Thinking about thinking

Well I have not blogged in sometime now and for that I am sorry. I have been waiting on some sort of brain wave that will keep people reading. I failed to realize that if I do not write something once and a while then the 2 of you, thanks Mom and Dad, will stop reading. It has been a very hectic last few weeks with report cards and such, as I am sure every teacher you know has been whining about this for some time now. That is what we do best, so I am told...as the great Taylor Mali said, (google him if you have not heard of him before) the trouble with teachers is....those who can't do, teach...ha ha ha. side note: Taylor Mali is a former teacher now slam poet and a lot of his material comes from his former career...even poets get out of teaching...ha ha.

So we are on the verge of yet another holiday, I was planning on going to Thailand but as most know that the airport is not accepting planes right now so we have to change our plans at the last minute. It is fairly dissapointing but hey, we are able to go somewhere else and that I am happy about. School is going well, we as most people would agree with have too many holidays...YES a teacher has said we have too many holidays. I mean it is great that we get these days off but we have to have time to teach the kids too. That is why we became teachers, well some of us anyway, I do believe that there are people out there that do this for the holidays too. I will send out a blog when I get back from our break. I am this year staying in Dubai for Christmas. It will be very interesting I think. We have a lot of staff who are going to be here so I think we will be able to have a good bonding experience and get to know each other well. I sure miss being home for xmas, I think I will have to go back in the next year or two for the holiday to get my dose of snow and cold and most importantly family...

Oh, this last weekend was the 2008 Dubai 7s rugby tournament. I was a Referee for it again, it was huge. I was able to be on the main pitch for most of the IRB world series matches which was a great time. We got to meet some amazing people from different countries and see some great rugby. I took a ton of pictures and will get some on picasa in the next day or two. It was 3 days of rugby, from 8am to 10 pm at night, it was long tiring and great time, I look forward to next year!!

well that is about it for now...life is good, as per usual I miss a lot of people back home and think about everyone often. I am enjoying life a lot right now in Dubai, I think I will be here for a few more years, try to save some money and wait till the economy picks back up again in Canada before coming home...I am looking forward to that time too!

Have a great day

Curtis

Bangkok 7s Rugby tournament

Well I was in Bangkok for the weekend, not something most people can say but yes I flew there for 4 days. It was a great time had. I was Refereeing the 7s tournament there. It was a very fast tournament and I learned a great deal from the weekend away. We got into Bangkok on the Thursday night and went for a bite to eat at a great restaurant, great food, great price and met 2 other guys that were also reffing at the tournament. Afterward we went to have a beer and get to know one another at a local watering hole. Outside of the bar, Elephants are walking by trying to get people to pay for food for the elephant and get their picture taken as well. it was sad really, I bet these Elephants had not seen the Jungle in many years. There was lots of local culture willing to sell their trade and it was fairly constant asking if we were looking to have a drink with any of them. It is amazing that the economy relies so heavily on tourists and yet tries to ripe them off at every turn they can. The bar tried to add a few more drinks then we ordered onto the bill and we were hassled for money and even the cab driver tried to increase the fair by 1000% that is the one thing that is frustrating about the city.

On the positive note, there is so much history and interesting people to see and take pictures of. some of the buildings are so old and the culture is really great to be a part of. I could see myself living in a city like this, for a little while anyway!

The Rugby was great, it was however a very long day. We reffed quite a few games each day and the intensity of the games certainly did not diminish with the heat or the rain at night. No one was seriously hurt and the team that deserved to win did so over all I would say it was one of the best rugby experiences that I have had to date!

I will be looking forward to going back next year if I can make it. if not from Dubai then maybe from the next place I will be living. I have started looking for a new job now, not sure if will be staying here in Dubai a few more years or not, it is good to keep your options open I guess.

well that is about it for now.

enjoy the snow!

Curtis