Hijra New Year and Other Stuff

Before I get into the Islamic New Year and what I did on my long weekend, let me back up to my birthday.  You already know that I got a really nice necklace from one of my students that I had to turn in to the parent care officers.  Well, it turns out that I had to give it back.  That means it must have been really expensive and probably plated in real gold.  I knew it was nice, just not that nice.  The PCOs gave it back to me and told me to give it back to the student.  So I had to explain to Mohammed that although I loved his gift I wasn't allowed to accept it due to school policy.  He looked quite hurt.  The PCOs did say that they would call the mother and explain to her, but I don't know if that got done or not.  I just wish that I wouldn't have had to have told Mohammed.  I think that's something that the PCOs should have done, or at least the principal.  I mean it's their policy, not mine.  Shouldn't they be the one to explain it to a 9 year old?

Hijra New Year.  Islamic New Year.  This holiday celebrates when the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH - peace be upon him; that always follows his name when it's in writing) and his followers made the journey from Mecca to Medina, due to an attempt to assassinate him.  They made this journey in 622 so according to the Islamic calendar it is the year 1434.  Not sure what that has to do with anything because as far as I know they don't use that calendar.  Anyway it's a holiday and we got a day off.  It was scheduled for Wednesday, but thankfully they moved it to Thursday which meant a long weekend.

I started the holiday by cleaning my apartment for my guests.  Kristie, Vanny, and Jane were coming from Dubai to spend Thursday exploring Al Ain.  I picked them up from the bus station at about 10:30pm and then we went grocery shopping.  They hadn't eaten so they bought dinner stuff along with what we needed for breakfast the following morning.  They were surprised by how quiet it was in Al Ain Mall and on the streets.  I must admit I was a bit surprised too.  I mean the mall is usually quite busy at night.  I guess because it was a holiday everyone had already left for Dubai or Abu Dhabi.  We got the shopping done and headed home.  They loved my apartment; mostly because it's like a home.  OK a bit about Filipino accommodation.  Kristie, Vanny, and Jane don't live together but they rent out what's called a "bed space" in a one bedroom flat.  Accommodation isn't provided by their employers so what they do is section off a one bedroom flat into many different "bed spaces."  There can be at least 8 people living in a one bedroom flat in Dubai.  It definitely was an eye opener when I saw where they lived.  So because mine isn't sectioned off it's more like a home and they liked that.  After dinner it was time to figure out sleeping arrangements.  I had thought that one could sleep in the bed with me, one on the couch, and I could take the cushions off the armchairs and put them on the floor for the other one.  Well, they didn't want that.  They all slept on the floor!  These floors are hard and cold!  They are marble tiles.  They laid a blanket on the rug and slept on that.  I was totally embarrassed.  I didn't want them to sleep on the floor.  Talk about being a bad hostess.  They would have nothing of my plan saying that it's Filipino culture to sleep on the floor.  I don't know about that, but I guess if they wanted to who was I to stop them.  So sleeping arrangements were figured out and we went to bed around 2am.  I haven't stayed up that late in a very long time!!!

We had a late start to the day due to the late night.  After we were all up, around 8, Kristie made us breakfast.   She made a huge omelet, fried onions (which of course I didn't eat), toast, and soup (I didn't have any of that either).  But, what I did have was very good!  Then it was time to shower.  That was a process since I only have one bathroom!  Oh well, we made due and had some good fellowship while we waited for everyone to get ready.  Kristie and Vanny wore short shorts, which would turn out to be a problem at the zoo.  I didn't think it would be because we would be outside, but I was wrong.  We got to the zoo around 12:30 and the line for tickets was almost to the road.  Vanny waited in line while the rest of waited for her to get the tickets.  With tickets finally in hand we went to enter the park, only to find out that Vanny and Kristie couldn't enter because of their shorts.  They were told it was a new rule that was being enforced.  Only thing was it wasn't being equally enforced.  As Vanny and Kristie went back to the car to get a shirt to tie around their waist, Jane and I saw many western women with short shorts on.  Evidently it's only being enforced if you're not white.  Kristie and Vanny returned with a shirt tied around their waist and we entered the park.  It was hot, there were lots of people, and they weren't running the train so we didn't stay long.  We saw a few of the highlight animals: white lions, rhinos, hippos, and monkeys along with the tons and tons of gazelle and the bird house before leaving.  Probably not my best experience at the zoo, but I don't think they were comfortable and they were hungry for lunch.

