And then out of the blue, the weather turned reasonable, verging on nice, flirting with idyllic … we got out of work semi-early … and killed a Guinness stout or three on the fifth-floor patio of a luxury hotel with a half-dozen people who all were interesting and had good stories to tell. I’m going […]

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On the night of Nov. 10-11, we did not run the air conditioner in the hotel apartment for the first time in nearly a month of living here. (And this is the Northern Hemisphere, remember.) When the public beach hasn’t yet opened for the … winter? When you open an espn.com story on U.S. soccer […]

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This is the second consecutive Nov. 11 I have spent out of the U.S. In both cases I was in a former British colony. Hong Kong a year ago, Abu Dhabi now. When you’re outside your home country, I believe you think more about history. You compare and contrast what you know or think you […]

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Here is my good-news journalism story, from Abu Dhabi. Three weeks into my career at The National … I don’t have a computer station to call my own. Yes. That is good news. That is outstanding news. That is news that very few newsrooms in the United States have bumped into in, lo, these many […]

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Just in case. Just in case … what? We steal the crown jewels, perhaps. Or we break into the Lamborghini dealership we pass on our way home every night … and make our escape with something … but don’t wear gloves. Anyway, we were finger-printed at the Ministry of the Interior today. And how.

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Our first three weeks in Abu Dhabi, we never once rode in the other sort of taxi that plies the crowded roads of this gridlocked town. The gold taxi. Or”green” taxi, as I’ve been calling them, focusing on the green sign on the roof rather than the gold-colored quarter panels. We had been told, within […]

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This is a late town. But it’s not. Everyone is out and about at 10 p.m. … but no one is still out at midnight. The climate has much to do with it. When you have entire months when the average high temperature is over 100 degrees … you learn to stay inside during the […]

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Wednesday night! We’re both off. Time to paint Abu Dhabi red. (And parts of it could use painting.) Last week, bowling and the food court at the mall. How could we beat that? An actual restaurant … and a movie, United Arab Emirates style.

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I believe the correct answer for “what time is it?” … no matter where you are on the globe is … “Later than you think.” But sometimes we’re not looking for philosophical/big-picture answers to questions, are we, smart guy. We just want to know what the hour on the clock is, so we don’t miss […]

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Getting a work visa here is not a simple process. It involves lots of paperwork, numerous visits to various agencies, several copies of the temporary visa sent out by the company … and lots and lots of passport-size mugs. In this case, we were taking one of the several steps between us and permanent resident […]

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