Monday, November 24, 2014

Holy sore muscles, batman!

hate to whine, but I must! They always say the second day after a brutal beating of your body is worse than the first day after. Very correct in my case, for sure. I woke up Sunday morning and felt as if I had been hit by a truck. I had bruises all up and down my arms as well as on the lower half of my legs. Still yet, I was thrilled I had been a part of something so fun! 

Sunday I took a group of students to a math competition. My grade 3 girls just had fun but didn't win anything. However, my grade 5 girls won 2nd place. For all the trouble our boys give us, our girls make up for it because they are really good and bright. Our boys are bright as well, but 'active'. 

On Monday Stuart took his boys to their competition. His grade 3 boys won 1st place, but his 4th and 5th graders didn't win anything. We were both very proud of our students. This was the first year all of the schools in Al Ain participated in a competition like this. The local people are really competitive so a test of their academics is no different to them than a sporting competition. 

Monday night we went to rugby practice. Although my team has no more games, other than the Dubai 7s, which I am not a part of, we are still training for matches to come in the new year. My left knee was still a bit sore but I pushed myself, especially when someone else who was injured more than me kept pushing herself. I couldn't quit. It's not in my blood. For as much as I used to hate it when my parents would push us, especially when it came to exercise, it has paid off big time. I am not sure I will ever 'give up' when it comes to something I put my mind to. It's the grit that was created in me from the time I was a small child. 

At any rate, I suppose I don't need to tell you that walking down the stairs at school on Tuesday was a bit miserable, and Wednesday was even worse. It got so bad that I decided to go to the doctor. Since the doctor visits only cost about $13 no matter what they do, I decided it would be worth it. 

After X-rays it was confirmed that I have arthritis in my knees and then the doctor referred me to an orthopedic doctor. I will see him on December 7. I don't think he will say anything other than I shouldn't be playing rugby and I need to lose weight, but rather be safe than sorry. 

The up side to my visit was she gave me two days signed off from work. So I stayed home on Wednesday and Thursday. 

Wednesday evening I was sitting in the living room and I can hear Jack reading his library book from school. Up until now he has only been reading the books his teacher assigns from the Reading A to Z program they use at his school. But it is official, he has read his first real book and with precision. It's amazing to hear your child read their first book with ease, slowly but with ease. We are so proud of him. 
Thursday was actually Jack's and Millie's National Day celebrations at their schools.  Since I was home I decided to go to their celebrations; first Millie's then Jack's. 
Here they are in their national colors. 
When I got to Millie's school the children were in the school hall sitting in a circle. They stood up, sang the UAE national anthem, each class showed what they had made in celebration of the 43rd National Day, and then they had food. 
Millie and her friend, Sophie, ate a big piece of Arabic bread, while others choked on cupcakes and other sweets. 
Millie posed with her teacher, Ms. Maria who is from Venezuela. She is so sweet and was Jack's teacher at the beginning of last year before she went on maternity leave. She says Millie is excellent in shook and listens to the teachers, doing what they say. At least she obeys someone in her life. 
This is Jack's friend, Tua, from New Zealand. They are in the same class, and actually the same size!

Jack's celebration involved a falcon exhibition. It is a big sport here. Falcons represent wealth. 
After the celebrations were over and the kids were stuffed with carbs, we headed to try to get our car registrations renewed. Sadly, we waited for about 20 minutes and no one moved so we decided we would do it another day. 

We went to the grocery store to buy the rest of the food we needed for our Thanksgiving celebration we were having on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. We think we should get Thanksgiving off of work as well, but not many see it that way over here. 

We chilled the rest of Thursday evening because we knew Friday would be a big day. 

Friday morning I woke up just after 5 am to walk. Jack was up and decided he wanted to go with me. Usually my walks are boring and I end up trying to think of things to occupy my brain, but not when Jack goes with me. He has a thousand questions and a thousand comments about life. The time flew and I was really glad he went with me. I don't think any of us spend enough time just talking to our kids. 

After our walk we called my oldest brother and then Grammie and Pop. While we were wrapping up our conversation with Grammie and Pop, Jack pulled another tooth. He know looks like a Jack-o-lantern, as Pop pointed out. 
After Skyping the Pennell side of the family we decided to download the film Elf and put up the Christmas tree. It was some good family time. 
Stuart finished up the meal preparation and we headed to the Turners house for our Thanksgiving. 

We had a South African, some Irish, some English, some Kiwis and of course some Americans, at our Thanksgiving celebration. We were in charge of one of the turkeys, ham, Brussels sprouts, leaks, and Stuart felt the need for gravy as well. 

Obviously we were lacking for food. We had such a great time and spent about 7 hours together. I love a party that starts mid afternoon and goes far into the evening. 

