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| Some women wear these for coverage. |
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| The kids still sleep together! All snuggled together! |
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| We get to do homework now! Fun!!! |
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| We actually had some rain one morning. Local teachers were telling me that if it continued they'd dismiss school early! Really??? |
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| Florida's Natural OJ - Even in the UAE! |
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| Two things...Caralyn was getting some practice writing some arabic. Here she is writing the letter "alip" in Arabic. Not sure what letter it is, maybe an L? And did you read the top left? It says "I Love Davin"...oh great - starting already! Uh oh... |
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| Cole coloring... |
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| This is what they serve as the school lunch at my school. They can also choose a cheese sandwhich or chicken. |
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| Cole's math work...check out the name...it says Ben Ten. |
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| Working on homework! |
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| The dog - Massie (I think) - that the local guy had with him. Adorable! |
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| Working on work that wasn't completed at school....wonder why??!?!?! |
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| Cutie! |
So last week when someone asked us why we haven’t really updated our blog – I just said, “Well, nothing has really been happening – we’re in a routine and life is good.” Well since then we’ve had some great experiences and even some not so great ones.
If you don’t know – I was diagnosed (not like it’s some life threatening thing) with Colitis and have been taking medicine daily and was told by the doctor that I will be on meds forever. I tell you this because last week we had to go and get a refill. And to do this – using my insurance – I needed to see a doctor. Here people go to hospital (side note: Why does America say, “Go to the hospital” yet here and other places people say, “go to hospital” or he’s “in hospital”) see the doctor who is there and go on with life. And some then find a doctor to go see regularly and life is good. I didn’t really care either way just wanted my meds. Well we went after church since our church is in the middle of the hospital compound. Thought it would be quick, but no – 3 hours! Then I only got a 2 week supply because the doc who gave me the 2 week supply didn’t really know anything about my meds and so she phoned the head internist who then knew what to do. She recommended I see him in a week. So I set up the appointment for 7:30 in the evening! Love it that doctors have split shifts and work 2 or so evenings a week! Awesome for us! So I met with him – he said things are fine – keep taking the new meds and if you know anything about colitis – you know if the meds are working or not! So when we left the hospital I told Jennifer that one of my front teeth was sensitive. Well it only got worse as the day progressed. So then I went in search of a dentist.
So along with interesting doctor’s hours – dentist are no different! I called at 7:00 pm on a Friday (which is the weekend here) and the office was open that evening until 11pm! Crazy! I made my appointment for the next morning – Saturday – which is like Sunday in America. Met with the dentist and she said I had to go see some colleague of hers because I had some abscessed or something. So I call this other dentist and it’s his cell phone! Hilarious! He, along with his office staff, attempted to give me directions. So here I am – can’t eat much because it’s difficult and hurts, and can’t get directions from anyone to get to his office. If they had addresses here like lots of other countries’ do then this would not be an issue. And while I love the adventure of finding a place – not while I’m in pain! (And Dad – it was pain – not discomfort!) Finally get home and talk to Yolanda and she gives me the number to her dentist and call him right away. He is busy but tells me if I have pain to go see him in 30 minutes. I jumped in the car and went right there. He takes me right in – checks it out and does an x-ray that pops up immediately on the TV in front of me. Awesome! He said I had an infection and needed meds for 3 days and then he’d do the work. So last Tuesday I went to the dentist at 6:00 pm for my root canal and temporary crown, and then my internist at 7:30. Busy evening but never missed work! And the dental work was painless. He started the Tuesday appointment by saying, “I think we can do it without numbing your mouth!” I immediately sat up and said, “no way!” So he did numb it up and life was great! And the work is soooooo much cheaper here! I remember getting a crown or two back in high school and I swear (wallah in Arabic!) it was like $800 or $900 per crown – if not more that my folks paid for. Here I got the most expensive one because he said it’ll last longer and it’s $1700 AED which is only $454.
