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Robert's notes from DubaiThis is an extension of my web site at www.rascott.com; and will mainly be used to display pictures and some personal notes.
January 26 A long overdue updateI had a great Christmas and New Year with the two people that I most love and care for - Tai was home for almost all of the the holiday and Alex (my ten year old who Tai is very fond of) was in Dubai from 22nd December to 2 January. I am lucky that they are such good friends.
As the new year starts there is so much that I am looking forward to on the personal side. I have never felt this certain about someone or this deeply committed.
Yet nagging away is uncertainty about my work - that is the nature of the company I work for. And a sense of not being settled in Dubai. In Toronto, Hong Kong and Bangkok I felt I was living somewhere that I could happily call home. But Dubai is not home. It is a place in transition and it is a place where I feel as though I am in transition. I work hard here and we make the best of the time that we have together in Dubai when Tai is not flying. But I do not feel at ease here.
We were in Bangkok together last weekend and it was great to be back amid the the energy, colours. smells, people sights and places. And it was good to see friends that I miss. One day we will be back there together.
When I joined Reuters the company gave me the chance to travel the world. There were long overseas trips which gave me the opportunity to explore and work in so many different cities and cultures. Within a year of joining Reuters I had been to the Middle East, the Far East and the USA. Now it is Tai's time to have that opportunity. And it is my time to work hard to give us the future that we want and deserve. One big difference is that when I was travelling there were no digital pictures and all my pictures are in old photo albums !
I think about Alex every day. It is hard being away from him. I remember the things I used to do with my Dad. How he would help with homework; how we would go over to the local playing field and kick a football around. How he would come home arly from work and take me to the evening session at the local Warwickshire county cricket ground.
There was good and bad of course. We moved from Birmingham to the middle fo no where - a tiny little village nf the Shropshire-Staffiordshire border. It was a great career move for him; but it was farming land, not city life; the local school was an hours's drive away and I dont remember being happy there. He would try though. In the end it was the incentive I needed when he encouraged me to go to his old boarding school, Haileybury. I remember when he took me to the school to meet some of the staff there. I had never been away from home for more than a weekend and then only with family. But now I was ready - and he helped me for hours with my Common Entrance exam as the grammar school curriculum did not easily fit to the baording school requirements.
I cannot do that for Alex. I know his Mum is there for him. But I am not. I call him most days and he always seems happy and sensible. But I miss watching him grow up. I miss helping answer his curiosity.
I lost one family. I lost that family because I did not put the family first; i put me and my work first. Alex's mum and I forgot how to look after eachother; we forgot how to make eachother feel needed, important and wanted. Of course there is more to it than that. It took me a large part of my life to understand the real obligations that come with loving someone without conditions.
But it is never to late to be the person you want to be; to be with the person that changes your life; to be with the person that makes you grateful for every new day.
Work is work; If I have to change job then I will as long as it is in Dubai and Tai and I are happy and together.
Thats about it for an update. We will be on holiday in four weeks. Time away together is important as we only get llimited time together in Dubai between flights.
On a final note, my baby brother, who is three years younger than me, is about to becone a step-grandfather. And there am I thinking how wonderful if would be if Tai and I have a family. She would be a wonderful mother !
Have a great 2008. I hope it is a very special year.
October 15 After a week home in Thailand I did not want to leaveTai and I are back from a week home in Thailand. It was hard to come back to the sandpit.
We had a few days in Bangkok and spent three nights in Pai in the North West. Pai was quiet and green and peaceful and a real escape. It is the perfect antidote for Dubai. The inaccessibility of the town is part of the attraction. You have to make a conscious effort to get there and when you are there you will stay in guest houses and small cottage resorts not in big named hotels; not yet anyway.
One of the great attractions of Bangkok is how easy it is to travel from the city around Thailand or South East Asia. A one or two hour flight can take you to the beaches of Samui or Phuket; to the historic cities of Luang Prabang, Rangoon or Chiang Mai; to the big cities of Singapore, Kuala Lumpur or Saigon; to Angkor Wat or Hanoi. Or a drive and a boat to Thailand's remote beaches and islands.
It is all easily accessible and very affordable.
Where can you go to in two hours from Dubai. You can drive around the UAE and look at more sand and building sites; fly or drive to Oman, or take a trip to Iran or Saudi Arabia; neither being major tourist destinations.
Five hours takes you to Greece or Turkey but that is effectively a day of traveling.
What about if you want to stay in town. In Bangkok you have endless malls and markets. Siam Paragon is more attractive that any of Dubai's malls. And Dubai will never have a JJ market or Suan Lum.
In BKK you can eat by the river in 5 star comfort or from food stalls. Dubai has the creek but its just not the same.
Spas, nightlife, food or every description, Thai hospitality and that little bit of mystery and craziness that always makes Thailand so interesting. The politics are a mess but people dont truly care that much as long as they are making a reasonable living. There is always something to see or do. Traveling there with Tai I experience so much more of the city. We will have street noodles one day and eat at a nice restaurant the next. We visit the Erawan Shrine and pay our respects. We shop; drink street coffee and soya. And then go to Starbucks. Bangkok is a true fusion city and it was great fun to be home.
