Interesting facts, B.S. and life rolling on...

Well I have been back in Dubai now for over 2 months and have yet to blog anything; sorry...life happens I guess. There have been a lot of things going on this year for me, some ups and downs along the bumpy road. For those who don't know I am now the Curriculum co-coordinator of Physical Education at our school. It a step into middle management, all I can ever think of when I hear those words put together is a commercial I saw years back that had kids yelling out what they wanted to be but they were all jobs kids would never say. One of the kids got up out of his desk and yelled i want to struggle my way into middle management!! It made me laugh and still does a bit today, we usually never see ourselves in the spot that we get to. Now in saying that I do not expect that this is the top of the pile for me, but a good stepping stone onto bigger and better things. It has gone fairly well so far, it has been a big learning curve to deal with different personalities, schedules and agendas that are out of my control but over all something that is going to make me a better teacher and administrator if that is the direction I want to take this life.

The year has started like many other years but this being my 3rd year in Dubai I would say it has lost a bit of the luster it once held when i first got here, I would say that we have fallen into a routine, not that it is a bad thing and we do have more opportunity to break that routine in the middle east but it is what it is. We play slow pitch on Wednesday nights, it has been fun to do that. I try to golf once a week if possible, that is always a bonus, I do have to say that my confidence in my golf swing is terrible right now and my score shows that with most rounds in the 90s at the moment. I take a golf lesson once a week, that has been great too but I feel the latest change that my instructor has been trying to implement has been the hardest to do so far and my swing is not great, I am sure it will come back though. I do have faith that it will make me a better golfer. I have been reffing rugby a fair bit, I have been to Qatar and this weekend back to Kuwait to ref in some tournaments, it has been good fun to do them. Oh and I am still working on the old fitness goals, I would really like one day to buckle down again and really attack that one but it seems life gets in the way of that particular goal, guess I am not much different than most people on the planet.

I am not going to be travelling much this year personally, I am intending on buying a Jeep this month and want to do some camping in and around the gulf so I my jetting from country to country will slow a bit so I can pay off some debt and chill a bit. Now in saying that I have gone to Qatar and will be going to Kuwait and in the spring I am taking a select group of students to Switzerland on a ski trip in the spring it should be a good time, but organizing it is a bit of a pain in the ass. I am sure it will be worth it, I have always wanted to ski in the Swiss Alps so I hope all goes well with it.

I was going to do a bit of a rant about parents in my school, but thinking about it it is not the right venue to post that information, if you send me an e-mail and want to know the story about how I was threatened to be kicked out of the country I will give you the story but I want to make sure that kind of thing cannot bite me in the ass later on so I will keep it off the public forums for now...

other than that all not much is going on with this guy, still single, still working away at life and still enjoying my time in the desert. until one of those change I can't really see myself leaving here anytime soon. Guess it is going to depend on my mood and how things are going here when it comes to contract renewal time...

that is all for me at this time, keep checking back from time to time and I will try to get more up here. I still want to take a day and go around the city taking some interesting pictures of things you would not normally see here or in the tourist side of Dubai.

Thanks for reading.

Start of the 3rd year in Dubai

Well it has now been a month since I have been back in Dubai for my third year of living here. It has been a very interesting last 2 years of life here. I have had some major ups and some downs but I believe that is true anywhere in the world you live in. I recall talking to my parents about the cash I was going to be able to put away and be back in 2 years with stacks of money and no bills anymore. Well, I have now been to 15 countries, had some amazing experiences and have about the same cash in my pocket as when I got here 2 years ago. The memories and life I have been able to see has been truly amazing, I would do it all again in a heartbeat to tell the truth. The good news, if you can call it that is that my travel bug at this point in the year is not really there. I have some opportunities to travel with my school this year and I think that is going to be enough for me. That may change the closer I get to holiday time but as for now I am going to be happy exploring Dubai and the UAE. Road trips are going to be a great staycation, that will allow me to see more of the country I have called home for the last 2 years.

On work side of life I have moved on from the IT teacher position here at UAS and am now a PE teacher, and not just that but I have been given the opportunity to be the Curriculum Coordinator too, it has been a great challenge so far! It is a kind of management position that has allowed me to see my strengths and weaknesses as a leader and made me stretch out of my personal comfort zone which I think is quite beneficial at times. I am excited to see how it is going to roll out this year, working with a staff and making sure I do not drop the ball (so to speak).