We had Al Noor for lunch!  Of course I had to take them to my favorite restaurant!  They enjoyed it and we had tons of leftovers.  As a matter of fact, I still have leftovers in the fridge.  They probably need to be thrown out now!!  We had the traditional mix grill (lots of different kind of kabobs), hummus, fatoush, foul (beans), and fresh juice.  Yummy!

After lunch we headed to the Rotana to watch "Breaking Dawn 2."  I didn't really want to see this movie, but that's what they wanted to do, so that's what we did.  I knew there was a movie theater at the Rotana, I just didn't know where.  Turns out it's underground!!  Who knew!  The good thing about this movie theater is that it's hardly ever busy.  I think there were about 15 other people in the theater.  So we had our choice of seats.  I thought that I would have difficulty understanding the story since I hadn't read any of the books or seen any of the other movies, but surprisingly I could follow the story line pretty well.  Sorry if any of you reading this are Twilight fans, but I didn't think it was a very good movie. 

We wanted to head to Jebel Hafeet after the movie, but it was 6:30 and that meant it was dark.  Too dark to see anything.  So a trip up the mountain would have been wasted.  So we headed back to the apartment for dinner made by Jane and then entertainment from Kristie, followed by an early night so we could be on the road to Dubai by 8:30.

Friday after church I went with Lucia, Karen (her daughter), and Angel (Karen's friend) to Global Village.  Global Village is a huge bazaar with various countries represented.  Many different countries have an area where they have entertainment and sell handmade crafts from their country.  I bought Christmas presents from Jordan, Turkey, and Africa and a souvenir for myself from India.  It's a really neat experience to be able to see what each country has to offer without leaving the UAE.  Although it is a nice experience I was getting tired of hearing "mashallah" (kind of like wow!) and being stared at by men.  I did turn into a tourist attraction though.  A group of teenage Pakistani boys asked to take my picture with the tallest of their group.  They were nice about it so I obliged.  After that a cute little old lady from Jordan asked for her picture with me.  She was so cute that I had to let her get a picture.  Then an Emirati dad asked if his daughter and son could get a picture with me.  His daughter was 9 and she's quite tall already.  Maybe I should use my height to make money!!  With pictures done we walked around to various countries (Egypt, Kuwait, UAE, KSA, Syria, China, Bahrain, Qatar and other ones) before heading back to Lucia's for the night.  We left Global Village around 11:00 and I was exhausted.  I guess that was the beginning of my sickness, only I didn't know it then.  I just thought I hadn't gotten a lot of rest during the weekend and it was catching up with me.

