A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops (Henry Adams) *

*An awesome quote by Henry Adams (the handsome dude pictured left when he was at Harvard) used in a book I've just finished reading - another of Mitch Albom's efforts called Tuesdays with Morrie.

I've been thinking about teachers a bit lately as you know from an earlier post (come on - pay attention in the back). 

I am a teacher. Lately I have been teaching the teachers - doing professional development work in Al Ain and before that, Doha.

It occurs to me that I'd like to get back to teaching students after this contract ends in July next year. Maybe not the full-time stuff of 5 or 6 classes, but definitely teaching students again.

The Morrie in the title was one of Mitch Albom's favourite teachers/mentors. The book's a celebration of Morrie's life and life itself. It's good. Emotional; it had me going a couple of times. Words hold great power when used skillfully.

Got me thinking about the mentors I've had in my life outside of my parents, who are an automatic inclusion.

Mentors? Who or what are they?

The burb on the back of the book says:

Maybe it was a grandparent, a teacher or a colleague. Someone older, patient and wise, who understood you when you were young and impassioned, helped you to see the world as a more profound place, and gave you sound advice to guide your way through it.

I have been lucky enough to have had one in each category.

My mother's mother (Lucy Constance Adsett), called Ma by me and Ross, was my first mentor. Luckily I have some of her calm, common sense DNA about me. She was tough too - having to bring up her sons and daughter on her own, and she was independent. She lived on her own, in her own home until her death in 1974.

The second was a teacher at Mt Albert Grammar (Warwick Gibbs). I'm not sure what Warwick has as a teacher but whatever it is, it should be bottled and sold online. He has become a mentor to countless generations of boys.

And the third was a colleague - the Principal at my second school as a teacher (Colin Prentice). He is simply the most (maybe only) charismatic leader I've had the good fortune to work for/with. An inspiration in both his professional and private life.

The best influence they've had on me is the recurring thought, "What would (insert name) do in this situation?"

For the most part I've kept in touch with them (they are in the whanau list down the margin).


Wozza, Ma, her son Jack, Ross, her daughter Dulcie (our mum).



Colin taking a leaf out of his own book!

Warwick (right) at a MAGS sports award dinner.

 I'm lucky in that I've thanked them many times for their guidance and inspiration. What about you? Have you thanked those special mentors in your life?

Love and peace - Wozza

Maybe it was a grandparent, a teacher or a colleague. Someone older, patient and wise, who understood you when you were young and impassioned, helped you to see the world as a more profound place, and gave you sound advice to guide your way through it.

I want to ride, ride the tiger (Jefferson Airplane)

Jade's list of things to do while staying with us for two weeks in sand land included swimming with the sharks in the Dubai Mall (possible but in the end too expensive); riding a tiger (technically possible at the Al Ain zoo if you scale the wall and the tiger is in an obliging mood but in the end a tad too dangerous); riding a horse (check); riding a camel...



Giddy up!

This way, right?

Jacky brought up the rear.

Sand land.

Preparing for the dismount.

Jade bids farewell to her camel.



Hate something bud dar dar, change something bud dar dar (Honda campaign song)

You've had a lot of pictures recently so this post contains an abundance of words to get your teeth into instead. You may want to boil the kettle.

Okay - good to have you back. First up is a nifty little advert to get us started on the change stuff.



MMMmmm, I know - it's trying to sell cars but this ad is also talking about our ability to change behaviour if we have the desire. I believe this is possible. But is it possible to change our core personality? Nope - not possible. Problem is they are kinda wrapped up together in some ways - hence a blurring and the room for argument.

This has come up before but it seems to be a theme of some recent discussions. My advisory team was spitballing the idea yesterday that good teachers are born (i.e. they have certain attributes that they cannot learn) and, at home, we (Jade Jacky and moi) were talking about whether people really can change or if we are born a certain way and whether we can ever escape our genes. I don't believe we can.

First the teaching thing - the advisors arrived at the belief that, while incremental improvements and additions can be made to core teacher skills and abilities, no fundamental change can be made to a bad teacher to make them good. I have yet to see a poor teacher miraculously become a good teacher via an intervention. Every teacher I have worked with on competency measures in the UK and Nu Zild has not been transformed by the process.

I have often thought it would be a better idea to do the military thing and rip off their epaulettes after saying, "You've given it a good try, but, sorry, this is not a job for you."

