Tony's Tales: Vacation in Egypt

Mid-November provided a week of school vacation for the Eid al Adha religious observance and that gave the Frencham family the chance to head off for a nine day tour of the ancient and modern Egypt.

All of us have at some time in our lives been amateur Egyptologists, and have seen our share of Discovery channel documentaries or the like. That said, Ancient Egypt was better than we expected and certainly a "must see" for those that have the opportunity at some point in their lives.

Courtesy of the Vice President of Domestic and Foreign Affairs (aka Melissa), we had an excellent tour arranged with first class guides and everything was expected to (and did) run perfectly. After a travel day into Cairo, we flew to Luxor as the gateway to Upper Egypt (meaning upper Nile or confusingly southern Egypt). Our Egyptian friends had strongly advised that Upper Eqypt was the place to see for Ancient Egypt, and how right they were.

We spent two wonderful days in Luxor visiting the splendid Temples of Karnak and Luxor, and the unparalleled Valley of the Kings. Not surprisingly in a land dominated by the sun and a life-giving river, the east bank (the rising sun) was for temples to the living, and the west bank (setting sun) was for tombs to the afterlife. This ensured that tomb robbers knew which side of the river to start on, and the entrenched Valley of the Kings was a result of the earlier Pyramids being (surpringly?) a little obvious as to where the tomb of riches was (duh!).

From Luxor onwards we had four days aboard a Nile cruiseship which was wonderful, as was the weather at this time of year. The tours were mostly in the morning and the rest of the day was for resting or watching the world go by.

We cruised upstream (south) in the direction of Aswan and next visited the historical sites in Edfu and Kom Ombo. After arriving in Aswan we toured both the worold famous dam as well as the re-sited ancient city of Philae.

From Aswan we flew further south to Abu Simbel which is 40 km from the Sudan boarder and was an historical market for the control of ancient Upper Egypt. The greatest pharoah of them all, Ramses II, had a magnificent temple carved into a sandstone mountain beside the Nile to impress and warn all on the river that he and Egypt were all powerful. Unfortunately a few thousand years later the new Aswan dam lake was to flood and cover the temple, and a worldwide effort coordinated by UNESCO resulted in the temple being sliced up and moved higher up river bank. Worth a visit both for the ancient awesomeness and the modern endeavour.

Then flew back to Cairo for the final leg which seemed like the right way to do it. Final days of visiting the Cairo museum, the Citidal and Muhammad Ali mosque. We then did the ultimate tour to the Pyramids of Giza and the Great Sphinx. As in the Valley of the Kings, we were able to descend into one of the tombs of the pyramids which most certainly is not for the claustrophobic or faint of heart. It most certainly is fascinating when one thinks back 3500 years and considers the great covilisations that delivered these structures.

A day then to visit modern Egypt and the bizzars of Cairo and we were all packed up and ready to head back to Dubai.

In summary, a must visit country. It was great -- the end! Cheers.

