Research unearths the darndest things

It's funny the things you dig up when you're looking for something else. I was doing research for a paper on the Tang Dynasty for my Chinese history class when I found this quote, which not surprisingly resonated with me. It's printed in Chapter 7 of Life Along the Silk Road by Susan Whitfield:

"There is no rest for the one of intellect and refinement in his locality, so leave your homeland.
Travel, and you will find a replacement for that which you left, and exhaust yourself for therein is the sweetness of life.
Verily I saw water become putrid in its stagnation, and become sweet when it flows.
And the lions would not be fierce if they didn't leave their grounds, and the arrow would not strike if it didn't leave the bow.
And if the sun stayed in its place in the universe, people would have grown tired of it,
And if the moon did not disappear every now and then, the anticipating eye would never spare it a glance.
And raw gold is as good as the dust that covers it, and the staff covered in dust is mere firewood.
In leaving your destiny will change, and in emigration you will become precious, like gold."

Imam Al-Shafi'i (767-820 CE)

I don't know about calling myself "one of intellect and refinement", but the rest rings pretty true. For all the difficulties I've experienced since leaving Nebraska, aside from a couple costly financial decisions, I'm not sure there's much I would do differently.

There is clearly something wrong with me

I am 35 years old. As of a little bit ago, I have moved house for the 26th time during my time on this planet. My memory might be a little shaky at the start, but I'm pretty sure this list is accurate.

On the road again, again

I've noticed something of an ebb and flow during my recent moves. See if you can spot the trend.

Scarf update

One of the minor perks of coming back home is having a rare chance to consolidate the stuff I've collected and see how much I actually have. Usually this is a sobering experience, reminding me I'm not nearly as good at avoiding accumulating stuff as I think I am, but it has its high points, too.

For example, I recently got all my scarves in one place for the first time. I do my best to get a scarf when I see a team play live as it serves both as a nice keepsake and, depending on the scarf, a useful garment in the cold. It also provides something of an informal travelogue amid all my globe-trotting.

The fruits of said globe-trotting are below the jump.

View from my window

Shamelessly aping John Scalzi.

Amsterdam

A very curious cheeseburger indeed

Whenever I talk to people back home about the UAE, one factoid that almost unfailingly gets a look of surprise is that foreigners vastly outnumber the locals there. It's true -- Emiratis only make up a little more than 10 percent of the population of their own country. Maybe it's the thought of being a minority in your home country that raises people's eyebrows more than anything about the UAE, but I could be wrong.

So who makes up the other 90 percent? It's not easy to say as the UAE doesn't publish that data, but the folks over at bqdoha have taken a pretty good stab at it.

Where am I now?

Here's a hint:

Here, in a nutshell

Living in a country largely unknown to Westerners has its good points and bad points. One of the good points is that the location lends itself to conversation fodder. There's always some tidbit of knowledge or travel story that can fill the gaps between updates on various family members' conditions.

One of the bad points is having to repeat the same basic information about the country every time you speak to someone new. No, this is not a theocracy; yes, they let Western infidels like me have a bank account and everything; no, I'm not dodging suicide bombers on my way to work; yes, living here is actually fairly pleasant, if a little on the dull side.

As a service for those curious about the UAE, here are links to some of the biggest stories around the country in the past few months. Some of this is big-picture stuff, some more spot-newsy. For starters:

In the UAE, the United States has a quiet, potent ally nicknamed 'Little Sparta' – Washington Post

“The UAE has gone all-in,” said Anthony Zinni, a former commander of all U.S. forces in the Middle East. As U.S. ties with long-standing allies Turkey and Saudi Arabia have frayed, and Egypt and Jordan contend with domestic challenges, the UAE now occupies a unique position in the region. “It’s the strongest relationship that the United States has in the Arab world today,” Zinni said.

It is also the least well known. Although there are about 3,500 U.S. military personnel stationed at Dhafra, and it is the only overseas base with F-22s, the facility has never been identified by the U.S. Air Force in publicly available materials because the UAE government had been concerned that touting the extent of its cooperation with the United States could antagonize some of its citizens.

