Sunday, January 26, 2014

School Inspections- Part 2

My school inspection started Sunday, but prior to going to school on Sunday morning, we had to get up and see if the Pass Fairy came and took the pacifiers and left a gift. As you can see, the Pass Fairy did indeed come. The plastic bowl was totally empty. Millie seemed fine with it. Normally Millie will wake up in the night and put her pacifier back in her mouth and sometimes she would wake up crying because she couldn't find it. She also asks for her pacifier shortly after I take it from her in the morning, but on Sunday morning there was no mention of it. She was just thrilled that she got a new baby doll. 
The big test would be that evening when she went to bed. 

We headed for school and I began to get ready for the inevitable evaluation. No matter how much experience you have in education, you still get nervous about someone coming in to judge you. My fear was the team would come in during my second group of students who are a little less motivated and more 'active'. Shocking! That is exactly what happened. A lady came to my room as I was bringing the students in from lunch. One of my students kept pointing at te lady and saying, 'Miss, Miss, Miss!' I finally recognized the lady behind me and told the students she would be coming to our room today. She stayed for over 30 minutes. She wrote a lot and then disappeared. 

Sunday night was rugby again, but no significant thing other that Jack has now started to think he is the best player out there, which I guess is better than thinking he is the worst player out there. 

Stuart could not let Jack have fun and be left out. So he went and started practicing with the veterans rugby players on Monday. As you would guess he was very sore on Tuesday, but went right back at it on Wednesday. Our family may get fit yet. 

I was only observed twice this week, in the end, which was perfectly fine with me. It seems we had positive feedback as to how we are doing, as far as a brand new school is concerned. So in light of that, we were all told we didn't have to stay for our regular afternoon (until 4pm) meeting on Wednesday. What a nice treat. 

I am a bit upset to report that Millie has asked for 'pass' every night this week when she goes to bed. And bedtime is definitely not as settling for her. There is much more crying when she is put to bed, and she gets out of bed a bit more. Typically Jack just goes to sleep and sleeps right through all of her fuss. But Tuesday night I could hear her crying and whining. Then I heard Jack singing to her to try to get her to go to sleep. I suppose that is the example he has seen so he is just participating in our tricks. It was so sweet to hear him singing to her. After a few songs he came running into the kitchen to report his good deed. He also proclaimed that he thought she was still probably not going to go to sleep anytime soon. But in fact, that was not true. I think his singing was the ticket to her slumber. 

Thursday at school was a chilled day. We watched the Lorax in the auditorium. We could totally justify it because we showed it in....wait for it....English! It was great! 

Thursday evening Gina came into town for her friend Rachelle's Stella and Dot party (jewelry, purse, accessories). So Cathy and I went to the party. It was a nice time and we had this Stella and Dot presentation via Skype. What will they think of next?

Jack had a birthday party to go to on Friday morning at 10:00 am. It was held at the bowling alley at Bawadi Mall. There were many kids there from his school. And so the birthday parties begin! He had a great time. 

When we got back to the house Gina came over. Her intention was to stay just for a bit and then head back to Abu Dhabi. Instead she stayed the entire evening and drove back around 9:30 pm. We visited and then she walked with Cathy and me to the co-op. Cathy and I had a pedicure and Gina walked around the co-op for a little (very little) bit. The co-op is super small. 

After the pedis we went to a place called Leisure for dinner. It is a Lebanese restaurant in town center. It was delicious. We ate outside and enjoyed our time together while Kayleigh and Claire stayed with Jack and Millie back at the house. It was nice to have a night out. 

Saturday we got up and Skyped Russ, Julie, Morgan and Emily. Jack and Millie were crazy. I know they were excited, but it drove me nuts nonetheless. After our conversation with my brother and his family we went to see a bed that was advertised on Al Ain Swap and Shop. There are many gently used items for sale on a Facebook sight for people who live here. There are so many people that come and go that there is no reason to buy some things brand new. The bed was nice and we bought it. Now my mom and dad will have something to sleep on when they come in 8 weeks. Jack and Millie are very excited for their visit. 

