Thailand....umm nope Kenya

So we had our first break in December, Eid Al Adha. So the government gave everyone (in education) a week off. We wanted to go to Thailand for a golf vacation that was very well planned. It would have been a great trip except for the fact that the local people did not like the local government and occupied the airport so that we could not fly in. It was not great but hey we made due. 2 days before we were supposed to go to Thailand we had to make very quick changes to our plans and decided on Kenya, well really it was the only flight still available at a reasonable rate with a golf destination. Most people do not equate golf with Kenya but it is great. Anyway we got to Kenya on the Wednesday night and chilled out still not really understanding that we are in fact in Nairobi and were going to golf the first course the next morning. After a few Tuskers that night (the local grog in Kenya (60% of which is owned by a company in the US)) we went to bed and got up to golf with caddies. They were great, they knew the course like the back of their hands. David, my caddie had been carrying the bag for 20 years. I did not lose a ball all day and I did make every effort to make David’s job fairly tough.

Side note: Missionaries went into Kenya a few years back in order to save them all from themselves so now all Kenyans, well most anyway have a Christian name as well as their Swahili name that they go by. It was strange at first to have all the people we meet have North American names. Especially after we found out that most pick their Christian name well into their teens in order to fit in. Who says that the long arm of Christianity is dead. It is alive and kicking in Africa let me tell you.

The round of golf was great, had a ball Played way better after a few Tuskers at lunch and a sandwich, first round of golf was 50 front 9 and a 37 back....87 all said and done...not too bad I thought.

The next day we got into our Van and started to Head to Masi Mara Safari game camp. It was 6 hours of bumpy dust covered roads that was not expected. we did stop on the way at the Great Rift. We were told that is is sinking 1/2 and inch every 100 years and that it would eventually fall away and Kenya would be separated into 2 countries. We would not see this in our lifetimes though, or even our children's children lifetimes... it was a good stop to make along the way anyway, of course there were some things to buy at the stand as well too. I did indulge a purchase of some art, it is very cool and I am sure I paid way too much for it.

We got to Masi Mara and settled into our lodge, it was great and had electricity from 5am to 10am and from 4pm to 11pm only so if you needed light you would have to use a flashlight or sort out something else. We had our first game drive that yielded Elephants, Gazelles, Antalope, Lions and a Leopard (which after seeing this our Guide (John) stated the he would guarantee the big 5). It was very surreal experience, the animals were not too bothered by our presence and allowed us to take as many pictures as we needed to.



We got back to the camp that night and had a great meal and a few Tuskers...you may notice a trend here in my stories. It was fairly early to bed and up for a full day Safari to even cross into Tanzania, now I have been told that most people do not pronounce this courtry proerly, it is pronounced Tanzaanya not Tanzaneeia. It took a while to sort that out in my mind to tell the truth. The day was great, we saw over 120 Elephants, 50+ Hippos, at least 25 Lions and thousands of Zebra. with a few naps thrown in as we drove it was a great time to be had.



We got home that night and some great food again and a few (you guessed it...) Tuskers it was off to bed to get up and head to Lake Nakuru, it was a good 4-5 hour drive there as well over some of the worst roads but most amazing landscape that I have ever seen. We went over a mountain that was over 3000 M tall, I even got a head ache untill we started to come down from the elevation, it was very very beautiful.



The Baboons attacked us, well the van anyway as soon as we got to the park at Nakuru, there were hundreds of the things, I got some great shots and they were happy to show off themseleves in many of the photos....if ya know what I mean. We saw Water Buffalo and both the White and Black Rhinos. We were told that the Black Rhino was quite ellusive so we got lucky to see 7 of them in the park. The Heinia were all over the place too, they would harrass the Buffalo but they were not strong enough to attack one so the Buffalo were left alone for the most part. We went upto a look out called Baboon cliff and you guessed it there were tons of Baboons that you could walk amongst and take pictures of. They were fairly tame until a person brought out some food then they went a bit crazy where the guides had to shoo a few away fairly aggressivley so they would leave the tourists alone.



We made it back to the lodge and chilled out for the night, this was a great lodge too as it was on the side of a mountain so at dusk and early am we could see the sun set and come up over the lake. It was very stunning to see all of the life teaming everywhere. We did an early morning Safari that was way colder then I had expected so I sat down most of the trip and shivered, I do know as I write this that it is -20+ in Canada so I know I will not get much simpathy from family or friends.



