When we moved to Abu Dhabi, we moved into a furnished apartment. The furniture is mostly fine (once we got rid of the white leather sectional sofa, the ridiculously small bed, and some truly hideous cabinets) but sometimes, nevertheless, I feel a little bit like I live in one of those executive suite hotels.

I will say, however, that a hotel room on the 37th floor overlooking the Arabian Gulf can give a girl a rocking view of the sunset.  And while a good sunset doesn’t eradicate the crisis in the Eastern Congo, or make the bombs stop falling in Gaza, or do anything, in fact, of a practical nature, it does offer a brief, transitory moment of peace.