Masdar City, Wendy's, Avatar and Apple

A relatively unremarkable past few weeks. It's been good to get back into the routine of work. I've been enjoying working with my students and colleagues. I like teaching. It can be immensely satisfying when done well; however, it is an occupation that continues to daunt me. Years ago, when I was going to school, I worked at a mail order company specializing in Smokey Bear merchandise (www.smokeybeargifts.com/). I had a few responsibilities, but my main job consisted of the timely packaging of stuffed bears into the perfect box. After a few years of it, I have to admit to a certain level of skill. In fact, I feel like I was a pinnacle of packing perfection. When I was in the zone, I could look at an order and know, without question, the perfect box and just the right amount of packing material. I was as good as a man could be at that job. I doubt I will ever enjoy that feeling as a teacher. Every day I feel like I'm learning new ways to teach, and that there is always room for improvement. It's a profession that keeps me humble (to a certain degree) and for that I should be grateful.

A couple of weeks ago, we had an honest to goodness outing (owning a vehicle allows you to do stuff like that). We went to Masdar City, located not far from the Abu Dhabi airport. It's an ambitious project in the heart of the desert. Designed to be a model of sustainability and green technology, it has the potential to revolutionize our approach to building and sustaining viable living accomadations over the next few decades. I was taken with the architecture and design of the place; the kids loved the driverless electric cars. You might think it a little ironic to find green initiatives in the heart of an oil rich nation, but there is a real vision and desire here to use the wealth of this nation to create a lasting legacy.

We also went to the first Wendy's in Abu Dhabi. Now that I can get a spicy chicken sandwich here, I don't know why I'd ever leave.

James turned five last week. He's owed a belated birthday party with friends (Miranda too for that matter), but I think we acquitted ourselves pretty well as far as cake and presents were concerned.

It's a volcano!

As a family, we just finished working our way through Avatar:The Last Airbender, a cartoon series the kids had watched a couple of times through already but wanted me to watch. It's been a little tradition of ours to watch an episode before the kids march off to karate. I had heard good things about it, but I never would have anticipated enjoying it as much as I did. The humour was genuine and I laughed out load often, but there was also some real emotional depth that I didn't anticipate. By the end of the series, I was fully invested in all of the characters and their respective journeys. Definitely one of the most satisfying things I've seen in a while. It's available on Netflix streaming and even if you don't have kids, I'd recommend it. Warning, you might be tempted to watch the live action version by M. Night Shaymalan. Don't.

Also, I thought I'd link to a commencement address that Steve Jobs gave at Stanford a couple of years ago. Obviously, there's been a lot written about him and his genius, and I don't really have much to add. When I learned that he had passed away, I was much sadder than would have expected. I've been a fan of Apple products for a very long time, and after some effort, I've converted pretty much everyone in the house to them, but I was sad for more that not having him at the head of one of my favourite companies. I was sad because a person who had an actual, tangible impact on my life and the way that I do many things is no longer with us. It would be hard to measure or quantify his impact. Obviously, he changed the way we consume media, and he was directly responsible for some of my favourite movies of all time. Even as I look at some of the pictures of Masdar City, it's hard not to see the Apple influence. The speech below is worth your fifteen minutes if you haven't seen it before.

We're still...

It's been a long week, made longer by a work conference in Dubai on Saturday. I was pretty impressed with myself, making it there without a single wrong turn along the way. I think about myself a year ago and I think about myself now, and there's nothing like experience to fuel one's confidence. When we first arrived I was terrified by the prospect of driving around the city because of the craziness of other drivers and not knowing where anything was. The drivers haven't gotten any less crazy, but I can find my way to Ikea without a map and there's no small comfort in that.

Photo booth, the real reason we needed a new Mac

Recently I bought a new computer. It's a sleek and shiny new iMac, a beautiful thing really, but purchasing it wasn't nearly as fun as it should be. It's hard to enjoy replacing things you never wanted to replace in the first place.

