Well it all begins here......From Dublin to Wicklow, to Glendalough (and"Johnny Foxes" pub), to Arklow, to Kilkenny, to Cork(and Cobh, where the Titanic shipped out), to Kinsale, to Kilarney (biking through Kilarney National Park), to Clare (Spanish Point and the Cliffs of Moher), to Galway (and The Burren), to Westport (to climb the Croagh Patrick Mountain)....and MANY quaint and beautiful little towns in between. Then back to Dublin....in just 8 days and 7 nights...........put simply......BREATHTAKING! Not only that but the weather was terrific. According to the locals, they were in for 3 weeks of sun. We did have a bit of cloud and it only rained overnight but cleared up early in the a.m...lucky us! I highly recommend this trip, by car and in spring (leaves on the trees would block all the glorious views), to ... read more

Here are the pictures as promised, of Olympic Day at my school. Half of my class (the Egypt half) won the Gold!!! The other half was Canada and was not as 'competitive' I will say to be kind...lol. My principal casually mentioned just after Christmas Break that she would like to see us have a "Sport Day" of some sort. I told her I would be happy to head up the planning of the day and the rest is history. for those of you that know me well... you could say I 'took the ball and ran with it"...medals and all! What started out as "Sport Day" turned into "Olympic Day". I thought putting the students into Country teams rather than animal or colour named teams with an Olympic theme, would be a great opportunity to ... read more

Greetings family and friends! It has been awhile since I have been here. Nothing much to report. I have simply been absorbed in second term since I got back from Christmas holidays. I started to take piano lessons (something I have ALWAYS wanted to do but never had the time...now I do). I found my teacher on a website similar to Kijiji here, called "Dubizzle". Her name is Mercy and she is from the Philippines and is simply lovely! After holidays we started a unit at school about 'community helpers'. I have attached some photos from one or two of the helpers we learned about. We had our "Celebration of Learning" to end the unit this past Thurs. and now we are about to begin learning about the "Olympics". I am heading up the whole week ... read more

Happy New Year! Glad to be back in the land of the warm weather. Christmas back in Canada was great however. I was happy to see everyone. My camera was on hiatus and I didn't take very many pictures. Just enjoying time with family and friends too much, I guess. It was so nice to see everyone, although I missed some of you and simply had to drop-off your little UAE token to think of me by. Be aware that I have an unwritten disclaimer regarding higher cholesterol counts due to any increase in salt or pepper intake...lol. I had the opportunity to visit with my Burlington friends/ex-roomies, and had a wonderful potluck evening at Tara's house, with my 5 of my closest K-W friends...only a couple unable to make it....catch YOU in the summer. I ... read more

It's National Day Weekend her in the UAE. Four day weekend! The UAE is 39 years young. The Emirates decorate the entire cities like Christmas...decal their cars and literally hang out the car windows as they drive down the city streets. I stayed away from most of the crazy stuff, but today I rode my bike down to the Corniche to watch the Formula One Boat Races....it was pretty cool. I have never been to a boat race before. Enjoy the pics...only 9 more school days and I am BACK in Canada for the holidays. The countdown is on....xo... read more