Sunday, January 25, 2015

A busy week just became busier

Sunday afternoon I had to have my Vice Principal and other Head of Faculty come into the room to call the kids down.  They were out of control, and for me to have to call in reinforcements you know it has to be bad. Ugh! I only felt better when the following afternoon the other Head of Faculty reported at one time towards the end of the day she only had eight boys in her class. It seems the other boys took it upon themselves to run out of the classroom and chase each other in the hallways. Bahahaha!

Sunday evening I stayed home with Millie instead of going to Jack's rugby practice. We decided to watch Barbie Dreamhouse......again! It amazes me how many times she can watch the same show and not get bored with it. 

Monday school was better, for me at least. I taught the boys in the morning so they weren't quite so wild. It seems they rev up after they eat lunch. 

Monday evening I had a good training session and committed to play in a tournament in Abu Dhabi on Friday. I was very excited to play in my second tournament, but did worry about my knee's ability to hold up. 

Tuesday school was equally nuts. Showed magic school bus. Kids were not interested. 

Tuesday night Millie and I went with Jack and Stuart to rugby practice. When we got home I fell asleep on the sofa. I woke up around 11 pm and went to bed. At 12:30 am I found myself wide awake so I decided to watch the Bachelor. When I finally went back to sleep, at 2:50 am, I dreaded the alarm going off just a little over two hours later. It turns out I didn't need to worry about the alarm, yet the little peanut who came in at 3:25 am and announced, 'Mama, I'm wet'. Boo!

I sat her on the toilet, got her new jammies, put her in my bed, changed her sheets, returned her to her bed, and then got back to sleep around 4 am. Again, boo!

Wednesday was the last day I had to teach this particular class. They were challenging again, but I just continued to teach even though they were not listening. I am sure if anyone would have been watching they would have thought I was a nut. I was just so glad when the 3 periods were over. 

Wednesday evening's rugby training was really good. I wore a knee brace that Stuart had and my knee felt great. Well, not great, but better. I'm not sure why I hadn't worn it before that night. 

When I got to work on Thursday morning Ronel, the other Head of Faculty, told me about her electricity being shut off the previous day. She said that when she went to housing to sort it out she met a women who was frustrated with living in our same complex because of some of the same issues; kids loud until all hours of the night, apartment issues not being resolved, ect. The lady wanted to move into the Village, which is where we wanted to move. Mr. Ibrahim told her that since there were so many new families moving into Al Ain in the next few weeks he would not be able to house any current families in the Village. I was totally bummed. 

I had to leave work early on Thursday to go get my MRI for my knee ordered by the doctor. It turned out to be a wasted trip because they could have just ordered it without me having to go to the doctor. Now I'm just waiting for the call to tell me when it is. 

I actually left work earlier than I had intended because, not an hour after my conversation with Ronel, Stuart called me  to tell me he was in his car on the way to housing because Mr. Ibrahim had called him and told him to pick up keys to a villa in the Village!  Yahoo! We are so excited to move!  The kids are going to have so many friends to play with and outdoor space to ride their bikes. 

However, our weekend was already planned and packed with adventure, so the actual move would not be until Tuesday of next week. Stuart had a lot to do on Thursday to get the housing contract in order to get the electricity turned on. Because Thursday afternoons are the end of the work week, if you don't make contact with the correct people by 2 pm, they will be gone and you won't get anything done until Sunday. But Stuart, being the efficient person that he is, completed everything necessary by 2:30 pm. 

Thursday night we went to a birthday party at the climbing wall by the rugby club. Millie was too small, but Jack was a climbing fool. 
That is him at the top. 

