Last day in Dubai

Well, it has finally arrived, my final full day in Dubai has dawned - am I ready, packed andwaiting for my flight - not exactly! Still got lots to do before we go. The kennels are due to come round this morning to collect Baggins who will spend the next two months with them prior to his being flown to Qatar in early September. The maintenance people are coming round to do an inspection in a few minutes. I've got to cancel Etisilat and Showtime, Mrs DB has gone to the physio, we haven't finished packing and we are going out tonight with Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice! Oh boy, roll on 10:05 tomorrow morning. DXB terminal 3, Emirates Airlins to Athens! Wish I was there already!

This has to be the best sign I've seen for a long time:

Sadly, I didn't have my camera with me, but a building near to the Bur Dubai bus station is sporting this wonderful sign:

DUBAI INTERNATIONAL REAL ESTATE

WWW.DIRE.AE

And the web address is real!

Makes me smile anyway!

Last day at school

Well, today was my final day! I have now left Emirates International School - Jumeirah. Is it time to dish the dirt? Not a bit of it, I have had ten years there and during that time I have risen from being a Maths Teacher to being a Deputy Principal, learned a hell of a lot along the way, made some wonderful friends who are scattered around the world (with many of them still being at EIS, others being in Dubai and still others in far flung places such as Madrid, Azerbaijan and Australia to name but a few. There is even one who is going to the same school in Qatar as I am!

Anyway, over the last few days friends and colleagues have been showering me with leaving presents - I have had some lovely gifts, but today the whole staff clubbed together and gave me some gift vouchers for the Mall of the Emirates. Mrs DB and I toddled off over there after work and I bought something that I will treasure for many years. I bought a wide angle lens for my camera and so you will soon be seeing my efforts of photography with a wide angle lens - I have wanted one for years but never got around to buying one - now I have finally got one and I will have to start learning how to use it! I have already realised that I now need to buy a proper flash unit, so that can go on the Christmas wish list for Mrs DB!

Anyway, to all my friends at EIS, past and present, and I know there are some who will read this, I just want to say, thank you to all of you, for your wishes, for your kind words, for your thoughts, for your prayers and for being my friend during the time that we have been colleagues together.

Some Good News at Last

Well, it has been something of a longtime, hasn't it! You may recall that I have been job hunting and I didn't want to tell you anything more until I got a job. Well, I've now got one!

In the last few months I have been all over the place - I've had interviews in Bangkok, London (twice), Bratislava and Munich, I've had references taken up by schools in Vienna, Rio and Quito amongst others, I've had telephone interviews for schools in Egypt, Sao Paulo and Shanghai and I've been totally ignored by schools in Sweden, Beijing, Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam, Shangai and Scarborough!

Now, after being at times totally demoralised, I have finally secured a position just a few hundred miles away in Qatar!

I am just totally relieved because we are out of Dubai on the 26th of this month and I was expecting to have to go back to the UK to supply teach. Now, Cher and I are really looking forward to our holiday on our wonderful Greek island of Skopelos. And it is going to be a great holiday! Because of Ramadan, I don't have to start at my new school until sometime between the 4th and 12th of September (not sure of the date yet), but, and I've never heard of this in any other school, I get paid from the 1st of August!!!

Excellent!