A letter from Sarah: Daily life in Ancient Athens

To whomever may read this letter,
“Serestia! Come help!” that seems to be the endless call for me. I am Serestia. I live here in Athens. It always seems to me that whenever I try to think I must work.
Throughout the day my three brothers go off to school, they all want to someday be in the army. While they go off to learn to read and write I must sadly stay home to work.
At home Mother is in charge. To begin we eat breakfast, mother never seems to eat much. When I ask her she said she must watch her figure, and so must I. How can that be right? We females must starve ourselves thin while the men can go out and party and eat as much as they want.
I know I am not to question the acts of men but it just doesn’t seem fair to me. My brothers go off to school while I must stay home until I’m married and even in that I have no choice.
One thing I don’t understand is that women are not equal to men here but we still worship female goddesses. Hera, Athena. What is up with that?
Enough of my complaints. Throughout the day I must work hard to learn how to be a good housewife. I must try even harder now, as my older sister is getting married soon, she’s fifteen. Every day my mother tells me that soon it will be my turn to get married. I’m not sure how I feel about this. A little scared I think.
Right now I am learning to weave, which is much harder than it looks. No matter how hard I try I still cannot get a picture to take shape. To add to that, my family is not wealthy and because my brothers are out most of the day, I must go and work in the fields.
I do have a little secret about this though. Every night I secretly sneak down to the front of the house. (That’s where the men are. Women must work and sleep at the back of the house so they are not seen. That is where I’m writing this letter.) When I get to my brother’s room I look at his wax tablet which he has taken to school with him that day and learn what has been written. It is a very good system for my brother is rather lazy and will never erase his tablet unless he has to. It is through this system that I have learned to read and write.
All this I have told you, and yet nothing of my father. My father is a merchant. He spends a lot of the day out at The Stoa of Attalos. You may wonder why I don’t give more details on The Stoa of Attalos but the truth is I have never been there. Here in Greece, it is forbidden for a woman to go to The Stoa of Attalos. My brothers have been there many times, it gets rather tiring, after a while, to listen to them go on and on about it. I think that they do it just to annoy me.
Sometimes when I am in a dark mood I dream of dressing up as a man to see the Stoa. But it is just foolishness.
Apparently in the Stoa of Attalos there is a man. According to my father he is very peculiar, I often hear him complain to Mother about him at dinner. His name, I believe, is Socrates. I have asked my brothers about him, and according to them, he stands in the market place asking questions to people like “Why do you wear a chiton?” and “What is virtue?” Apparently, he is one of those philosophers. I don’t much care for philosophers they just sit around and think all day, while us ordinary folk have to work.
Speaking of just sitting around, did you know that the only thing worse than working is working while others are playing! Every day I work hard to learn the proper skills to be a housewife. In the afternoon I sit at my loom and try to weave. Yet, all my brothers do is pretend to be athletes at the Olympics.
The Olympics. The Olympics are so widely talked about and praised. The athletes, the skill! Unfortunately all I know of the Olympics is what my brothers have told me (and they have been known to exaggerate) because, once again, women are not allowed at the Olympics.
Men get so much freedom. With all of the tasks women have to do, just trying to keep our heads above the water, even my father seems to have the time to go to the Bouleuterion.
The Bouleuterion is the building in Greece where the council debate is held. The council is a group of people who help to run Athens democracy. My father has been there twice to offer his suggestions.
In case you don’t know what democracy is, it’s our form of government. Democracy is where the people vote on how to rule Athens. There are a lot of votes. My father, who is a citizen, has been to many of them. The great thinker who started all this was Perciles. My father often praises him.
My father will come home soon and I will have to stop writing, but he’s going to the Temple of Hephaesteion to pray. There’s some ceremony today. ( Yet again, women aren’t invited.)
Hephaesteion is one of our gods. We believe that he is the god of invention and crafts. My father goes there daily to thank him for our trade.
Oh how my brothers annoy me! Sorry, I just heard them talking. They are getting ready to go out tonight to the Literature Festival in The Odeion of Agrippa.
The Odeion of Agrippa is a massive concert hall. Apparently it can seat 1000 people. For obvious reasons I’m not going.
I’m not angry at my brothers for going to the festival, oh no. I’m angry at them because as they were getting ready I heard them talking and agreeing and one of them said:
“Teaching women to read and write? How horrible.” Then the others agreed. Oh how nasty they are!
But I’ve shown them I do know how to read and write. But my literacy is almost a curse for I must not tell anyone or I could get in the most trouble ever.
Oh! My father is back and I must now go back to my life. It has been a pleasure writing to you and I hope that we may someday meet.
Regards, Serestia

Tony's Tales: Magpies win their 15th Premiership !

Well we certainly do it hard sometimes at Collingwood, but when we finally do win it all it certainly is the sweetest feeling!

So, after the shock of the St Kilda comeback last week and the numbness of the resulting draw, the Grand final replay was everything we had hoped for and more.

An emphatics 56 point victory over a tremendous St Kilda who were runners up in 2009 and drew with us last week. despite their class, they had nothing that troubled the Mighty Pies today.

It has been a 20 year wait since our last Premiership in 1990, including the losses of 2002 and 2003. This now brings home our 15th cup and puts us only one behind two of our bitter rivals who will go un-named (you know who you are, and we're coming for you!).

Those of you that remember the July blog this year of my amazing match day in the Collingwood coaches box will know I feel about as connected as one could living a long way from Melbourne. As Bruce would say, this one was "special".

