Happy New Year!!!!

It is 2010 and I am 1 month behind in my blog. Let's catch up shall we? After my return from Hong Kong, I immediately got into the classroom groove once again, although we only had 2 weeks of school before Christmas break would begin. I had completed most of my report cards while in Hong Kong (Can you believe that? Doing report cards in Starbuck's in Hong Kong -- crazy!!). The first week back we had to finalize all the report cards and cut, paste, merge documents, etc. Needless to say, it was a big complicated mess and all the elementary teachers were completely stressed out including myself. The computer program which was supposed to make report cards easier was not up and running and we had to complete them using the "make work" method. Luckily I had a couple computer wiz teaching assistants in my classroom that helped me immensely. It was a glorious day when they were all signed, sealed and delivered. I celebrated by going to an afternoon movie to see "Twilight -- New Moon". Since I have read all the "Twilight" books, I have to see all the movies. I found this book to be the most boring of the series, but the movie was great in a "tween/teen sort of way". I would have loved this series when I was in highschool.

Our class forged ahead with our learning and even went on a field trip to the Emirates Palace Hotel to see the Guggenheim art show. I think the kids were bored, but happy to be out of the classroom and on a bus trip. The week before our break, things started to slack off in my classroom and around the school and it was fantastic. We had a play day that was great fun, we had Christmas caroling and hot chocolate, we had a Christmas tree in our front rotunda of the school. Saying "Merry Christmas" was socially acceptable, believe it or not. Even more so than in North America where sensitivities have gone overboard. The local stores had tons of Christmas decorations up and they even sold mangers complete with Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus. I had a mini-lesson about what Christmas meant so my Muslim children would understand. The did not like it when other children told them they could not be part of Christmas. This made them feel bad. I explained the true meaning of Christmas -- the birth of Jesus and I explained the commercial side of Christmas -- Santa. The Christian children in the class were extremely weak when asked to share the true "Jesus" meaning of Christmas. The Muslim children know so much more about their faith than the Christian children. We watched "Frosty the Snowman" in class and "Mary Poppins". We sang "put one foot in front of the other" as sung by the Winter Warlock in "Santa Claus is Coming to Town". We had lots of fun and had so many treats from parents, the Arabic department, teachers, etc. I gave out my little gifts to all my students, which I purchased in Hong Kong. They were ecstatic and loved their little watch key-chains. I made a big production out of the gift ceremony and I picked names from a Santa hat to decide who picked their gift first --I had to keep it fair. I also had them put their little hands into another Santa hat to randomly pick out their gift. When everyone got their watch key-chain then the trading could begin if they chose to trade. We had a ball!! The kids loved it. I received some lovely gifts like a glass 3-D block with 2 reindeers etched inside and the words "Merry Christmas" -- my name was completely spelled wrong however -- it will now substitute as a door stop!! No Rolex watches or Louis V bags however (ha, ha). The break was finally upon us and boy what a fantastic feeling that was leaving school that afternoon.

I had 4 glorious days before my brother Scott would arrive and I completely enjoyed them. I had a spa day -- mani, pedi, massage. I went out one evening for drinks and music with fellow teachers. I walked on the Corniche and went to the Heritage Centre. I rented a bicycle and rode the entire Corniche (about 10 K) in the beautiful cool breezes and sunshine along the water's edge. I had a set of eyelashes put on for my trip to Egypt -- this was my treat to myself. I went by myself to an afternoon movie to see "The Christmas Carol" 3-D with Jim Carrey. I met a Scottish woman who is a teacher and she and I are going to get together later in January -- always meeting new people. Most importantly, I slept in every day -- no getting up at 5:30 -- fabulous!!!!

Let's talk about the eyelashes for a moment. They are the rage with all the teachers right now. You can get them and they look fantastic and last about 1 month. I decided to splurge and treat myself, more so to have a make-up free trip to Egypt. They looked wonderful -- maybe a bit too long but I was told not to get them wet and I could apply a little bit of mascara to darken them. Needless to say, they were all falling out by the next week and I had to have them redone. More on that later.
The apartment was cleaned and I was anxiously awaiting the arrival of Scottie to officially kick-off our Christmas holiday. Everything was ready for his arrival -- beer in the fridge -- nice fresh fruit, air mattress, clean sheets and towels. Let the fun begin!!!