My rugby and golf is going to go really well this year I think, I am excited about a few major events coming up including the 7s rugby tournament, the race to Dubai for golf, I am going to be marshalling in that tournament, I am very excited for that!, and I hope to travel to at least one place with rugby this year, I have heard rumors that I may go to Hong Kong or Singapore but we will have to see if that pans out.

Overall I am looking forward to the year, I think this summer has opened my eyes a bit in the fact that home is not necessarily Canada anymore, it is not out of the question to come back and I think given the right job or opportunity I would be very happy to come back but for now I feel at home here and need to explore that further, I do miss my family like crazy and if it was a quicker flight over here I am sure it would make it easier to travel back there or for them to come here.

Well if you ever need a place to crash and have a ticket to get to Dubai, look me up. I do enjoy guests at Chez Hegge...

As I say every year, I will make every effort to blog as much as I can, but I find that as you live in a place longer some of the mystique tends to go a bit and life starts to happen again....funny how that works.

Of course Dubai is wonderful...

So I sit here thinking of what to say, trying to think of all the lessons I have had over the years by the countless teachers I have had. Some teachers were in a classroom setting others in the "real world" and the best of course were my parents whom I am truly thankful to and think is the reason I am who I am today. All the clichés run through my head that you had "heard a million times" that allow you to be a better person and stand above the people whom have wronged you. I will not bore you will a list although for comic relief I am sure there would have been chuckles at a few of them... Alas, (Not Halas for in Arabic means finished or done, oh no dear readers I am just getting started...) I sit roughly 3 weeks now from leaving this illusion of a city, a city that I have grown to enjoy I will admit, but still get frustrated with more than I can imagine at times.

(*Side note: I will be ranting for a bit so please if you need to take a break I understand)


Let me tell you the story that has prompted me into telling my tale of woe. I went to the theater last night to see Angels and Daemons, the Dan Brown novel now lining the pockets of Tom Hanks once again. I wanted to see it ever since I read the book and thought that it surely would be made into cinematic art or at least a good way to spend a few hours one night... The three of us, Shelley, Sean and I went and got out tickets and lined up for stuff at the counter to keep our energy levels high the whole time we are sitting watching said thriller. I have become accustom to individuals in this culture cutting a head of people in lines, usually it is stoic men who have a freshly pressed Kandora on (Dish dash is what it is commonly called) who believe it is their right to not wait in line and cut in front of everyone. Now this is not all people or men here but there is a vast amount of entitlement that goes on here that is for another rant and another time. As I said the cutting in of lines is one thing, service is quick here for the most part so even with some ignorant person cutting in front of you, you do not wait long but as we sit down in the theater with our treats in hand we listen to the talk around us. This is USUALLY hushed tones while we watch the 40 min of trailers before the movie, but not here full conversations are going on and people are on their mobile phones laughing and talking to their friends. I have yet to get a full grasp on the local language here so I could not tell you what they were saying but one could guess it is similar conversation that anyone would be having before the movie starts in North America....oh wait....you make your phone calls out side and then sit down to watch the movie back home. So the movie starts and few have actually started to quite down people are still getting seated and eating their popcorn and nachos as loudly as possible (Nacho Cheese maybe one of the gross smells that only seam slightly appealing once you have consumed a full bottle of Jagermeister). The gentleman to my right is talking and letting his friends know what is going on in regards to the physics of colliding protons and electrons together which is how the movie starts instead of shutting the hell up and enjoying this nice piece of FICTION. I last 15 minutes before I want to strangle him and instead I ask politely if he could be quiet during the movie. He gave me a look like I slapped his mother and kept on talking...


