Jordan River

Links to the videos of the river

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--851QYnvdk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpclp79HfIY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90pAtBFBn1o

Jordan River and the Dead Sea

you can view new photos at http://community.webshots.com/user/chadgriggs

Wow today was definitely a day that I will never forget for the rest of my life. When we got up this morning we decided to go to the Dead Sea which is supposed to be about 30 minutes outside of Amman (which is one of the boarders of Jordan and Israel. On the way we started seeing signs for the Baptism sight, and when we asked the taxi driver what it was for and then it came to us that it was the baptism sight for Jesus. We couldn’t believe it so we made our way through the security. We got our tickets and waited on the bus that was supposed to take us down to the river. After going through several military checkpoints we finally got to where you could see the churches that were on the river. As we walked down the path you could get your first sight of Israel which is on the other side of the Jordan River, ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_River ) as well as seeing the cities of first Jericho and then Jerusalem just past it in the distance. It is so amazing and the feeling of shock hits you thinking about how much you have read and heard about the area. As we continue on we get our first sight of the river and you start grasping the idea that Jesus was actually baptized in the river more then 2000 years ago. And we continue onto the past where the amazing little church sits that was built in 2003 where there’s a pathway into the water and on the other side of the river is where the viewing area is on the Israel side and then a few churches. With the two cities in the background along with the Mount of Temptation (http://www.olivebranch.com/isreal/mtemp.htm) where Jesus was tempted to turn the rocks into bread. Matt 4:1 (KJS) Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

There was a group of Philipino women that were there and they started getting into the water and started getting baptized it was amazing. As I got into the water and started walking into the center the tour guide said that he wouldn’t recommend going much further that one meter away from the shore because of border line between Isreal and Jordan is halfway between the river which is 6 meters wide so I guess officially was in Israel today (hopefully there were no minute men around j/k) anyways the military guards with machine guns were keeping close watch on the boarder.

Anyways back on track the women were playing the guitar and singing church songs that I recognized and it was really touching. So I decided that I wanted to declare that Jesus was the son of God right then and there for the second time thinking that it would be very symbolic in my faith to do it the same place that Jesus was. So I re-proclaimed there that Jesus is the Son of God and that he died for the forgiveness of my sins. It was all really powerful for me personally. As all rivers do they change paths through time and so by walking a couple of feet in towards Jordan we came to the site (where it has been confirmed by archeologists that it was where Jesus was infact baptized) because of the fact that it was right next to the church where John the Baptist did all of his work. There was actually three churches on the same site. The remains of the steps where Jesus actually walked into the river are still there, and the remains of the first second and third churches are all still there. The reason there were three is because the water kept washing them away so they built the second and then the third. And they wanted to keep it in the same location because it was right where Jesus was baptized.

Again it really made me think because of all of the different things that were right there. So many things that I had read studied and believed for so many years all in my fingertips. And now all put together making so much sense. As you can see this was defietly a day that I will never forget. We ended up making our way back to the cab with a new zest for life and looking forward to experiencing the Dead Sea (that I had been told was pretty salty jk)

Anyways one thing that I forgot to tell you about was all the different goat and sheep herders that were everywhere minding to their flock. Something that I didn’t know still existed but because of the lack of grass/plants it is necessary to keep the animals moving or they would starve. Something that I had seen before seeing the baptism sight and something that again put things all together afterwards. Really amazing.

We made our way to the Kepenski hotel which is the same hotel chain that manages the Emirates Palace. It was recommended by the GM of the Sheraton who I had meet with a couple days before. Although they said that we would have trouble getting in because its only hotel guest aloud and that also they are the only ones who are aloud to purchase foods or drinks. So when we pull up to the entrance they had velvet ropes as a gate and we flashed our press passes to the security who called the assistant GM who then greeted us at the hotel lobby. He then insisted on giving us a tour of the hotel we first walked out the back doors of the lobby that goes out onto a deck that looks out to the many never ending pools that look like they are flowing into the Dead Sea with the amazing mountains shooting up into the ski from Israel. He then took us around on the golf cart showing us the many amenities of the hotel. And of course just like at the Emirates Palace they show “the Media” only the best so we headed straight to the royal suite. Which is actually a Villa that is detached from the hotel. It is five bedroom, three stories, with a huge private indoor and outdoor pool and private beach separated by huge walls. The Villa is 3 stories and just massive with its own massage room, sauna, and steam room among many other amenities. The spa has actually imported Thai women to complete the Asian theme.

