Just when you think its getting better :(

Elle had an awful day at school. I ended up in the counselor's office talking to her about the situation. I did meet Elle's teacher and she seemed nice. I think there is a combination of things going on - Elle is not happy so she is looking for reasons for not like the school but I also think that many of the teachers are not American and expect kids to behave differently. For instance Larry told a friend at work the name of Elle's teacher, he made a nasty face. Elle's teacher is Arab and Larry's friend thinks that Arab teachers tend to dismiss children with learning disabilities and those who are having a harder time adjusting. From Elle's perspective this is true, though of course we haven't mentioned this to her. Also Elle came home today and said that the ELL teacher told her that she needed to work on her manners! WTF! Heavy sigh. :(

Another big downer is that we learned that our container will NOT arrive into Dubai until September 10 and it will take at minimum 4-5 days to clear customs. This will be in the middle of Ramadan so 4-5 days would be considered very fast. From our experience in what we have been told so far we will be very lucky to get our things by the end of September. I about went nuts when I heard the news about our container.

I hate to complain so I'm not sure when our next post will be. I am trying my best to remain positive.

Common Sense

Maybe it's an American thing but we expect a certain level of common sense from all people. You don't get that here. Many workers have never done the jobs that they are doing before, but you would still think that they would learn from day to day. Heck, I would expect them to learn even hour to hour, build upon the skills that they are learning, but that doesn't seem to be the case here. I suppose that I shouldn't over generalize, but I don't think that I am. There are so many things in our villa that are off. Like the place you put dishes to drain after washing them. It should be slanted just a bit and the water should drain back into the sink - right? Maybe the person who installed it had never seen one before so they didn't know. That's just one tiny example of so many things here. Each villa in this complex is different - but not supposed to be ya know.

This is a little thing but it sure helps me to understand why labor in the US is paid so much more. There are much higher expectations levels there than here. I need to the a guy to come install a dishwasher, but I am thinking of just doing it myself. I'd bet ya $50 that I would a better job!

Job offer

I received a surprise call today from the high school office of Dani and Elle's school. They wanted to know if I might be interested in a job there. So I went in for an interview this morning. Everyone is very nice and the job would be a piece of cake - office assistant type thing, do whatever is needed. Of course the role is way below my qualifications but the job was more to keep me busy and allow me to contribute to and accomplish something each day. I am going to give it the weekend to think it over, but I am pretty sure I will turn it down but offer to help on a part-time volunteer basis they find someone. I would like more time to figure out my right from my left before jumping into a full-time job. But very nice to be asked!

Happiness at last?

Funny how a small thing can really make a big change. I braced myself for a very angry Elle as I was picking her up today after school. Her class was one of the last to come out as I stood there sweating it. When Elle saw me she was all smiles and immediately apologized that the nurse had to call me 2 times today. I was in shock! I think the nurse helped a lot by empathizing with Elle about the stress of a new school and new city. Elle also said that she met 5 new friends today. Oh and Elle said in the car this evening, "Mom, if a little kid ever asks me what it is like to move to a different country, I will tell them that if you are in a new school things will get better and it will be fun." You can't imagine how good it felt to hear that.

Larry had to work late tonight so the girls and I went out. First we took Dani to the doctor to check on her leg burn. That was a different experience - the doc looked like he hadn't showered - greasy hair and unshaven and his office and examing room was all in one room. But when he opened his mouth all was good. Funny German guy who was great with Dani. He said that her burn is healing fine and there should be minimal scaring. The nurses were great too. They cleaned and bandaged Dani's leg back up with very little pain. Dani was happy about that!

After the doc visit we went to the pharmacy nearby that the school nurse recommended would have all of the bandage supplies needed. Many times its hard to find what you need here. After that we were off to an art supply store int he plaza next door. I bought some awesome handmade paper, paint and brushes. I feel a cool project coming on. Then we got some dinner and went to the school uniform store to get some extra pants, a hat, 2 more ties and 2 sweaters (its cold in the air conditioning). Our final stop was at the grocery store and cable TV kiosk in the store. Slingbox is awesome but if the internet is down then our TV is down... we just can't have that!

Well that's all for tonight. Boy am I one happy camper!

Shipment update

Our container has arrived in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Of course now it has to transfer ships and come to Dubai. Here are a couple of pictures of the ship that our container road on from New York to Jeddah.