After dinner and children settled for a movie, the adults went to the back porch and smoked shisha. It goes in a water pipe and is flavored. We had grape, strawberry and bubble gum. It's way more glamorous than smoking a cigarette, but just as potent. Needless to say, it's a Middle East experience I can pass on in the future. It is a huge social thing here. There are many restaurants that sell it on their menu. 

Saturday we lounged around until the kids were beyond stir crazy. We ended up going to the mall and letting Jack and Millie play at Fun Farm for an hour. We got a Starbucks and walked around the mall, drilling at the televisions on sale. We currently have a 32 inch tv that we want to replace with a bigger one. In due time we will upgrade, I suppose. For now we are saving our money for our trip to Australia which is just 3 short weeks away. 

A great week and weekend, yet again. 







Saturday, November 22, 2014

What a week! Rugby was by far the highlight.

The week started out very irritating.  We woke up Sunday morning and went through our regular routines.  We were heading to Kayleigh's, as we do each school morning, and this is what I see on my car.  If only the happy face was the only chalk drawing that was on my car, but there were about three other places where our little neighbor boy had drawn on my car with his sidewalk chalk.
After school on Sunday I went to the neighbors door and the nanny, who doesn't speak English, answered the door.  She understood what I was saying and I told her I would come later to speak to his mother.  When I returned to speak to his mother, who also has limited English, she apologized and said it was because she wasn't watching the children.

Now for him to have the time to do the damage he did (really no damage to the car, but could have been), someone would have had to been absent from 'watching' him for quite a while.  The mother was so eager to tell me it was her that wasn't watching the kids.  What I do know about some of the nanny's here is that they have no authority over children and are treated very poorly by children.  I also know that some are cheaper than others because they are here illegally.  I suspect that the mother was so eager to accept responsibility for not watching her children because, in fact, her nanny is here illegally and if I reported it to the police, which people do all the time, she would get into trouble for employing an illegal nanny.  

School continues to be the necessary evil in our lives, but terribly tolerable for the benefits we receive from living here.  How often do you look out your office window and see a group of camels going for a walk?  On their own?  There was no one with them, and they could have crossed the street at any time and come right next to our school.  What a funny scene this was.
Also, at school on Monday, my social worker kissed me and left the marks to prove it.  They are a very affectionate group of people for being so concerned about public displays of affection between men and women.  The women are loving up on each other all of the time, as seen in this picture.  Sometimes it is a bit awkward, I must admit.
Monday evening at rugby practice we split into the teams we would play in for Friday's tournament.  My team captain took me aside and said, "Dana, I am going to hand you the ball when I get it and you are just going to run forward until someone pulls you down."  I knew I could do that, but everyone else seemed terribly surprised at my ability to plow through people.  The only reason I had not displayed such skill prior to that evening was because no one had told me to get the ball and run forward.  I was always under the impression that I was to pass the ball when I got it and we would all run forward as we were passing.  Apparently someone of my size is just to steam roll those around them.  I play the same position Stuart plays and that is exactly what he does.  T (team captain, named Teresa) was so encouraging of my efforts, it made me want to play harder.  I gave it my all for sure.  Practice on Monday made me so excited for the tournament on Friday.  


Tuesday Jack had rugby practice, and Mama/Millie night turned into Millie sleeping at 5:15 pm.  I worried she wouldn't sleep through the night, but for no reason.  She woke up nice and peppy at 5:40 am Wednesday morning.  She loves her sleep.  Fortunately both of the kids are good sleepers.  They must know I am not good at getting up in the middle of the night.

The school week was full of fire alarms going off about 15 times each day.  The solution?  Not sure.  I'm not the boss, which I am thankful for quite frankly.  We just ignore it now.  No one moves a muscle when they hear it anymore, which is actually frightful.

Wednesday we came home and the kids napped so that they wouldn't be so worn out for rugby practice.  It was a good call on our part.  Rugby practice was just as awesome as it was on Monday, and I played even better.  My knee started to bother me a bit more, but I just pretended like it was fine and may have strained it more than needed, but the adrenoline pulled me through. 

Thursday the fire alarm only went off 5 times, and none of those were before lunchtime, which was quite a feat.  I think we should go back and see who was absent that day.  Those are probably our culprits.  

Thursday evening Stuart went to the golf club for his live football pick.  He has a pool with some guys from the states.  It was just an excuse for them to get together, I think.  I went with one of the other wives (Jamie) to a Folk Festival at the Sands Golf Course, where we go to church.  It was very Woodstockish, but good music.  The kids went to stay with Jamie's kids, Eli and Ava.  On the way back from their place Millie informed me that she and Eli showed each other their 'parts'.  Great!  The following morning I got a text from Jamie saying Ava told her that she and Jack were in the closet the previous night and kissed.....on the lips.  Hello!  I addressed both issues in an appropriate way, I hope.  Crazy kids!