He then showed us the beach where they had imported two types of sand one white for the first half of the beach then a brownish orange sand that makes it look very interesting. The shore is covered with rocks that are covered in salt. It is amazing they are all white, they have even put in bamboo so you don’t hurt your feet on the rocks when you get into the water. When dropping us off by one of the pools he tells the restaurant/bar manager to take great care of us and that he would be back to check on us. We had an amazing lunch of fresh seafood, and they pampered us by bringing chilled towels, fresh fruit, Evian water, and any drink we wanted to us. The cool thing about this pool they actually had a DJ at it spinning the latest in house and club music with huge speakers, it was really trendy and very cool. Again the view of the Dead Sea and the mountains in Israel were amazing. We then went down to the beach and partook in taking care of our skin by lathering up in the black mud that comes from the bottom of the Dead Sea. It is supposed to be really cool for your skin.

So let me try to explain swimming in the Dead Sea. It was one of the coolest things that I have ever experienced. You are floating on top of the water, not in the water, not in between the water, but literally on top of the water. The closest thing that I can compare it to is floating in the water when you are scuba diving but put that feeling on top of the water. I can’t begin to describe the saltiness of the water, when some gets in your mouth it is tastes saltier then pouring a bottle of salt in your mouth. And you can just feel the minerals and salt healing your skin, and then you get out and your skin feels like a baby.

I will stop now but I just can’t begin to describe how cool the day was. Definitely one of the coolest travel things that I have ever done both a person and as a Christian. I hope you are all dong well, and hope that you will be able to experience this some day. Lots of love.

Chad

Steppin in High Cotton!

Ok so I won’t start this blog off with so much has happened since the last time I wrote although I have. I feel instead I will let you in on a little Jordanian culture. Some will say it is just Chad being a pessimist but really it is just Chad being a realist! Anyways as you know I have been around the world and then some giving me the blessing (ah hem) of enjoying the many varieties of cabs/cab drivers around the world and I am not leaving anyone out I’m talking from the luxury white gloves and top hat, to the Japan automatic door opening driver, to the typical increasingly dirty don’t open the door from the left side because I will curse at you because there is a possibility that the fast moving cars coming along side will take my door off and it will cost you 30JD caulause (we are finished) cab rides. With that said let me bring you to my day yesterday.

We pull up to the Central Bank of Jordan where we are greeted by an abnormal amount of machine guns (I mean two or three at the front of the hotel is like a welcome mat) but this was extensive. Anyhow the cab driver translated (and I am sure you can imagine how that went like trying to get a person from Arkansas and a Oxford grad to say hello) and was talking to people inside the gates. Keep in mind this is like 2pm and you thought your bank closed early. We are greeted by a guy who is very friendly and then we realize that there are like 10 people in a row that are lined up there to greet us. Not knowing who the Governor of the bank is or what is going on we are very friendly to everyone. Anywho we are taken to this very opulent office with wood and leather all over the place. (and as I have written before it is amazing the higher floor in a building you go the better the English gets, its sad but subconsciously you can tell how important the person you are talking to is how much do they sound like a brit?)

Anyways we were greeted by this man who came into the sitting area who we had no clue was, but eventually welcomed us into “his office” I think that this is a prime example like in waiting tables is the fact that you never know who you are dealing with until after the fact. Anyways it was interesting seeing the different security measures that were taken throughout the process including him holding a device in hand that would unlock the door to the office as well it had a microphone on the end for security to listen in to make sure everything was ok in the office. He was the former Ambassador to Belgium for Jordan among other things. And it was interesting to hear from him about many different topics during our hour and a half meeting (we were shocked at the length of our discussions with him in his office) including topics of: current initiatives of the central bank, roles of local vs. foreign banks in Jordan, the transition to the requirements of banks capital reserves of 70 million JD by 2007, anti terrorist funding, anti-money laundering, bank consolidation and reform among others. He is going to confirm with the King and the Finance Minister at a conference tomorrow to see which time slot they will take either the 60 or 90 seconds along with heading up the financial section of the program.

For those who have not heard I also meet with His Excellency Minister Nassar (the Minister of Tourism) I don’t mean to belittle him and if you want more info on this meeting do email me. But anyways what really does make me laugh is one simple thing and my friend was talking to me about this. I made pretty good grades well lets just say not A’s in my finance and accounting classes. And here I am meeting with the top person of a Central Bank of a nation who will be speaking with the Minister of Finance and his Highness the King about this the next day. Anyways it just proves that good grades are great, don’t get me wrong, but in some professions there are other things that “float the boat” and “make the ship sail”!

