Well...this will be my last post from Kuwait. After I settle back at home I will come back to the blog and put up a few more posts to round out the rest of how my trip went. I am glad that I can say that I kept up with this thing, although I do wish that my posts were a little more regularly. It definitely helps to have at least a little something to put my thoughts onto, it helps me organize my thinking a little bit. It has also been a good way for me to keep in touch with some of my homies back in the states, so you know, it keeps my real. Anyways, here are some photos from my trip in Istanbul. I will have more up later when I get back to the home and have more time to put stuff up.


This is the Mother and Father of the Cem (Jim) the guy who invited me to stay with his family in Istanbul. They are Musharref and Ismail. Both were really amazing and super friendly. Even though we didn't speak the same language we had a great time hanging out together and they really seemed eager and excited to have me staying at their place. I really enjoyed my time with them and I hope to stay in touch


This is Korkut, Cem's brother. I ended up spending lots of time with him. He took me all over Istanbul and really went out of his way to make sure that I had a great time. Their hospitality is unequaled and i hope that one day I can be as generous as these folks were with me.
This is one of Istanbul's more famous Mosques. It is called Fatih Sultan Ahmet, or aka The Blue Mosque.
This is Istanbuls church turned mosque turned museum Aya Sofya. being inside here felt like stepping into an art history book. I have more pictures of both of these mosques that I will put up later.
This is a shot from one of the squares near a sooq, bazaar, market thingie. It overlooked part of the historic district of the city. I really enjoyed this market because it was away from most of the tourists and seemed to be more genuine.

well, this is it for now. Next time I post I will probably be in Syracuse, thankful that its not 100 degrees and dust storm free.

So I went to Dubai recently. not too much to say about it other than that DUBAI IS AWESOME. ...in a very materialistic, capitalist, pro-civ kind of way. But seriously, Wow..its like Disneyland for grownups or something. So much to do its overwhelming. Its like stepping into a foreign, exotic city with about a million things to do.

I didn't spend too much time doing alot of the touristy stuff. I lucked out and got to spend time with some locals and people who were pretty familiar with the city. We spent some time going to local restaurants, shisha joints and clubs all of which whose names I cannot remember...But it was alot of fun.


This is Fares, a guy i met in Kuwait who is here on business from Tokyo. He is half Jordanian and Japanese so we have quite a few things in common, including often feeling really awkward and out of place in Kuwait.

One of the toursity things that i did do was go on a bus tour. The city is really impressive with the way it is being planned and what not. Each area has its own district and the amount of construction taking place in this country is astounding. 2/3rds of the worlds cranes are in Dubai. So literally, everywhere you look there are about a dozen Cranes working around the clock to build the infrastructure for this massive city.

This is a picture of us driving through the main artery of Dubai. Basically a huge highway with skyscrapers erected on either side of it. I imagine this is what New York City must have looked like when it was just beginning; a row or two of huge buildings..and on the other side just a regular looking town.
This is the worlds only seven star hotel. I know i should be able to tell you more about it but i unfortunately missed being able to take the tour. The place is called Burj al Arab or Tower of the Arabs. It has a helicopter landing pad, and is designed in the shape of a sail on a Dhow, an arabic sea faring vessel. Until this month it was the worlds tallest hotel.
This is Jameira Beach. The most impressive thing about this beach was that it was public, people were actually swimming in it with real bathing suits, it was very clean (actually the whole city was pretty clean from what I could tell) and the water also seemed very clean. Not to much of the same can be said about the public beaches in Kuwait.
This picture reminds me of the Matrix. that long concrete thing is the beginning of the subway system being built in Dubai to help cut down on the amount of traffic congestion in the city. at one point it took us about an hour to drive what should have taken us about 15 minutes. Which i hear is actually an improvement on how bad the traffic has been in the past.
I took this next picture of Meshari. I have no idea how this thing works but it is the machine that they use to build the subway system.



When this building is completed it will be the worlds tallest structure, somewhere around 900 meters. I hear that they have slowed down the construction of the building because they want to see how tall the next "super scraper" is going to be in the states so that they can top that but i dont know if its true.





Dubai really is quite a beautiful city but i always wonder what was there before the city and what it takes to make the city. Dubai is such an opulent city but i cant tell how "useful" it is. I hear that about 3 quarters of the city's real estate is unoccupied. So they have all of this action without really doing anything..i think. Of course you can say that about any city but this one seems even more so. It really is like a Disney Land for grownups where I am sure you can do and find just about everything. My step brother Ali explained to me how the money laundering thing works in Dubai. People have dirty money, they invest it in Dubai by lets say building a 40 million dollar building. Then, they sell the building at maybe 30 or 50 million, depending on market and viola! there money has been cleaned...or something like that. I also get the impression there is insane amounts of prostitution and drugs here BUT I also feel like its a pretty safe city..pretty crazy.

5 Day Forcast: Postapocalyptic

No this title is not referring to a Mars Volta Song, or any of their lyrics. I am referring to how the weather has been here lately. It has been so dusty and sandy here that it has killed two pairs of my contacts. I even went to thy eye doctor to get a new subscription of contacts because I have gone through them so quickly.

