journalarabia

Setting up the show this morning went flawlessly. Here are two images of the piece. I’ll put the video that is a part of the piece up on the mogulus screen soon. Thursday is the opening and we’ll take more photographs then of the other pieces in the show. We were the first to finish setting up so the others weren’t ready to photograph by the time we left.

We had a hail storm last Saturday. Ice fell from the sky…the closest we will be getting to snow!

Last night we decided on a whim to jump in a cab and go out to dinner. We were pretty lame and went to the same restaurant that we went to the last time that we were there. And we each ordered the same thing that we had ordered. We couldn’t help it – it was so good!

We felt this. I had just finished a vodka spritzer with mango juice so it was reassuring to see the news later that confirmed it. We were rocked back an forth for a minute on the 8th floor with about 1-2 inches of sway.

Today we went to Satwa and there were real Christmas trees for sale on the street. The guy said that they came from Scandanavia via Holland. Too bad we already put up our fake tree. But we love it. We walked around Deira a lot too today and unfortunately our camera was back in our apartment the entire time. It was gorgeous out today – about 80 degrees in the sun with a light breeze and crisp fresh air coming in off the gulf.

I finished my competition boards and text so that feels great. And Beth made a website for the Hot Spots project. Tomorrow we set up our sculpture for the Jam Jar Exhibition that opens this Thursday.

This post is only for two people – you know who you are…

Rob

1. A stuffed toy for Ruthie. *
2. A stuffed toy for Tiger. *
3. Children of Gebelawi, by Naguib Mahfouz 

Elizabeth

1. Stories from 1001 Nights, the Harvard Classic version as translated by Edward William Lane
2. A stuffed toy for Tiger. *
3. A stuffed toy for Ruthie.  *

* non-edible

Here are some photos of our office on the 26th floor of the Fairmont Hotel. The second two were taken by Sattar Saeed, the guy on the right in the photo below. He’s an electrical engineer and a really kind and lovely man. The guy on the left in the photo below is Raed Othman, our structural engineer/everything else. Also kind and lovely, Raed has been with Yamasaki the longest, and has an endless supply of jokes which are all true stories. Raed and Sattar are both from Baghdad so it is fascinating to hear the first hand account of the consequences of the USA’s horrible foreign policy towards their country for the past decades.