Another day, another boy

Anastasia attended her first party last week. I was away on a fieldtrip so Randy took her by himself. From the look of the photos below, she must have had a ball! Our principal's son, a couple of months younger than Anastasia, was the focus of her attention at one point. Hopefully, her slight wardrobe malfunction was truly accidental OR we are definitely going to have our hands full in about 10-15 years.



















In other news, well, there is no other news. We're just bearing down for finals, planning the trip home for the summer and hoping we all won't melt when we cheat and celebrate Anastasia's first birthday a bit early later in June.

Ali's girlfriend

Anastasia and Ali at the falafel stand (owned by his parents). He's got big, gorgeous eyes and is just 1 day younger than Anastasia. Both were born at the Corniche hosptial last July. We gave Ali one of Anastasia's 4 Qatar Airline wind-up planes (gifts from each of our 4 flights during Spring break.) They also have matching "Happy" hats in pink and blue. His Egyptian parents are very friendly, but conversation is more pantomime than talking. Nevertheless, it is nice to have a friend for her in the neighborhood.

The last couple of weekends (WOMAD by Christine, car museum by Randy)

World Of Art And Music (WOMAD) came to Abu Dhabi the weekend after our return from Tunisia. I had been looking forward to this and was a bit daunted by the timings for the big acts; Khaled and Youssou N'Dour both started at midnight. In the end, I stayed up until 1:30 am on both Thursday and Friday nights! When was the last time I did that? Can't remember, but it was worth it this time:)

On Thursday, some co-workers and I arrived in time for Souad Massia (Algeria) who we decided is the Arabic Melissa Ethridge. My favorite act was Rizwan-Musazzam Qawwali from Pakistan. They were a group of men, amazingly talented and intense, yet modest about their skills. Joyce and I watched them get on their bus with awe as we walked home later in the evening- a bit starstruck (like half the drivers and laborers who danced and cheered during the performance). Unlike the preceeding act-Marcio Local of Brazil, who was moderately talented and made all of his band members wear a shirt with a picture of himself on it. This night ended with Khaled, not the Khaled of "Didi" I had thought he was, but still good.

Having seen lots of babies out the first night, Randy and I brought Anastasia with us for Night 2. We arrived in time for a semi-creepy performance by a long-haired Syrian. Then there was an act with women and men from Kurdistan. The definite highlight of the night for me was Etran Finatawa. Sexy, traditionally-dressed Nigerien men (that is, from Niger. NigeriAn is from Nigeria) playing Saharan blues on electric guitars with funky percussion. One guy just clapped-but he did it in such a way that I couldn't repeat it or even anticipate it. A rhythm all their own that I totally dug. I got an autograph and kept coming back just to gauk. Randy made fun of me. Anastasia slept through a bit of this, but was up in time to dance to Youssou N'Dour. It was great to hear some west African music I knew- A don shake skin fayn oh!

Meanwhile, Anastasia has been loving her hummus. I really think she missed it while we were in Tunisia. She has been making up for it ever since. Also in this photo, you can see all 6 teeth :)

Here we are at the National Car Museum (some camels were right out front), which is really more of a garage where Sheikh Hamad Bin Hamdan Al Nahyan keeps his many cars, including the world's largest vehicle (the red Dodge pickup below), the world's largest mobile home (the big brown thing to the right), a miniature Earth on wheels (one millionth the size of the real deal), a wide assortment of cars, trucks, vans, and armored vehicles, and several rainbow-colored cars. The sheikh is known for his love of rainbows. One Hummer even had a rainbow-colored heart decale in the windshield. Nice.

Anastasia has seen many camels, but has yet to ride one (outside the womb at least.) It appears her interest is growing.

Wouldn't Sheikh Zayed be proud?



Collage of Rainbow cars. Note the attention to detail: even the interiors (seats, steering wheel, prayer beads hanging from the rearview mirror) match the exterior's color of choice. This was Christine's favorite part by far.

The world on wheels. We need more of these. The Southern Hemisphereans would be very pleased by the limited view. BTW- that is a water tower to the right of the 1/1,000,000 world.