I am traveling again soon. I have been invited to go to Dubai with a friend of mine that I have met here. We will stay there for a few nights. He is doing some business stuff there and has invited me to come along with him for the experience. Dubai is like the "miracle city" of the middle east. With hugely successful economy, open society with legalized drinking and dancing, as well as all the bells and whistles of a capitalistic consumer culture; indoor skiing at the malls, beach resorts and probably theme parks. Of course the place has its problems. Lots and lots of drug abuse, bad driving, homelessness and I think there are rumors of money laundering and what not. It will be an interesting time. I have also been invited to go to Istanbul, formerly known as Constantinople. My cousins boss has invited me to go back home with him to check out some of the schools there. I cant wait. I need to get hold of a camera.

We are taking over!!

I am actually sorry to not be posting more often. These past few days have been really busy, but luckily in a good way. I have been wedding receptions, countless dinners and lunches with friends and family, and drank way too much tea this past week. I have also been smoking quite a bit of shisha which isn't good for my lungs...but at least its something to do. I have also experienced what I figure is probably Kuwait's storm of the year and was invited to a really cool wedding reception where i learned how to dance Debka (Sort of) and met a bunch of really cool and friendly folks.

Sorry for the short post, hopefully I will be able to flesh this out a bit more soon. But i know if i dont at least start writing some of it down i will forget.

shout out to my momz for quitting smoking! I am soooo proud of her. It's something she has been wanting to do for awhile now and she has been off it for about a week. SO good luck mom, i hope you stay away from those things.


Again i apologize for the quality of the picture. Its a cell phone shot. This is a photo of myself and a bunch of my distant cousins. We are hanging out at our family's Diwaniya. Pictured here is Abdulla Alnouri, Abdullah Alnouri, Abdulla Alnouri, Abdulla Alnouri, and Abdulla Alnouri. Yes that is right. In the states I have yet to meet one person with the same first name as myself. However in Kuwait I coincidentally placed myself amongst all the other Abdulla Alnouris in the family. Actually i think there are 3 others but they are considerably younger. All of us in this picture are between the ages of 24 and 27 i think. I am the youngest. Guess which one is me.

Politi-links

Shout out to my "brotha from anotha mutha (like mel gibson and danny glova)" Edgey for getting published in Zmag. Check out his review of Frances Fox Pivens Book Challenging Authority.

http://www.zcommunications.org/zmag/viewArticle/17039

Edgey always keeps it fresh like Tupperware.

Also i stumbled across a couple of really interesting articles about what has been happening in Southern Iraq. I have been getting into some pretty heated discussions with my dad about the occupation, Al Sadr, and Iran. These articles have been really useful in helping get a better understanding of whats going on there. Also it seems to be right on with the history and politics that my father and his cousins from Iraq are familiar with. For the most part this info does not get into the more mainstream news. So..check it out if your interested.

just a quick disclaimer though; i dont completely agree with what these folks are talking about. I think they make some damn good points though.

http://www.counterpunch.org/patrick02152007.html

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/81147/

Lists: Milez loves these things

Kuwait...Between Iraq and

The hard spots:

-Lost my camera. Gave it to my dad to put in his bag but somehow it did not make it to Jordan. We think that somehow it got picked out of the luggage. I was really loving that thing too. Perfect size for trips and really good quality. I was just getting used to it.

-Going to the movies in kuwait sucks. Big time. Not only is the selection weak (of the choices i decided to go see Fools Gold) the way the films are edited is really awful. I am currently in a country that has more of a problem showing pictures of people kissing on the big screen that it does showing people being killed, murdered, shot, and smashed to bloody bits. Its not just kissing that is taken out of the movies either. There was this one scene where the characters were talking to a priest and they muted the priests response and then cut the whole scene out.

To be fair I think i would have been surprised by how much i enjoyed the movie if i could have understood the whole thing, some parts seemed pretty funny.

The most ejnoyment I got out of the trip was being one of 3 or so people laughing in the theater at the subtly sexual parts because the "ministry of think good" didn't know enough to take those parts out.

-The other night i was at the beach with my family and i came across a group of Indians playing drums and enjoying the evening. It was nice but unfortunately it was spoiled by the small group of Kuwaiti boys who were harassing them by dancing around them screaming, shouting, and I think even splashing water on them. Blatant racism. I wish i could have intervened but figured i should wait until I have a better grip on the language, the "justice," system and a baseball bat. And i guess I shouldn't have my little sister with me either. We did have a good discussion about racism in the car though.

A few of the good things

+ going to the gym has been great. I am running about 2 miles regularly now and lifting weights on a regular basis. Sam would be so proud. I Just wish that there was something active that I could get involved in on a regular basis. like soccer or just about anything competitive. I also wish that I was gaining weight here but its just not happening. I eat like a fiend though seriously, I put away rice like there is no tomorrow.

