Country Counting

I’m Terry and I love to travel.

It was one heck of a trip! Thank you all.

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Thank you, Ken, Kelly, Lynn, Michele and the world.

A two-month round the world trip doesn’t happen overnight. The trip Kelly and I took to celebrate her doctorate was truly a family affair. Thank you to all of you – you are the best family ever!!!!

First thank you goes to my wonderful husband Ken for encouraging me to go on the trip. Although he was invited to join Kelly and me, he decided he didn’t want to be gone that long. So he cheered us on, took care of our dear Holly and held down the fort at home. Thank you, Ken for being the loving and supportive husband you always are! He never even asked how much it all cost!

There aren’t too many 31-year-olds that would eagerly agree to travel for two months with a 66-year-old aunt. But Kelly was all in from the first mention of the trip. In addition, she became the local tour guide, handled all the maps and directions and even learned what I liked to eat so well that I often asked her to order my meals!

Kelly was a delight to travel with, found humor in whatever we did – especially sitting in the Emergency Room in Israel. She followed in the family profession and turned out to be a great nurse, too. Thank you Kelly for being the smart, funny and sensitive person you are. You are the best traveling companion in the world!!!

Brother-in-law Lynn joined Kelly and me in Dubai and traveled with us through the UAE, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait. Lynn made us feel like princesses. He organized the cars and drivers, took care of all the tipping and even told us when to get up in the morning! (That’s an inside joke about one of our guides who thought Kelly and I were idiots – after Lynn returned home – and told us when we should get up and have breakfast!) Lynn, you were a joy to travel with and we especially thank you for the free rooms in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain. Thank you Marriott points!!!

Sister Michele was with us the whole way – at least in spirit. We Facetimed, Skyped and texted (when a few countries banned the aforementioned methods of communication). Michele wanted to know all the details of every day and listened eagerly while we described our adventures. She loved seeing our shopping treasures and cheered us on every country of the trip. Thanks, Michele. You are the best sister a girl could ever have!

Thank you to all the family, to all the wonderful guides and drivers we had throughout the trip, to the people we met who helped us understand the cultures and sights we saw.

But most of all, thank you America. We learned how much we treasure our freedoms, our clean water, our fabulous health care system, our magnificent highways and our comforting food.

After we rest up from these kidney stones, where do you want to go next family?

 

 

What I learned about America while visiting the Middle East

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We’ve been in the Middle East for the past three weeks and although we’ve only scratched the surface of this region, I come away with impressions and memories that will last a lifetime. It’s impossible not to relate everything we have seen to the lives we lead in America. Here are the top five things I’ve learned about life in America compared to life in the Middle East.

1. I am so happy to pay taxes in the United States in return for the many freedoms we have. Every country we visited has incredible benefits due to the wealth oil has brought to this area (except Jordan). In all the United Arab Emirates (UAE) countries, people born in the country from parents born in the country (known as Nationals) enjoy the following benefits: no one pays any property, sales or income taxes; interest-free loans are available for purchase of homes; gas is subsidized and folks pay about 60 cents per gallon; healthcare and education are free; nationals are often given property or homes; cost of food is subsidized; in Kuwait you can retire after working just 10 years; jobs are given to nationals by the government. And many of these jobs were described to us as being pretty easy. Most government workers go to work at 9 am and leave at 2 or 3 pm.

However wonderful these benefits sound to us, there are freedoms not available to most Middle Easterners that we take for granted in the US. All countries are operated by ruling families — some of which have been in power since the 1700s. No one seems to know much about these families. The Sultan of Oman lives in tremendous wealth, but details of his life are kept secret. Our guide in Oman explained: “we couldn’t understand his life, so there is no need for us to know about it.” In Kuwait, we asked our guide about the ruling family and he told us no one knows how many wives or children they have. We do know that when the Gulf War erupted in 1990, they all quickly left for the safety of Saudi Arabia.

The press is really not free. No journalist can criticize the government and certainly no individuals would be wise to lash out against any leaders or government officials. In the UAE, there were cameras everywhere and we were told that tickets are issued quite frequently.

2. Thank God America has separation of church and state. Now I know we aren’t perfect with this freedom, but we’re doing pretty well. We happened to be in the Middle East during Ramadan, the 30-day festival of fasting and religious reflection for Muslims. It is a time when Muslims don’t eat from sun-up to sun-down.

For non-Muslims, it is a time when we must follow the rules set by the governments. These include, no eating, drinking (even water) or chewing gum in public. All restaurants are closed during this time. The only places for non-Muslim tourists to eat lunch are hotel restaurants orimage room service. When we first arrived in Dubai, we were given the list of rules at our hotel. We had a full day tour and when we got in the car with our guides, we inquired about lunch. (If you know me, you know I NEVER miss lunch — my favorite meal of the day!) We were told we could get fast-food. So when lunch time rolled around, we were dropped off at the local McDonalds, went inside, ordered our lunch and had to bring our bags of burgers and fries out to the car where we were OK to eat — as long as no one saw us eating!

We found these rules to be universal throughout our Middle East trip. So even when strolling through the incredibly huge malls, all the restaurants were closed until sun-down, when everyone was allowed to eat at precisely sundown time.

Dear Jewish friends, I am sorry we overwhelm you with all our Christmas stuff in December. I now understand how you must feel!!!

3. Thank goodness American women are free and equal. Yeah, I know we are paid 79 cents to the dollar and we still don’t really rule corporate America. But, believe me, we are miles ahead of the Middle East. Men here are the center of the universe. Most women stay home with the kids. Homes are built with huge walls around them, so the women can come out in the evening without cover and spend time with their families.