Karate is in full swing. James is now a proud member of the dojo and has been enjoying himself immensely. Having the karate club so close has been a godsend for us. With homeschooling, it can be very easy to go days without leaving the apartment. Once the water cools a bit, the parks and beaches will be an option for us, but for the time being if we want to get out, it means we choose one of the many malls nearby and wander its air conditioned corridors while trying to resist the pull of the surrounding sales. With Karate, they get out of the house two nights a week, get some great exercise and have someone other than their mother or father telling them what to do. There is no downside.

The heat and foreigners of cultures and languages in this place tend to foster isolation. It's very easy to get so wrapped up in the cares and concerns of one's life that you become oblivious to the wants and needs of those outside your very tight circle. It takes more effort to think outside yourself and serve others because those opportunities for service are less apparent. So, it was with some satisfaction that we received a call from some friends earlier this week at 12:30 in the morning. When you receive calls at 12:30 AM it's for one of two reasons: either the person on the other end has woefully misjudged the time difference or there's an honest to goodness emergency. Our friends had just been evacuated from their apartment because of a small fire and they needed a place for their family of six to spend the night. Within 20 minutes we had couches, cushions and sleeping bags ready to receive them. It felt really good to see a need and then be able to fulfill it. It is a real blessing to be able to serve. I'm not happy for the stress and panic our friends experienced, but I can't help but be a little grateful for it. By the way, there was no damage to their apartment and they were back into their own digs by late morning.

And, on a final note, Julie and I just finished reading Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength by Baumeister and Tierney. I bought it on a whim after reading a review of it in the New York Times (the irony of this is not lost on me). The book reviews, in a very accessible way, a host of studies that have been done on our ability to resist temptation and the effects of stress and decision making on our overall willpower. If you have every done anything stupid and not been able to understand why you did it, then this may be the book for you. It's forced me to think not so much about some of the decisions I've made as much as conditions and circumstances surrounding those decisions.

Rediscovering Home

When did Abu Dhabi become home? There were things I really loved about our trip to Nova Scotia, but the whole time we were there, it felt like we were visiting. For obvious reasons, we weren’t able to build much of a routine into our travels. It was an adventure, but extended adventures can be a little wearing.

Perhaps the trauma of losing my computer and other stuff, heightened the impact of coming off the plane. I have to admit, that I wasn’t looking forward to the sauna like weather conditions, but stepping out of the airport into the warm night air was like being wrapped in a warm blanket

We arrived during the last week of the holy month of Ramadan which adds another dimension to life in Abu Dhabi. During Ramadan, Muslims fast from sun up to sun down every day which means that there are no restaurants open during the day, and although you can buy groceries, you can really only consume those foods in the privacy of your own home. There’s a general feeling of lethargy and fatigue because people are staying up late into the evening breaking their fast with family and friends and then they usually get up extra early to eat before the sun.

The nice thing about Ramadan is that businesses tend to be open until very late at night. Because Julie’s cell phone was our main contact number, it was pretty important that we get the number transferred to a new phone as soon as possible. Lucky for me the offices of the phone company were open from 9:30 PM until 1:00, so after we got our bags up to our apartment, I was able to take care getting the number switched over to a new sim card and pick up a new phone at a nearby department store. One anxiety assuaged. It many not have been a big deal, but at the time, I took whatever comfort I could get.

It took us about a week to get somewhat readjusted to the time change. Our internal clocks seemed more resistant to change than last year, but fortunately there weren’t too many demands on our time. My work day was considerably abbreviated for Ramadan, and the kids were all done with school. The nights were a little too late for all and James in particular struggled with change. Is there a greater test of love than the four year old trying to wake up everyone in the house at three am because he doesn’t want to be alone?

After a week back at work, we were given another week off for Eid. Again, it’s a little difficult to get into the swing of things, but we made the most of our week by hanging out at the apartment and by visiting some of the beautiful air conditioned malls of the region. A new mall opened about ten minutes away from us while we were gone. Like most malls, it was quite big and rather easy to get lost in. What set this mall apart was the fact that it’s home to the region’s first Wendy’s. Now, we didn’t get to try Wendy’s because it was closed for the end of Ramadan while we were there, but it is a comfort to know that their spicy chicken sandwich is so nearby.

