other animals love or at least mate for life and seem dedicated to their companions but I dont know any animal species that hate for beliefs. Cats and dogs may not get along but it isnt because dogs have their own dogma that rubs cats the wrong way. Humans can hate based on beliefs. Sad when I think about it. We are outside the order and are able to hate. Kind of makes you proud to be human.

fool me once

Another week has passed without any major incident here in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. I had the opportunity to go to a US Embassy party last night and I actually had a reasonable amount of fun. The party had a theme that was something along the lines of Hollywood. So many people can dressed in costume. There were Audrey Hepburn and Pee-Wee costumes that were really good and I could appreciate the effort that went into them. Then there were others that were shall we say less than stellar. I took it upon myself to guess wrong what every person was wearing if they had a costume on. The Avatar girls I guessed were John Goodman from Monsters Inc. The Guy from True Grit became Brokeback Mountain. The guy in what appeared to be his after gym outfit was Christian Bale from the Fighter. I personally found these hysterical. These people would actually take the time to explain that they were not who I believed. I would agree and then talk about how i really like the part in the movie where the character I had assigned them did something. When they would point out yet again that they were not dressed as that character I would tell them they certainly were. Why else would we be discussing the movie. It was circular and great. I dont know if they ever caught on that I was just kidding or not. I myself went in no costume at all. Just a button down shirt, tie and pants. When the topic inevitably came round to,"and what are you supposed to be?" I would chuckle, smile and say that is a really funny question. It was good to have drinks, conversations, and music. The best part of the evening had to be when I finally got home, putting my head on my pillow and feeling the world spin. I miss that. It is like I am the center of the universe and everything is in orbit around my perception.

hurt

i was playing some sports yesterday and i landed wrong. now I can not put any weight on my foot because my heel is absolutely killing me. It is swollen and bruised. I will wait a few days to see if it gets any better and if not I will seek professional advice. Otherwise it is hobbling and hopping around for the next few days for me.

considered

My work has asked me to express if I am interested in returning for another year her to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. I will need to work on a cost benefit analysis before getting back to them. I dont have a job or any other crucial things lined up for the near future so it is a possibility. Aside from that little bit of news I have started another 30 day challenge. I will try to be able to do 100 push-ups nonstop in 30 days time. There are loads of websites that have training programs on them and I should be able to follow one and get into shape. We shall see. The teaching weeks are flying by and these next two weekends will go fast. The teaching is fine except the school continually undercuts all progress that I make with my students. I was not assigned a particularly bright or advanced class. They are the same level and mixed ability as any other class and I have high expectations for them. I have taken the time to organize activities that take into account multiple learning styles and I give extra work to those that need it, but in the end I expect results. My school on the other hand has from the beginning told the teachers that all writing assessments would be academic in nature and relevant to the level and progress we are expected to make in the book. Yesterday we had the second writing assessment. We have been working on time order paragraphs. The writing prompt. What is your favorite day of the week? Who do you spend it with? This is a question that the students could have answered without ever having put foot into my class. I dont know why I am surprised it just grates on me when the institution that is tasked with improving the level of education in the country is the same institution that is hindering it. So I have a few more weeks and a few more assessments. Should be a fun time.

known unknowns

So I awoke this morning and fired up the old commodore 64 and lo and behold there was an email from my work. Mind you this in and of itself is not at all noteworthy, in fact I have just over 500 emails from my work since i started working here a few months ago. The surprising thing about this email is that it informed the workers that there would be no work today. On the one hand yippee no work. On the other what the fuck 2 hours notice is all a university can manage? I think there must be something that the officials know and are planning for and dont want to have crowds. I cant imagine them just being so incompetent that they would have forgotten to tell us about a day off until the morning of. But hey I have nearly 500 other emails that can testify to their incompetence.

raw

i have begun a challenge for myself. I am so bored here in KSA that I have elected to go ahead and try to do something difficult and potentially beneficial for 30 days. My challenge is to eat only raw food. nothing processed and nothing cooked. Thus I will be eating a lot of veggies and fruit and some nuts. I have been doing it for three days so far and I find that the food isn't the problem it is getting excited for the food. Thus I have been eating only one meal per day. I will probably make it to the end but we shall see at day 14 and 27 it is a long way to go. While deciding to do this I mentioned the concept to some of my coworkers and many of them got on board with their own challenges. One guy is running 1 mile the first week 2 the next 3 the following and 4 the final week. Another is going to eat only 500 calories a day and take supplements, another is writing 1000 words per day. And there are a few others that are going on. It is funny though when I have the choice to eat anything I tend to eat lots of veggies anyways and I dont really eat the sweets. However since I began I have walked into the store and found myself eyeballing the donuts with affection, I think it is just because I know that I can not have them that I look at them. It will be an interesting 27 more days. I just need to find a routine and a way to get enough calories into my body. What could you do for 30 days?