Howdy Mr. Ambassador

This happened a while back but I never got to blog about it. Enough people found it funny so I thought it was worth a post. In March TAMUQ celebrated the opening of the new 200 million dollar engineering building. It wasn’t really an opening it was a celebration of its existence and the idea that someday it would be open. A number of VVIPs came into town for this including former President George Bush and Rick Perry.

Among the VIPs, who people may not know by face, were ambassadors and former ambassadors from the United States. I happened to meet one of these gentlemen by the name of Edward Djerjian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Djerejian). As I was outside instructing some movers where to park their truck so they could pick up equipment from training the week before, I saw a car from the Ritz drop a man off in a suit. Not a big deal, it happens fairly often here. He then came up and asked me where the advisory board met. This clued me into the fact that one he was important and two I was going to have to ask my mover friends to wait for a second. After he patiently walked with me to seek out the advisory board we determined that they were in the new building that was a good walk away. Our official drivers were gone and I nominated myself to escort this gentleman to meet his counterparts in my ’97 Hyundai Galloper. Not exactly a step up from a Ritz Limo but I figured if he was over here doing business he could handle it.

At this point I decided to ask who this person was and what he was doing with TAMUQ. That’s when I learned he was the former ambassador to Israel and Syria. My first thought was “Don’t say anything stupid”. That was good advice to myself seeing that my second thought was “Wow Israel, that’s a sticky one.” So I just nodded my head wanting to explain to him I wasn’t completely ignorant of the gravity of those posts but didn’t know how to say it. I then learned he was the founder of the Baker Institute for Public Policy. How do you match that, tell him I founded the Qatar Foundation running club? He did give me a compliment when I was able to talk my way through a closed gate to get a shortcut to the building. Saying something about diplomacy. I got out of the galloper and explained to the guard that there was a very important person in my sputtering truck. I then persuaded him to move the road block while shaking his hand the whole time. I guess it was better then driving over the curb and giving him the finger.

After looking up the ambassador’s bio I later found out he was a member of the Iraq study group and I’ve actually read their report. I guess I should have looked at the authors. I think I could have made some intelligent comments to that respect. Then he would have replied saying thanks, Secretary Gates is on board with this but now we’ve got your green light we’ll give it a go ahead. So after taking the long short cut, he managed to link up with the army of suites. I went back to making sure the boxes made it back to the UK. Yet another random day in Doha.

A Trip to the Desert

A few weeks ago my mom and brother came out to visit me and the family. We did a city tour, country tour, visited the souqs but our most exciting trip was to the inland sea.

Google Maps

There are a couple of rules you try to follow when driving 20 miles into the desert. Things like not going alone and using a reliable car are on the top of the list. Well, I’m Russell and I’ve been out in the desert enough to take a couple of chance. Since it wasn’t a weekend there wasn’t anybody else available to go with us. My car’s performance had been a little spotty but I figured as long as I took it easy it would be OK.

Well, as you can probably guess things didn’t go as well as planned. We made it to Sealine which is the resort right outside where the dunes begin. This is where you let the air out of your tires so they have bigger footprints. Well I forgot the tire gauge so we had to estimate what 15 psi looked like. No big deal but I should have taken it as a sign. After letting out the air we went up and down a couple of the safe dunes. These were considered safe because if I got stuck we could walk back to Sealine. We got stuck a couple of times but nothing too big and it added to the experience. After this we decided to head to the inland sea. For most of the way we stayed on what’s called the desert highway. It’s a worn path that you can drive 60 miles an hour on. It’s what I would imagine the Utah salt flats to be like, except surrounded by dunes. We made it to the inland sea without incident and decided to stop and take some pictures from on top of a dune. After the photo op we got back in to the Galloper and nothing happened. The car wouldn’t start. My first thought was huh, I must have left it in drive. Looked down, nope it’s in park. I had my reoccurring urge of wishing I had taken that auto shop class instead of Spanish back in high school. I then go into denial. No, no way I’m stuck in the middle of the desert with a car that’s not starting. Not a big deal something always turns up. And it did, a car came over the ridge and saw us. I waved and they turned around and drove away. Great. So my brother and I kicked tires and analyzed the little noises a car makes when it’s not doing what it’s supposed to. So after I came to the conclusion that we were in a fix I went on a walk to try and find some help.

I had a couple of things going through my mind. Kara just suffered a miscarriage, my mom being diagnosed with breast cancer and now I just got us stuck in the middle of nowhere because I was stupid. The book of Job did come to mind at this point. So I started praying. Some people call it desperate but I decided it was about time. After about 30 seconds of telling God that I’ve had enough and I need intervention the car I apparently waved off came back with another one. It was two English families who were completely useless with cars but did give me the idea to call the police. They also told me the car I was walking to earlier was abandoned and appeared to be stuck in the sand. Apparently I’m not the first person to get stuck out here. I did call the police and they quickly connected me to the local post where nobody spoke English. As I was making this call the guy in charge of this mystery outpost drove up and asked if we needed any help. He was the one guy who did speak English. I asked him to translate to the guy on the phone but he informed me he was who I needed and he would tow me to the station.

