See Me Squeegee

Seeing as how the only place to get a beer in this town is the terrace at my hotel with this complimentary WiFi, it seems like it’s about time to drop a few details of Day Two in Dubai.  The highlights:

• This class I’m teaching is a blast.  We have students from around the United Arab Emirates; from Saudi Arabia; from Kuwait; from Australia (actually an island a couple hundred miles off the coast, but she still has a sweet Aussie accent); from “everywhere” (Spanish last name, lives here, and has been all over; and from Sudan.  Too much fun – everyone is really friendly and the Kuwaiti guy already bought me lunch, with a guy from Abu Dhabi checking out his homeboys’ schedule so he can have me roll with his crew for a night.  Australia and Spain-slash-everywhere are each missing a couple lessons so we’ll catch up over dinner or coffee one of these days.
• Kind of part of all that – when I’m back to LA or even on the plane, my next non-random-travel-thoughts post is going to be about being a “global citizen”.  These trips…you really start to feel connected with the world and you start to realize that we’re all pretty much the same.  It’s funny – the more I travel, the more I get both “global” and “local”.  I identify much more strongly with Detroit and with the world…Detroit because it’s my tribe and my home, and the world because I realize how similar we all are.  It’s strange how much we identify with essentially a continent in the US (sorry, Canada – but I still feel you given that I grew up 30 miles away.  Also there’s a Tim Horton’s across the street), when as individuals we probably have a lot more in common with our international ancestry and with people who have common interests and values across the globe than we do with people from eight states away.
• Speaking of similarities…in my quest to eat at a shwarma joint last night and an authentic Turkish place tonight, I had to walk past:  Starbucks, Tim Horton’s, Chili’s, Subway, and two KFCs.  Plus a ton of Asian fusion restaurants, two Mexican places, a few Italian spots.  Sort of redundant, but what a global world.
• Today’s non-teaching highlight:  swimming “laps” in the swimming area of the Persian Gulf.  Way too many jetskis and boats around to just make a break for it up and down the coast, so I had to lap swim it in the couple-hundred-yard area roped off for straight up swimming.  Call it extra-long-course meters.  My take – the water is clearer than anything I’ve ever seen, but saltier too.  I still taste it a few hours later.  Really cool sunset happening while I swam – it pays to be able to bilaterally breathe so you can check stuff like that out.
• Also…jet lag is crazy.  Still haven’t slept more than a couple hours straight since I let LA Thursday morning, but every time I do zone out I drool like a fire hose.  The upside – I can regularly check in on the MLB playoffs and this weekend’s football games, which are all happening in the middle of the night here.
• Verlander on the hill in a few hours.  Don’t think I’m not psyched even 8 time zones away.
• Got corrected today for calling this body of water the “Persian Gulf”  Here on the Arabian peninsula it’s the Arabian Gulf and nothing else.  My save – “oh, we’ve always called it the Persian Gulf, at least both times we’ve fought wars here”.  Class also liked hearing me say that I enjoyed flying over Iraq yesterday just to see where my tax dollars have gone.
• Places in the US that students in my class have visited:  Big Rapids, Michigan; Omaha, Nebraska.  Places in the US that no one in my class has visited: New York City.  Weird world, man.
• Front page of the newspaper here and a full page of the 6-page editorial section: the US Presidential election.  All eyez on me, as Pac would say.  “Me” meaning “we”.  Choose wisely, fellow Americans.

That may do it for tonight.  If anyone is reading, thank you. Tomorrow your alge-bro teaches algebra in the land of Al-Jazeera.  Might have to pump the Al Jarreau just to stay consistent.  Don’t worry…I’ll be ready to get my boogie down.