We did a lot of nothing on Saturday afternoon. We watched a movie, ate supper, I showered the kids, and we Skyped Grammie and Pop. Bedtime came and it was the worst night of all without the pacifier. We put Millie to bed at 7:45 pm and she finally dropped off around 10:30 pm. This is killing me! I am sure we have messed this up royally. 

Still loving our life in the UAE.

Saturday, January 18, 2014

School inspections-Part 1

This week was a very stressful week, relatively speaking. Both of our schools had the school inspection team come in and evaluate how we are doing. Stuart's inspection was a 3 day snap shot of how the school was operating. My school had its pre-evaluation visit. All schools have a day visit the week before the team comes to the school to watch everyone teach. So by Thursday Stuart was finished and my school's 4 day evaluation starts Sunday. There is a great deal of stress just to end the time with a 'your school did not pass'. From my understanding no schools pass. In fact, I wouldn't trust any school that was perfect. The reason we are evaluated is so we know how we can improve. It all makes good sense to me. 

Enough about school. I started running again this week. Bleck!  Sunday, as Jack was practicing rugby, I dawned a pair of running shoes and headed around the loop that circles the Rugby Club, Golf Club and Equestrian Center. The land where this all sits was gifted to the ex pats. Therefore it is a little bit of an 'island' of activities and restaurants and is most often visited by the ex pat community. 

I ran out of the Rugby Club and headed around the loop. I got to the front of the shooting range and thought I was on the brink of death. Mind you, this was at 2 minutes 14 seconds. I ended up running 20 minutes without stopping and walking 30 minutes, 5 kilometers. I was quite pleased. I did this same thing on Tuesday as well. Hopefully I am on my to getting back into shape. 

Things for us are finally not consumed with 'what do we need to do to be legal residence?', or 'what have we not bought for our house so that we can make this a home?'.  So this week was what I might call 'boring'. We had no major events and did a lot of 'normal' things. 

One thing we did attempt to do this week was to teach Jack how to ride his bike without the training wheels. It was his idea, but the effort was short lived. He is just so intimidated and afraid of falling off. It's crazy that he will try to do kart wheels and fall, wrestle with his friends at school (which he gets in trouble for doing), and jump off the swings as he's swinging, often face planting into the sand, but a bike? No way! I guess we will keep trying. 
Friday Jack had his second rugby tournament at the Dubai Sevens, a famous rugby stadium. His team is your typical group of kids under 6 who come out to have fun, run around, and might just pick a blade of grass or two. However, the teams they play are a little more serious. Can someone explain to me why some parents want to relive the glory days (or not so glory days) by pushing their 5 or 6 year old to athletic perfection? Some of the coaches were literally yelling at the kids, not encouraging them. It was so sad. In spite of that, our kids had fun. They haven't won any matches, but they are getting better. Jack has really improved. I fact, in his last game on Friday he almost scored a try. He got the ball, tucked it under his right arm like a football (not sure this was what he was supposed to do) and ran the ball all the way down the right side of the field. As the other team crowded towards him, he quickly turned left and started running into a gap. He was tripped up and landed really hard, possibly knocking the wind out of him. As he got up he turned to see our reaction. We could only yell 'way to go, Jack!', which I think kept him from crying. He turned a couple of other times, but sucked it up like a true kid of mine would do.  He's a tough cookie. The coaches are really impressed with how quickly he's picked up the game.  I'm just happy he likes to play sports. The physical aspect of it is what I think will be so beneficial for him throughout his life.
Jack is about to get that kid's flag.
This is Millie's attempt at rugby. She's trying to put on Jack's socks and cleats. 
That's one of the dads, Bob, photo bombing. 

