Oh what to do!

Sunday at school, I monitored an exam. I ended up leaving at 11:30 to go try to sort out my exit process. What a pain in the butt that was. I closed one of my bank accounts, and then met Stuart for lunch. I went to get my refund from our school deposit, just to discover it was non-refundable. I will be going to speak to someone about that situation, as you would guess. 

Millie and I made cupcakes after school to celebrate Millie’s early birthday at school on Monday. I iced them and she used the sprinkles to decorate them. What a sight they were. 

Millie and Jack both showered, ate dinner and went upstairs to watch television. They fussed over who was going to sit on our new oversized bean bag. In the end, Millie was sent to bed early. She is not the most obedient child that ever walked the earth. I’m hoping she will learn to play the game a bit better as she gets older. 

We got up Monday morning and Skyped Grammie and Pop. In Arizona it was Pop’s 80th birthday! The kids spoke with them both for a while, while I rushed around to get lunches ready, breakfast sorted, and finish getting myself ready for school. Then we were off to school. 

I marked exams instead of monitoring the last exam of the year. We then had 5th grade graduation. It lasted way too long and cut into our marking time. The pressure was on to have all of the exams marked and reported by Tuesday at noon. 

I left and went to the bank to ask their advice on how to sort out my car loan once I started the exit process from my current employer. It is a bit tricky here. Sometimes they think when you cancel your visa, you are leaving the country without settling up your debt, so they hold any money in your account. I tried to assure them that this wasn’t the case. In the end, I think I resigned myself to not worrying about canceling my visa until we returned. It will end up costing me a bit more money, but it will be better than having my bank account closed. 

I then went to Brighton College to turn in all of my required documents, as well as the kids documents so I could get them enrolled in school. I stopped quickly at the supermarket and got the kids chicken fingers for dinner. When I got home, Stuart and the kids had gone to the rental car company to trade Stuart’s rental car. When they got back, Jack wanted to go to Ian’s house, but was quickly sent back. The kids had dinner, but Jack surprised me by taking a shower before he came down to eat. He was very pleased with himself for taking the initiative. Naturally, Millie wasn’t up for taking a shower just then, so she went after she ate. 

They both headed upstairs around 6 pm, and then Millie was in bed by 6:30. I heard Jack call for me around 7 pm. He said Oreo had seen something in the bathroom. It turns out, Oreo saw a gecko and caught it, eating it all up. Such is life! The night was called early because of sleepiness. Wow!

I got up and walked by myself on Tuesday morning. I finished grading exams for the year and got them all recorded. I was called to the office to do planning for next year. Uh, why would I want to do planning for next year? So the principal and myself politely declined. The principal let us go home at 12:30, which was a nice treat. Three of my EMTs and myself went to the food court at the local mall to have lunch. 

Once I left the mall I went back to ADEK headquarters to ask about canceling my visa. Why can’t I figure this out? I came out more confused than ever. 

Once I got home, Stuart and I decided it was best to cancel my visa so that when I returned to the country there would be no issue with me going to my new job the first day. It is illegal to have a visa from one company, yet be working for a different company. 

I left to have dinner with Leanne, and Stuart decided to take the kids to the pool and then feed them at the club. On my way to meet Leanne, Rochelle called me and told me that her friend’s daughter was just informed she would be in my class next year. They told all of the children on Tuesday. So I guess it’s for sure!

When I got to the mall, I found a table at the restaurant for Leanne and myself. Leanne is one of my friends who lost her job this year. She and her husband were both advisors to the English staff. Since the Ministry of Education doesn’t have those positions, all of them lost their jobs. That means they are both without jobs. She seemed to think something would turn up. She was very positive and uplifting. I sometimes feel guilty that there are quite a few people looking for jobs. I already had one and then decided I wanted a different one. It seems it was all too easy for me, while others are struggling. I guess it was meant to be. 

When I got home, I went upstairs and kissed Millie goodnight. Jack was watching television in the loft and then came down to sit with us for a bit before he went to bed. Stuart followed shortly after, but I decided to stay up and watch my brainless shows. 

I got up Wednesday morning and waited for 5 minutes for Lara to show up. Then I was off on my own to walk. She messaged later and said that she had forgotten to set her alarm. 

School was beyond boring. The hours dragged on. I took a card around for people to sign for one of our teachers who is getting married this summer. We decided to present her the card at our end-of-year meal out that evening.

After school, I made one more trip to the bank to make sure they knew all of the details of my new employer. Then I went to the Zone (ADEK headquarters) and canceled my visa. It was all too real now.  

I then went to the post office to pick up something I ordered in January. The postal service is a bit slow here. Ha! I then met Stuart and the kids at the mall. We let the kids use their free Bounce passes while we sat and had coffee. It was nice. 

Stuart took the kids home and I went to my end of year party. When I got home Cathy was there. She had come over for dinner. We stayed up talking to nearly midnight. Then it hit all of us that we had to go to work the following day. So Cathy went home and we went to bed. 

Lara actually got up to walk with me on Thursday. I got to school and the Arabic staff had a wedding celebration for our English teacher, Ruquayah. I met with my English teachers and passed out my silly certificates. I left school at 12:30 to pick up my canceled visa. 

When I got home I got ready to go to the club. Thursday night was our end of year Splash Bash. I was worried about the event, but it turned out to be a huge success. Event planning may be my next career. It was so exhausting, yet so much fun. 

Dunk tank

Baby pool

Candy floss


After we dumped the water from the dunk tank and the slide, everyone had a blast. 

Friday morning we got up and went to the grocery store. We bought a lot of dog food, cat food, cat litter and some snacks for the weekend in Dubai. Stuart’s brother Matt and our nephew, Josh, were coming to Dubai for a few days and we were going to stay with them. 

We had one last dinner with the O’Reillys and the Richardsons. We decided to order curry. They all came over around 4:30 pm. Everyone was gone around 9 pm. As you would guess, I cried. This is definitely the down side of the expat life. 

I had to go put my striped shirt on in order to fit in. 

Saturday we were up and off to Dubai to see Uncle Matt and Josh. We arrived around 9:30, went up to the room Matt and Josh had, dropped off our stuff and headed to the pool. We stayed at the pool most of the day. We decided we would pay a little extra to get the club lounge access, which meant food and drink for most of the day. 

The pool we love so much at the Le Meridian. 

Starting the weekend with cold brew. 

When you go to play rugby in the grass, sometimes a bush jumps out and attacks. 

A bit of lunch for the worn out kids. 

Showers for all and a bit of down time. 

Why do my children always look a little less normal than others. 

Dinner, before Josh fell asleep. 

We came back to the room around 4 pm to shower and get ready for dinner. We went to the club lounge at 6 pm and poor Josh fell asleep at the table. The jet lag was setting in. 

We all ended up back in our rooms at 7 pm. Josh and Matt went to bed, and so did we. We sat and watched television. Millie went to sleep at 7:30. Jack followed at 8:30, and I dozed from 8:30 until about 10:30 when Stuart turned the television off. It was the beginning of a busy few days.