Oh, Mr. Sandman...

Once again the weather in Dubai has decided to turn freakish. This time instead of floods of biblical proportions, the Emirates have been graced with a sandstorm. Yeah. A sandstorm. North-westerly winds have been blowing hard since last night, apparently from high atmospheric pressure over Saudi Arabia and low atmospheric pressure over Iran. The wind has kicked up sand, making the air gritty and visibility terrible. The sky is also a depressing dryer-lint shade of gray. I heard it is supposed to continue at least through tomorrow. Here's a link to the story about it in Gulf News: http://www.gulfnews.com/nation/Environment/10284940.html.

Also, here is a link to another story in Gulf News, which I found completely and utterly hilarious: http://gulfnews.com/world/Australia/10281652.html. A man flying from Dubai to Melbourne smuggled live pigeons on the plane... in his pants!

There was a lecture on campus this week sponsored by the Islamic Club. It was called "Evolution Deceit and the Fact of Creation". I went to it. It was a crazy Turkish man using misrepresented and out of context quotations from everyone from Charles Darwin to Adolf Hitler to prove that evolution was not real. He showed a video of Richard Dawkins being asked about evolution and stopped the video before Dawkins gave a response, and then used it as evidence against evolution. It was ridiculous, and totally non-academic (including his reference to Harvard University spelled "Harward Univercity", among other egregious errors).

Also, I think I have officially seen the most ridiculous car in Dubai. Sure, you see plenty of Bentleys, Maseratis, Porches, Maybachs, etc. I think something like 17 or 27 percent of the world's Range Rovers are here, too, but I saw the dumbest one EVER at JBR the other day. It was a Range with a matte hot pink paint job and Swarovski crystal details. It was also driven by two men, which came as something of a surprise, but hey, to each his own, right?

Allllso..... I've just been informed by a friend from home that an article about my study in Dubai ran in the Indiana Daily Student today. I did the interview for it a week or so ago. Anyway... its not very interesting, but you can read it if you like: http://www.idsnews.com/news/story.aspx?id=66125&comview=1

That's all for now. I'm trying to be a more conscientious blogger. I'll leave you with some pictures. Happy Valentine's Day!

Malibu Barbie's Range Rover cruisin' in JBR
Crazy thing (I don't know what it is, I want to say it fell from outer space) that washed up on the beach last week. Notice the Atlantis (reddish building on the left) in the background-- that's the Palm Island.
Part of the "Fossils Exhibit" from the "Evolution Deceit and the Fact of Creation" lecture. We all got free "Miracles of the Quran" CDs as party favors. I haven't played mine yet.