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.