Fun fun fun 'til her daddy takes the T-bird away (The Beach Boys)

Wie geht's?

The second and final draft post that was found quietly residing in my blog's musty attic. Mysteriously, this flashback to 2011 was never posted!

Very strange, because, as you can tell from the post, I loved working with these people and John's farewell was a terrific get together.

Return with me, then to yesteryear:

This week has been about farewells. The Qatari leadership group, that I've been helping to present to, finishes on Thursday. So it's goodbye to them. 

It's also goodbye from him (my colleague John Lambert). Super Johnny (aka Sterling Moss for his driving ability) has been brill and I'll miss him heaps. He's funny, wise, got great stories, knows everything you need to know about Doha, and has forgotten more about leadership strategies than you've had hot dinners, if you know worrimean).

Without fear, he also belts out a mean version of Release Me to crowded rooms of Qataris!!

We had a farewell dinner for him at his favourite watering hole and recreational centre - the Doha golf club. Here we are in all our glory telling tall tales and true.

Yes that's the Woz on the left - Colin (Al Zaeem) - John (Sterling) - Karin (aka Barbie) - Lawrence (Larry). We're in the no smoking corner. Ha ha!

Love and peace - Wozza

Locking in the pocket a smile (The House Of Love)

Rambling Man (You may say I'm a dreamer - Chapter 10 part 10)

Abdulla, Nidal and Abu Keegan on National Day.

When Jacky and I arrived in Al Ain we were very pleasantly surprised on a number of fronts.

Jacky and Al Ain in the distance from Jabal Ali

My old muckers from Doha - Colin Donald, and Graeme McFadyen were in the UAE as lead advisers and Brett Sloan from Taranaki was also in Al Ain. I was amongst friends.

CJ, Brucie, Brett, Graeme, Ali and our Principals

Our accommodation at the Gardens apartment complex was fabulous, close to the Hilton and its gym, close to Bawadi Mall, and only a 25 minute commute to Al Foah on the northern side of Al Ain for me.

Trees and gardens and manicured hedges were everywhere in this beautiful oasis town. We fell in love with it - the place (apart from the traffic and the madness of driving), the lifestyle and when I got to Ali bin Abi Taleb school - the people!

Jan Thomas - a good egg

My blog post before I started work at the school holds up -

This excites me no end. I've missed being in a school; a place I've lived in for the last 26 years. 

Schools are special places with their own individual worlds. Each school world has its own culture, its own characters and customs and ways of doing things. There are leaders and helpers, outsiders who interact with the organisation, rules and regulations, parents and their children - all moving and working in a symbiotic relationship. The movement can be in a variety of directions but when all are working together in a positive way a school is a force to be reckoned with.

Yeah, okay - I admit - I started with a positive attitude but then it all got better and better. I've loved plenty of my jobs but this one was special. Really special!

Mohammed at work 

When I started at the school, there was only me. No translator (so English teachers like Nidal, Magdi and others helped me hugely); I was the Lead Adviser but also the Arabic and English adviser. Two guys in Graeme McFadyen's team came over to lend a hand in maths and science a few hours a week but generally for a few months it was just me.

And it was great. Really great! I had time to settle in and get to know people and the routines.

With Mohammed and his ESOL teacher

The Principal - Mohammed and his deputy, Fadhil, welcomed me with open arms and hearts!

The English teachers (Nidal, Magdi), Mohammed the librarian, the Arabic teachers (Abdulla, Shaban, Salem, Abdul), Hassan the art teacher, and Khalifa would all became special friends. 

Eventually an advisory team was constructed and support came in the form of a (great) translator - Hisham, ESOL advisers came to help Mohamed and Fadhil like David Wallace, and other advisers arrived on a more permanent basis: Dave (Davego) in science, Alvin in maths initially and then the wonderful Jan Thomas, Gavin - IT, and Pete Kehayioff in English.

Music teacher, Ahmed, at taboor

As a team we hummed! Although...going out a limb here - don't think Dave and Alvin liked each other much!

During my blogging at this time I wrote the following post: 

Here's my list (in no particular order) of 25 things to be thankful for in my job as Lead Adviser at Ali bin Abi Taleb School.

1. The laughter I hear in the corridor outside my office every day (from a revolving cast).
2. Air conditioning - couldn't do it without you Mr General.
3. Barbecues organised by the irrepressible Abdulla
   
4. My dream team of advisers. Take a bow Jan, Peter, Davego, David, and Gavin.
5. Sharing an office with our translator, Hisham (a mutual support network of two).
6. The band at taboor (assembly) every morning.
7. Watching the teachers walk arm in arm with students.
8. Shaking hands with students at break time.
9. The Arabic teacher meetings - a riot of laughs.
10. Morning greetings with the staff and handshakes all 'round.
11. It's a boys' school with an all male staff - alhamdolilah (praise to God).
12. It's a Cycle Two school (Grade 6-9) so nowhere near the same pressures as in Cycle Three.
13. Mohammed, the Principal.
14. Holy Qur'an readings by the students which float in the morning breezes.
15. The view of the trees outside my office window.
16. School rituals.
17. The music coming from Ahmed's room (with Nidal's singing from time to time).
18. Abdulla (one of the Arabic teachers) and his daily greetings.
19. The boys' enthusiastic singing of the national anthem at taboor.
20. The friendly warm relationships.
21. Vice-Principal Fadhil's laugh and cheeky smile.
22. The enthusiasm for learning and embracing change.
23. The lack of private agendas that sabotage improvements for students.
24. The sweet black tea.
25. The open gate that symbolizes a lot about the welcoming atmosphere at the school. 

