Sunday after school we went to the mall to by a GPS. Stuart decided that since we were going to be doing quite a bit of driving around in the next month, we should probably not waste our time getting lost. Smart man!
While we were at the malll, I decided it was time for me to get a hair style. So I snuck off to get my hair cut while Stuart took the kids to Fun City, the play center. It was not as short as I wanted, so I went back after the kids were in bed and had her take off 3 more inches. Hello! One thing I so appreciate about this culture is that the malls stay open until 11 pm.....every night.
Not the best view of the new do, but I did actually work all day prior to this picture, so you have to take that into consideration.
We also went to the doctor on Tuesday afternoon. Jack woke up with a sore throat again, just two weeks after his last sore throat. When I was in college we knew someone who did not treat strep, developed ruematic fever, and died in a very short period of time. We don't do the doctor thing much, but when it comes to a sore throat the doctor is our first thought. Differently from last time, this visit we saw a pediatrician. Last time it was just the emergency room doctor who didn't even take a throat culture before passing out the antibiotics. That disturbed me because I truly thing meds, when they are not needed, can cause issues later in life. But I digress. The pediatrician was an elderly man, or maybe he was just a heavy smoker who had been in the sun too much....while smoking. At any rate he was fantastic! Prior to him swabbing Jack's throat, i explained to Jack that he might gag a bit. Sometimes Stuart thinks I tell Jack things that might scare him but I think Jack is better off to know what is coming.
When the doctor did the throat culture Jack did, in fact, gag audibly. And then he started giggling uncontrollably. This was certainly not what I had expected. Truly, I thought he might even cry at the gagging. Nope, laughed! The entire doctor visit was what I might describe as 'fun' for Jack. He did have strep throat and the meds were to be taken once a day, 2 hours before food and then he can't eat until 2 hours after the medication. Now if you have ever raised a boy, or any child, you know that 4 hours with no food just does not happen. So as you would guess, we woke him up 2 hours after he went to sleep and then the medication could absorb into his blood stream as it was supposed to. Hopefully this knocked it out. We have to take him back on Sunday to make sure it has cleared up.
I found the doctor to be very interesting. He asked Jack where he was from. When Jack told him Arizona, the doctor told Jack he was from Texas. What? Trust me, I thought he was having a laugh with us, but he had just received his new passport and sure enough it was a US passport. He went on to tell me that he was originally from Persia and that he had studied in Texas and had become a US citizen years ago. He has been in the UAE for many years now and I would guess he stays because of the relaxed lifestyle we all find here. He was a delight.
School was interesting this week. As schools attempt to move forward and change some past habits or sort, each school handles it differently. There are schools that during the week of testing, release students as soon as the testing for the day is complete. Sometimes this is only an hour and a half after students begin their day. Then there is my school. My principal has been very adamant about students staying in school for the entire day. I must applaud her efforts for trying to change a culture. It seems it's like a salmon swimming upstream, but as she always tells me 'It is a process' and you have to start somewhere. I do believe we are one of very few (maybe the only) school that has kept kids after their testing this week. From my understanding, what usually happens is parents come after testing and sign their kids out, but that was not been allowed this year. Those of us who are new know no different, but those who have been here for a few years, or even the local teachers, are caught a little off guard. Some were not thrilled about having the students the full day and others just got on with it. As the week progressed more and more parents showed up to get their children, only to be told that if there was no doctor note they would not be allowed to take them, or at least it would reflect negatively on the student's report.
Wednesday it rained. Guess what? And Thursday? I probably don't have to tell you, because there was no testing at all, no child came to school. Surprise!
Thursday we left our place just after school and headed for Dubai. Gina came with us. Our plan was to do a bus tour on Thursday evening. However, the tickets I bought were 24 hour tickets, but were not good for the night bus tour. So what exactly does 24 hours mean? Irritating!
We haven't spent a great deal of time in Dubai so thought we would get a feel for the city and decide what we wanted to do all day on Friday. But instead we had to wait until Friday morning to get on the bus. We ended up walking to a mall and eating at the Noodle House, shopping a bit at the Spinneys across from our hotel and then heading back to get some rest.
