Sunday at school, I was in the teacher seat again. It seems that my teacher who is not well will most likely battle this illness the rest of the school year. It makes it very difficult for her classroom of students, as well as for me. We don't have typical substitutes in this country so the responsibility usually lies on the Heads of Faculty, at least the English Heads of Faculty. I can live with it. This will most likely last for only four more weeks. As in the past, we suspect the students will stop coming to school once Ramadan begins. Sunday afternoon I was called in to a meeting where we discussed what we would do with the boy behavior. I was under the impression that we were changing things and my input was wanted. I was clearly under the wrong impression. We shuffled around some of the social worker responsibilities, but other than that everything seemed to look the same. We will see if we get a handle on things before the end of the year. I certainly hope we do, otherwise these next 4 weeks are sure to be long ones.
I left work as soon as the students were dismissed. This gymnastics thing may be the death of me. On a positive note, I didn't get lost this week and we were even about 4 minutes early to class. Millie had a great time, she just hates the car journey. I will plan better next week and bring Stuart's iPad so she can watch a movie. The gym is like one at home. It has all the latest equipment and she has proven to start out rather well for having not had formal gymnastics before. She seems to be learning the proper techniques, which is what I want. However, if we decide to stick with gymnastics we are going to have to decide whether we are willing to sacrifice Saturdays to take her to Dubai. The class in the week is too early and we would not be able to get her there each week. It would make me very happy if they opened a nice gym in Al Ain so this wouldn't be an issue. Woe is me!
Once Millie and I were home, after our fantastic dinner of Burger King chicken sticks, it was bed for everyone. Sadly, Millie had napped on our way to Dubai, and we all know that a nap for Millie, no matter how long or short, means a late night for her. She was in no mood to go to bed. She did relent and stay in bed, but I don't think she fell asleep until after 8 pm. Stuart reported that the dog had pooped and peed all over the house. It's part of what I don't like about animals, and the kids don't seemed phased by it. I am sure they will be once we start having them clean up the mess. Operation 'take care of your own pets' will begin soon, hopefully. After I had showered, Stuart ate dinner and we watched an episode of Designated Survivor. It is a good program, but I have a hard time seeing Keifer Sutherland as anyone other than Jack Bower from the series 24. Am I the only one who feels this way?
Once we were in bed, I continued to have to get up with the dog. I must have taken her out three times, hoping she would pee, but having no success. Then I was paranoid that she would get up and pee in the bedroom. It's not that didn't every happen previous nights, but I suppose I think she will relapse if we don't consistently take her out at night. She didn't pee all night and I had to force her in the morning. Because of my sleepless night I chose not to walk Monday morning. Needless to say, I was very tired at school. We had our annual spelling bee in the morning, where we found our top three spellers in grade 3, 4, and 5. Those students will go on to the regional spelling bee next week. I had to teach in the afternoon and wasn't prepared at all. I just winged it and no one was harmed by my lack of preparation.
When I got home on Monday after school, I tried to force the kids to do their homework. That is the best part of my day, might I add. Stuart had a committee meeting Monday evening, so I took the kids to Clare and Scott's along with Molly. We went for a while and the kids ended up having dinner with May and Henry. Molly pooped and peed in their house, and in fact she peed on Biscuit's bed. Our dog is an embarrassment. Good thing she is super cute! We left in order to get home and sorted out for bed. The kids had fruit before they went to bed, and then slumber time was in order. I was asleep by the time Stuart returned from the club.
I got up on Tuesday morning and walked with Lara. My hip was hurting so badly that I thought my leg might break off. Deciding not to go to school, but rather stay home and rest, was a good decision. Although I was told my orthopedic doctor was not available to see me, I left a message for her anyway. She called and told me to come in at 2:30 pm and she would sort me out. Waiting for doctors who are too busy to see you is no fun at all. She ordered x-rays of my knees, hips and spine. What she suspected was true. My L4 and L5 vertebrae nearly touch and are putting pressure on my sciatica nerve, causing the pain that runs the length of my left leg. She stated she would order an MRI for my spine and we would go from there. She gave me some medication, but I only took it for one night. I read the side effects and decided that I would rather take my chances with stretching and strengthening rather than risk an ulcer. Ick!
I was home and had a bite to eat before heading off to the tailors to get my new pants and shirts made. Prior to my tailor appointment, Jane and Bryce stopped by to re-introduce Chase to Molly. Chase was the puppy that sparked my interest in Molly. Chase and Molly are brother and sister. Uh, but I don't think you are supposed to try to 'get busy' with your sister. Who knows. Once Bryce and Jane left, the kids went to bed and I was off to meet up with Hassah, DeDe and Heather. We all went to the tailor's together. All of us had something we wanted made. It was very exciting. I didn't get home until after 10 pm. The shops are open late, and once Ramadan comes, they are open even later. It can be quite thrilling to go shopping at midnight during the week.
