Baby Questions (by Randy)

Here are the questions that we are often asked—and the answers, of course:

1. Do you know the sex of your baby? Soon, we should know…There’s a doctor’s appointment at the end of this month, and if the little one is cooperating, we will find out, inshallah.
2. What surname will the baby have? It will be a Ball. There are enough Meuniers in the world already (just kidding, in-laws!)... (This is Christine: the MIDDLE name will be Meunier!)
3. Do they even have hospitals in Abu Dhabi? Yes, and they are state-of-the-art, the best that oil money can buy. Our current doctor is a well-qualified German woman. The hospital where we will have the baby is called the Corniche Hospital, and midwives will deliver the baby. The medical care we receive here is better than what we would have gotten back home. Abu Dhabi—and the United Arab Emirates—is NOT the third world.
4. Is there a baby shower, or is there anything you need? Hmmm…If you’re willing to pay the child’s future college tuition, great (of course, with those Ball-Meunier genes, the kid should be a genius and get a full ride). Otherwise, various family members may be contacting you about planned showers, etc. If you don’t hear from them within the next few weeks, let us know. We can ALWAYS tell you something that we need. By the way, Christine is doing most of this. I’m busy trying to figure out how to do taxes…We worked in the States for half of 2007, which means we have to pay…Next year, we shouldn’t really owe anything…but we still have to file. It’s a complicated business. How about a national sales tax and an end to this income tax nonsense already? I blame FDR, of course. The income tax isn’t even constitutional…okay, my libertarian values are showing. Sorry for the sermon.
5. Will Christine have maternity leave? Well, we've timed this a bit weird, so having the child in the summer means we may not use it. However, Christine has 45 days of paid maternity leave that she can use before or after, if necessary.
6. What about child care? We will hire a nanny. We will have her come in a week or so before school starts in August, so that we can see how she behaves toward the child. Christine will have late arrival to school, so she can stay with the baby later in the mornings and breastfeed, etc.
7. I guess that last sentence answers another question people sometimes have...

A Truly International Community...A Truly International School

Last week, we came home to a nice clean flat. Our new maid did wonders! We plan on having her come in once a month…less than $15 per visit. It’s worth it to have a really clean house. Yes, now we have a maid. She writes her name as “Batty” but pronounces it “Betty.” She’s Filipino.
We also had parent conferences last week. It was a long week, but at least that one’s over. I met several really nice parents. Funny, most of these kids are so proud to introduce their parents to their teachers. Very refreshing…And the parents speak English better than many of the native English speakers back home...
Of course, most of these parents would probably spell color "colour" and recognize "recognise," but what can you expect with years of British occupation?
Actually, I have kids from all over the world: Brazil, Argentina, the US (including William Faulkner's great grand-daughter), South Africa, Egypt, Palestine, Austria, Germany, England, Iran, Iraq, South Korea, Lebanon, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Oman, Sudan, the Philippines,and so on...
The doctor looking out for our baby-to-be is German, my cab driver last night was Pakistani, the director of our school is Austrian, my closest friends in the English department are from Canada and New Zealand, my high school principal is from Ireland, my Assistant principal is from Australia, the owner of the little grocer across the street is Indian, our doorman is Egyptian, my three best students are South African, Palestinian, and Brazilian, and most of the nannies in town are Thai.
It really is an international community...

Getting older and bigger

Ponderosa for Randy's 35th birthday (yes, Ponderosa! Steak was calling...)


AISA friends: (L>R) Allana, Leanne, Rhonda, Randy, Heidi and Rob


The man himself


First photo of bump


5 months and finally beginning to show :)

OTHER NEWS (by Christine):
1. We go to sign-up for baby classes tomorrow at the Corniche Hospital. It requires proof of marriage, passports, etc and Randy can't come into many areas without me getting security to bring him in a back way. Midwives deliver the babies, but it has the best birthing center in Abu Dhabi. A friend delivered nearly 2 months early and has only good things to say about the place. Check it out at http://www.cornichehospital.com/PhotoGallery.html.

2. In the middle school, the student council (I'm an advisor) held a very successful appreciation dinner for all the support staff (drivers, cleaners, etc). We had more student volunteers to serve the food than people to serve it to! In the upcoming months, the students will take several cool field trips. On Sunday and Monday (girls and boys have to go separate days), we will go to a pottery center --this past TH, we made diagrams of different kiln types and wrote chemical formulas for the components of glazes :). After Leanne, my teaching partner, clearly contrasts the Revolutionary and Civil War fighting tactics, we will go on a paintball field trip to act it out. I'll add a few minutes of ballistic talk before we go. And then after Easter Break, the entire middle school will go on a 3-day camping trip. Cool stuff!

3. My parents are coming in a few months!! We plan to show them the best that the UAE and the Musandam region of Oman has to offer. Brian, my youngest brother, plans to come shortly after the baby is born. Others I'm counting on for a visit (because they mentioned it more than once): Kim, Rebekah, Pat, Kathy and Mariah.

4. Next doctor's visit is Feb 28th. Hopefully we'll find out the sex then :)

Sandstorm in Dubai

Christine and I spent a quick weekend in Dubai. Unfortunately, we didn't see much Friday because of a sandstorm. My first view of the famous seven-star hotel in the shape of a ship's mast (the Burj al-Arab) came when I was standing outside--in a sandstorm--in an hour-long wait at a taxi stand outside the Mall of the Emirates (that complex, congested cave of copious, crass commercialism). We did see the indoor ski slope at the Mall of the Emirates; we also spent some time along Dubai Creek (Khor Dubai), which is a fascinating place with its little boats (abras) criss-crossing the creek between Bur Dubai and Deira. We walked through several souqs as well. Oh yes, we also saw the Burj Dubai, the world's tallest building (at least until the next skyscraper goes up in Dubai!). You can check out this cool building at www.burjdubai.com.