A visit to the school

The children's school had a "Celebration of Learning" this afternoon. Fortunately, I am on vacation so I got to attend too. Apparently, all the classes have been studying diversity, and all of the presentations had to do with that theme. Chase and his classmates sang a song. Zoe's didn't do anything at the assembly, but her class had made individual displays about their home countries. They each made posters with information and memorabilia about their countries. They prepared questions for visitors to ask them.

It was also an opportunity to chat with the teachers about how the kids are doing. It is amazing how teachers always put a positive spin on things. I am sure that you guessed I am referring to Chase! His best mate is a lovely boy from Australia who apparently is just like him. The two of them reportedly have a hard time focusing on their schoolwork. Fortunately they have a marvelous teacher who really enjoys them and has incredible patience with them. I believe his words were something like "if I wasn't responsible for teaching them, I would enjoy observing them all day because they are very interesting." The teacher manages to use their chattiness to the benefit of the class. I wonder if we can convince him to teach Chase every year! Zoe's teachers give us the same glowing reports that she gets every year. Reports come out mid-February and then we will have a real parent-teacher interview.

As I wandered around the school, I looked out the window and had a fabulous view of the beach. That would certainly distract me if I were studying there. It was so nice to see all the students in their uniforms. We arrived at recess time and the students have to wear their hats or they are not allowed to play out in the sunshine (they have to play under the shade cloth).

A most exciting part of the day was the drive home. We have discovered a hole in the fence between Sharjah and Dubai and the shortcut took about 15 minutes off of our drive - more if there was traffic. Thank heavens for 4 wheel drive!!! All the teachers were very interested in hearing about it.

The Burj

Hatta and Big Red

I had read in a few of the Dubai books about the Hatta pools, so we ventured out one day to Hatta. Hatta is a small town in the emirate of Dubai, next to Oman. When it was possible to renew a visitor’s visa by leaving the UAE, this was the location that everyone went to. Apparently, they have since changed the rule and you need to leave the UAE for 30 days before your visitor’s visa can be renewed. Several people were stuck in Oman for a month because they didn’t know this when they left.
The travel books did not exaggerate when they said there is not much to do in Hatta, other than visit the pools. Unfortunately, they don’t even have a sign up about the pools even though this is the only reason people go there. We drove around searching for quite a while. We found a mountain road with the most extreme switchbacks that I have ever seen. They are hard to explain and I doubt that the photos do it justice. Anyway, we got all the way to the top of this mountain and the beautiful pavement ended instantly. And, there was nothing there – just a road to the top of the mountain. There weren’t even any barricades to protect you from driving off the edge!
Finally, we found the pools and were very much underwhelmed. Perhaps we were there at the wrong time of the year, because they look like big dirty puddles. I have to admit that we didn’t take the long walk down to them so maybe it was more impressive from down there.
The other highlight of the journey to Hatta is “Big Red”. It is a huge sand dune (apparently over 100 meters high) and the sand in the area is truly reddish. It was entertaining to watch all the hot shots try to get up the hill in their fancy 4 wheelers. The dune is much steeper than it looks and lots of the vehicles were not able to make it up and ended up coming down backwards. We did not attempt the big hill, but did spend some time 4 wheeling in the expansive sand dunes along side of it.

The Gold Souk

A couple weeks ago we spent the day in the Gold Souk. We had tried to go the week earlier, but could not find a place to park, so we gave up. This time, we arrived in the morning – and still struggled to get a spot. The Gold Souk is an area of several blocks with one tiny shop after another, most of them selling jewelry. Part of it is only a walking area, and on the fringes there are narrow streets.
Aside from gold, the area has many shops selling tourist trinkets. As we walked along, we were continually approached by vendors asking us if we were interested in fake designer watches, handbags, and sunglasses. We when said we would look, they led us down side streets and up to their “secret” stores which were literally rooms the size of a very small bedroom. They nervously looked over their shoulders when we entered the buildings and quickly unlocked the doors, ushered us in and locked the doors behind us. One time, someone knocked on the door and the vendor became very nervous, put some stuff away and quietly went to his peephole. It was his associate, so he relaxed and let him in.
The fun of the souk is the haggling over the prices. It turns out that Zoe is actually very good at it. We found her a belly dancing head piece and the vendor initially asked 150 dhs. Zoe smiled and offered him 20 dhs. He laughed and then realized that he was going to have to deal with her. They settled on 30 dhs. From another shop she got a belly dancing outfit for 35 dhs (about $12). (He insisted that his cost was 30). The best price Rick was able to get from another shop was 70!

Full Moon Desert Drumming

Where to start, we have had lots of adventures since I last wrote…
Several weeks ago we went out to a full moon drumming in the desert. Drumming is not a typical Middle East activity, but the setting was very Arabic. We drove out of Dubai to the meeting place at 6 PM. Those of us with 4 Wheel Drive vehicles let the air out of our tires (those in cars rode with the guides) and we went on a trek through the desert to the camp. The camp was set up in a large bowl. When we arrived, we walked down steps set in the sand lit by torches. There were several tents set up in a semi-circle with majlis furniture inside. Basically, lots of cushions on a mat with coffee tables in the middle of each grouping. In the very centre of the camp was the set up for the drumming – several rows of cushions set up in a semi-circle with 200 drums.
The drumming sets each lasted about 30 – 45 minutes. There would be a break for about ½ hour and a new session would begin. We left at around 11:00, but the event was still in full swing at that time. In some of the sets, we were taught about rhythms and rounds, in another we learned an African song. We were also entertained by a belly dancer and a fire juggler and Zoe got henna.

There was a large bonfire set up next to the drumming circle. The tents on one side were the location of the barbeque and we were treated to authentic Arabic food. We discovered a new favourite – schwarmas. The best way to describe them is wraps with barbequed meat and sometimes some sandwich veggies.
The kids were not very interested in the drumming and we barely saw them all evening. They were busy sandboarding down the 75 foot sides of the bowl, riding camels and digging in the sand with the other children that they met there. I am guessing that we poured about a cup of sand out of each of their shoes at the end of the evening.

Chase's good behaviour

Chase was recognized as the "Star of the Bus" because of his good behaviour on the bus. He says that when he gets on the bus, he quickly gets to his seat, buckles up and sits quietly for the trips to and from school. He has gotten stickers for his good behaviour before, but this time he got a nice race car. Zoe got a smaller prize for her good behaviour as well.