Dubai and Australia Departure and Arrival

Thursday, December 15th, at school, was yet another day before a holiday.  And that meant that no, or very few, kids showed up.  There were enough students to make one class of each grade level and they assigned the teachers to one period.  I got to "babysit" period 5 so I worked got a lot done during the day.  I got my cleaning and organizing done along with finally finishing my mapping and grading.  I also had time to socialize and have fun.  Period 5 arrived and I went to get the kids from the room and took them to my room.  They were settled on the carpet getting ready to play the games when Alanoud says "go home."  I wasn't sure so I sent her to go find out and sure enough it was time to go home!  Yeah!  No "babysitting" for me!  The girls left around 12:00 and I got to leave at 1:00.  That was great news!  I left school and got some errands done and got home just a little after I normally do.  It was nice.

I still had a lot to do before I left for Dubai and then Australia so I got busy with laundry and cleaning.  When I was in Dubai a few weekends ago I found this super cool mop!  I know mop and super cool shouldn't go in the same sentence but just wait.  It's like a Swiffer, only better because the pads are washable instead of disposable.  So I can mop now!!!  Exciting stuff!  Really it is, maybe I won't have to have Safeer come clean anymore?!  I got the apartment cleaned, finished laundry, and finished packing and I was on my way by 7:30.  A little later than I wanted, but it got me there before 10:00 so that was fine. 

Final product!

Saturday Cindy and I worked on cookies for the cookie exchange.  We made the candy cane cookies and cut out cookies.  Two very time consuming cookies to make.  But, she did help figure out how to make the candy cane cookies.  Even though they turned out very good, I still like mom's better.  These are too soft and mom's are nice and crunchy but not burned.  Yummy!  The neighbor kids, Aisha and Hamdan, came over to help make the cut out cookies.  I must admit they did a fairly good job.  That is until Hamdan threw a bunch of frosting at Aisha!  I missed that as I was Skyping with my family.  Anyway we got the 2 hardest cookies done and Sarah finished on Sunday.

So the cookie exchange.  How do I explain this?  It turned out to be a mess.  The problem was Khulood, Cindy's neighbor, wanted to have a birthday party for the kids the same day so the party was combined with the cookie exchanged.  Well, that was the thought anyway.  What actually happened was the birthday party kind of took over.  Arabic birthday parties are something else.  Loud music, adults dancing, kids running around, poppers, tons of food, and gifts (real gifts) for everyone.  It was completely chaotic.  After cake was served Sarah suggested that we move the cookie exchange back to their house and we finally got around to doing that.  Once there things settled down and we talked and had cookies.  Lots of cookies were made; some from Germany, England, UAE, and Scotland.  It was nice!  I am glad that the cookie exchange was brought back to the house because I don't think it would have went over in the party hall.

On Tuesday we went to the Dubai Mall to see the Dubai Fountain.  Although I have seen this many times during the day I had yet to see it at night when it is much better.  Craig decided to fix that and we spent the evening at the mall.  I got to see the show 2 times and it was different each time.  It was pretty cool.  I guess just like any other dancing fountain that you may have seen, other than the fact that the water goes pretty high.  I thought that they colored the water, but I didn't see any of that.  I did enjoy the show and am looking forward to taking my parents and Amy when they come in March.

Wednesday was departure day.  The Wilson's live close to the airport so I didn't have to leave that early.  I got to the airport around 7:30 for my 9:30 flight.  Enough time to eat breakfast and relax for a bit.  Actually enough time to eat breakfast and walk around because I didn't want to sit any longer than I had to.  Unfortunately there were no exit row seats available, but I did get an aisle seat.  Small consolation I guess.  The flight was fine, once we took off.  We were delayed because there was a sick person on board and the medics were called on.  Not sure what they did because the medics didn't leave with anyone so I am assuming that the sick person got better?  Our late departure out of Dubai meant a late arrival in Singapore so I only had about 45 minutes, instead of 2 hours, to walk around and stretch my legs.  I was just thankful that I got to get off the plane and stretch.  The flight from Singapore was good as well.  No major issues other than terribly long and I think I may have slept for 1 hour on the entire trip. 

As we are nearing Australia we watch this video about the strict quarantine laws that they have.  You are not allowed to bring any food, or plant/wood material into Australia.  Well you can't bring any animals either, but somehow I don't think that should be necessary to say.  So we watch this video where I think they are trying to scare you about trying to sneak in items and then I had to fill out a visa form.  Thing is I didn't know Natalie's address so I just put Natalie Lim Melbourne.  I didn't know what to do.  She gave me her number, but I didn't have it written down because I can't make international calls on my phone.  I didn't think it would be an issue.  Well, I was wrong.  That and the fact that I didn't put my middle name on the form caused a problem.  The guy had to call someone to fix the form.  Really, all I needed to do was add my middle name.  Then I tried to explain that I didn't have any contact information for Natalie and he looked at me like I was crazy.  I guess that is sort of crazy; going to visit someone without any contact information.  But since I had my phone number and email on there he decided that it would be ok and he stamped my passport and let me through the passport control line.  Then it was onto customs where a dog sniffed my bags for any contraband items.  Of course he/she didn't find anything because all I was bringing was clothes and books.  No problems there.

Sean, Nichole's (Natalie's daughter) husband picked me up at the airport and we drove back to their place.  Driving on the wrong side of the road is just weird.  I don't think I'd be able to do it.  The first thing I did when I got here was take a shower and brush my teeth.  I felt disgusting.  Then I took a little nap, really little; maybe 1 hour.  It was nice to lay down though.  I tried to make it going out shopping but I was too tired so we went back home.  I was in bed by 8:00 and woke up at 7:30 Friday morning.

I will write an Australia post when I return.  Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!