Thursday, October 31, 2013

How has Halloween come and gone and we are still in a hotel?

Okay, as a teacher, the title to this entry was grammatically a mess. However, it is hard for me to believe that the above statement is actually true. 

I was wondering what Halloween would look like in the UAE. I guess when your expat community is about 50% of your population, give or take a few, Halloween is sure to go on as planned. 

The event wasn't trick-or-treating per say, although that happens in some of the communities. But the kids got dressed up as Spider-Man and Minnie Mouse and we went to the Rugby Club for a few hours. Jack actually wore his Spider-Man mask for a lot of the evening. I think he may have thought he was really Spider-Man:) As you can see in the picture, Millie had no problem pulling off Minnie Mouse. In fact, Walt Disney might have been a bit put off with her attitude. 

We got up on Friday morning and went to Jack's school for a carnival. The kids were able to wear their costumes again.  There were games and face painting, as well as trick-or-treating. It was well organized and the kids had a great time. We met a new couple with a girl Jack's age and a boy a little older than Millie. They are from Michigan and are both teachers here. The husband just walked over with a buddy of his and started talking to Stuart, which I found a little odd. I then realized he was attempting to recruit Stuart to join their American football recreational team. His wife later told me that her husband had said to her, 'Look how big that guy is. He would make a great defensive tackle for our team'.  So guess who is going to meet the team on Sunday evening?  Ha!

Friday evening we went to a under 17 world cup football (soccer) quarter final match. Stuart's head of faculty, Wade, his wife and kids, the new couple, Jamie and Joe, and their kids, were there and we all sat together. We are really starting to feel as if we belong here. We are meeting nice people who have kids our kids' age, which is really nice. 

After the soccer match we visited the Flower Market, which you would think had a lot of flowers. Nope. They just have a lot of 'stuff', for lack of a better word. We bought some utility rugs to go in our foyer and our kitchen. They were cheap and should be easy to wash. If not they were the equivalent of $10 so could be tossed if they get super dirty. Easy!

Saturday we decided to make a run to Dubai to get some of our last items on our Ikea list. We would have gone to Abu Dhabi so that we could have seen Gina as well, but this weekend is the Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi and Ikea is practically on the race track. So we opted for the Ikea in Dubai. We got dishes, curtain rods, blinds, and a few other thigs needed to get us by for now. We run our kids ragged. You can see that Ilea exhausted them. We came back to Al Ain and headed for the apartment to unload. 

Catching you up to speed on our apartment...In order to get electricity we had to have a company in town centre draw up a contract, have it stamped by ADEC (everyone has a stamp for something and gets paid to use it) and then we could go to Al Ain distribution center and have the electricity turned on. So finally, after a week and many visits to town centre and ADEC, we have power! Thank goodness Stuart sticks to a task. He has also ordered out Internet, television and landline package. So hopefully we will hear from them this weekend and will have no lapse in Internet service between moving from the hotel to the apartment. I love the techie side of Stuart for sure. He does all the things that I wouldn't have a clue how to do. 

We had our appliances delivered last Sunday, our bed on Monday, and our big Ikea order will be delivered this coming week on Tuesday. We are then hoping to move in on Wednesday. We have until November 7 to get out of the hotel which will be just enough time. 

We still need to order living room furniture, furniture for the spare room, and a few rugs to cut down the echoes in the apartment (which are super fun for Jack and Millie), but that will come in time. While in the hotel, because we had to eat out every night, our furniture allowance didn't all go for furniture. But in a couple of months we will be all set and established. For now we are just thrilled to have a place where we can have a regular routine of coming home, kids playing in their rooms with their toys, and being on a schedule of some sort. We want to get Jack involved in a sport and will probably do that after the winter break. That boy just needs to run. This being cooped up in a hotel for 9 weeks has not been great for either kid. Thank goodness Jack has a school where the playground is huge. He comes home just black from head to toe from the dirt, but to me that means he has had fun. 

