And the youngest of the family is moving with authority (Jethro Tull)

All the best to the small one who is gearing up for her trip to Wellington and her new life as a varsity student. We are also thinking of Adam (good luck with the new job), Keegan (good luck with the re-entry to the varsity years to do post-grad work) and Fanfa (good luck for the last few months in America). We love you guys! Go you good things!!

Love and peace - ma and pop

I'd call that a bargain, the best I've ever had (The Who)

For some time now, I've been meaning to do an in depth on the souq that we visit, but it appears others have got there before me. Here's quite a good youtube video that shows many of the best features.



And here's a link to a blog that has a good commentary and photos if you're too lazy to watch the video - http://mywritersblog.wordpress.com/whats-up/introduction-to-doha/souq-waqif-old-market/

Tra la la - Wozza

Oh what can it mean to a daydream believer and a homecoming queen (The Monkees)

It's been a lovely week in Doha. Jacky has come out to Regency Halls to see what I've been getting up to. It's been great having her there and she was certainly a hit (with the ladies especially - they thought we were well matched!!). Gives me an excuse to put another photo of me and my buddies on the blog too -

The gentleman third from right is Mohammed Rida. You've seen pictures of him on my blogs before. I was chatting with him during the week about football, as you do.

He lives in Al Wakrah (a little town about 10 mins south of Doha on the coast). Coincidentally, I bought a football shirt of that team when I arrived here. So I'm now officially an Al Wakrah fan.

We've chatted about football before but this week he dropped a bombshell. In his youth he played for Qatar! This is pretty cool right? But wait - there's more. He played for Qatar...against England. Again - large on the purdzilla cool-o-meter.

But wait - there's more still. He played for Qatar...against the 1966 World Cup winning England side. Wooh mama. AND QATAR WON!!!! 3-2. You want to know more right? I know I did. When my mouth finally closed and I could focus on my mind/brain/mouth combination again I had about a billion questions for him.

Turns out this all happened in 1977. Mohammed was 17 (I was 20) and playing for Al Wakrah when he was chosen to play for his country. In 1977 the 1966 England legends embarked on a middle eastern tour, eleven years after their only world cup triumph. The tour took in Qatar. They won all of their games - except against Qatar. Unfortunately Mohammed's career was cut short by a cruciate ligament injury that wasn't treated properly. Still - he has a great memory of when he played against, and beat, Bobby Charlton, Bobby Moore, Alan Best et al. WOW!

I always hear great stories from these people. In another for instance, Lulua told me during the week that Qatari men don't wear gold wedding bands (this after she commented on mine). Apparently the thought is that gold affects their fertility. Stories like that are gold (sorry - couldn't resist). I told her I had four children so maybe it wasn't the same for us pakehas.

And in other news...

Jacky and I have paid a real visit to the Museum of Islamic Arts. You can do a virtual one via this link - http://www.mia.org.qa/english/#home . It's a remarkable building and well worth a visit if you find yourself in Doha. It's currently got a great exhibition on Pearls. Really brilliant collection of jewellery and especially pearls - even has Marilyn Monroe's famous cluster. Here are some snaps from our excursion (we only visited two floors so we'll have to go back for more).

On the way to the museum with the Islamic Cultural Centre in the background.

We walked around the corniche past the dhows that you can charter to go out fishing.

This is the elaborate entrance to the museum.And inside it's equally spectacular (the roof is hard to get a sense of in the photograph)


The weather has been interesting as well - a cold 20 degree day on Friday and a dust storm at the end of the week were mixed in with sunny blue sky days of 26 -27 degrees.



These were taken from our bedroom window. Normally this is a crystal clear view of lots of buildings in the distance but alas - not today or yesterday.

Ka kite ano/Caio for naio/ Love and peace - Wozza

Life is a mystery (Madonna)

Jacky has returned to Doha safe and sound. I've been holding on waiting for her return.


She's pretty tired from such a long flight.


Though I'm sure that fairly soon she'll be hunting down those bargains again in the souqs.

I've managed to provide for myself in a reasonable fashion in her absence.


And I've kept myself busy at work to provide for the family.


But I've really missed her TLC.


It does feel a bit strange not having the family here with us. But we take comfort knowing that Jade will adjust to her new surroundings. And, after a time, she will be adopted by some new friends.

Ka kite ano. Love and peace - Wozza (and she who must be adored)

Can't you see the light in my eyes (Todd Rundgren)

The presentations have continued from our teams at Regency Halls (see last post for details). Before I get into some more photos of the action here I am with an awesome bunch of Qatari leaders, aka The Honey Bees (formerly known as The Killer Bees) - left to right - Mohammed, Mohammed Rida, Kalfan giving the thumbs up, me in Beatle tie and Adel.


