“Homeward bound” (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) by gordontour We moved to the United Arab Emirates in 1996. Abu Dhabi was my second Foreign Service assignment in the Middle East, and my third living experience in the region. When Ramadan came around our first year in Abu Dhabi, I thought I knew what it was all about, having lived moreContinue reading “U is for United Arab Emirates”
Author Archives: Sandra Yeaman
T is for Transnistria
“Transnistria” (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) by Marco Fieber/Ostblog.org Transnistria, a sliver of land at the eastern border of Moldova, right next to the Ukraine, wanted to be part of Russia, not Moldova, when the former Soviet Union broke apart in 1992. Refusing to assimilate into Moldova, Transnistria continued to use the Russian ruble even after Russia had issued newContinue reading “T is for Transnistria”
S is for San Francisco
“San Francisco” (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) by Pedro J. Jiménez From January 1973 through March 1975, I lived in San Francisco while studying at San Francisco State University. Before I enrolled, a package from the registrar’s office arrived with a list of what I needed to bring with me on the day of registration. One requirement: the result of a chestContinue reading “S is for San Francisco”
R is for Romania
“Romania-1727 – Peles Castle” (CC BY-SA 2.0) by archer10 (Dennis) (70M Views) I learned I had been selected for a Fulbright grant to teach English in Romania just weeks before I expected to leave Iran in July of 1977. And I was astonished that a friend was able to find a Teach-Yourself-Romanian book in Tehran so I could get aContinue reading “R is for Romania”
Q is for Qatar
“Doha, Qatar” (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) by . Shell The summer of 1987, before I arrived in Doha in October of that year, the governments of Qatar and Bahrain adopted threatening postures towards one another, the result of a dispute about the Hawar islands off the coast of Qatar. Both countries claimed the islands, which can be seen from theContinue reading “Q is for Qatar”
P is for Paris
“Paris” (CC BY 2.0) by Moyan_Brenn Who doesn’t love Paris? There’s just one thing wrong with it for me–I kept being sent back there when I really wanted to see some other places, too. My first trip to Paris was in December 1987 1977, during the New Year’s break at Alexandru Ioan Cuza University in Iași (pronounced “Yahsh”), Romania,Continue reading “P is for Paris”
O is for Oman
“Al Dhalam Souq IV” (CC BY-SA 2.0) by andryn2006 Oman sparkles. In the three years, from 1996 to 1999, that we lived in Abu Dhabi, we drove to Oman several times. And every time, we felt a difference when we crossed the border. The streets looked as though they had just been swept for our arrival. The rocksContinue reading “O is for Oman”
Book Review: The Shadow of the Wind
I’ve been reading so many memoirs and genre fiction books that it took me awhile to get involved in Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s best seller The Shadow of the Wind. I sought the familiar three-act pattern as I read, and I was initially frustrated by the complexity of the story. There were more characters, all with foreign names spelledContinue reading “Book Review: The Shadow of the Wind”
N is for North Dakota
“John Deere Combine” (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) by SnoShuu One of my favorite posters during my college days was a white background with a single black line drawn across it from left to right. It wasn’t a straight line, but almost. It ran parallel to the bottom of the poster for about two thirds of the way and thenContinue reading “N is for North Dakota”
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