We are excited for our 'home'.  The next blog post will be from our new home. Yippee!

Thursday, October 24, 2013

What? Keys to an apartment?

Well, apparently the squeaky wheel does get the grease. After 8 weeks, multiple hotel rooms, multiple moves with multiple bags (and other collected things along the way), it seems we are actually getting our own place. 

It is in a place called Greenland Complex. We feel so fortunate because what we walked in last night and it was actually relatively clean considering the last people had moved out in late June. Yes, you read that correctly. When Stuart received the clearance letter it was dated July 7. This most likely means that the housing department has had these keys in their office since that time. Don't ask. I don't know a logical answer as to why someone has not received placement in this place before now if the clearance letter has been in the office since early July. Welcome to our world. 

We are not going to complain, we are just going to get to cleaning our new place so we can move in and start getting some sort of routine that doesn't consist of going to bed at whatever time in the evening and eating potato chips for dinner (that's really just Millie). 

We went by the place yesterday afternoon and Stuart's head of faculty, his wife (Jack's teacher) and their kids came over with some puzzles for the kids, a tricycle for Millie and some 3T clothes for Millie. Of course she will be 7 before she can wear them, but it was so nice of them. They also brought a potty chair for Millie. Again, maybe at the age of 7 she will need that:(

This morning we are on our way to start the dreaded cleaning process. Although, this place seems to be in a much better state than many others we have heard about. I will send pictures once we have the electricity on. That is a process as well and I am sure there will be a lot of comedic blog entries about our process of getting into this place before it is all said and done. Just getting the contract to the place is going to be a challenge. 

Stuart tried to find the place to get the contract yesterday after he got the keys. No luck. Because there are no addresses here, it really is like giving directions to the blind. They would have a better chance finding some of these places. The other day I asked someone how to get to a random place. Here is what I was told: 'You know the horse roundabout? Take the second exit on that and then get immediately in the right lane to turn. After that there is an office building on your left. Turn into the driveway and then make a quick right. Look for the green sign. It's behind that building.'  Really?  It's nuts! Needless to say it will be a miracle if we actually have electricity on by the middle of next week. You can't just call and get things connected. You have to physically go to the random building, in the random place, and see the random guy in charge. Crazy!  I will let you know if it is worse than waiting, at home,between 8 and noon for the bug guy to come spray. I can only assume it is a bit more of a hassle than that. 

The kids have to do a border run again today. This time they are going to walk. Cathy, our English friend, got her passport back yesterday so she is going to take all of the kids across the border. We have yet to receive ours. 

It seems every week brings a new set of challenges yet also brings a number of things we can tick off of our never ending list of things to get done. But we got paid yesterday so it is all good. Off to clean!

Love to you all,
Dana, Stuart, Jack and Millie

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

The events of Eid

Our holiday started on Thursday evening, October 10 and our first stop was family night at the Rugby Club. Jack and Millie love the Rugby Club because there is always something for them to do, typically a bounce house or two. We didn't stay long but did have a delicious Italian meal. 

Friday we started the day by going to see a similar apartment to the one we will be living in (fingers crossed). It is going to be plenty of space and is tucked back in the complex. There are plenty of grassy areas for the kids to play and I am sure we will make it our own. We are very excited. Friday evening we headed to the Rugby Club again for a Breast Cancer event. There was plenty for the kids to do. A band played and we had a nice time actually seeing some people we knew. 

Saturday morning we got up and headed to the Al Ain Zoo (picture 1). It was lovely, but super hot. The big cats exhibit was 'closed for improvement for our future pleasure'. There were a few exhibits where this was the case. But in spite of that we had a great time feeding the giraffe, watching the spider monkeys, and seeing the baby hippo dip in and out of the water. 

Sunday morning we got up to move to our 4th hotel. There were 15 other families that moved to the same hotel on that day as well. The only difference is some of them only found out 2.5 hours before they were to be checked out of their last place. Oops! Someone forgot to inform them of the move. That evening we went to a place called The Curry House. It was a quaint little building that had seating for about 35 people. We went into a little room that had a table and a curtain to let you eat in privacy. It was excellent food and quite cheap. We loved it and we know it will be a place we frequent. 