We came back from Dubai and decided to have curry delivered to Wade and Karen's. Prior to that I decided I would run to the grocery store so that I wouldn't have to worry about going on Saturday. That ended up being a mistake. As I was returning from the store I ran into mass traffic. On Friday evening the new football (soccer) stadium was having a free football match. The local team was playing Manchester City team. As you can guess, every kandora ever seen in the entire city turned out for this event. We thought about going, but so glad we didn't. I can't imagine how long it took for everyone to exit the stadium at the conclusion of the event. I went through two round abouts trying to get home and there was literally no movement at all for several seconds. It was manic. 

Saturday morning, I left Stuart at home to do some school work. Cathy, her girls, the kids and myself headed back towards Dubai to hit the Dubai Outlets. We had talked about doing some shopping there on the way back from Dubai at some stage, but by the time you leave Dubai and whatever activity you have chosen for the day, you are usually too tired to venture through a mall. So we made a purposeful trip just to the outlets. There were some bargains, but not necessarily a place I will frequent. 

When I returned, Stuart was at the driving range with Wade. On the table there was a card from Stuart with some sweet words that only Stuart would say to me. At the end he stated 'I've left something for you in your car'. To give some back story, you need to know that the radio stations we pick up here in Al Ain are interesting to say the least. Most, as you would guess, are all Arabic. However, there is a station called Star FM that mixes Arabic and English, even when the DJs are on. They will be speaking Arabic and then all of the sudden you will hear, 'Here's to a great week, everyone'. Strange to say the least. At any rate, I went out to my car and there was an iPod nano in the console. Ah, so thoughtful. I have to admit, everytime I get to drive his car I am inveous of his iPod and the music he gets to listen to. But now, I get those same play lists. Yahoo!

Saturday evening we went to some new friends' house, Scott and Claire. They are an English couple with two children, Henry and May. Claire works at Jack's school and May is on Jack's rugby team. Also, Claire and Karen are friends. We had bar-b-que pork sandwiches which were delightful. It was a lovely way to end  a great weekend. 

We didn't get home until just after nine. I showered the kids and got both ready for bed. We have been talking with Millie for a little over a week about the 'Pass (pacifier) Fairy' coming to the house, taking her pacifiers and leaving a gift.  Saturday was the designated not. We made a big ceremony of it. She had agreed with this plan so we went for it. We placed her last three pacifiers in a small plastic bowl. Our plan was going to be to have her leave the bowl on the floor. She must have played with the bowl and all three pacifiers for about 30 minutes after we put her in bed. I choose to think that was the way for Millie to tell her pacifiers good bye. 

As I often do, I fell asleep on the sofa until about 1 am. When I awoke I remembered we had to replace the pacifiers with the present, so that I did. We shall see what the night will being. 

Friday, January 17, 2014

A time for rest... Or not.

We have hardly been able to rest since returning from the UK. This week was intended to be less hectic, but all good plans sometimes don't work out. 

We had Sunday off from school to celebrate the prophet's birthday. We got up to take my car to the Kia service station. It seems they want to service it in the first 1000 kilometers and then every 5000 after that. The place we take it looks like it is where all crap cars go to die; always super crowded and wrecked cars all over the place. When we got there they told me they couldn't take it in because they already had all the cars they could possibly service that day. Okay then. 

We went to collect Cathy and her girls. Cathy had gotten up earlier than we had and delivered her car to Kia. She would need a ride back to her car at some stage so we picked them up to go to Bawadi Mall. We were in search of picture wire. The down side of decorating a place from nothing is that you have to buy silly things like picture wire. 

We ate lunch and then took Jack to the inner tube slide instead of Fun City. He had a great time. Millie played on the indoor playground and everyone was happy. We shopped a bit for nothing in particular then headed back to Kia to take Cathy and the girls to their car. By the time we got home, bathed the kids and fed them, it was time for bed. 

Monday was extremely uneventful, which was nice. Both kids were sound asleep before 7 pm. It was great. However, since the time we started our December break, Stuart and I have not really returned to a sensible bed time. Monday night was no different. Midnight was the time we finally decided to hit the hay. I function relatively well on 5 hours, but from the snoring I heard on Tuesday afternoon around 3 pm, I can only ascertain that Stuart doesn't function well on that little of sleep. 