The Telfords and their rugby schedule on Friday was, without a doubt, a crazy one. Jack had a tournament in Dubai, mine was in Abu Dhabi and Stuart had a match in Abu Dhabi in the evening. We were able to work it out but not without the help of Rochelle and Andrew Rouvi. Because their kids played in the tournament in Dubai, Andrew is a coach for the Under 6s team and the coach of Stuart's team, he had to go to Abu Dhabi as well. So he and Stuart drove to Abu Dhabi from Dubai, while Ro stayed with the kids at a hotel in Dubai. After Stuart's match I rode with them back to Dubai to spend the night. 

Prior to the drive back, I had 4 matches in Abu Dhabi. I only played the first half of each match, but I had so much fun. I am part of the B team, which it comprised of relatively new people to rugby. So we are all still learning and getting better together. 

We ended up winning 3rd place, but probably could have gotten 2nd place had we not goofed up our 3rd game. The team was much bigger than we were, but we had some faster players. We just didn't work the ball out to them as much as we should have. In spite of that loss we all still had a great time. 
The gold, black and hot pink jersey with the '3' you can see is me. That nber 4 rang my bell when I ran into her. Yikes!
This was the scene prior to number 4 clocking me. 
Um, yes, I did catch it and I did gain some ground. I love this picture so much!
Gina came to watch me play. I was so touched and she told me she was very proud of me. I love that we live so close to each other. 

Saturday morning we got up, had breakfast with the Rouvis, and headed to the Dubai Mall to see a dinosaur exhibit. It was just one dinosaur, but it was a dinosaur which had been found in its entirety. We had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory, bought some Garretts Popcorn and headed home to pack up some things and start our move. We are going to pay someone to move our big things, but in the meantime we are going to move the little stuff we can put in the car. We are very excited about finally being in a villa. Although we will be busy and tired at the end of this week, it will be worth it. 



Sunday, January 18, 2015

Sick and sicker!

The weekend was so exhausting with so much rugby. I woke up Sunday morning and didn't feel right for some reason. I proceeded to get dressed, pack lunches and get the kids ready for the day. After I took the kids to Kayleigh's I felt the sickness increase. Because I was supposed to go to Wafa's (my Arabic Vice Principal) house after school to see her baby, I went ahead and drove to school. Once I got there, I put the baby gift I had bought for Wafa on my English Vice Principal's desk and told her I was going home. 

Once I got home I slept most of the day. Stuart had gone to the doctor as well because he had a deep muscle pain in his upper arm from the rugby match on the Friday before. He came home and we barely spoke, mainly because I was asleep. 

We went to pick the kids up and I took Millie to dance. The hall where she dances was being used for a faculty meeting yet no one informed the dance instructor until we got there. This is rather the norm in this country. We ended up going to the gym of the school. Once there, the three mommies were told we had to leave. What? How on earth can I get good pictures if I have to leave?  I suppose there only needs to be one teacher in there. And Millie does pay more attention to me when I'm in there than she does to the teacher. Dance is not a cheap activity, so I suppose I want to get my money's worth. Ok, I'll stay out. 

We woke up Monday morning and Jack was not well. Stuart ended up staying home with him and taking him to the doctor.  Millie was still sleeping when I left the house so Stuart decided to take her to school so she could sleep in. He said she was uncontrollably sobbing when they left her at school. Poor girl just wanted to hang out with the boys. 

The boys went to the doctor once they dropped Millie off at school. The doctor got onto Stuart because Jack had on shorts and flip flops. Oops! It's technically winter here, but the temperatures are no different than Arizona. Neither of the kids has worn long pants this winter other than in the evening at the rugby club. 

At any rate Jack tested positive again for strep throat. The doctor said when it happens again that both Stuart and myself will need to be tested to see if either of us is a carrier of the bug. The doctor said he wouldn't even consider removing Jack's tonsils, yet this is about the tenth time he has had this in his short six years. His tonsils are also very large, even on a well day. We shall see if this continues or not. Fortunately the schools have implemented 'Emergency' days that we can now use for such occasions as a sick kid or busted water pipe. So Stuart used one of his 'Emergency' days on Monday. 