Friday morning I woke up so excited, but nervous as well.  Stuart made me a breakfast of sausages, bacon and eggs.  I ate early enough so that I wouldn't barf on the pitch.  I got all my things together, including my shower stuff and my costume.  Each tournament the girls pick a theme and dress up after the tournament is over.  This tournament we were to all dress up as super hero.  Monday at practice we were standing in a circle and were told we would need to buy/make underwear for the person to our left to complete their outfit.  The underwear were to be worn on the outside of their tights.  I bought some for one of our coaches, Cooper.  I was nice about it and actually bought him boxers with Hawaiian leis on them, that also said 'Lei me' on them.  Hee, hee!

My cape was just material, and the loin cloth was made for me by Harieta, on of the coaches daughters, and the girl that tackled me in the first game I played a few weeks ago.  She is the one who made me not fear being tackled.  
When I arrived at the club around 11:30 am I soon located the other gals.  We went into the men's 1st team changing room, which was nicer than what everyone is used to, I assumed from their reaction.  This tournament was the first the Lady Amblers had hosted, so everyone was experiencing it together.  We got changed into our jerseys and went out to warm up just before 1 pm.  Our first match was against ourselves.  Each tournament this year, the team has entered a 1st team and a 2nd team.  Because our first team lost in the A division a week ago, and the 2nd team won in the C division at the same tournament, both teams were moved to the B division, which meant we would play each other at some stage on Friday.  Turns out we played each other the first game.  Naturally the 1st team killed us, and when it was over we were all glad.  The last thing you want to do is play against the people who train with you and support you.  Although we got creamed, it was still a good game and we got more practice in before we played a different team.  However, smashing another team full of people you don't know is much easier.

We ended up playing a total of 4 matches.  We lost all of ours, but the 1st team won all of theirs and got the trophy.  It was so cool.  I continued to do my best, and run up the middle every time I got the ball, as I was told.  I had some pretty good runs, I am told.  I also tackled a few people pretty hard.  I was on the ground a few times to say the least.  I had an absolute blast.  I did have a knee issue by the third game, so I had the trainer tape me up.  I would love to have some great sports injury story, but all I can do is blame it on my age and the fact that knees are probably not meant to carry the extra weight I have inflicted on them over the years.
It looks much worse than it was.  I was terribly sore on Saturday morning, but I will live.  I wouldn't have traded this experience for the world.  It was so thrilling.
Here is my awesome team.  This is both teams together.  Every lady in this picture has helped me along the way and have been very positive and encouraging.

 The number 24 was my brother, Russ's, number when he played basketball.  So of course the fact that this was my number was really cool!
 Stuart and I took a 'selfie' after the matches we all over.  Stuart did nothing but beam at my tournament play.  He was genuinely so proud of me and of course he is thrilled that I finally understand the game of rugby, and I actually like it.
The most surprising part of the evening was when my team captain announced that I was selected as the 'man of the match'.  I heard my name called, but wasn't sure what it was for.  I was so shocked.  Each tournament the team captain selects a 'man of the match' and a 'cock of the match'.  The man of the match is the person they feel played the best in the entire tournament, for their team.  The cock of the match is usually given to s person who makes a 'cock-up' of some kind, like scoring for the other team, or cheering for the wrong team.  Brittany, the girl on the right, got that award, and T is the girl on my left.  She is our team captain.

The awards given are celebrated by an adult beverage.  The men get a pint of beer, but just to class it up, the women teams get a wine cooler....and then we chug them in order to really keep it classy!  Ha!

After the trophies were passed out and everyone was showered and changed into their costumes, we danced to a live band.  It was an incredible day for me.  The other teams also dressed up.  One team was dressed as Santa's helpers, in a striped red shirt and a Santa hat.  Another dressed as pirates, and yet another were the mustache brigade.  All were very clever and creative.  The thing about rugby is when you play each other, you are expected to not be friends, but then after the matches are over everyone gets along like besties.  

We got up Saturday morning and boy did I feel like I had been in a battle. I had bruises from my head to my toes. I am pretty sure I had more body contact that most of the players, but only because I asked for it by plowing into the other team. We decided to go get something to eat and then hit the grocery store. 

In the afternoon Rochelle and two of her kids came by to play and have tea. Wade and Karen showed up a little later because they were collecting things they bought from someone who is leaving the country. We ended up going to the gal's house as well and bought a sofa in anticipation of our move to a villa. Now the joke will be on us if we don't get to move, but I'm sure we will. If not I will have a sofa to sell. 

The evening was quiet and the kids were tired, so much so that Millie asked to read her book without my prompting. She was wiped out. 

This week was terribly fulfilling for me. Finally, at the age of 46, I feel like an accomplished member of a sport team. 