Last Wednesday we ventured up to Dubai for the day. I was a little nervous about the trip because I felt like I knew so little about the city. Even though we had visited Dubai a few times last year, we hadn’t spent any time actually exploring the city, and, of course, I wasn’t driving. We made it through without much difficulty. I have to admit that the most difficult aspect of driving around Dubai was navigating the parking stations of the Dubai Mall. It was Julie who compared driving around the mall to trying to find the right terminal at a major airport. It was that huge. 

I am a man who prides himself on his sense of direction, but I have never felt more lost in an enclosed space as I did in that mall. Huge doesn’t even begin to describe it. Our motivation in going there was the Dubai Aquarium which is practically in the center of the mall. It alone was worth the trip. Their is a tunnel that runs through aquarium and it was amazing to be so close to so many exotic fish, and then, above the actual aquarium there was a small zoo that we all enjoyed.

On the way back to our car we were seduced into Sega Republic by the offer of a free ride. To call Sega Republic an arcade, really doesn’t do it justice. In addition to all of the video games, there were some pretty impressive rides. We opted for the Spin Gear which reminded me a little of Space Mountain only with a lot more spinning. Miranda was a little nervous about the roller coaster, but she found the courage to go on (I don’t know if we really gave her a choice). She did scream as we spun about, but so did the rest of us.

The Dubai Mall Waterfall (I could only fit a small bit of it into the frame).

It’ll be back to work for all of us pretty soon, and I think we’re all looking forward to the routine. I never thought it would be possible to have too much time off, but I’m seriously rethinking that idea.

Why Nova Scotia?

When Julie and I finished up our first year in Abu Dhabi, we had the opportunity to go practically anywhere in the world. We're next door to a host of Asian countries; Africa's not that far; and there's so many European countries we'd love to visit while on this side of the world. It would have been easier and cheaper to visit almost any part of the world other than Nova Scotia. So, why spend all that time and money (especially when the US Dollar is taking such a beating) going someplace we'd already been? It had only been a year, why not push back the visit to Canada just a little more and do something new? These are good questions.

There's really only one answer.

We visited Nova Scotia for the people. While we were there we had some great visits with friends and family and that was a great comfort to us. In many cases it felt like we had never left, and had we not had a departure date looming over us, it would have been easy to pick up right where we left off.

No doubt, the highlight of the whole experience was Miranda's baptism on August 14th. It's always nice to go out on a high note, and I don't know how we could have left on any note higher. There were so many people who came to share in the experience and we were grateful for the love we felt and the desire to share

This is the point in the blog where I would post some of the great pictures we took during our last few days in Nova Scotia. There were pictures with grandparents and friends. We had some great shots from the last day of swimming lessons and, of course, Miranda's baptism. But we lost those pictures along with the camera and computer. It could have been worse. I might not have kept the blog and we would have lost everything. Things could always be worse. But ultimately, we didn't go for the pictures, and the relationships we renewed and strengthened will endure longer than any souvenir we might have brought back. Sure, the trip ended up costing us a lot more than we had planned, but it was still worth it.

Miranda at the Temple on her special day. Eight years old already.

The kids with Grandma, Grandpa and Miley on the morning of our departure. I was able to find enough of a
break in the tears to get this one.

Some thoughts on loss

For those of you who are Facebook friends, you’ve already learned about my loss (side note, facebook is a great place to go if you’re looking for instant comfort from a fairly large group of people also, on facebook you only have to recount your painful experience once and move on). If you haven’t been frequenting the Facebook, let me quote my entry:

Sitting in Chicago O'Hare wondering if I should mourn the loss of all my electronics collectively or individually. Oh MacBook pro, there was still so much I had wanted to do with you. iPad, I should have done more than play Angry Birds on you. I know that now. Canon, a summer with you wasn't enough and Kindle, even though you will be replaced, it wll never be the same.