Jack was wearing shorts and flip flops when he went to the doctor and Stuart was the one who got reprimanded because it was 'too cold' for shorts and flip flops. Oops! So when I got home we headed to the mall to buy some sweats for Jack. Naturally we had to buy donuts as well. 
Monday it started raining around 9 am. We were in an assembly when it started. When we came out of the auditorium and into the foyer, the boys saw the ran and started screaming....literally. Because rain is SO uncommon in this country, the kids truly go bananas. They are ridiculous and they were not able to focus for the last 20 minutes I was teaching. It was unlike anything I have ever experienced. 

It rained the rest of the day and into Tuesday. Rugby practice was canceled Monday evening. Because of the rain very few students came to school on Tuesday, which was good since Jack was still sick and it was my turn to stay home with him. 

I ended up going into work to do an observation. Jack came with me and napped on the sofa in Wafa's office. Around 9 am we left and I brought Jack home. By that time it had stopped raining. However, there were flooded streets all over the place, which made for crazy drivers, or I should say, crazier drivers. 

Jack watched a few Scooby Doo movies we downloaded from iTunes. You do things like that when your boy is poorly. He finally decided to nap around noon and slept for nearly three hours. Once he was awake he perked up a bit. He and Millie took a bath, they both ate dinner and then Millie fell asleep on the sofa. Jack went to bed shortly after Millie fell asleep. He was shivering and stated he thought he was going to throw up. He's never been nauseous when he had strep throat so I was really concerned. He also wouldn't take Tylenol. He said it would make him throw up. 

After he had been asleep for about a half hour I went in and he was burning up. I insisted he take the Tylenol telling him I would have to take him to the hospital and he would have to spend the night if he didn't take the medicine. He relented and took it. 

Wednesday Jack was still sick. I stayed home with him and might have had a small break down, both of us. He started to perk up around noon and by the time Millie got home he was about to drive me crazy so I knew he was on the mend for sure. Because he was still not 100%, I decided I would stay home from rugby training again. My knee thanked me. 

Just as Stiart was returning from training I decided to give Jack his dose of medicine. Jack was having none of it and ended up spitting half of it at me. Oh did that irritate me. After about an hour of arguing back and forth, Stuart told Jack he could go back to sleep but if he did so without taking the medicine then he could consider himself finished with rugby for the season. Jack went to bed, Stuart got Jack's rugby boots and purposely paraded them by his bedroom where Jack could see, all the while I was showering, trying to 'cool' off. Jack came out of his room and took the medication. Excellent parenting? It got the result we wanted, but not sure it was right. 

Thursday Jack was fully recovered and went to school. I lost my voice teaching the grade 4 boys. I might have raised my voice a few times. 

Thursday evening the Richardsons came over for a roast dinner with all the vegetables you could imagine. It was delightful. We are way too much and enjoyed every calorie. 

Friday we went to Dubai for Stuart's rugby match. He played really well. In fact, the whole team did. They still didn't win, but they are bound to at some stage because they are improving all of the time. Stuart got this lovely souvenir from the game. 
He's not really sure what happened, but it is ugly nonetheless. 

After the match, Stuart rode the bus home and the Richardsons and the rest of the Telfords went to the outlet mall to get a bite to eat, forgetting that it was a Friday evening. In fact, we avoid any mall on most evenings, but especially Fridays. It was manic and there were no parking places. However, there is no other place to eat between the mall and Al Ain. So we were stuck with our choice. 
Parking was impossible. So what do you do when there is no place to park? You pull up on the median sidewalk. That's how we roll in the UAE. 

Saturday we got up and went to the mall. We took Jack to the Play Zone where he inner tubed down a 'ski' slope. He wanted to go so badly that he said he would use his own money. So we let him go. It's possible that we may teach him something about money this year, other than how to trade your sister your 50 dirham note (about $13) for a cheap plastic ring she has. Ugh!