Thursday, November 13, 2014

Another weekend away, but with the family this time.

Each week we look forward to the following weekend, and this week was no exception.  Initially Stuart was to have a rugby match in Dubai, as was Jack. On Sunday evening, Jack's club match in Dubai was canceled. However, we had already booked a hotel for the weekend so we decided we would just make a vacation of it. That became the focus and we started planning what we would do with our time in Dubai, including a men's rugby match on Friday afternoon. 

Through the week we were still very busy with rugby for all. Physically, I am not sure I have ever worked as hard as I do at rugby training on Mondays and Wednesdays. However, I can tell that I am getting in better shape. These last two weeks I have also really hit the 'diet' part of it hard. It seems I have been on a diet for 30 years, and every time I say 'this is it'. I guess one of these times it will be true. Maybe this time will be it. I guess I just have to keep trying. 

But I digress. School this week kept me out most days. On Sunday we had our regional math competition for our boys and on Wednesday we had the competition for the girls. Our boys tanked, but our 3rd grade girls won second place, sending them on to the Zone competition, and our grade 5 girls won first place and will also go on to the Zone competition. 

Going to these competitions are really quite a treat. Although I don't eat the food (you know, new diet), they put on quite a spread. And at the girls competition, when I was judging, I was served a malt beverage (non-alcoholic, but malt beverage nonetheless). 
You would think for a 'dry' country they wouldn't even allow anything that appeared to be alcohol. It's a bit strange.

Tuesday Stuart and I had a training on Effective Parent Engagement. There is not a great deal of parent involvement in all of the schools and the powers that be are attempting to change that fact. 

We had some extra time after we dropped the kids off with Kayleigh, so we hit Starbucks. Now, this time last year you could not find a pumpkin latte or a gingerbread spice latte anywhere in the country. So imagine my surprise when the first of October brought the pumpkin latte. I was equally dismayed when I was in Doha last weekend and there was no such thing to be found again. Starbucks barista told me they had taken it off the shelf November 1. Again, I was elated when Stuart and I walked into Starbucks Tuesday morning to this sign. 
You can read it. Give it a try. Okay, let me help you. The top says 'Gingerbread Spice Latte' and the bottom says 'Toffee Nut Latte'. God's little blessings of home pop up here more than I ever imagined. Yummy!
 
So being out of school for three days this week made for a lack of sense of accomplishment, but I think I will get over it. 

Most Wednesdays after Jack's basketball practice, we stop and get Jack and Millie dinner from KFC. This last Wednesday was no exception. On the way home Jack decided he wanted to start eating his chicken. After the second bite he gasped, saying 'Mama, I think my tooth fell out.' I turned around to look and his bottom tooth was just hanging there with blood surrounding. I pulled over so I could give him some tissues and possibly pull the tooth. When I grabbed it I could tell it was not loose enough, so we started out again. Within two minutes he had wiggled it and insisted I pull over again and try to pull it. So I did, and out it came. He has lost a tooth every two weeks for the last six weeks. I told him he's not going to have any teeth left to chew before long. 
The tooth was placed under his pillow, which we usually forget to do. Sadly, the Tooth Fairy forgot to come. We told Jack it was because the loss of the tooth was so sudden, the Tooth Fairy just forgot to come in the night. Fortunately for us she came during the day as we suspected she would. Forgetful Fairy!

The kids went with us to the rugby club on Wednesday night, like they always do. It was a bit chilly so Millie stayed by the pitch where I was practicing for a while. After a bit I looked over and she was playing on a little hill with Jack and his friends. About halfway through our practice I looked up and Jack and Tua (one of his friends) had their shirts off and were swinging them above their heads. I guess you can guess who then decided to take her dress off and run around the field with just her underpants on, right?  Miss Millie was a little over exposed causing me to leave practice for a bit to take care of our naked 3 year old. I had to scold Jack as well just because he was the example she saw. 

Wednesday night, after rugby practice, Stuart was given the certificate paper for his region so he could make certificates for the students participating in the math competition. Trick was he had to have them finished by the morning, which meant using all of our printer color ink. Not going to happen. So, although I put the wrong date on them, I completed them Thursday morning and drove them out to his school. It's the first time I had been to his school. The road he drives is soooo boring. 

Once back at school we had a Senior Leadership Team meeting, which took the rest of the day. So basically I wasn't at school this past week. 

I headed home just after 1:30 pm and got the kids. We packed up our things and drove to Dubai. So many things were supposed to be happening this weekend in Dubai, but in the end all we had was Stuart's match at 3 pm on Friday. So it just turned out to be a weekend away in Dubai. 