That sums up my feelings - these two years were a wonderful part of my life with an incredible cast of characters! 

Salaam alaykum - Abu Keegan bin Graham Purdy

Where trouble melts like lemon drops, high above the chimney top, that's where you'll find me (Judy Garland)

Rambling Man (You may say I'm a dreamer - Chapter 10 part 8)

Wozza goes to Doha.

Qatar and its main city Doha were huge unknowns. We had no idea what to expect.

The internet can only tell so much and the initial one day induction by Cognition people in Auckland didn't provide me much light and shade either.

It was a big adventure. I was living my Dream Big mantra that I'd shared with my students at Stratford High School.

Jade, Jacky and I arrived in Doha in November of 2009 and were met at the airport by one of my new in-country bosses - Colin Donald. He took us to our new apartment in an older section of Doha - close to the famous Souq Waqif. 

Apartment 704 of Legends Hotel Resort and Spa, Corner of B Ring Road and Najma St., Najma District, was to be our new home for the next 8 months.

Wozza with Deno and our translator (photo
by the world famous Graeme McFadyen)

Initial impressions were on the whole pretty good - Colin seemed to be a good guy, the heat in Doha was okay at 25 degrees, and the apartments were modern and spacious. The cleanliness of our place wasn't up to Jacky standard though so we spent the first few hours cleaning. My working life started with interviewing prospective Principals with Colin (CJ), Graeme McFadyen and Dene Bright (Deno) in a swanky hotel. 

I still have no idea what this was for really as nothing came of the process, but we did the interviews over three days as we were instructed. These first work days were all a bit of a blur really - given the culture shock, the working with translators and finding my place in the scheme of things.

Luckily Deno was a dryly hilarious Aussie bloke who I immediately had rapport with, Colin was laid back and cool and I knew Graeme already.

While I was doing this, Jacky and Jade were learning more about Mall culture, taxis, and how women are regarded in the Middle East.

Wozza with Andie, Reem and Rami

Given they are both blond, very attractive women, and in Jade's case feisty with it, the transition wasn't an easy one.

When we walked down to the souq in the evening there were no other women around, local or otherwise. Jade and Jacky attracted a lot of attention and Jade especially hated that.

Breakfast with the team (Ian next to me)

After a couple of months Jade decided she'd had enough and needed to head back to NZ and get ready for university life in Wellington. This was after we'd been camel riding on a desert safari in a beautiful part of Qatar's border with Saudi Arabia.

Michelle and Gavin have helped look after each of our children during these transitional moments and Jade also had Samantha in Wellington (she'd moved into a flat) so we felt relatively relaxed about things. 

She started at Victoria but quickly realised she wasn't doing a course she liked nor did she like Wellington, unlike Samantha. Instead, she decided to go to Massey at Palmerston North to do nursing.

Colin was the leader of our Leadership Project team - a mixed bag of people from New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, with some local translators thrown into the mix. Half the team were preparing for a big project that was in the planning stages, the other half (including me) was delivering professional development to a group of 80 to 90 Qatari Principals who had been fired by the ministry. They were pretty grumpy - they had to attend our sessions to get paid!

We were working in a marriage venue called Regency Halls - two huge halls with a smaller hall attached. We were in the smaller hall!

John Lambert and I were joined by Karin (a.k.a. Barbie) and/or Aussie Di with Refka and Reem as our translators. Hilarity ensued!

Colin, Wozza, Deno, John and Deno's son.

It's impossible to describe the atmosphere and the craziness that happened on a daily basis (two days we worked from the office to prepare sessions, and three days we delivered seminars).

A few memories - watching some Principals being dropped off at the entrance to sign in (to get their pay), then immediately walk through the venue to where their driver picked them up. The female Principals were very much in a minority - about 15 of them and they could not mix with the men. Breakfast  happened after the first session - exotic foods that took me forever to get used to.

At Regency Halls with my bros.

It occured to me as I was writing this post that I had blogged about all this stuff at length back in 2009 - 2010 (a sample can be found here, including some images of my co-workers like Barbie). Re reading my entries was a hoot - just go to Blog Archive (bottom of the right hand column) and dial into 2009!

After the course finished with the Ministry Principals I was seconded onto another team (called National Professional Standards) - again delivering PD to Qatari leaders with Andie and Aussie Ian Smythe with Rami and Reem as translators. 

It was still cool but not as much riotous fun as the John led team. Eventually that contract ended too and by the end of June 2010 we were back in at our house in Stratford, New Zealand.

It had been a blast! Doha was an experience, an adventure and a half, with some amazing people and some challenging times with no professional regrets!

Love and peace - Wozza

These vagabond shoes they are longing to stray (Frank Sinatra)

Many of my Cognition Education friends in Al Ain and Abu Dhabi have come to the end of the contract line and will be winging their way to new locations in the next week. Some are returning to Nu Zild and others are on holidays or making their way to new jobs in new countries.

Io commemorate/celebrate my time working with them I thought I'd head into the archives for this post and dust off some snaps of some happy times in the sandpit. You may wish to check out more of this celebration on a companion post on http://www.baggytrewsers.blogspot.com/

Margie, SWMBO and Louise



Nola with Wozza



Graysy and me at a prefects' meeting



Brain (Minister of Defence) joins me and
Mohammed the librarian at a school BBQ



My 'son' Hamad



Khamis, Hishy, Hassan and Samir



Jan shares a joke



and shows off her jewellery



With my buddy Abdulla 

Love and peace - Wozza