We checked out that morning and went to another lodge at a Guyeser lake that is very warm to the touch and at the Guyeser we were unable to put our hands in the water it was so hot. many people boil eggs and corn in these waters to say they have done it.



the next day we left for the Great Rift Golf Club where we decided to stay 2 nights and play 2 rounds of golf there. (I did forget to mention that the USA team did win the first and second match but Canada came back to tie the games 2-2 with the scramble and stableford scoring.) The lodge was great, they course was really nice, my Caddie had carried the bag 4 times before and had no idea of the golf course so it was nice to have someone carry the clubs she was little to no use to me. She did laugh at most of my jokes so it was not all bad...



We played 2 rounds and then came back to Nairobi where we stayed the night and then golfed a the Windsor golf and country club, this is a very posh place, great course but I would say one of the hardest courses I have played. very tight fairways and lots of old trees on the course. Not for the golfer who spends more time in the trees then the fairway. It was a very nice place that was built in the 20-30s, it was very nice. lots of great pictures taken as well.

you can see my pictures on picassa, I will leave the link again for this.


It was a trip I will not forget, amazing animals and something I would be happy to go back and see, not soon but definatly if I got a chance to do it again I would take it.


C

http://picasaweb.google.com/cehegge
here is the link...

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

Random thoughts...

Well it is time for a bit of a ramble I think. It has been a long time since I have done one so here goes. I have no idea where I want to go in the next 5 years... I know that most of us do not know what their 5 year plans is...but we are talking about me here so please if you have advise fire away. I have done the normal things like written down what I want in life, where I would see myself in 5-10-15 yrs. It is a bit of a blurry picture to tell the truth. Anyway, my thoughts have been interuppted in the last hour with meetings and such, I will get back to it now.



I like Dubai, I really do...the traffic not so much. It is a great city with a lot of things to offer a person in my situation. My situation if you wondering is that a single gainfully employed male, expat. I have had more reffing opportunities in rugby then I ever thought possible. I am very thankful for that. I have met some of the most amazing people that are driven, determined and have a desire (sorry for the aliteration) for life and exploring that rubs off on me. I have heard life stories that have been both inspirational and devestating to me. My only (well I am sure I can think of more) gripe in life at the moment is that I feel that I am floating with little direction. I do know I am the only one who can provide it for myself too.



I have been told that the early 30s for most men is a panic state, either they have committed to a life they are not happy with or have felt (as I am) that they wonder when the grown up in them will take over. I know that I am much more mature then I was in my 20s. I can sustain myself in life, I have a great job and some friends I can call on when I need a beer or to figure out the cosmos of life. I guess at times in life we have to think what we need in our lives and whom we need. I definatly think that has been happening for me for the last little while. I look forward to the day i sort it all out...ha ha.

Well I am going to go on living life and trying to sort it all out, I need to focus a little more on what will make me happy in life and where I want to be, I do believe that where I need to be in near family, I am grateful for this amazing experience but family is important to me and I need to keep them close. I not sure when I will be coming home, but I do think it will be in the next few years, lets see if that plays out or not...

Curtis

Funny kids

Well I have not really talked to much about the funny stuff that happens in my classroom. Well for those whom have been waiting for said subject with a Dubai flair....here goes.

Me: "Class today we are talking about and drawing idioms"

Class: silence....

Me: "Does anyone know what an idiom is?"

Class: silence....

Me: "How about I say a few and see if you have heard them before"

Class: "That would be a good idea Mr. Hegge"

Me: "it is raining cats and dogs..."

Class: "Yea we have heard that before, what does it mean?"

Me: "It means it is raining really hard, that water drops are so big it is like cats and dogs..."

Class: "ha ha ha, that is funny"

Me: "here is another, your eyes are bigger than your stomach..."

Girl in my class: "not my mom, she had a tummy tuck and now her stomach is the size of her thumb cause my dad says she got too fat after having kids......"

Me:"Ummm......ok but most people have a bigger stomach than their eyes.....moving on..."

kids do say the darnedest things....

have a good week all...

