Mind wanderings...

So I sit here at my desk today and I have to admit I have let my mind wander for a while. I have tons of work to do but as we are now 2 days away from a week of holidays I could not think of a further thing from my mind than the work I need to get done. See if you don't know by now I have been known to be a procrastinator now and then. My work usually always gets done and I would say in a good quality but today not so much, nothing is pressing for tomorrow. I am in the middle of a unit that I know backwards and forwards and fairly sure I could teach in my sleep. I love Badminton, don't get me wrong but I just think I have a fair amount of knowledge about it and the students I teach are unfortunalty low athletically so we have to build up our basics first before we can get really technical. Anyway, me talking about Badminton is not the reason I wanted to post today. I have started to think about all of my experiences pre and post the last 4 years. I know it has changed who I am, and I think for the better but I sometimes wonder who the guy is who would have stayed in Canada and slugged out a living teaching shop and more than likley worked on weekends building decks or fixing my brother mistakes at his home. One of the reasons I have been thinking about this is that I am reading a book right now called Shantarm, it is about a Auzzie who breaks out of prison and basically hides in India and becomes very attached to the people he meets and the things he does there. I think back to the person I was before my travels in the world and I am not sure I would have been able to enjoy or even appreciate the book, it would be hard to say. Anyway I find it interesting to reflect on where I have been and where I still have to go and right now there are many forks in the road, certainly not only 2 and I will have to pick one to wander down for the next while me thinks....

Abu Dhabi Golf and the like...

So i was supposed to do this blog as soon as I came back from the tournament so that it would be fresh in my mind. It did not quite work that way but I think i remember most of it. To give a bit of background on how I even got to be a part of this tournament; my roommate is a golf pro here in Dubai and works for the Butch Harmon School of Golf. He is a great guy and obviously a great golfer. He Signed up to play in the Abu Dhabi qualifier and his caddy he had used in the past was out of town. I had caddied for him the year before on a practice round and he asked me if I would be interested again in helping him out but this time for the whole tournament. I jumped at the chance... I would have never guessed that I would have been a part of a PGA tournament, I was able to marshal the Race to Dubai a year ago but this was with the players and on a bag, I could not say no. So Richard was getting a fair amount of press here in Dubai and with talking to his boss he was trying to sort out a practice round with Phil Mickelson, Richard was excited and I was pumped that I would be able to walk around a course with Phil and Bones. The first day (Monday) we got down there we hit some balls (when I say we, I mean Richard did) and I helped him with his alignment and anything else he needed. We went on the course to go have a practice round. We played with Martin Lafeber who was a great guy and showed Rich a few ways to get out of crazy deep rough. It was a chilled day and great to get on the course, although the bag that caddies carry is very heavy and I have to say I was not used to it at all. it took a lot of shifting to get it to feel right on my shoulder. Richard was put up at Emirates Palace which if you want to talk about over the top hotels this may take the cake. There is a gold bar vending machine that for $1000 US you can get your own gold bar out of it. This is one of the few stops on tour that the pros get put up at the hotels for free, most of the time they have to pay their own lodging. I believe on of my claims to fame is that I was the only caddy staying at the hotel.

Side note: Caddies don't get treated all that well on tour, they usually have to find their own way to the course and their own lodging, if a tour player doesn't make the cut the caddy gets a free lunch at the course and that is about it... There is a big dispairity between players and caddies. They must absolutely love the game of golf to do it.