We will savour this moment before re-loading for another tilt in 2011 -- GO PIES !!!

Tony's Tales: The Summer slowdown

Well it's been quite a while since we were blogging and we have to put it down to the summer slowdown (remembering that it's summer here in Dubai, and boy do they have long hot ones!). When we were last online Sarah & Alexander had started their very long summer school break and the entire family had de-camped back to Melbourne to catch up with friends and family and to enjoy the cooler weather. In fact, many of those who can depart the Middle East do so, and it does drop to a lower pace, especially given that the holy month of Ramadan commenced in August and the associated fasting really slows everything down.

Rather than boring you all with the relaxing in Melbourne, we'll keep this one short and just provide some photos to get us all back on track for the second half of the year.

At right is a scene in Melbourne at Aunt Jenny and Uncle Stuart's with, happily, plenty of gumboots after the five year drought, and (from left) Ethan, Logan and Rylee with their bigger cousins Alexander and Sarah.

Melissa, Sarah and Alexander then headed over to Perth for a week to catch up with friends and family, including Uncle Stuart, Aunt Jenni (yes, they're different) and (from left) cousins India, Oliver and Harvey with Sarah and Alexander.

Just as Melissa and the kids returned to Dubai we had a health scare from Grandma Dorothy back in Melbourne who had a minor stroke following her hip replacement surgery. Good news is that it could have been much worse and it was mostly a wake up call that will result in Mum having both her carotid arteries cleaned out. Keep smiling Mum!

To close out the summer the ever-thinking Alexander proposed that he be allowed to buy a small pet so that he could prove to his parents that he could be responsible enough for a larger (think canine) pet. After some investigation on his part it was decided that it would be turtles, and hence the greatly enlarged images of Shelley and Crash at right. Despite living in the environment of a boys room both seem to be doing well at present -- stay tuned in future blogs.

Well that's all from us for now, but we are very excited as we enter the final week of the Australia Footbal League season and Tony's beloved Collingwood Magpies are in the Grand Final and in fine form. Let's see what the coming week holds. GO PIES !

Tony's Tales: An afternoon-of-a-lifetime at the 'G

Well this tale will mean a lot to those of you who follow Aussie Rules football, but hopefully all of you will understand what a special day it was. This all happens at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, a 100,000 seat stadium that was the home of the 1956 Olympics and is where all the major cricket (summer) and football (winter) matches are held.

A long story short, I won an online auction from team sponsor Emirates to sit in the Coaches box for a blockbuster footy match between my beloved Collingwood Magpies on July 31 as they lined up against our traditional rival the Carlton Blues.

The short story is that it was an AWESOME experience, and frankly the long story is that it would take way too long to explain than you or I have reading / writing patience (of course, any AFL fans that want me to explain over a drink or three then please let me know).

In a day of highlights, there were visits to the player's rooms before and after the match (which I'm happy to say we ultimately won easily in front of 80,000 fans). All the players, former players, coaches and administrators that are always on TV and in the press were there in the rooms and in the halls. There was even a visit to the playing field before the game as the players warmed up.

Then it was off to the Coaches Box which for Aussie Rules is high up in one of the spectator stands. For those of us that have seen the box on TV, it is actually two boxes per team with about 10 people in each. One box is full of technicians gathering team data and video footage and feeding it to the main box which is where the head coach, assistant coaches and support staff are sitting. The coaches box is where my lucky co-visitor and I were to sit, with strict instructions to soak it all in and SAY NOTHING!

What followed was a fascinating example of how much sport has changed in recent years. Literally the coaching staff do not watch the game as we as spectators do. Rather they spend all of their time assessing the implementation of their planned plays, the implementation of the opposition efforts, and the marshalling of their resources on the field and the interchange bench. This all happens with five people feeding observations and statistics to the head coach and he making the final call before the decisions are fed down to the playing field.

We had active laptops in front of us that showed what the assistant coaches could see, and interestingly amongst the myriad of stats they did not include the time of the game or the score. Sideline discussions with the statisticians during the breaks confirmed that the coaches effort is very much the same regardless of how the game itself is progressing competitively. This is now very much a chess game -- it is strategy, implementation, and working with the resources available.

