Our very own Katy Perry and Alice Cooper.
I was more of a groupie.
After school we headed to the rugby club so Jack could train. I was going to clean out the control room and sort out my social chairman crap, but decided against it in the end. It was nice outside and much more enjoyable to catch up with Lara.
Monday morning Jack had swim squad and then, after school, he had his first swim meet of the season. I wasn’t able to go as I had to film a video as the House Mistress. We are getting ready to launch our National Day product market. My house is making slime. The video was our ‘mission’ being given to us. We were the B Team (a spoof off the A Team television series). I was Mrs. Tea. I wore a formal gown and tromped around in the sand dunes. The students are going to think it’s so cool.
Jack won the free style race, his medley race, and the relay. He got second place in the butterfly. I’m continually amazed at his athleticism. He was very excited he did so well. When he got home he took a shower and had some dinner. Stuart went to the rugby club but not to train. It turns out that he got a concussion at the match the previous Friday. That’ll teach him! The doctor said he couldn’t play for two weeks. I decided to buy the kids a movie and we just chilled in front of the tv. We watched Hotel Transylvania 3. It was cute! I think I love animated films more than the kids do.
Tuesday was early morning swim squad again for Jack. I’ve really gotten into a routine at school so it seems a lot easier. I can tell I’m not as overwhelmed because I don’t blog as much about school as I did before. We had parent meetings after school. I only had 5 parents sign up for Tuesday and 4 for Wednesday. That’s not that great for a class of 19 and a private school. I suppose I will be contacting some of those parents at a later date.
Stuart had come for parent meetings with the kids’ teachers. He then took Jack home. Millie had gone with her friend who would then take her to dance. My parent meetings lasted until just after 5, which made me late to Millie’s dance class. I normally arrive so that I can see her between the classes, so I called the dance studio to let them know. Then I decided to go to Gift City to get our candy for Halloween, which was the next evening. I then went to pick Millie up from dance and we flew to the rugby club to watch Jack in his touch match. Stuart said he was concerned about winning the match, as well as winning the weekend tournament. He is SO competitive. Stuart thought we needed to talk him through some of his nerves so he wouldn’t end up having a nervous breakdown. Poor kid! After his touch match, which they did lose, I told him he needed to only do his part and not worry about anyone else. He just needed to play his hardest and trust that the other players would do the same. Crisis over, we hope.
Wednesday we were up and out the door for another day of school. Stuart again picked the kids up to take them home. He was in charge of getting them ready for Halloween since I had parent meetings after school. I ended up getting to leave school just before 5 pm and was home in time to help Millie get dressed in her princess unicorn outfit. Jack was having his make up applied and was already dressed. The Rouvis showed up and Jack did Louie’s make up.
Halloween at the Village was a successful event, yet again. It’s great because as long as you bring a bag of candy to someone who lives in the Village, you are welcome to trick or treat. The western expats, as well as some local kids, come out to get candy.
Thursday was a long day. We had stayed up late with our line of candy passers in front of our house. My students were great which made the day easier. Once school was over, we headed home and finished packing for the weekend in Abu Dhabi. We drove to the Premier Inn close to Zayed Sports Center where the tournament was taking place. Jack’s team wasn’t playing until Saturday so we would have Friday at the pool.
Once we got to the hotel we ate dinner and then went to the pool. We stayed at the pool longer than intended, but were able to meet up with some other people from Al Ain. We went to the room around 9 pm and just threw the kids into the beds. We had a good nights sleep and then got up for an early breakfast.
Some of the kids were playing on Friday at the tournament and some were playing on Saturday. I stayed at the hotel and kept some of the siblings so they could swim.
The hotel service was absolutely horrible, or at least the restaurant service was awful. It did make us say we would never stay at thisparticular Premier Inn again. We typically love Premier Inns, but this one is definitely off the list.
Once everyone returned, we had some stacks and beverages by the pool. Millie decided she was ready to go to bed at 5:30 pm, which was fine by me. We went upstairs and took showers. Then we ordered room service. Jack came by the room and decided he would take our light key to go to his friend’s room. He took it while I was in the shower so a minute later Millie and I were in total darkness. I was livid. He finally returned about 7 minutes later to me shouting at him. Ugh! He then went back down to the pool, and he and Stuart ordered pizza from the restaurant, which took ages, confirming our not needing to stay at this Premier Inn again. Millie and I were sound asleep by the time Stuart and Jack got to the room at 8:30 pm. We had an excellent nights sleep.
We were all up at 6 am and down for breakfast by 6:30 am. We left the hotel around 7:30 and headed to the rugby pitches. It was a very long day. And just to be nasty to us, we were required to put our top Under 10s team into the A league this tournament. Well, that scared the crap out of the boys. The first game they were visibly scared. The players weren’t terribly bigger than our players, but there was a higher level of intensity for sure. They lost the first match by 3, I think. There were three more matches, which the lost two and tied one. The one game they tied they celebrated as if they had won. Jack had four awesome games. He’s a tackling machine. He is so intense and wants to win so badly. He really wants the rest of the team to be as intense as he is. I’m not sure that’s possible. We were very proud of his performance at the tournament.
Once the tournament was over for our team, Jack headed back to Al Ain on the bus. Stuart stayed for one last match to referee as the teams asked him to do so. He’s an excellent referee as he tries to make sure the kids learn as they play. So he talks to them and makes sure they set up correctly and are following the rules. The other teams like to have him as a ref. So being so good made it possible for Millie and I to stay at the field a little longer, which we so enjoyed (not).
Jack called on his way home and asked if he could go swimming once he was back at the club. We decided to let him do so, but then found out no other parents were going to be there so the kids couldn’t stay and swim without an adult at the pool. He ended up getting a lift From his coach and our friend, Andrew. In the meantime Stuart took Sean to get his car. He had it serviced over the weekend and needed a lift to collect it.
The kids showered and ate while Stuart was gone. Once he returned, we all spoke with Grandma and Hope. Hope had been on half term and was staying with Grandma and Grandpa. The kids went to bed shortly after their conversations with Grandma and Hope.
Stuart and I ordered Chinese and waited for the guy from the municipality to show up. I had gotten a picture message from Claire on Thursday evening. It was a written note saying someone was complaining about our dogs again. It was in regards to their barking. Since they don’t bark, then it was a mute point in the end. The man was such a nice man and assured me that he would close the case on Sunday. I told him I felt it was a neighbor who wasn’t terribly fond of us because we had complained about their playing basketball late at night. Who knows? Hopefully it is all over.
At any rate, it was a lovely weekend full of fun.
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