Bringing the Middle East to the fam

Dressed as arabs 2 small
Originally uploaded by intrus.

So my mission when leaving Dubai to see my family in the UK was manifold, however I was deadset on a few specific things. One was to obtain a Chelsea football jersey before they switched sponsorship from Emirates Airlines (and while they are still premier league champs). Another was to get my new camera. Another was to leave work behind. What is left? To get my family in full local (UAE) dress and hold a little photo shoot (since they wouldn't come here, I brought a little of the culture to them).

If you look closely at my dad, you will see he may have had a little bit of a problem getting into his Kondurra. He is as of yet unaware of the fact that I intentionally gave him one that was 2 inches smaller than mine ;), but something tells me he will soon figure it all out. He looks quite Arab though. The reaction from some of my local friends was that he looks like their grandfather! Sorry dad, guess that the hunting beard and the weight has finally paid off...and they do say that a kondurra adds a few years to ya :).

Change of pace

Beauty
Originally uploaded by intrus.

In the land of Eire, the grass is greener, the beer is blacker, and the pictures are more beautiful than before. I owe part of this to switching from my old 2 megapixel to a much better entry level professional device, but you can only shoot what is there and for anyone else stuck in the desert this is a sight for sore eyes. Such vivid colors and lush floral life...take a minute to enjoy :).

Before I forget....

Youssef Rickesh Eric Horseback Pyramids background 1
Originally uploaded by intrus.

I went to Egypt for a MENA (Middle East North Africa) AIESEC conference. During my 2 day stint I was able to see a little of the wonders the ancient city of Cairo has to offer, the pyramids via a horseback ride with fellow wreckless mates Youssef and Rickesh. Wish I had blogged about this before as I may have had an amazing story to share about giving money away (like $.17 US per pop, made them happy though!) just because. The entire tour, including many perks cost each of us around $16 and lasted at least 3 hours. Not to bad for an outsider, for an Egyptian we were brutally mugged and left for dead (they would haggle and probably pay less than half that :)). As my father would say, "it is only money." Something I don't normally live by that often on an AIESEC stipend, but when in Egypt do as the tourists do. It ain't Rome folks :).

See Eric Turtle

Sea Turtle Eric
Originally uploaded by intrus.

My little buddy from the east coast, and I am not talking about Guillermo. We got close to our little guy (but we didn't touch him, no worries to sea lovers internationally) and swam with all the underwater sea life. An even more exciting, but less animated photo, was our buddy the squid. You know in Finding Nemo the little girl squid is always scared into inking by her peers? Well let's just say we almost drowned ourselves staying under the water long enough to try and get this guy worked up enough to ink. Once again, we never touched him nor did we ever get him to ink...but they do change their transparent body color to black when the get excited/scared.

One more thing I wanted to mention on this update was my new bet to the world. If I go more than 7 days, yaani 1 week, without updating my blog, I will put $5 into the first person's paypal account that catches me. This isn't meant to be a subsidized income for anyone, but I am frugal enough that $5 wasted will stop this lack of info shared....capish?

Out East

34720006
Originally uploaded by intrus.

A few days back a few friends and myself (Sherif and Guillermo) took a trip out east to the Emirate of Fujairah to go Snorkling. We of course had the genius idea of bringing an underwater camera and voila, we have amazing pictures to remember the trip with! Say hello to yours truly in the black and yellow suit and our half-naked friend Guillermo (right side up). Sherif (not pictured) was in charge of maning the camera. What a time, we found out that with all the food, night life, gas, snorkling boat trips, chicha, and an overnight at Scuba 2000, it is still cheaper than an average weekend spent in Dubai proper :). Ten times more fun (with good company) and one million times more relaxing.