Monday morning Stuart went golfing with his Head of Faculty, Wade. The kids and I met Cathy and her girls for breakfast and then we all headed to Al Ain Mall. We took Jack to Action Zone (not my favorite) to ride rides and play games. Stuart met us at the mall after golf. We had a bite to eat and later in the day we went downtown to the town square(picture 2). It seems this is a bit of a gathering place, surrounded by eateries and tailors. I am not sure how this city supports the number of tailors who are here, but it seems no one is going out of business so I guess they manage. We ended up eating at Bukhara Family Restaurant, which was good but I think we all decided we prefer the Curry House over Bukhara. However, we will probably visit Bukhara again as well. 

Tuesday we went to Jebel Hafeet, the second highest peak in the UAE. We just walked around for a bit and took pictures. Then we stopped at Mercure Grand hotel/resort on the way down the mountain to check out the pool. They have deals for those of us just wanting a dip in the pool. Although we didn't swim today, most likely that will be a place we visit for the kids. The picture of the pipe contraptions was taken at the back of the restaurant by the pool at this resort. Smoking shisha is a huge part of the culture. At the bottom of the mountain we went to Green Mubazzarah (not sure of the spelling). It is a green picnic area where there are also warm springs. There are pool houses for men and women (picture 3). There were a ton of people there because Tuesday was Eid. We didn't stay long but vowed we would go back in a month or so when it was cooler. The high today was 99 degrees Fahrenheit. I'm not too sure it cools off much more than that, but we will stay hopeful. 

Wednesday we decided to go to Bawadi Mall and see the film Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2. It was the only children's film on so we thought we would give it a try. It was cute and Jack liked it so that was all that mattered. We went to the animal market after that but didn't get out. It's a bit disturbing seeing all of the animals crowded together but it's part of the culture. People pull up in their cars and stuff goats or sheep in the trunk of their car. This week it happens more often than other weeks. There are many, many sheep consumed during the week of Eid. In the evening we decided to have an adult night out. Stuart, Cathy (friend from the UK) and I went to the Rugby Club and ate at the curry buffet. There was also a pub quiz, which was a blast. We were terrible, excluding Stuart. However in the last round we scored the fewest amount of points and apparently that got us a free bottle of wine. So it does pay to be the losers. 

Thursday we went to Dubai, our first adventure out of Al Ain. Our first stop was the Dubai Mall where we saw some very familiar sights (Cheesecake Factory, 
Garrett's Popcorn, The Gap, ect.). The mall was by far the largest mall I have been in and I'm pretty sure we saw less than half of it. 

When we walked in we looked to the left and saw a cascading waterfall with statutes of men diving down the waterfall. It was quite spectacular for a mall. On we walked to the ice skating rink where there were two teams of ice hockey players practicing. That sight entertained Jack for at least 10 minutes. We continued walking around the second floor and ran into the Dubai Mall Aquarium (picture 4). We decided there wasn't a good reason not to go in. It was amazing, and in the middle of a mall. We were taken behind the scenes and shown how the sharks can exist in the tank with other fish without eating all of them. It was a proper aquarium. We saw penguins being fed, a spitting fish, a fish tank with the Finding Nemo characters, as well as many other sea creatures. After the aquarium we headed outside to the fountain show. It was very similar to the Bellagio show in Vegas. Oh, except the fountain was about 3 times the size of the one at the Bellagio. They do not do anything halfway here. While outside watching the fountains we were able to take some pictures of the Burg Khalifa (picture 5) the tallest building in the world. Holy cow! It is huge.

We had great intentions and packed sandwiches for lunch. Our plan was to go to a park and have a picnic. Cathy and her girls went with us as well and had packed a lunch also. However when the Cheesecake Factory calls your name, you must respond. So we did.  After a filling lunch we headed to the beach. 

