The End Is Near!

The days are dwindling quickly!  Well for me at least!  There are rumors (or rumours) floating around about when the kids will actually stop attending school.  See – here the kids don’t attend school until the “last” day on the school calendar.  They sort of just start trickling away and before we know it there will be no students at school.  We changed our schedule to get out about 90 minutes earlier.  Then we had to go back to the normal schedule for the week our school was getting its inspection done.  Then back to the adjusted schedule.  So that already has sent a message, I think, to the students that the school year is just about finished.  And then this week we stopped doing our morning assembly.  Now we all meet in the school yard and once the national anthem is finished we head to class.  Another sign.  A day or two ago they passed out the final exam schedule.  Previously this was a clue into when it’s time to stop coming and study at home.  So inshallah next week there will be very few classes to teach.  But it’s already happening in grade 11!  This is day three this week where I’ve had less than 6 kids in the class.  Today only 2 and they went to talk to the mudir (principal) about going home.  And they let them go.  So it’s hard to complain when our days get like this and it’s easy to come in go home early.  If only the heat would cooperate. 

We’ve been enjoying our weekends in Dubai lately.  It’s nice to get away from the normal grind and spend the weekend at the beach or doing other things we never have done.  One weekend we headed to Dubai and did the Dubai Dolphinarium.  Here we saw a magic show in addition to the seals and dolphin show.  The kids loved it.  It was what I call hokey but we all enjoyed it.  We also went to a new place in Dubai Mall called Kidzania.  This place is awesome for kids.  They start off by going to the HSBC bank inside and getting their “check” cashed where they can spend it to do certain things or even go “work” at various places and earn money.  We enjoyed watching the kids earn their money and spend of it too.  They did things like work for a phone company, pretended to be a fire fighter, a baker, a dentist.  They spend their money to make their own Coke. Well they think they made it at least.  We spent about 3 ½ hours there and could easily spend the whole day there!  Next time we’ll plan better and get there when they open and stay as long as we can last!  We did have a few issues there with lines.  While we were not surprised at all by the “cutting of lines” it was irritating and we have to do our best to keep our space and explain to the kids that it happens and to get used to it!  We did have to have a discussion with one of the employees about one line issue because Caralyn was going to have to wait even though she was in line.  And anytime we have this issue – I totally understand why some of the locals here have the mentality they do.  Like they’re “entitled” to do what they want. We did have to remind one or two others that there is a line and show them where the end was. It’s only fair, right?!?!?  When we’ve gone to Dubai for the weekend we spend Saturday (our former Sunday) at the beach.  And that is always interesting.

Recently there was an article in the Gulf News about the dress code issues at beaches in Dubai.  They are going to start cracking down on guys who are swimming in their undies and those who come fully clothed to just take photos.  I’ve never seen a lifeguard doing anything at the beach when we’ve gone – that is until last weekend.  Twice the lifeguard called two groups out of the water.  They had folks in their group swimming in just underwear.  So they were asked to leave I guess.  And this was the first time we’ve noticed a sign saying, “no cameras allowed on the beach”. We’ve taken pics several times.  And there were people videotaping their family and friends and such.  But I guess if we’re swimming too then we don’t look like we’re doing anything wrong.  Although I did have to snap the thong speedo dude.

This week has been tough for Jennifer and I since we were both ill.  I started off with some body aches and woke up in the middle of the night with a fever, chills, sweats, and extreme head pressure.  Not fun.  And then I had to do the whole self-discussion of deciding if I can make it through a work day or if I should just see a doctor and then go home and rest.  So since there was a fever, I decided to stay home.  And there’s no “just call in and rest” deal here.  You actually need a doctor’s note for one day off.  So I went to the hospital and three hours later made it home with some meds and a note to rest for two days.  Jennifer gets home early in the afternoon and starts vomiting.  It happened quite a few times and then she decided to head to the hospital.  4 hours later she makes it back home with meds and a note for two days of rest.  So here we were both in bad shape.  And two 5 yr olds to tend to!  But the kids cooperated and were actually good and listened.  Of course bribing with candy helps any kids behave, right?!?!?!  Hopefully we’ll be rested up and feel somewhat normal for the weekend.  Inshallah…

Today is Caralyn’s last day of basketball.  She’s really enjoyed playing.  I think she enjoys doing something that her brother isn’t doing.  Hopefully she’ll want to do it again when they start back up in the fall.  She’s really gained some confidence and such.  She’s also gained a lot of confidence in her academics too – especially in reading.  Just the other day she grabbed a book about seals and was reading rather loudly in the play room.  She’s coming along!  It’s nice to see her come out of her shell a little! 

Before too long we’ll be back in Texas enjoying time with family and friends.  Well after our trip to Paris to visit Disney Paris.  Can’t wait!  And hopefully we can fit a quick trip to the Eiffel Tower too.  It’s nice to be able to visit places we normally wouldn’t.  If we were still in Houston, we wouldn’t even think about going to Paris.  So while it is hard living away from family, we know there are some perks to this location.  And we’re just about half way through this journey.  This time next year we’ll be planning how to sell all our things here we don’t want to go through the huge paperwork trail to head back to the states and pick up where we left off!

Some photos:

The kids started their fun at Kidzania but cashing their check so they can spend some money.  Or they can get to work and earn more!

At the Coke place!  Here they make thier own soda!

Here they were at a bakery making some biscuits.  Not breakfast biscuits - here they call cookies - biscuits.

Cole was working for a bank security place delivering money.

Working for Du - a telephone company.

The Dubai Dolphinarium

We were impressed by these lights.  They tell you if a parking spot is open by the lights!  So if there are all red - keep going to the next row.  Pretty smart!

Jumeriah Beach

This is Lara - the kids' (really Caralyn's friend) friend they met at the beach.  It was really weird at first she was talking to Caralyn and then played in the sand with her and then went out in the water with her.  But I think she just wanted to hang out.  She is from Russia and was visiting Dubai for a week.  They enjoyed her company.

This is what we call a hot mess. 

A week or so ago was spirit week at the kids' school. They did different things each day like wearing clothes backwards, dress as a future career (this is what you see!), a favorite character, mix match clothes, etc.  It made it an easy week of waking the kids up for school!

Dino Live Pics:

The kids used their money to buy these dinosaur fossil blocks.  They scraped and dug out a dinosaur.

We recently had some pics made into canvas hangings.  They are adorable! 

These are 70cm x 50cm.

One of the most common mistakes when our students write is the confusion of the B and P.  Since there is no P sound or letter in Arabic they often choose the wrong one.  Here is a poster that one of Jennifer's students made on the Lamp.  Mary Had A Little Lamp?  Or Lamb?  Another example of how spell check doesn't always help!

I couldn't figure out how to rotate the pic.  But how hilarious is it that a medicine has "retard" in the name.  Really?

Stay Tuned...