Rain and More

I know it's been a while since I've posted and a lot has happened in November.  This should really be like 4 or 5 posts, but I combined it all into 1 for ease of reading (I hope!).

Rain in Al Ain

About 2 weeks ago there was a huge rain storm throughout the Gulf and the UAE got hit with high winds, torrential downpours, thunder, and lightning.  It was amazing; an actual storm!  It happened on a Thursday during school, but the buildup began on Tuesday when the students were talking about what had happened in Qatar and Oman.  Evidently the roads were flooded and houses were “broken.”  We knew it was coming and I could hardly wait!  Not for flooded roads or broken houses, but for rain, real rain.  Thursday dawned overcast and cold, just like the rest of the week and rain clouds were in the sky.  After leaving the library around 9:40am, we glanced outside and the kids noticed that it looked like it was pm instead of am (side note, we had been talking about time and I had been trying to get them to understand the difference between am and pm and to hear them use it in context was pretty impressiveJ).  Fortunately enough we got to see the storm blow in, as we stood in the hallway looking at the dark sky.  All of a sudden it started to rain!  We heard the rain pour on the roof and saw it fall from the sky, and later on we would see it fall from the roof as well.  Well, I would have loved to spend more time looking at it rain, but the kids had to go to PE so I took them there and told Mr. Tahar (the PE teacher) to let them run in the rain.  After getting rid of my students, I went outside to get some pictures and a much needed video of this storm.  The rain was coming so fast that the drains couldn’t keep up with it and the parking lot looked like a shallow pond.  I went out under the awning so I wouldn’t get drenched since I was at work, but I would have loved to run out in the rain and play with the kids and Mr. Tahar.  So I was outside for about 5 minutes and then the craziness started.   I went back in to find Jenn and discovered that the third graders were packing up!  What?!  Jenn informed me that the kids were going home; ADEC announced the closing of schools due to the rain.  Well, who would have informed me if I hadn’t seen Jenn?  I went to try to find Pete, but he hadn’t heard anything.  I asked Kevin to call Roz (his wife and the third grade coordinator) and he got some information.  Parents were being called, buses were coming, and we needed to get our kids lined up for dismissal.  I went to PE to collect my students and try to maintain order on this early dismissal day.  Yeah right!  As soon as the kids found out they were going home they all cheered and shouted.  Why wouldn’t they?   So I joined them.  Hey I was excited too!  Mr. Tahar helped regain control so I could take them back to class and get them packed up.  This all happened around 10:30 and students were still at school at 12:30.  At 12:30, Una took all the kids and let us go to our rooms to work!  I called Kristie to see how she was faring in the storm and found out that there was a flood.  Now when I hear the word flood I think serious damage with water covering the floor, so I was quite shocked.  Apparently it wasn’t a “flood” but a leak.  Water was streaming out of the AC and creating a puddle underneath it.  Thankfully Kristie was there and able to get it cleaned up by using all of my spare towels.  Kristie got it cleaned up and I called maintenance to come and check the leak.  They arrived immediately and attempted to fix the leak, but wanted to come back when I was home.  By 1:15 all students were gone and I was told I could go home as well.  I arrived home to a nice clean, al be it, damp smelling house, but there was no puddle and maintenance arrived shortly after I got home and thoroughly fixed the leak.  What an adventure.  I guess rain in Al Ain is like snow in NC or any other southern state!  Yeah for an early dismissal on a Thursday

