Visit by the President of MIT

This weekend saw a vist to Abu Dhabi from the President of MIT, Dr Susan Hopfield, who came, along with her husband to visit the city and to judge the Zayed Future Energy Prize, along with a host of other world wide dignitaries. The winner will be announced at the Future Energy Conference in January.
On Saturday we headed off to the Emirates Palace to meet up with Dr Hopfield and Fred and Pat from MIT who are starting to feel like old friends. Along with John's colleague Marwan we went for a formal lunch at Sheikh Nahyan's Majlis. John had been to one before but it was my first experience. They tend to be men only events, but, since the guest of honour was a woman, then women seemed to be allowed. Pat and Fred are always very thoughtful about including me in things which is much appreciated.
After the formal reception in a grand room we went through to lunch to a table absolutely heaped with food. J had told me how to behave and not to panic about trying to do the English thing of presenting a clean plate - round here it suggests that you haven't been given enough! I received a plate full of rice and camel which was very tasty - I'm not so sure about the grey, jelly like stuff which arrived on my side plate and looked like the stock in which the camel had been boiled. No-one seemed too worried about me not giving that a try though! We also had a plate loaded with serious stodgy desert but once the Sheikh rises you have to get up and leave anyway so that wasn't too much of a difficulty. Sheikh Nahyan is Minister for Higher Education and seemed a very gentle and welcoming soul - everyone who has met him says so and many of my colleagues know him personally as he is the Chancellor of the Higher Colleges of Technology where several of them used to work.
After lunch we returned to the Emirates Palace and were able to look at some of the artwork on show for Abu Dhabi Art week. We also saw the Guggenheim mini exhibition, aimed at wetting our appetite for the day when the Guggenheim opens on Saadiyat Island, though that is some years away. After a lot of Emirati style hanging around we went on a helicopter trip over the city whcih was really exciting and I was so lucky to get a invite to. What a treat to see the city where you live from above, something I've never been able to do in Manchester or Leeds, except from a long way above in a plane. We saw the Yas Marina circuit, Saadiyat Island and the whole city including where we both work and our apartment block. It was a bit noisy but we are trying to point out places of interest to the American visitors. Sadly we didn't get to see the Masdar Institute building though I'm not sure if this was because the pilot didn't know where it was or because it was too near the airport. We also got a birds eye view of the power boat grand prix taking place in the bay which I'd also been watching the day before from the balcony.
It's a great example of Abu Dhabi schizophrenia that they could be hosting the Zayed Future Energy Prize, for ideas on sustainability and renewable energy, at the same time as the finals of a sport which must burn more fossil fuel per second for no possible gain, than any other activity on the planet! What a tremendous place - you have to love it!