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

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