We left the mall and went to the Rouvis for a spot of tea and biscuits. I love not having tedious jobs to do over the weekends, therefore leaving us a great deal of time to hang out with our friends. It's awesome!

It became a later night than I had hoped for, but once we got home and the kids were bathed and fed, we called Grammie and Pop. So the later bedtime was well worth it. 

All in all, another fabulous week, oh except for the sicknesses. By the way, I now have a cold with a slight cough. Lovely!





Tuesday, January 13, 2015

School starts, but do all of the students return?

After three weeks, for some kids more than that, off from school there was still rather low attendance the first day back after the winter break. I assume the kids will just ease in to term 2. It's fine with me because I was also informed that I would be teaching half days for two weeks starting Thursday. The good news was it would be in grade 4. The bad news was it would be on the boys' side. 

After school on Sunday Millie started her ballet class. My sister in law told
Me she had amazing ballerina toes and that I had to get her into a ballet class. This class was much different than the dance class she had last year. She actually participated in this class. The teacher was really good. There were only three little girls there so thay all got a lot of attention. 
Millie listened and did exactly what the teacher told her to do. Right up until the end Millie was 'on task' and then she noticed the black curtains hanging on the stage and decided to hide in them. I suppose she had been good enough for the teacher. 

Once Millie and I were home from dance, both kids got ready to go to the rugby club for Jack's rugby practice.  It was a pretty uneventful evening. 

Monday at school I nearly feel asleep two or three times at my computer. I was so tired for some unknown reason. And quite frankly there was not a lot for me to do, which is really nothing new. 

We had rugby training Monday night and my knee was aching, yet again. I am pretty sure I need to have this knee surgery to remove the loose cartilage, but I would like to wait until April when rugby is finished for the season. We only have three more matches. One is in Kuwait, for which I will probably not make the cut. One is the same day as a match for Stuart and Jack, so I won't be playing in that one. The last one is March 7. We will see if I can hold out that long. 

Tuesday, out of 7 senior leadership team members,  I thought I was going to be the only one in school. Yikes! But the English Vice Principal ended up just coming in sick. Thank goodness the day was pretty uneventful. 

Tuesday evening was Mama/Millie night which turned out to be the same as usual, Millie falling asleep early and me being able to watch whatever I wanted to watch on Hulu Plus. Hello Bachelor!

Wednesday we all went to the rugby club and I had a better practice with less pain.  It was great.  

By the end of the week most girls had come back to school but the boys were still a little sparse. I had to start teaching a 4th grade class on Thursday because one of our English teachers was having eye surgery and would be out for two weeks. The schools won't provide substitute teachers unless your teacher is out for at least a month. So that leaves the Heads of Faculty to teach. I only had 14 boys in my class but they were a handful for sure. They didn't listen, they spoke while I was speaking, and were generally all around a naughty bunch of boys. 

Thursday evening we went to a Mardi Gras party at my old principal's house. Her husband has just retired and needs something to do so I anticipate a lot more parties in our future. It was really fun to just sit and chat with people. We met some new folks and the kids played in the sand in front of their house for hours. That's the best thing about living here. I see my kids having fun with other kids they way my siblings and I used to do when my parents would go over to their friends' houses for 'coffee'. I think Jack and Millie are just now at the great age where they can play anywhere with anyone. They had so much fun. 

When we got home, which was a bit late, I showered them. I had never seen so much sand in a tub, even when we come home from the beach. They both laughed at the sand. 

Friday we just lazed around the apartment in the morning, because of the late night. Later in the day Millie and I went to the mall to buy a gift for my Emirati Vice Principal who had a baby last week. We then met Jack and Stuart at the rugby club. There was a huge tournament at the club. The older boys played on Friday, along with the 1st team and the 2nd team (Stuart's team). The younger boys played on Saturday. So, once again, our weekend was filled with rugby. 