Tuesday evening Jack, Millie and Stuart headed to the Rugby Club for Jack's team practice. They wear their kits to practice, which I think is great. They don't have that many matches so having them wear the kit to practice to get good use out of is a great idea if you ask me. 

Wednesday was by far the longesti day I have had at work. We got up early so that we could get my car to the maintenance shop and have the oil changed. Stuart just happened to have a meeting in town and it didn't start until 8:30 am. So he was able to pick me up and drop me at school as well as pick me up from school to take me back to get the car. After I picked up the car I headed back to school. Our parent-teacher conference started at 4 pm and went until 7 pm. 

In my 21 years in education I have sat in on multiple parent- teacher conferences, but none have been quite like this. It was a little slow at first, but when it did pick up it was manic. In Arizona we assigned time slots and apparently people just knew to stay outside of the classroom while you were talking to another parent. It's a big festival here. It appears that no one cares who is in the room when a teacher is speaking about their child's progress, but I suspect what seems to be the case is not, at all. I believe we are trying to change that process so that there is a little more privacy. Mind you, on more than one occasion having several parents in the room served me well. Some of my parents needed others to translate for them. All of the parents that come to see me told me their daughter loved me. Whether it was true or not, I loved hearing it. I had about 17 of my 47 show up, which I think is pretty good. Parent teacher conferences is a relatively new concept here and it will take some time for everyone to get used to these conferences being an expectation. All of the parents I met with were very concerned about their child's progress. 

When conferences were almost over, our Head of Faculty came in and said that our grades were really low, that some of our students who most likely are A/B students were failing. I couldn't believe it. After 3 hours at school that evening, trying to manipulate grades and figure out the problem, I headed home at 10 pm, a little defeated. It turns out there is a glitch in the program and they are going to work to get it sorted out before we ha out grades. Unfortunately someone at Stuart's school didn't get the memo and passed out the grades, screwed up and all. Needless to say he had some students upset. He dreads going to school on Sunday because of potential parent reaction. Hopefully things can be sorted out quickly. 

Thursday evening, after a long week, even though it was only four days, we headed to the Rugby Club for dinner. We made an early evening of it because I headed to Abu Dhabi to spend the day with Gina on Friday. We have not had a girl's day since before Gina came to the UAE. 

Gina had a Groupon for a day at Traders, a hotel with a private beach. So we ate lunch at the restaurant at the beach and then laid on lounge chairs for hours on end. I think we were there over 4 hours, just talking and laughing and catching up, with no interruptions. It was wonderful. 
Right across the water is the new Ritz Carlton. We just dreamed of what they were doing on that beach. 
We shopped in the late afternoon, had dinner at a place called The One, which was a combined furniture/home store and restaurant. Needless to say there were some things I had to have for our apartment. We closed the place down and were finally back at Gina's apartment just before 11 pm. Below is the view from Gina's place at night. She overlooks the Grand Palace Hotel and the new palace is being built just to the left of the hotel.
We stayed up talking until super late. We ended up calling a mutual friend (Sherry Bollard) who was at school. It was so fun! I have magic jack and can call anyone with a 480 prefix. So it definitely came in handy on Friday. 

Saturday morning I woke up just before 8 all on my own. It was weird not having a small child crawling I to bed or yelling 'Mama' from his/her room so that I can come in and get him/her althought both are quite capable of finding their way out of their bed and room. 

I headed home just before 10 am. When I got home the kids ate lunch and went down for a nap because we were having dinner with our Irish friends (Gemma, Fechen, Oscar and Astrid) on Satyrday evening. When Jack got up from his nap he wanted to go out and ride his bike without the back 'little' wheels. Stuart made his wishes come true and it wasn't 10 minutes until Jack was back in the house, pouting just a bit. It seems Jack has a little more 'Pennell' in him than I really want to admit. If he can't do it right the first time he doesn't want to do it at all. That was the scene out in the yard with Jack and his bike.  I suppose one day he will just get on with no training wheels and go. Until then we do a great deal of coaching. Ugh! 

