Our air conditioner was not working on Saturday night so we were forced to sleep with the window open, praying the wind would not bring in the desert. Stuart seems to think because he got on to the repair guy in our complex, the guy turned off the switch on top of the house that controlled our air conditioning unit. We had a clogged drain outside of our house that the repairman tried to fix by pouring bleach from our kitchen window rather than doing it properly by climbing on top of the house and then going down the ladder to fix it. Stuart was beside himself and kind of let the guy have it. To be fair, the guy could have messed with the air conditioning switch. It is kind of how the passive aggressiveness works around here. Now if it would have been too hot to sleep with the windows open I wouldn't have been amused at all. I slept comfortably and we would get it sorted in the next few days.
School on Sunday provided a breakfast from our psychologist. It was her birthday so she brought food for everyone. It was presented in the foyer of the school for all to see, just as it should be. Teachers were not on time to the assembly, as a result. My day ran as usual, with another observation and teaching three periods. I seem to be falling behind the other grade 4 classrooms, but at least those girls have a relatively stable teacher each day.
Jack had a track meet after school. I didn't even know he was involved in track. He got second in the 75 meter dash. Had he not turned around to watch his competition he might have actually won. After the track meet, I headed to Abu Dhabi to find the kids costumes for their World Book Day. I knew I wouldn’t have any other time before the actual day. Stuart ended up getting Jack from school, then it was off to the rugby club for training for the kids. Stuart fed them at the club and then they were home in bed well before I got home. I managed to get Jack a Harry Potter cape and Millie a Little Red Riding Hood costume. There was still a wand, tie and glasses to buy for Jack, and a basket for Millie, but I was sure I could find those before March 2.
Monday I had a follow up with the doctor regarding my surgery back in November, so I left school early. I was able to see the doctor, make a plan to come back in 6 months to see if the treatment is working, and get a coffee at Starbucks in the hospital lobby. I love that hospital.
Jack and Millie were home at their normal time. They went out to play for a while after their homework was finished. The evening was pretty chilled and relaxed. The maintenance guy came and ‘fixed’ the AC and replaced lights that had been burned out since we moved in two years ago. Stuart was off to rugby and after the kids ate, showered and were in bed, I sat down for the evening.
Tuesday I worked on getting my classroom decorated with student work as parents were supposed to come in Wednesday. However, since I had two observations and taught three periods, I didn't have a ton of time to work on my classroom. This school year can't be over too soon.
I picked Jack up from school. Tuesday was school picture day. To get him to wear his formal uniform instead of his PE kit was torture, so when I arrived at the school and he said he didn’t get his picture taken, I was not happy at all. I went to the photo room and asked why he hadn’t had his picture taken. I had sent the permission form in for him, but they said if it came in the morning of the pictures, which his had, they may not have written it on the class list, therefore no picture was taken. I was not happy. Although they would be there on Wednesday as well, she couldn’t promise me he would have it taken. After leaving in a huff, half upset with Jack as well, I drove off. I called Stuart and was instructed to go back and insist he be able to have his picture taken the following day. By this time I was not in a good mood at all. I did put his name on her list and asked his teacher to please be sure he got his picture taken the following day. I told Jack that he really needed to speak up when it came to things like this. The harsh reality, I discovered, was that he didn’t even notice when the kids went out of the room to have their pictures taken. Ugh! Then Stuart reminded me that Jack is more like him and less like me. Millie brought her permission form in the same day as well. Do you think they didn’t take her picture? Of course not. She made sure her picture was taken. That’s my girl!
I had started a challenge with some girls from work with our fitbits and because I'm so competitive, I had decided to walk while the kids had rugby training. I walked three miles then chatted with some people. We left as soon as training was over. When we got home, the kids ate, as did Stuart and myself, and off to bed we went.
I was up to walk just before 5 am, as usual. I am now obsessed with my number of steps, mainly because one of my teacher’s mother is a part of our group. Because she is in the United States, most of her steps happen while we are asleep. My main goal is to beat her. I am convinced she has her fitbit on a dog that is just left to run in the yard all day.
Once I was at school, it was business as usual. I did have a bit of a disagreement with my Academic Vice Principal. She had changed my observation schedule and had sent out an email about it, but never directly pointed out that she had done so. She indicated she had changed some of the observations, but since it wasn’t her observation I had no reason to believe she would change my schedule. We sorted it out, but not without me getting a little huffy with her. When the day was over, the parents came in to see how their children were doing. I actually had 5 parents come to meet with me. Naturally it was the parents whose children are doing rather well.