Teaching is a calling. Something deep inside a teacher has driven them in that direction (even if you made a mistake and headed down the wrong line at the recruiting agency).

I suspect this is true of a lot of vocations. I could not be a businessman, doctor, scientist, airline pilot, dentist, a pharmacist, a vet and on and on. These jobs are done by people with (I hope) A) a passion for that field and B) (I hope) distinctive skills that have grown because of A.

Talent alone cannot make a writer. There must be a man behind the book; a personality which, by birth and quality, is pledged to the doctrines there set forth, and which exists to see and state things so, and not otherwise.  Emerson (yes the Brazilian footballer again).

I know this is true for me. I was born to eventually become a teacher. This ends part one - you may want to refresh that cuppa.

Part 2

I look at those two semi-permanent photos of me on this page - one in the popular post section on the steps of my great grandfather's house in Auckland in the sixties, and the other of me at age 21 in the early eighties, used for my profile picture, and I realise I haven't changed.

Yes okay - I'm not delusional - I know I no longer look like those two earlier incarnations but I am, in essence, the same as that little boy and that naive young guy.

The core things are the same - my values and moral compass haven't changed. My naivety hasn't changed. A slight tendency towards obsessive compulsiveness is still with me. My desire for routines - check! Jade observed recently to Jacky that I appear to be more set in my ways these days. But I have always been set in my ways (and I always will be) because that is who I am.

Mostly, I have the DNA and examples of my parents to thank for this. I love the expression - apples never fall far from the tree! All of the above can be clearly traced back to one or both members of the dream parental team of Dulcie and Graham. They proved the raw material and gave me the basics. I grew from there.

Why on earth did they ever get together? On the surface they were such opposites! Easy - because they shared the same core values and attitudes that my brother and I are imbued with. They had just enough surface opposites to complement their personalities but not enough to force them to go in different directions. It was destiny that brought them together (and a twist of fate that broke them apart).

Jade asked me the same question recently about me and Jacky and I gave her the same answer - we share the same core things. Our attitudes, values, and perceptions are the same and our different interests are not enough to interfere with our lifestyle.

The superficial things haven't changed for me either - my interests have remained essentially the same as when I was 12 or even younger: I buy and listen to a lot of music; I have always read a lot of books; I love to write; I love to teach; I love words and I love the idea of solitude; something about the movie going experience hooks me every time; I am slavish about my passions (currently: in music John Mayer, Lene Marlin, movies by Antonioni or Krzysztof Kieslowski, TV shows like Mad Men, books by Murakami).

I've enjoyed writing this post - hope you've enjoyed sharing it. Your thoughts and comments are always welcome!

Love and peace - Wozza

Let me take you to the beach, la la la la la la la (Frank Zappa)

SWMBO's sister Mabelle says we should be starting up a tour biznis for friends and family coming to the UAE. I'm starting to do the Big Bus Tour in my dreams so she may have something.

Jade only had the one weekend to see the sights of Dubai and Abu Dhabi. As luck would have it a holiday was declared on Thursday last week to commemorate Prophet Mohammed's (peace be upon him) ascension from Mecca to the heavens in the year 621 where he met Allah and some of the earlier prophets, before returning to Mecca.

This meant we had a three day weekend. Yahoo!

We started Wednesday afternoon with a journey to Jabeel Hafeet. Unfortunately the visibility was not great and it was very windy. This was a bit of a recurring theme for the weekend with a lot of dust around - hey - it's a desert out there!

Thursday - we tanked up the purdmobile (where the camel in a basket shots were taken) and pottled onwards to Dubai. We stopped at the Wafi Mall, took in a gentle glide down the Dubai Creek via a river cruise on a traditional dhow, went on a Big Bus tour of the Burj and Deira areas of Dubai, stopped off at the Dubai Mall for its classy water features and vast network of shops.

Friday - we went on the second tour route that the Big Bus Tour does to the beach, the Atlantis resort and Lost Chamber exhibition, the Mall of the Emirates and Ski Dubai. Sadly the footage of me falling off a luge and sliding along on my elbows has been mislaid - dammit!

Saturday saw us on the move to Abu Dhabi for the Grand Mosque and, of course, shopping in the Hamdan Centre (me) and the Abu Dhabi Mall (SWMBO and Jade). I arrived at the mosque in shorts so I needed to don a kandoura.

And that was the extended weekend. I'm picking Jade and SWMBO will spend a large portion of today sleeping!

