Friday, December 28, 2007

Our trip to Oman's Musandam Peninsula

In mid December 2007 we stayed four days and three nights at the Golden Tulip Hotel just outside the town of Khasab, Oman. It was a very picturesque and secluded place to relax for a few days.

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Enjoying the December Holidays

It doesn't seem like we've worked much this month due to many secular and religious holidays. We're busy creating our video about our trip to Oman. It'll be ready in a few days.

I returned to work after a nice ten day break and discovered that a reporter for a newspaper here wrote an article about my recent conference co-presentation. It was the Information Literacy Network's Professional Development Conference in Dubai. The title of the newspaper article is Don't Just Google It. It sums up the point of educating students to use reliable sources and not be dependent on solely using Google and Wikipedia.

Our Christmas tree is up and we have some presents under it. Darcy has baked gingerbread and shortbread cookies. Tonight she made hot apple cider. She has to report for work on Christmas Day but hopefully she can come home early. If not then I'll do my best to cook dinner that night.

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

UAE National Day celebrations

We enjoyed out four day long weekend. On the first day we had a picnic and it was so nice to spend time outside! We had another picnic, this time at night with friends. The National Day celebrations this year seemed more impressive than last year. Authorities built an entertainment area on reclaimed land along the Corniche. We watched some Emiratis sing and dance up close. The fireworks were great and took place over three nights. Unfortunatel we missed two interesting events: seeing the world's largest flag and a marching band on the Corniche. More newspaper coverage about the celebrations are here. The festivities weren't complete without the traffic at night and engines revving and backfiring. It sounded like a warzone! But it was all in good fun and little to no alcohol was involved.