When I got home I had a message from the O'Reilleys asking us if we wanted to meet them at the Horse and Jockey, a pub at one of the hotels, to watch a football match. We are no football fans at all, but we did it purely for social reasons.
Prior to going to watch the football, we went to Ikea to pick up the wardrobe I had ordered for Jack the night DeDe, Cathy and I hit the mall last week.
Once at the pub we ordered food, watched Ireland get beat, and had a wonderful time. It's always a laugh with the O'Reilleys.
We got home and showered kids and then we were bombarded with messages. Facebook exploded with the news that school would officially end on June 30, rather than July 5, which was what was on the official calendar.
The news of sucked for us because we could have been home 6 days earlier. However, being finished earlier than expected was a nice surprise.
Monday morning we had a senior leadership team meeting to talk about what we were going to do the first week we were back in the new school year. This year is the first year since I have been in this country that I have really felt like we have had a focus and won't be coming back shooting from our hip.
School actually flew by on Monday. When I got home I made some spinach and chicken, while Stuart went upstairs to put Jack's wardrobe together. Once Jack's wardrobe was together and the kids were home from a neighbor's house, Jack and I went upstairs to sort out his closet and drawers. We put about 16 shirts in the 'give away' pile and hung about 13 shirts. I'm pretty sure our kids have too many clothes.
As you would guess, both Stuart and I were wiped from the events of the day and napped on the sofa, our new favorite Ramadan past time. Stuart left for training around 6 pm, while I stayed home with the kids. Life has become very boring lately. We are going to need to do something with our time after Thursday or we might go nuts.
We received our contracts for the next school year on Tuesday, which was a relief for many of us. We also had several last minute tasks to get completed before Thursday. It seems odd that we had three tasks to do on one day, when we have had absolutely NOTHING to do for the last several weeks. However, my English teachers are awesome and got together to complete their assignments.
On the way home from school I hit the grocery store in order to get ingredients to make taco enchiladas. This was the second day in a row I had come home and made something for lunch. As much as we are trying to rid our cupboards of food, sometimes there is absolutely nothing in the house to eat, or at least nothing desirable. So a grocery run is necessary.
We discovered, when we got home, that Millie had her first wobbly tooth. She was so excited.
We also had our Ramadan nap, laid around and watched television, and then decided to go out for an Iftar dinner. Iftar is the call to prayer that signals the fast for the day can be broken. It happens every evening at sunset. Almost all eating establishments are closed until Iftar, at least in Al Ain. We decided to go to Hili Mall, which we hadn't been to since we first moved to Al Ain. There are many more stores and restaurants in there then the last time we went.
We were going to eat at a traditional place, but forgot we should make reservations. So in the end we ate at a place called the Biryani Pot. It was good food, but the kids didn't like it much.
We went to Starbucks for after dinner drinks and a donut and a chocolate cookie, of course.
Millie and I have turned a corner and she is now starting to hug up to me when she's sad or scared. Don't care how it happened, just glad it has.
Wednesday we played Pictionary at school. The teachers have been playing games for about the last 4 weeks, but Wednesday was the first day I could join without having a guilty conscience. And since I am so competitive, and my team lost, I was glad it was the one and only time I had played.
We were all nearly stir crazy at home by 2:30 pm. The kids went upstairs to play for a bit, but really fought more than they played. Finally it was time for them to take their showers. After they were clean we headed to PF Changs to meet David, Leanne and Xavier for dinner. When Leanne got there she told us that David had taken Xavier up to the food court to get him KFC to brig down to PF Changs. Leanne said they were tired of wasting money when he would rather eat KFC. Since the restaurants don't mind you bringing in other food, it was perfect. You could never do this kind of thing in the states. All the kids were happy with their fried chicken and I was thrilled with my Ahi Tuna.
We saw Cathy and Mandy and many others at the mall. It seemed that all of the expats were in Al Ain Mall that night. I think everyone is going stir crazy now.