I figured it was best to move to another seat as in the great country I live in it really is who you know that gets you ahead in life and with that you annoy someone here you can be asked to leave the country quite quickly and charges can be brought against you that you did not even know existed as law. I felt it was best to bite my tongue and move to an area that was less populated leaving my friend behind to enjoy the quantum physics discussion that was going on in that row. Little did I know that my efforts to move to a quieter area of the theater were for not...as there were three lovely ladies in their local attire that needed to laugh and discuss every part of the Catholic faith that they found amusing and repulsing. I know little of the Catholic faith, I was raised Catholic light and I was not offended as a Catholic but as a person who feels that the double standards that exist in this country are laughable. I cannot say anything against the Muslim religion, nor would I want to. I have learned that the teachings of the Muslim faith are those of peace and harmony with all things great and small. It like Catholicism believes that the strength of the religion is love and understanding, it is the men and women who are flawed who skew the faith into something that can breed hate and intolerance. So when I hear these women laughing and talking about the movie I do not feel I can do anything except try to ignore them. I do see the user who hopefully would ask them to shut the hell up but he does not want to leave the country either and says nothing. The movie, which I would like to see again, is a good movie and defiantly worth seeing, I did miss a fair amount as I was plotting ways to shut the women up but hey I guess that is the price you pay for living in a country that has no taxes (yet) and a warm climate.


When the bubble bursts here and it is coming sooner than later for this country I sure am curious to see what will happen and if anyone will be willing to bail out people who have a reputation for being too high class to help a neighbor out. I am a tech teacher but I do wish sometimes that we could go back to a time of my father's youth and according to his stories you made sure you helped your neighbor out and friends were always welcome over for supper.


Well after reading this over again and seeing if I should cut some out...which I did do. I feel that this means it is time for a break, 3 weeks to go and I can see my family and friends again, I cannot wait. Going to a cliché for a second it is really funny how the "grass is always greener on the other side of the fence" but once you jump it you realize that there is as much cow shit on this side as the one you came from and sometimes there is monkey and camel shit to deal with too that you did not know was even here. Funny how life works I guess.


Oh and life is not bad here at all, I still love it, it is super hot out, it has not rained for 3 months and I have golfed at some of the best courses in the world, I have great friends here and a job that I love. I think I usually talk about the positives here but last night was a little more that I was willing to put up with and that is why I think when the DVD lady comes around next time to sell a copy of movies that are in the theater or have not even been released yet I will buy it, pop my own popcorn and sit and watch it at home.

Golfing with Gary, The Heat and my Birthday...

A few weeks back I was lucky enough to golf in my second tournament here in Dubai and won it. the prize was a round of golf at the Majlis, Emirates Golf Course, a clinic lesson from Gary Player and to golf the 7th hole a par 3 with Mr. Player. I woke up in the morning and I was very excited to be doing all three and to tell the truth even just one of those things would have sent me over the moon. The Majlis course is 250 US to play on it; it is where the Desert Classic is played each year in January. It was a beautiful course and very well designed. I was playing with 3 other guys and one of which is a kid by the name of Matthew Turner who played in the last Desert Classic and made the cut at 17 years old. He was a treat to watch play golf. I had always thought of myself as a bit of a long ball hitter but after watching this kids swing I am a mid range golfer. He was out driving me by 50 yards on every drive and on the long drive hole the winner had me by well over 75 yards. it was unreal to see the club head speed of Matt, and he was in control too which was even more impressive. So I got to the course where we warmed up and hit some balls before the tournament, Gary Player had his Clinic that he talked about some of his accomplishments and how he practices and prepares for a tournament or even a game of golf. He is 73 years old and still does over 1000 sit-ups everyday. He talked about fitness and how obesity is killing the youth of today and even called out a few people in the crowd to tell them that they are killing themselves. I am happy I was not sitting up front when he started to dole out his advice...He said that every amateur should have at least one hybrid in his bag and to get rid of the 3, 4, and even 5 iron if they are not playing 2-3 times a week. he said that everyone should get a weighted club to swing with to get the feel for and also to be able to swing it right and left handed so that you are always balanced in your swing and strength. it was very interesting to see him hit a ball too it was so smooth and effortless. He did talk about Tiger Woods a great deal too in his mental strength is second to none. He talked about anyone who does not have the mental strength and will to win will never succeed in golf or in life. It was a great time and I was really glad to be there to listen to him talk.