Saturday evening we spent time with Fechen, Gemma and their kids. We have made some wonderful friends here, and as I continue to say.... this is the best decision we have made for our family, our marriage, and our future. We are still very happy we came inspite of some of the frustration. 

Low to everyone,
Stuart, Dana, Jack and Millie
 

Sunday, January 5, 2014

Second term is here.

5 am came WAY too early Sunday morning. The kids were difficult to get up but once we all got going it was easy. Back to the grind, if you want to call it that. 

I only had about 2/3 of my class at school on Sunday and ironically enough it was one of my best days of teaching here. I have been told that term 2 is the best because the students really start to show their learning. I think if today is any indication, I am in good shape. Stuart had most of his students, which was surprising. It seems the attendance in the more outlying areas after a holiday is lower than right in the city. So I was shocked when he told me most were there. 

I picked up Jack, and one of the other girls in our carpool, after school. When I saw Jack he said, 'Am I going to play rugby tonight?' I asked him who suggested that to him. I know it was his teacher, Karen. We have been talking with them about Jack going to see if he liked the rugby team for under 6 year olds. Her daughter plays and Jack loves her. He was so excited he could hardly stand it. I told him we would go but we were not going to decide to let him play for sure until we saw how well he paid attention and it would depend on whether he liked it or not. 

We were home a couple of hours before it was time for rugby practice. In that time I decided to do a little workout of jumping rope. I haven't exercised since we left Arizona:( Part of the reason is I haven't been able to get my butt in gear was because of our situation, part because by nature I am lazy, and the other part is because it is questionable as to what a woman should wear to workout if she is going to walk or run outside. So, since the new year rolled around I decided eating better and doing some kind of exercise was in order. I just happened to stick in a jump rope before we left the states. The reason I tell all of this is because I want to encourage everyone to get two small children around you if you are exercising. It will boost your self-esteem greatly. 

While I jumped rope, and in between huffs and puffs as well as tripping over the rope, Jack and Millie would clap and then come up to hug me for my efforts. It was fantastic. 

We headed to the Rugby Club just before 5 pm. Jack was so excited. He was eager to be the first one to run to where the coach wanted him to be, to be the person to pass the ball out of the huddle, and to play the hardest he could. His attention span is a little longer than when he played soccer last year. I could really see, for the most part, he was totally engaged and doing his best. Oh there was that part at the end when the kids were playing a monkey in the middle sort of a game and when Jack's team ran from one side to the other, he skipped. Therefore he had both of his flags taken immediately by the other team. Those flags are tough to grab unless you are skipping. Then they just nab them right off of you. 

All in all he had a great time. So we decided to let him join the team. It is flag rugby so I have decided to take back the statement 'Jack will NEVER play rugby' and let him participate. They practice every Sunday and Tuesday and have 3 tournaments between now and the end of February. 
Monday was relatively uneventful. School as usual and then the kids went for a play date at Wade and Karen's house. I had a professional development meeting but Stuart delivered them and I picked them up. They were wiped out and were fast asleep by 7 pm. I like this 'play date' thing. 

Tuesday we had a curry at our favorite place, The Curry House, with Cathy and company. Her parents were leaving Wednesday after being here for nearly a month. It seemed only appropriate to end their stay at our favorite restaurant. 

Prior to that Jack had rugby practice again. We went a bit early and officially signed him up and paid the fees. Rugby practice is at.... You guessed it, the Rugby Club. Can anyone imagine taking your child to their little league practice or soccer practice and being able to purchase what's in the picture below? Brilliant!  I am so happy Jack decided to play rugby. 
Thursday evening Stuart and I went in different directions. He took the kids to the Rugby Club and I went to my friend Helen's house for a girl's evening.  Met some new people and had some good conversations. 

