Stuffed Camel: The Turducken of the Middle East! And Other Reasons Why I’m Moving Overseas
So, I never thought I’d be saying this, but I’m moving to the Middle East in a month! I never even thought I would live in Northern Ohio, much less halfway across the world. But I’m excited!
I’ve just accepted a full time teaching position at the University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. I’ll be teaching foundations for the College of Fine Arts and Design at the University of Sharjah. It is going to be hard to be so far away from Blake, but we can make it work for a while! I am very happy that we both have teaching positions for the Fall. Blake will be spending one more year at Bowling Green State University, and then maybe he’ll join me over in the UAE!
So, here is your geography lesson for today. I’ll be right on the Persian Gulf, about half an hour from Dubai. The UAE’s magic number seems to be 7: it is comprised of 7 emirates, has the world’s 7th largest oil reserves (17th in natural gas), and is the 7th richest nation in the world.
Thankfully, Sharjah invests a lot of those riches into the arts! They have a huge art biennial and many museums. There was just a review of their recent biennial in June’s issue of Art in America magazine: http://www.artinamericamagazine.com/reviews/the-sharjah-biennial/
Best of all, I’ll be joining our friend Matt Egan and his wife, Heather Muise, so I’ll have some old friends there, and I can’t wait to make new ones!
Looking forward to trying new foods, too. Wonder if I’ll get a chance to try Stuffed Camel, for instance. It sounds like a bigger version of the american favorite: the turducken (a chicken cooked inside a duck inside a turkey.) Stuffed camel consists of a whole camel stuffed with a lamb, 20 chickens, eggs, fish and rice. It’s obviously HUGE and a wedding event type of dish, so I might not run across it, but I’m sure I’ll find plenty of other interesting dishes to try! At the very least, I’m going to get some excellent shwarma and hummus!
Well, that’s all I’ve got for now! Still trying to wrap my brain around this big change, but I am excited and keeping busy!
Below is a comparison between the size of the UAE to where we have been living in Ohio:
The Screen Shot above is from: http://www.ifitweremyhome.com/compare/US/AE
10 Comments
David DuBose
July 15, 2013Wow, Hannah, that’s great news! What an adventure. Many congratulations! Keep us updated on the blog.
Hannah & Blake Sanders
July 17, 2013Thanks, David! You are my fave person to follow on Pinterest, by the way. I love all those drawings you find and post! Keep in touch.
carma
July 15, 2013Holy shit!!!! Congrats, Hannah! I can’t wait to live vicariously through all of your adventures!
Lisa Lynn Hefner
July 15, 2013Excited for you Hannah…and anticipating very artistic documentation/blogging about your experiences in the UAE. Blessings!
Hannah & Blake Sanders
July 17, 2013Thank you!
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