How do I articulate this experience in a way that conveys the genuine pain and sense of betrayal I’ve felt as losing some pretty valuable nifty gadgets. I’ve never had anything major stolen from me in my life. I lost a couple of cheap in-dash stereos while we were living in Arizona, but apart from that, we’ve never had a break-in, never been mugged, nor have we every been the victims of identity theft or Internet fraud. When you go through life insulated from some of the seedier elements of civilization, it’s pretty easy to have a generally favorable view of one’s fellow man. I’ve always said that most people are good, that most people, when given an opportunity to do the right thing, will do it. It’s harder to maintain that perspective when confronted with the minority who don’t do the right thing, but, you know, I still believe it, in part because of how people have treated me upon learning of my loss, but mostly I still believe it because I want to believe it.

We discovered the loss while we were standing around the parking lot of the car rental place. Needless to say, I panicked. In that moment of realization, I believed that what I had lost was irreplaceable. I was overwhelmed by both the financial and emotional cost and I have to say I didn’t take it well. My wife said that she’s seen me angry (plenty of times), and she’s seen me sullen (plenty of times too), but she had never seen me feeling so helpless and distraught before. I’m sorry my kids had to see it happen; however, I think there are some advantages to seeing one’s dad as human.

 It’s not necessarily a bad thing to find yourself in a situation beyond your control. It teaches you humility, and it teaches you to rely on others. The guy in front of me looked like the smartphone kind of guy and I asked him if he could look up the number to the hotel and let me call. He wasn’t having any luck finding it. Unasked, the lady behind me started to do the same and offered me her phone while I called. There are good people out there, and I believe most people want to help if they can. Comfort can be found in the company of strangers.

I called the hotel and told them that my bag had been left in the parking lot. They went and looked around for it, but there was nothing to be found. All of it was gone.

The Inventory of my bag as far as I can remember:

Canon S95 and my very cool gorilla tripod

Ipad and the spiffy new Ipad Keyboard I had just bought the day before.

MacBook Pro

Ipod Nano

Kindle

Nook

A couple of memory cards

Julie’s Cell Phone

A Moleskine Notebook with a couple of really good story ideas (I think I can remember them all)

Luggage scale

Thor: The Mighty Avenger Volumes 1 and 2 (I was pretty happy to find both of those at Borders during their closing out sale. In some ways I’m most ticked off at losing those. I was really looking forward to reading them on the plane. It’s kind of funny the things we fixate on.)

Fortunately we still had our little Ipod touch and the Boston Airport offered free Internet access, so we were able to change some key password details and hopefully circumvent any future issues with identity theft or financial risk. Most importantly, all of our cash and travel documents—passports and birth certificates were safely tucked away in my nifty travel wallet. It took a lot of reflection and no small amount of prayer, but In the end, I don’t feel like I lost anything I couldn’t afford to lose.

I can’t imagine how tempting it might have been for someone to discover such a treasure trove in one place. I’m not angry with the person who took it. I don’t know their situation, nor do I know their intentions. I do feel a certain amount of pity for the person who is in such a place where they either feel they need to steal or their hearts have become so hardened by choice and circumstance that they feel no remorse over the pain or discomfort they might cause another. A heart hardened to the suffering of others is a heart hardened to everything. Empathy is necessary to feel love for others and to feel the love others have for you. At the end of the day, I can replace what’s been lost, but that person who took it will have a much more difficult time recovering from the loss in their life.

Let me be clear, as much as I lament the replacement cost of those things, what irks me more is the loss of some very dear pictures, especially the pictures we took at Miranda’s baptism. Most of the other stuff on the computer was backed up, and sure it’ll be a pain to go through all of my accounts to change passwords and protect my identity, but even that is, at most, an inconvenience.