All for now I hope you are all doing well

Chad

PS - attached are the two photos with Dr. Umayya Toukan (the governor of the central bank) in his office.

Meeting with the VIPs

I had another interesting day of work today. We went to a convention and did a couple of meetings. I was able to get to meet His Excellency Minister of Tourism Nassar which I have included the photo. It is funny because these heads of state are very approachable. Whenever we were talking with him the news crews were snapping photos like crazy because the head of the convention introduced him to us. Besides that not much else is going on. We have made good progress in the past couple of days. People have started to wine and dine us. Today we got invitations to go to a retreat by the dead sea, dinner and drinks at an aribic place, Dinner at the four seasons with the GM, and dinner at the Le Royal at the Budda Bar. Only if I wasn’t working so much and I could enjoy it more. I think that things will slow down once we get all of our network in order. At the pace that we are going with meeting people and faxes sending out it should be huge. All my best to everyone.

Amman & the Kingdom of Bahrain

So the past week has been very interesting for me. As I stated I had big plans for my last night. And it lived up to my expectations. We stated out at the Grovsenor House Hotel on the 44^th floor looking out towards the palm harbor and the marina which was great. Then after packing and getting everything ready we made our way to the Burj Al Arab which is said to be the only seven star hotel in the world. I have spoken about it several times it is on its own private island and is built in the shape of a sail. You have to go through to security checks right before crossing the bridge which is defiantly interesting. The interior of the hotel defiantly fits the design of the hotel which is completely over the top. The centerpiece is a set of fountains that go up in the air about fifty feet that also have lighting the accompany it. With huge aquariums on both sides. You take escalators inbetween the two to get to the upper part of the lobby and to where the elevators are. Of course they offered Arabic tea and dates when we arrived. The elevators are glass and look out to the sea, but it wasn’t that great because of it being dark. In a way it felt like I was heading to my dinner table on a cruise.

The restaurant which is on the topfront of the hotel is on a bridge looking thing that jets out lengths wise out from the hotel. The first thing you notice is the paneling that is tons of little lights that look like a computer main frame lighting up like you are entering a main frame. Then they sat us at our huge table next to the window and the three piece jazz band. We had originally thought that we were going to have a light dinner here, but considering drinks were $25US a piece we decided not to, To give you a comparison of the rest of the menu the ribeye steak was $350 and a bottle of Opus One (recent vintage) $1,500 so lets just say it was the most expensive restaurant I have ever seen or heard of. Because you can’t see out the windows because it was night they had to do something over the top to make the restaurant interesting. They started with the computer lighting entrance but on the ceiling in the restaurant was rolling plains looking things that were in every kind of rainbow color (red, green, blue etc.) and after enjoying my drink I agreed with what the girls said. That the hotel company had gone soo over the top that it was just tacky. Lets just say anyone would be surprised when they walked in there but maybe that’s what they were going for.

Our next stop was at another top hotel the Shangrala which was having an invitation only party that was hosted by Moet Champaigne. Of course we weren’t on the list but we walked to the front of the line and showed them our press passes and they opened the velvet rope right up for us. We ended up meeting up with some friends of our that had a VIP table that was nice, and there was some DJ that they had flown in that was someone that I was suppose to know but didn’t. IT was cool because they went around pouring moet for everyone etc. The girls begged me to stay out later but by 2 I was ready to go because I had a flight to catch the next morning. So I left and about the time I was getting up to catch my flight the girls came in from one of the after parties that they had been invited too at one of our friends houses.

I flew gulf air from Dubai to Bahrain which was nice it was only an hour flight but they still served a hot meal. Something that the airlines in America think will cause them to go broke if they serve peanuts (really makes you think). Flying into the kingdom of Bahrain was nice it is about half way from Dubai and Jordan. It has a really beautiful cost line and nice sandy beaches. Once I arrived in Jordan the girls had arranged for the hotel to pick me up. There was a guy there holding a sign with my name on it that carried my luggage for me. And the first thing that I noticed was the amazing weather as soon as I stepped outside. It was just perfect, I think it was the first time I was sweating in over a month.