And so on to the action, beginning with Kalfan who led the presentation for the Bees



The Falcons in full flight with one our translaters - Refka from Tunisia - in the foreground.



Some of The Wolves are seen putting the finishing touches to their model of a solar powered e-caravan (or 'smart-bus') before Khalid did his presentation on behalf of his fellow Wolves (another of our translators - Reem from Iraq - is on the right, along with Dene's left ear and Karin's back).




Ka kite ano/ma'as-salaama for now - Wozza

A home that's girt by sea

It's Australia day and the office Aussies are celebrating so I thought it appropriate to share this clip with the blogosphere (thanks to Colin for the link).



Love and peace (especially to the Aussies today) - Wozza

It's all about chemistry (Semisonic)

I've found that certain types of people create a unique kind of cohesive bond when joined with like minded others. This is a rare phenomena in life. In sport it's also rare. I've supported Arsenal since 1970/71 and the amazing double winning team. I could tell at that early age that this was a snergistic team of talented individuals under a superb coach. Arsene Wenger's mighty unbeaten side of a few years ago are clearly another.

I've only experienced this a few times in my own life so far. The four examples that immediately spring to mind: the English department at King John School 2004-2006; the group who made up the 1999-2000 UNITEC post grad diploma class; The Te Kanawa House staff at Macleans College and the Eden Football Club seniors' team - both 1986-1989.

These are the special ones. That's it. Only four, and believe me - given the huge number of sports and teaching/leadership teams I've been a part of - there are plenty to choose from.

What makes them special? The unique chemistry comes from a peculiar, indefinable quality that creates both an (often) understated common purpose, and a unique combination of personalities who bloom in this new environment.

In the four groups I've highlighted there was a variety of oddly shaped pegs included, but all without exception were united by being in the group. It's a lot like John Lennon said of Mick Jagger's snippy comments on The Beatles. Basically it was a - don't knock us - you're not part of the family sort of message delivered in Lennon's best caustic manner.

I like to think that the whanau who read my Wozza's Place blog are a similar bunch of like minded souls. They hinge on me - I've defined a sixth group.

I think this is partly why social networking sites have become such a huge deal in such a short time - we're redefining our own networks and creating communities in our image and we're loving it.

That's all a long preamble to me introducing a seventh group - the Ministry of Education Principals' group that the Cognition team presents to (this includes presenters, translators, the Qatari leaders).

It's a fascinating bunch of people. They/we are united, yet there are clear differences within the ranks. For one we (the four presenters) are distinct as a group and as individuals. I was going to write that we (the four) are native English speakers - but even that's not true with Karin's Afrikaans background. A second sub set of the we (presenters) is the interpreters (Refka, Hani, and now Reem). They come from all over - Tunisia, Syria and Iraq and are all as vastly different as the presenters are.

Then we have the Principals and Deputy principals - on the surface a disparate bunch but once accepted by the group you are 'in' and woe betide any 'outsider' who tries to alter the equilibrium. I must say I'm feeling very at home and accepted now in the group. It did take a while but after a few presentations a change seemed to take place and a different feeling of belonging entered the relationship.

One of the activities I've been involved in has had a lasting affect on the organisational culture of the whole group. I asked them to give their table groups a name. The nine teams re-branded themselves and have since developed deep affiliations with the name. A very interesting phenomena in itself. For the record they are (men's groups first): Happy Faces; Wolves; Tigers; Falcons; Stars; Killer Bees; (then women's) Candles; Development Team; and The Queens.

This week Karin and I have presented the group with a challenging activity where each of the teams has to present their ideas on an environmentally friendly project for a school. Here are some photos of the teams at work (by the way - I checked carefully with each person that they were happy for me to share these photos with Cognition and my blog). First up are Stars with their model of an eco-friendly playground.

Spokesman for the Stars in the presentation was Mr Ghanam


Spokesman for the Happy Faces was Mr Mohammed


Here are the Stars putting finishing touches to their work.


The Tigers group made an impromptu table sculpture.


This is The Happy Faces team with their model of an eco-friendly rooftop garden

The Wolves at work on their solar powered structure.


The Stars presenting their ideas to my co-presenter Karin Weise


The Falcons at work, predicting victory.


The Killer Bees table in discussion during a planning session.


More photos will be added after the remaining teams make their presentations.