Technology is the key, and stats and video are constantly being collected and run down to the ground to show players as they interchange so that they can see where they can improve -- immediate feedback loops. Ex-players are at the boundary line feeding information and advice from the assistant coaches to each of the current players.

Needless to say it doesn't always work for the coaches as expected and there were plenty of instances when the occasional expletive was used and when the best laid plans went awray. All that said, with the mighty 'Pies on top of the ladder they are doing more right then wrong at present and they (and I) felt pretty happy at the end of the game.

When it was all over it was down into the players rooms to heartily sing the club song after a great win with all the club faithfull. Then off to the pub for a few drinks with family and friends who also went to the match and to celebrate what was an absolutely sensational day.

In closing, my compliments to all at the Collingwood FC for all that they do to make their fans feel such a part of our wonderful club.

Principals, planes and plantings

Having resisted posting for almost a year, Melissa is our guest writer this month!

Almost another month has passed since our last blog. The temperature in Dubai has risen, as has the humidity and we have flown off for cooler shores. As the saying goes, "be careful what you wish for" as the Melbourne evenings are decidedly cooler than those we have been used to in Dubai.

The theatre scene in Dubai is small, but very enthusiastic, and the summer sees overseas professionals (usually from the West End in London) joining forces with local talent to put on some wonderful shows. This summer saw Fame! and HairSpray come to Dubai. Sarah auditioned and was fortunate enough to land an ensemble role in the musical HairSpray. She also had a minor speaking part as the Principal of the High School (in the stage show, it is the Principal that sends Tracy to detention for her hair being too high). Sarah had a wonderful time, worked hard and performed well. Two weeks of intensive rehearsals (10 -4 EVERY day and sometimes additional rehearsals from 5 - 9) were followed by two matinee and five evening performances over five days. The cast (which included four professionals from the West End) were given standing ovations at every performance! Two days later we were on the plane to Melbourne (seeing various other members of the cast at the airport on departure day.)

It is wonderful to be back in Melbourne, the winter is cool but enjoyable. it is nice to have cold water come out of the cold tap. Catching up with family and friends can never be over-rated and listening to all of the Australian accents on the tv was a bit weird for the first few days.

Having sold the apartment in the city, we are now in our "holiday house" in Mont Albert. Much to Alexander's delight, the has a decent back yard. (While we do have a small yard in Dubai, it is too hot to go out at this time of year and it certainly doesn't have any dirt/mud in it.)

Alexander has been enjoying himself planting some trees and becoming part of the great Australian tradition that involves boys/men and lemon trees! Somewhat obviously, all of us are now proud owners of new gumboots.

Melissa passed her Semester 1 uni subjects well and is now getting her head around what is required for semester 2. Sem 2 starts this week and is more than half over before we go back to Dubai. Time management is of the essence!

Tony is able to be in Melbourne for a short time, but then has to go to the US for a couple of weeks. Fortunately he will be coming back to Melbourne before flying home to Dubai.

Tony's Tales: End of (Northern) Year Report

OK, so it's been almost two full months since the last blog (but it was a good blog and, frankly, no-one else in this normally opinionated family stepped up to the keyboard). Apologies but we were all busy attending to the day-to-day of life and a single event didn't jump up and scream "write me!".

Well it sort of feels like end of year here in Dubai as the school year has finished (Northern hemisphere) and the LOOOOONG summer vacation has commenced. When you add to that the facts that the heat has started early this year (we are in our mid-40s C already and the hot month is August) and holy month of Ramadan is August-September this year then it feels like a "long hot summer" before it even starts. But first, a few steps back to close out May and June.

Sarah and Alexander both finished school last week -- Grades 6 and 4 respectively. We are very proud of both of them as they have settled in well in Dubai and have both stepped up their results in the second half over their already great first half efforts. Sarah picked up an armful of awards and Alexander really impressed with his efforts on his spelling and writing challenges.

Sarah also completed her LAMDA (The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art) examination which is internationally recognized and can be carried with one around the world. The performance exam was conducted in Dubai and Sarah passed with a Merit grade for Level Three.

And to close out the school year Sarah attended her first school dinner event -- see the photo (courtesy of a friend).

