DUBAI LITERARY FESTIVAL - FINDING PEACE . . .BROTHERLY LOVE . . . AND LAUGHTER IN DUBAI - PART 2 - BROTHERLY LOVE Tariq Ramadan

Part 2  of Finding Peace, Brotherly Love and Laughter in Dubai is about Tariq Ramadan’s presentation, “Charting a Course Between Islamic Values and Western Cultures.”  This seems like an interesting choice since both Anne and I had decided independent of each other that we want to use some of our time in the Middle East to understanding this mysterious Muslim faith.

The Emirates Airline Festival of Literature  proves to be one of the best experiences in my first year of living in Dubai.

DUBAI LITERARY FESTIVAL - FINDING PEACE . . . BROTHERLY LOVE . . . AND LAUGHTER IN DUBAI – PART 1 PEACE Greg Mortenson

Where can you find an American mountain climber aka philanthropist whose quest for peace turns stones into schools; a Swiss-born Muslim Professor of Contemporary Islamic Studies at Oxford who proposes a future where Islamic values and Western culture are in harmony;  and a zany Ukrainian lady whose writings are described as “mad” and “hilarious” and whose mere entrance into the room elicits warm bubbles of laughter?

The answer: The Emirates Airline Festival of Literature in Dubai.

Accompanied by my aspiring author friend Anne “The Writer” O’Connell, we embark on a two-day adventure into a multicultural literary scene.  While we are both veterans of The Broward County Library Literary Feast   in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA, this is our first experience at this similar event in Dubai.  

CELEBRATING ARABIAN WOMEN - 2011 INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

What a way to celebrate International Women’s Day meeting the most fascinating woman in the United Arab Emirates (UAE)!  – an Arab woman suffragette (a female advocate of the extension of equality to women)! This 90-year old dynamo is still the “Little Earthquake” she was nicknamed as a child.

Maryam Behnam, an Emirati Woman of the Year, was the keynote speaker at the American Women’s Association (AWA) of Dubai’s luncheon celebrating International Women’s Day. Held at the Dubai Ladies Club, the packed house marveled at the energy and spirit of this remarkable woman who has advocated for women’s empowerment in the Middle East  for more than 80 years . . . yes, this means she started when she was 10! Actually, it appears even her birth “rocked the world” as she was born in Iran the year of the terrible earthquake in Bandar Lingah a harbor in the Hormozgan province of Iran on the coast of the Arabian Gulf just across the “eastern tip” of the UAE. 

Merry Christmas from Dubai and the Middle East!

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Travel to Jordan . . . Jordan Journey 2010 -The whole story!

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Travel to Jordan . . . JORDAN JOURNEY – BETHANY-BEYOND-THE-JORDAN – The Baptismal Site

One of the best things about traveling with your own tour guide is changing the itinerary if you find something interesting along the way. After the first day of our 8-day odyessy through Jordan, we realize that we are close by a very sacred site and change our itinerary to include a visit to Bethany-Beyond-The-Jordan (BYB). This is the site much revered by Christians and Jews. How we missed putting this on our itinerary from the beginning is a mystery. It proves to be the most inspirational place we visit.

“This took place in Bethany beyond Jordan, where John was baptized.” (John 1:28)

Travel to Jordan . . . JORDAN JOURNEY - Romantic dining . . spiritual wanderings . . desert romance!

I wonder, wonder who. . .
Who wrote the book of love?

--The Monotones, 1957

Since the beginning of time, romantic journeys have been a beloved subject of novels, the movie screen and stage. Romance comes in so many packages: long passionate nights, wanderings together in foreign places, languid dinners with fine wine, deeply personal conversations, and an ineffable oneness shared with your lover! Romance gives our souls permisson to soar deepening our passion for living life fully.

Add to this, exotic and spiritual places, and you have a most memorable and romantic encounter. Our 8-day Jordan experience proves to be spectacular, where in unexpected places, romance reigns.