This weekend, I signed up for the "Undergraduate Conference for Information Systems." The main reason? Because today they took us on a desert safari.
I believe the term more widely used around here is "dune-bashing."
There were about two dozen of us in eight Land Rovers, driven by guys who would do this on the weekend anyway. Our drive, Mahmoud, was probably enjoying getting his car full of girls (and Abdalla) to cheer as we bounced around in the sand. After a little under an hour's drive to the Mesaieed area, all of the drivers got out, deflated their tires, and after that... no roads, just sand.
And, like always, the most thrilling part was coming up to the crest of a dune and only seeing sky in the windshield, until slowly it pivots down until all you can see is sand.
I didn't hurt that as soon as we started the real fun, he put on current pop music with some great pounding bass as a soundtrack. We spent a good hour trundling around, stopping every so often to take pictures on the top of this or that dune, or overlooking the Saudi Arabia border (that's as close as I'm going to get to a country that's not very easy to enter as a tourist... a female one at that).
After the amazing dune-bashing session, we stopped at a camp alongside the Arabian Sea for our late lunch. They pulled out a volleyball, which we tossed around for quite a while. (It was clear that the drivers were way more practiced than the students). Then there was a bit of wading (my pants are still damp), a bit of posing with a camel (which stepped toward Allan every chance it got) before the call to dinner. I had smelt the meat being grilled for a while, so it was easy to sit around, dig into the pita (that no one around here calls pita, they just call it bread) and dips and hotdogs and kabobs, and chat with the others around.
The way back had a few little hills and bumps, but the most fascinating part was seeing the amount of people around. As it was getting dark, we went down a dune to a flat area, where there was a Cruiser drifting with another dozen parked toward it, watching; right next to it, a steep hill that a half a dozen Land Cruisers were waiting to race up and coast (slide) down. There were little 4x4s and dune motorcycles and buggies doing their thing too.
Not to mention the vehicle every twenty meters along the beach having a family cook-out. I'm convinced that the half of Qatar that doesn't go picnic on the Corniche on Fridays after prayers goes to Sealine.
Today, my Service Design group (Maria, Fatima, Mathew, and Ghada) spent an hour wandering between a few of the libraries at EC, researching for our re-vamp of the CMU library.
We have TAMU-Q first:
Next was Northwestern, up on the third floor of CMU. Even in this part, you can see why people make fun of them for being "Barney" and proud of purple.
Next we glanced in at the LRC (Learning and Resource Center)...
... which is right above the library of ABP (the Academic Bridge Program). Georgetown is in the same place (the Liberal Arts and Science - LAS - Building), so we went to the School of Foreign Service library (with a great little cameo by Fatima). We actually found our library head there, doing his own research through their archives. Traitor. (Or he knows where to find the information, which is his job.)
I stopped into the Islamic Studies library, which was right next door.
If it looks like all the libraries are empty, they weren't. Around here, there are a few people who are sensitive about having their pictures taken, so I just avoid the issue by avoiding taking pictures of them.
As a final random note, as I was wandering around EC tonight, there was something going on at the Ceremonial Court - some rehearsal for something. If anyone knows what this "something" is, let me know... the music sounded good, and I think I saw some dancing!
"India rubbed off on you." I think that was the most clever comment I heard today, after being very much tan from the bike rides and the fort climbs in the sun in India.
Fair skin is treasured in most of the world, since it shows that the person doesn't have to labor in the sun. The USA is different; we prefer skin cancer.
Though someone around here did tell me I was too white a month or two ago.
Anyways, today's post is dedicated to Valerie, my littler (but not littlest) sister, whose birthday was yesterday.
I got her a bag... just not sure which one she wants yet:
What do you guys think? Left, middle, or right?
It was my half-birthday two days ago... It's halfway through junior year, and I'm halfway to 22. This is a turning point... it's all downhill from here.
As for today's events, I went out to lunch with Allan, Mathew, and Shazia for a good old beef hamburger at Hardee's. Cows aren't so sacred around here.
And I saw the students from Pittsburgh who are here for (their) spring break! Go main campus! I'll get to hang out with them more on Tuesday when we go to Al Jazeera headquarters. (Yay bucket list item!) There was dinner in the majlis with them (or for them... not really sure which). It got me remembering that I'm going to be a CA (a head RA) next year and have to start keeping that in the back of my mind.
We also had our first meeting for Soliya, which is this web-chatting forum with people from around the world on Middle Eastern issues that I signed up for. I probably shouldn't have, given my lack of time as it is, but I'm interested. They fed me too.
So with two free dinners and not enough time in the day, I had to turn down dinner with Abdalla. And it was going to be one of his restaurant rating nights too...
So the last thing I did was start catching up on homework... what joy.
You thought this was going to be another post about how after my day of coding was...
Aren't you glad you are wrong. I have, not one, but two super exciting things to share with you today.
First, I know someone famous! Mathew is in my Design for Service group (we're working on re-designing the library). When I first heard, I had to ask around because I didn't know him yet. The common answer: "He's the guy who's picture is everywhere around CMU-Q." And it is! He deigned himself to take a picture with me.
(And you're right, that is a fleece jacket I'm wearing. It's been hovering around 60 F, or 15 C, which is pretty chilly for these tropical people. I got asked today why I was wearing sandals with it being so cold outside!)
My second exciting feature is the first (and probably only) episode of "Cooking with Corinne"! You thought that cookies were fun... check this out.
As a final note, the mac and cheese turned out brownish, which might be better than the neon orange-yellow that I've had in the past. And I'm still alive, so can't be as bad as the milk powder in China.
Ok, ok, ok. I know I said that I wasn't going to complain about coding, but because it has been a huge part of my week (like 20+ hours and counting), I had to decide what I wanted out of this semester. I had a few conversations with my professor, my TA, my classmate, my future networks partner (Khaled... I'm sure you'll hear a lot more about him once we have huge assignments that we have to do together), and I decided that I'm really enjoying the people, the professor, and the class, so I'll commit to taking it. Even if it means that I'm not jaunting off to Dubai every weekend.
Speaking of Dubai, did you hear that the tallest building (the Burj Khalifa) is closed for maintenance? Jessica and I might not get to see it in a week. This article thinks it'll be open by Sunday; others have said it is closed 'indefinitely.' I hope it is open, though. I want to see the view from the top!