Saturday morning I took Lucia to the doctor for her bone density exam and then headed home around noon.   I had to go grocery shopping, do laundry, grade papers, and plan and I was still exhausted so I wanted to be in bed early.  About 1/2 way home I realized I was too tired to go grocery shopping so I decided that I would go home and take a nap.  I got home around 2:30 and slept until 5:00 when I forced myself to get up and get some work done.  I looked at the planner and math book and had a little dinner and was back in bed by 8:00.  During all of this I was thinking that I was simply overtired from my long weekend so I didn't really worry about anything.  I figured that I would wake up fine Sunday morning.  Wrong.  I had to fight to make it through the day.  I had a terrible cough and body aches.  Thankfully I made it through the day and headed to LuLu for the groceries that I didn't get on Saturday.  As soon as I got to LuLu the panadol (Tylenol) must have worn off because I was freezing and my whole body ached.  I'm sure I looked like death warmed over as I was walking around LuLu.  I got some soup, pie crusts, yogurt and medicine from the pharmacy and headed home.  It was another early night as I was in bed by 7.  As long as the panadol was working I was fine, but as soon as it wore off I had a fever and body aches.  I took plenty of panadol and went to work on Monday; thinking that I was feeling better.  Well, I wasn't.  So I decided to take Tuesday off work and go to the doctor.  Turns out that I have pharyngitis which is causing a sore throat and a slight ear ache, a cold, and flu-like symptoms.  The doctor gave me an antibiotic for the pharyngitis, cough syrup for the cough/cold, something for congestion, and panadol for the flu-like symptoms along with 3 days off work.  It's Wednesday now and I feel a bit better, but I'm still coughing and my throat still hurts.  Right now my fingers ache, but that could be because I've been doing a lot of typing and I haven't taken any panadol yet today.  I'm not sure if I'll be going to work tomorrow; it's all going to depend on how I feel tonight.  Thursday I'm supposed to go to Sharjah for Thanksgiving and I'm supposed to bring apple pie and pumpkin pie, but I don't know if I'll be going to that either.  Again it will depend on how I feel tonight.  Hoping I feel better soon because I'm home in 3 1/2 weeks and I can't be sick.

81 degrees at 11:30am.

Birthday Weekend

What a great birthday weekend!  God has blessed me with amazing friends here in Al Ain and in Dubai.  It would have been wonderful to spend the day with my family (I do miss celebrating with them even though we did talk via Skype and phone), but second best would be my friends.

After the thoroughly over planned surprise party at school Deborah and I went out for dinner.  She took me to an Indian restaurant in the middle of nowhere.  It was really good.  I had some Indian chicken and bryiani rice with naan (the best bread in the world, in my opinion!).  It was a nice night so we ate outside.  It's great to be able to do that now that the weather is getting cooler.  We enjoyed chatting and getting to know each other better.



Dinner was followed with drinks and shisha (I just had a bit, it still makes me gag) at Leisure - a different restaurant.  Leisure was packed!  We had no idea there was going to be a Lebanese singer/dancer there.  Luckily we found parking across the street so we were able to enjoy the night and "concert".   It was a nice birthday night.



Left: Vanny, Jane, Kristie, Miranda, Lizah, Jeriel
Right: Ronnie, Me, Cherise, Tony



Friday morning I headed to Dubai in my dress.  Yes, I had to wear a dress.  Kristie texted me Thursday and told me that I needed to wear a dress.  Based on that, I knew she had something planned, I just didn't know what.  What she planned was a "surprise" lunch.  I typically have lunch with her, Vanny, and Jeriel after church but this included other friends as well.  We went to Mall of the Emirates and had lunch at Chili's.  Vanny and Kristie even arranged for the waiters and waitresses to sing!  How embarrassing!  We all had a great time and laughed a lot.  It was tons of fun.  I love my friends!  They made me feel really special and loved as they all shared their "wish" for me for the year.  Very touching. 

Ronnie and Lizah were attending the Redeemer Members' Meeting and I ended up taking them there.  Driving to the Redeemer Villa in Mirdif wasn't an issue.  Although I did try to find a metro station to drop them off at, but I couldn't get to any of them and neither of my passengers could help me out so I just took them all the way.  No problem.  The issue came after that.  Kristie and I were going to go to Dubai Creek Park and meet up with the rest of the gang and it took us about 50 minutes to get there.  I think it should have only taken us about 20.  The thing is we were having a deep discussion and I was trying to listen to Freida (my GPS) at the same time.  It wasn't going over too well.  We were both too focused on our conversation to fully listen to and comprehend the directions.  All in all it turned out fine.  Kristie and I were able to have some alone time and we made it to the creek to spend more time with the rest of the gang. 