This week has been nuts. Classes were nuts at times and my schedule was nuts. Monday night I had parent night and found out what time it was late that afternoon. And I get there at 5:55 when it started at 6:00. At home – the parking lot would already be packed, and parents would already be at the classroom door waiting. Not here! The call to prayer was around 6 so parents (this night was designated for fathers only – even though some mothers did come) started showing up at 6:30 – inshallah. One Emirati mother came in to see her son’s English teacher and he wasn’t there yet and this teacher happens to be Emirati too. The mother commented in Arabic, “of course all the Ex-Pats are here and ready and the Emirati one is late!” I about wet on myself from laughing so hard! And it gets even better – two days later at our weekly Wednesday meeting – we find out that the parent night for the mother’s was that night at 6:00. And we had plans for dinner with some friends! Irritated me but I heard to expect that! The parent nights were fine – and as usual – only the good ones typically come out. I did get to talk to a few of the kids’ up needed it!
The saying, “what goes around – comes around” slapped me in the face this week! Jenn and I went to get the kids at school one day and we saw Cole’s classroom window was open. So being the nosey parent, I stood outside waiting to hear Cole and see what he was saying or doing. Next thing I know – I see a pencil come flying out the window. Then another. Then another. There were 7 or 8 of them! And the teacher was not in the room – it was the art teacher. So I knew it was chaos as it always is when the art teacher is in the room. I gather the pencils up and go wait for dismissal. Then I see another kid (not Cole) standing at the window and I figured oh – it was him doing it. I’ll just let Cole’s teacher know. Then I hear the teacher talking to Cole several times and he’s not in “time out”. Then he comes out and I just asked him why the teacher had him in time out, etc…. Then I showed Cole the pencils and asked him if he knew who threw them out the window. Guess what he said? He said, “I did it!” WHAAAAATTTTTT? He then would not tell me if anyone else was part of it or what. I couldn’t believe it. But then again, I could believe it. If it was chaos – then anything is possible! That night we were talking and I thought of the saying - What goes around comes around! I know I was a bad kid in elementary school. I had it confirmed when I ran into my 2nd grade teacher a few years ago at a training and she asked how things were and then how my father was! He was up there for conferences plenty of times! YIKES! So now it’s my turn! Fun times! Today we were erasing all these scribbles in Cole’s math workbook and finishing the work he didn’t do for whatever reason! And it’s not that it is not able to do it – he’s not working to his potential – I and hearing my parents voice in the back of my head as if I was me when I was little. It is me all over again!
Last night we made a new friend! A local! We saw this guy coming down our “street” walking a dog. We were not sure about him since it looked like he had a shirt but with no shorts. Once he came closer he was looking for an outlet. He thought he could walk through our compound and then keep going around back to his villa. He said he’s never seen in the inside of these and was asking how big they were. So I showed him ours and he said, “Oh it’s good for a small family.” I knew then he must live in some large place. So Jenn, Angela, and I sat outside and talked for an hour with on everything from his family to his opinions on the Emirati people and even religion. It was great! He is 17 and in school at a private school. He was telling us about his adventure to Dubai last week to see Kim Kardashian when she made some appearance at some new ice cream shop at the mall. He said she was “very sexy in her red dress.” He was quite animated and cracked us up! He was telling us that his mother is a Christian and attends the Catholic Church here in Al Ain and how sometimes he goes with her. His parents are divorced. And his aunt (his mom’s sister) is married to some person of royalty here – I think it was a Sheikh or something. So because of this they are taken care of financially. They have WASTA – which is like clout in Arabic. His mom doesn’t work because why does she need to – she gets all her bills paid for! She drives three cars – a Porsche, Mercedes, and a BMW. It was great chatting with him and seeing this place through the eyes of a local.
We have TEN more school days left until the Eid break! Eid Al Adha. Not sure of the exact reason for the holiday but we’re glad to have off of work! As of now – we have off Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. We MIGHT get off the whole week – but the local teachers assure me that even if we have to work Wednesday and Thursday, that the kids won’t come. So either way – we’re excited!!! We are thinking of going to Dubai for a few days to enjoy something different.
Stay Tuned…
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