Mixed bag of info

Well, this blog like most comes with information that may or may not be interesting but I have found it to be helpful in getting down on paper. (or the web) The good news first is that I have been appointed to referee at the Bangkok 7s in Thailand at the end of the month. I am very excited for that. I would love to be in better shape for it but I do feel that I am in alright shape and should not embarrass myself too much. It is a free trip to Bangkok for 5 days altogether, well not free I do have to run around on a rugby pitch for a few days and help out where I can too. So I will keep everyone up to date on that fun event in the next few weeks!

I have sat down last night and talked to a job recruiter for search associates to decide what my next 2-5 years will look like. It was a very strange conversation to talk about working somewhere else next year when we have barely started this year, international teaching defiantly teaches you about planning. It is different feeling for me...planning. anyway so in the next 6-10 weeks I have to make a decision, to stay here, go to another school in Dubai or elsewhere or come home. This is not an easy one. I will keep you posted on what happens.

well, I do have more stuff I could talk about, I hope everyone has a fantastic Thanksgiving! I would love to be with my family on Sunday and Monday but we will be having our thanksgiving here in Dubai with friends too.

It's all Greek to me...

Well there are parts of being an international teacher that have serious benefits. Like for example when the Ministry of Education decides to extend a 4 day holiday to a 9 day holiday for the end of Ramadan. you do not question you book a ticket last minute to somewhere nice and warm. That is what I did and with a buddy of mine we went to Corfu, Greece. It was fantastic to say the least. It was the low season so it was not crazy busy so it turned into a very low key, stress free week in Greece.

We went to Athens first to check out some of the most amazing history I have seen in my travels to date. Eric and I got off the plane and tried to figure out exactly what we were doing for the day and not to let too many people see that we did not have a clue to what we were doing. (to my surprise no one ripped us off) With 3 maps open and buying a Athens guide at the airport we sorted out that the bus into town. It was a good choice to drop our bags off at the main bus terminal and set out for the day. After talking to a really nice woman at information we set out to see all that we could in the day ahead.

First off to the Museum of Archeology, that showed some of the most amazing sculptures and pieces from the past that I have ever seen. It took us a few hours to get around the displays and take as many pictures as we wanted to, which was very surprising. We did however find out that no flash was to be used...I used flash for the first couple of pictures and NO posing beside the exhibits...we had to erase the pictures that we did that for. So we managed to have a woman follow us for a good 20 min to make sure we were following the directions. I do have to say in my defense that the rules are poorly explained in a hand drawing outside of the Museum....

One of the display guards did however let us touch a statue that was 2000 years old they had recently found it and it was the only piece that was not to be photographed as it has not yet been released to the media that the Museum even had possession of it yet. it was a very amazing time to be had.

We finished that off and went to a local watering hole for some food and to sample the local beverages. we found such a place and had some great food and a few local pints it was right beside the museum and had a open patio so we could watch people walk by as they were coming from the museum and milling around in front. At this point it finally sunk in that we were in Athens...it was a great feeling!!

We then travelled down by foot to the Acropolis, I have to say one of the most incredible walks I have been on, you can see this thing from miles away (that's even further in Km), seriously though it is a sight to see. It is also a bloody long walk and even more fun up the hill/mountain it was built on. I felt sorry for the poor people who had the pleasure of building it up there. Anyway it was crawling with people but still an amazing sight to see. there were all walks of life there and I think I got some really amazing pictures!

Once we took all of our pictures of the Buildings we were a bit tired and needed refueling so we went to find food and to sit and watch the hoards walk by. The food is quite amazing, and yes for those who know me I did ask for no onions, tomatoes and mushrooms....I am still 4 years old...

At this point in the day were needed to find out bus to get to Pattras to catch the ferry to Corfu. The bus was hard to find as the bus was Labelled in Greek....the good thing is that the local winos are more then happy to help for a Eruo or two. We took the 3 hour bus ride to Pattras with out much incident...The bus was full enough that people had to stand and Eric my friend was lucky enough to have a little girl with downs fall asleep on him and the proceed to snuggle him for 2 hours. He does not deal well with little ones so he struggled a bit, I could not get access to my camera to take pictures but it was quite a special moment they shared...

We got to Pattras which again was not announced but everyone with a backpack was getting off so we figured it was time for us too. We walked to the ferry, which is massive too and sat down for our 7 hour journey to Corfu. At this point Eric asked why we had not paid for a flight to Corfu over the ferry as the chairs had less then an inch of padding on them. We upgraded to a bed to sleep the night away...it was the best 20 Eruo extra I have ever spent.