Our hotel was appauling! The pictures don't even do it justice. Because we got back from the mall so late, we just put the kids to bed and then I went to the front desk to complain. I initially spoke to the manager on the phone. This hotel has several complexes so I can only assume he was at a different location. I finally told him that I would appreciate speaking to him in person. When he did finally get to the hotel lobby 45 minutes after I went down to complain, he was not helpful at all. He continued to say he would move us to a new room. I explained to him that we had been out all evening and really didn't inspect the room when we first arrived. I also stated that I wasn't aware that it was my job to make sure the room was suitable. I, politely, told him that I paid a lot of money to stay here and I felt it was his responsibility to be sure the room was not in this state. In the end he did NOTHING for us. So if you are ever in Dubai do not book a room with Golden Sands Hotel Apartments. The Internet pictures are wonderful and it is rated as a 4 star hotel, clearly only to the blind. You be the judge.
May I present the mattress on the pull out couch.
The wall on the outside of the master bath. Hmmm, mold?
Cutting my apple on this cutting board was not an option. And these were just a few lovely examples.
We tried to regroup on Friday morning, getting up and heading to the bus tour. Stuart went to Sharjah to play rugby so it was just the kids, Gina and myself, exploring what Dubai had to offer. We were able to hop on and off the bus as much as we liked until we had to go to the airport to get Grammie and Pop.
It was a great, but very exhausting day. The kids were real troopers. They had their moments of meltdown, but for the most part they hung in there.
Millie and me doing a 'selfie' on the top of the bus.
Gina and Jack were bus partners.
This is the Burj Al Arab and this is probably as close as we will ever come to it. This is where all the celebrities stay when they come to Dubai.
We were able to ride on a boat on the river as a part of our bus ticket, which was great. After we for off the boat we were waiting for the bus. Jack kept sneaking around this pillar and basically not staying close enough to me. The last time I spoke to him about staying close to me for safety reasons, I noticed he had a rusty screw in his hand. I took it and tossed it down back where he told me he had found it. There were no trash cans around and a few minutes later I wished I had just kept it in my hand. Yet again, he had snuck behind the pillar. I turned to look for him and all I saw was his panged face with his foot angled up as if he were afraid to step down. I immediately knew what he had done. I walked over to him, asked him what happened as I was pulling the screw out of his shoe. Thank goodness he had worn his tennis shoes. Here was the conversation:
Me: What happened?
Jack: (through tears) I accidentally stepped on this nail (I suppose we need to do a lesson on household hardware, because clearly it was a screw).
Me: You're a big fat liar. You stepped on this on purpose, didn't you?
Jack: (now bigger sobs) Yes.
Me: did you just want to know what would happen?
Jack: Yes.
Me: Well, now you know.
All the while there were people looking on as this conversation was taking place. At the same time as the conversation, I was yanking the screw out of his shoe, taking it off and inspecting his foot. It had just barely broken the skin, thank goodness.
I was brought back to my teenage years when I did something just to see what would happen. We had just bought a new car with electric windows. Woah! My mom and I had gone to the grocery store and I had stayed in the car. I thought it would be funny if I rolled the window down on the passenger side and rolled it back up with my hair hanging out of the window. Oh but I didn't stop there. I stretched my foot over to turn the ignition off. What was supposed to be a 'couple of items' shopping trip turned into 45 minutes and a very sore head. What an idiot. When I told my mom my initial comparison of Jack's mishap with mine she reminded me that I was a teenager an he is 5. I'm pretty sure she meant my curiosity was dumber than his.
Once he calmed down and we got on the bus, I could tell there was a couple talking about me. I am sure they were being critical about my parenting. Also they probably had no kids. Who cares? Know my kids, raise them, then you can talk about how crappy I do it.
