I went to a training on Sunday for our grading computer program. I learned one thing in 4 hours, and one of those hours we sat waiting for the trainer. We were fed lunch and were finished by noon.
After school I took Jack to basketball practice but rugby had been canceled for that day. They figured since the kids had a long tournament day the previous Friday, they could have a break on Sunday.
When I got home from basketball practice with Jack, Stuart left to help a family whose house had caught on fire over the weekend. The fire was contained to their son's bedroom, but Stuart said their was soot all over the house. The pictures very quite scary. Needless to say, later in the week, we went out and bought smoke alarms for our apartment. Nope, they are not standard in every place.
Sunday night Millie had spiked a fever. She had a bad cold and couldn't breath out of her nose. Both kids were in bed by 6:30 pm.
While the kids were sleeping and Stuart was helping clean up the damage from the fire, Cathy came over for tea and biscuits. We don't see Cathy as much now that rugby is in full swing so it was nice to have her come by.
After Stuart got home and Cathy left, that's when the fun began. Stuart came running into the living room telling me to come back to the bedroom. When I got there I saw the result of a busted water pipe. Because the water is so horrible and hard here, pipes bust all the time. They just separate from where they are supposed to be connected to the wall. It seems there should be a solution for this considering we are living in the year 2014, but what do I know.
Stuart cut the water off, but then heard a leak in the kids' bathroom, which he suspected was coming from the upstairs apartment. When we called the maintenance man at 10:30 pm at night, naturally his phone was turned off. Once the kids' bathroom seemed to have stopped leaking we went to bed and knew we would just have to deal with it the following day.
Stuart called to have the pipe fixed on Monday, but no one came. The kids fell asleep really early. Millie was asleep at 5 pm, still quite ill, but being mother of the year, I just cranked her full of Tylenol and continued to send her to school each day.
Stuart and I went to training Monday night and I nearly died. I still am in pretty horrible shape. I really need to carve out more time to workout, but I'd rather hang out with Jack and Millie, and by the time they go to bed I am too tired to do anything. Let's face it, I'm lazy. Anyway, after training one of our coaches bought us pizza. So it looked like the enchiladas I had made on Sunday evening would have to wait another evening.
Tuesday morning at school it was decided we should take the grade 5 boys to the canteen to practice the way we want them to behave in the canteen. It took the majority of the morning, but things did get better toward the end of the week. After canteen I covered a grade 5 boy's class. They were so terrible I thought I was going to cry. They are by far the most disrespectful group of children I have even been around. There are many factors that create and perpetuate this behavior, but I am not in charge so I can't change it completely. I continue to do what I can to help out. Then I go home and enjoy my family. Stuart and I always remind each other why we came here, and it was not to make a name for ourselves in this society.
As if my coverage class wasn't enough to make me have a nervous breakdown, at the end of the day, as students were going to the buses, one of our special needs students was fighting with another boy. I stepped in and tried to pull them apart, but couldn't. The special needs student was huge and has an unusually large amount of strength, freakishly strong. In the end they both went to the social worker and the boy who continued to bother the special needs boy was actually suspended from coming to school the next day. I will have to hand it to our social workers. They are starting to follow policy and send kids home when it is appropriate.
Tuesday afternoon Stuart took both of the kids to rugby practice and I went to 'Ladies coffee' at my friend DeDe's house. She lives in a place called The Village. We have wanted to move there since we came here, but were told that because we don't have three kids we can't move there. Anyway, it was a nice time of getting together with some other ladies and just relaxing. And it made me want to live in that complex all over again. DeDe told me there were two empty places on her street because just recently two families had 'run' (fled the country).
Stuart and I had training on Wednesday so we were able to take the kids to school. Millie still wasn't feeling well and she cried when we left her. It made me so sad.
After our training we went to housing at the Zone. We had talked about it, and although we had been to housing a few times since school started and were told we could not move until December of 2015, we thought we would give it one more try. The way things work here is that the squeaky wheel really does get the grease. There are no set rules. It all depends on who you talk to and what mood they are in.
Well, it seems we caught Mr. Ibrahim on a good day. We told him all of our woes of where we currently live, mainly that kids play outside of our window until all hours of the night, interrupting our sleep. We told him of the two places we knew of in The Village that were empty. After about ten minutes of conversation, he told Stuart to put in a Termination of Housing Lease on the school portal and in a few days, Inshallah, it would be accepted. We may be moving into a villa in The Village. Hot dog!