New Delhi Express - one is of the ship full and one empty.

Volunteering and a possible job

During the new student orientation on Monday it was mentioned that the elementary school needed more teaching assistants. So on Tuesday I applied. We'll see what happens. It would be pretty cool to work at the girls' school and get to see them during the day but also have the same holidays and such. I also got a call from the parent organization. I am going to work in the school store 1 or 2 days a week for a couple of hours. Fun! :)

The School Nurse - 2nd Day of School

Yes I have heard from both the elementary school nurse and the middle school nurse all in one day... Elle doesn't feel good and wants to come home and Dani's leg needs bandaged and she needs to go see a doctor.

Made an appointment for Dani to see a doc right after school. Hopefully I can both find the place and a place to park.

As for Elle I asked the nurse to keep her at school, tough love. She has to make this transition however gut wrenching it is for Larry and me.

Moving is hard... :(

It's so hard to adjust when you move and being the Middle East makes it even harder because life is different here. I've had my fair share of bad days, trying to get around streets that are configured very differently than the US in an attempt to make crazy drivers drive more safely, adjusting to rules changing on the whim of the person behind the counter, trying to navigate an over crowded school system that doesn't offer services that your child needs, finding out that this week the grocery store doesn't have the products that you need, and so on. I have to believe that we will adjust and it will get better.

Elle is having the worse time of all of us. She has a difficult time dealing with change, she always has. As a parent you wonder if you did the right thing for your kid pulling them out of their comfortable life at home.

It will get better, it will be get better, it will get better. We just want the girls to be happy. If there was a magic switch that we could turn to make that happen we certainly would!

First Day of School

Dani and Elle were excited to start their first day. They go to DAA - Dubai American Academy. School starts at 7:45 and ends at 2:45. We drive them to and from school as we live pretty close by but not close enough to walk.

Dani had a WONDERFUL first day despite her injury. We had crossed fingers for Elle's day as she is slower to accept new situations. When I picked up the girls Elle's first words to me were, "I hate my teacher and I hate this school!" Heavy sigh... we had so hoped for the best. We came home and had long talks throughout the evening. Elle agreed to give it a week and see how things go.

Back to Dani's day. Her first day of middle school... very exciting! DAA does block scheduling which is a little confusing to follow but Dani seems to understand it. She has English, French, Arabic, Math, Social Studies, Science, Choir, Art, Decisions, PE and I am sure I am forgetting something else. There are 4 periods to the day and she has each class once within a 2-day period. She made several new friends already which is great.

Dani and Elle in our villa ready for their first day.


Mom's (and Dad's) taxi service to school.



Elle walking up to the 2nd floor to her classroom.

No Internet! GRRR!!!

Our internet is not working. Not a big surprise. We hear this is common here. I called the phone company, they could not fix it over the phone with resetting and what not so a technician is coming out within 48 hours. Maybe we are shut off because of the complicated set up I have done with an access point on the first floor and the router on the 2nd (they must think I am passing the signal on to neighbors or something). Being that everything is made of thick concrete here the wireless signal does not travel well throughout the villa. Hence the addition of the access point. I tired reconfiguring another modem that we had as an access point and it did work for about 3 days. Not sure why it stopped working but then I could not get it working again so I went out and bought an access point instead. We also access our cable signal from CT here in Dubai so could be reason #2 they find us suspicous. Or it could be just plain old bad lines that is causing the problem.

Oh get this... after I was told me that a technician would come out I was gaven a "complaint number" - like a ticket number so that my issue can be looked up in their system. Cracks me up... complaint number. Maybe they do it the right way here because that is indeed what it is where in the states we could call it a ticket or confirmation number or something to disguise that this was something negative.

Gold Souke

I went to the old gold souke with Sabrina, Larry's friend from work, today. It was fun, but very hot. She bought some gold hoop earings with camels on them. I bought a rug and we both bought a couple of India style shirts. This is a place where you can bargain. I got the deal of the day. I paid 150Dhs for a rug that started at 550Dhs. Makes you wonder what the price really is. Actually in my case I think they did sell it under their costs just to make one sale for the day. Its a nice rug too!

Here are a couple of pictures of the souke. I didn't take them but it does give you a good idea of what it looks like. You can't drive a car on most of the streets there so there are men with ancient looking carts that carry boxes and things around. Interesting to see.