Melissa has also finished her exams for her latest semester of her Behavioural Science degree course (that's five semesters down and seven to go). There's a rumour going around that by the end of it she will have an understanding of the psychological workings of the author, but that is perhaps too much to ask.

Tony continues to grapple with the beast that is the proposed JV between Dow and Saudi Aramco. Good news is that there has been a lot less travel of late, and much of it has been in the local region. To be clear, the people, culture and region are great -- it is the project itself that makes things interesting.

As the vacation period started we took a day trip down to Abu Dhabi to see Michael Flatley's Lord of the Dance -- great music and dancing albeit mostly to a western expat crowd. Worth a look if you haven't before had this Irish experience.

To continue the stage theme, in June Sarah tried out for the summer performances of both Fame and Hairspray, and she received a call for the latter this week, so she is off for two weeks of rehearsals ahead of the July 13-17 production. Break a leg Sarah !

Well that's it for June. We'll check in again in July before we head Downunder for some R&R.

Tony's Tales: School is the word (Parts 1, 2 & 3)

OK, I admit up front that I will be tenuously stringing together three completely separate events using the loosely associated word School, but hey, this is a free blog and so it's not like you're getting ripped off.

(1) Those of you paying attention will remember that in our last blog the Weather Gods intervened and we could not go fishing. Well the waters of the Arabian / Persian Gulf returned to their typical calm last week and the entire family dragged their sorry selves out one early morning to see just how dumb some of these fish could be (sorry, editorial problem: please replace with "just how smart these fisherpeople could be").

The trip out took us past the iconic Burj Al Arab hotel and then past the Palm Jumeirah with The Atlantis hotel at it's peak and waving us farewell as we headed out to the far reaches of the Jebel Ali shipping channel to see what nautical beasties might be awaiting us.

The crew (meaning "the hired crew and boat" for we have no boat and if we did not all of us could easily identify the pointy end) set us up with three trolling rigs, one set near the surface, one near the bottom, and one at a mid-level. This excited those of us with hunter-gatherer insticts as we had all the beasties covered and soon would be hauling them aboard in embarassingly huge numbers. An hour later it seemed that all the fish were still in School (that word -- first time) and were too clever for us. Alexander and I spent our time watching the big ships head into Jebel Ali, whilst the ladies somehow pretended they were not even out at sea.

Finally a very large Kingfish (known that way locally, but actually a Narrow-barred Spanish Mackerel) decided to wag school and excite one and all on the boat. Next in was in equally large Barracuda that Alexander reeled in most of the way, the fish being a little the worse for wear by the time it arrived as some of it's family had decided to bite chunks out of it on the way. Two more smaller Barracudas followed which were released back to the depths.

We then changed to static fishing and set ourselves for bottom fishing in search of Snapper. Three gave themselves up to us, and we kept the largest and released the other two. The Kingfish was expertly reduced to fish steaks by the crew, and the Snapper was less expertly filleted at home and then the all went on the BBQ that night for a wonderful dinner.

(2) Melissa and I then snuck away this week for an evening to PierChic, the restaurant voted Most Romantic as well as Best Seafood in Dubai. As the name implies, it sits at the end of a pier and has a wonderful view of Dubai and a great outdoor setting whatever the time of year. Interestingly the restaurant has lights underneath it that illuminate the evening water, and which inevitably attract many small fish. On the evening we were there, it also attracted a school (that word -- second time) of reef sharks that lazily circled around. That is of course until some very large Barracuda arrived and then the sharks knew their place and cleared away whenever the Barracuda approached.

(3) Finally, this weekend Sarah was a member of the team selected by her school (that word -- third time) to participate in the World Scholar's Cup event here in Dubai. This tournament includes schools from 36 countries (noticeably New Zealand is absent) and the 2009-2010 theme was A World Divided. There are six areas of assessment: History (When the World Breaks); Science (Great Conflicts in Science); Literature (The Imagination of a World Divided); Fine Arts (The Art and Music of a World Divided); Economics (The Economics of Wealth and Poverty); and a Special Area (The Psychology of War). The assessments include debates, open questions (TV Quiz style), written answers, and all with an emphasis on collaboration.