We started on the 18th hole as it was a shotgun start I had envisioned all of the best golfers who had ever played on this course standing on this tee box waiting to go after this hole in 2 shots, there is water in front of the green and it is not as easy shot at all. I laid up and got a birdie out of the hole which i was very happy with of course and even Matt Turner said it was a great birdie, always good when a kid almost half your age and being a scratch handicap said he was impressed with your shots. The rest of the round went really well, we were playing a team stable ford so the top two scores on the hole are the ones that counted. Myself and Matt took most of the scores as the other guys were dead weight and the high handicapper in the group could not make a shot to save his life...I am thinking he cried to himself when he was driving his Ferrari home to his model wife. He was a good guy and had more cash then he knew what to do with but could not golf to save his life. It was fun to watch at times. On the 7th hole we got to play the hole with Gary and I have to admit I was nervous to hit a ball in front of him but I blocked everything out when it was my turn and hit a fantastic shot about 8 feet from the pin. Mr. Player threw his hands up and said it was one of the nicest swings he had seen all day and asked me what I played off of. I had told him it was a 14 to which he asked if I was part of the handicap committee where I can give myself a way higher handicap than I am playing off. I smiled and thanked him and then realized that Gary just called me a sandbagger...ha ha good times. The rest of the round went amazing and I walked away with a 81 and 3 putted 4 holes. I was very happy with the golf that day!! We went to the dinner afterwards it was a real feast and I did realize how much money I do not make... I was happy that one of the guys in my group was like me and we hit it off well. Paul Dow had a rough day but he was a rugby player from England so we found lots of things to talk about and even laugh at the fact we did not belong at this event. I did get my name in a Raffle and won a ticket for another raffle where the duty free shop at the airport is giving away a car and only 500 tickets are sold for it, so here is hoping my name gets drawn for that!!

The weather is no jumped to well over 40 degrees every day, while I hear in Alberta it is a balmy 15 degrees most days, I have a feeling I will be shivering for a few weeks when I get back again. I am happy to put up with it though to see everyone again, I am excited to just be back and enjoy the little things that you tend to completely forget about when you get into a daily routine. I know that I will receive no sympathy for the heat but it is something that can be a bit much especially the last few weeks we are here in June, it will be over 50 most days....uggh.

last but not least it is my birthday this week...32... hard to believe that I am in Dubai for it. 10 years ago, which feels like a lifetime I would not have guessed that I would be out of the country in my 30s let alone starting my life and career here has been quite amazing. I have had an amazing last 2 years and really am looking forward to where my life is going to go next.

anyway 6 and a half weeks I will be back in Canada!! I am looking forward to it!

Nepal April 2009

I have been trying to get to Nepal now for a few months, we tried to get there in the fall for our Eid break but that did not work. So when my friend Kara said she was trying to orginize a white water rafting trip to Nepal I was in. It was an amazing time; the Nepalize people are very friendly and caring. We golfed and rafted for a week, I took tons of pictures and it they are all on piccassa, I will add the link again at the end of the blog here.

So on the first day we had to get to the airport for 5:30 am, now some of you may think that I had a hard time getting up and could make the group late, you are wrong. I was in bed somewhat early. (I had played in a golf tournament that day and won, blog to come later about it) I had some friends, namely the girl who organized the whole trip got wasted the night before and we could not get her awake to get in the cab for the trip. So after calling her 23 times on her cell phone, we had to wake up her roommate at 5am to open the door to drag the girl out of bed. Jack Daniels was to blame she said when she came outside to get in the cab, still quite a fresh smell of it emanating from her body to I have to say. She paid for it all day so no one could be too mad as well. We got to the airport with time to spare and the lady at the passport control had to be one of the nicest people I have ever dealt with at the airports here in the UAE. She even gave me a quick lesson in Arabic on how to say good morning, which I have since forgot but it was very refreshing compared to the usual grumpy distain we get from most of the passport control people. We started to fly to Katmandu and all went really well, the flight was only 3.5 hours which was great because I had the joy of sitting next to Kara the whole way there, her smell did not get much better and I am sure the Arab man sitting behind us thought it was me the whole way there. We got to Katmandu airport and had to go through the visa issuing process of paying our $25 US and getting pictures taken which we had to pay in rupees. I do find it amusing that no one likes Americans in general around the world but yet are more than willing to take their cash when you enter the country. We got picked up from the airport by the hotel that we stayed at for the first 2 nights and we had 12 guys trying to carry our bags from the airport to the car so they could get a small tip from us. I gave the tip and i think i gave the main guy 400 Rupees, which works out to be about 5 bucks. I was later told by the driver that I had tiped about 2 times more than i needed to but I felt that I had not really given anything to these people.