We got to Corfu and the Pink Palace bus was there to pick us up....it was great. more to continue on the next blog...do stay tuned....I have to work sometime.

Ramadan Karim

Well it has now been a few weeks back into living in Dubai and life is good. I got a new SLR camera this week so I do intend on using it a lot and getting some great shots of Dubai for all to see, so look for those coming along. I have started reffing rugby again this week. It was a killer, the temperature was 38 degrees and we were running for 80 min. After my game, I thought I was done but the next refferee needed another assistant ref so I stayed to help him out. For my effort that day someone decided they needed my running shoes more then I did and took them from me while I was on the field. I hope karma is strong with those shoes and the person looses something of thiers.

I hope to get my car this week, still waiting for it....it has been almost a month now since we have been back and talked to the dealer. It is amazing how much paperwork is required to buy a car overseas, I think when I got my car in Canada it was done in 3 days and the guy told me that was a long delivery time for the car....if there was not such a high demand for cars here I think a few more businesses would fold quickly. But this is how life is here, everyone wants to be in Dubai and with that long line ups for everything, that is ofcourse unless you have tons of money to throw at the problem then chanels tend to open up quickly.


Ramadan is nearly over now, it has been much less of a hasstle then it was last year, I am not sure why but it has seemed quite normal, I guess I am doing a lot more and not looking to go out for drinks or eat during the day. I have not relied on shops as much, as they are closed during the day, well till 7ish when Iftar starts then all the resturants are packed with people. It is definatly and interesting experience. Loud music is a big no no so even if you do go for a drink at a pub the music has to stay down low, but that usually means that the weekend Ramadan is over everyone goes crazy. There are some big parties planned for that weekend. I am hoping to go to Nepal for the break, we are tying today to setup that trip. 4 days golfing in Nepal, I will take tons of pictures I am sure.

Well I have now spent more then enough time not working and should get back to it.

Curtis

It seems that my seams are wrong....

Well for those who read regularly or those who have stumbled by my blog I have been corrected in my last blog. I have misrepresented the word seams...it should have been SEEMS. Yes I know I am a teacher.... I try.

Anyway, so I am now 2 weeks into Dubai and life is good. traffic has become much worse, everyday the radio says something politically correct like there is a bit of congestion on Sheik Zied Road today......what that means in Dubai is that get your coins out because you will be parked there for the next few hours. I really like the city, I LOVE working at the school I am, mostly because of the kids and the fellow staff members but...the traffic is crazy. If I did not own a Ipod I think I would have a case of road rage that would make the hulk look like a Pansy. I do have an Ipod and luckily I turn it on as I leave from the area I have been and make my way back to the Hor, I should explain....we have termed the area Hor Alanz East to the "Hor". There are several reasons for this and besides that it takes a lot of energy away from you trying to get back into the Hor....in any other city the area we are in would be crawling with....well you know. Luckily the ladies of the night in Dubai are a little more conspicuous. we are blessed, now the good news about the area I am in is that I can get food of wide variety as long as it has a middle eastern flair and groceries delivered to my door with a phone call. The phone call sometimes is a exercise in futility as it would be quicker most times to walk to the store the struggle with the English that the person on the other end of the phone has learned 8 minutes prior...

Most of the rant was for humour, it is easier to laugh then get mad here. I should get back to work I do have a bit of planning to do. I will sign off, it SEEMS there are people still reading this so I thank you for that.

take care all, or you if it is only one reading this....


C

New blog

Well Ladies and gentlemen it is time for a new session of blogs from Dubai. I am sure it will be packed with interesting facts, pictures and stories....maybe a rant or two as well. Anyway the summer in Alberta was fantastic, I got a chance to hang out with my family and see some friends that I was missing even reacquainted with some people from my past that helped the summer be a great one. My brothers wedding was a great part of the summer, they are so good for each other and hope they have an amazing life together and I can share in some of their memories...

Well I have now been in Dubai for a week and it has changed a fair bit, the buildings (well some) are even bigger, seams like there is even more people on the roads and the same inefficiency are still prevalent. Ha Ha. It was great to see everyone that I worked with last year and hear their stories and adventures over the summer. The new staff that I am working with seam great, they are all very excited to be here. It is funny to see myself in their shoes last year and think about my growth as a person (still a long way to go on that) while wondering how they will cope with some of the interesting differences of Dubai and the life here.