The second day of practice we got to the course early as this was the day we were going to have a practice round with Phil. We got to the range and started to warm up tons of the big names were showing up on this day, coming in and shaking hands with guys and getting their gear all set up for the week. If people don't know the major golf companies throw their product at these guys, they want to have as much of it on the course as possible it is very interesting to see how it all rolls out. For example, Richard walked up to the Titlest guys and they gave him 4 dozen balls, 6 gloves and a few hats it was awesome. Anyway back to the golf, we were meant to go out with Phil but we found out that he had already set up 9 holes with Padrig Harrington and there was money on the line so away they went. As we saw them tee off I could see disappointment on Richards face and I felt it as i really wanted to walk and watch him play beside me. Richard went out after Phil and Padrig took off and we played with a local golfer who was the best amateur in the region. We played the front 9 and afterwards we thought that we would get a bite to eat and then head back to the hotel. Rich qualified for this the year before and one of the things he thought that hurt him was that he practiced too much before last year and was really tired on the day. So he wanted to get back to the hotel, go for a swim and the gym but take it easy before the tournament. We went up to get some food and Phil, Butch Harmon, Claude Harmon III and a few others were sitting there and as Rich walked by they started talking to him. They said they were going to head out and play the back 9 and wanted to know if he wanted to join them. Of course he said yes. We went back down to get ready and get over to the 10th tee. We all got to the 10th and Peter lawrie and Paul Mcginley were on the tee. As we walked up Phil asked the 2 guys wanted to make it a 4 ball and they would play pairs Peter and Paul against Phil and Rich. They agreed to it and they played for roughly $60US each, not a lot but enough to make it interesting. (Phil had just taken 300 off Padrig an hour before). We teed off and Rich out drove everyone off the tee, I would say he was a little pumped up wanting to make sure he did not look like an ass…lol (my thoughts anyway). It was amazing to watch the confidence that Phil had, and even though all the players were amazing they all gave Phil a lot of respect. As we walked down the fairway it was interesting to see the dynamic between the players and their caddies and between each other. While walking the mood was fairly chilled out and everyone was chatting, but as soon as they all came close to their ball it was very much business. Everyone was looking at their yardage books and range finders (practice round it is allowed).

I have to admit, I was having a blast, it was very interesting to be shoulder to shoulder with these guys and at times I caught myself watching instead of doing my job for Richard. I talked to everyone in the group including Phil and Bones (Phil’s Caddy). Phil actually asked me if Rich was Canadian as I was wearing a hat with a flag on it, I had told him that he was English but I was from there. He said he tries to get up to Canada to go skiing every year and it is one of his favorite holidays with the family. It was really nice of him to take the time to have a small chat with me, very nice guy. He has defiantly made a fan for life. Bones was great too, he did not talk much at all when we did out loop but I did get a chance to say how impressed I was about the fact that he gave up his seat on the private jet at the Ryder cup to give it to Ricky Folwer’s caddy as he had not been to a Ryder cup before and Bones wanted him to experience the group dynamic. To me that is class. We finished the round and it was a great time, having been so close to great golfers I have to say that it really gave me a new passion for the game. (not that I really needed more) I can see how much better these guys are, they just don’t miss shots and how they have to play every course is much more difficult than any kind of course I have had to play. I tip my hat to guys who grind it out week in and week out on either PGA tour and their caddies. At the end of the 9, which as we figured it Richard actually beat Phil over the 9 holes, Phil signed a few autographs and I got my range finder signed as well. It was an experience I shall soon not forget. I had added a few photos in the blog but there are more on Facebook or on my Picassa website. My next blog will be about the 2 days of competition. Thanks for reading.

An update

Well I have left my blog for far too long and with the prodding of my mother, (thank you and I love you) I will do my best to catch up from where I left off last year in Sri Lanka… Good grief it seems like an eternity ago that I was in Sri Lanka with Brian a friend and a guy I work with. Well I will not go through the whole story that I promised you, sorry. I will however give a brief overview of the rest of the trip as best as I can recall it.