This is where it got weird. He pulls my car through the dunes to the police station. A bunch of guys in traditional dress walk out and start poking and prodding at my engine. They all argue in Arabic about what the issue is and keep on asking me to try and start the car. During this time my mom and brother are enjoying a drink in the shade with the support team of a guy who just Kayaked around the country (http://www.axabelifeconfident.com/challenge.htm). I went to see how they were doing and all of a sudden my car was started. The starter was broken and apparently one guy stuck a pipe in the engine to bridge a connection and bam we were ready to go. But this is the Middle East, a stranger just pulled me out of the desert and fixed my car. We were practically family now. He invited us in for tea and my mom and brother had their second sit down Arabic tea session. Next we were invited to go see a small “island” (Google Maps) on the police company boat with the kayak crew. After that we were invited for a sit down lunch. Sit down lunch being we sat down on the floor around a plate of rice and chicken.

After that we said our goodbyes and I gave our new friend my mobile incase he ever needed a favor. Offering money would have been highly offensive. He in return gave us Supreme Council for the Environment gift packs consisting of a hat, t-shirt and PR brochure written in Arabic. Our friend also called us to make sure that we got out of the desert OK. We made it back without an incident and I called my mechanic friend to work his magic and my mom and brother have had an experience that I could have never planned. Just another random day in Qatar.

Surprised by Joy - C.S. Lewis

I just finished listening to C.S. Lewis' "Surprised by Joy". I don't think I grasped everything it had to offer because I listened to it in 10 - 15 minute increments as I drove to work and that’s not how you listen to an author like him. His writing is simply brilliant. If you want to present Christianity to somebody holding a Ph.D. in literature he's your man. Many times I reread / relisten to what he says just to admire the way he puts the words together. In Suprised by Joy the last paragraph of chapter 14 was one of those cases. It apparently had the same affect on a lot of people because when I googled a sentence of it I got 37,000 results back.



The last paragraph of chapter 14:



You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England. I did not then see what is now the most shining and obvious thing; the Divine humility which will accept a convert even on such terms. The Prodigal Son at least walked home on his own feet. But who can duly adore that Love which will open the high gates to a prodigal who is brought in kicking, struggling, resentful, and darting his eyes in every direction for a chance of escape? The words compelle intrare, compel them to come in, have been so abused be wicked men that we shudder at them; but, properly understood, they plumb the depth of the Divine mercy. The hardness of God is kinder than the softness of men, and His compulsion is our liberation.



http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/questionofgod/ownwords/joy.html

The Lord gives and takes away

It’s been a while since I’ve written a post. This is mainly been because school has sucked up all of my free time but Kara and I recently experienced a loss that I need to blog about. This is more for personal therapy then anything else.



Kara learned that she was pregnant with our second child about a month ago. The news was met with a combination of joy and surprise. We were not expecting to be expecting quite yet. That surprise quickly changed to the joy you have when thinking about a new baby and all the uninhibited speculation about the next 20 years. The thoughts of Emma having younger sibling and I can honestly say it didn’t matter if the baby was a boy or a girl.



Even though I thought about it in the abstract the feeling was never real to me, I don’t know why but the idea of being a father to two was in my head but hadn’t made it to my heart yet. We were making plans and adjusting schedules but it never really hit me that there was a new life growing inside of Kara.



This past Sunday morning Kara and I lost the baby when she suffered a miscarriage. She went in for a D&C later that day. Our friends from work and church have been quick to send their condolences and they all want to make sure that we are doing OK and ask if they can help in anyway. The problem is that I don’t know how I’m doing, good or bad. I don’t know how I will move on and how much this actually affected me. I have a very thick skin that has been built up over the years. The problem with it is even though it protects me from worries of other people’s thoughts it also tends to trap mine inside. Other people would call this an emotional wall.



When bonfire stack collapsed in November of 1999 I knew two of the students who died. I couldn’t bring myself to cry even though the whole school was. 4 months later I was at the funeral of my God parent’s son whom I don’t ever remember meeting and it all came out at once. At my grandmother Lindell’s funeral I didn’t cry until I got up to give a Eulogy. Then it inconveniently all came out at once. So the emotions are there but I tend to run from them until circumstances force me to see them.



So how does somebody who is uncomfortable with showing vulnerable emotions or ask for help handle a miscarriage in a healthy way. When trying to title this post I couldn’t think of something appropriate and was actually going to put “No Words” as the title. I then thought about a verse that I though I knew the meaning of.



“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
And naked shall I return there.
The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away;
Blessed be the name of the LORD.”
Job 1:21 (NKJV)



There is a song that is inspired by this verse called “Blessed by your name” that I love.
http://www.lyricsbox.com/matt-redman-lyrics-blessed-be-your-name-pfs45jc.html



It brought some tears to my eyes and has helped me to deal with my emotions. I don’t know how much pain is actually down there but I believe the more I can deal with it the better.