As evidenced by the photo, the Uptown High team from Dubai that Sarah was a member of won first place in the junior division (Years 6-8) of the Dubai tournament (covers the Middle East and Africa). The school received a trophy and each member received a medal. Additionally Sarah received an individual medal for being selected to participate in the Junior Debate Showcase.

Tony's Tales: An afternoon in Al Ain

A few weeks back the Frencham family fishing trip was thwarted by the weather gods when overnight wind raised the waves in the Arabian Gulf to unsafe levels (for us -- the fish were just fine with it).

So faced with high expectations and time to kill, we set off across country to Al Ain, the fourth largest city in the UAE and a settlement for over 4000 years due to the literal meaning of it's Arabic name: The Spring. It is in the Eastern region of Abu Dhabi emirate and very close to the border with Oman. Al Ain is the birthplace of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the first UAE President and the "Father of the Nation".

However what drew us to Al Ain is their well known Wildlife Park, and in particular their new exhibit: Dinosaur Trail (a visiting exhibit in collaboration with the San Diego Zoo). To use the word that Alexander used over and over again, it was AWESOME ! Real size animatronic Dinosaurs that roared and moved and looked in the direction of our noise (very clever, and a little freaky).

There were 24 of these beasties and if this exhibit comes to your part of the world then trust us it is better than sitting through the incredulous parts of Jurassic Park 6.5: The Lost Plot.

Of course there is also a great Zoo at this Wildlife Park, full of all manner of critters from the Middle East, Africa and across the World (they even had "exotic" animals from Australia). Ack the Photographer was in his element and captured some wonderful snaps, including this up close and personal with two Rhinos with a seeming lack of fence -- RUN AWAY!!!!

We also took a quick spin down town and a look around the outside of a renovated Emirati Fort that was closed for holy day. All-in-all there was plenty to see in this part of the UAE that many folks don't get to.

Meanwhile, we're not letting those fish off that easily and have re-scheduled the "expedition" -- stay tuned for a future blog.

Tony's Tales: A couple of Gems if you have the Time

Most of you will know Douglas Adams, the much admired satirical author of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series of books. I bumped into this fascinating video of a speech he made in 2001 (shortly before he passed away) entitled: Parrots, the Universe, and Everything. The video description says it all: "Blind river dolphins, reclusive lemurs, a parrot as fearless as it is lovelorn ... Douglas Adams' close encounters with these rare and unusual animals reveal that evolution, ever ingenious, can be fickle too -- in a University of California talk that sparkles with his trademark satiric wit." I hope you enjoy it: http://www.ted.com/talks/douglas_adams_parrots_the_universe_and_everything.html

Have also just finished reading a wonderfully thought provoking book which will be one of the few I will constantly refer to and read again: Linchpin by Seth Godin. Again, highly recommended if you have the time.

Tony's Tales: A Hamlet Parody

March 13 is not only the day that Alexander turns 10 this year, it is also the day in 1781 that William Herschel discovered Uranus (OK, OK -- stop that laughing). Actually it is funny as he was living in Bath at the time and he must have been very flexible indeed to observe it. Coincidentally one of Alexander's birthday presents today was a telescope.

Anyway, what has this to do with Hamlet? Well if you remember back to our December 2009 blog we visited Kronborg Castle which was the setting for Elsinore in Shakespeare's Hamlet. Well today Sarah's high school drama class conducted a Hamlet Parody at the Festival City Mall in Dubai, with Sarah in the leading role (see photos). In case the shoppers were not learned in the way of the Bard, each of the actors had their role subtly printed on their costumes.

As is the way of Hamlet, much carnage ensued. Sarah was able to reach into her experiences at Kronborg Castle (despite the vast temperature difference) and with the faintest Danish lilt dispose of many a fellow actor until it was her time to collapse to the boards.

The troupe was able to stay faithfull to this epic tale (despite the abridged version) and still find time to weave in some well placed (and classy) comedic lines that will no doubt become th enew standard across the thespian world. No critic could do this performance justice, and the strong applause from the shoppers and parents alike was testament to a rollicking good afternoon.

Alexander's Blog -- Rainforest Cafe

Hi, it’s Ack.

