I'm back up and blogging again thanks to my daughter who set me up on my own website. Check out my new blog site at BierleyBulletin.com

I haven't been able to blog for some time now. My dad died in January after a slow and long march downward into Alzheimer oblivion. I spent a portion of the fall and winter helping my sister and brother-in-law, Sandra and Larry, care-give at their cottage in Baja MX. Flying back and forth from Abu Dhabi to San Diego and then driving down the Baja coast to Bunta Banda was arduous but not nearly so as watching my Dad's demise. We set up a memorial blog for him if anyone is interested - wallacebelin.blogspot.com .    . . . Well, now, I need to kick myself in the butt and move on.

Back in Abu Dhabi, the newness of being here has worn off but my interest in this fascinating part of the world has not. Building all over the UAE continues at a break-neck speed. Bob and I (with my head and limbs covered modestly) visited the new Grand Mosque now in it's final stages of completion. It will be the second largest mosque in the world - politically correct in that it can't supersede the one at Mecca. It is most amazing and I couldn't stop taking pictures. The whiteness in the courtyard is blinding in the noonday sun but it takes on a surreal look at dusk and at night it is magical. The detail and opulence in the grand interior humbled anyone who stepped inside. Bob and I are thankful that the government is allowing non-muslim visitors. It may never be possible for us westerners to see inside Mecca but this is a wonderful consolation gift.  

Cocooning. That's what I'm unabashedly doing and loving it. I'll be nestled in until after Ramadan ends in mid-October and the cooler weather starts. I'm connected to the universe through the internet and phone. I make one foray out most evenings when the thermometer edges below 40 degrees (104 fahrenheit) to the golf course practice range where I plan to surprise Bob with my new found skills in the sport. He'll be back in Abu Dhabi September 10th so I haven't much time. The caddy saw my name on my golf bag, recognized the surname, and said, Oh, Mr. Robert . . .single handicapper." "yeah," I said "I plan to get there too." He shook his head and replied, "It'll take a long time, Mrs. Burley"
My 20 year old daughter, finished with her summer academic program in Bejing, has still been traveling by herself in southwestern China. When I don't get an email, typical mom that I am, I imagine the worst, "kidnapped and held as a sex slave." To my immense relief, I did get a response just the other day. She had picked up two other single travelers, both Chinese, and was headed for Shangrila. She's been forced to use and improve her language skills traveling solo and, then, with two Chinese speakers. She'll soon be back at Evergreen State in Washington for the fall quarter.
Chris, my 19 year old son, has driven back from his summer job in Baja, Mexico to UAT in Tempe, Arizona. I think he took a long detour to visit a friend in Northern California. His emails are like diamonds, rare, small and valuable. I try to glean information out of 2-3 words. The fact that he can navigate from Mexico (and get across the border with his long hair), pick up his stuff from storage, move into his dorm, and sign up for classes by his own cognizance says something. Being overseas forces you not to be a 'helicopter' mom.
Speaking of cocooning I have a new and improved diagram of Hilton Baynuna Towers, where I live. If they could only have putting, pitching and a driving range on the roof, I wouldn't have to leave the building. I am sooo bad.

July 11 - Aug 4, 2007

On our 20 anniversary we invited 50 of our closest friends for dinner at a restaurant. On, this, our 30th anniversary we invited ourselves on an exotic trip to Africa. Since we can't have you - our friends - with us, we will both toast to your health.

We combined a safari and a beach resort in Kenya with a little urban life and wine tour in Cape Town, South Africa.
On our first stop, Nairobi, we spent a night at the Stanley Hotel built in 1904 but nicely updated. The second floor of this hotel encompasses a Victorian bar of heavy dark wood that Hemmingway use to frequent when he was in Africa and, until a few years ago, it doubled for the Nairobi stock market. Nine days were spent flying on small aircraft between 3 different camps. It was delightfully uncomplicated air travel - no ticket desk, no bag check line, no security line, no x-ray machine, no gates, well, actually no airport, just one airstrip, nothing else. You sip your morning coffee until the plane would radio the camp that they were on the way, then the camp people would jeep you to the airstrip. The plane would fly in, taxi to a stop in front of you, you'd hand your bags to the guy throwing them into the hold, walk around to the passenger side, climb in and take off.



At Amboseli Park, Mt. Kilimanjaro loomed large and when the sky partially cleared it's peak appeared to be floating high in the mist. We flew over the legendary Great Rift Valley and landed on the Serengeti Plain where the Masai Mara people lived.














The first trickles of the mass migration of the wildebeasts and zebras were approaching. The Savannah's grasses, as far as our jeep traveled and the eye could see, was thigh deep, blowing in the breeze, waiting for the onslaught of a 500,000 animals. Our guide told us in a few weeks the grasses would be all gone. Zebras were prancing, nervously smelling the waters edge before plunging in mass to ford the crocodile infested stream. Suddenly a lunge and a snap from a previously unseen croc sent the whole herd back up the banks in a stampede of hooves, barking in their fright. We stood in our jeep mouths agape for a few few seconds before exhaling as we 'woood' the sight. A lion was sighted on the opposite bank, lurking in the grasses. Those poor zebras didn't stand a chance.

