The Beginning Of The End???

 

Here we are…. About 66% finished with the school year.  We’re two weeks away from our spring break!  I feel like there is a light at the end of this tunnel we’re travelling through.  We’ve already applied to get a job back in Alief ISD.  Just sort of in a holding pattern right now.  After our trip to Asia (Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, and The Maldives), then we’ll keep track of vacancies and see where it leads us!  Either way – we’re coming home!

Speaking of coming home – last weekend we were in Sharjah at a rugby tournament.  We went to eat lunch at the mall.  As we’re sitting there a song comes on – Chris Daughtry – I’m Coming Home.  As I listened to the words, I realized this is like our new mantra!  The best line is “I’m coming home….To the place where I belong.”  In July – we’ll be where we belong!

Yesterday we went to a birthday party and we were talking with our friend and she said “this is the last Rouvi party for you guys!”  And for a second I felt myself getting sad and slightly choked up!  But then when I remind myself what my professional life is like – I get smacked backed into reality!  But Jenn and I both know that our departure from here is going to more than bittersweet!  We have such great friends and we’ve all bonded here being without family, enduring the same obstacles, and finding our own family in each other here!  And now in July we’ll leave and one never really knows 100% if we’ll ever see each other again!  And the hardest part of this detachment might just be our kids.  I know there will be many – MANY – days where our kids will talk about missing their UAE friends and how sad they are without them.  But I also know it’s easier at 6 yrs old to leave all these friends than it would be at 10 or 12 yrs old. 

What am I looking forward to the most???  Several things!
-- Going into any grocery store and being able to find exactly what I need

-- Being able to call any business and the communication not being such a huge barrier that we sometimes don’t even bother calling!

-- Walking into a classroom where most – if not all – stop and are ready to listen!  And if they aren’t willing to listen right away, they will be after a few reminders. 

-- Living in a one-story house!

-- Working in a school where we are all treated the same – same language, same salary schedule, same amount of classes.

-- Eating at a restaurant that isn’t (most here are – not all, but most) at a mall where I have to fight traffic, walk through the mall just to get to the place to eat.

-- Having a larger new vehicle! 

-- Being able to call or visit our family on weekends – and during the week if I want!

 

We had some friends come and spend the weekend with us a few weekends ago.  They live in the western region of Abu Dhabi.  It's very rural out there. So they travelled to the bustling city of Al Ain!  We went to the zoo, Jebel Hafeet, and went out at night for some dancing and people watching.  We had a good time! 

Caralyn and Angel

Caralyn and Cole loved our friends! 

Caralyn was always holding hands with one of them!

 

The Al Ain Zoo celebrated African culture during March - and this day we were there they had some African dancers.  They were pretty cool.

This pic made me laugh!  She's adorable!

Jebel Hafeet - the mountain in Al Ain

When Angel and Martha left - Angel accidentally grabbed the wrong camera bag (we have the same bag and similar cameras), so this weekend we met up for dinner in Abu Dhabi.  As we were leaving -- I couldn't resist taking this pic.  Good times!

 

 

The kids' school had their annual World Culture Day last week.  It was nice to see so many cultures represented in one school!  We saw various performances from various countries around the world.  Caralyn participated in the Irish dancing. She's been dancing around the house, at the store, and any other place she can jig around!  She was still doing it even after the performance!  She just smiled the whole time!

 

 

The parade of flags

This painting on Cole's face was originally a tree - like the tree on the Lebanon flag.  But he's all boy so it quickly turned into something else!

 

To check out a video I took (not the greatest since the lighting was poor!) go to: http://youtu.be/tAjBTOROCyY        

We had our last rugby tournament this past weekend.  We played in Sharjah (the Emirate just east of Dubai) and the kids loved playing of course!  We stayed the night in Sharjah at a hotel right on the beach.  We had a great time!!!

 

 

 

Adorable!!!

 

Is this not the sweetest picture?!?!?!?

We've never experienced such madness from the masses leaving the mosque until this past Friday!  Cars just parked on the road - like just stopped, parked on the main roads!  At some point we only had a narrow lane to drive since so many cars were parked!  And then when the people left - they just kept coming and coming.  I think we spent more time waiting than we did driving!

 

 

Stay Tuned...