We passed two of the beach parking sites but they were full. We finally parked at the third beach parking, which was not  close to the main beach site but we still got to play in the water and sand so we didn't care (picture 6). Jack and Millie had some beach toys and started to play in the sand. The rest of us went into the Gulf, yes the Persian Gulf. It was refreshing and a break from the heat. You see the Emirates at the beach, but the women are still dressed in their abayas and head covering, which varies according to their families and those traditions. But the men can wear their boxers in the gulf without any questions. Seems odd to me. I also find it odd that there is a great deal of conservative behavior all around us, but given women on the beach in a bikini, locals come out to stare. More power to them, I suppose. Seems like a double standard to me. But no one asked me. 

We woke up on Friday morning without many plans. I got a text from a lady, Gemma, who works at my school, had been in one of the many hotels with us, and whose son, Oscar, has become a buddy to Jack. She invited us over to see their new place and to have dinner. Naturally we accepted and I had the audacity to ask if I could bring over some laundry to do. She didn't hesitate with her 'sure' response. I believe she and her husband will be good friends. They are from Ireland and have two kids. Fechen, pronounced Fehen, is a teacher as well. So our families have a lot in common and can relate to one another's woes. Having a home cooked meal, getting all of our laundry washed (and hanging on an airer, drying), sharing some adult beverages and great conversation, was all a wonderful way to end a holiday. 

Saturday we had to go to Abu Dhabi to have our first rental car serviced. We weren't sure when it needed to be serviced so I called earlier in the week. Oops! We were late in getting it serviced. We ended up just droppig it off and getting a different one. Ah the joys of a rental car. A day out in Abu Dhabi wasn't  bad at all. Sad part is Gina was still in Goa (that's not sad for her) and we didn't  get to see her. We haven't seen her since we left Abu Dhabi 6 weeks ago, but hope once we have a home she will come to visit us. In the meantime we are going to plan a trip back to Abu Dhabi soon to see her. 

Our day ended with a 4 hour shopping trip to Ikea. The kids were great up until the end. We bought bedding for the kids, some towels, and a few other things for the house we don't have. Seemed logical enough to us. 

We started back to school today, which is the inevitable part of a vacation- it must come to an end. My students were still on holiday mode. However, they are starting to feel more comfortable and starting to at least try to speak more English. Little victories are great!

Highlight of the day?  Getting a call from EMT Support at 1:25 pm, while I was teaching might I add, telling me they had read Stuart's heartfelt email he had written last night, expressing our exasperation of the hotel lifestyle (meals out, no washer, kids unsettled, etc.). The lady on the other end told me that we would be moving back to the hotel apartments we were in just a week ago. Here is how the conversation went. 

Her: ADEC has approved you to move back to the Asfar hotel apartments.  

Me: Oh, that's great! Thanks so much for being our advocate. I know you lived in a hotel for 4 months when you first came here. So you know how it feels. So when will we be moving back there?

Her: Today. 

Me: Oh! Wow! 

5th hotel, one being occupied by us twice, and we are still smiling. In our nearly 8 weeks here we have accumulated a lot of things, mainly, again, for the house we don't have yet. 

The hits keep comin'!  Send up prayers right now that we get keys this week. We'll let you know. 






4 hotels in 7 weeks sounds more glamorous than it is.

Our permanent accommodation saga continues. We have always known that our stay in a hotel might be quite lengthy. However, the complication around getting a home has increased because of the lack of availability of housing in Al Ain. 

When people sign on to broach such an adventure they really should know the ins and outs of the entire experience. And quite frankly you need a lot of grit to do something of this nature, that which not everyone has, which is perfectly fine. But if you don't have that grit, don't pretend you do in order to gain the other benefits and then flake out, making it harder for those of us who are here with goals in mind. 

