I woke up totally fine, but then when I thought about not being able to take Millie to school on her very first day, I got rather weepy. Stuart came in the bedroom and asked me if I was okay, to which I replied, 'No....', all the while I was crying.
Shouldn't your first day of school involve a breakfast of a chocolate donut? Oli thought so as well.
I pulled it together and waited for Ms Janet to show up. She arrived around 6:15 am. I asked her to just clean the bathrooms and then do some ironing. I literally have 4 blouses I have not worn for about 7 months because I was too lazy to iron them. Apparently I am still too lazy, but I'm going to get to wear them soon. I wasn't fussed about her cleaning the entire apartment on Sunday because the AC man was coming and was going to make a mess, I was sure. However, when I got home, the AC man had been, he had made a mess, Ms Janet had ironed all the clothes I had hanging, and she had cleaned the entire apartment. My big concern was what would I have her do the next 4 days of the week? Oh dear, to have our problems.
Sunday morning, before Ms Janet started cleaning, Mr Andrew gave me a call. It was about an hour after Millie was supposed to be in school so I was a bit shocked. It appears he went to the Nursery instead of the preschool. He stated Millie's name was not on any of the lists. I assured him it was and gave him directions to the school. I asked him how Millie was and he informed me that he had to take Ms Janet with him in order to keep Millie from crying. It made me sad for sure. He said she was fine after that. He texted me about 10 minutes after he hung up to let me know Millie was safely in her class. He also texted me when he brought her home to let me know she had fallen asleep on the way home, but woke up as he attempted to bring her into the house. I had told Ms. Janet Millie would probably need a nap each day after school now that she was going to be so active, but Millie would have none of it on Sunday.
Both Stuart and myself reported to our new schools bright and early on Sunday morning. I basically just shadowed the other English Head of Faculty for the entire day. Being in a school with girls and boys is definitely different. There are girls on one side of the school and boys on the other. Never the two shall meet. They seriously can never be in the same place at the same time. Some schools are changing this, but most are sticking to the tradition of the culture.
I received a text from Stuart midway through the day. He asked me how it was going. I responded and asked him the same. I also asked how many kids he had. I messaged that we had 1400 registered but only about half had shown up. He responded to me and stated he had 180 boys. I told him he would have such a rough time with that many students (wink, wink ) and he said, 'Oh, in grades 1 though 5 there are only 80 students.' Sucks to be him, eh?
I was so happy to see Jack and Millie when I got home from school. I asked Jack how his day was and he told me it was good. Then I asked him what he learned. He said, 'I don't remember'. Then I took my friend Sue's advice and asked him who made him laugh at school. Of course the conversation started after that. Who cares what he learned, right?
I asked Millie if she had a good day and she told me she had. I asked her if she met some new friends. She said that she did. I then asked what her new friends's names were. She replied, 'I don't remember'. I told her that she had to come back from school on Monday and be able to tell me at least one name of one of her new friends. She seemed to have had a good day, and I am happy to report that Ms. Janet did not have to go with her to school the rest of the week. However, Mr. Andrew reported to me, through laughter, that she didn't speak to him in the car at all. Wait until she warms up. He is going to long for the first week of school and her muteness.
Sunday evening was the first rugby practice for Jack. He was super excited. Not to brag or anything (but clearly I am bragging), but he is definitely the most athletic kid on the team. Stuart is now coaching Jack's team, which they both enjoy.
Jack is the boy just in front of Stuart. I had to zoom in on this photo to make sure that was him. That boy looked too grown up to be Jack, but sure enough, it is him.
We discovered, just before practice, his cleats were definitely too small. We looked for a bigger size while we were back in Arizona but couldn't find any. So we put that on our shopping list and he just wore his tennis shoes.
A little later in the week we received an email from on of Jack's other coaches. He asked if we had written Jack's birthday down incorrectly. We said we hadn't. It seems that he really should be on the under 6 team instead of the under 7 team. However, he is still a head above any player on his team. It was decided that he could stay on the under 7 team. I guess kids can play up an age group but not down an age group. Whew! That would have messed up the player (Jack) and his coach (Stuart).
Monday my day got a little more hectic. I actually started helping out with matters around the school. I had met so many people on Sunday, I couldn't remember any names. The schedule, for the teachers in a school as large as ours, can be a nightmare. I have always prided myself in being able to see life in puzzles and knew, if given the chance, I could help. However, I did not want to come on too strong, as I know I can do.
Late in the day on Monday I informed Rania, the Vice Principal, if she wanted me to look at the schedule I would be more than happy to do so. She asked me if I knew how to do it and I told her I did. I knew how many sections of PE, Music, Islamic, Arabic, computers, English, Math and Science each class needed each week. Rania told me she hated doing schedules and always paid people to do it for her at home. She gladly passed it over and I felt I was really contributing.
I got home on Monday and by 7 pm I was knee deep in scheduling. I ended up staying up all night and getting the schedule worked out the way I felt would work for everyone. Oh, that was until the lady who did the girls's schedule came in on Tuesday morning and started giving me the stipulations of scheduling. Now, although I apprecited her advice, in my head I thought, 'now this piece of information might have been helpful 24 hours ago'.