National Day

After the rain storm things were just as crazy with National Day Celebrations coming up on Wednesday; lots of practices, students not listening, and just good ol’ excitement in the air.  The 42^nd National Day Celebrations were to take place from 10:00-1:30 on Wednesday, before 10 was to be a regular day and students would be dismissed at 1:30.  I had 10 students show up Wednesday morning and we tried to carry out our normal routine, but they were just so excited.  They went to music then we played some games, had breakfast, and then Mr. Gheath came for Islamic.  Just before 10 I informed my students about the procedure for this year’s National Day Celebration.  There were stations set up around the school and we were to rotate through them following a schedule.  In theory this should work very well, but hey we’re dealing with a people group that doesn’t like schedules and order.  From 10-10:45 we were to be in the grade 4 pod where there was henna, toys for sale, and traditional clothes for sale; not much to do for 45 minutes in my opinion.  10:45-11:30 we were to be in the main pod where there was yolla (traditional dance), a falcon, some Arabic contest, and cartoon characters; again not much to keep them entertained for 45 minutes.  11:30-12:30 we were to be outside where there were camel and pony rides and an ice cream truck.   Really a whole hour just to see a camel and a pony and buy ice cream; seems a bit long in my opinion.  Anyway I went through the schedule with my students and told them that they would get to experience it all, but they had to stay with me and let me know if they were going home with a parent.  What in the world was I thinking?!  At about 10:02 I could only account for 3 out of my 10 students!  All the rest had disappeared.  So much for staying with me and following the schedule!  The 3 that stayed with me came back at 10:45 to go over to the main pod and that’s about when I gave up and told them that they could do whatever they wanted just so long as they let me know when they were leaving.  I wandered around for a bit and talked to some teachers and then I headed to my room to get some work done.  When it was time for lunch at 12:30 I only had 2 students tell me that they were going and after lunch another 2 told me that they were leaving, so for all I know the other 6 could still be at school!  Oh well.  I will say that this year’s celebration was not nearly as hectic as last year’s celebration and they certainly tried to organize it!

Expo 2020

Dubai won the ability to host the World Expo in 2020!!  So, what does this mean?  I’m not really sure, but all I know is that I got an extra day off!  Sheikh Mohammed cancelled school for all educational institutions in the UAE in honor of winning of the Expo.  This should have been an easy thing to inform the teachers, because as far as I know ENS is a school and it’s in the UAE so it shouldn’t have taken 3 hours for an email to be sent letting us know that we had the day off.  Lots of text messages, FB messages, what’s app messages, and email messages were sent amongst teachers trying to figure out why we were the only school waiting for official word about Thursday.  Isn’t Sheikh Mohammed official enough?  Evidently not!  We needed to hear from Una, who heard from Khuloud, who heard from Dr. Ken, who heard from Sheikh Mohammed (just like the rest of us).  Anyway, after hours of waiting I did get the day off and was able to begin my 5 day weekend!!

Thanksgiving

My Thanksgiving holiday began with a wonderfully weird Thanksgiving dinner at the Crowne Plaza in Dubai with Vanny and Kristie.  We had turkey, gravy, brussel sprouts, carrots, cranberry sauce, stuffing, chicken sausage with veal bacon, and pumpkin mash.  It was marketed as a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, but I have to wonder traditional from where?!  The turkey was a bit dry, but the gravy was really good.  I have gotten used to chicken sausage and veal bacon so I enjoyed that as well.  The pumpkin mash was disgusting, and I don’t like brussel sprouts or stuffing so those remained untouched, but the carrots were good.  All in all I’d say it was nice, especially being able to celebrate it with Kristie and Vanny.

After church on Friday they came back to Al Ain with me and I was going to prepare a truly traditional Thanksgiving with turkey, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie.  So I began to hunt for a turkey breast knowing that a whole frozen turkey would never thaw and it would be way too much.  I had heard from various people that you could find a turkey breast at Spinney’s or LuLu so that’s where I started.  I even looked at Spinney’s in Dubai, thinking they would have a bigger selection, but none was to be found.  Just whole frozen turkeys.  No luck at LuLu or Carrefour either, so we settled for chicken breast.  With the necessary supplies in hand, we headed home to cook our turkey-less post-Thanksgiving dinner.  We had chicken breast, turkey gravy, smashed red skinned potatoes, and corn.  I had burned the pumpkin pie because I bought a graham cracker crust without thinking that those crusts are already cooked, so there was no pie for dessertL  Other than no pumpkin pie and no turkey the dinner was really good.  The girls loved the chicken breast that I had cooked in the slow cooker and the smashed potatoes were a huge hit as well.  We all shared a few of the many things that we had to be thankful for and spent time thanking God for the multiple blessings that He had given us this year.

I’ll end this post with the fact that I can’t wait for Monday the 16^th when I travel to Munich!  It’s going to be cold and I’m glad that I accidentally brought my winter jacket back with me.  I can’t wait to see the lights, Christmas trees, wreaths, and other decorations along with hearing Christmas music.  I sure hope it snows!  Although I will miss celebrating with my family I’m looking forward to spending Christmas in the UK with Deborah and Sophia.  Check back at the end of December to read about my travels.  Merry Christmas to all!!!