Although Stuart says his team acts as if they have won the match when they return to the locker room afterwards, they haven't won any matches. I do, however, think they have improved. I watched the entire match, considering last week I went to the bathroom and missed Stuart scoringb. Oops! But even though I watched the entire match, he didn't score. Oh well!  He still loves it. 
Stuart is the one with the black scrum cap that has a green ring around the top. He really just shoved people over rather than tackle them. 

Saturday morning we were up early making sandwiches and packing snacks for the kids. Stuart made a dozen bacon sandwiches to take to the club which may have been a little bit naughty. The recipients of the sandwiches appreciated them. 

Jack's team played three matches and only won one of them. He played really well. One of the times he scored was really more like the skills of an older child than a 6 year old. I am rather impressed that while other kids are just running back and forth and around the pitch, he is always focused on the try line. He also plays excellent defense. Since it is like flag football, he goes in and is so aggressive at getting the flags. I have, once again, proved myself to be 'that sports mom'. 

After the tournament we went to Scott and Clare's to let Jack play with Henry. They decided to get in the pool which was very cold. Fortunately Jack and Henry are about the same size so Jack was able to borrow a suit. Millie decided to swim as well, even after we had her put her foot in the cold water. She had no suit so swam in her underwear. She ended up jumping on a foam may while the boys were screaming like girls about how cold the water was. They wouldn't jump in, but Millie just went for it. She also stayed in the longest of all three kids. It was crazy. 

When we left the Richardson's house Jack had a meltdown. When will these stop? He usually saves them for when he is too tired, so at least we have that narrowed down now. He calmed down within the first 10 minutes of leaving. 

We fed the kids when we got home, showered them and then put them to bed. All were too exhausted to stand up, including Mama and Daddy. 

Another great week in the UAE. 

Sunday, January 4, 2015

Back to the grind, so to speak

Our day started out too early. The kids were up at 3:45 am, but I made them go back to bed. Stuart was up just before 5 am and he made coffee and toast for himself, while I continued to sleep. We didn't have to be out the door as early as normal because the teachers are all in training this week. So I did my best to sleep until 6 am. 

There were no kids at school this week, but teachers were involved in professional development, which I thought was a repeat of what the western staff have been trained on previously. There was nothing new or innovating about the week, but no one really asked my opinion. 

After school on Sunday we took the kids out for a bike ride. Millie was a star on her new little princess bicycle. 
Sunday evening we had a bit of a 'catch up' with Cathy and her girls as well as Gemma, Fechin and their kids (our friends from Ireland). We ordered in curry and enjoyed recounting the holiday events. 

I hadn't been feeling well since our return from Australia. So I got up early Monday and went to try to buy some antibiotics. Most pharmacies will sell you antibiotics over the counter, except for the 24 hour pharmacies which are attached to the hospitals. Of course that was where I went. I ended up having to see an emergency room doctor. 

I had to practically beg the doctor to do strep culture. He said he knew I didn't have strep because I didn't have a fever. I told him I was pretty sure I did have strep because I felt like I did every time I have had strep before. He finally relented and did a culture, which turned out positive. Surprise!  It was all I could do to not say 'neener, neener, neener'. So antibiotics purchased and I was on my way to feeling better. 

I got home in time to go to work. I could have had a day off but since I was a facilitator and was needed at school, I decided to go to work. In the end I let school early, which was nice. 

I was not well enough to go to rugby training on Monday evening. I stayed home with the kids. I would have sent Jack with Stuart but the guys were running a 2.6 K outside of the club and I didn't want Jack to be alone. So the kids had an early night to catch up on sleep. They needed that. 

Tuesday Stuart went to housing to see what our status was regarding moving. We had supplied the housing people with two places where people had 'run'. Even with that in mind Stuart was told they would have to house the people in the hotels now and then they would consider moving us. Sometimes the frustrations that come to us now are the decisions that make no logical sense. Time will tell if we actually get to move this year. 

