Okay, I am sure all my “fans” (hah! – fans... Bad enough that I am ego-blogging; now I think I have FANS?) … I digress yet again. I am sure that I left you all off on a skinny little fraying thread of story line. Yes, I am somewhat better. (The antibiotics my brother convinced me to take have helped - down to just bloaty and somewhat painful... able to eat again)
Yes, I made it through my day’s driving. Without accident (unlike when I had that little altercation in London with the bus). Without major nasty incident (unlike the red light district of Amsterdam I unknowingly walked into, or the Sailor’s hotel I slept in in Copenhagen).
Yes, of COURSE I ended up driving on other than main roads. Slums and such are easily recognizable anywhere – be it the Bronx or Bahrain. There’s graffiti (Arabic, in this case), trash everywhere, broken-up furniture outside buildings, laundry hanging off ropes outside front windows, car parts, and disemboweled cars, lining the street sides, and, well… people absent the scenes, usually.
Yes, of COURSE I ended up driving on other than main roads. Slums and such are easily recognizable anywhere – be it the Bronx or Bahrain. There’s graffiti (Arabic, in this case), trash everywhere, broken-up furniture outside buildings, laundry hanging off ropes outside front windows, car parts, and disemboweled cars, lining the street sides, and, well… people absent the scenes, usually.
I think I can probably find one of the local graffiti... I do have a collection started from way back (remember me taking pictures of the laundry hanging when we had that tire breakdown on the Bronx Parkway on our trip to NYC, Sue?)...
NO, I don’t think I was in any danger. Other than from the game of chicken being played at every intersection (I’m gonna drive like hell up to the intersection and pretend I’m not going to stop, and let’s see if you, stupid tourist, get scared and stop for me… They didn’t know who they were dealing with - I learned right quick not to even slow down!). No cncerns... Other than the interest a white, blonde woman alone produced… No street protests (I was sort of looking forward to being able to write about that!).
Yes, I saw some interesting stuff. No, I did not go to too many tourist sites, or anything else, for that matter. Mostly, I drove, or I shopped for artisan gift things. I will detail more in time, once I get my photos from yesterday organized.
But for now, before things get shut down, I would like to spend my last (third) glass of wine for tonight writing just a bit about my day TODAY. Four main items of note to indicate how the day went:
Yes, I saw some interesting stuff. No, I did not go to too many tourist sites, or anything else, for that matter. Mostly, I drove, or I shopped for artisan gift things. I will detail more in time, once I get my photos from yesterday organized.
But for now, before things get shut down, I would like to spend my last (third) glass of wine for tonight writing just a bit about my day TODAY. Four main items of note to indicate how the day went:
1. During my class (at the start of which I was rather down, having been told my last exam may have been too hard, and this science course was for business people and was supposed to be FUN, not necessarily the same as what I teach in Waltham – before you ask, this was a program coordinator, not a student!!), anyway… after explaining that the “Bermuda high” – high pressure system – tends to protect the island from hurricanes, I was asked in all seriousness to explain the Bermuda Triangle. Once I verified what was being asked, I explained that such things were not within the scope of this class… I guess I should feel complimented that they thought I could explain… But the whole idea takes me so far intellectually from where I thought we, as a group, were…
2. After an extended (2+ hour) review session for their next exam (attended NOT by the students who complained to me or to the program coordinator about my tough exams), I found out that the president of our noble institution, Gloria Larson, was actually in the building while I was teaching – and she didn’t even pop her head in to say hello to “her” students. (These kids ARE, officially, Bentley students.) This depressed me all over again, after regaining some of my equanimity from the complaints of the day before. (By the way, I did grab my courage-stick, and sent an invite to Gloria to come by our classroom!) Picture is of the BIBF lobby - yes, that's highly polished sandstone with marble inlay on the floor...
3. During “Happy hour” in the lounge, I met and chatted with a couple from Florida traveling (nice to know SOMEone still has money!). Turns out that, (a) they look askance slightly on “bleeding heart liberals” (aka Obama voters – but we managed to admit our biases and still be civil… I can get on with anyone if I really want to, I suppose); (2) they are actually not ‘bleeding heart’ but certainly generous conservatives (giving money to a blind person in Zimbabwe to build a home for his family counts as bleeding heart in my book!); and (iii) they were making this trip to a cruise on the Suez Canal a year late, as the woman had been biopsied and ultimately diagnosed with breast cancer just prior to their originally planned trip a year ago. (Some of you will understand the significance of that; some will not.)
4. After all that, the wonderful Manoj (one of the several gentlemen working here who are taking special care to treat me well) offered up an extra glass of wine, because he knew I had spent the last glass distracted with the stories of the couple I was talking with (see 3 above). After I gratefully accepted, I asked Manoj exactly what part of India he was from (as opposed to Vishnu – from Nepal, and Jalal – from Pakistan – still looking for a way to get a visa into the states, anyone!!), which led to – ultimately – a story from him about how he had stared death in the face, but his brother (who couldn’t swim) pulled him back from certain drowning in the Indian Ocean as the sea tried to wrest him from the shores and into the deep abyss.
4. After all that, the wonderful Manoj (one of the several gentlemen working here who are taking special care to treat me well) offered up an extra glass of wine, because he knew I had spent the last glass distracted with the stories of the couple I was talking with (see 3 above). After I gratefully accepted, I asked Manoj exactly what part of India he was from (as opposed to Vishnu – from Nepal, and Jalal – from Pakistan – still looking for a way to get a visa into the states, anyone!!), which led to – ultimately – a story from him about how he had stared death in the face, but his brother (who couldn’t swim) pulled him back from certain drowning in the Indian Ocean as the sea tried to wrest him from the shores and into the deep abyss.
(He was equating this to my questions about the 2004 tsunami, and how those people must have felt. I did not have the heart, nor the need, to explain that what those people felt would have been more like the force of a bulldozer slamming into them, and what he had experienced was probably a rip current.)
Oh, and did I mention my day started with Vishnu in my room listening to a phone message the same as ones I have received three other different days now from some guy named Salman, who wants me to call him. The hotel has blocked his number from reaching my phone and is concerned that this ‘gentleman’ is either trying to sell me sex, or sell me into a sex ring…
Huh… well, I have been shopping for new careers…
:)
And, to close, one more pic: the "Friday-evening traffic" from my hotel window (but really, Thursday, as that's when the weekend starts here).
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