January 13, is the Prophet's birthday. So we have Sunday off. I realize the 13th is Monday, but I don't make the caledar, I just follow it. A three day weekend works for me. 

Gina called on Thursday to see if we wanted to come to Abu Dhabi on Friday for a day at the beach. Some of her other friends from Al Ain were coming as well. So, spur of the moment, we decided that would be fun. A beach day in early January while people in the states are stuck in snow and ice? Sounds like a plan to me. We packed up the car with a cooler of food, beach chairs, towels and a beach blanket, and headed to Abu Dhabi around 9 am. We got to the beach just before 11 and met up with Gina. The beach was a public beach but you had to pay to go in. We paid a little extra to have an umbrella and chair as well. It was like a resort but not nearly as pricey. 
The water was cold to me but I did walk in up to my ankles just to show my bravery. Jack and Millie went all in as did Stuart. The kids played in the sand and sun until almost 5 pm. We had our picnic and all was well, or at least I thought it was... Until.... I took the kids to the showers to rinse them off and get them dressed. Our plan was to go out to eat with Gina after the beach. Jack got rinsed and dress, no problem. Millie was a different story. 

Down at the beach, just before I brought her to the showers, she started whining and saying 'Owie'. I just thought the sand had rubbed between her legs and she was starting to get a rash, or worse yet that sand had gotten in her swim diaper and was rubbing her bum. 

What a lovely surprise I got when I took off her swim diaper. Yep! She had a little, or should I say 'HUGE', present for me. Only a mother could deal with something of such great proportion, and I do not exaggerate. I began to wash out the swim diaper. This is one of the 'diapers' that is made of material and they work really well, as was proven on this particular day. I thought I was going to barf! After the diaper was rinsed I had to figure out how to get all particles down the drain and off the floor where Millie would have to stand on with her bare feet. I moved the shower head around, hoping that would cause the natural draining process. No such luck. In the end I had to just rinse it out like you would a kitchen sink when you finished washing dishes, using your hand, with the need to get the bubbles down the drain.  Oh, if only it would have been that pleasant. Once all 'parts' were in the actual drain I had to squish it down the drain. I then needed to disinfect my hand and Millie's butt. The only soap there was the pink soap you find in most school bathrooms. Some was better than none. The whole experience was more than one person should have to deal with after a lovely day at the beach. 

We ended up at the Lebanese Flower for dinner. Kids were fading fast and Stuart didn't get his food until Gina and I had finished ours. The only thing that makes up for late food is when the taste is so phenomenal you forget it was late in the first place. 

We jammied both kids, chucked them in the car and headed back to Al Ain. Both were snoring within 5 minutes. When we got home we just put the kids in bed and were able to watch some television. I did some laundry and fell asleep on the sofa, waking up at 3 am to go to bed. Whoops!

Saturday morning we set our alarms because Jack had his first rugby tournament. He picked up his kit (aka uniform) on Thursday evening and he was set to go. 
Stuart and Jack left earlier than Millie and myself so that Jack would be on time for the first game. He is still a bit unclear about all of the rules, but Stuart did some coaching in between games and surprisingly enough I could actually see some improvement from one game to the next. 

In his second game he actually got a try (translated: he scored). There was an hour and a half between the second and third game. By the third game all the players were a little over it and really didn't want to play. I can only assume their age attributes to that lack of competitive spirit. They all got a medal, but didn't win one game. 

We had lunch at the Golf Club with some of the other rugby parents. The kids played on the bouncy and playground while we all sat and talked. 

We headed home around 3:30 pm, showered the kids and got ready for Wade, Karen and the girls to come over for dinner. Although our plan was to have an early evening, it didn't really work out that way. We had a nice evening. Their kids are about the same ages as ours and they play very nicely together.  We are starting to make some new friends and from all over the world. We are having the experience of a lifetime.