I did not play golf during our visit - and I dont miss it; I am quite happy exploring the city or traveling with Tai. We did have the pleasure of dinner with some dear friends and the time simply flies by as we all catch up on our news.
I do need to improve my Thai so that I can tell Tai's family that I am happy I am to be with them and to tell them that home is with Tai and that we will come back to Thailand. August 24 A Dubai updateIt has been over two months since I updated this blog. I have still been updating the pictures and my main web site at www.rascott.com
Tai is in New York today. We were there together in May the week of my birthday and just before I started work. It was a happy time exploring the New World with her. And it is strange to think about her going to all the places that we went to so recently. She must be having fun....she is very quiet!
After almost three months I still have not fully settled back into work. It would be unfair for me to write about the work and the Company. But it has not been quite what I expected. There are some very able people. But after years working in public companies with significant accountability and transparency a private family business is a very different environment.
And working in Dubai is different. The hours are long - a 7.30 start. Levels of professional service are still not at the level of first class business centres. The quality of professional advise, innovation of ideas and progress on getting things done can be slower than expected. I am trying to be diplomatic.
Work should pick up as the new school year starts. It has not been an easy start to my Dubai career. But I need to make the best of my time working here. I came to Dubai because Tai and I want to be together; at least as much as her flying career wil allow.
It is late and has been a long week. I would like to sound positive and upbeat about my life here. But I have been uncertain about both my personal life and my career this week. I should be more confident. I know I am doing my best. But at both a personal and a professional level sometimes you need other people to tell you that you that all is well with the world!
Tai and I had a great time with Alex in England at the beginning on this month. There are plenty of pictures on this site. It was so nice to see green fields, to see and feel rain, to read a decent newspaper. My mother is doing well. She is strong and well and has a great network of friends in the village.
I am already looking forward to our next holiday (Bangkok in October). The last few weeks back in Dubai have been quite stressful; work, for both of us, has been tiring. Dubai in August has little to commend it. It is at least 45C most days; and not much cooler at night.
Tai will be back later tonight and I will be happy to see her.
June 03 Starting work againToday was quite a momentous day. I am back at work....CFO of a Dubai based regional education business. It is a big role with great potential and is going to go through rapid growth and quite significant changes to its structure and organisation.
One downside - they start at 7.30am every weekday and finish at 5.30pm. That way they can have a 48 hour week and still have the whole weekend off.
It is what Tai and I have been working for since we knew that we should be together in Dubai. At some stage I had to find work and find something interesting and challenging to do. I have found that. But I will miss being able to stay with her when she comes back from her trips and to be there during the days she is at home and enoying her company.
But we will have to try and fit our schedules together as best we can. Her days off will not always be the same as my weekends off. So we will need to make the best of the evenings when we are both here; the nights when we are both here (despite the 6.30am alarm!) and the weekends and holidays that we have.
For instance Tai will not land from Rome until 1.45am - so home and tired at about 3.15am. We have less than 3 hours of sleep and then I have to get up for work. But it is worth it to see her; get her unpacked and hold her until we sleep. And then I have to try not to wake her in the morning !
Yesterday was six months since we became engaged. I would ask her very day but she would get bored. I always want her to know how important she is to me and how much I cherish the relationship that we have. Sometimes I may try too hard or think too much. There are days like today when I really wish she was here - that I could tell her about work and the people there; the things that need to be done; that we could eat together; that we could curl up on the sofa together and hold eachother and escape the rest of the world for a few hours.
Even now, when she is over three hours away, my heart still beats faster at the knowledge that she will be home later.
May 12 FamiliesTai is a very good influence on me - I know it, and other people have made the same observation. She makes me laugh, makes me cry, makes me incredibly proud of her and reminds me every day of why I love her.
She is also strongly rooted to her family and to Thailand. I grew up very differently. Always moving. Away at boarding school when i was 13 with my parents in Nigeria and my brother and sister at their own schools. It made me independent and fairly resilient. But it meant that we did not grow up as a family and as we grew up we all moved in our own separate directions.
I went to Canada and then to Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok. My sister went to Turkey 23 years ago and has built a life and a terrific family there. Just an indication of how unconnected we are is that it took 23 years for me to visit her in Izmir and it was being with Tai that prompted that visit.
It was time to be a family. It was time for Tai to be part of that family in the same way that her family makes me feel welcome. But it was Tai who encouraged a visit to Izmir and Tai who shows me what being part of a family really means.
We do of course have an extended family now ! Alex is 10 now and living with his mother in Hong Kong. It was easier to see him when we were in Bangkok. But I hope he knows that he is always in our thoughts and hearts. Tai sends him postcards from her lay-overs. It is a lovely gesture and such a nice way to keep in touch. Non one really sends letters or cards in the way that we used to - email and online cards have taken over. But I know how much I like to receive her cards and know that I was in her thoughts.
We had a lovely time in Izmir - too short. The pictures hopefully show how busy we were, how good the weather was and how strong the colours. Vanessa and family may have to let us cook for them next time. All the bread, cheese, fruit and vegetables is very healthy but I need spicy food !! We were made very welcome and now that we have been once I am sure we will be back.
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