Once we got to the creek we had to find parking.  That was a challenge.  As the weather gets cooler everyone heads to parks and the Dubai Creek Park is a popular destination.  We ended up having to park across the street.  We got in the park and ended up taking a "taxi" to find where Jeriel and the rest were.  Quite privileged!  Once we found them Jeriel, the photographer, stared taking pictures of Kristie and me.  It was a nice night for that, well until it got too dark.  Then Kristie entertained us with her dancing on the "beach."  We all had a good laugh!  Seriously though she is a good dancer.  What a nice way to end a great day!

88 degrees at 5:00pm

Shocking

Every week we have a spelling and mental math test.  The students have been trying to memorize their multiplication facts and we're on the 8s now.  For the mental math test I call out a problem and they have 5 seconds to write down the answer before I move on to the next problem.  This has caused quite a few issues with parents because I am going too fast.  I have tried to explain that this is mental math and they have to know their facts quickly, but it's kind of met on deaf ears.  Anyway after our mental math test this morning Suhail rewrote his story and then just sat there, which is very unlike him.  Usually when he finishes he is the first one to be on the computer or find a game to play.  As I was working with someone at his table I asked him what the problem was and he said he was fine.  I told him I didn't believe that and if he wanted to talk about it I would listen.  He just sat there.  I asked him if he was angry and he shook his head no.  I asked him if he was sad and he almost started to cry.  I asked if he wanted to talk or go to the bathroom.  He got up and went to the bathroom.  Here's our conversation when he came back.

Me: What's the matter Suhail?
Suhail: I only got 8 right on my mental math.
Me: No problem.  8 is good.
Suhail (almost in tears again): I was thinking and I couldn't get number 6 or 7.
Me: Don't worry about it, it's ok.
Suhail (a few tears trickle down): My mom say I need to get 10 out of 10 or she hit me
Me: Your mom will hit you if you don't get 10 out of 10?
Suhail nods and more tears trickle down.

So this is very shocking.  What do I do with this information?  I know in the States I would have told the counselor, but here it's kind of allowed.  And there really isn't anyone to tell.  I try to process this information before talking to Suahil.

Me: What do you think we should do?
Suhail: I will try again
Me: Well, Suhail, if I let you do the 2 that you missed I will have to do the same for all the students because then they will all start to cry when they don't get them all right.
Suhail: No, I will write them all again
Me: You want to take the whole test over?
Suhail: Yes
Me: OK

Aside from the fact that his mom is creating in him a perfectionist attitude I enjoyed this conversation for a few reasons.  One - the mere fact that I was able to have this conversation.  Last year it wouldn't have been possible.  There would have been no way; their English just wasn't that good.  Two - I love the fact that Suhail thought of a solution!  Most of the kids when you ask them what they should do just sit there and wait for you to tell them.  Three - the girls sitting around us while we were talking didn't say anything or laugh or ask why he was able to redo the test and they couldn't.  They really are sensitive and caring to others. 

When he retook the test he got 10 out of 10 on his mental math, but 9 out of 10 on his spelling.  I didn't want to go through this again so I called him to my desk and had him spell "shock."  On his paper he wrote "shoch", but he spelled it correctly so I gave it to him.  I don't need him to get hit by his mom because he missed one word on his spelling test.  He ended up getting all 10 of his mental math problems right!

Birthday at ENS

Today is my 37th birthday!  Can't believe I'm 37.  How did I celebrate, you ask?  My students threw me a surprise party!!

OK let me back up here.  We're not supposed to tell the students when our birthdays are because they will bring gifts (which they did and which I'm technically not supposed to accept) and they will bring sweets (which they did and which aren't allowed either).  So I had no intention of telling them when my birthday was.  That was until a lot of them started asking.  I mean a lot, not just one or two, and it wasn't just the girls either.   So figured that since they wanted to know I would tell them.  This was before Eid and no one mentioned it until yesterday so I assumed they forgot over the break. 