But UAE officials relaxed those rules during a recent visit by a Washington Post reporter because of growing concern at senior levels of the Emirati government that keeping mum has led to an underappreciation of the country’s contributions beyond what is known in a handful of offices in the Pentagon and at the State Department, particularly as this nation seeks to convince the Obama administration to sell it more advanced fighter jets and adopt a tougher line on Iran.

“We’re different from our neighbors,” said Yousef al-Otaiba, the UAE ambassador in Washington, who noted that his country has participated in every major U.S.-led coalition since the 1991 Persian Gulf War — save for the 2003 invasion of Iraq — joining Americans in Somalia, Kosovo, Libya and Afghanistan in addition to the ongoing air campaign against the Islamic State. “We’re your best friends in this part of the world,” he said.

More below the fold.

Board of Accountability, on hiatus

As you may have noticed, the Board of Accountability has been on hiatus while I spent most of last week and this week in Hong Kong. Photos of the trip are available here.

I didn't avail myself of the fitness center at the hotel, though checking the scale after I got back to the apartment, I noticed I was two pounds lighter than when I left. Must've been all the walking I did while in Hong Kong. It's much like what I encountered in Tokyo -- the trains will get you most anywhere you want to go, but you'll still be doing plenty of walking.

The board will return next week. In the meantime, you'll have to make do with a photo of my prize capture from the trip -- the Solti recording of Wagner's Ring cycle. It's been on my wish list for years and, after stumbling across it at a CD store (!), now I have it. I rule!

I get comments

Difficult as it may be to believe, people outside of my family sometimes read this blog. It's true! Unless, of course, I have a bunch of family members in Ukraine who nobody told me existed. Stay strong, imaginary Yookie relatives.

Sometimes people even leave comments. It only happens about once or twice a year, but it's usually nice when they do. I say "usually" because spam bots have been known to visit, and recently a new breed of slimeball stopped by -- the unapologetic misogynist. While I normally respond to comments where they're posted, this one deserves its own thread for several reasons. I'm posting the comment below the fold because it's needlessly bone-headed and nasty.

Another one from the 'Privilege Files'

If embassies and consulates did all the things people believe they do, it might be hard to keep people in their home country. Singapore's foreign minister, K. Shanmugam, recently made a Facebook post in which he detailed some of the stranger requests Singaporeans abroad had made of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. While those listed are undoubtedly outliers, it may also betray a certain level of entitlement felt by travelers.

In one instance, Shanmugam said a Singaporean sought Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) intervention "for a refund after he had gotten illegal sexual services in a foreign country".

"He wasn't satisfied with what he had gotten. We had to tell him that MFA could not help!"

Shanmugam said the ministry also declined to intervene when a man demanded an investigation over alleged racial discrimination while overseas.

The man had claimed "he received a smaller piece of KFC chicken compared to what the locals had".

"He wanted MFA to investigate this instance and seek justice in that foreign country for the unfair treatment he claimed to have received," Shanmugam said.

Say what you will about eating at KFC while abroad, but sometimes there's just no other option.

As the bottom of the article suggests, Singapore followed the lead of the UK, which released a similar list a few years ago. It's easy to have a chuckle at the expense of these travelers, of course, but given the sheer number of Americans out there and the vast array of embassies, consulates and missions the country has, there must be just as many – if not more – such requests by Americans abroad.

Odds are we'll never hear those stories, though. After all, that's classified information that could be integral to national security.

Taking in the sights

Had a day off of work and was tired of just lounging, so I thought I'd visit one of the most iconic sights in Abu Dhabi -- the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. Without spoiling too much, let's just say it lives up to its billing.

Clearly Sheikh Zayed loved him some Allah. More pictures -- including some of the nicest chandeliers I've ever seen -- can be found here.

Oh, Japan

One of the fringe benefits of being an expat is having the ability to observe your home country from the outside, or at least through the prism of a non-native perspective. Being "outside the bubble" can help strip away popular narratives and other cultural assumptions that otherwise would go unquestioned.

Often, this different perspective can be helpful in placing complex issues in a more complete context. At other times, though, it can put one's home country in a more unflattering light. As an American, there are aspects of my country's culture (cherishing freedom of expression, being a driving force of scientific advancement, the marriage of chocolate and peanut butter, etc.) that I quite like being associated with by foreigners, but there are other aspects that create a peculiarly strong gravitational attraction between my forehead and the desk. I can't help but wonder what non-Americans must think of me and my people when stories emerge of, for example, churches giving away free guns, steak dinners and tattoos as an enticement to come hear about Jesus' love.

