Well we're back in the heat and humidity of Abu Dhabi. Darcy and I had a short but enjoyable time in Canada. We visited friends and family but unfortunately there wasn't enough time to see more people. We've been travelling home for vacations for 8 straight years and there is never enough time to do everything that we set out to do. But it was still refreshing to get away and enjoy being outside, seeing greenery, watching clouds and rainstorms and having a few drinks with family and friends.
My highlights of the trip were celebrating my birthday on Vancouver Island and in Edmonton. Darcy got me a 32 GB iPod Touch! My dad and I visited a few small towns northeast of Edmonton. I saw the church in Lamont were my grandparents were married in 1939. We also found the grave site for my great-great grandfather Joseph Schreyer in the tiny town of Radway. He was an officer in the Austrian army in the 1880s so that would be interesting but difficult to trace.
The plane trips home were very long: Edmonton-Vancouver; Vancouver-Toronto; Toronto-London; London-Abu Dhabi. We spent 19 hours flying (excluding layovers, delays, claiming lost baggage). We've yet to get our bag despite reassurances that it's at the Dubai Airport. It has all our books that we bought or were given as gifts. We hope that our bag is found and returned in a day or two. So combined with still being jet lagged and having to return to work on Tuesday we're not exactly in the highest of spirits.
As always I've found some stories below that may be of interest:.
High salaries pull in expats
At branch campuses, whose roots?
The mystique of a sheikh
Five new universities make the grade
68 new dams to capture water
More want to learn about UAE's culture
Meagre pay rise angers academics
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
agree the time visiting was short, but none the less it was wonderful to see you both and to celebrate Michael's 40th birthday. Ironically, we here went thru some withdrawals as well after you left...the house just wasn't the same without you both here, and its a long wait until next year..luv my GPS!! wonder how it would work in the desert!! with no addresses in AB, I guess one would have to enter points of interests or use sand dunes for reference points!!
ReplyDeleteenjoy your website, keep up the great stories and entries
love, dad