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| Our fabulous hotel room |
One of the things we are still getting used to are the flyers that show up outside our door. I guess it is the UAE version of junk mail. I find it kind of funny that we can have just about anything delivered (pizza, groceries, McDonald's, fresh fruit and vegetables, water) but we don't have "addresses" and there isn't regular home delivery of mail.
In the last couple of days we received a new restaurant's menu and a 'back to school' flyer. I have never in my life seen a back to school flyer for January, but apparently, there are back to school sales after the first trimester break. While I was running about buying all the art supplies Belle needs for her first real art class, I was surprised at the number of families crowding the Bookstore, buying school supplies and new backpacks. Yes, new backpacks.
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| The view from our room |
In the spirit of going back to school, Belle had her first art lesson tonight - they are starting with pencil and charcoal. She spent the evening sketching fruit and learning about shading. By the end of the class, she will be painting with oils. It was refreshing to bring her to a class (and tonight the other two girls did not go, so it was just Belle and two boys) and she was fine with me leaving and fine with it being only boys. Art is one area where she is very confident.
Knowing that we were going back to school on Sunday, we took a mini-vacation to Abu Dhabi, spending a night at the Holiday Inn. We spent a day at the Volvo Ocean Race Destination Village, which is the layover point for the Volvo Ocean Race. Here are some of the fun things we were able to see and do:
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| A falcon! |
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| Paddleboarding on the Gulf |
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| Air-Balls |
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| Construction games |
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| Sailing a ship |
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| Foosball |
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| Race boats |
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| And the race trophy |
Back to school tomorrow, my bag is packed and I'll be getting up to an alarm again. It was a lovely vacation.