Side note: I was told by a few sources that the average Nepalese lives on about a dollar and a half a day. it does put a few things in reality check when we get back here and see the opulence in Dubai, most people i think would struggle to live on less than $20 a day.

Anyway we got to the resort had a rest, got some food down at the clubhouse, which serves some amazing Thai food and cheap beer, we were all smiles at that time. We did go out for a bit that night to the main area where all the back packers go and it was a very interesting area, one that I will admit never really felt all that safe at all during the night. it felt like I was being watched all the time and if I let my guard down I would lose my cash or something else could happen. I have been to a few countries now and that was the first time that I felt that way. There were a lot of kids begging for cash from us, they said it was because the were hungry, later we found out it was all for drugs, these street kids spend 12 hours a day high begging for anything that will get them back there again. It was really sad to see, some of these kids looked no older than 10 or 11 years old too.

At 11 pm, the bar we were in started closing all their shades and windows, we asked what was going on and they said that it was because of the new government not allowing any bars to be open past 11 so they have to appear that they are closed after that time. it was very strange to have the lights go off and the music get turned way down to finish our drinks at that time of night. So we finished and went back to the hotel, which the cab driver had no idea on how to get there so we spent a good hour in the cab until he found the resort. (http://www.gokararesort.com/)

The next day some of us got up at a reasonable time and other were back up at 5 am for a flight to Mount Everest and back. I was torn if I wanted to go or not but I have seen a lot of mountains in Canada and so what I did was gave my camera to a few that went on the flight and let them get pictures of Everest for me. I am now glad that I did not go as they could not get all that close to it and the pictures look really interesting but it is another mountain in the sky and to tell the truth if I did not know it was a picture of Everest I would not be able to guess that from the pictures. Anyway, once they got back we went down to the golf course to play our first round of golf, we had caddies and a ball boy to find our shots if we missed and they went into the trees. it was a great experience but with the thin air and the fact that there was a ton of elevation change on the course we were gassed at the end of the round and the last few holes were a struggle to score well on. I think I shot a 92, nothing spectacular but it was a great course. It was a shame that I kept on forgetting to bring my camera around with me on the course. sorry all.

White water rafting.

What an amazing experience this was, we rafted down the Marsyanghi River, the rapids on it are a class 4-5, most are a 3-4 i would say but 3 were very much class 5 and were intense when we went through them. The first night we got to camp late so we just had a camp and a drink or two before the first day of rafting. it was chilled out and everyone was very excited about the trip down the river for the next 3 days. We got up early had breakfast and got the safety talk out of the way which was delivered in broken English with some Nepalese added in, most of it sunk in and away we went. The first part of the river was great we were all fairly tense and were getting used to our guide and each other paddling in the boat. we hit our first big rapid fairly quickly in the morning and we all made it though, except on girl who when ass over tea kettle out of the boat on the first class 5 and hit her bum on a rock. It kind of woke everyone up in the fact that we were in Nepal in the middle of nowhere and had to be careful on what we were doing. It was a great time on the river for the next few days, lots of laughs, lots of bugs, very little sleep and fantastic people to travel with, it was definitely a highlight of my traveling adventures so far. we did have one incident that was quite scary and one of the boats flipped over and we slid on top of the overturned boat in a small opening between two rocks, everyone was safe but it was a garage sale on the river, the were paddles and people everywhere. The rescue Kayaks were great guys and they really did a great job of making sure everyone was safe and back to shore as soon as they could be.

At the end of the rafting we drove for 9 hours to get back to the resort, it was supposed to be a 3-4 hour drive but hey you just have to grin and bear it in Nepal, the roads are way to small, tons of big trucks on the roads. At one point we were on a steep incline and the traffic was not moving so one of the guys had to go find rock and stick them behind the bus tires so that we would not roll back when the driver turned off the bus to wait till the traffic started moving again.

