It’s 2 a.m. in Dubai, and I’m nowhere near ready to sleep. Today’s been an interesting day on many levels…
I woke up this morning after a mediocre night of sleep…it’s funny how the body “knows” what the time is. I went to bed at 11 p.m Dubai time (3 p.m. EDT), and had an awesome night sleep…for 2-3 hours. I guess my body figured I was having a cat nap in the afternoon. After laying in bed for a while, in and out of sleep, I got up around 7 a.m. local. Played with iCal for a few, then went to breakfast.
At breakfast, I had several great conversations with classmates met through serendipity…I learned more about India today from two of my classmates than I would’ve ever learned from a textbook. I also have a standing invitation to Bombay, one that I will have to take advantage of!
The afternoon started with an nap attempt, unsuccessful. Had some Lebanese food in the mall, which turned out to be awesome, and turned out to be a source of multiple Cultural Disconnects. That will be part of a future class assignment, no doubt ;)
The safari? Awesome on so many levels! I got about 15 minutes of HD video of the ‘dune bashing’, where our tour guide Kumar drove the Land Cruiser over some pretty tough terrain. I will have to edit that footage into a concise videio at a later date.
To end the evening, Mark and I got together to solve a case study…it’s amazing how useful Bayes Theorem can be, when conceptually it doesn’t make a lick of sense. Ending the night, I hit the 51st floor of the hotel, which I believe is the top, to a bar that overlooks Dubai. I caught up with many classmates, and a few of us retired to 2906 for a “taste” of Johnny Walker Blue. And when I say a few, I mean Stefan, Tariq, Adam and myself and most of a Liter bottle. If you’re going to drink some high-end Scotch, you might as well do it amongst great friends. Thanks for the discussion fellas, good luck with waking up early tomorrow. I won’t be thinking of you, but I will be sleeping in!
And that’s it. The day before class, defined by some Lebanese food, dune bashing, and JW Blue. Not a bad way to start the second residency!
dukefuqua2010
Dan McCleary // Oct 30, 2009 at 6:51 pm
Hey Randy,
Glad you made it. Looking forward to following along. I wish I were there.
I know time is always tight, but if there is any way you can swing extra days in India during the next residency, definitely take Chait (I’m assuming) up on his offer to visit Mumbai. He is an amazing guy, and he showed me around downtown Mumbai last month. Also, Taniya in Delhi, and Mathew and Shailesh in Bangalore. Like you said, I learned more about India from them than I could have learned reading five books.
Take care and say hello to my colleagues Patricia McCall and Lana Dajani if you meet them.
Dan
Randy Zwitch // Nov 1, 2009 at 2:57 am
Patricia and Lana are here, but I haven’t had a chance to meet them yet. It’s a long week, so I’m sure we’ll get a chance to talk at some point.