Women are not allowed to pray in the mosques near the men. We were told men would not be able to focus on their prayers if they could look at women. American Moms, thank you for teaching your sons to have self-control.

But at least we get to wear whatever we want. I really do get the modest dress thing. Being covered would be great when you are having a bad hair day or just don’t want to dress up. But I gotta say, do my forearms and my hair really turn men on so much that they can’t control themselves? Enough said.

4. Thank you, America, for restricting cigarette smoking! Arabic restaurants have a smoking and non-smoking section and hotels still allow smoking in the rooms. Yikes!

5. How wonderful it is to live in a country with a varied terrain. Don’t get me wrong. I love me a desert and some sand. But except for Jordan and Oman, there is a heck of a lot of same, same.

All this said, the people here are wonderful and kind. When you realize that most of the Middle East was just a rural fishing village with no real wealth or assets just 60 years ago, you have to recognize how much has yet to change and develop. Once oil was discovered in the late 1930s and brought to market in the late 1940s and 50s, things changed rapidly. While I love so much of the development and modernization we have now, some of the old ways are still charming and admirable.

Come see for yourself. The Middle East is safe and easy to visit. Just bring an open mind and don’t come during Ramadan!

Man, O-man, O-man, O-man!

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Let’s hear it for Oman. You finally were able to get India out of my system — literally, that is. (I don’t think India will ever be out of my system, figuratively.) It took two stomach attacks in Dubai and one in Oman, but I have finally gone two days with no more attacks. I am dubbing myself cured! At last.

This country is perplexing and challenging in so many ways. I’m trying to keep an open mind. But after being told to put on a long-sleeved blouse instead of the 3/4-sleeve blouse and long pants I was wearing in 111-degree weather — because I wasn’t covered enough, I got a little ticked off. Well, maybe more than a little. It was hot. And I wanted to see this gynormous mosque and really didn’t want to troop back to the car to dig out another blouse from my suitcase.

imageBut I did and I got to see the lovely mosque where the women get to pray. And the even larger and more elaborate mosque where the men pray. When I asked why the men got such a nice place, I was told that the women don’t have to come to the mosque to pray. They can stay home and pray because it is so difficult for men to concentrate and pray when women are around. This from a country where the men can easily go without eating for 12 hours every day during Ramadan. But they can’t control themselves around women.

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Of course I keep telling myself that progress is slow. Heck, they only began getting universal electricity and water here in the mid 1980s. Most women still stay at home and lucky for them their yards are surrounded by 8-foot walls, so they can come outside in the evening with normal clothes on and their hair uncovered.

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The countryside is vast, mountainous, dry and sandy. We actually got two days of raindrops — which we are told is very abnormal.

So, that is my first post-India illness cohesive thought. More to come if India stays away. Back to the capital, Muscat, tomorrow and then on to Abu Dhabi.

Some interesting things I’ve learned about India

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Even though India has had female prime ministers, India is not as progressive about women as you would think. Women at the higher ends of society generally do well, however those in the middle and lower socio-economic levels don’t fare so well. One of our guides told us that other than banks and some government offices, few women work with men as there is so much sexual harassment in the work place. Men tend to make inappropriate comments to women and then want to get overly friendly. Rape is not uncommon. As Kelly said, it makes our 76 cents on the dollar of pay look pretty good!

No matter where you travel in India, the women are always bright and colorful.
No matter where you travel in India, the women are always bright and colorful.

Women in their saris — whether rich or poor — are full of color and beautiful.

Shopping is a challenge as all the people in the shops are men. They love to hover and can be somewhat aggressive. We learned to ignore them and just walk around to look on our own.

The horrendous amount of garbage in the countryside is overwhelming. It is hard to fault the people as there is no government assistance in collecting and disposing of the litter that seems to be everywhere. My garbologist friend John Schert may have some thoughts on this issue, but I found it to be quite a challenge.

Every village seems to have trash and garbage everywhere. As Kelly said, they built the Taj but no sewer systems.
Every village seems to have trash and garbage everywhere. As Kelly said, they built the Taj but no sewer systems.

The people are kind, helpful and curious. Kelly and I were quite the celebrities at most tourist places. Everyone wanted a photograph with us and we were the center of attention. It was explained to us that many of the Indian people were traveling as it was summer vacation and they don’t frequently see foreigners if they live in a non-tourist area.

They went out of their way to accommodate us. When we found out our shopping weighed in at $60 in extra baggage charges, our guide kept our suitcase which had our purchases at his house in Delhi for two days so we could avoid the extra charges on a two-day excursion to Varanasi. Then he met us at the airport as we transferred for our flight out of India to Dubai, after carefully checking shipping charges if we needed to ship the bag home from India.

I tried to love Indian food, I really did. But after three bouts of tummy problems, including a visit from the local doctor and pain worse than I have ever experienced, I can’t face another Indian dish. I did enjoy the spiciness of the foods before I got sick!

Often there were two people doing the job of one person. Although it seemed to be inefficient to us, on reflection we realized it is better to employ people than not.

My favorite job in India is this guy who hits a rug to scare away the birds from the fountain — all day long!

Getting rid of the birds!
Getting rid of the birds!

Anyone who persists in believing that there is no global warning needs to come to India to see the dry river beds and the lack of water due to wells drying up and experience the tremendous heat. Really, can anyone still ignore the evidence in front of our faces?

Driving in India is not for the weak of heart! Lanes are merely a suggestion and just because traffic is going one way, look out for people heading right toward you in your lane. There are cars, motor scooters, bicycles, cows, rickshaws and pedestrians. They all cut in front of each other and act like they are playing dodge ball.

imageCows are everywhere. But having to step over their droppings gets a little rough — especially when you are trying to navigate a narrow lane with fifty zillion people bumping into you.