+ new cd's i downloaded. Gnarles Barkly-odd couple, Talib Kweli- Eardrum, and Erykah Badu-New Amerykah. While I dont feel like I can listen to any of these Cd's straight through yet (i am sure they will grow on me in time like all my favorite cds do) some of the tracks on these cds just blow my mind. On the GB cd it feels like Dangermouse reached all the way back to some 50's pop for some inspiration, sprinkled on some 70's, and then dropped it in the hear and now to knock our socks off. Cee-lo is as good as ever, gospel funk master that he is. Some of the more experimental tracks haven't hit me just yet but that may be because I am trying to digest how good the first four songs on odd couple really are.

+ keeping busy. I am really glad that I have been able to keep things on my plate here. Between meeting new people and spending time with family I have done a pretty good job of staying busy. Maybe too well honestly. I should be spending more time on my arabic but ive never been very good at doing homework. The time that i spend without much on my plate has felt like a conscious decision and not just a lack of something to do. A chance to catch my breath.

Floating in Jordan

I spent this past weekend in Jordan with my father and sister. Turns out Sahar was in the Middle East for a conference for her job so Baba and I took a flight to Amman, Jordan to meet up with her. I really had no idea what to expect. So I didnt really get my hopes up, or do any investigating. I just went with the flow and was really caught by surprise.


Baba lookin sharp at a nice Restaurant in Amman


The trip out of Kuwait was really bizarre. Even though the day started out clear and calm, by the time we hit the runway for take off there was a sand storm so fierce I couldn't see the airport from the runway. It was literally like white out, blizzard conditions but with sand. We took off anyway, and even though the plane had a rough start once we were in the air everything was pretty smooth. For about an hour though we could not see the ground because the sand storms were so thick. It looked like we were floating across a sea of chocolate milk. When we landed in Jordan and called kuwait to let folks know that we got there ok we heard that the airport was closed soon after our departure because of the storm.
The sun setting beyond the Dead Sea


So our first night in Amman we spent with Sahar. We invited her and her friend, Valerie, to come out to dinner with us. We caught up with Sahar talked about her job and the grants she is working on. Turns out she is pleased with where she is at but looking for something more. I hope she can find what she is looking for. She certainly seems happy to be in the Middle East again and seems to appreciate working for grants and on projects to help Palestinians.

Me enjoying a tasty mojito

That night after dinner Valerie invited Sahar and I out to go to a cafe with her and some of her friends. Sahar could not make it but I went and had a pretty good time. She took us to this Place that was in the downtown area of Amman. It had four floors and a balcony with an incredible view of a part of the city. It was as though stars were blanketing the city and hills below us and rose up to meet the night sky.
We found Sahar at her hotel.

So after I took in the view I realized that I was in a bar, listening to 80's pop music, surrounded by arabs all laughing, smoking, and drinking, and ENJOYING the music. This came as quite a culture shock for so many reasons. The first one being that i was coming from Kuwait where it is illegal to enjoy music in public. The second being that that I am coming from an area in the states where I dont think that many Arabs exist in a 50 mile radius. The third one being that I didnt see that many cops. I mean there were some military folks in the area but no more than there usually were sprinkled throughout the country.
I saved room for a desert that I could actually eat. Sorbet.

So my night finished up relatively early. Some friends of Valerie's dropped me off at the hotel. They were really nice and I was really glad that Valerie invited me out for a little while.
The trip down to the Dead Sea

The next day we went for a trip to the Dead Sea. It was only about a 30 minute drive from Amman to where we stopped...and all down hill. Amman seems like a city with alot of green. It reminded me of all the photos and videos I have seen of Palestine with green hils and lawns littered with white rocks and olive trees. It was very similar to that but the area the city was in was surrounded by desert. Leaving the city we drove through hills and valleys of brown sand and rocky rubble until we came across the Lake. The water and hills beyond it (Israel) were blue and smoky, hazy in appearence. Very similar to the Appalachian mountains were I used to live in Virgina. Surrounding the lake were hotels and resorts taking advantage of the scenery and tourists interested in the area. There was also lots of construction happening in the area so it looked like more hotels were opening up. The place seemed as though it was developing, not quite finished having all the natural elements of the area surrounding the Lake diminished by development.
I guess this is supposed to be what the building used to look like in Jordan

We eventually made our way to the water and for how hot it was there weren't that many people swimming. Actually it is really hard to swim in the dead sea. Beacause of how salty it is everything in the water is insanely bouyant. If you walk out far enough into the water you just, lose your balance and your legs tip up becoming instantly weightless. I could have pretty effortlessly floated about 10 km to Israel without breaking a sweat. I probably would have been shot but I could have done it. I went through the ritual of covering my body in the black tarry asphalt mud that is found in the Lake there and then swam around until it was washed off. I liked getting dirty and swimming around. I floated quite a ways out and discovered that the water when you are in it does not seem blue at all like it does from a distance. Instead the water is this beautiful deep green teal color. Absolutely unlike anything I have ever seen before. Pool overlooking the view. Amazing view, the photo does not do it justice.
Dead Sea
the brown side is Jordan, the blue side is Israel