When we arrived at the Premier Inn (cheapest hotel EVER, but nice), we decided to drive around the corner and go to the Park and Shop. This is the place I have mentioned before that has a lot of American brands we crave from time to time. We need to come here sometime and bring a cooler full of ice because look what we found!
This is really the only ice cream to ever be worthy of its calories. I know Grammie and Pop (especially Pop) would agree. So the next time they come see us (finger's crossed), we will know where to get our fix. 

After the Park and Shop we came back to the hotel to eat dinner. Clare and her kids were here but without Scott. He had a conference in Abu Dhabi that he didn't know about until after the weekend was booked. So they were stuck coming to hang out with us. We went to their room for a beverage after dinner, then retired to our beds just after 9 pm. 

Friday morning we got up and headed to Jumeira Beach, only to find out it was closed. What? Who closes a beach when it is still so hot outside?

We met the Rouvis there and ended up letting the kids play in the grassy area and around the entrance to the beach. 
We had an ice cream and then decided to just go back to the hotel for a swim. The Richardsons had gone to Ski Dubai, and indoor ski slope. When they got back we got dressed and headed to the rugby pitch. Stuart's team got creamed, but the facility was really nice and had stands for us to sit in, which is not always the case in the clubs. The pitch was literally in the middle of nowhere. 

We all headed back for dinner at the hotel. By about a quarter to eight it felt as if it was midnight. Getting older wears me  out. Clare and her kids came up to our room again for some more chat time and a beverage. By half past ten we were zonked. 

Saturday morning I got up to work out at the hotel gym. We came down to breakfast and then hit the pool before checking out of the hotel. 

We were all going to stop at the Dubai outlet mall on the way home for lunch, but it ended up just being us. Millie fell asleep just before we got home around 1:45 pm. She ended up sleeping until almost 4 pm, which only meant she would be up late that evening. She did not disappoint. She didn't go to sleep until nearly 9 pm. She just can't nap anymore. 

After we returned from Dubai we just sat around the apartment. I did some laundry, Stuart went to the grocery store for some necessities, and the kids watched Christmas movies. We listened to Christmas music all weekend so it must have put them in the mood for a Christmas movie or two. 

Another great week in the UAE. We are on the countdown until Christmas break. Just marks off a day every morning and reports two things; 1) how many days until we fly to Australia, and 2) how many days until Elfis (our 'elf on the shelf') comes. These are both very exciting pieces of information. 

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

A busy week and a girl's weekend!

It seems that this first term is beyond what I would call busy. It doesn't help that we have somewhat over-committed ourselves. School is really busy this term. There are competitions I have to organize and a professional development plan I am committed to fulfill. It is a 16 week term that seems to never end. 

This week I had an entire day of our Math Bowl, similar to a spelling bee. It was supposed to be held with a judge, myself, and a translator. Or maybe it was just conducted by me! The best plans get trumped by fire alarms being pulled, boys running the halls all day when they are supposed to be in class, and fights breaking out in the middle of class. Are we in Compton? 

I was telling our rugby captain last night, who is also a Head of Faculty in a school with boys, that one day a boy was running away from me in canteen and I chased him. He dodged around the pillar and apparently sat down. I couldn't find him so in order to save face I just walked away as if nothing had happened. In hind sight it was hilarious, but at the time it was infuriating.  It seems these things are happening all the time. 

In the Math Bowl one of our brightest grade 5 boys kept goofing around, even when he was on stage. I moved him down to the end of the row of chairs on stage and let him know that was his last warning. A boy was struggling with a question and the goof off started laughing and pointing at him. I grabbed his hand and escorted him off of the stage. You are out! Some of our smartest, as you would guess, are also some of our naughtiest. 

For the most part the Math Bowl was a success. We will now take the teams of four for each grade level to a competition in town on Sunday.  The girls will go on Wednesday. I get to go both days, and then I have a training on Tuesday. So three days out doing something else is fine with me. The training days are always great because they feed you like royalty. 

Another big feat I had this week was leading the professional development in my school on Wednesday. Now this can be very tricky because there always has to be a translator for the Arabic staff. There is a company that provides professional development for all of the schools in Abu Dhabi. They typically provide the translators, but I had spoken to two of our Arabic staff members and thought I had arranged the interpreters. The company that works with us has modules that each school has to complete each year. We have a trainer named Mike who comes and spends two days at our school each week trying to sort out exactly what we need to improve the instruction, achievement and overall needs of the school. One thing we noticed from walking through classrooms was that about 72% of the teachers did not have objectives posted where students could see them. Also, the students were not able to tell you what they were learning in class. Therefore we assessed that the students were not hearing the learning objectives as much as they needed to. So we developed a professional development session around this. Part of my own professional development plan is to incorporate cooperative learning to increase student engagement. So I decided since in my plan I wrote that I would deliver a professional development training, this was as good of time as any. 