We finished our bus tour at the Souq where I bought some hand made pillow covers and Jack bought Grammie and himself a camel statute, but when Grammie and Pop got in the car, he gave each one of them a camel. He had said right before we got to the airport 'When they get in the car I am going to give Grammie her camel and I am going to give Pop my camel because that will make them happy to see me'. Gina told Jack that he didn't need to give them gifts, they would be happy to see him no matter what. It was a really sweet interchange between them. In the end, Pop asked Jack if he would 'hold' his camel safely here and he could just see it when he was visiting.
The bus tour map stated that the last bus pick up at the Souq was at 6 pm. We were there with plenty of time to spare, but the bus never came. I finally called the number on the map we had, told her where we were and that the map stated the last pick up was at 6 pm. Here was what she said to me, 'Oh, you have an old map'. I told her that this was the map they had given me that morning. I made some 'suggestions' to her on the phone and then we hailed a taxi to take us back to our car so that we could wander around, trying to find the airport.
We eventually just looked for planes taking off and heading toward them, which worked out well.
The kids (and me) were so excited to see Grammie and Pop. We had to wait for them out on the sidewalk just outside the airport. There were few places to wait inside, and the loads of people coming into Dubai Friday evening was unreal.
Thank goodness Gina was with us. She saw my parents first and because we were outside, they didn't know to look out there. They were scanning the inside crowd for us, to no avail. When they came past the sliding doors in front of us, Gina got on the gate we were behind and yelled 'Marinell' just as the doors were opening and they were walking past. Perfect!
Out they came and down the walkway Jack and Millie ran. When Millie was finished hugging both of them she ran under the rope and back towards where we were initially standing. I had to run after her and when I called her name she turned and looked at me as if to say 'how did you get there?' She got a little turned around.
Of course Grammie had a gift for each of them in her carry-on. Smart Grammie.
We loaded up the cars and headed back to Al Ain. The kids were asleep within 15 minutes. They had a long day for sure.
Once we got home we unloaded the cars, put the kids in bed and that's when it hit me. We had left monkey, baby, piglet, and blanket at the hotel. Jack has had this stuffed monkey since he was tiny and blanket, baby and piglet are Millie's special stuffed toys she sleeps with. I was devistated. I cried and cried. I just couldn't imagine how they would both feel when they realized they didn't have them. I called the hotel to see if housekeeping had found them. The lost and found department was closed so I was asked to call Saturday morning.
When I was growing up I had this little pillow that I called 'pippie'. We left Pippie in a hotel room and they didn't find it. I can truly say the initial loss of these things immediately reminded me of losing Pippie. It's amazing the memories of childhood can still impact us so greatly as an adult.
When we woke up Saturday morning, we had Christmas with Grammie and Pop. We had the tree up and everything. They brought so much stuff for the kids, especially clothes, which they both needed. I spent most of the rest of the morning sorting out their old clothes. It was so much fun!
In the afternoon we headed to the mall and ate at Nando's, a chicken place. Grammie and I didn't eat because we were heading to a wedding later.
After eating we popped into the Baby Shop. Grammie had told Jack and Millie that she would buy them some toys once they got here. Jack had his eye on a certain cowboy accessory so Grammie bought it. Millie picked out a shoppig cart with fake items in it.
Pop and Jack had their own version of the OK Corral right here in Al Ain.
Saturday evening my mom and I went to the wedding. The food wasn't as good as it was at the first wedding but we still were intrigued by the whole event.
My mom was asking questions about the different abayas the ladies wear, earlier while shopping in the mall. She also asked why there were so many formal gown shops. When we got to the wedding she had her question about the formal wear answered. The beads that adorn their dresses are unlike no other. My mom compared it to dresses you would see on the red carpet on Oscar night, and she's right on. It's amazing! The ladies can dress the way because there are no men around. However, this time at the wedding we stayed long enough to see the groom arrive. The room went from brightly colored, sparkly gowns to black abayas and shallahs (the head covering). It was surreal to say the least. The groom came down to a bride in a lovely white gown with her head covered with a black vail. Once the enterauge of men left the building and only family remained, the bride's dad removed the vail, sort of as a presentation to the groom I would guess.
I love different cultures and their traditions. It will probably never become 'common' to me.
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