As some people have asked me it has been hot here but not as hot as it was when we got here last year. it has been a comfortable 40ish most days dropping to 30ish at night and last year that was 10 degrees warmer so it has a much different feel to the weather this year it is not unbearable just slightly too warm for most people instead.

I am still living in the same area as i was last year and I realize I did not put up any pictures of what that looks like so I will make an effort this year to let you know more of what my surrounding are like. it is quite interesting for sure. there are places to eat everywhere and get your hair cut every 50 meters it seams. I really do not know how these places stay open but with costs for certain thing so much lower I guess it is easier on the owners.

well I have procrastinated long enough and should get back to planning as the kids come in on Sunday and we get rolling with school in a few short days. It really is amazing how time can fly by when you are not watching. I will make more of an effort to blog what is going on or even rant when I need to. Thanks to everyone for your support and occasional e-mail it does mean a lot to me to get them.


take care...

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

Kuwait.....

Hey, so if anyone is still checking this once and a while I have not posted in a while and have no real excuse for it. So here goes.

I was recently on a school trip to Kuwait, yea things are done differently overseas. In alberta you have to get waivers and permisson to go across town with students. We go to Kuwait with 20 students with 2 teachers and are not in charge of them the whole time. The students were hosted by families in Kuwait, Iwill get back to some of those stories in a bit. We fly to Kuwait at 7am on wednesday morning, we arrive at the visa issuing desk and start the process of buying entrance into the country. It is early morning and there are a lot of businessmen there as well so I knew this was going to take a while. when we get to the counter we find out there is a list of countries Kuwait will let into the country and many they will not without special visas. well as you can guess I have 5 students who are on the do not let into the country list. The once officer makes it clear that the girl from Venesuala will not be coming into his country...the Taiwanese girls (3 of them) have diplomatice passports or they would have been told the same thing. they have to get permission from the Chinese government because China still considers Tiwan part of China, it is crazy. Oh and the last girl is a South African...they are horrible people as well to the Kuwaities, I guess. A man with more Wasta comes over, (more power) and says he understands we are here for a school funcition and wants to help me get into the country with every student. he was a very nice guy and I did not ever get a chance to thank him for his work. So we have to contact the school that we are going to and they have to go and get visas for us so that we can come play badminton. this does get sorted out but it does take 5 hours in all. The plus side to all of this is that the students did not know each other all that well and they had ample opportunity to gel. That part was really good, the stressful part is that a Canadian teacher that has not gone with students to a different country has the hardest time getting into a country then all of the other teams that travelled comined this year. Good learning experience forsure.
Kuwait was amazing though. it is a very beautiful place but there is not a lot to do there. it is a dry country, kind of. you can smuggle beer and wine making kits into the country or you can buy blackmarket booze of the governement that is in charge of making sure it does not come into the country...ha ha got to love political corruption. It all depends on who you are... the black market booze is really expensive so most people do not bother with it anway. I did try my hosts beer, I think I could go without if that was what my choice was...it was not overly great. Labatt has nothing to worry about with competition. We got a chance to go to an amazing spa for a while, it was called the Palms...very nice place.

Three days of badminton started at 7:30 am and finished around 6 pm most nights, it was a lot of sitting around and watching but the students had a great time even with all the sore shoulders. The friendships they made were fantasic, the hosting was second to none. A few students got to stay at the Amir's home (he is the ruler of Kuwait) the got to ride around on a tank in the back yard, go for a drive in a farri and get rides to school in a bentley, it is a tough life. Some of the students said they stayed in a house big enough to need an elevator, absolutley rediculous.... the money that is over in the middle east is mind boggling. A story on that, the Kuwait goverment is disscussing paying off all local loans to help the kuwaitie people with debt. like they need this. the funny thing is that because it became public they are expecting it to happen now. (the local Kuwaitie people that is). Unfortunalty you can not become a Kuwaitie even if you live there the rest of your life, you have to be born into this world.

Back to the badminton, the students had a great time overall and were a bit tired when we had to come home, but most wanted to stay a little while longer to hang out with new friends. That i think is a great success. We got back into Dubai at 1:30 am when the airport is the busiest it possibly can be, crazy busy. there were 10 000 people waiting at passport control easliy. we did not wait long and got out of there in less then an hour I would say. all students got picked up from their parents and slept the next day for a long time.

well if you are still reading I thank you, I hear it is cold and lots of snow in Alberta right now. that is not great, it is staying warm here and the messed up thing is that below 30 degrees now I feel cold. I know I have no sypathy at all from those of you reading this but I will freeze my butt off when I get back in June I am sure.