The views as we drove through Jordan was much different then what I expected. To tell you the truth I am not sure exactly what I expect maybe just like Dubai a ton of sand. Although geographically speaking comparing Dubai and Jordan is like comparing Florida with Seattle. The first thing that I noticed was the rolling hills and all of the building were built out of the same local sand stone with a light white/creamish color. About every 15 feet for the first five miles was kids on the side of the road trying to sell cucumbers which was really strange but apparently the kids are out of school and that’s something that they can do.

After talking with the hotel driver for a while he asked if I wanted to see some of Amman, not having any other plans I said why not. So he drove me into some of the neighborhoods which were full of what he called palaces but were just businessmens homes that were enourmous, and then through down town. As we pulled up to the hotel the view was not what I had seen on the website of the hotel because the picture was taken from the back. It was interesting because the first thing you notice is a really nice hotel. The next is the fact that there is a cement wall that is about five feet out from the curb, so there is no place to pull up and valet or to drop off luggage in the circle drive. Although there is a circle drive but because of the baracades you can’t drive in it. Then you notice the 2 military guys with machine guns but that wasn’t so out of place because the city tour I saw lots of police boths and military people standing out keeping an eye out. There is also a police car and officer outside the hotel along with a tent outside the entrance of the hotel that has hotel security guards checking bags/briefcases and a metal detector for everyone that comes into the hotel.

As I check in Colleen my sales manager meets me at the front desk. She is pleasant and takes me up to my room where I meet the two trainees. One is a girl from Chicago and the other a guy from the UK. They all seem very nice and we head to the pool for the afternoon.

Colleen says that she is hungry and that we should catch an early dinner because we have work to do that night. So we walk to an area of two streets not far from the hotel that is a row of cafes with tons of people sitting outside enjoying (there Friday night Out) it is interesting because it is like the perfect tempature outside. And everyone is out enjoying and every table has a hooka with people smoking shesha at it.

We work that night and the next morning we have a meeting with a four star hotel. I do the interview part of the meeting and make my first close for $75,000 not a bad close for my first job assignment. It is actually a barter agreement for 160 suite nights at the hotel including breakfast, Dinner, dry cleaning, and internet.

We worked long and hard that day and yesterday putting in ateast 12.5 hours usually more. But I have been enjoying the fast pace. The hotel amenities (it really is crazy to me to think that I am living in a 5 star hotel) tonight we worked late. And then a member of one of the other teams here in Amman came over to the hotel and went to dinner with us. It was good getting to hear about their experiences. As I begin to start my new project I pray that I am able to continually adjust to life in a new place, that I am able to find a church that I like, and that I am able to learn and be successful on my new assignment. All for now I have posted some new pics if you want to take a look. I will try to take more this weekend. Oh btw pray that tomorrow goes well we are meeting with the four seasons so I wouldn’t mind living there for a month as well.

Chad

Where am I headed Next? Read on

So today I finished up my “field training” and am now a full fledged member of Media Plus consulting. The past several days have been very interesting because of all the different turn of events that have happened.

In discussing with the girls they and I had come to the conclusion that I would return to Belgium to begin planning for my first project. And we figured that Tuesday which was the day that my sales manager would get into town that I would find out where my first project would be. Because of a car accident and teams having to separate I thought that I would be going to Germany to take over and finish up the project there which is one that my sales manager over sees. But I was not told that I would be going to Belgium instead I was told that I would be staying in Dubai/Abu Dhabi for an extra week to get to spend more time working with my sales manager Juliet but I would actually be getting commission of the contracts that we close on. Also they told me that my partner would be a man. This was very surprising because everything that I had heard in the interview process was that teams were generally made up of one guy and one girl. Although the team that I trained with was made up of two girls.

So at this point we think that I have at least one more week to spend in the city that I love Dubai and so end up planning a party at our house for Friday night. We had already begun planning it and inviting tons of expat friends of ours to come over. Well last night after sitting down with my sales manager again she tells me that things have changed again. Remembering that flexibility is the key to this job I prepare myself with many ideas running through my mind. Because the girls had told me that at that point they new where in the world I would now be going. I had previously discussed with them and my sales manager the destinations in which I want to do projects in those which were in Asia, Africa, and South America. And so Aileen was messing with me and told me that I was going to love my destination and that it wasn’t Africa and it wasn’t Asia.

