This, that and the countdown

It is now ridiculously hot. It seems like the word hot does not do this feeling justice. Even when you put f*cken before it, it still doesn't do it justice. However, I say, "I am so hot" so many times a day; I find it is like yawning, I have no control over it. It just comes out of my mouth involuntarily and it drives Aaron crazy. I guess it was this hot when we first arrived here but I think we were too busy with the transition to really notice. The truth is the weather here is absolutely wonderful 8 out of the 12 months. But now it is miserably hot and our AC in our car doesn't work. Bid deal, right? Just roll down the windows? Wrong, very wrong. Rolling down the windows and sticking your hand out is like turning the heat on and letting it blow through your hair. Driving a few miles with out the AC leaves you swimming in a puddle of your warm sweat, making you agitated and cranky and stinky and very clammy. We have now sent our car to our mechanic, who I now believe is really just a lawn more mechanic, four times and I can't understand his limited English so we just keep sending it back. It works for a day and then we talk to him, he bobs his head and says okay okay and we give it back to him again.

So what exactly does one do in this heat, besides complain about the heat? Well, we are trying to figure that out. Most people, especially locals, take refuge in the air conditioned malls, otherwise known as the arabic rec area. But we refuse to give in so easily so we still rode our bikes to the beach, brought the big umbrella out into the water and just soaked in the ocean. We were even visited by a dolphin, which is a strange contrast with the backdrop of a city skyline.



Up until now we have been camping lots. Our last camp trip to the beach was amazingly relaxing despite the milatary's presence over the recent conflict of some islands with Iran. We just lounged, swam and hung out. Our friend's friend tagged along, a self-admitted 'wanna-be-american' Greek. Who usually spends his weekends in the Dubai club scene but truly enjoyed his weekend outing with the Americans. He was completely enthusiastic to be camping and even more so to join some locals pull in their nets on the beach (AKA totally rape and rake the ocean floor)





Aaron and Kosta join in the fishing Frenzy in the beach where we were camping in Oman. Terri and I, being women and all kept a safe distance on the bluff.

For their efforts they were rewarded a fresh fish, which we filleted and cooked over the fire for lunch.

Since it is a million degrees out we decided to head up to Dubai to this huge water park. And, if you haven't been to a water park lately, don't. It is far too much skin and hair to see in one day. Unlike water parks in the western world, woman are found in a wide array of strange swimming outfitts. Inculding but not limited to this neoprene Abaya. You can also find interesting spandex suits that resemble Kristi Yamaguchi skater costumes. And, then there were the woman who just wore their clothes and hijab. But nothing compares to the one piece lycra white unitard with sturips that clung to every curve of some Lebonese princess. Because when she got wet it appeared that she was wearing nothing- which security did not like and so they chased her down and kicked her out, not before everyone got a full frontal shot.

Funny Conversation Aaron had with an Arab woman:


Woman: How was your weekend? What did you do?

Aaron: Oh, I went camping, it was nice
Woman: Oh, where and with who?
Aaron: To Mirfa with my wife
Woman: That is a strange place to visit, what were you doing there?
Aaron: We went kitesurfing
Woman: Your wife, went kite surfing too?
Aaron: Yeah
Woman: Wow, you do a lot of things with your wife, that is very strange. It's like you are....friends. It's like you guys are best friends. That is really weird and unknown in our culture.

Countdown
 

In just under a month we will be back in the US, visiting family and be back on our favorite beach in the world.  We are gearing up for another great season and I have made some improvements to our homemade website. You can now order online and see a our story http://thesalmonpeopleofalaska.com


Since my students suck out all my creative energy I have done very little to reach my goal of making a radio documentary. But I did make this little documantary, where I was able to practice the craft of scripting and tracking- both of which I am a complete novice. However, you need to start somewhere and here it is.......