Holidays Round II: Beach holiday and Christmas

(Notice: we're not even pretending that we will do anything for New Year's Eve.)

We have two weeks off for Christmas and New Year's. Our first holiday excursion was to Emirates' Palace, one of two "seven-star hotels" in the world (Dubai has the other one). We wanted to see the world's most expensive Christmas tree, and at 11 million dollars, it's a doozie! What makes it so expensive is all the jewelry on it.

On our first week off, we drove five hours to the other coast, Fujairah on the Indian Ocean side of the UAE. We stayed at the Meridien resort hotel, which was very nice. Amenities included a children's pool and play area, which was especially nice for Anastasia. Of course, Anastasia also enjoyed the beach, dividing her time between water and sand. She clearly had a blast. Talula got her feet wet (and got a little sandy). We were there for four days, plenty of time to enjoy the warmth and sun (it was in the 80*s each day), the water, the sand, the service, and the food--especially a tasty breakfast buffet each morning, including pork bacon and pork sausage! A real treat when you live here. On our way back to Abu Dhabi, we swung through a small Omani enclave, mainly to take pictures at the top of a hill and so that Talula could technically make it to a foreign country, finally! It's a small enclave of Oman within the UAE; there is no border patrol or passports needed...but it is officially a part of Oman. They use both Omani and Emirati currency. Anyway, pictures of that are included above.

I won't go into details here, but if you're interested in the holiday poop story, let me know. This is Randy, by the way.

When we returned from Fujairah (I rented a car from the airport--only cost US $25 a day), we spent Christmas Eve recuperating from our trip (yes, we're at that stage where we need a vacation from our vacation), and Christmas Day, we opened presents. Talula received a necklace with her name in Arabic (similar to the one Anastasia has, but since Talula's name is shorter in Arabic, the necklace looks less "busy," probably a fitting metaphor for the two kids anyway), and Anastasia received a train set, among other items. She's been spending quite a bit of time with her "choo choo."

We enjoyed Christmas dinner with our Canadian friend Leanne (I made her American Thanksgiving dinner, so it was payback time for her), complete with Christmas crackers and those silly paper hats.

Boxing Day, we took Talula to get her shots. The doctor said she's doing well, although she IS a big baby. Talula weighs in at 6.4 kg (14 lbs), putting her in the 95th percentile for weight, and she is 60 cm (24 inches) tall, putting her in the 87th percentile for height.

We also sneaked Anastasia onto the scales: she's 12.5 kg (27.5 lbs) and is 92 cm (36 inches--three feet--a full yard!) tall. This puts her in the 37th percentile for weight and the 57th for height. Once again this seems backwards to me- she seems short compared to other kids we run into, but seems quite dense for her size. But what do we know?!

During our second week of our holiday, we aren't going far. Noy is coming in to look after the girls, and Christine is working on quilting whilst I mark papers and do a bit of reading, mostly at the coffee shop. This is our vacation from our vacation.

We sincerely hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas--and we wish ya'll all the best in the New Year!

This week: newspaper and zoo

Follow this link to read Randy's fourth publication in the Dubai-based newspaper. gulfnews : 10 reasons why school life beats adult life

In other news of the Emirates, one of the country's self-proclaimed 7-star hotels boasts an 11-million-dollar Christmas tree. Randy and I will go to see it tomorrow to get ourselves in the Christmas mood, sometimes a challenge in a Muslim, desert, far-from-home country. AFP: UAE hotel erects 11-million-dollar Christmas tree

Earlier this week, at the request of my students, Anastasia accompanied the girls' field trip to Al Ain Zoo. This was her third trip-a bit rushed- but she seemed to really enjoy the gorilla and giraffes. She repeatedly kissed the gorilla through the glass. If I bothered to go on any of my students' facebook sites, I've heard most of them now use Anastasia with themselves as their profile pic. She was definitely a hit- I had to occasionally settle disputes about who would get her next. All of the attention, along with a total of nearly 4 hours on a bus that day, left her quite tired. She actually slept in the next morning.

Holidays Round 1: Eid Al Adha, Thanksgiving and National Day

Eid Al Adha (2nd Eid) break was from 12-20 November. We stayed in Abu Dhabi doing very little, just trying to relax and enjoy some of the last perfect weather. (At the time of writing, we have started to dip into the 70s at night.) Randy and I frequented several coffee shops and enjoyed breakfast out a few times. The girls spent time at the local parks. Talula seemed quite relaxed in this photo- and we just wanted to show off how fat she is for all of you who are far away. It was hard to get photos of Anastasia during this outing because she enjoys chasing birds so much. She can clear most parks of wildlife in a minute or two.

Thanksgiving was spent being truly thankful that mom was well and appeared to be in the clear- no chemo needed. Thursday was a teaching day for Randy, but I was still on mat leave at that time so Anastasia and I spent the afternoon making pumpkin and apple pies. Canadian bestie Leanne made the pie crust dough; Anastasia and I rolled it out and we were also in charge of filling them. Anastasia took her job of keeping the dough floured quite seriously-Noy couldn't even get her to look up for the picture. When the school day ended, Randy made turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, Leanne brought over a salad and we feasted. The Sunday following Thanksgiving was my first day back at work. It was a busy week in 8th grade: labs, police CSI presentation, tests and then our school's National Day celebration.

During my last weekend of mat leave I was able to finish Anastasia's quilt. I was surprised how fast I was able to make it- it is simpler in some ways than Talula's (see post below) but I think I like it as much or more.

UAE's National Day celebrating 39 years is today, 2 December 2010. All of the roundabouts have been decorated with falcons, boats, horses, big bright 39's, and lots of other interesting shapes for the past few weeks. They leave them up throughout December so it's sort of like having Christmas lights up. (The malls have lights, Christmas trees, and go over the top just as much as US stores.) In addition to the street decorations, cars and people look pretty spectacular for the festivities as well. As you can see, our two UAE-born daughters were decked out. Anastasia is passed out in this photo- no nap before leads to missing fireworks, although Randy said the Emirates Palace had already turned on their lights. And of course car horns have been honking for hours already...