We got back to the resort around midnight and went to bed, it was so nice to be back to have a shower, a regular toilet (not a squatter) and a comfy bed.

the next day we got into town to look at the temples and go around the markets, we got some great pictures and some very cool souvenirs from there. we golfed the next morning again and then headed to the airport to get back to Dubai, it was funny I could not wait to get out of Dubai before the trip and at the end I was very excited to get back here, I guess that is when you know you have had a good trip and have a home in the place you live.

well if you are still with me after all of that, I thank you, I will try to keep the stories a little shorter from now on, but to tell the truth I left out a fair bit too.

it is 7 weeks now till the end of school, it is going to fly by and I am very excited to get back to Canada to see everyone again. look out I am bringing my A game in golf too. Get some lessons as I will be looking to take some cash off a few of you...or even just good company and a beer.

I am playing in another golf tournament on the weekend so I will let you all know how it goes. I will be golfing with a guy that some of you may know. He played in his last Masters over the weekend, Gary Player will be at the tournament I am playing in and we even get to golf a par 3 with him. Super pumped about it.


Thanks for reading this

Curtis

The rains in Dubai

So we have had some serious rain in Dubai for the last week. (remeber this is the desert) I know back in Canada it is still snowing daily and that no one has any sympathy for a bit of rain and to tell the truth I am not looking for any. I love the rain, it has been cool and it has really washed a lot of the dirt and sand that sticks to everything away, so for that I am happy. One of the great things rain in the desert does it bring grass and flowers to the baron landscape, it is a really nice thing to see. But, the reason I feel it is nessary to talk about the week of rain we have had is this....People in this country loose their minds with any weather that is not hot and dry. The people whom have not ventured to other climates then warm,hot and rediculous freak out if there is water on the ground or the hiway. There are two types of drivers; one that drives so fast and expect everyone to get out of the way because of the price of their car and the other, that goes so slow and turns on the hazards if it is drizzling on the roads...it is quite humours really.

What do you mean its March already...

Well Brother, I would hate to see you bored so here it is, sorry for the late blogging.

March...I cannot believe it. Days just roll it seems....well since my last blog a lot has gone on in the sleepy little town of Dubai. A lot of work has been going on at school but that is just regular day to day stuff, it is going well though. I am really excited about next year; I am staying and moving into Physical Education in secondary. I think it is going to be great! I have also applied for a middle management job and I will let you all know how that goes, fingers crossed!

Well what has been going on though you may ask, I have gone to Egypt with a middle schools team to a sport festival. It was a 3 day tournament where we played Basketball, Volleyball and Soccer. The team consisted of 10 players from grade 7-9. We flew from Dubai to Egypt and all of the students had to stay with the students of the school we were going to play with. Most of these students (mine) had not travelled before without their parents so they were a bit nervous. But by the end of the weekend they were great friends with the group of kids that they had stayed with. I can see some of these friendships last a very long time. The best part of the tournament is that there was no winner, it was all for sportsmanship. It was a fun time and I plan on coaching it again next year for sure.

I got a phone call from a friend of mine here at school and he informed me that he was not able to go to the finals of the men’s tennis championship in Dubai and asked if I wanted free tickets. I of course said yes and was interested to see tennis live. The game was between Djokovic and Nasser, it was an interesting game but I am not that much into tennis so it was difficult to keep watching after the 1.5 hour mark. I was glad I went and got the opportunity to watch some amazing tennis but will probably not go back again to watch.

I met a few people in Egypt from the school that we played against and some had expressed interest in coming to Dubai for the World Cup of Rugby 7s. I had told a few people they were more than welcome to come and stay at my place if they could get there. One guy took me up on the deal and he stayed last weekend. I had a friend come from Norway as well for the tournament; Rhonda is from Red Deer and now teaching in Norway. So Dan and Rhonda were able to keep themselves entertained for the weekend while I was reffing and working during the tournament. I was asked to Ref the U-18 tournament that happened before the main tournament started, it was a great time but boy can these kids run fast. It gave me very good perspective if that I want to ref at a high level I have to get my ass in gear and get fit. Let’s see if this one gets me going. I sure want it to happen. Anyway the tournament was unreal, some of the best 7s rugby I have ever have seen played. It was really fast, hard, huge tackles and great play overall. There were some huge upsets too, the 4 top teams that were supposed to be in the final never made it through the semifinals. I was appointed to pitch side management team for the final game! My job was to make sure substitutions were done correctly and that Wales stayed in their technical box during the game. It was a great game Wales and Argentina were in the final and Wales came through to win the World Cup of 7s. good on ya boys!!