That brings to mind another question -- what makes expats from other countries cringe when their homeland hits the international news? For many Australians whom I've known and befriended, it can be largely summed up in two words: "Tony" and "Abbott". Malaysian expats must be loving all the attention their country has received in recent days. Even our sensible, well-adjusted friends up in Canada have their own domestic embarrassments for which to answer.

Then there's Japan.

Son of the desert

Yup, here I am. After the requisite last-minute rush and frenzied departure, I've arrived in Abu Dhabi. How long I'll be here is anyone's guess -- the employment offer is open-ended and the residence visa is renewable every three years -- but the city seems nice enough from initial impressions. The highlights of my 36 hours or so in the Emirates thus far are sleeping off jet lag, wandering the neighborhood and sampling the wares of the nearby convenience store and supermarket. Actual work is scheduled to start today.

Keeping close tabs on money will be a primary concern until the first paycheck arrives. Fortunately, it appears as though I'll be able to eat and get around without too much expense in this first month. Taxis are fairly inexpensive and, other than a bit of sticker shock at the Grand Central Cafe ($12.25 for a cheeseburger and small fries?), food prices appear to be manageable as long as Western name brands aren't imperative. Behold the spoils of my first trip to LuLu Xpress, the nearby supermarket:

Water, some caffeine, tortillas and tortilla filling, some fruit, a quick dinner and a copy of the day's paper -- all for 84.45 dirhams, or about $23. Between this and the free breakfast buffet, I should be set for food for much of this week.

Today was a good day

Woke up in the morning, gotta thank Zod. Don't know what it is, but today seems kinda odd. All those assignments I've been pulling all-nighters to complete? Not actually due until Sunday. Those algebra exams? Smooth sailing. That job offer I've been sweating? Arrived, accepted and better than I initially thought. I got to say, it was a good day.

Now begins the months-long vetting process before I can start said job. Every effort will be made to expedite things, but I expect the College World Series to be done and dusted before I depart from Eppley. One realization I've had since making my pre-departure checklist is that I'm going to need a new passport. Even though I've only had it since 2006 and only been using it since 2008, it's showing its age. The text and the seal on the cover are almost completely worn off and the pages (even the additional ones I got in 2009) are dog-eared and packed with stamps. The latter bit is odd as I didn't think I'd been to that many places. Because I'm me, I thought it'd be a good idea to tally up those stamps.

• Indonesia: 6 full-page visas, 66(!) separate stamps. That includes arrival and departure stamps at Soekarno-Hatta and Ngurah Rai, visas on arrival and multiple-entry visas.
• Singapore: 16 stamps, all on visa runs save for one trip to cover the Asian Champions League and the Asean Basketball League playoffs
• Malaysia: 6 stamps, including covering the 2009 AFC Congress and a stopover at an airport hotel en route to the Philippines
• Japan: 6 stamps, two entry/exit sets at Narita and one at Kansai
• China: 2 full pages (visa and residence permit) and 2 stamps
• Philippines: 2 stamps, traveling with Satria Muda Britama for an ABL game against the Philippines Patriots
• United States: 2 entry stamps from my good friends at the Department of Homeland Security
• New Zealand: 1 stamp -- just an entry stamp, no exit. Considering I was able to walk all the way to my gate at the Wellington airport before encountering security, maybe it isn't all that surprising. Or maybe those clever Kiwis just assumed I wouldn't want to leave (and they'd be right).

Will I miss my old passport? Maybe somewhat. I'm sure the new one will be all shiny with the latest technology, but what my beat-up old passport lacks in shininess it makes up for in character. All those smudges, wrinkles and staples tell a story, after all, and I do have a track record of assigning significance to objects others may find mundane. Oh, well -- guess I'll just have to do my best to fill the new one to the brim as well.

Seat back

This. Oh, so very much this. This Slate article touches on one of my top pet peeves about travel -- people who recline their seats without so much as a heads-up.

For the five minutes after takeoff, every passenger on an airliner exists in a state of nature. Everyone is equally as uncomfortable as everyone else—well, at least everyone who doesn’t have the advantage of first class seating or the disadvantage of being over 6 feet tall. The passengers are blank slates, subjects of an experiment in morality which begins the moment the seat-belt light turns off.

