omg! it is almost raining (drizzling) in Kuwait!

2nd Annual International Design Conference, Oman

Last week, a colleague and I, and five of our graphic design students, traveled to Ibri to take part in the 2nd Annual International Design Conference and Exhibition at the Ibri College of Applied Sciences, Sultanate of Oman from May 1st - May 3rd, 2010.

 

Ibri is a 3 1/2 hour drive southwest of Muscat with a population of thirty thousand. In the heart of the desert, there is a design program with majors in digital media and print design. This year's conference theme was “design identity” and the notion of how identity can at times be seemingly neglected in the process of globalization and modernization.

The paper that we presented was based on a collaborative project that my colleague and I created for a curated art exhibit at the Evanston Art Center in Illinois. The five students that traveled with us all had helped with the research and process of our project. The students also gave presentations at the conference on their graphic design class projects.  

As you can see from my photos, Oman is quite different from Kuwait and the other Gulf countries that I have visited. It is a mountainous country with much more greenery. Every town that we visited - Nizwa, Bahla' and Ibri - all had old and crumbling fortresses, some going back to the 13th century. The students in Oman also have a much stricter dress code; the males all in white dishdashas and unique traditional hats, the females all in black (and all ran away when I tried to take any photos). Much more than in other Gulf countries, ordinary people also wore traditional Arabic clothing, although often more colorful and varied than the students'.  

It was a wonderful experience, despite having too rushed of a schedule, and I can't wait for another opportunity to visit!

sandstorms!

 

Although today the weather was truly beautiful, there has been really bad sandstorms on and off the last few weeks.  These photos were taken just one day apart...

skiing in the desert???

When I first heard of this I thought 'what a waste'... but for a once in a lifetime opportunity, why not? It was actually pretty fun, although I totally wiped out early on and thus spent most of the time just taking photos and filming Rob since he could really ski...

Ski Dubai has a pretty good website.

From Wikipedia:

Ski Dubai is an indoor ski resort with 22,500-square meters of indoor ski area. It is a part of the Mall of the Emirates, one of the largest shopping malls in the world, located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Opened in November 2005, the indoor resort features an 85-meter high indoor mountain with 5 slopes of varying steepness and difficulty, including a 400-meter-long run, the world's first indoor black run, and a 90-meter-long quarter pipe for snowboarders. A quad lift and a tow lift carry skiers and snowboarders up the mountain. Adjoining the slopes is a 3,000-square-meter Snow Park play area comprising sled and toboggan runs, an icy body slide, climbing towers, a snowball shooting gallery, an ice cave, and a 3D theater. Other attractions include a mirror maze and a snowman-making area. Winter clothing, ski and snowboard equipment are included in the price of admission.

An extremely efficient insulation system is the key to maintain the temperature of -1 degrees Celsius during the day and -6 degrees during the night when the snow is produced.

Ski Dubai was the location of a detour in the 10th leg of the reality game show The Amazing Race Asia on its 1st season.