Desert Safari

This would have been an amazing fun experience but accidents happen. We actually did have a ton of fun despite what happened. Since I let the cat out of the bag, let me explain that part first. Dani rolled a 4 wheeler down the side of a big sand dune and skinned/scrapped/burned her leg. She is ok but hurting a little this morning.

So, back to the beginning. Larry has a work friend in town, Sabrina. One of the things that she wanted to do while in Dubai was to ride a camel. So we took her on a dessert safari and BBQ. We haven't done this yet so we were just as much looking forward to it as Sabrina. A driver comes to pick you up in a Toyota Land Cruiser that is specially equipped for off roading. You drive about 45 minutes into the desert. Once in the desert the first stop is at the gas station where the air is let out of the tires leaving only 18 lbs of pressure per tire. Flat tires handle better on the sand. Then you go "dune bashing." Not a very nice term but it means driving across the sand dunes which is much like riding a roller coaster. It gets pretty scary! You end up at the highest peak which is WAY up there. Lots of ups and downs. Thank goodness for Dramamine. It was a ton of fun.

After about an hour of that you go to a camp way out in the middle of now where. There are camels to ride, 4 wheelers to ride, sand surfing, henna, etc. Once you are all done with that there is belly dancing and dinner. The camel rides were fun. Larry didn't go because of his extreme allergies to horses, he was afraid it might be camels to and didn't want to chance it. Sabrina was very happy to get her ride and to pet a camel.

Elle was excited to try out the 4 wheelers. She had to talk Dani into it. There were several boys who were already riding and had rolled the bikes, etc. We thought they were being very rough and crazy, then our daughter goes and does the same thing! It was dark and hard to see. Luckily Larry saw it happen and ran to Dani's rescue immediately. She was trapped under the bike but got out on her own just before Larry got to her. He carried her back to camp where she was given some painful first aid. We did stay for belly dancing and dinner. Dani and Sabrina got in some dancing. It would have been a hoot for the whole family but Larry and I didn't want to leave Dani's side.

I am sure that we will do this again when some one visits but we will stip the 4 wheeling part!
















Our little Dani rolled a 4 wheeler down the side of a sand dune! Crazy girl!!! Luckily she was ok, hurting but she will heal just fine.



A couple of videos from the event.

Ocean

We've taken to going to the beach on the weekends early in the morning. We try to leave the house by 7:30am. There are very few people on the beach that early. Plus the temperatures are so much cooler then. We only stay an hour maybe 2 before it gets too hot. The water is like bath water. The shallow water cools a little at night while the deeper water remains very warm. You can feel the temperature difference as you walk out.

The girls spend their time collecting shells and looking for creatures. They always make houses for the hermit crabs. So far we have seen a few fish, a star fish (held that one but didn't have the camera that day), a sting ray and lots of crabs.

Here are a few shots of one of our visits.

Brunch of Burj Al Arab

We learned that Burj means tower, so the name of the Burj Al Arab is The (Al) Arab Tower (Burj). We have brunch there today... one of those once in a life time kind of things. It was very expensive at about $400 US for the family.

I was a little disappointed with the hotel decor, don't get my wrong, it's gorgous but I still expected more... being 7 star and all, but I suppose that has more to do with service. Each room has its own butler, each floor has a concierge, etc. Pretty swanky. Plus you can't just walk into the hotel. It's out on an island and has only one road to it with a gate and several guards. You have to have a reservation to get in.

Here are some pictures of our expensive culinary adventure...

Wild Wadi World

Today we all 4 went to Wild Wadi World, a water park that is very close by our villa. It is a nice park. The girls had a blast. There were a few different sites that we would not see in the US. Ladies in full dress in the water, mostly Indian woman, not Arabic women. Arabic women either took off their abaya in the dressing room or just wore them around the park and never got into the water (I'm not really sure because we didn't see too many there). It was extremely hot too - 105° with 70% humidity. Another other odd site... men/boys in their underwear. Rather than a bathing suit I guess they just took off their pants. It was a strange site indeed. There were also several woman in suits with long sleeves and long pants but at least they were wearing outfits made for the water. Pictures of all this would have been funny to see, but too rude to take so sorry we can't share that part, just imagine....

Here are few pictures of us at the park.