We stayed at a rustic but stunning lodge at Amboseli and camped in tents in the Sumburu and Masai Mara parks.


Bob and I have back-packed and camped but never on this level. I really can't call it camping. A tent designed by interior decorators, with a four-poster bed, running water, shower, flushing toilet, and a personal attendant who comes and wakes you for the dawn safari run with a teapot of hot coffee or coco and biscuits on a linen covered tray, is not camping. Full breakfast was served later as well as lunch and dinner either as an extensive buffet or gourmet menu.




Mombasa and the Kenyan coast came next. The time share we stayed in on the coast just north of Mombasa was a bit worn but had a large comfortable picturesque balcony and good place to read. When we weren't there, we went deep sea fishing, checked the sights around Mombasa, and snorkeled around the reefs. The people with their hands out are there but not as bad as in Cairo. Poverty can be very disconcerting.
Cape Town, South Africa was quite a change. Hooked up with a great guide that we hired for the week. He arranged our week for us with just what we wanted to see, added suggestions with our likes in mind and drove us around. Saw Robbins Island - the Alcratraz of Cape Town - where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 20 years. There are a lot of upscale restaurants in
Cape Town - great food. The waterfront area is quite touristy and entertaining. The tramway to the top of Table mountain was closed for repairs for just the week we were there but Kirstenbosch National Botanic Gardens gracing the mountains eastern slopes was beautiful. I discovered flora I'd never seen before - odd looking stuff. Since it was winter (in July) I was glad I brought my P-Jacket. No swimming on the nude beach for me. The weather did not stop the surfers that were out in numbers. in fact, the winter bluster enhanced the breakers to the surfers delight. Desmond, our driver also took us by some shanty towns - he called it opportunistic housing. I must remember that more politically correct phrase. He also told us about the interesting low cost housing works going on. But the inundation of refugees from so many neighboring countries does stress the economics. We also saw neighborhoods like the Malay Quarter on the rebound. The hillside, attached, terraced homes were all being fixed up and painted, a perfusion of bright colors. Cute. The high end of the market had houses hanging off the steep slopes of the mountain side with outstanding views of the ocean and Cape Town below but with driveways I could never manage. A short drive from Cape Town, the Cape of Good Hope was stunning. Hiking along the cliff paths proved a knee wobbling experience. The jackass penguins, whales, vineyards, cute old Dutch towns, the diamond and tanzanite markets, art museums showing local African art and of course lots of restaurants with great ambience and food were just a few of our sights/activities.
Thanks Bob, for a great time. Cherrie

June 15 - July 10, 2007

It felt good to be back home after 6 weeks away - my own bed sort of feeling. The day after I returned I relished the heat after the cool damp of the Washington State. Three weeks after returning I was more than ready to leave again. I had this idiotic idea of walking on the corniche (waterside avenue) to Spinney's, the local upscale grocery store around noon. My idea was to shop and take the taxi back to our apartment. It was warm, but hey, I'm from Houston, I know about heat. I'm tough, and besides, I needed the exercise. Funny thing, though, nobody was walking on this normally busy corniche. The phrase "only mad dogs and Englishmen out in the noonday sun" floated to my mind like a hallucination as I was walked. The half-hour journey did me in. I stumbled into Spinney's, managed to make it over to the water bottle cooler, while holding on to a shopping cart for dear life. I thought I was maintaining my composure but people were glancing at me like "should I help her"; "Is she OK?". After cooling down a bit, shopping and checking out at the register, the bagger told me, yes, told me, he was going to flag me a taxi. Like, I'm not being given a choice - such a stupid lady. The summer temperature has been past 45 degree celsius (113 degrees fahrenheit) on a daily basis. It might be alright but somehow the coastal areas also maintain a high humidity level. I've read that historically - before the oil and air-conditioned buildings 50 years ago - in the summer the tribal people would travel inland to places like Al Ain (a desert oasis town) where it was just a bit cooler but much drier, hence, cooler nights. So now you know when NOT to plan your visit with us. Summer here is a place to hang out with a few remaining hardcore friends at restaurants, bars, indoor gyms, shopping malls, indoor souks and maybe a drive over to Dubai for a turn at the indoor ski slope.
We had Waleed's going away - as in back to the states - bash. The guys hammed it up with their cigars. I was offered one but graciously declined. We will miss that Lebanese rebel rouser. So many trips to the Lebanese Flower restaurant at his instigation. Our table was always over-ladened with more sharmas, tabboulel, fattoush, hommos and moutabel than we could ever eat. He even enticed some of us to eat Habra (raw ground meat).
It's a nice time to just cocoon, read a book, and watch the sunset over Lulu Island from the comfort of your own air-conditioned apartment. Lulu Island - the Emirates have just opened it up for tourists. Bob and I took a ferry over there early one morning and swam on the gulf side of the beach. It's got a way to go, amenity-wise, before it becomes a tourist destination but it was fun to have the whole beach to yourself. I snapped a shot of our apartment building from the island. As you can see it's very easy to cocoon here with workout, room-service, and sleeping all in one building. If something breaks down, I call maintenance. If I don't want to grocery shop, I call "Smart Grocer" across the street from us and they bring it right up. Dry cleaning is delivered.
Bob has also gone a few times to the golf course. He says, with the heat, it's not nearly as crowded - h'mm. He's also gotten himself golfing sandals and anybody who knows Bob, knows how rare this is - he rents a cart.