What I mean by all of this is that there have been many people in the last several years, since the onset of this educational reform, who have not, for one reason or another, been able to hack it. These people who have left the country without fulfilling their obligation (one in our group left after the third day of school) are referred to as  'runners'. These runners have made it difficult for the rest of us, in that they have left unpaid electric bills and racked up some major debt. Therefore we, those who are not runners, have suffered the consequences of their actions. 

Because there have been runners, the housing division of ADEC are not always aware of open apartments or villas. ADEC pays the rent a year at a time. In fact, a place could be empty for almost a year without ADEC being aware. The way ADEC finds out is that new teachers search these places out, with the help of the vets, and take that information to the housing office. At that point the ball begins to roll to get the place ready for new tenants. Sometimes this requires being willing to pay the left bills of another. Some people do just that to get into a place because they are tired of the hotel life. 

At this stage housing has informed group 4 that they will need to find their own housing and then ADEC will pay the bill. I'm not exactly sure there is a checks and balances here. The left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing a lot of the time. Fortunately we are in group 2 so it seems they are still helping us find housing. However you almost have to camp out on their doorstep for anything to happen. Thus the reason for hotel number three. 

Almost two weeks ago I emailed EMT (English Medium Teachers) support to ask if we could be moved to a hotel apartment just up the road from where we were currently staying. This email was suggested from the local EMT support, suggesting that emails go to the main office in Abu Dhabi and they take care of accommodations. I received an email back that stated the only people they were moving at the moment were those who would be in their permanent accommodations within a month. The only thing I got out of this was that we would be living in a hotel for longer than another month. Ugh!

The following Monday, Stuart and I decided we would start going to the office everyday until someone gave us keys to a place. While we were waiting in housing I met a man who was equally as frustrated as we had become. I asked him where he was staying. He told me he had been staying at the Hilton but was being moved to the hotel apartments the next day. What? I asked him how that came to be and he told me that EMT support had just worked it out for him. I was miffed to say the least. I marched upstairs, trying to not overheat, mentally, before I got up there. I inquired why, in an email, I would be told one thing and then a man downstairs told me something that contradicted the email. I was passed off to someone who seemed to me moving and shaking things, making things happen. She put my name on a list where I was the third person, called the hotel apartments and found out there was not enough room for us, but yet they had places for the first two people. Here it really is about being in the right place at the right time. The lady did call the next day to let me know they could move us to the apartments on that day (October 9) but that we would have to check out on the 13th due to the Eid holiday. We said we would do that, knowing that we would at least get to wash our clothes and cook a few meals in the kitchen. In the back of our minds I really think we thought they would extend our time there just simply because that is what they seem to do. Not the case. 

In the meantime, Stuart spent a few hours in housing last week. Over the past few weeks we have both been to housing inquiring about keys to an apartment. We know of people who have gone in and come out with a place to live. That has not been our luck as of yet. We also have been told that the culture will respond better to Stuart than to me (need I explain?).  I have stayed out of housing and let Stuart speak to them. He has had an email contact with one gentleman but while at the housing office that particular man hasn't been available. So Stuart has developed a contact who seems to have been working to get us into a place right across the hall from one of the teachers at my school. We felt we were getting somewhere last Wednesday when Stuart was told that the person who used to live in that place would be bringing in the utility clearance and the keys on Thursday before the Eid holiday. Stuart was told to come back at 2:15 on Thursday. He did and his contact had left for the day. This wasn't the first time this had happened. It takes a lot to get Stuart angry, but watch out when that happens. And this was the straw that broke the camels back (pun intended).

Stuart went into another office and respectfully, but intensely, expressed his dissatisfaction with what was happening. The result? We have been told that after Eid (October 20) we will be getting keys to an apartment. We were even told which one. Although it is not by my colleague, it is in a nice area with other ADEC teachers close by. I'll believe it when I see it, I suppose. 

This past Sunday, the 13th we moved to our 4th hotel, City Season. We have two rooms, free breakfast, fridges in the rooms, but it is a far cry from a home. And the internet is shoddy. Things could be worse, I'm sure. 