So anyways my sales manager sits me down and tells me that plans have changed and that I will need to fly out in the next couple of days to start up a project in Amman, Jordan. That she would no longer be my sales manager, and that I would be getting a new one along with two new people who have been with the company for a week and a half. That they will be training while there and then one of them will be staying on as my teammate whenever they finish up their training.

One of the coolest things is that I will be living at the five star Le Meriden Amman. Not too shabby. I will be working on another television project for Fox in New York so I am also excited to keep on with television. There is just something about TV that is more glamorous then print and people want to be more affiliated with TV for that reason I think. Anyways so I have a big night ahead of me, my last night in Dubai. It really is crazy thinking that I have been here for a month now.

I have truly grown to love this city, and can’t wait to return. I can honestly say that I could see myself living here for a year or so on business in the future, not to get anyone worried. I will probably just come to visit and play instead of work in the future.

I guess finishing up my time here in Dubai. The one thing that I want to bring back to my readers, family, and friends back home is the fact that how friendly the Middle Eastern people are here. And that they truly deserve respect, something that I don’t think is a word that often comes to mind as Americans of this region. That the people that are terrorists are few and far between. That bad people come from all parts of the world and associate themselves with all types of places, people, and regions. And in closing that I now have a changed attitude, perception and sense of respect for the people that have inhabited this region for so many years.

Tonight, I am going to enjoy my last night in Dubai. We are going to go to the grosvenors house (hotel) ( link at - http://www.grosvenorhouse-dubai.com/ ) to a bar on the 44^th floor to enjoy the sunset. Then tonight we are going to a lounge that is called the Buddha Bar in this same hotel that is supposed to be the place, and then we are going to finish it up right with dinner reservations at the icon of Dubai – the Burj Al Arab (link at - http://www.burj-al-arab.com/) . I am sure the night will be absolutely amazing. Although I do think it is funny because of the fact that coming here the main thing that I wanted to see was the Burj Al Arab and after a month I still have not gone inside it. They have two check point you have to get through to go over the bridge. And finally after a month of being here in Dubai I am finally going to get to experience all there is of the Burj Al Arab!

Skiing in Dubai

I can’t believe how long it has taken me to post a new blog. But work has taken up all of my time during the week, but I am making a lot of progress in my training. In fact I participated in several meetings last week, and I think that one of the deals is even going to be closed for around $75,000 next week if all goes as planned.

As I said work has been really busy as we are in the final stages of the project here, trying to get all of the meetings in, do work on the scripts for the program and getting training sessions in. So much so that Thursday (which would be a US Friday night) I worked until 9pm and the girls till around 12. After that I made my way to explore some of the massive mall called Mall of the Emirates and had a great meal at the Indian restaurant that I like there. It was interesting there were tons of people every where mainly locals which is a first. But also because of the culture here there were groups of guys hanging out doing their own things and groups of girls but no mixing between the two it has to do with the conservative nature. And if there was social interaction between the two it would be really frowned upon.

Today was interesting it was Friday and time to go to church. I had found a Baptist church online that looked nice, and the pastor was from Texas. It was supposed to start at 10:30 after driving around the vicinity of where I new it was next to this shopping mall that it was supposed to be by, although all that was around it was houses and hotels I saw a white person. So I stopped and asked them if they knew where the church was. Keep in mind for some reason I was looking for your typical Fort Worth Baptist church i.e. huge and obnouxous looking (and I mean that in the nicest way) but you know something recognizable. Anyways the guy laughed and said that actually he had been in it but it was too hot so he had just left. He said that as I could imagine they had to keep a low profile ( I guess it is because 97% of the pop is Muslim but even at that I must admit I was surprised at his comment) Anyways he says he will show me so I park and he leads me to through this gate into a houses garden. Where inside I see a small sign sitting next to the house that says EBCI (Emirates Baptist Church International) he said that since I was 30 minutes late that it would probably be standing room only. And as expect it was a house, with a small stage at the front with a guy preaching then off to the side you could see different rooms with people watching on TV the preacher these were probably supposed to originally be bedrooms. I was able to find a seat (a lawn chair, which is what all of the chairs were). The preacher spoke about how we should all treat others like we would want to be treated. It was actually pretty moving, I was taken back, back to how natural it is supposed to be a gathering of Christians not with all the nice clothes or nice buildings, But Christians coming together as one body and learning about the word. He talked about how we should treat others how we would want to be treated which should be how God would treat people. So they had a closing song and prayer and everyone left. I got to say it was very enjoyable. And hope that I am in town to go to next week’s service.

