The war on breakfast

A thirsty enemy, is a vulnerable enemy

The score

The only rule the students needed to know today.

A day of mourning has commenced. While the Saudi's mourn the loss of Prince Sultan (R.I.P), I mourn yesterday's massacre at Old Trafford. Talking about football is completely off limits now. I think the students know that, today they have been asking if I am OK as if a relative of mine has died. One of them sent me a text message:

"Dear Teacher, I wish you wellness and health and ask God to bless you and return to us soon. Do not get angry because of the defeat of Manchester United, still there 29 games remain until the end of the season. One loss is not the end of the world. Remember what happened last season with Chelsea. See you soon"

Mashallah! A great text to receive, the English is great too, not perfect, but still way beyond anything I encountered last term. The text, the students respect, and the fact that we may well get a big holiday extension to honour the fallen Prince, have been a big silver lining on this dark day.

I'll be back soon with a more upbeat post.

I wanna be adored

Yesterday it was confirmed that The Stone Roses are to reform. They will play two huge shows at Manchester's 75,000 capacity open-air venue, Heaton Park, on June 29th and 30th. Tickets go on sale on Friday morning and will probably sell out in under a minute. After that they will go on a world tour "til the wheels come off". VEM PRO BRASIL! I'm willing to sell coconuts in the favelas for a month to raise money for the ticket if they do end up coming to Brazil. Unfortunately I probably won't be in England when they play in Manchester.

It's been 22 years since their iconic self-titled debut album came out, and I can't remember this much hype about a band getting back together. Mark Ronson tweeted "(Stone Roses) reuniting is a bigger deal than Zeppelin", Liam Gallagher said "not been this happy since my kids were born". Part-time footballer Rio Ferdinand and sprinkler-inventing cricket legend Graeme Swann even chirped in with their excitement.

Here are a couple of videos. Firstly, my favourite song of theirs, I Wanna be Adored. Secondly, part of a documentary about their infamous Spike Island gig in 1990. Enjoy

Sister Bessie

Still loving this track. It's not by the famous, French, and slightly gay (not in a bad way) electronic band Air, it's by the little known 1970's funk band from America, AIR. They were an extremely talented band who never became big, perhaps because their lead singer, Googie Coppola, left the group after their self-titled debut album, and traded her lifestyle as a hedonistic hippie for that of a born again christian.

The song was written by Moogy Klingman, and here he explains what it's all about:

"Someone told me a true story about a nun, who took LSD after falling in love with a hippie, and then made love to him, deciding she would leave the church and the convent. Apparently, the hippie had different ideas and left town quickly. This song is about what he might say to her about his hasty exit, if he said anything at all."

"Sister Bessie don't you say no prayer for me

a slow boats gonna lead me where I'm bound

I'm for to travel far across the distant seas

My destiny will lead me where I'm bound"

Addictive. Brilliant from start to finish, but the start of the second verse at 1:39 is the best bit. They all have great hair too. If your name is Googie or Moogy, you have to have great hair.

Taken from Diplo's Chasing the Dragon mix.

The light

Your man in the Middle East is going home. Firstly to England, for Mike and Kate’s wedding, then Christmas and New Year with the fam and Isabela. After that I’m really going home, back to the best city in the world, Rio de Janeiro, on February 2^nd.

Tô animado pra caralho, mais que você pode imaginar!

I still have almost three months to complete here in Saudi, so I’ve still got a long time left, but the flights are booked and I’ll be back in England on December 22^nd.

I’ve been enjoying Saudi recently, the work is better, the weather is nicer, and most importantly the new recruits are cool, and that’s what makes the biggest difference. In some ways I’ll miss this place – the easy hours, having no pressure, no targets, the great pay, the students, the pool volleyball and the little infidel community we’ve created. However, when I consider what I’m going back to, and what I have ahead of me, it would be impossible to feel sad.

When I handed in my letter of resignation last week I was able to tell the truth. I let my boss know that I’m not resigning because I have a problem with Saudi Arabia, with my job, my colleagues, or the lifestyle here. I’ve enjoyed myself here, and I’m still enjoying myself now. I’ve seen and learnt things I definitely wouldn’t have been able to anywhere else in the world, and I’ve made great friends, both Arabic and Western. I’m leaving a month before my contract ends because an opportunity to work in Brazil has arisen that is too good to turn down, and because I’ll need a few weeks in England to see friends and family before I leave.

In other, more Arabic news, we’ve just completed the first exams of the new term, and my students came out top of the year! Obviously this has everything to do with my teaching, and not the fact they could all speak English well before they’d even had a lesson with me. It is nice having a class you can talk to, instead of having a staring contest with cross-eyed Arabs that can’t even spell their own name (as was the case last term). The only thing I need to worry about now is if the students know their English grammar better than me.

The football tournament has started, and our team (the English department) won last night, in the opening game of the Al Jouf University cup. We beat the I.T. department 3-1 in a frantic game. I scored 2 goals in what one of my students described as a “selfish” performance. “If you don’t shoot you don’t score”, I replied; advice that doesn’t just apply to football, or indeed, sport. The next game is on Thursday (i.e. Arabic Saturday), which couldn’t be worse timing for a team with a penchant for joy juice. However, the show must go on, we need to avenge last term’s defeat in the final at the hands of the infamous Communication Studies department and their bearded superstar (best footballer with a big beard I’ve ever seen).

Due to my schedule and the wild Al Jouf social scene I’ve had to limit my blog to the occasional picture or music video recently, but I’m sure I’ll be able to write again soon as the Hajj holiday is coming up, and I’m going to try and brave the solitude of the compound to save a few Riyals.

Until then, البقاء مع الله

Waking up early

Means you can take pictures like this. I would post a picture of Saudi, but it just doesn't look as good as this. Sunrise in Rio, o melhor no mundo.

courtesy of Bryan Roberts, my fellow paper chasing infidel

Filho Maravilha

I've been listening to Jorge Ben Jor a lot the last couple of days. He's my favourite singer from Brazil, and for you gringos that don't know him, here are a few of his best songs. I haven't even included his most famous hits - País Tropical, Taj Mahal, or Mas Que Nada (made famous by Sergio Mendes). He's been making music since the 60's, so there's a lot to choose from. His music represents everything positive about Brazil, more than any other singer, in my opinion. Not only the sound, but the lyrics and the things he sings about.

Por isso, sem preconceitos eu canto,
Eu canto a fantasia,
Eu canto o amor, eu canto a alegria,
Eu canto a fé, eu canto a paz,
Eu canto a sugestão,
Eu canto na madrugada...

Take it easy my brother Charles

O telefone tocou novamente

Oba, lá vem ela

Carolina Carol Bela

Filho Maravilha (ao vivo)

Enjoy

The great divide

Putting this into perspective on a Monday (Saturday) morning.

Arabic Friday =

Chili Chicken Wednesday!!

The only way to start a weekend.