Fore play.

I had a very active week.

This is our first week with students and I got a chance to meet them for the first time. And....it was a six day workweek. One weekend a month we will have to work on a Thursday (re: Saturday) and this was that weekend. The students stayed until 12:15 and then we have professional development until 2:30. Most of the teachers from the west then went to the hash. We walked in the same area as lastime but through a different part of the wadi (dry river bed). I had an nice talk with some other new hashers and the walk was easier this time with less up and downs over terrain that would give under your feet. There was one major climb that took a good 5-10 minutes depending on your fitness level but overall I thought it was easier than the first hash I partcipated in.

Today I had the chance to go play GOLF!!!! A man who lives in the compound and his wife who was only visiting for 4 days invited me to play golf with them at Dirab Golf Club. Nico and his lovely wife were gracious hosts and very good company. Even more amazing was that they were willing to take me considering she was only here to visit Nico for four days. I am very humbled by the fact that they were willing to spend some of their precious time with me.

Dirab www.dirabgolf.com/ is an 18 hole facility that is about 45 minutes from our compound.

It is a par 72 course and is a very nice facility with several interesting holes. There is a good bit of elevation change and you can bet that when the wind blow that this course is very difficult. I can't say that I know what type of grass they use but it was quite tighly grown and had very little grain. There was one bermuda grass green that was absolutly terrible but I have to admit that was the only putt of any length I made all day.

The course has a wonderful practice range and you can see there is the logo of the club on the back of the range on the hill. Apparently at night there is a lighted display behind the facility and there are light standards on the back nine for nighttime golf!!

Next week is the Saudi Arabia Amature golf championship and I am giving strong conideration to playing. The cost would be the equivlant to two rounds and they would acutally give us three rounds and goodies for particiupating in the tournament. I would seriously doubt that I have any chance to win considering I only played the course once and that was the only time I have played in 5 weeks. But I did knock the rust off and it has done wonders for my spirits. This place would be a great place to play often but when the family gets here there will be other things to do so a memberhips doesn't really make any sense. But if I can play once a month or so, it would be a geat thing and I am pretty sure Chris wouldn't mind that too much at all. After all we are here for new experiences and I intend to find them rather than 'just play golf'. Golf will always be my first outdoor love and the great thing about the game is that it is always there waiting for me.