Love and peace - Abu Keegan

Someone told me it's all happening at the zoo (Simon and Garfunkel)

Our fifth visit to the Al Ain zoo was with Jade yesterday. Our first visit was on National Day last year when unbeknownst to us all 400,000 inhabitants of Al Ain decided to go to the zoo as well. Our second visit was on a quiet day at dusk and we loved the experience - it's an awesome zoo. Third time was with Adam.

Fourth visit was with Brian a few weeks ago. Unfortunately we went at a dumb time - the middle of a hot day and we were in survival mode for the afternoon. The animals were also cowering in the shadows - even the african lions looked to be struggling a bit. As it turns out that was the last day before the summer opening hours - from 4pm till 10pm.

So we rocked up with Jade at about 4.30 with sun hats, sun umbrellas and water (and cameras) and spent an excellent three hours roaming around. The animals were much more animated this time (doncha love my cowering and animated puns!). Dusk is definitely the best time to visit.

Highlights are below including SWMBO's decision to go for the Raspberry slushy option which turned her blue (have you seen Avatar?).

Love and peace - Wozza

So we change partners...again (Stephen Stills)

You say goodbye and I say hello!!

Brian and Jade crossed paths yesterday, somewhere over the Indian Ocean; Brian on his way to Nu Zild via Singapore and Jade on her way to us in Al Ain via Dubai.

Brian's final touristy thing on Friday afternoon was the Burj Khalifa - the world's tallest building. He and Jacky took the elevator up to the hundred and twenty-something floor's viewing platform and took in the view.

While they went up, I went into the Dubai Mall (a small part of which is visible in the last photo on the left hand side by the Dubai Fountain) and hung out in Book World (much more me).

It's a long way to the top if you want to rock 'n' roll.

We picked up Jade from Dubai airport on Saturday morning.

The flight schedule said she would arrive at 5.45  but the pilot must have put his foot down because the plane actually got in at 5.

Sadly, therefore, we weren't there to greet her off the plane but it was great to get a big hug when we finally arrived to collect her. And, as you can see, she was thrilled to see us too.

We are looking forward to showing Jade around sand land for the next two weeks and converting her to the joys of wearing an abeya (ar-buy-ya) and sheila (shay-la).

Love and peace - Wozza

P.S. Safe travels to Jesse as he returns to The United States for a while.

Wherever U R is home - part 2 (Prince)

I should have given some idea about who Sheikh Zayed was in that last post. So I'll do that now then shall I?

Sheikh Zayed's official picture is everywhere in the UAE so he's quite a familiar figure and he died only a few years ago so there are many who still remember his leadership here.

I prefer this one from his bedouin days in the late 1940s.

The bald facts:

• Full name - Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan  
• Born - 1918. He was the youngest son of Sheikh Sultan bin Zayed bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, the traditional ruler of Abu Dhabi from 1922 to 1926.
• Died - 2 November 2004
• As a student - He received only a basic instruction in the principles of Islam, and went out into the desert with the Bedouin tribesmen, familiarising himself with the life of the people, their traditional skills and their ability to survive under the harsh climatic conditions. He was a natural though and loved the life of falcons and hunting, riding and living modestly.
• As leader - He was the ruler of the Eastern Region from 1946 before becoming the ruler of the whole Abu Dhabi.and was the principal architect and founder of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). He was the ruler of Abu Dhabi and president of the UAE for over 30 years (1971–2004). Zayed was first appointed (by the other six Sheikhs on the Supreme Council) to the presidency of the UAE in 1971 and was reappointed on four further occasions: 1976, 1981, 1986, and 1991.

As a person he is extremely well regarded both within the UAE, the arab world and the west (former President Jimmy Carter was a friend). His charity work and tolerance saw lots of hospitals and churches belonging to other faiths being built, both in the UAE and in a number of overseas locations.

In Al Ain he is especially revered because of his bedouin links and the fact that he lived in the eastern region of Al Ain for some time.

He is buried in an area adjoining the Grand Mosque. Photographs are prohibited as I found out on my first visit (a security guard watched me as I deleted the snaps I'd taken in ignorance) but it is in the same beautiful style as the mosque.

His grave is visible through some gates - it is very plain - with a white headstone. Emirati men take it in turns to read from the Holy Quran and this is broadcast 24/7 by loudspeaker to those who visit this area of the mosque. It's very moving!

  
Love and peace - Abu Keegan bin Graham