May 1st - June 14, 2007

It's been a long busy summer and like every expat living here, when the thermometer starts lingering around 110 degrees or more, I've tried to stay away as much as possible. I left at the first sign of heat, May 1, on the pretext of visiting my dad in assisted living in St. Louis and then helping my kids move out of their respective dorms, Chris in Alpine, Texas and Kara in Olympia, Washington. My dad was excited, as always, to see me. I have one word for Alzheimer's: It sucks! At least he still has his sense of humor. I asked how he was and he replied with a smile, "Dopey". After 2 weeks with Dad, a quick flight to El Paso and a 3 hour drive to Alpine (no airport in Alpine) I helped move Chris out. Incidentally, I now know what a 2-month-old, half-eaten, chocolate ice cream cone looks like when it's been left on a corner of a desk. The glue properties of the now plasticized ice cream that seeped through the cake cone and adhered to the desk, are very strong. I'm thinking of patenting that for some kind of natural, edible, super glue. Chris always has the most interesting science experiments. He and I drove a rented van to Tempe AZ and deposited his stuff in storage while we signed him up for his sophomore year at UAT. We then flew to San Diego and were picked up by my lovely sister, Sandra, and, after stocking up at Whole Foods, drove into MX. Chris and I stayed with Sandra and Larry (my sister and brother-in law) at their beach house in Ensenada, MX - just south of San Diego in Baja. It was a couple weeks of bliss; cool ocean breezes, boogy boarding and 4 wheel drive trips into the mountains. One photo shows Sandra directing Larry to turn the jeep around the one way, drop off road so we could drive back down the mountain. Chris and I, then, flew up to Seattle and Kara. Chris usurped Kara's Saab and drove it back down the west coast to MX where he's working at JacobsFarm/DelCabo's warehouse loading trucks with fresh produce on 12 hour shifts and maybe picking up some Spanish from fellow workers (the kind not learned in school). Summer jobs - don't you love it. Kara, in the meantime, was packing for a summer academic program in Beijing, China. I got to see an end-of-the-quarter presentation from a class she attended. It was illuminating to see the ultra-liberal west coast culture - at least by Texas standards. There were recycling bins for every kind of material and the students were actually sorting their trash and using them. Kara and I flew out on the same day, June 14; she for Beijing and I for Abu Dhabi, the same airport, opposite directions.

One of the advantages of living in a different culture is being able to notice the subtle differences in imagery and written words which reflect the attitudes and views of the establishment. Attitudes about women here have been changing at a breath-taking clip. But old attitudes still linger unbeknownst to author or creator.
U.A.E. has been the most advanced in the Middle East when it comes to women's rights. They have made great strides in advancing women's causes and freedoms here. Laws have been instigated to protect the "weaker sex". Women can walk freely on city streets with or without headcovering or male family member. Hecklers of swimsuit clad women on beaches have been prosecuted. Colleges with 'manly' majors (like engineering - no, not domestic engineering) are available to women. Women have been elected to minor positions in politics. . . . And yet one reads articles, see signs and realizes they're close but not quite there.
Last month was Women's Month. This banner was all over Abu Dhabi in the malls and on the boulevards. A sweet depiction of femininity encased in a protective cocoon of roses. This graphic was disconcerting to me and it was everywhere I turned. I had this impulse to print out a thousand of the iconic "Rosie the Riveter" posters and tact them up on top "Rosie the Shopper" banners so with that juxtaposition between the two female types, people would start to "get it". Since I want to keep living here, I bit my tongue and stopped the presses.
Articles here are amusing, not so much in what they say, as in what they don't say. An article about more Middle Eastern women who are choosing to stay single approached the issue as a problem of not enough men to 'go around'. One person the author interviewed, said that it was time to encourage men to have more than one wife as Islam allows men to have up to four wives. (The culture here, although changing, is still ingrained with the idea that every female needs to have a protectorate male.) The cartoon illustration for the article depicted a young vibrant couple walking past an old ugly - and supposedly spinster - hag complete with hook nose. Did this drawing imply that these poor spinsters were not able to get hitched because they were lacking in looks or did spinsterhood make them old and ugly before their time? Nothing was mentioned about - maybe - these women were opting for education and independence as opposed to servitude and being second fiddle. Or possibly they had an agenda to which they aspired that did not neccessarily include being a mother and a wife.
But these times are a-changing. A newly elected woman to the Bahrain legislature, despite being ostracized by conservative members of government for not wearing a head/face covering, stuck to her guns and refused to submit to her colleagues harassment. Hang in there lady!