7 more weeks, I am excited to come back, even more so to see everyone again and just be back with my family. it has been an amazing ride so far I am already looking forward to next year and see how it plays out. I may even stay a 3rd year, but I should probably finish the first before I think about the 3rd.

Take care, I will get pictures up of Kuwait soon!!

Curtis

Not a lot new

Well i thought it was about time to write a new blog, it is Sunday morning I am at school (the work week here is Sunday to Thursday) and I have lots to do so I thought a procrastiation was in order. As you may know I was in the Calgary Herald for an article they did on Globetroting Calgarians featuring yours truley and ofcourse Dubai. It was well written and a lot of people found it interesting. So I guess I am almost world famous now, well in my own mind I guess.

So little has changed in my life in the last few months so I thought I would rant a bit as that what blogs can be for too, not just an update on what is happening in my life. Everyone had said to me that you will save sooo much money if you go overseas to teach, think of the tax breaks and the housing is paid for you will have difficulty spending the cash.... THAT is if you do not want to experience anything of the place you live at, or are living with someone. The things that keep you busy outside of work are very expensive and a lot of cash goes to that, I mean a lot. Every weekend there is someones birthday or event going on that a guy like me can not miss. I like to be busy all the time and it all seams to cost a lot of money.

to go for a drink here in Dubai is not a cheap under taking, I rarley do it anymore now being that you pay close to $10 CND for one, so what that is like $5US now?? and being that we get paid in US dollars we as Canadians over here are not making as much as we did when we got here. Oh well, people coming to visit pay less now, that is good, well if anyone does come visit that is. So back to my rant, golf is one of my favorite sports, well it used to be. I played on thursday night and shot the worst score i ever have i think. I will not say but it was well over a century, I am sure glad i am taking lessons once a week for the last 6 weeks, wow have they helped. At one point I was willing to stop golfing altogether. it was not a great day for Curtis.

Anyway I will leave it at that for now, I could go on for a while this morning but I think I should start to get some work done today.

oh if you do have questions for me I can not respond to the comments you leave on my blog. so e-mail me if you do have questions for Dubai or me. I will forward the questions you have for Dubai to her e-mail. you know what i mean.

cehegge@gmail.com

14 weeks and I am back in Canada....not that i am counting...

Dubai Desert Classic...Tiger show...

Well over the weekend was the Desert Classic. I went on friday, got on TV and was in the local paper on the front page....not too bad I would say. We got there at 830ish in the morning and went on a trek to find Erine Els. He is not a hard man to miss as he is a large guy. I had no idea how big he actually is. we followed him for 8-9 holes and it was impressive to watch. He has such a nice swing, smooth and great attitude, nice and chilled out. he did hit a ball right over our heads on the 17th hole. He went for the green it is only 330 yards to cut the corner to get to the green. I would say most of the pros did this. it is unreal to see how much better they are then the regular masses (me). we watched Ernie finish up on 18 and went to go find Tiger. We went to were the crowd was growing, on the practice tee.

It must be a kick in the pants for every other golfer at these events, no one really claps or cheers for anyone else like Tiger. I have heard he is the most recognizable man on the planet, I can see it too. for him to walk on the range. the crowd went nuts, he waved and everyone settled down. The other guys on the tee box must have been rattled by this. Anyway it was amazing to watch is warm up and see how he gets ready for the day. We left the practice green early to get a seat on the first tee to watch the first few group before Tigers go out. So O'mera, Juimenez and Garcia were the three bigger names that went out before Tiger and it was great to see. They were not on form this weekend and did not come close to the leaderboard, although Garcia did go to -5 under on friday and Juminez played great, he is a fun guy to watch golf. Also Colin Montgomery was playing with Tiger on friday. They had some great banter for the day, it was a lot of fun to watch.

