School's (almost) out for summer!

I now only have four weeks left at this school. It has AMAZED me how quickly this year's gone. Next week we have our 'summer' theme end of year show then apparently after that the class numbers drastically dwindle :) So I could be in for an easy final three weeks.

I have really enjoyed working at this school. I feel like I've been able to concentrate on actually teaching as opposed to crowd control and all the admin and paperwork I was swamped with last year as part of probation year. It's a pity I can't bring this job back to Scotland with me :(

There are some real characters in the class and despite English being their second language I was able to build a good relationship with them and even have a laugh with them! I had a funny story for Laurence almost every day. The language barrier could be frustrating for both myself and some of the children though and I thought I repeated myself all the time last year!!

I was surprised to see myself in the school brochure advertising for next year! 

May celebrations

I like May because there's lots to celebrate! :) firstly the weather is usually nice in Scotland in May which I believe is not the case this year however we are enjoying the sun anyway-sorry! ;) 

It's also my birthday and our anniversary month. It was a strange birthday this year as there's no postal service here so there were no cards to open like at home :( I got some nice email messages though.  I wasn't very well in my birthday week this year so I didn't feel up to doing much but we managed out for a lovely meal to one of our favourite places here. I didn't have much of an appetite so I only had a bowl of soup so I could have a crepe for dessert which I've been craving! I have definitely developed a sweet tooth during this pregnancy! 

That was another thing to celebrate this May. I am half way through my pregnancy and by next May we will be 3! We still can't quite believe that!!

Tonight we went to TGI Friday for our anniversary meal which was very nice. We treated ourselves to a steak, as we agreed no pressies this year, and it was amazing! I also squeezed in another dessert at a restaurant nearby called Chocolate. I had choc chip cookies and marshmallow milk yum! Kuwaitis also have a sweet tooth so dessert is a big deal here.

The final celebration is that it's not long until we are home! Woohoo. It's 36 days in fact! Lol. I have five school weeks left then we get the flight the day after I finish. I'm sure we'll miss the pool and the sun here and admittedly, despite working, the 8 months have felt a bit like a holiday. However, I think we're both ready for familiar surroundings and to be surrounded by our friends and family 

Aquarium

The reception classes went on a trip to the aquarium today which was great. Most of the class came in to school very excited about getting on the bus as they weren't very sure where they were actually visiting until I said we were going to see the fish! I should of realised 6 year olds might not know what aquarium means!

Trips here are a lot less frantic than previous ones I've organised. Firstly because I don't have to organise them, therefore no insurance forms, no buses to organise, not costings and I'm not the only teacher there.

With UK trips (and common sense) in mind I asked the school nurse if I could take the inhalers of three boys in my class who have asthma. Her reply was 'God willing, they won't have an attack' I was a little surprised by that, despite my strong faith that God's in control.

The kids loved the aquarium, and I was just as excited to see massive sharks and penguins! There was a desert animal section too which was interesting as there were animals there I'd never seen before.

After having a Burger King lunch on the board walk and watching the jet skiers it was back to school. Today was the first working day I've really noticed the heat, because I was out and about instead of in my freezing classroom. It's really hotting up now and will get to about 40-50 celcius apparently :-/

International Week again!

Just finished my second International Week at school in as many months! I did Scotland with my class again of course :-) We had the performance today which I really enjoyed, it was much less of an ordeal than last time as both myself and the class knew what to expect. We sang a nice song from the film "Brave" called 'Touch the Sky' which everyone was raving about and 'The Big Ship Sails' which according to the internet (so it must be true! lol) is Scottish!? The kids all sang really well and did their actions/dancing perfectly.

Thankfully my Head Teacher Vera, from Stirling leant me her kilt as I don't think the tartan shirt I bought in the Philippines would have fit me. The class turnout was fantastic! I wondered if the parents would be able to find tartan here but they really made and effort with some parents making outfits and two full Scottish outfits from a toy shop! One little girl had her hair spray painted red like Merida in the film :)

Had to convince Mohamed that a pink scarf was ok for boys lol

Some blue treats for Scotland

Miss Natalie

Last day of the holidays

already!!

Back to work tomorrow. It's been a really quick holiday but I've had a great week being in Dubai, sunbathing, swimming, walking and resting :) I'm ready to go back to work though and the countdown is now on until we go home...only 11 weeks! I hope it goes fast.

Today we spent the day walking around the beach area and the marina. It was a lovely sunny day but with a breeze so not too hot. The temperatures are creeping into the mid 30s here now. We went for a walk yesterday but there was a sandstorm so we stayed in the rest of the day. You can hardly see in front of you with all the dust and it seems to make it feel even hotter.

Dubai

Last weekend we spent a couple of nights in the 'City of Gold', Dubai.  The main reason being that we had to renew our Kuwait visitor visa for another three months and we thought we may as well see the place while we're over this side of the world. You hear so much about it these days and I was keen to see the 'famous' sights.

We set off on the morning of Good Friday and the journey went really smoothly as Kuwait airport was really quiet! Dubai airport was much busier but we got to the hotel at about 2pm, just in time for check-in. As we pulled up at the hotel I though we'd been brought to the wrong place and thought so even more when we walked in...it looked far too posh for what we'd paid!!  We were then put on the 'Exectutive Floor' which we realised as we got in the lift up to our room.  That was a good start...the room was lovely.  We spent that afternoon at the pool then went into downtown Dubai to see the Burj Khalifa after eating in the largest mall in the world.  The Burj Khalifa is the largest building in the world and it was amazing to see.  Quite surreal really.  We were able to go right to the bottom of it and looking up was bizarre, it just went on and on.  The building was on a man made lake surrounded by restaurants and hotels and there was a fountain show to music which was very impressive. Again the 'world's largest' musical fountain show. Do you notice a theme in Dubai??! lol

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Illuminated by 6,600 lights and 25 colored projectors, it is 275 m (902 ft) long and shoots water up to 500 ft (152.4 m) into the air accompanied by a range of classical to contemporary Arabic and world music.^[1] It was built at a cost of AED 800 million (USD 218 million).

We spent Saturday morning at the pool again then at Dubai Marina which is again very impressive with all the skyscrapers and gorgeous yachts. We went on a Dhow trip around the marina and ate there.  It was easy to spend a day just wandering around in the sun and people watching. There were loads of British people there for the Easter weekend.

We left on Sunday and I was disappointed we hadn't stayed longer.  There's so much to do in Dubai and it's a really nice place, really clean and everywhere is landscaped and well looked after. There's an excellent metro system too which made getting around the city really easy and cheap and compared to Kuwait it didn't seem like an expensive place at all which surprised us. It was a breath of fresh air compared to Kuwait. They know what to do with their money to make it a very visitable place. We were talking all weekend about what we'll do next time we go so we'd highly reccommend it :)

Burj Khalifa

Dubai Marina

Dhow trip

Dhow touring the marina

Approaching the marina

Private yacht and Burj Al Arab in the background - most luxurious hotel in the world.

relaxing in a traditional arabic cafe

Dubai Marina at night

Downtown Dubai

Atlantis Hotel