We will be getting a new computer soon, an iMac instead of an MacBook this time—much more difficult to lose or leave behind, and eventually we may replace the iPad or get one of those nifty new MacBook Airs, but that won’t be for some time yet. As far as the camera’s concerned, I’m really glad that we bought it, but my Nikon SLR still works pretty well and I can’t say I see the need to get a new point and shoot anytime soon. The Kindle will be missed, but we’ve got a few dozen books lying around the apartment and, even though I had pretty much turned my back on paper, it’s really the story that matters most. No doubt I’ll get a new Kindle some time down the road, but for now, it’s far from a need.

We’ve already replaced Julie’s phone and getting her phone number back couldn’t have been easier

So, in the end, no big deal, right? Well, yes and no. Even though I’ve come to terms with the stuff that was lost, I believe that the experience of losing it could, potentially, be life changing. In some ways it feels kind of silly and trivial to talk about this as a life changing experience, but I think it could radically alter the course of my life, but only if I choose to let it. As I’ve said, it would be an easy thing to replace all the items I lost on that day. It’s not that I’m flush with cash, but I’ve got enough saved up that we could find a way to make it work. I had done a back-up just before we left for Nova Scotia, so apart from the pictures I had taken while we were away, we’ve got most of that stuff at our disposal. I can’t help but be grateful that I had been so diligent about blogging while we were away because most of the key pictures we had taken are safely stored on the Internet (However, I am sad that the photo of me and my mutton chops will only be seen by the people in possession of my computer). Any moment can be a life changing moment if you choose to let it change you, and that’s what I’m doing. I am choosing to have this loss refocus my efforts in the areas that matter most to me. My facebook entry was a little tongue and cheek like a facebook posting needs to be, but it was pretty clear to me that I had used most of those gadgets as diversions instead of what I said I needed them for.

It’s like people who say they subscribe to cable for the Discovery Channel and the History Channel, but spend most of their time watching reality celebrity shows on E!.  I told myself and everyone else that I needed these things for my writing, but ultimately I used the technology to while away the hours watching useless youtube clips or endlessly searching for any details I could find about the new Avengers movie coming out next summer. The iPad was a toy for me (as it is for most) and I wasted more time browsing the Internet casually or flinging Angry Birds at thieving pigs. I was not making the most of the tool within my possession. I was not making the most of my time. I have been living beneath my potential.

An early member of our church said, “No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude, and humility….It is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to require.”

I’m sure he was referring to greater tragedies than what I’ve suffered, but I still take comfort from the sentiment. The key for me in this moment of minor crisis is to make the lessons learned more valuable than the stuff that was lost. It will take some time and effort, but I believe I can use this experience to enrich my life and the lives of those around me, it’s just up to me to figure out how.

Monday to Friday--Trying to ignore the sound of that ticking clock

This last week was full with filling our luggage. We had left behind a fair bit of stuff and worked at trying to fit it all into our luggage. The problem with going so long without certain items is that one comes to realize how little one actually needs or wants them. So, it was with no shortage of ambivalence that I stuffed duffle bags with books and DVDs that may or may not get read in the coming years. Oh well. One thing that we left behind towards which there is absolutely no ambivalence is our lego collection. Collection may be a little imprecise when talking about a thirty pound bin of odds and ends, but Legos are not cheap in Abu Dhabi and our children have lamented more than once over the past year about not having the perfect piece for one of their constructions.

Monday night I went out to see Rise of the Planet of the Apes with a couple of friends of mine. I had to leave Liam behind because he still had some school to finish up with.I really wanted to take him along, but abandoning him was the responsible thing. Sometimes being a Dad is no fun at all.

Liam really pulled out all the stops, Julie too, to finish up with his schooling for the year. He pulled an all nighter on Thursday (Julie did too) and was finally able to really enjoy his summer starting Friday.

Did I delegate lulling James to sleep to Grandma? Yup.

Not a lot of sun for swim lessons, but lot's of fun!

Do I look homeless? That's what Liam says.

