support sean in the help for heroes bike ride

once again, sean is riding across france for the help for heroes uk charity. last year, he had literally the WORST bike of anyone (a chinese piece of crap that outweighed every other bike there) and did amazingly well. this year he's going to try and find a better bike so he doesn't get teased incessantly by the maintenance/bike storage guys at every stop...

anyway, if anyone is interested in supporting sean, here's a copy of the email he just sent me... one british pound (as of this moment) is equal to one dollar and thirty-nine cents, which is really good considering the last few years...

Greetings,

That time again. I am contacting friends, family, and colleagues to ask for sponsorship of an upcoming fundraiser bike ride for the UK’s Help for Heroes charity. The ride consists of biking over 400 miles during 5 days across the northern France (From Normandy to Paris). The Help for Heroes charity works to provide practical direct support to those UK servicemen and women wounded in the line of duty in the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. After the fantastic experience of participating in last year’s H4H Battlefield Bike Ride, where we raised over £10,000, we have decided to enter another Dell team in this year’s event.

Dell has already provided assistance to the Help for Heroes Charity in the form of Dell PC's to assist in the running of the Charity and we are now delighted to be involved in the Band of Brothers Bike ride. Our team is made up of Dell staff who are involved in the Defence marketplace in the UK and EMEA and we see this as our chance to offer something back to those UK Military personnel who have served their country so well. The Dell team members are: Sean Berg, Kerion Holyome, Jeff Van Horn, Nigel Leaney and Paul Heath.
Dell will match £1 for £1 the sponsorship we are able to raise as a team so if we meet our fundraising target of £10,000 we will be able to give £20,000 to the Charity.
Here is the donation website:

http://www.justgiving.com/dellteamh4hband_of_brother_bike_ride

Any contribution you can make in support of our effort would be gratefully received.
Many thanks,
Sean

preparing for jordan

in less than one week i'll be riding a camel in the desert...

i've started doing some research on what to expect, how to behave, and most importantly how to dress... though jordan is, of course, much more tolerant of western behaviors than other places in the middle east, i still want to be prepared.

here are a few things i've learned.

1. though it will be warm, it is best to wear long pants and long sleeve shirts. opaque clothing that covers the arms and legs is fine. the neck should be covered with a scarf. sean misled me into thinking anything goes, so i'm glad i read up on this.

2. jordanian women typically don't wear their long hair falling below their shoulders. so i guess i'll be clipping mine up as it is currently pretty long.

3. never point or reveal the sole of your shoes to someone. keep them pointing down. speaking of pointing, don't point. in jordan pointing casts the evil eye.

4. one cannot drink alcohol in public. the few places where alcohol can be consumed are in your hotel room, around private hotel pools, and in restaruants and cafes where you find alcohol on the menu.

5. because of the temperatures one must drink upwards of five liters of water a day during the summer months. the bedouin people will typically not drink water in front of tourists. following their lead will quickly leave you dehydrated.

6. i am likely to experience stomach problems.

overall, from what i've read and heard jordan sounds like an easy place to travel, thank goodness. to tell you the truth, it's nice to travel to a place where it IS necessary to make adjustments in dress and behavior for a change. i'm excited to try different foods, drink lots of tea, do a little bargaining, partake of the hubbly-bubbly, and ride the aforementioned camel.

now i just need to go shopping for a few appropriate clothing items. this girl is way too used to stripping down to a tank top and shorts when the temperature rises above 70 degrees...