I had everything prepared; PowerPoint presentation, handouts, cooperative learning structures set, post-it notes on each table, the Promethean board scheduled to come to the canteen, (which is the only place the entire staff can meet), and fruit to share amongst the group. What could go wrong? Famous last words of a fool!

When we arrived in the canteen at about twenty past one (professional development starts at 1:30), there was no Promethean board. So I ran to the library and when I walked in I was greeted by, 'Oh, do you need board now?'  Um, yep. Sometimes it is quite difficult for me to be polite, but I pulled it off yet again. 

They rolled it down to the canteen, but the door broke and they couldn't get it through. By this time I was in a bit of a panic. We often don't start meetings on time and I was bent on doing so on this day. But, alas, it did not happen. We ended up having to roll it all the way around the building hallways and in through the girl's side of the canteen. We started about 15 minutes late, which might be considered as 'on time' in some minds. 

The presentation started out okay, except that the ladies I had asked to translate for me decided they didn't want to do it. In the end our Arabic Vice Principal, Wafa (whom I love), translated. For about the first 15 minutes I was dying a thousand deaths because nothing seemed to be going right. Mike, our trainer, even whispered to me that 'we may never get through this'. Thanks for the encouragement, Mike. Things improved once Wafa stepped in. 

Everyone was quiet and listened and then the other shoe dropped. I will say that as you wait to have things translated, others are giving answers in another language, and your patience is being tested, you can start to lose momentum and your confidence in what you know how to do. Bingo! That is exactly what happened to me. 

Some of the staff, Western and Arabic, see no purpose in what we are doing even though we told them why we were presenting this material. People are the same everywhere. Some are obstinate for the sake of being obstinate. It's irritating. They voice their opinions and then we lose focus on what we are supposed to be doing. That's what happened. 

Finally I asked Mike to take over and finish. I must have maintained my dignity and it seemed as if it was supposed to happen that way because even my other Head of Faculty didn't know I wasn't supposed to hand it over to Mike. She thought that was the plan. 

I was super discourage by it all but the following day she (Ronel) told me she thought I did a good job. I suppose we are all more critical of ourselves than others are. All I know is it is over and I don't have to do another one of those again this year. 

At home all is well. The kids are still loving school, although Millie has decided she doesn't like the director at her school.  I asked her why and she said, 'Because she tries to talk to me'.  I don't get it, but she should be allowed to have her own opinion. I just told her she still had to be polite and respectful. The lady is really nice so I am not sure what it is about her that Millie doesn't like. 

Both kids continue to fight some kind of bug. I got a call from Jack's school on Wednesday about him complaining of a headache. She gave him some Tylenol and he seemed better. Millie's chest cold
Is back. However, we were not very diligent about her breathing treatments. Parents of the Year!  We will have to get back on those if it doesn't improve in the next couple of days. 
As you can see, they both still have really good appetites. 

Monday after school I got home and picked up the kids. I know we are several months late, but we finally got around to having their 3 year old and 6 year old pictures. Millie wasn't quite as cooperative as Jack, but I think there will be some pictures that will satisfy the purpose. We shall see. I took some pictures as well, but these won't compare to the professional ones. In fact, mine are terrible. 
After their photo shoot in the park, we played for a bit before we had to get home to showers, dinner and bed. 
After photos on Monday, rugby training brought about a LOT of conditioning drills. Let's just say I am not in 'condition'. At the end of one of the drills I went to the side and gagged twice. Had I eaten something before I went to training I would have certainly seen it again at that moment. I can't remember the last time I did something physical that made me throw up. I hated it while we were doing it, but afterwards I felt great!  Also at training on Monday, I confirmed that I am the oldest person on the team. Victoria, whom they refer to as 'senior', jokingly asked me if I could leave the team because she didn't like that I had taken the title of the oldest. I told her I would keep it under my hat and she could still have the title. 

On Wednesday at training I think I may have gotten a bit of whiplash. We went in for a drill that had me run into a defender (tackle bag held by our coach), go down, and pop the ball to a teammate.  When I hit the ground, I didn't roll correctly. I felt the tackle bag under my head and then the coach lifted it, causing my neck to snap backwards. My bell was certainly ringing. On the up side, my team scored and we were all complimented on the effort. However, I walked around in a bit of a daze for a few minutes. But the following morning my neck didn't feel any worse than a bad night's sleep on a hotel pillow. So I'm pretty sure I will live. 

Thursday morning I took the kids to Kayleigh's and said 'goodbye' for the weekend. I went on a girl's weekend with Gina and Cathy. 

When I got to school I heard the fire alarm go off. I knew it was going to be one of those days. We have cameras being installed that face the fire alarms, but they are not there yet. The fire alarm must have gone off 7 times on Thursday alone. The fear is, if we ever actually have a fire everyone will burn up because no one will know it's real. We will get it sorted out, I hope. 

