Islam

Oh, Jeddah

This week, we are in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. We had a few false starts! We arrived with no place to stay thanks to an AWOL Airbnb host, and spent our first night in a hotel room that smelled like…ick. The next day, we showed up for a design workshop that turned out to be 1200 miles away in Dubai. It’s been smoggy, hot, and humid.

Jeddah isn’t what most would consider a tourist destination, and yet there has been a lot here for us, including some things that we maybe didn’t expect.

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Doha, Qatar

Doha’s diverse skyline

We’re in Doha, the capital of Qatar! In some ways, Doha is like Dubai — a flashy skyline along the waterfront, hot and humid, men in white, women in black (also tank tops and shorts). But Doha feels different, more openly connected to its Bedouin roots than Dubai. There are camels in the center of the city!

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Dubai Is More Than Just a Pretty Face

Mural on a wall in Dubai’s Old City

Most of us associate Dubai with grand opulence, and there’s that! But there is more to Dubai than Gucci and crazy architecture. San Miguel friend and co-conspirator, Susan, and I arrived in Dubai two nights ago. Why Dubai? I have wanted to visit the Arabian Peninsula, called “West Asia,” because it’s an important piece of the global human puzzle and the world’s oil-based political economy. Susan said, “not on my to-do list but that sounds fascinating, let’s go!”.

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Madaba, Jordan

IMG_0032Since leaving Petra on Monday, I have been in Madaba, about 20 miles south of Amman. I was going to spend this time just north of Petra at a small BandB with horses. When I arrived at the property, I learned that there was no food service and nothing of interest for miles around.

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Come for the Rock, Stay for the People

IMG_0007For the next ten days, I am in Jordan, a nation of peace and refuge wedged in between a lot of Middle East belligerence and violence. At the end of my first day, I am relaxing with a fantastic Jordanian merlot, hoping to forget how stiff and sore I am from walking all day.

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