Later that day we went to the Irish Village which is an area where all of the Irish hang out and there are Irish restaurants and pubs. I had a traditional Irish meal and Aileen felt right at home while there. After that we went to the Gold Souk which is a market area mainly selling gold. Infect Dubai is currently marketing themselves as the city of gold among other things. It was interesting because the businesses here basically shut down between 1 and 4pm. Most people go home and have a late long lunch with their family then come back to work. We spent several hours exploring the market and looking at all of the gaudy jewelry. In fact at one of the stores we tried on and tried to bargain the price down of traditional Middle East clothing. The guys wear a thing called a dish dash that I know all of you have seen before. It is a big dress looking thing that is white, and then the traditional head dress. They have white (that is considered formal, and red and white checkered which is informal some of the locals call it the “blue jeans”) and then a black rope like things that is wrapped on top on the outside twice. Anyways it was interesting trying them on and taking pics I got to say I look pretty good in it and was tempted to wear it to some of our meetings. But we didn’t have any luck bargaining because the lowest we could get them down to was 85 US.

That night we went to our usual hang out to watch the world cup at double deckers I still don’t know the name of the hotel but there is a fleet of rolce Royce’s outside. It was lots of fun seeing all of the expats hanging out and having a good time. And it is always fun skipping the long line to get in with my press pass.

This morning we went to lunch at the organic store again the girls really like it. And they were going to take Ryan (the trainee that started right when I did in Abu Dhabi) back to Abu Dhabi and hang out by the pool at the Emirates Palace. But I decided that I wanted to explore the Mall of the Emirates some more and go snow skiing.

The mall of the Emirates is amazing; it has every store that you can imagine from a huge grocery store to the fanciest of stores. It was funny walking down the area where the most expensive stores were and seeing the local couples in there bye purses etc in stores like Gucci etc. There was even a Armani restaurant in there, when you think that you have seen everything.

The mall was also hosting one of the cities “Summer Surprises” where they had set up a ice scatting rink in one of the lobbies of the mall where there were kids enjoying the ice. The mall again is a very interesting place especially people watching the teenagers and twenty something. The girls wearing the traditional clothing with there heads and necks covered and often time all you can see is there eyes. But what makes it interesting is there accessories such as goddie designer sunglasses (in the mall not

outside) and designer pursers along with designer baseball hats for the guys. Putting there own sense of style on there traditional clothing.

So finally I made my way to Ski Dubai which is the indoor ski mountain inside the mall. I had posted pics because there are several restaurants looking out to the slopes inside the mall. You go to the ticket counter just like you would if you were going to see a movie and they ask if you have skied before or if you need lessons. Then they direct you to go get your coat, pants, socks, skis, boats and polls. All of which are included in the lift ticket price of around $40 US. Pretty reasonable if you ask me! Then you make your way out on the slopes. It is amazing at first because of how cold it is.

In fact I don’t know if I have talked about dealing with cold things and the heat that we live in. For example I don’t drink any drinks anymore with ice (which yall no is a big deal from my ice water that I always had in the states) because of the need to drink drinks at room temperature. Other wise it really messes with your throat giving you a sore throat because of it being mixed with the hot air you breathe in outside.

Anyways there is no line to get on the lift. You just scan your lift ticket and it is

good for 2 hours but you can recharge it for more time if you want. There are three different courses, a regular one, a trick slope, and a advanced. There is a half way stop on the lift with a half way house where you can stop to get food or hot chocolate and sit outside or inside just like on the slopes. There were no visible snow machines but there were huge air conditioners on the roof. Once you reach the top you look around in amazement at the slopes, the weather, and thinking that you are in middle of the dessert one of the hottest places on earth.

After about an hour of skiing I decided that I wanted to try snow boarding, because apparently it is a lot like wake boarding which I had done a week before with no effort. Let’s just say snow boarding at least for me is not something that comes easy. In fact about half way down I gave up and walked the rest of the way down.

I had originally planned on skiing and then going to the beach today (thinking how cool it was given the opportunity to do both in a matter of a thirty minutes) but I was so tired from trying to self teach myself how to snow board I decided to return to the house. And finish up some work that needed to be done before tomorrow starts. And tonight I ended up cooking dinner. I guess that’s all and I promise to do better at posting more blogs. I have posted more pics and hope when you get time to email me and let me know whats going on with you. I really enjoy getting your emails. All for now!

Chad