The other night I interviewed an Iraqi woman for a section of the Saturday paper called "home and away." It's an as-told-to thing, asking expats in Abu Dhabi about their conception of home: where they have lived; what home means to them; if they still have homes in their home countries; if their perspective of home has changed through moving. I've done a few of these, and they are such nice conversations about travel, art, cooking, the sea (everyone mentions the sea), relationships, and finding people of similar brainwaves in the places that they end up. This woman left Baghdad in 2006 and moved to Jordan for two years and then came here. So you can imagine, a bit, how war has shaped her conception of home. My interview with her increased the drama quotient by so much that I almost felt silly sending it into the editors. I can't quote it because it's not published yet, but it was so wonderful speaking with her and getting a sense of perspective on the beauty of Abu Dhabi right at a time when I was feeling sinister undertones living in a country without free speech laws. Abu Dhabi is an oasis. It is other things as well, I don't mean to diminish the road ahead, or the bumps behind. But there's a start: The National finally wrote up a piece on the torture video, which I applaud. It is written by "staff," and is conservative and protective in its language, and that is fine. It has been a year. I remind myself: A year. There is a lot of broken trust to build.

               

The evening I interviewed Zahraa, I noticed a restaurant in the ground floor of her building that looked like a healthfoody California place, so I stopped and looked at the menu. Whole wheat pancakes with orange syrup! Poached eggs! I decided we had to try it this weekend. So we walked there this morning. It was tragic. The pancakes were the size of two bites, the thickness of a crepe, and the leatheriness of a shoe. The orange syrup was orange juice thickened with corn starch. Our hopes were dashed. It turned out to be a restaurant for diabetics and heart patients, run by a hospital. But we had a nice walk getting there and while we were there iola took her very first abstract photo, entitled rose's legs:

                                       
She was the only one who enjoyed her meal of honeydew melon, after playing in the empty (of course!) BiteRite cafe. At least it was cheap. I came home and made a grilled cheese sandwich.

Also, this is a cute one that'll make you hungry for watermelon.