Today Mum and I went to the Rainforest Café at the Dubai Mall (Sarah was at a birthday party and Dad is away). It had a really cool light show and it had mechanical animals. I had a great time. Food was very quick and tasted good. But with some of the animals, if you put your ear to them you could hear the mechanics. We even have a picture of us there.



We used to go to a Rainforest Café when I was little and we lived in Houston. The light show there was a big lightning storm and all the animals made a huge noise. This one was a little more tame. There is a fake crocodile out the front of the restaurant which opens and shuts its mouth. If you don’t look too closely, it looks real, but if you do look closely then you can see the mechanical platform that allows him to move forward!

Thanks for reading! Hope you like the photo.

Sarah's Blog -- Camping in Dibba

Hi everybody! I just got back from camping in Dibba. Dibba is a place in Oman where it is very rocky and there are lots of goats. I had a fun time there. Note from Dad: there are three closely located Dibba's spread across Oman and the two adjacent UAE Emirates -- this link gives you a map and some of the history back to the second millenium BC: Dibba.

We left on Sunday and arrived back on Tuesday. On the way to Dibba we tried to count all of the goats we saw and we lost count at something like 367. There were a lot of goats in Dibba. At the camp we did lots of team building exercises. We got split into tents that had 4-7 people in them.

On the first day we went trekking. It’s like hiking but you hike on loose rock so you have to concentrate a lot. On the second day we went down to the beach and played games. Later that day we went mountain biking and rock climbing. That was fun. I got to the top on the rock climbing wall. That night we had a riddles contest and I won by 24 points! What happened was they asked you riddles. If you couldn’t answer 3 riddles you were out. You got 6 points for a correct answer in 10 seconds.

On the last day we had “leave no trace” in that we learned basic survival skills and how to make a fire. Overall, camp was fun. The food was kind of gross but I like it.

Tony's Tales: January 2010

Well we couldn't let January pass without a blog now could we? It's been a month of extremes, starting out very busy and then a relaxing second half which was exactly what the Frencham family needed.

We started with our home visit to Melbourne and the delight which is visiting our family and friends. It was great to be back in Oz with the long drought seemingly breaking and the weather there wonderful for our entire stay. The global recession forgot to come to Australia (but Santa didn't) and spirit was fabulous. Cricket with the guys at the 'G was perfect, and the beach at the Grove was a blast. While I'm on this dinkum bent I bumped into the following poem at Mum's and repeat here for all to enjoy (author: R.H. Croll):

When God knocked off one night, said He -
"This Earth's a rotten failure;
How to improve it? Let me see...
Next day He made Australia."

Lot's of fun with friends as we toured around. Went to Healesville Sanctuary with friends from Hong Kong and had a memorable day -- including a leaping Koala! Folks, you could have knocked us over. The Koalas were doing the normal blob on a tree routine when one of them extracted him(?)self and hung from a branch to stretch out. He then swung on one arm and leapt to another trunk (see photo jost prior to launch). Boy, did that get the tourists excited!

Family and friends were wonderful as always, and great to ground the kids after the merry-go-round of expat life. Sarah is now taller than both my parents and closing on Melissa's Mum, with Alexander a steady pass behind that. Their cousins are all growing into real little people and lot's of fun (as you can see in the photo).

Back to Dubai just in time to see the launch of the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa. We can see it from our villa -- but then frankly practically everyone within a 100kms can. It truly is a wonderful design and it's not until you are nearby and try and take a photo that you can grasp the enormity of this tower (of course the problem now is I have to write more blog as the picture goes on and on!).

With less travel and some family time to ourselves, it was time for some R&R. We all finally took in Avatar in 3D -- some of will say we are soooooo late, but for the rest of you simply must see it. Also had a great day at the Aquaventure water park at the Atlantis resort on The Palm (yes, that's the series of islands that looks like a palm tree from above). Fun all round, although our hard marking kids claim that Wild Wadi (another water park here -- see our March 2009 blog) is way better.

Well we closed out the month with a dinner with friends from Europe and a slightly delayed Australia Day BBQ at our place where it unfortunately degenerated into the ladies (?) bursting into a rendition of Meatloaf's "Paradise by the Dashboard Light". Oh well.