So on the second hole Tiger went for the green with a 3 wood, only 356 yard straight away...sick is all i can say. Luckily for me, he mishit and I got a chance to be 3 feet away from him to watch him stub a chip and do it again 10 feet in front of him. I guess ever great ones can make shots like me...ha ha. he still pared the hole though....I may not have done the same. the crowd was starting to get bigger and bigger so we had to start leap froging his shots, so that we could be close to see every second one. We did not get to see too many Tee shots from the tee as a lot of people camped out on the tee and watched all the golfers come through. On the 6th hole Tiger almost hit me with his tee shot so I was close again and to watch him hit a shot out of the trampled down rough, 180+ yards, up hill and within 3 feet of the pin is awe insipring. I am sure I would not even have made the green let alone attack the pin.

It was a lot of fun to be there for the day I do have to say by walk jogging around the golf course for 10 hours it makes for a tiring day. It was a lot of fun to watch Tiger and see the crowds go crazy for him. The one thing even tiger had said was the press photographers were getting annoying they would stand in front of him and take some weird pictures. The whole time I was watching the golf I did keep thinking though that I would much rather be actually golfing the course over watching people golfing the course. even professionals.

I do not do crowds overly well, especially tired so at the end of the day when we could not leave as there was only one way out that was 20 feet wide and 20 000 people were trying to leave at once. It was not a fun experice but again I was tired and kept my cool about the whole thing.

Overall it was an amazing experience and I look forward to going again next year for one day again.

I hope Tiger comes back..

Flooding in Dubai

Yes I am serious, in January we had rain that lasted for a few days and it came down hard enough that cars got stuck on the road and there was massive flooding everywhere. It started in the morning around 5 am and by the time we left for school roads were almost totally under water. It rained all day and being the fact there is no rain sewer lines there was no where for the rain to go. Students started a rumor that we would not have school the next day because of it, it was hard to believe that a bit of rain could shut a city down like Dubai...but sure enough. They were right. They gave us not one day but two days off because of rain...ha ha. the last day we had off was a nice sunny day so we hit the golf course.

I should mention that George Bush came to the city a few days before and gave us a day off as well because of the fact that the military closed the major roads for the whole day. so it was called a national holiday. too funny. there was a bit of concern that with Iran being so close that something may have happened but it was all good except for the fact we could not go anywhere. it was a good day to catch up on some sleep.


so that was the week, out of 5 days we were supposed to work, we worked 2....it is a hard life here in Dubai...

Christmas in Thailand

Well, I spent 2.5 amazing weeks in Thailand over Christmas. Sorry I have not gotten this out sooner but I am a procrastinator.....

We arrived in Thailand after a 7 hour flight from Dubai, fairly uneventful but nice and relaxing knowing we were going to a beautiful place. we got to Bangkok and immediatly hopped on a plane to Chang Mai. Chang Mai is an amazing beautiful place that I highly recomend going to and looking around. it is soo peacful and serene. there are temples everywhere and it is a very quiet place to go. We got to Chang Mai and wanted to go for a walk about and see some of the city. We stayed at a place called the Pun Pun guest house. it is a great place, very basic but for $7 a night we were very happy with the spot. John who is the owner of the place was very helpful and had some great tips for us. we went down to the night market that sells everything you could want i think for touristy stuff. along with every knock off watch, shirt, bag accessory that you can imagine. We ofcourse had to sample the local brew which by the end of the trip I enjoyed Chang the most, but we also had some Shinga, Tiger and Leo beer. Leo would best be described as the stuff that Drummond Brewrey sent over to Thailand because no one would drink in in Canada. but for 25 cents a can it is hard tom complain about it.

We got up early the next day and went to a elephant safari camp, it was a interesting experience. We first went to a Orchid and Butterfly farm thats only purpose is to pull dollars out of your pocket as the biggest thing about this area was the gift shop. There are some amazing Orchids over there. The Butterflies were great, they would land on you and people were enjoying how many were in the cage. So we left from there and went to the Elephant camp. when we got there they put us on a bamboo raft and we went down the river for a few hours. it was one of the highlights of the trip. it was so beautiful and peaceful. we floated down the river with two guides one on the front and one on the back. it was a great time. so from there we went to watch the elephant "perform". I can say I was not impressed to the point of walking out watching these animals get mistreated. There is about 15 animals preforming and they had to dance, and paint a picture, play soccer and do balancing acts on a log, all thing that they would normally do in the wild....It was tought to watch and they really pulled at people heart strings where by you can buy some banannas and sugar cane to feed these creatures. As the announcer said in broken english that the Elephants do not have money to buy these things for themselves. We then got on the back of one of the elephants for a ride through a river and then into an area where we could sit and each lunch. that part was interesting but again there were 3 spots we had to stop to see if we wanted to buy more banannas for the elephants. I am guessing most people buck up because the elephant would not leave till the person in the tower gave it some food. It was a very interesting experience to say the least. After lunch we went down to see the long neck people. they are burmese people that are allowed to live in Thailand but can not become residents, they have to pay 5000 bhat to live in the country each year so they need to sell more stuff to tourists to stay in the country. they do not really live in a village it is just a row of shacks that have there things that they make forsale on the side of the buildings. it is actually very sad to see as this is what they do all day everyday is put themselves on display for tourists. on the way back we stopped at a monkey show and it was interesting too. This time they at least showed how they trained the monkeys to collect coconuts and ride tricycles...jungle tricylces.

