Movin', movin', movin'!

We took several loads of clothes, dishes and pictures over to the villa on Sunday after school. Rugby was canceled for Jack on Sunday so we were able to get on with a few more loads than had been expected. By bedtime I was more than ready. 

Stuart took Monday off in order to get more moved. Once I got home from school there was very little to do except for have the furniture moved. 

Although I was supposed to teach 4th grade students all week because we had another teacher out with surgery, I ended up skating out of it for one day. I took an emergency day on Tuesday so that I could supervise the movers. 

Initially the movers were to show up at 3 pm, but it turned out they were about to start around 10 am. It was a good thing, because Stuart scheduled for the electricity at the apartment to be turned off on Tuesday afternoon which meant they would come out Tuesday morning and shut it off, naturally. Oh what to do with all the stuff in the refrigerator?

Fortunately by about 2pm all of our things were in the villa and the food was back in the cold fridge. 

The movers packed, unpacked and sat everything up, where I wanted it, by 3 pm. A five hour move to me is not that bad. 

Stuart and I had skipped rugby on Monday night to get things moved, and the plan was for us to skip Jack's practice as well on Tuesday night. But it ended up that Scott and Clare came to get Jack so he could go to practice. They also fed him, which was awesome. Cathy and her girls had Millie. They fed and bathed her, which made my day. Good friends here are very common. The expat community only has each other to rely on. It's the next best thing to having family around. 

By the time both kids got home on Tuesday evening, I had all the beds made and Stuart had their blackout blinds up, as well as our curtains. 

We ordered in Chinese and all I could think of was how much I wanted another day off from work. Low and behold, right about that time my phone rang and it was the hospital calling to tell me my MRI was scheduled for Wednesday at 11:30 am. Holy knee pain! I was so excited!  I did end up going into school because I had two observations scheduled for Wednesday. I left after the evaluations and headed to housing. 

It seems when we were there getting keys for the villa, we were not given the paperwork granting us permission to move our things. Because of the numerous 'runners' who leave in the middle of the night, security had started to forbid people from moving things out of the complex without a consent letter. Now one would think if we were given keys to a place, we would also want to move some items into said place. Hmmm! As we often say, this is a society which is tax free and often logic free. 

At any rate I got the letter of permission, although we had already moved all our things, as well as the clearance letter from the manager of Greenland Compound. I then headed to the hospital for my MRI. 

I have never had an MRI. It's freaky. Thank goodness I wasn't all the way I the machine. The tech put headphones on me and I listened to soothing music....oh and the unbelievable roaring noise of the machine itself. 

Afterwards I met with the radiologist. He didn't say much to me, but really just wanted me to wait there to make sure the images had downloaded correctly. He did ask, several times, if I had recently had trauma to my knee. My response was, 'Nothing major that I can recall'. Although I am pretty sure that my first rugby tournament in November was when the 'trauma' occurred. I can't remember a specific tackle that caused it, but maybe all of them were more damaging than I had realized. Oops!

I acted like I was texting when I took this picture. You can see the images of my knee just beyond the radiologist. 

Basically it doesn't seem to be good news. I have a follow up appointment o. The 15th with the orthopedic doctor to discuss what should happen next. We shall see. 

When I got home from my appointment the kids were playing outside. What a good feeling that is to know they can play outside now. 

Stuart had gone to do the final inspection  of our apartment, while I convinced the kids they needed to come in for a bath. We had planned to go to the mall to find a new shower curtain and possibly some curtains and curtain rods. 

My friend DeDe came by to check out our new pad. She just lives down a couple of streets and is the mom of the family we were hoping we would live closer to, but at least we are in the same part of the Village as they are. She stayed for a bit while Jack and Millie were taking their bath. As they got more noisy, DeDe took that as a sign that she should go. 

I finished the kids baths and we headed to the mall. On the way, around 5:15 pm, Millie fell asleep and ended up sleeping through the mall and the entire night. She loves her sleep.

Our mall trip was a bit of a success. We got a few things, then went shopping for our food for the weekend. 

Thursday I taught 6 of the 7 periods in the day. Because I had to take Wednesday off and was supposed to be teaching half of each day, I traded with the other Head of Faculty and she taught the whole day on Wednesday. I survived the day and then after school we left for Dibba, Oman. 

We went to the Wadi Bih race, which was in Oman. There are many different races on the same two days. The uniqueness of this race is that it is a 5 man, 72 kilometers on the second day, but many run the 72 kilometer race on their own the first day and then run with a Twam the following day. Needless to say we just went to camp and babysit the kids of our friends who were running. 

When we arrived Thursday night, we set up camp with 4 other families, then began to grill. Of course, we had all of the grilling equipment. Stuart needs all the necessities when camping. 

We set up our tents in a circle. The first night we were virtually the only people there. Friday night it was packed. 

Of course we have an 8 man tent for the four of us. 

Friday, some of the kids were running the 5 member team, 50 kilometer run, but the adults were just enjoying the beach and the pool. It was so fun to just relax. We camped, but were allowed to use the resort who hosted the event. We could use the pool and the shower facilities. 

The pool was a bit chilly, but that didn't stop Jack and Millie. 

Friday evening we grilled out again. It was an absolute meat fest weekend. Meat was about all we ate. 

We were told there was a cafe close by. In the end the cafe was not close as we'd thought it would be. Needless to say we did not bring enough food for the weekend and ended up just eating the food others brought. After all, we were the ones who brought the grill. Now we know for next time. 

Saturday morning the adults got up and were supposed to have started the race by 6 am. Stuart and I took care of Scott and Clare's kids and another dad watched after another group of kids. I was perfectly happy being the babysitter. The kids hung out at the beach and the pool the entire day. 

Sandy kids are happy kids. 

Because a few of the teams got a late start, they were a bit later returning. The reason they got a late start was because not all the team members had stayed in Dibba on Friday night. Instead they tried to cross the border on Saturday morning and were delayed. The late start also meant the team would be running more of the race in the extreme heat of the day. 

The people we were with stated that next year they would insist their team members either camp or stay at the resort in order to be a part of the team. 

We ended up leaving the beach just after 4 pm on Saturday. Although we had a bit of a detour because of construction, we arrived home just before 8 pm. Jack and Millie had slept virtually the entire journey. When we arrived home, I tortured us all and bathed the kids. They both cried and screamed, mainly because they were so tired. They immediately went back to sleep. 

Stuart and I unpacked the car, took showers, and started the many loads of laundry from our sandy adventure. 

Yet another new experience here in the UAE was a total success and fun was had by all.