We were home just before 9 pm and Millie had fallen asleep in the car, once again. I took her upstairs while Jack ate some fruit. Then, I took a shower and was hoping Jack would be asleep once I was finished. But instead, when I went into his room, Stuart was laying on Jack's bed and chatting with him. I ended up laying down for a bit as well. Our best chats happen at night. It's sweet and I know it won't last forever so I take advantage of it when I can.
Thursday was our last day of school. Yahoo! We were told we would not be able to leave until noon, but once our principal was gone, around 10:30 am, we might have accidentally left as well. There was nothing to do and no teachers could be bothered to just sit around for no reason. We also found out that our Emirati Vice Principal had been transferred. She had asked to be transferred to a school closer to her home, but in fact they moved her further out. Not only did I feel badly for her, but was also thrilled I had withdrawn my transfer request because they could have done the same to me.
Also, I discovered that our copy ladies would not be returning. The schools are making cut backs and are now only allowing one person to be hired for copying and hospitality. I know it sounds lavish, but these ladies make me coffee anytime I ask for it. It's a spoiled life we live here.
Once I was home from school we decided to go and have lunch at the golf club. Once we were home the kids went through their normal routine of playing and fighting.
Stuart went to play golf around 5 pm so the kids and I met Karen and her girls for dinner at, wait for it, the golf club. We spent a couple of hours just chatting while the kids played cards, colored and played outside, yuck!
After I had the kids home and bathed, Kayleigh came over and stayed with them while I went to a leaving party for one of my teachers. I then met Stuart at the golf club and drove him home.
I went to bed just before midnight and woke up around 5:30 am, my normal wake up time. I decided to lay back down and ended up sleeping until almost 9 am. Normally this would be okay, except that I NEVER sleep this late, especially with my two little 'alarm' clocks. I had a raging headache because of it.
We had left my car at the golf club on Thursday night, and I needed to weigh in anyway, so we drove that way, only to discover I had left my car keys on the side table at home. Ugh! I also needed to stop to get lunch things for the kids. We had arranged a day with one of Jack's friends to go to Fun Block. In the end, his friend, Ben was unavailable so we checked to see if Xavier could come.
We ran into the store on the way home from the club. Once we were home Stuart made sandwiches and I packed the rest of the stuff for lunches. The kids can eat in public during Ramadan, so taking a pack lunch to Fun Block was fine. However, I'm not sure ham sandwiches were fine. I didn't really think about that until the kids were eating. Oops!
The boys were awesome with the climbing.
After about three hours of play, it was finally time for lunch.
The kids played for a few hours and then Leanne came over and we all had dinner. David had a leaving party so he missed the belly pork Stuart made. Shortly after dinner Leanne and Xavier left and the evening routine began.
Saturday morning we got up and headed to Dubai. Occupying ourselves during Ramadan is not he easiest task because so many things are closed. However, in Dubai and Abu Dhabi it's more like 'business as usual'. We did some shopping, buying the kids new school shoes (black leather, school uniform will be a new concept to us) and Stuart some new hair clippers, which he used on Jack once we were home and they were charged.
We had contemplated going to Build-A-Bear once we were home in Arizona, but then that would just mean more to stuff in our cases, so we had a trip to BAB in Dubai Mall. Jack and Millie are simple. Neither of them wanted any clothes or accessories for their new critters, which just meant we didn't spend as much money. Fine by me!
Both kids helped stuff their new friends.
Once we got home and Jack's hair was shaved off, the kids were showered, had eaten eggs on toast, and watched a movie, it was time to hit the hay.
Stuart headed out to the rugby club for a beer with the Chairman, Sean. He got home just after 9 pm, and brought Sean in with him to have a beer at our house. Stuart peeked his head in and quickly said Sean was coming in. Since I'm usually in my jammies as soon as the kids are in bed, I had to run upstairs and get some clothes on.
Sean stayed for a bit and then I was comfy again on the sofa in my jammies, watching the trash I love on Hulu.
Just 5 more sleeps before we arrive in Arizona. We are all very excited for our time at home.
No comments:
Post a Comment