After getting some work done at school, I scooted out just before noon to pick Cathy up from school and we headed to Abu Dhabi to Gina's place. We arrived there just after 2:30 pm, jumped in a taxi, arrived at the airport, went to use the facilities, and got on the plane.  

Gina had planned a wonderful weekend in Doha, Qatar (pronounced 'cutter', not 'cu-tar', as I always assumed). The flight was only 38 minutes, the same distance from Phoenix to LA. 

Once we arrived we got a taxi to our hotel in the center of the city. Gina had heard that the taxi drivers were rip off artists so when we got in the cab she started interrogating him, like only Gina can do. She continued this type of questioning with each taxi driver we encountered, and good that she did because on more than one occasion a driver attempted to get a higher fare than what was typical and fair. 

We checked in and went to our room for a bit. The cab driver from the airport told us that waiting to go to the Souq (the market) was probably wise since traffic was so bad going towards the Souq at that time of day (around 6 pm). So we ate at a little Italian restaurant attached to the hotel, called Cucina. It was delightful. 
Those are lemoncello margaritas we are toasting. Yum!

After dinner we headed to the Souq to look around a bit. It was so fantastic. There were a few things that I was not going to be able to resist. The silver jewelry is hand crafted and very much my style. Also, I had told Jack and Millie I would bring them something. In preparation of not being able to find anything suitable for them, at the gas station before I left Al Ain the day before, I had bought Jack a Trash Pack (the stupid toy I wish I would have invented). You always have to be prepared. However, look what I found in the market. I was so thrilled to find Fatima and Sultan!
Oh yes, these are camels in traditional dress. Sadly, Cathy, Gina and I actually took several pictures of our two new 'friends' once we were back at the hotel. 

We scoped out what we wanted to buy and where we wanted to eat the next day. As we walked through the Souq we saw some new interesting things. These wheelbarrows were leaned against many walls. They were used to transport goods through the alleyways. 
Historically the men workers would push these, coming through the Souq saying 'Hmala', which means 'I'm ready for service'. 

A Souq is such an experience. There is so much to be learned from every place I visit. The following pictures are just random pictures of the alleyways. 
In one of the stores there were men playing a game that appeared to be similar to checkers. We tried to see what it was, but standing there too long, especially being women, seemed awkward. 
The Qatar flag flew high above the Souq on the building In the center of the Souq. 
We got back to the hotel just after 11 pm and headed to bed, after some girly giggles, as if we were at a junior high sleepover. People don't really change. 

I got up early on Friday morning to go and workout at the hotel gym. I have started a 'Biggest Loser' challenge with three other people. We weigh in every Sunday. If we gain we have to put 50 dirhams in the pot (about $13), if we stay the same we have to put in 20 dirhams (a little more than $5). So I had to counter balance any damage I might do in the eating department. We are doing this challenge until Februray and I have been the cockiest one in the group, proclaiming I would NEVER put money in the pot and would take it all when it was all said and done. Have to put my 'money' (so to speak) where my mouth is. So the gym was my destiny for each of the mornings we were in Doha. 

After I returned and we all got ready for the day, we headed out for breakfast. We went to Jones the Grocer, a favorite in Abu Dhabi as well. The service was a bit crap, but the food was awesome. After breakfast we walked in the mall a bit. It being a Friday, and holy day in the Muslim religion, shops weren't open even by half past ten. 

We jumped in a cab and went down to the Cornish (the waterfront). On the side we went down there wasn't a beach to speak of. We were heading toward the Museum of Islamic Art, but it didn't open until 2 pm, so we had some time to kill. We walked along the boardwalk and took pictures for a couple of hours. Then the urge to pee hit all three of us. We headed toward this animal ???????, and knew there would be a bathroom there. 
From this picture we can only assume the Olympic torch has come through Doha at some stage. 

Once we arrived at this spot we saw there were public bathrooms down some stairs. 'Public', need I say more? Of course the other two declined, but I am no respecter of bathrooms and can go pretty much anywhere as long as I can squat. 

We then decided we needed to sit down for a beverage, primarily because Cathy and Gina needed a reasonable bathroom, so we went to the restaurant just behind the large animal statute. I had hot tea and Gina and Cathy had a lemon mint drink which looked refreshing, except for the mint part. 

After our pit stop we went to the shore to look for a Dhow boat to take us to the other side of the water where the museum was. We tried to barter, but in the end gave up pretty quickly just simply because we had walked almost from the museum to where we were at that moment, so we knew how far we would need to walk back. 

