Live in Abu Dhabi long enough, and you lose the “sense of weather” that might serve you well in most of the rest of the world. Waking up, this morning, looking out the window … and it’s quite dark, even at 8 a.m. Let’s run down what that might mean, in Abu Dhabi.

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It’s not just Americans who have an unhealthy attachment to McDonald’s. Anyone who has traveled has found the golden arches in the unlikeliest of places. The McDonald’s on the Champs Elysees, in Paris, tops my list of “unlikely locations” for the brand. But the French do not feast on McDonald’s. Not like people do in […]

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Not even four years is long enough, for the average pet-friendly westerner, to grow accustomed to the often distant and abrupt manner in which natives of the region treat animals. Certainly, there are instances of local citizens importing big cats and keeping them in their yard, for fun. Often in poor conditions. But in this […]

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Not sure I’ve ever given an idea of what it is like for a sports writer to cover a soccer game, here in the UAE. Some of it will seem familiar to American journos. But some of it is not at all similar to your experience in a U.S. press box — from being served […]

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Big stir here, over the new soccer stadium in Al Ain. A three-day festival, a lot of pomp and ceremony, lots of conversation about how spectacular the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium is. And it is. It’s quite nice. Fairly striking, from the outside (artist’s rendering, above), when it is lit up with Al Ain’s predominant […]

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Expats come and expats go, in the UAE. And especially in soccer. The South American or African introduced amid fanfare when a transfer window comes open … often is dumped a half-season later. It happens because UAE teams depend so heavily on foreigners to score goals, and goal scoring is such an easily measured number. […]

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A confession. When I use condiments … I tend to really use condiments. At the moment, I may be one of the planet’s leading consumers of mustard. Like, a couple of smallish bottles of mustard per week. How did that happen? What’s the deal with me (and some of you?) and condiments?

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Americans of a certain age remember the Selective Service Act — the draft — with fear and loathing. During the 1960s, the Vietnam Era, the draft was talked about relentlessly by males over the age of 16. What to do about it. How to avoid it. Richard Nixon is not remembered fondly as a president, […]

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Most native English speakers believe they speak un-accented English. It is everyone else who has an accent. Poor things. For all but the least self-aware, however, comes the eventual realization that … we all have accents. The only determination left to make is what fraction of other English speakers will have trouble understanding you. In […]

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Has this percolated back to North America? This Messi versus Ronaldo thing? It is nearly inescapable, here in the Old World. Who is the better player? Who is more valuable? Whom do you prefer? Lionel Messi? Or Cristiano Ronaldo? It’s almost as if two-thirds of the planet organizes itself into two camps. The Messis and […]

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