The next few days were exploring the city of Chang Mai, relaxing and having a few drinks here and there. we met some great people from Denmark and around there. there is a ton of Sandanvians that come down to Thailand to travel. We went to the Muai Tai boxing one night at it was amazing. the fights were hard, there were 2 knock outs and they can kick the crap out of each other. there were 12 fights during the night and it cost us around 12 dollars to go for 3 hours of fights. very much worth it. great times.

the next day we went on a atv ride into the mountains around the city. it was a two hour ride and the scenery was amazing. we saw several small villages and some houses that were back up in the mountains. some of the places were really tough for us to get there on our bikes let a lone walking or on a scooter. (which is the main transport in all of thailand) it was a great time they were a dune buggy kind of thing and we got wet, muddy and drove into traffic on a main highway on the way back. all in all a great time, maybe a little dangerous. I am sure the company had insurance...HA HA.

We left for bangkok the next day and spent 4 days there. The city is super polluted and there are 30 million people living in bangkok. suprizingly though the traffic is bad for a big city but i would honestly say that traffic in Dubai is worse. Bangkok traffic actually moves along when it is busy. we stayed on backpackers road and chilled out for a few days. we went to the grand palace and it is exactly what it says it is. it is huge, huge. we spent most of the day there. the pictures say way more then I can describe so check them out they are on the picasa site that i have set up. I will leave the web address again at the end of this blog. So the next few days were just by the pool at the top of our hotel and chilling out getting ready to hit Ko Phangan. I really enjoyed Bangkok, I was thinking of even trying to get a job in the city for my next stop, but not now, it is very poluted and I am sure the incidences of cancer are huge with all the smog that is in the city. I am glad I went once, but I would not spend much time in Bangkok again.

Ko Phangan was amazing, it is a very small island and it is a huge party. It was chilled out on the beach as well as a crazy party down on Haad Rin. we got to the island after a very long day of travel. It only took an hour to fly to the south but with the ferry ride that was 2.5 hours it was a fair journey. It all sorted it it self out as it does on vacation and we got to our place that we booked. It was a yoga resort that was an actual yoga resort, 4 unflexable men do not do well at a yoga resort. Plus it was not near any beach, but it was a beautiful resort. we luckly found a place down near the south of the beach at a place called great bay resort. it was a perfect place to go and the beach was amazing. we spent the majority of our time on the beach and chilling out reading books and gettting a good tan. I did learn how to throw an ultimate frizbee properly which is very cool. we did go down to the major party beach 2 times during our 6 day stay. It was insane, 37 000 people were on the beach for new years. it was unreal how many people were down there. also how many people tried to sell me extacy and tried to pick pocket me. I did not have cash in my pockets so they could dig all they wanted and would find nothing. It was an eye opener forsure. there were kids on the beach trying to sell everything from necklaces to glow in the dark sticks untill all hours of the night. I am very glad I did the beach but I have no interest in going back it was crazy. we then took a few nights to chill out and had some great food. We rented a Scooter and spent a day touring the island and looking at the water falls. they were underwhelming forsure but we were told that during the rainy season they are quite spectacular. That part was a great day. the last day of the trip I was up by 5am then onto the ferry for the long travel back to bangkok to relax for the night before the flight back to Dubai. I highly recomend going to thailand and doing it on a budget, it is a great time.

www.picasaweb.google.com/cehegge

more pictures are here.

e-mail me if you have more questions about the trip.

thanks for reading!

Curtis