My School

Well all I am now 3 weeks away from getting on a plane to head home so I thought I would post pictures of my school, a bit of Kuwait oh and Hockey night in Dubai...yes there is a hockey rink for all of the Canadians that are here. when it is 40 degrees outside a hockey rink is freezing, but it was great to go watch a game. Oh and I had my 31st birthday in the Middle East too, I will make sure that I get some photos of that night here too.

The school here in Dubai is massive, it however is not yet on google earth, they are about 2 years behind in filming here so I can not give you a link to see it there. The school is in Festival City and there is an amazing golf course (it is a Canadian company) the Four Seasons is a PGA quality course and I have had the pleasure of golfing it a few times this year. Anyway back to the school, the campus is massive with lots of room to expand, it is very modern and 3 floors of classrooms. Max class size is 25 but I feel that may change as the years go by and the cash flow becomes more, they will more then likely increase the sizes. anyway it is a great campus with an outdoor pool which I have made every effort to abuse the use of. My classroom is one of the biggest in the school I have 25 student computers, a interactive white board and we have just recently ordered about $25 000.00 worth of software for the use in the lab. I am really looking forward to next year to have these students working on everything. the school is a split elementary and high school and shaped like a V so that they try to keep the big students from the little ones to avoid confusion and fear. It is a great facility.

Hockey in Dubai is a bit better the beer leagues in Canada but not by much, there are some really good players and some new to the game locals even playing. it was good hockey but the ice has a hard time staying cold with how warm it is here so the puck bounces a lot but hey, you are playing hockey in the desert, can you really complain? A few staff memebers play on a local team so we went to support them, plus they have really cheap drinks at the rink too. a double rum is about 4 bucks. heck of a deal...

I have a few pictures of Kuwait but will get more up, I just have to find them... it was a good time and quite surreal how quickly a city will rebuild itself and how you would never know that the US came in and made a mess of the place, it is quite a beautiful city. The roads are very confusing and like most middle eastern countries the drivers are all insane. The pictures i am putting here are of a resort that I was taken to and there is a ship off the back of it that is really stunning.

I am excited to be coming home, golfing and seeing my family and friends. I am looking forward to getting around to see everyone and thanks to everyone who has kept in touch it has really ment a lot to me.

I may post one more before I go so look for it, I imagine my excitment will only increase as the closer I get to June 13th.

Curtis

Dubai, the real scoop well what I know anyway

Well I have been asked a few questions about Dubai in the last year and my parents have asked that I send out a blog of things that you may or may not hear about if you wanted to come over. So this is what I can tell you, which may help or may not.

Dubai is a fantastic place to come visit, you can buy everything here. If you want a warranty then you can get it (whatever you want) at a mall, there are 9 now and 4-5 more on the way that of course will be the biggest in the world. But future projects is not what I want to write about. So if you came here tomorrow you would be able to find all kinds of accommodation from about $100 us a night up to I think the Royal suite in the Burj goes for about $20 000 a night. There is an enormous amount of accommodation though, I think the hardest part would be deciding where to stay. I have heard that Expedia has good rates for hotels in Dubai. There is every kind of dining experience you can imagine here, I have paid $2 US for a meal that I could not finish and I have paid $50 for one that left me hungry. It all depends on where you want to eat an how fancy of a place you choose, but again the possibilities are endless.

I have been asked a few times if Dubai is Handicapped accessible and I have say yes for the most part, the locals all take elevators or escalators everywhere so anywhere you want to go is accessible. There are cabs available for it too but they are few and far between that part maybe a bit more difficult but for about $100 a day you can hire a personal driver that will be on call for you for 10 hours.

Again there is a ton of things to do and if you go to any book store in a mall there are guides in books that can show you everything you ever could want to do. The beaches are amazing, they are large long beaches, even the free ones are really nice. If you decide to pay for a beach it is not very expensive and you usually can be more relaxed on them in terms of being conservative. There is also usually a chair service for a nominal fee available too.

the driving around the Emirate and even UAE is quite easy and very beautiful to go out into the desert on the highways. There are lots of camels that roam around and you can take some really interesting pictures of them too.

I hope this helps with some of the questions people have been asking. if you have more please feel free to e-mail me at cehegge@gmail.com and I will be happy to answer what I know about the Gulf.

The airport is a bear to come through FYI, passport control is fast but usually it is a 30min to an hour wait in line.

hope this helps.

oh by the way it is now over 40 degrees Celsius in the daytime (104 roughly for the Americans) and getting hotter. the better time to come to the Gulf is between October and April it is 30 and below for the most part between those times of the year.

Have a happy day all.

31 in Dubai

Well it is now offical, I am 31 and in Dubai. Could I have seen this happening 10 years ago...certainly not. 10 years ago I was in Red Deer, Alberta working at Turple Bros and working at a golf course. I was floating and made a decision, well my parents helped me to go to Olds College and get my Horticultural diploma and get an education. It was a good choice to go I had a great time and learned a lot that I still use today. My parents did tell me a gem that I hold very close to my heart; no matter what happens to you in life, no one can take your education away from you..... Good words to live by.

life is good, really good. I have a job that I really enjoy doing. (for the most part) I have some good friends here. This is the first time that it has been 39 degrees on my birthday...I was told it was 4 degrees today in Red Deer....that is a little chilly. there have been lots of firsts for me this year which i am very grateful for. I really have to thank my parents for being so supportive of me and helping me along my very interesting and varied life path so far.

So I have 5 weeks left...I recall having my blog title of being the first 5 weeks in...it has been an amazing ride this year. I have golfed in weather that is hotter then I ever thought I could exsist let alone excersize, I have skiied in a mall that is in the middle of the desert, I have gone to one of the best waterparks I have ever been to, sorry Sylvan lake, Dreamland is amazing. I have gone to Damascus, Kuwait, Thailand and traveled around the UAE fairly extensivly. I get upset sometimes that I have not saved a lot of money this year but looking back on all I have done I would have never had these opportunites back in Canada so for that I am very grateful.

anyway now that I have offically gone into my 30's I guess I have to count my life blessed. As a great song I have on my Ipod says I look forward to my next 30 years....could not have said it better myself...thanks Tim.

I have a ton of pictures to get up on here and picasa I will post some pictures and get up more on picasa and give the link here.

thanks all

Curtis