3rd Weekend in May

Mustaq, John, Elizabeth, Gillian (squating) Nicole, Melia (bending over) and Urur

I have had a most wonderful weekend! It is now Saturday mornin' and I am slowly getting dressed and together for a week of work - thr real reason that I am here ;) I have one assignment that is quite boring, but needed, and since I had nothing to do when it was assigned to me, I gladly said that I would take it on. This would normally go to our tech writers and graphics people. Oh well, we get these things now and then, but I will sure be glad when I finish it :)

Back to the weekend, on Wednesday night I had my nature journaling workshop and it went very well (I think, based on comments I hear from those that attended and from those who did not attend, but heard from someone who did. I personally had a splendid time with it. My passion for this apparently was quite evident. I know that I felt it and I could see it in the eyes and expressions of the learners. I want to do more of these workshops. I have been asked to do a private workshop at the home of a office colleague. She has about six university friends that she wants there. I think they are mostly women. She says that my message is so important (observation and really seeing the natural world) that she wants thes friends to hear and experience, not just the drawing skills, but the hidden message of really seeing the world around you from a different perspective and therefore appreciating your natural surroundings, something that few Arabs (particularly urban) understand. The desert has become the dump. There is nothing but sand, they think; but just sit and observe a small piece of that desert for and hour and draw and note the live that springs from the sand at dusk and maybe, just maybe, I might have an impact on the people of this seemingly barren landscape.

Thursday morning I was up at 4:30 to lead, with Nicole, a birding trip to the spray fields and the lake. Gillian, bless her sweet soul, let me use her car to get my materials to the workshop, so I had it to use on Thursday morning. She was there bright and early at 5:15 to pick up and from there we went over to get Nicole, who needed to get to the gate to sign in an outside visitor (Urur from Turkey, a photographer). At the assigned time of 6:00 all of our contingent was there at the spray field on the south side of the camp for some birding, nature studies and observations. By default I took the lead pointing out different birds and some of their behaviors, digging in the dirt to identify and observe the abundant life under our feet. Melia Huston was along and i often asked her to say something about the plant life that we were observing. By 8:00 the sun was just too hot to continue, so we headed back to the cars to call it a day. I can't wait to get some of the photos that were taken of the birds and lizards (and people).

One of the photos is the group as we were about to break up.

Line dancing.

Claudia, Marik, Nicole after a spin in the Sunfish.

The rest of the morning and into the early afternoon was spent in the corner of the mess hall, where I set up next to a window to work on some drawings or watercolors. While I work there I have people, now and then, who come over to see what I am doing which often leads to some interesting dialogue. Just some a of the people that I now claim as my friends and acquaintances: two elderly Muslim women from Lebanon, who I see and visit with on Friday mornings; a young Saudi man who wants to see more of my work and wants to learn to do what I do; a gentleman Saudi with two beautiful and very well mannered young daughters who enjoyed watching me work and would love to learn more; an American expat and his wife (who demanded that I come to their home on the weekends and work in her studio). I had a very enlightening and powerful discussion with him about the Saudi social culture and what I am dealing with in my real work here. He was telling me to work with the women (listen, because I'll mention this again). At any rate, there are several others that fail my memory right now, but you get the picture. Being there opens doors that I could not open otherwise.

Well, in the very heat of the afternoon I took a bike ride across the camp to get my ticket and pay for the night's event: "Cowboy Country", a night of good food, and dancing western dances. That was a very hot 109 degree ride, BTW. Caught a ride to the Cowboy Country dance along about 6:00 pm, for an evening of shear fun, or should I say, craziness. I felt like a complete dummy trying to line dance. There must be 10,000 different versions of line dancing. It is not easy and it takes a great deal of coordination to remember the tiny little nuances of eaach version. The crowd was surely an international crowd. Simply sureal to see these non-Americans dancing the Texas 2-step and line dancing and all duded out in cowboy dudes :) One young and pretty Irish lass was really good and so were several young guys from somewhere in Europe. There were a number of Canadians, Aussies, and Indian Subcontinent, as well. They all meet on Wednesday night to teach the steps and to dance, so I'm going to spend some Wednesday evenings there, so that I am not embarrased when I go back home and have to do any line dancing (Where else but Texas?) The dancing went on until way past midnight. As luck would have it, I was able to catch a ride to Steineke with a guy named Frazier, who, it turns out is president of the group. He asked some questions on the drive home and asked me if I sail. Well he invited me to the Buccanears regatta at the Halfmoon Bay Yacht Club to sail Sunfish.

Next morning at 11:30 Frazier was at the door and we headed off to the Yacht Club for, what turned out to be an outstanding day. Upon arrival we unloaded and met everyone (turns out that Frazier was a past Commadore of the fleet) so I was quickly taken in by the guys - some neat guys, BTW. First order of business was racing. I tried to not be embarassed by my rusty sailing skills, but was promptly ordered by the Commadore to put on a life jacket and take one of the craft and get out there. Well, I managed to capsize twice in the first race, so came in dead last :( The next race was much better, I had gotten the feel of the Sunfish and managed to come in a distant 2nd. The last race I scratched due to a leg cramp as I was entering the craft capsizing it right in front of everyone :( I think the best was the last cruise of the day when Marik and I took a couple of my good friends, and potential HBYC crewmembers of the club out on a late afternoon sail. Nicole and Claudia surprized me by walking down the beach past our tent, so I went out to ask them to come over and meet the crew. They were a big hit with Frazier and Marik trying to tell them of the benefits of being a member. That ended with Frazier suggesting that Marik and I take Nicole and Claudia out for a spin. Well, that was so much fun. Nicole knew how to sail, so with her at the helm and me handling the halyard we jostled around the water rather nicely until she was a little quick with the tiller on a tack sending us into the water. We quickly righted the craft and were on our way, but I secretly think she did it on purpose :) The weight of two people on the side allowed us to balance the heal nicely almost to the tipping point on a speedy broad reach. That was fun! Unfortunately the wind would gust and then lay down, so you would be on a nice reach, clipping along nicely and the wind would suddenly drop and you would lose the speed and heal. I sure do want to do some more sailing out there. :) A big catered outdoor dinner followed where we all visited and rehashed the days events, before heading back to the compound for good night's sleep. (I'm sore in the shoulders today from pulling on the halyard).