Wrong!  It was all they could talk about yesterday.  They told me they were going to give me a party and bring me a cake.  I told them not do that because it's not allowed at ENS.  The subject was dropped for a while and then after their afternoon break Shamsa told me that she needed to talk to the class but I wasn't allowed to hear.  Fatima suggested that they talk in Arabic, but Shamsa reminded her that I know some Arabic so I might be able to understand what they were saying.  OK, not really but I'm glad they think that!!  Anyway I let them have 5 minutes to talk (actually they were screaming at each other like they usually do; everyone trying to talk at the same time).  They turned off the lights and hid and when I came back in they jumped up and sang Happy Birthday!  Very sweet and I thought that was the end of it.  Wrong again; so wrong! 

Mohammed Rashed and Saeed came in the class early this morning with a cake and a present.  No problem here I thought something simple.  When the rest of the students arrived Saleh was carrying a cake and various other students had bags of stuff.  I was again kicked out of my classroom as the planned something.  I got Jennifer and had her supervise.  She called me in about 5 minutes later and I was greeted by another surprise singing of Happy Birthday along with the two cakes, lots of chocolate and presents on my desk!!   Aww how sweet they threw me a surprise party!  I really had no idea.  I thought it was over when they sang on Wednesday.  So we had this party at 8:00 am!  Not the best timing, but what could I do, they had it all set up.  They were eating candy while I was trying to find a knife to cut one of the cakes.  Saeed had brought plates and forks but no knife.  I told them that the party would just continue during their golden time (reward time) at the end of the day; which is a much better time for a party anyway.  They were ok with that so long as they got to continue eating their candy and chips.  No problem.  I thought we would just have a little party at 2:00, no big deal.  During their Arabic lesson I went to put the cakes in the fridge and then tried to resume a normal day afterwards. 

All I can say is chaos.  They were so distracted by when they would have cake that I couldn't get much of anything out of them.  We make it to their afternoon break and I went to get the cake out of the fridge.  That's when I found out how terribly overboard they went.  The parent communication officers told me that there were 4 cakes and lots of other sweets in their office.  Yes, 4 cakes!  I told them I already had 2 what did I need with 4 more.  They had gotten permission from the principal to let me have all the cakes since it's considered terribly terribly rude to refuse something (even if it's not allowed).  So all the junk food was brought to my classroom.  I cut the cake that Saeed brought (it was the only one that was rectangular and easy to cut) while the nannies kept bringing bag after bag after box of junk into my classroom.  In total there were 5 cakes, 24 individual cakes, 2 dozen donuts, a box of cupcakes, cookies, juice boxes, soda, and tons and tons of candy.  We had enough to provide a treat to all the teachers and a lot of the staff along with leftovers.  I gave one whole cake to Gursharn (she had some sort of function that she needed a cake for) and the cleaner and I took one home.  I gave a bunch of other stuff to the cleaner as well.  I saved a lot of the candy for a later time, like maybe when they are actually behaving.  Maybe I'll use that as a reward.  I'm sure there will be a reminder email on Sunday about not having parties or sweets at school.  But in my defense I really truly did not know that they were going to do all of that.

In addition to having the party they brought presents.  I got a nice sweater, 5 bottles of perfume (Coco Noir by Chanel, Very Irresistible by Givenchy, Manifesto by Yves St. Laurent and 2 ones that I have never heard of) , a teddy bear, roses, 2 homemade necklaces, and one really really nice necklace.  Lots of very nice gifts that I'm not supposed to accept.  I am going to talk to the parent communication officers about the necklace because I'm sure it was quite expensive.

So that is how you celebrate a birthday ENS style!

I'm going out to dinner with Deborah tonight and tomorrow Kirstie has something planned.  I have to wear a dress!

90 degrees at 6:15pm