Ding! Instantly the jerk in 11C reclines his seat all the way back. The guy in 12C, his book shoved into his face, reclines as well. 13C goes next. And soon the reclining has cascaded like rows of dominos to the back of the plane, where the poor bastards in the last row see their personal space reduced to about a cubic foot.

Or else there are those, like me, who refuse to be so rude as to inconvenience the passengers behind us. Here I sit, fuming, all the way from IAD to LAX, the deceptively nice-seeming schoolteacher’s seat back so close to my chin that to watch TV I must nearly cross my eyes. To type on this laptop while still fully opening the screen requires me to jam the laptop’s edge into my stomach.

As the article also details, asking people not to recline their seats rarely proves fruitful. I understand why people lay back -- even if I'm not convinced it makes a flight that much more comfortable -- but it strikes me as odd that people reflexively do so the instant they're allowed, not bothering to check if their reclining will negatively impact their fellow passengers.

When I marched drum corps, our tour buses also had reclining seats. (Note: Reclining seats were the extent of the luxury on the horn bus; the Troopers, while a classy organization, were not flush with cash.) We were allowed to recline our seat, but only after saying "seat back," a phrase that was intended both as a request and a notification for the person seated behind us. To this day I still check with the person behind me on those rare occasions I do recline my seat; it just seems the natural, courteous thing to do. You don't know if that person has a hot drink or a laptop on their tray table, and a confined space 30,000 feet in the air is one of the last places you'd want to be asking forgiveness instead of permission.

A turn of the head, a short, simple request and a modicum of common courtesy. It's not that difficult and will win you many brownie points from those around you. Flying is rarely an enjoyable experience -- let's not make it more difficult for our fellow travelers.

All the single ladies

I have one week left in Jakarta. To be honest, I'm still not sure how I feel about that. The past week or so drove home many of the things I won't miss (all the noise, noise, noise!), and it will certainly be a load off my shoulders to be done with moving and not have to deal with watching the newspaper I helped bring to life collapse in on itself. Of course, there are plenty of people whom I'll miss, and the thought of voluntarily walking away from newspapers still turns my stomach.

What's occupying my thoughts now -- other than finishing the going-away to-do list, shlepping across the Pacific with 13- and 20-hour layovers and dealing with three more online college classes that start today -- is how I'll adjust to life back in Nebraska. I imagine it hasn't changed that much since I left in 2006. That Callahan fella still runs the football team, right?

How will I occupy my time once I am not gainfully employed for the first time in about 10 years? The college classes take precedence, sure, and I imagine my evenings will be occupied with part-time newspaper work (fall sports season is at hand) and my continuing attempts to teach myself Japanese. My family would probably like me to make more than cameo appearances at gatherings, and I would like to catch up with my small handful of friends in Omaha. Moreover, there's the not-so-small matter of figuring out what direction to take my life post-newspapers.

Here's another question: Should I try having a social life? No doubt that sounds odd to most people, but my journalist readers know to what I'm referring. Working nights and weekends for not a lot of money, changing jobs and cities every other year on average and living in places where the local lingo is not English -- all things I have done in one combination or another -- is not a good formula for a love life. In truth, dating was never that important to me, even during high school. There were always Other Things to Do that seemed more worth my while.

The places I'll go

Few things drive home the thought of leaving like booking a one-way plane ticket. After spending most of the last four years in Jakarta (save that brief spell in Beijing), I now have 27 days left in the place I've called home the longest since leaving Grand Island in 1999. It's Korean Airlines from here to Incheon, Korean again to Las Vegas and Southwest back to Omaha -- just one way this time, unlike last year.

The four months after that are roughly sketched out, with more college classes online taking up most of my time in addition to hopefully working part-time for one of my old papers and seeing family. I will certainly keep my eyes open for intriguing opportunities, but most of what I'm seeing so far are entry-level prep sports jobs (don't want to go back to making $20,000 a year) or high-level college and pro football beat positions (don't have the chops or interest for those).

It's what will happen after the calendar flips to 2013 that's weighing on my mind now. I have a rough idea of what I do want, a better idea of what I don't want and a vague plan for how to go about it.

