Classroom Before and After

Last Thursday was the last day at school for the special ed. teacher Shelley is replacing. The classroom Shelley is inheriting had not been cleaned out in probably five years. She was anxious to get her classroom clean, decluttered, and organized before students arrive on Sunday. Andrew and I accompanied Shelley on this endeavor since she needed some gofers to do the dirty work.

Over the years, I have noticed a couple of trends among teachers: 

- Teachers are typically hoarders and have more stashes of markers, crayons, scissors, etc. than they could ever use. 

- Teachers have a hard time retiring (throwing away) classroom decorations and curriculum.

- Special ed. classrooms tend to be the dumping ground for materials other teachers do not want.

Skiing While the Kids are at School

Today was a U.S. holiday (President's Day) so the Consulate was closed and I had the day off. Shelley also had the day off; but better yet, the kids had school. So, as you can imagine, Shelley and I were grinning ear to ear as we put the kids on the school bus this morning and waved at them. After their bus pulled away, we went to Emirates Mall to go skiing in their indoor ski run.

Those of you who live near the Rocky Mountains or ski resorts are probably sticking up your nose to this, but we have not been near a ski resort in the winter for over seven years, so this is as good as it gets for us.

This is the view from about half way up the longest run. As you can see from the sign, it is categorized as "expert," but would probably be an intermediate slope elsewhere. 

Happiness is . . . Being at the Beach in February

Living near the beach is one of the aspects we love about living in Dubai. Even in the coldest months (Jan. and Feb.) when locals think the 65 degree water is too cold, we remind ourselves that the water is still warmer than it is in California in the middle of the summer. This weekend we went to the beach for a couple hours.

The beach we typically visit has great views of Dubai's trademark buildings. The Burj Khalifa (seen in the picture above behind the mosque) is the world's tallest building. The Burj Al-Arab (seen in the first picture) is a hotel built in the shape of sail and claims to be the only "seven star" hotel (I'm still trying to figure out what that means). In the typical Dubai tradition, it seems like all buildings in Dubai need a superlative (e.g. tallest, most expensive, most visitors).

Presenting. . . . Beauty and the Beast

Last weekend Gaby and other 7th graders performed in the musical Beauty and the Beast.

 Shelley was in charge of the cast party on Friday after the last performance.

Several of Gaby's friends from church came to the event to support her.

4th Grade Field Trip

 Shelley accompanied Andrew's fourth grade class on their field trip to the older part of Dubai along the creek. For days leading up to his field trip, Andrew had been excited about this trip.

The class took the traditional water taxis across the creek to Deira - the older part of Dubai.

One of the 'souqs' (markets) in Deira, Dubai.

Mosque Visit

The Consulate organized a visit to a mosque about three blocks from our house. The mosque was recently built (like almost everything in Dubai) and modeled after the Blue Mosque in Istanbul.

Shelley (and all the other women) were required to wear the traditional habaya to cover her head, arms to her wrists, and legs up to her ankles.

Colin was more interested in wrestling with his brother and going to his baseball game than listening to the tour guide explain the elaborate Arabic calligraphy along the wall.

 I thought this was a an interesting view from the lady's section which overlooks the men's prayer room below. The lady's prayer room is about 1/50 the size of the men's room. Our tour guide told us women's prayer rooms are so small and secluded because women are "exempt" from going to the mosque to pray.

Cub Scout Hike

Andrew and Colin are in cub scouts. For a pack activity in early February, they went on a three mile hike. The hike the leaders choose a desert road about 40 minutes outside Dubai. Even though it felt like we were stranded in the middle of a barren desert, the boys had fun being with friends and discovering different types of rocks.

After the hike we went to a nearby hotel called Bab Al Shams. It was an oasis in a very barren desert with gardens and pools.