Tuesday is a bit of a blur. I do know I was told to stay in the office until the schedule was complete. I ended up being in the office the rest of the week with that silly, disfunctional schedule. Ick! More staff means more confusion. It was quite difficult to work it out. There were about 40 staff members and 27 different class schedules to figure out. I think it is finally sorted out, or at least I hope it is. Some people will not be pleased, but sadly there were no other choices in some cases.
Tuesday after school I thought I would go home and crash, but I really didn't. I did go to bed at a reasonable time but not early at all. I did, however, skip Jack's rugby practice. Fortunately, Millie kicked up and lost the privilege of going to the Rugby Club to play while Jack practiced. Truly she was exhausted and needed to hit the hay early. It was best for all of us.
Wednesday was another busy scheduling day for me. I may have gotten out of my chair three times to go to the bathroom. Boring! I knew that soon it would be over and I would be supervising the canteen during lunch. I suppose I should take my time with the schedule.
When we got home from school we decided to go swimming. After all, we hadn't been since Saturday. They might be getting worried about us at the pool. We didn't stay long and I am happy to report, to my mother's liking, my kids were in bed each school night this week at 6:30 pm, and asleep shortly after. We do run them ragged and have vowed to slow down a bit this year.
Once we were home Cathy and Claire came for a visit. It is strange not seeing Cathy everyday. Moving schools was a must for me, but I was sad about leaving some of my friends. I guess it's inevitable.
Cathy and Claire helped me color post it notes for my revised, yet for another time, school schedule. I decided to do it old school the third attempt and that one was the final, which I believe is correct, Inshallah:). Stay tuned for the update of the schedule next week. I will let you know if this was the actual final draft.
Thursday came and went too quickly. Again, I was stuck manipulating the schedule. At the end of the day I had to go to the Souq to finish up the final purchase of material for my old school. Buying that material was WAY more trouble than I had anticipated. I ordered one final batch of bolts of fabric and the new Head of Faculty will be the one sorting out delivery and payment of it now.
Because I had to get payment for the material I popped into Ahmed bin Zayed. I say my old teammate, and new Head of Faculty, LuShana. We hugged and she instantly broke into the scene from Color Purple where Celie and Nettie are playing the hand clap game when they are being separated. If you know the movie you will remember. It's one of my favorite movies and when she started singing the song and clapping my hands I was so flattered. She definitely thinks of me as a friend. Love her dearly!
Here are the words to the rhyme.
“Me and you, us never part. Makidada. Me and you, us have one heart. Makidada. Ain’t no ocean, ain’t no sea. Makidada. Keep my sister away from me.”It was great to see the gang, but made me know I was moved to the right school. I really like my new principal. She is very nice and very professional. I love my Vice Principal, Rania, and our Arabic Vice Principal, Wafa, and the other Head of Faculty, Ronel. I have been blessed by being transferred to this school.
Thursday evening we headed to the Rugby Club for a swim and then had dinner. After swimming, we headed up to eat. Jack had a thirty minute time out while his friends played. You see, Jack had a major meltdown the Friday prior as we were leaving the Rugby Club. Because of this we informed Jack that the following time we were at the Rugby Club he would have to sit out and watch his friends play for 30 minutes. He actually handled it rather well. He sat and waited his 30 minutes. At the end of the evening when it was time to leave, he was all smiles and left without one whiney moment.
Friday morning we Skyped Grammie and Pop. The kids were their normal wild selves and popped in and out of the Skype like they normally do.
We headed to the pool mid morning. Cathy and Claire came with us, and then we went to the Golf Club for lunch. They have remodeled the Golf Club and changed things around a bit.
After lunch we went to Bawadi Mall to book the bowling alley for Jack's 6th birthday. I can't believe he is already 6 years old. He is so excited for everyone to come blowing, and it's really inexpensive, which is a bonus for us for sure.
We shopped a bit for birthday treats and worked out ordering pizza. Rochelle and Andrew live out by Bawadi Mall so we dropped by on our way home. We ended up staying for a small impromptu party. Days like these, when you drop by just to say 'hello' and it turns into an event, rind me of when I was growing up. We would go 'visit' people all the time. There didn't need to be an invitation or a reason. Yet another thing I love about my expat community.
Home we headed in the late afternoon. Showers and food were on the agenda for my sand dwellers. I just love seeing the kids have fun with their friends.
Saturday we got up and took Stuart's car for its 20,000 (12,000 miles) kilometer service. We decided that we need to start taking my car places on the weekend instead of his. My car only has 10,000 kilometers and we bought them at the same time.
We headed for breakfast and then the pool. In fact, we were at the pool twice on Saturday. Once we were there with Rochelle and company, then we went back in the afternoon with the Turners and Richardsons, because we can!
Between the swimming adventures we headed to Al Ain Mall. We needed to spend some vouchers we received and Stuart wanted to look for a case for his laptop. We accomplished our mission and left just after lunch.
Saturday evening we got home, kids ate, went to bed, and I went for a much needed pedicure! Ah!
Just another week on the sand box.
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