Currying favor

You don`t need me to tell you Tokyo is an expensive place. If I do come to live here, keeping down costs will be imperative, and one kind of spending that will bear minding is my curry habit.

I am nothing if not a curry fiend. Any excuse to have curry is a good one, so while wandering around Minato after the Temple info session last night, it only made sense I would stop at a place calling itself an Indian curry restaurant and cafe. Eating at GaNapati was almost a zen-like experience ... in that the main fare tasted like nothing.

I ordered a vegetable curry with a medium level of spice and a serving of butter rice. After initially sampling each and then mixing the two, I still failed to find any discernable flavor. Visually I could tell I was eating curry, but if you had blindfolded me and then put what I ate in front of me, I might as well have been eating porridge. The two gentlemen of South Asian persuasion in the kitchen were very nice, but going back to GaNapati is not high on my Tokyo to-do list. The bowl of curry rice I got at Tokyo Dome was more enjoyable and about half the price.

Otherwise, the TUJ info session did little to move me from my stance that this is the place to go -- provided I can sort out the whole financial issue. The professors I spoke to and e-mailed with were great, the staff I met yesterday were very helpful and the whole TUJ community seems fairly tight despite having the students spread throughout Tokyo and the main campus taking up six floors of an office tower. Now I just have to convince Uncle Sugar to lend me some money to finance this new adventure.

Back in the Big Durian, it looks like little has changed. The government still cannot get its act together, even when it has the right idea, and now FIFA has joined the Indonesian Football Association (or PSSI, its acronym in Indonesian) in kicking the ongoing problems further down the road. If the warring factions in Indonesian football are still at odds after almost two years, what makes FIFA think another three months will make a difference? Also, what could the PSSI possibly have shown FIFA to convince it that there was progress to be made? From what I have seen and heard, fans in Indonesia are coming around to my initial position that nothing is going to meaningfully change until FIFA brings the hammer down on the PSSI and bans the country from international play. Only then will the money men behind this whole fiasco be forced to own up to their bad behavior and work in the best interests of the game rather than their pockets.

That was all expected, though. What bugs me most is that I was out of town and unable to give my friend, whom I recruited to Globe Towers, a proper send-off. She deserved better treatment than what she received from the higher-ups, but they have clearly shown where their primary concern lies and it sure as hell is not with the people.

Repeat engagement

I am back in Tokyo, taking a break from the Big Durian (which apparently has not burned down just yet). I try to avoid repeat visits when going overseas, but this trip is as much business as pleasure. The weather is cool, breezy and overcast -- in other words, tailor-made for me.

After sleeping for 12 hours to shake off the jet lag, yesterday was spent talking to professors at the local campus of Temple University. That only took until 3 p.m., though, so I had the evening free. My plans were few and the folks I wanted to meet were busy, so I tried to weasel my way into the Yomiuri Giants season-opener against the Yakult Swallows. The Tokyo Dome was pretty packed, but for 1,000 yen I got a standing-room only ticket.

I had to peer around a pillar at times, but I was able to watch a gem of a pitching performance. Masanori Ishikawa was dealing all night for the Swallows, throwing 8 1/3 innings of hitless ball and allowing just one guy to reach first on an error. Two one-out singles in the bottom of the ninth chased Ishikawa and spoiled his no-hitter, but someone named Tony Barnette came out of the pen to finish the job.

Like my previous NPB outings (Seibu Lions vs. Rakuten Golden Eagles, Hiroshima Carp vs. Chunichi Dragons), I had no rooting interest between the teams. Instead, I took to pulling for the gaijin on the field. There were a couple Americans in the starting lineup, one I had heard of (Lastings Milledge) and one I had not (John Bowker). Milledge did little of note at the plate while hitting third for the Swallows, while Bowker got the second of the home team`s two hits in the ninth.

This evening will also be free-form after the info session at TUJ. Yokohama F Marinos are playing Kashima Antlers just south of Tokyo, so I could rush down there after the meeting provided I can get to the shinkansen in time. I also have a bit of shopping to do, but that can wait. Most importantly, though, I have to restock my supply of these beauties:

500 milliliters of Coke Zero for just 100 yen -- basically two cans for the price of one. How great is that?