Thursday morning was spent tutoring Dad in a few computer related areas. Thursday afternoon was more packing and swim lessons. Thursday night we went down to the Hamachi Steakhouse for a great Japanese dinner (and show). It was Miranda's birthday dinner and we were all glad that Grandma and Grandpa invited us along for the celebrations.

Friday was a full one. More packing in the morning. Then Julie and I had a great visit with our friends Rory, Sarah, Gail and Joe. The basic theme of the afternoon was, "Things aren't perfect in Abu Dhabi, but it is pretty great. Please come back with us." Not sure how well we sold the experience, but it wasn't for lack of trying.

While we were lunching, Grandma, Lucy, Miranda and James were off to www.themonkeyshow.ca, a new favourite place in Halifax. We discovered it just before we left and as you can see from the pictures below, the kids were pretty happy we happened upon it. Grandma put her sewing expertise to work for James, but Lucy and Miranda pretty much constructed their sock monkeys from scratch.

My, what pretty eyes you have.

It was a rush to get to the pool for swim lessons, but we made it. It was a pretty novel experience Friday because the sun actually made an appearance.

James' newfound bravery around water is a little disconcerting.

I thought we were going to take it easy for the last couple of weeks

Julie and the kids were able to spend some time visiting with her good friend Beth. I spent some time on computer tutor duty with Dad. He's got a list of things he'd like to be able to do, and I actually think I may be able to help him with that. Liam is down to the wire with home school. Tennis lessons had to be missed, but Liam was very understanding. I've been really impressed with what he's been able to accomplish this summer. Now, we just need to figure out how generate those levels of productivity during the actual school year.

Julie spent two nights with the Pillings children. The parents were away and had asked us to check in on them. James was happy to have a sleepover with his friend Chaim and Liam enjoyed his time with his friend Mason. After spending some time visitng and playing games both evenings, I opted out of spending the night for some solitude and uninterrupted reading time back at my Dad's. It's a little selfish, I know, but Julie's forgiven me already, I think.

Saturday morning we spent at the temple and then we rushed over with Dad and Ellen to see Shakespeare by the Sea's "Robin Hood." If you've got a chance to see it, you've really got to go. I've enjoyed all of their productions, but this one was the most polished family show that I've seen them do. It didn't hurt to watch the show on one of the few good weather days we've experienced since coming to Nova Scotia. I actually had to put sunblock on, a first for this summer.

Intermission

Who's that pretty lady?

Saturday night we went with Dad, Ellen and Jessica to MacAskill's for dinner. A trip to Nova Scoia wouldn't be complete without at least one visit to the restaurant. The food was great, and it was nice to have a little bit of grown up time. It's the little things you appreciate like being able to have an entire conversation without having to explain the meaning of a single word or idiom.

Yup, I need a haircut.

Sunday started early and didn't stop until well after sundown. At church we're still getting the "Are you guys still here?" looks. It's like people are hanging on to their goodbyes and can't wait to get them over with. The afternoon was spent at the Pinsents. You might think that taking four kids over to a house with even more kids might result in an incredible level of chaos, but after we ate, all the children vanished and were not heard from until it was time to go. It might be a little unsettling if the peace and quiet were not so well appreciated.

In the evening, Dad had Ruth and Murray Wright for dinner. We've always enjoyed their company and the love they've shown our children. We had a great visit over a fantastic meal. We were also treated to quite the humming bird display.

One of our guests for dinner.

By the time the Wrights left, we were pretty much done for the day, but we had invited the Glanfields over so I could continue my Settlers of Catan winning streak. The dice were not in my favor. Grandma joined in for her first Settlers game and soundly cleaned up.

Lucy being told she can't play.

Us playing. Wait! How did Lucy get there?

I like to think that we've done a pretty good job at visiting with friends and family. Sure, we'd like to spend more time with people, but I am a firm believer in the George Constanza principle of "Leave them wanting more." There were a few times when I felt like we were verging on the point of overstaying our welcome, but for the most part we've spent just enough time with people to remind them about all the things they like about us without bringing up some of our less than desirable traits.