This week we are on holiday. But because our passports are in the abyss, we were forced to stay here. We are going to take advantage of the time and go to Dubai as well as discover the area in which we live. I will post the holiday events at the end of this week. 

We are still so thrilled with our decision to embark on this adventure for all of our lives, in spite of the little hiccups along the way. That which doesn't kill us will make us stronger. We are trying to hold on to one of my dad's favorite saying: Enjoy where you are when you are there because you're never going to be there again. 

Love to all of you!
Dana, Stuart, Jack and Millie 

Saturday, October 5, 2013

How many rental cars?

Stuart here,
As you may have read in an earlier post, we picked-up very cute rental car before we left Abu Dhabi and came to Al Ain. It was a great deal on a month to month basis. However, it was very small and very basic (Jack wanted to know what the window winders were for)!  I also drive about 60 miles, round trip, to work each day and the center console dug into my leg and was leaving a bruise.

So, after about 3 weeks, we decided we needed to get a slightly bigger car, and one we did not have to take back to Abu Dhabi every time it needed an oil change. We called the rental company that many expats use out here and organized delivery of a mid-sized car.

The next morning, a red, nearly new Chevy Cruze was delivered to our hotel. It was wonderful; climate control, cruise control, bluetooth phone, electric locks AND windows!!!!! And above all it was comfortable!  We did not need to return the other car for few days so we had two cars for a while. Dana loved this, no more taxis to work for a while!

Well, it seems Dana liked the no taxi gig a little to much and asked if we could keep the smaller car, which "was perfect for her," for another month. If there's one thing we like, it's our independence!

Last week's drives to work were great, cruise control in a comfortable, fast car. Then, on Thursday afternoon, I went to Jack's school to pick him and his friends up, got back into the car, turned the key and....nothing! The battery was dead, killed by the desert heat.  Dana came to pick us up and after much driving around, we bought some jumper cables and managed to start the car and drove back to the hotel.  A quick call to the rental company and they arranged for a temporary replacement while they fixed the battery issue.

The next morning, Friday, they brought a brand new Mitsubishi Galant to our hotel.  The rental company said I would have that for a few days while they fixed the Cruze. Great customer service!

This evening (Saturday) we went to the mall, as we do most weekends. When we were leaving the parking lot we were backed into by someone leaving a parking space.  The right front wing and bumper was a mess.

The rules out here when this happens is that you call the police so they can come and decide fault and print out an accident report, which they do there and then.  Luckily the gentleman who reversed into me  admitted fault and was able to translate for me to the traffic agent who spoke no English. The whole process was very efficient, which is unusual in a country where efficiency is not part of the language. One hour later were were back in the hotel. We were all fine.  I called the rental company, our Cruze is not fixed yet, so they will be delivering car number four to us tomorrow.  I feel I could have a job on Top Gear testing all these cars.

It is definitely an adventure and we are learning new things every day.  Keep watching for my post on my school......sure to be an interesting read :)

Take care,
S


Friday, October 4, 2013

The weekly update

It seems not much has happened in the last week, but really we have been very busy and somewhat productive.  It seems that our list of 'getting things done' just grows longer. As we check one thing off, there is something that is either added or that we forgot to add. When we do finally get accommodations, another list of things to do will start. 

School continues to be a daily challenge. It seems my students are making progress and at least starting to understand my crazy hand motions I use in order to communicate with them. I have also started to rely on a few students to interpret for me. I can only assume and trust they are actually saying what I have said. It just now dawned on me that maybe they are not doing so. Ha! 

I had to write formal lesson plans this week and turn them in, which I am not sure I have ever done. I have always had a plan written but no one has ever asked me to turn them in. I hope I did them correctly. 

On Wednesdya around 11:30 am I was informed our grade 4 students would be going to the book fair at the convention center. It seems that school trips are organized at the spur of the moment. Hmmm. So the science experiment we had planned to do was pushed back as was our spelling test and basically everything else. Oh well!  That is the part of this life that I will easily become accustomed to. 