I was up a few times in the night for Molly to pee and poop. Sadly, she still has not had a successful poop outside. I think she is under the impression that she can only poop inside. How will we ever convince her otherwise? We are taking one step forward and two steps back with this pup.
Wednesday at school, we decided we would have the students start their Abu Dhabi Reads activity which was a pre-reading activity. We watched Horton Hears a Who! For second language learners, when studying an author like Dr. Seuss, a preview of a video is the perfect thing to do. This allowed me to be ill-prepared for one more day. Once I was finished at school, I headed to Brighton to pick Jack up from his Spanish class. I then made him go to the grocery store with me. I told him if he would help me find all of the groceries we could get the shopping done more quickly and get home. He was up for that and was a great help. Why didn't I think of this ages ago?
Wednesday evening we were all at home and Sean came over. We decided we would have Sean move in with us. He's on his own, without his kids and we want him to feel a part of our family. It's what expats do for each other. I don't ever want anyone to be lonely if I can help them. He is like a younger brother to me and Stuart's best friend. We spoke with the kids about it and they were really excited. So we will now have a lodger. We don't know when he will move in, but it will be before Ramadan.
Thursday morning we were up and out the door for our last day of the work/school week. It was a relatively uneventful day, but still full of bad boy behavior. However, more boys went home and were sent to the intervention room than have been for the last 12 weeks. I suppose that's progress. Thursday after school we headed to the rugby club for the adult player awards. The rugby club has lost some of it's fun for me. The committee has changed a bit so the club feel we used to have is not the same. It seems recently we have just chosen to come back to our house, order curry and have some beverages. It's much more fun. The weather was windy and sandy, so it made more sense to go back to our house. So that was what we did on Thursday evening.
Friday morning the kids were up making forts with every blanket in the house. They started making them upstairs and kept playing in them most of the morning. We decided to make a run to the grocery store again, as it was Cinco de Mayo and we were heading to Lara and Brian's that evening for the fiesta. We had to get some things to take with us, appetizers and the like. After the grocery store the kids watched movies and we really just had a bit of a chilled day. It was nice. It's getting to hot to be outside, unless you are at the pool, and even then you would want to stay in the shade. We spoke to Grandma on Skype and then Millie and I headed to the golf club for her little friend Jacob's birthday party. I sat inside while the kids played. I am by far the oldest mother of these little ones. It does make me laugh when the helicopter parents try to subtly tell me what to do without being seen as rude. For instance, Millie didn't bring her swimmers for the water balloons, but it's hot and fabric dries quickly and I had brought a second change of clothes. The hostess of the party finally guilted me into coming outside to watch the kids play, then pointed out to me that Millie was cold and might need her clothes changed. Right! Because we live in 100 plus degrees most days between May and November so I wouldn't want her to catch her death of a cold. When I asked Millie if she wanted to get changed, she looked at the mother and said , 'No, well I guess'. I think Millie thought we were both going to get into trouble from this mother. She changed her clothes, had cake, and then we left to join Jack, Stuart and a number of friends at Brian and Lara's for their annual Cinco de Mayo party. Their parties are really convenient as they live 5 doors down from us.
It was a great night. We got home just before 11, showered the kids and sent them to bed. While we were sorting out the kids, Molly pooped in our bathroom and when we opened the door it smeared like mashed potatoes under the door. That was special. Endeared me even more to that cute little puppy. After I showered, I realised I had left my phone at Brian and Lara's. I walked back to their house in my jammies, shamelessly, and collected my phone. The people who stayed begged me to stay, but I wisely declined.
We got up Saturday morning, Skyped Grammie and Pop, but the connection was horrible. We didn't speak long because of the connection. Boo!
Once we finished speaking with them we left for Abu Dhabi. I had to go get some gifts for our two teachers going back to their home countries this year. We also made a stop at IKEA and had lunch, which was unusually horrible. We bought the kids desks to put in the loft. We have decided they need an actual place to do homework. We returned to Al Ain in time to take Jack to a birthday party at Wadi Adventure. They were able to raft and play on the bouncy castle in the water, similar to Wipe Out.
We went to Clare and Scott's for a bit and took Molly for a play date with Biscuit. She was actually quite friendly to Molly this time. Molly pooped in their house, which again is something we are super proud of. We didn't stay long as Millie started saying she was hungry. We took her home, loaded up our sectional sofa from the loft and I headed back to get Jack from his party and deliver the sofa to a guy who lives close to Wadi Adventure.
Once that was delivered, we headed home, Jack took a shower and was off to bed. We fought with Millie a bit because she had napped on the way home from Abu Dhabi. That's always a bad thing for her. Once Jack was in bed she settled down. Stuart was in bed by 10 pm and I was at least asleep by then.
It's heating up in the UAE, so my tan is getting ready to benefit!
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