Once we left the Zone, we picked the kids up. Millie was asleep and burning up. I took her to the doctor, therefore Jack had to skip basketball. The doctor said she had an upper respiratory infection and gave her a breathing treatment in the hospital. He then sent home meds for a nebulizer, which we had to go and buy. Instantly she was better. It made me feel badly that I had waited for so long to take her to the doctor.
Millie and I ran errands after the doctor visit. We had to get a pink t-shirt for Jack in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month. Of course since he had to have one, she did as well. It was quite a challenge to find him a shirt, and in the end I had to buy him a shirt that was too big, but it was the only pink shirt I could find.
Wednesday evening I didn't go to rugby training because of Millie being sick. When she went to sleep she could actually breath out of her nose. Thursday morning she woke up acting like her old self, defiant and sassy. The downside of the steroid in her breathing treatment is it gave her a bit of a rash, but we can live with that for 7 days.
Thursday evening Stuart and I went out on a date. We hadn't done that in a few months, probably since we were home in the summer. We decided that going out on a date is way more trouble than we care for. We could put the kids to bed, order curry to be delivered, probably spend more quality time together, and save a lot of money. The good thing is that we were able to let Santa know which bike Millie wanted him to bring to her for Christmas, and it was on sale. Apparently last year Santa waited too late and ended up missing the bike sale for the bike he brought to Jack. He paid dearly for that bike. Silly Santa. Needless to say, Santa was grateful for the heads-up on the savings. Jack is still not sure what he wants from Santa. Since we told him Santa wouldn't be buying him his own iPad, he's at a loss.
Friday morning we were up by 6 am and heading to Dubai for Jack's rugby game. We do really get our money's worth with rugby.
The team only played 3 games, but they really started to look like a wonderful team. Jack, once again, scored several tries. He loves any sport and gives it his all. I am so happy he loves to be active.
After the games we spent time at Murdiff City Centre, which is yet another large mall in Dubai. We had lunch at Texas Roadhouse. It felt like we were back in Arizona except that they didn't have sweet potatoes as a side. Shameful! Jack and Millie ate as if they hadn't eaten in weeks. Jack had three rolls, a huge chicken tender, mashed potatoes and a lot of peanuts. Millie ate almost all of her mac 'n cheese, a roll, mashed potatoes, and lots of peanuts. Once in a while they both, especially Millie, shock me at how much they eat. Millie is starting to broaden her food horizon, which is a real relief.
While at the mall we discovered that Jack liked the Trash Pack. Have you seen these? Stuart and I said we could think of a toy that stupid. Those inventors are raking in the dough for something so ridiculous, but so loved by kids. So it seems Santa has some ideas now.
Millie was asleep when we bought the small Trash Pack for Jack, so of course we had to buy one for her, otherwise we would not hear the end of it.
When we got back to the car I opened up the toy and Jack's manipulative skills rose to a whole new level. He began trying to convince Millie she wanted to trade one of hers for one of his. At least he was trying to trade rather than just flat out scamming her out of one.
When we left the mall we took Stuart to Dubai Sports City. He had a match there, which is why we decided to stay in Dubai and shop around. Otherwise he would have had to drive home and get on a bus and go right back to Dubai.
We ended up driving home, getting our swim suits and heading to the Richardson's for dinner and a dip in the pool. Stuart ended up with another try in his match and this time he was awarded Man of the Match, but didn't have to share it with anyone. He was super pleased with his efforts and so am I. He loves the game so much.
We got up Saturday morning and went to the Murffs house for a Halloween party. It was full on with crafts and food. It was so fun. DeDe Murff is my hero. She put so much effort into the activities and the entire morning. She and her family go to the same church as we do, but we also know them through the Rouvis. They all came here at the same time 3 years ago. When you enter the country with a group of people you are often bonded for life. That seems to be the case with the Rouvis and the Murffs.
This is an owl made of an apple slice with Nutella spread for the head, Oreos for the eyes and eyebrows, candy corn for the nose, and sugar eyes. Millie's took on a much different look than Jack's.
The kids painted a fall tree, using their hands as the 'leaves', and their fingertips made the dots.
We left the Murffs and went to the Rugby Club for lunch. While we were there theRouvis showed up, as did the Richardsons. The kids played outside for a bit, then off to the pool we went. We only stayed for an hour because we were having dinner with our Irish friends, the O'Riellys. They were in the group that came over with us last year. We hadn't really had a chance to catch up this year as of yet, so decided it was about time.
We had a lovely evening and meal. We left much later than intended, but had an absolute blast just catching up. They are great people and their kids are lovely.
We had a fun filled weekend, yet again, here in the UAE.
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