Well we left off with Don Williams and we travelled towards Kandy to go see the Elephants. It was a great experience and one that was a bit strange as well. They call themselves Elephant orphanages, I am sure they do this so that dumb white guys will go and see them to support the elephants and help out keep these amazing creatures alive. In fact they are just another business that tries to get as much cash from you as possible with the lure of riding the biggest creature you have ever seen and do it as cheap as possible so that they can put food on their table at homes. I fully understand this and I did really enjoy the experience… for some reason though they put us two large men on one elephant which we found out was pregnant, I am not sure it was totally humane but we did it anyway and I do feel bad for the girl but hey I did give them 40 US dollars and I was wanting my elephant experience. We rode for 20ish minutes where we went up a hill through a swamp and finally finishing at a river where we could wash the elephant. They asked us if we wanted to be sprayed by the elephant but on closer inspection of the water and the poop floating downstream we decided to pass the very tempting offer. We then had to tip the mahout (elephant trainer) a few dollars for his time and effort for which we got some very cool photos of us beside the elephant. We were off now to head to the beaches of Sri Lanka. We had our driver and for the life of me I cannot recall his name…lets say John, a good Sri Lankan name. He told us that the driver to Una Watuna beach would be around 5 hours from Kandy. Time estimations in Sri Lanka are always cut in half by what I have found to be true. The trip that was supposed to be 5 hours which is a large amount of time was in fact closer to 12 in a non air-conditioned van.

We made it down to the beach and in the morning found ourselves in an amazing place with a beautiful sunrise to meet our hangover. I may have felt like death warmed over the view was spectacular. We also found out that day that the tsunami that hit in 2004 was directly on this beach. There were still signs of buildings that had been shifted off their foundations or stripped of everything but the concrete floors and posts. It was a eerie sight to see.

We made friends with a tuk tuk driver immediately and whenever we thought about going somewhere he was never more than a few seconds away from us. I am sure that it is a great business plan to be friend the tourists and make them feel comfortable and keep them close to you. He took around the areas and told us where the best places to buy Sri Lankan stuff were. (I am sure it was all relatives that gave him a kick back on our purchases, but hey when in Rome…)

We spent a serious amount of time watching the waves come in and out of the bay, I read a few books and had a beer or two. The food was fairly good and the fish was of course to die for. It was a very chilled time in Sri Lanka and although it was not quite what we were looking for it was a great time to check out. I am not sure I would go back there as I have many other places I would like to go but if I was ever looking for a place to totally unwind and read a book on a quiet beach, Sri Lanka would be one place I would consider.

The one regret

Well if you are a facebook friend you may have seen that I have said I finally have a regret… I have been told by my parents, friends, self help books and other sources to live life without regret as it has made me the person I am today. For the most part I agree with that statement but now as I am getting closer to my mid-30s I am realizing that my body is starting to let me down. This being said I am now regretting not taking care of my body better in my younger days. There I have said it, as much as I have loved the contact sports I have played in my youth I do wish I would have stopped earlier and taken up activities that do not do so much damage to one’s body. My body, with all its aches has given me moments of extreme pain in the last 6 months and a realization that I will struggle for the rest of my life with joint pain and arthritis. I have been fortunate to be living in a hot climate where the pain on my joints has been kept to a minimum but still I have days where I struggle to walk up right. I do blame myself, the extra caloric intake has not helped matters nor the lack of stretching and core work to keep my body strong. I have lured myself to a belief that I will be able to stay strong and healthy with little effort. I guess it one of the life lessons that we learn and our elders, parents and siblings try to teach us, with poor results is that we need to take care of our bodies more than we do. Now I am not going to go granola, hippy or whatever you want to call it but I think that Tim McGraw did say it best when he sang the song “My next 30 years” is that

“Oh my next thirty years, I’m gonna watch my weight
Eat a few more salads and not stay up so late
Drink a little lemonade and not so many beers
Maybe I’ll remember my next thirty years

My next thirty years will be the best years of my life
Raise a little family and hang out with my wife (have to find one first…)
Spend precious moments with the ones that I hold dear
Make up for lost time here, in my next thirty years
In my next thirty years”

Lets see where this takes me…

To infinity and beyond...Part 1

Well dear readers, I am back to tell you what has happened to me in the last few months of my life. LOTS... I am guessing you want details as well so I will start from Christmas and see where the path down rabbit hole of typing and a wandering mind takes me.

