Rain? Oh, no, just enough to dirty the car.

Sunday we got to school and it was back to business as usual. It rained a bit during the day which made the pupils a bit whacky. It also rained after school. We wondered whether rugby training would be canceled, but it wasn’t. At the club I met up with one of my teachers from last year. She filled me in on the latest gossip. It seems that the person who took my job has kind of given up. She is returning to New Zealand at the end of the academic year, so has virtually thrown her hands up in the air. It made me sad to hear that, as I loved those teachers and fought for them everyday to make things better. We ended up eating at the club. It rained some more while the children trained. The kids and I went home after we ate and Stuart followed shortly after. 

Monday morning we were up and out of the house just before 7. Stuart went to a training in Abu Dhabi so he didn’t have to leave until later.  After school we went to see two houses. We are hoping to convince the housing department at Brighton that we need to move soon. I’m not sure this will go well, but we shall see. 

Once I was home, Cathy came for dinner of chicken, cauliflower cheese and green beans. Stuart went to training but didn’t end up training. Sometimes the coach sets up a boot camp type of training session instead of practicing rugby and Stuart is out if that’s the case. After dinner, I contacted a few more people about some houses and tried to book some more viewings for Tuesday. We just managed to book to see the single story we had not seen the previous day. 

Jack was at swim squad early on Tuesday so I was able to get some work down before the day started. Tuesday was picture day for my class. My one particular student, that I have made so much progress with, wasn’t terribly sure about the entire picture thing. So I decided I would take him in first and just have his picture taken before he could say anything about it. Well, the photographers obviously didn’t understand my urgency and just faffed about, trying to get everything set up. It worked out in the end and he had his picture taken with no drama. All he said was the lights were pretty bright. However, he was very pleased with himself that he had had his picture taken. And I’m not going to lie, I nearly cried. I was so happy that we had jumped yet another hurdle. 

Once school was over and our staff briefing was finished, the kids and I met Stuart at the one story house to have a look inside. It was very spacious, but there wasn’t any storage. However, the property was inclosed and there was a ton of outdoor space for the kids and the dogs. We still have three or four properties to see and were hoping to get them seen by the end of the week. 

We left the house and headed to dance, while Stuart and Jack headed to Jack’s rugby training. We were 1 minute late to dance, but they started late so really we were right on time. I sat and chatted with some dance mums and then just had some time to myself during Millie’s second class. I looked at available rental houses and caught up on writing this blog. 

Wednesday seemed to be a long day at school. My student teacher asked if she could teach the lesson she had planned for Thursday the following Wednesday. Uh, no, because we will have to move on from that learning objective. Duh! My year group leader ended up speaking to her as she has continued to be late to school, late from breaks and lunch, and really hasn’t been highly involved. We shall see if she gets better. Sadly, the local people are trying to train their own to do our jobs, but the motivation just isn’t there. 

After school we rushed off to see another house. We are hoping we can actually get this one. The entire place is being renovated. The tile is all new, as are the door frames. It’s 5 bedrooms, a nice size back area for a bbq and table, and a great area for the dogs to run around. Now, if I can get the housing guy to call them, that would be amazing. 

We got home and Jack did his homework. Millie pestered him and Stuart and I watched television. Stuart eventually went upstairs to get ready for rugby training. He left just before 6 pm, about the time the kids came back from playing at Ian’s. I fixed the kids chicken nuggets and tater tots. They showered, then ate, and Millie was off to bed. The rest of the evening I just vegged. 

Thursday I went to see the guy in housing, and when all was said and done, his boss kind of vetoed my request to move sooner rather than later. I’m going to still work on it, but am not terribly hopeful we will be moving before July 1. I conned my fellow teacher, Mr Trench, into doing a joint science lesson for period 5, and it turned out to be great. I had had so many blunders in the week, so having a great lesson was a relief. 

After school we headed home. Jack got his things ready for his sleepover and then was immediately on his PS4. Millie got changed and lay on the sofa watching television. I took Jack to his sleepover around 5:30 and then came back to head to Lara and Brian’s for a Mexican night. They had some new friends over and we were invited as the buffers. In case the new people were not ‘our people’, Brian and Lara didn’t want to be alone. However, the new people, Rachel and Jason, were nice people. It was a lovely evening. We ended up carrying Millie home because she went to sleep in a chair. She’s not much of a party animal. 

Friday morning Millie and I headed to church. She didn’t want to go to children’s church because Jack wasn’t there. So she went to the main service with me and asked me about every 10 minutes when it was going to be over. Once it was finished, we headed to the rugby club for the first of two birthday parties she would attend in the day. Fortunately, both parties were at the club. One was on the pitch side and the other was poolside. 

One of Millie’s besties, Ava. 

The dangerous duo. 

Stuart collected Jack from Adam’s just before 11 and delivered him to the first of his two birthday parties in the day as well. 

It was a Fortnight party. 

Stuart came back to the club and we had lunch. He then collected Jack, brought him to the pool party, and then Stuart headed to Dubai 7s to watch the conference team play rugby. The kids and I came home around 4 pm and just chilled for the rest of the day. Stuart got home around 6 pm, but then headed to the club around 7 to celebrate the team’s win. I stayed and put the kids to bed, then watched television until Stuart got home. 

Saturday morning I was up just after 7 am. I finished up laundry and got on to Jack for playing his PS4 before the agreed time. The warning went out that if I spoke to him about this again he would be grounded from the PS4. That electronic is my nemisis. I’m pretty sure he will lose the privilege sooner than later. At what stage do your children become responsible and do things the first time you ask, or remember to do as you ask. I told him Friday evening that when he woke up the following morning, I needed him to strip his bed. Do you think he did it? Nope! Then when I reminded him, he did it but left the sheets up in his room. When I asked him where he had put the sheets, he informed me he had left them in his room. I asked him to bring them downstairs. He got downstairs with them and wanted to know where he should put them. I wanted to say ‘the refrigerator’ but resisted the sarcasm. 

We ran to the supermarket for some provisions for dinner. While we were there, I received a call from Mr. Sultan, the owner of the villa we want to rent. I told him of the circumstances and said I would do my best to have the man from housing call him on Sunday. He wasn’t terribly impressed about having to wait until July, but he also didn’t say he couldn’t wait until July. We shall see. 

Once we returned, the kids finished their homework and then Stuart and I began our marathon of Luther. Creepy! Cathy came over around 4 pm. We had dinner, as we usually do on a Saturday, and then just sat around chatting the evening away. Another restful, yet busy weekend had passed and the rat race was due to start again.