Bret's first spelling test...in Arabic

Bret has Arabic class every third day. This is the paper he came home with after his last class. We thought is was pretty cool. One word is rabbit and the other is duck. When we ask him to say them, he just blurts the words right out. We really should study along with him.

The BK Incident

Nick, well, he's a bit of a Coke-a-holic. The "Sweet Nectar of the Gods" as he calls it, is pretty much his only source of hydration. So, the other day, we all went over to our local Burger King. Nick ordered his usual double cheeseburger meal, king sized, with a Coke, of course. Two minutes later the Coke is gone. Nick goes for a refill and the cute little lady behind the counter looks at him in disbelief and says, "what happened?" See, she's thinking that there's no way that a normal person could down a soda that fast and that he must have spilled it or something. She even looked over the counter expecting to see a puddle of coke. But, nope - he drank it. Once she finally figured out what was going on she laughed loudly, said something to her Fillipino coworkers in Tagalog and then said to Nick "oh, you too much thirsty." I honestly don't think she'd ever seen such an accomplishment. Just so you know, he didn't have the guts to go back for a third.

10 years!

Today is our 10th anniversary. We celebrated by, what else, going to Chilis for dinner. The original plan was to spend a week in Mexico by ourselves but Dubai put those plans on hold. Here is a picture from our wedding for those of you that want to see what you looked like 10 years ago. Hard to believe that Bret is now the same age Trey was when we got married.

If you are wondering, Nick got Rosy a maid for a gift. She wanted to take a picture for the blog but the maid is fresh off the boat from Sri Lanka and Rosy was afraid it would freak her out.

Comfort Foods (and products)

Last week Rosy met the mother of Cole's buddy Caleb while eating lunch at the Mall of the Emirates. They came to Dubai from Louisiana and as it turns out they enjoy many of the same things we do: peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, Lucky Charms, Dr. Pepper, etc. As they talked Rosy told her how she missed having a freezer full of Kid Cuisines for the boys to eat. Rebeca looked at Rosy with great excitement and told her about a store that has "everything." The store is called Safest Way and obviously tries to market itself like Safeway in the states. The funny thing about this story is that we had driven by the store several times and loved to make fun of the store's cheesy attempt to look and sound like an American supermarket. Lesson learned, if something tries that hard to catch the eye of an American then we should check it out.

Below is a picture of our treasures. I'm sure you can all imagine just how pleased Cole was to have his microwavable chicken nuggets again. And just so you know, not having that little bottle of McCormick chopped onions nearly drove Rosy to tears on several occasions.

The Holy Month

Today officially marks the beginning of the Holy Month of Ramadan. I've always heard of Ramadan being mentioned in the news, but have never really given more than a seconds thought to it. Living here, I've had to learn a little about it. Bret got these sheets at school. So, for those of you who want to know a little bit about Ramadan on a first grade level, here you go. (Isn't the artwork awesome?)








Ramadan doesn't affect us too much. The kids start school an hour later and they get out an hour earlier. We also cannot eat or drink in public during the day. I saw a lady at the school today eating or drinking something and she held a napkin over her mouth - I don't know if that counts. The school newsletter says, "Students who are fasting will be provided with an area to read and socialize separate from those who lunch in the cafeteria. Remember, it is not permissible to eat food or drink out in public during daylight hours of Ramadan. All food must be eaten only in the cafeteria." Restaurants are also closed during the daylight hours. I guess Nick will be eating his peanut butter sandwich under his desk for lunch during the next month.

Ramadan Kareem!

Back to school

The boys officially started school this week and as you can see from these photos they have to wear uniforms...tie and all. The ties are affixed to an elastic band so they are not too uncomfortable. So far they don't seem to mind too much. On the days they have gym they wear navy blue athletic shorts and a light blue polo. They also have swim class every 6th day.


This picture is taken from the back door of the elementary school. The building in the background is the Middle School/High School. The campus is separated by a soccer field (we will never give in to calling it the football pitch) and a track.

Outside of every classroom is a set of lockers for the kids to put their stuff in. The boys think that is pretty cool.

There are about 20 kids in each class. Bret's teacher is Ms. Dansinghani. She was raised in Manhatten and attended NYU. Cole's teacher is Ms. Lakin from England. He also has a TA named JoJo from the Phillipines. Only about 30% of the school is from North America. It's fun to walk down the halls in the morning and count how many different languages you hear. Bret studies Arabic every third day so hopefully he will soon be able to tell us what is really being said on Al Jazeera.

Nick drops the kids off on his way to work every morning and Rosy picks them up. No small challenge when you consider that Cole's day ends at 12:00 while Bret finishes at 2:45. She and Drew spend a lot of time on the roads.