The Dhow boat was an experience. There was techno music playing and we were the only three on the boat. It was actually quite funny. But the funniest part was when we got to the other side we just docked up against the retaining wall  there was no ramp, no steps, we were just expected to jump down, about ten feet might I add. I stood up, went to the front and said 'No way!'  So the 'captain' (and I use that term VERY loosely) backed the boat up and drove it harder into the bank, at least making it closer for us to somewhat hop to the top of the retaining wall. Cathy was the only one with pants on. Gina and I were in skirts. So how do you get down from the retaining wall? It was hilarious and we are all fortunate we got down with no injuries. 

We walked to the museum and had to wait about ten minutes for it to open. When we went in we went through a security check, went to the front desk, and were told admission was free, which was a bonus to our day. 

The museum was very fascinating. However, after a few views of artifacts I usually lose a bit of interest. So, as you do, I started to get a bit giddy and crack jokes here and there. Sometimes the humor doesn't translate, so I try to keep quiet. 

After the museum we walked back to the Souq in hopes of having dinner at a recommended Iranian restaurant. We landed there and had a fantastic arabic meal of hummus, lamb, chicken, and kofta (minced lamb full of spices). We were beyond full when we left. 
We then walked the Souq again in hopes to make our purchases we had eyed the previous night. I must have visited the stall with this bag about 50 times. In the end I walked into the shop, asked him how much his lowest price was, pulled out 30 less Riyals (the money of Qatar) than he had said and stated, 'It's all I have', very pitifully. He looked at me, very exasperated, and said,'Ok'. Yahoo!

Prior to that purchase we went to the pottery shop and all bought snowmen. They are so cute, very unique, and we watched the artists making some while we were there. I really enjoy buying art work from around the world that is unique and adorable, as is this snowman. 

After our purchases we continued on to see the falcon shops. Falcons are revered in the Middle East. They are used as hunters, but mostly as status symbols. There was a man in one of the shops that really answered a lot of our questions for us about the falcon. He told us that Falcons range in price from 30k Riyals (about $8,000) to hundreds of thousands of Riyals. 
They put the hood on the heads of the falcon to keep them from freaking out. The Falcons in Qatar are all wild. 

There were also Arabian horses in stables behind the falcon shops, also quite expensive. It seems the man in the picture posed for me. Thank you, kind sir!
We came back to the hotel and decided to find a place in the mall for a bite of dessert. We landed at Starbucks for a slice of cake for Cathy and Gina, and a hazelnut latte for me. What a treat!

Our goal was to stay awake until 10 pm. It wasn't much of a struggle on Thursday night, but seemed more challenging on Friday evening. I am pleased to report that 'lights out' in the hotel room wasn't until half past ten. 

I went to the gym again on Saturday, then I was able to Skype my brother and his family, as well as Stuart and the kids. 

I got back to the room and we got ready for another exciting day. We headed to a place called Katara, which was a cultural center not far from The Pearl, an exclusive community for the local people. There were a number of interesting art galleries, but nothing more than that. 
Here was our breakfast cafe. We had breakfast and then walked around for a bit.
Here I am right along side the water front.   This was the only beach we saw in Doha. 

Because we had a great deal of time we opted to go to Lagoona, a shopping mall not too far from Katara. It was within walking distance, or so we thought. 

As we started to walk, we noticed there was a great deal of construction ahead of us and on several occasions we had to kind of crawl over drainage pipes that had not been laid. We ran into a bit of a problem about halfway there. There was no way to cross the body of water that needed to be crossed unless we went under the bridge and climbed up the sand. So that is exactly what we did. 
This was the beginning of our walk which was okay, mainly because there were no cars buzzing past us. 
This 'reduce speed' sign was a bit concerning, but we slowed our walking just in case. 

We all had on skirts/palazzo pants that did not lend to climbing. What a sight we must have been. As we were climbing up the sand, my shoe fell off. Oh yes, I was wearing flip flops. Super safe. 
You can see the shadow of my gold flip flop in the middle of the picture. 
This was once we were safely on the road. Or were we? Nope, we ended up walking on the street with all the cars. I was amazed at the lack of concern Gina had. She is usually so safety conscious. I am usually the one that almost gets us killed. 

As we were walking along the road, I was staying as close to the construction barriers as I could as not to be IN the road. I ended up breaking my right pinkie toe because I caught it on the corner of one of the concrete barriers. Felt great!

Once we were safely in the shopping mall  we went to the bathroom and washed out feet in the ablution tub (the ones the Muslims use when they are cleaning their feet to pray). It's like a sink for your feet. It might have not been the appropriate thing to do, but our feet were clean afterwards so it served its purpose.

We shopped around a bit and then decided to get a bit to eat before we had to go back to the hotel and head to the airport. 

The trip back to the airport was as easy as the one from the airport. Everything about our trip was relatively smooth. We had a lovely time and we all were ready to leave when we did. 

Cathy and I got home just before midnight, so it was a full weekend and not a moment to spare.