Tuesday afternoon we went to visit the Rouvis and have another little mini reunion with friends we hadn't seen in a few weeks. Jack's friend, Louie, wasn't there but he played with the Rouvis girls so he was fine. 

When we left there we ran by the mall just to look around and grab a bite to eat. We ended up shopping and getting Jack some more rubber bands for his loom band kit. We may have a crafty child in him after all. 

Wednesday afternoon the Rouvis came to our house for tea and so Louie and Jack could play together. After they left we got ready for rugby training. I wasn't super excited because I was sure I would barf during practice. The conditioning training is really no fun. I told Stuart I would really like to just play in the matches and not have to go to training. He said people might frown on that. So I sucked it up and carried on to practice. 
It is always a bit chilly on the rugby pitch so the kids were able to wear their warm up suits Grammie and Pop brought them last April. Look at my little sporty kids. 

When we got to the club the Turners and the Richardsons were there. Jack was beyond excited to see Henry and Henry was so polite to me and asked how our holidays were. He has great parents. He's a good boy and someone I am so thrilled Jack has become friends with, although he is three years older which can have its challenges for sure. At any rate the kids were able to play together for an hour or so while we all trained. 

I am happy to report that I did not barf, although I was close several times. I was also given many compliments (or at least I took them as compliments) when it was pointed out that I just took the ball and ran straight towards the other players, making it more difficult to be tackled. Then our captain said that if anyone needed to practice tackling, I was the one they should go for. She said if they could tackle me they could probably tackle anyone in the league. It is the first time in my life I was kind of happy to be as big as I am. I knew my siW would come in handy one day. Now if I could get my knee to stop hurting that would be great. I am still LOVING rugby. It's crazy!

Thursday we had a ceremony for this of us who facilitated and we received a plaque for our contribution. I would have rather received money, but again, no one asked my opinion. 

Thursday evening we headed to the Richardsons for dinner. It was a chilled night because the ladies were going up Jebel Hafeet the following morning. It is the highest spot in all of Abu Dhabi. It is almost 12 kilometers from where we started. 

We were up before dawn and started up the mountain just after 6 am. Karen and Clare ran the majority of it, whereas I basically crawled my way up. It was a little like the 10K, I've done it and now it is checked off the list. 
The view from the bottom at 6 am. The top of the stringent of lights was our goal.
This was at the beginning of the trek.  
The log and winding road that passed through a cloud. 

Once I finished, 2 hours and 20 minutes after I started, Scott picked us up and we headed back down the mountain to the Richardsons for some breakfast. Stuart had made an egg casserole and brought croissants. 

Millie and I had to exit for a birthday party at the park so Jack and Stuart stayed for a bit longer at the Richardsons. Jack actually ended up staying all day and they brought him to the rugby club for Stuart's match. 

Stuart was a star again and scored a try. I, of course, was in the bathroom when that happened so I missed it. Wife of the year! Everyone told Stuart I saw it, but I fessed up and told him I didn't. He was still a star!

Saturday morning we got up and went to look at a dune bashing vehicle. Stuart really wants something we can take out into the desert and ride in the dunes. It would mean we would have to get rid of one of our cars, but then we would have something to use for camping as well. He had seen this really old Nissan Patrol so I inquired about it via Facebook. In the end, although I arranged to go and see it, I was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to make any decision without him. So I ended up telling him we had an appointment to see it. It wasn't worth what they were asking for it.  So the search continues. Who knows if we will ever get a dune bashing vehicle, but Stuart will enjoy looking for one. 

We went out to the Farmer's Market that is held each week at the golf course where our church meets, but it was a little lame. Right before Christmas is the best time to go because there are a lot more vendors. A couple that came in our group, a year and a half ago, have a food booth there. I think they do rather well. 

We ended up going to the rugby club to have lunch and let the kids play around for a bit. Then we headed home for the afternoon. We lazed around, the kids watched a movie and played with their toys. Then by 6:30, they were out like a light. Back to shook they go!