I'm going to Dubai (temporarily, at least)!
A couple of things have come together to get me to Dubai a bit sooner than expected. I'm going on a "scouting mission" next week.
I'm not quite sure how, but I got an invitation to the Canadian Business Council of Dubai's Annual Newcomers Reception. I guess it's just the fates doing their usual thing with my thread. It's on March 26th (Wednesday). I'll do my best to work the room, make friends, and influence people. In addition I got an email from a school I'd applied to. I'd sort of written them off when I found out that the school year wasn't starting until August (and the application form is over 9 pages), but they got back in touch with me recently. I get the impression that they're in need of a math/physics teacher, so I'm hoping I can get a short term contract with them to finish out the school year. It would get me in the country and making money. Lastly, I have some local contacts in Dubai, a few of them are Sigs, one's a neighbour from Toronto (I re-did his porch roof before I left), and the last is someone from my AEON training group. So we'll see what happens.
Once I got the invite I started looking for cheap flights to Dubai. Expedia got me round trips of US$457, and the best a local travel agency could do was ~$500. But Seetha found an add in the paper for a new budget airline, and they're offering round trip flights for Rs 31,710 (~$300). I'll be leaving on March 24th and coming back April 2nd.
So with all these things coming together I was feeling pretty damn happy. That's been counterbalanced the last few days with some intense homesickness. Frank has been telling me about some of the early history of Highview Cres. (Drug dealers used to live in my house!), and Toronto. So I've been feeling pretty nostalgic. Anyway, time to soldier on. I'm at Kamal's place, and we'll be going on a roadtrip south, early tomorrow morning.