That night we went out to show Dan and Rhonda the nightlife of Dubai and went to the Irish Village there was a great band playing and it was a really fun night. then net day I needed to sleep as it was a long weekend on my feet with reffing and pitch side management. I accomplished what I set out to do and was ready to golf at the Ernie Els course here in Dubai!

The Ernie Els course maybe the best course I have ever played golf on. It was challenging and really well layed out. It is one of the best manicured course I have ever seen. We got a deal on the round and paid $150.00 to play, normally it is $230.00 it is way to expensive but it was a great experience and was really glad I played it. I had a terrible opening 9 (49) but the back 9 I was starting to get the hang of it and shot a 38, bogeyed the 10 and 18 and pared the rest of the holes. The swing is starting to come together! I am looking forward to getting home and playing against my brothers or anyone who wants a game of golf really...

so that has been what is going on in the life of Curtis, I have booked a trip to Nepal in April for our spring break, I am really looking forward to that too, we are going to fly into Katmandu, go white water rafting, then go to a golf resort and do a little golfing too!! should be an amazing trip again I will take tons of pictures!

I will post the pictures on Picasa of all that has gone on in the last little while and link them to the blog for everyone to see. I will also make more of an effort to keep on this blog, sorry for the big delay between them, thanks for reading this too!

16 weeks and I am back in Canada! I am looking forward to it!!

The start of 09...

Well the start of 09 has come and gone, there have been some interesting things that have gone on already and some not so interesting things. I am here to talk about both and see if stay with me on this one.


New Years eve in Dubai was cancelled...well the party was. The Sheik in his infinite wisdom decided to show solidarity with Palestine by having a somber tone to the night. Now I have no issue with this for the most part....the most part. I cannot change his mind so I will not rant much about this, BUT the Islamic New Year that happened days before was open for business. No somber mood, people could dance, use fireworks and the rest as much as they pleased....So I have heard the total loss by businesses on the night was in the 10s of millions of AED as most gave a refund for some expensive tickets that night. Looking back it was fairly comical that a ruler of a city can make that decision the day before New Years and no one can challenge it at all. It is a very western city indeed!!


The good news about the big party being cancelled is that I went home early from the "party" and got a good night’s sleep for the next day. George and I decided to play in a golf tournament at Al Hamra Golf Club, the New Years Day Stable ford Open. It was a handicapped tournament where I entered the tournament with a 16. I felt good in the morning, we got there with time to warm up properly and putt around, and the greens were fast that day. It was a shotgun start and we started on the 4th hole par 3. I was very balanced throughout the round of golf; I stayed calm and really made an effort to have a slow steady swing. I only missed one fairway on the day and hit 13 greens in regulation. I played very well and had no idea that I was even in contention of winning the tournament until the last hole where the guy that was keeping my score told me that the score I had I was able to win the tournament. He also did this when I was 210 yards out of the green on a par 5, I laid up and then pushed the ball into the water by the green. (of course) I still was able to get off the hole with a double bogey and shot a 41 (stable ford) it was a net -6 under par. I came off the golf course and looked at the leader board and I was beating the next guy by 7 points. I was pumped, we showered got a bite to eat and waited to see if anyone could be me. As most of you know I did win the golf tournament and received a trophy and was told I would be in several golf magazines for February I will let people know if they are available in Canada. It was a great feeling to win the first tournament I entered; I owe the win to my golf instructor Richard at the Four Seasons here in Dubai. So watch out all when I get back to Canada I will be looking to lighten a few pockets!

Other than that it has been business as usual, I have been reffing a bit of rugby, working a lot and trying to get to the gym. I have decided to stay in Dubai for at least one more year, I am excited about it and will be moving into a Physical Education position in the school, I have also applied to become the Curriculum leader for IT and PE so wish me luck that I can get that too.

There is a lot coming up in the next while, The school play is coming up, I am building the set for that (of course it has turned into a monster and is way more work then I have expected it to be). The Rugby World Cup is here in a month in the beginning of March, it will be an amazing event 24 men’s teams and 16 women’s teams it will be the first where both men’s and women’s events held at the same time.

Well that is about all that has been going on for the last little while. I hope everyone is well and my thoughts are with PJ, Lynn and their family.

Curtis