I went straight from school to pick up Jack from school. When I arrived, he announced to me that he had his picture taken. Thank goodness, because I might not have handled things very well had I heard otherwise.
Once Jack was home, he and Millie played outside for quite a while. On Wednesdays they don't have homework, so they have a little more time and a little more freedom to do as they wish. When they did come in, Stuart made them chicken legs and vegetables for dinner. While they were eating they watched their new obsession, Full House, the original one. Jack begged to stay up for one more episode that evening. He's so proud that he made it to season 3. I don't have the heart to tell him of the let down he will have when he's watched every season and it's over.
Once the kids were in bed, I started pacing in order to get my steps in. I was also having a snack and drinking a glass a wine while I was walking. I may need to reevaluate this whole thing as it seems I may be missing the point somewhat. However, I am proud to report for the second day in the week I achieved 20,000 steps. I still was behind in the game.
Thursday was a bit of a blur. My students had a shared reading time with a grade 1 class. I’m pretty sure some of the grade 1 girls could read better than my grade 4 girls. Total emersion is the best way to learn a second language. Unfortunately, this will never be the method in the UAE. By the end of the day I was totally finished with this week. I couldn’t get out of school fast enough. I headed to the super market for ingredients to make nachos for Cathy, Mandy, Sean and the Telfords. Everyone commenced on our house around 6 pm. Millie had been playing with Ian outside and wrote him a note that apparently invited his family for a dinner party at our house. Lara messaged me telling me this information, so although they had already had dinner, I told her to come on over when they finished eating and sit out in our back garden. They all stayed until after midnight, which meant there was very little sleep in our house that evening, but we all had fun so sleep could wait I suppose.
Friday I got up to walk, Jack insisted on going with me and hardly stopped talking the entire 4 miles. He did decide at the end of the walk that he wouldn’t do that again. I had tried to tell him before we left, but he wouldn’t listen. After my walk I showered and headed to the mall. We had two birthday parties this weekend and one the following, so I decided we would get gift vouchers for the older two birthday kids and Millie could pick out her friend Ava’s gift. Stuart left for Sharjah for his rugby match, just after we left for the mall. Once we returned from the mall it was time to go to Ava’s party. My initial plan was to drop Millie off and then take Jack to Bounce or Fun Block to play while Clare and I shopped. However, Clare still had a sleepover kid at her house and that plan fell through. It was probably best because Jack decided to stay at Ava’s party. There were some older kids there that he knew, so he enjoyed himself.
Once we were home from the birthday party, Clare stopped by with her two kids for a while. We chatted about nothing in particular. Initially the kids and I were going to ride back to her house with herand then when Stuart got home he would drop Scott off at their house and pick us up. But in the end I just decided we were all too tired and I knew the kids needed a relatively early night.
Saturday was Clare’s birthday, so I was back to the mall for a gift. I also found Harry Potter’s glasses, thank goodness. I finished buying my ‘Favorites’ for the party at DeDe’s that afternoon. I returned just before 1 pm and in time to change some laundry. I was finally getting around to changing all the beds. I had intended to do it on Friday, but couldn’t be asked.
The favorites party was wonderful as usual. As I was getting some neat little gifts, Stuart took Jack to the Mercure Hotel to a birthday party. They have a few water slides there so it’s a perfect place for a kid’s party. When he first got to the party he told Stuart he didn’t want to stay. Stuart went through the same speech with him that I had earlier in the day….. ‘We responded that you would be there. When we asked you if you wanted to go, that was when you could have said ‘no’, but you didn’t. So, they are expecting you and you are going.’ This is a difficult thing to understand, but we are working on it. We want him to know that when he commits to something he needs to stick to it.
Sally, the mum of the birthday boy (Sam, Eleanor’s brother), said that she didn’t mind bringing Jack home. They live right by Scott and Clare’s house and since we were having dinner there for Clare’s birthday, Sally dropped Jack off at the Richardsons house. We had a lovely roast dinner and spent time conversing about our plans for the future and what happens when we finally decide to leave the UAE. I think they will leave before we do, which will be very sad for us, especially Jack. That is the downside of expat life. The people you get attached to eventually leave, or you do. The richness of this experience we are having in this country can sometimes be tarnished by the sadness of friends who move away. We do the best we can to cherish each moment and each experience, with every passing day, week, month and year.
Pictures from school.
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