Jack is loving school and we received a newsletter from his teacher showing pictures of the kids and what they do throughout the week. It's so nice to see him in the pictures and looking engaged, even if he is just posing for the camera. He has been spoken to about playing 'Super Heroes' too aggressively. So each morning when I drop him off he says, 'And keep my hands to myself, I know, Mama'. So at least he is listening to me sometimes. 

The hotel life has lost its luster a bit. We are really ready for a place to call our own. We wrote an email to housing to see if it would be possible to move to a hotel apartment. The answer was not encouraging. We are coming upon the holiday, Eid, which is the celebration after their pilgrimage. This means that there will be a lot of people visiting Al Ain and rented accommodations will be booked up, even hotel apartment  accommodations. We are just sick of taking our clothes to get washed, eating at the mall food court, and not having a place to call our own. I know in a few months we will look back on this time and marvel at the adventure, but for now we are ready to be in a place. 

After the email, I decided that we needed to go to the ADEC (Abu Dhabi Education Council) building and speak to someone in housing. I was told to tread lightly because the person in charge does not take demands very well. I went in and spoke to Mr. Mohammad who was very nice to me. I told him about two apartments that my friend Mary had told me about in her building. She said one of them had been empty for quite sometime and the other one had been lived in by a 'runner'. A 'runner' is someone who just decides one day that they can't live here anymore and leaves in the middle of the night, never to return. The reasons? Usually it is because they have gotten themselves into a great deal of debt over here. Credit is very easy to get and this society is very over endulging because they have a lot of wealth. Sadly, westerners come here and start living as if they are very wealthy. And although we do make good money, you have to keep your eye on the prize. We set out for a wonderful adventure and to put some money away for our kids and ourselves. Our purpose is set and we are not waivering. When we come home it will not be because we 'ran'. 

At any rate, after a few tears and learning it would be at least another two weeks (Inshallah- Allah willing- their phrasing, not mine) before we would have a place to live, Mr. Mohammed noted in the computer system that we wanted to live in the where my friend Mary lives. We are hoping to get our friend Cathy and her daughters in there as well, and I did have Mr. Mohammad note that as well. Time will tell. 

We found a place for Millie to stay while we work. It's a perfect situation. The PE teacher at my school, Helen, has a little boy named Charlie who is 2 1/2. She said that every morning when she leaves he cries. So she asked her nanny if she would be willing to keep Millie as well and make a little more money. The service workers are not paid very well here. They do get room and board, but their salaries are pitiful. Ms. Janet, the little Sri Lankan nanny, said that would be fine. So Millie started this week. We went over to meet her and Millie loved playing with the toys at Charlie's house. When we got ready to leave Millie didn't want to, which we took as a good sign that this would be a good place for Millie. We were thrilled. She is probably who I have worried about the most. She has only known my mom and dad as far as daycare is concerned so I wasn't sure what this would look like for her. However, when I dropped her off the first day and left she didn't cry one bit. I was so relieved. She seems to be happy and has fun with Charlie. She also loves the baby, Phoebe, who is temporarily staying with Ms. Janet. 

So now my kids are sorted out and it is a crazy balancing act, but I think we will be able to do it. Currently, I drive Jack and Millie to Helen's. I leave Millie there, jump in Helen's car with Jack, Lorena (Helen's daughter), and Scarlett (Liz'z daughter, a friend of Helen's). We take the kids to Sunflower School and then go on to our school. On Sunday and Thursday Stuart picks the kids up from school. Liz picks them up on Monday and Wednesday, and Helen and I pick them up on Tuesday. Crazy? Yes! Necessary? Yes!

Things are moving right along. We have one more week of work and then we are off for a week. We are hoping to be in a home so we can get things organized. If not, we will need to just hang around here because our passports are still not back from immigration with our residence stamps in them. 

We did find the secret liquor store and the pork shop here. The pork shop says 'The Pork Shop- For Non-Muslims Only'. That would be us!

Hope you all are well. Love and miss everyone!