Once we were home from the club, I helped kids shower while Stuart made their dinner. They ate and then it was bedtime for Millie. Jack followed shortly after. We watched more of Luther, and then I watched the Bachelor when Stuart went to bed. I must say, I don’t see this ending well for Colton. But what do I know?
Monday we were told the school would be closing early on Tuesday as there was a bicycle race that would cause the road in front of our school to close. Therefore, leaving us unable to leave the school.
During my first break of the day, Joan and I went to view a house she had been looking to move into. Should we have left school for that? Probably not, but we did. The house was amazing and in a compound of six houses. There were three in the compound that were empty. If three families from Brighton College would decide to move into this compound, that would thrill us. We shall see what we actually sort out.
When we returned to school it was almost break time for the children. My student teacher taught a math lesson after break, which was not great. The local people training to be English teachers will never take our jobs. Their English will never be fluent and to be honest, they haven’t been taught any kind of work ethic, for the most part. So all the expats in this country have job security, which is good news to us. During the school day I went out to see the lady booking our summer flights. I got my ticket booked for the summer, therefore Stuart could book his and he kids’ tickets as well.
When we got home from school, I read with the kids again. Millie showered and ate dinner. We then headed to the dentist. On the way, Cathy messaged me to tell me she had an interview with Brighton College. She wasn’t sure when it would be, but the fact was she had an interview. I was so excited for her!!!!
The dentist confirmed that Millie had a cavity. She had it filled and was very brave. I inquired about her crazy, crowded teeth and the dentist said not to worry about it just now. I also inquired about regular cleanings for the kids, but since our insurance has changed, that is not covered and it would be out of pocket because they see it as cosmetic instead of preventative. Ha! As I have said on many occasions, only in the UAE.
I received this email about Medicare. Excuse me! What?
Tuesday swim squad was Jack’s first activity of the day. Although the rest of the school wasn’t swimming because the pool heater was broken. They just assumed since the swim squad kids are constantly swimming, they would be fine. Kids went home early as there was a bicycle race and the roads were being closed off. That meant we all went home early. I had volunteered to take Millie and her little dance buddies to our house and then deliver them to dance. However, the dance teacher was ill so dance classes were canceled. I decided to take the girls to our house anyway for a play date. They had an absolute blast together. I returned them to their homes around 5:15 pm. Once girls were delivered home, I picked Cathy up and we went to the club for dinner. I came home earlier than Stuart and Jack as Millie needed to get into bed.
Wednesday morning, as my team suspected, the teacher who was to cover Joan’s class for the day ended up not coming to school. She’s pregnant, but treats it as an illness. It’s starting to irritate me because it means the rest of us have to pick up the slack. We don’t have subs in this school, so we have to cover for each other. It stinks!
After school Jack had a football match. They lost by quite a few goals, but he had fun. We then took Tommy and Alice home because Joan was on a course in Dubai. When I got home, Stuart had made the kids dinner. I went up for a shower while the kids ate. Cathy came over just after Stuart left for rugby training. Cathy left before he got home. I dropped asleep on the sofa and when I woke up, I went upstairs. Our light in our bathroom had totally burned out, so that made it difficult to get ready for bed. I suppose we would now be forced to get the ladder out and get the light fixed.
Thursday morning we were up and out to school. The day went rather quickly and that thrilled me. The wind started kicking up and sand was everywhere in my classroom. I sometimes hate that I have a door that leads to the play area. After school we ran Tommy home, as Joan was off again because Alice was having the pins removed from her arm.
After we were home, we went to pick up two Bounce passes for the kids to use for the month of March. When they run their specials, it’s quite worthwhile and cost effective. We also hit the supermarket before heading home for the evening. Before we left the supermarket, we got the kids the ever so nutritious, KFC. It’s called ‘laziness’.
Friday morning we got up and took Jack to the club for a final match of rugby. They won with great ease and later in the day discovered they have won their entire league for the season. They really are quite a talented team. We are so very proud of their efforts.
Friday afternoon Stuart and I went to brunch at Trader Vic’s with Joan and her husband, Gene, as well as my other two team mates and their wives, and some other Irish folks. It was great fun. We got home from that brunch just in time to go to a demonstration of a tin can smoker. Our house cleaner’s boyfriend has recently patented this and we went to taste some of the meat he had smoked. It was a good couple of hours. Cathy went with us and then we delivered her to Trader Vic’s to meet up with some of her school friends. We headed home and showered the kids. Millie went straight to bed. Jack stayed up for a bit and Stuart snoozed on the sofa. I stayed up and watched television, as is my normal habit each evening.
Saturday morning we ran some errands and cleaned up some of the sand that had made its way into our house from the winds the previous two days. We had a bite for lunch and then headed to Dubai around 1 pm. We decided to go early because we wanted to stop at the outlet mall to see if we could get some gloves and proper ski socks for the kids. We also needed to find clothes we could wear for World Book Week. We had decided to all dress up as ourselves from The Adventures of Bonnie and Clyde. Stuart was going to come in and read to Jack’s class. I then realized I wished I had dictated what we were wearing in the book. Stuart and Jack would be easy, but Millie and I would be a bit more difficult.
We didn’t find anything at the outlet mall, so hoped our luck would be better at Mall of the Emirates. We arrived there around 3:30 and the kids were starving. Cathy has come with us and decided to eat as well. Once the food was consumed, we headed to Ski Dubai. Stuart went a bit earlier because he had booked a slope pass for himself, which was two hours. Since the kids’ lessons were only an hour and a half, if he started at 5, they would all be done at the same time.
For World Book Week, Brighton College asked for the children to take pictures of ‘extreme’ reading. Since we assumed they wouldn’t let them take a book on the slopes, this was as extreme as we could get.
Cathy and I shopped around the mall, in different stores. She was looking for a blazer for her interview and I was looking for outfits for our book day characters, to which I had no luck, unfortunately. I did discover, however, that Millie actually has a dress she can wear. I now just need to find her a pink polka dot unbrella.
We got a coffee just before 7, then went to the ski place and waited for the kids. Once they returned, they were getting the ski gear off and I grabbed Millie’s ski card, then reached for Jack’s, which was zipped in the arm of his jacket. Except when I reached for it, I wasn’t unzipping the arm pocket on Jack’s jacket, I had grabbed another kid who, fromthe corner of my eye, looked like Jack. I heard Cathy say to me, kind of in a low voice, ‘That’s not Jack. That’s not Jack.’ I looked up, and sure enough, it wasn’t Jack. I apologized to the boy and then insisted the boy see who I thought he was. So I pointed to Jack, who was coming back from returning his helmet, and I said, ‘See, you look like him a bit.’ I’m sure the boy thought I had lost my marbles. Jack said, ‘Mom! I was putting my helmet away.’ He just shook his head. I’m well on my way to totally embarrassing my child. Mission accomplished!
Once the kids were free of their ski gear, we headed upstairs tothe food court......again. They had another ‘healthy’ fast food meal, and I am now well on my way to the Mother of the Year award......again.
The drive home found Jack sleeping and Millie wife awake. Once we arrived at the house, both kids showered and headed to bed. The late Saturday evenings make for super fun Sunday mornings. Stay tuned.
No comments:
Post a Comment