I am currently at my desk in my office and a game of dodge ball is being played in the gym next to me, it is a distraction but one game that I loved for a long time and students play it with wreck less abandon. Great fun even for the students who try not to take part in PE even they don't want to get hit.

So, back to Christmas...we were trying to sort what to do for the break was I to stay in Dubai and spend another holiday with people I worked with and although last year was nice have a disjointed holiday season? Well a few friends got talking and all of us were in the same boat and we all agreed that spending Christmas in Dubai was not going to work well and we needed to get out. We had a small dilemma in the fact that we were all tight with cash and did not want to spend a fortune on the holiday. We looked online for a bit and realized we could get to Sri Lanka for under $350.00 so we booked. side note to get to Vegas last summer I paid 450, so we thought it was a great price. We finished school and the next night we were set to head to Sri Lanka. The next day I spent lounging by the pool, chilling out and finally packing as the flight was to leave at 10pm that night. I got packed called up Brain and told him to make his way over to my place as we could have a few drinks before heading to the airport. Well I did my routine and checked my passport, all good there. Checked my luggage, all good and whatever I did not have i figured I could buy in Sri Lanka so I felt good there too. ok, so now where are the tickets...where would I have put them....hmmm turn the house upside down and can't find them anywhere....crap they are at school. No real concern as they are E-tickets and I can print them again. Get online and start looking at the tickets in my e-mail account and look at the flight time, yep 10 pm... look at the date...ummm crap it is the next day. Brian was already en route to come for a beer and head to the airport....Crap. Well I called the airlines and they tell me the flight is overbooked by 5 and the chances of getting on the flight that left that night were slim but if we went to the airport we could wait and see what came about. By the way we thought we would be smart and hire a driver to come pick us up from the airport in Sri Lanka and gave him the date that we THOUGHT we were coming in and he was ready to pick us up landing that night.

We get to the airport and get to the ticket agent and I put on my polite voice and tell the nice Sri Lankan man my story and that I knew it was my fault but I would love it if he could help me out. Which he replied since I was being so nice and was not demanding to get on the plane as the people before me had stated he would hold our tickets and see if anyone does not show and he would try to get us on the plane. we now had a 3 hour wait to have everyone check in and see if there maybe 2 spots for 2 Canadian men to come to Sri Lanka that night. We were in good spirits and were laughing about the whole situation. The whole time we are waiting there were 10 more people that walked up to the counter to try to do what we were doing and they all had to sit behind us and see if they could get on as well. I will stop here to thank my parents for giving me the gift of manners and being polite, some of the rude things that were said to get on the plane only got the person turned around and flat out told to go home as the flight was overbooked. THANKS MOM AND DAD.

I know the anticipation is killing you so I will let you know we got on the plane and we even got a emergency exit seat and the nice gentleman behind the ticket counter was actually holding them for us because he knew if we could get on the plane that it was designed for Sri Lankans to fly and not big white guys. This was a cheap flight but it was also a great adventure and we had not even left Dubai yet.

We arrive in Sri Lanka with little issues, the crazy thing on the plane was that they did not serve booze on the plane but allowed you to bring duty free on the plane and open up said drinks while sitting in your seat. We get picked up and go to the Intercontinental hotel in Colombo where we went straight back to bed as it was 5am and we had been awake since early the day before. We spent a few days in Colombo seeing a few things, driving around and having every person that was selling something on the street trying to ripe us off blind everywhere we went.

The last night we were in Colombo we went into the hotel pub where we listened to live music and had a few beers. To my surprise two small Sri Lankan men started playing Some broken hearts never mend by Don Williams. This song has been etched into my mind by my father playing it over and over again on any long trips that we did when were we kids and I think I was the 3 person in all of Sri Lanka who knew all the words to the song. We talked to the band afterwards and found out that they bought the CD in Switzerland and they loved it so much they taught themselves how to play the songs. Funny how you can travel all over the world and there are always small reminders about what really matters in life, family...

In the next blog we head to Kandy, Una Watuna Beach...and the last few months of Dubai life.

I will try to get it out soon.

Pictures to come soon too.

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