Dubai Week 2

Thursday 23 July Day 4:

Today is my day off, there’s 3 others as well, we were planning on just spending the day at the mall we will be performing at tonight, but it ends up there isn’t much to do there. 

We don’t have transportation until after lunch time. Lauren and I walked around because we needed to find pop, because we need the cans for a dance that the children do. It was quite hot out, but not unbearable. Just felt like a really hot summer day in California. There’s no wind and it’s quite humid here. 

Next week our venue is a nice mall so we will probably go there. One good thing about today is that I saved money. It would be hard to not spend money in a big mall. They also have a lot of sales on now because we are part of a yearly festival called Dubai Summer Surprises (DSS) and people from here and all over the world come and have exhibits and shows set up in the malls to attract tourists. Many stores put on sales to attract attention to their place, so although it’s the hottest time of year, there’s some good sales. I haven’t been able to look yet, so far I have found things to be quite expensive with the exchange rate of the Pound which means its even more in CAD or USD.

I’m feeling very tired. The last 3 days I don’t think I have ever felt so tired since being on tour. Today feels better being able to relax. I really do cherish my days off. Although I don’t get extra sleep, it feels better.  

Friday, 24 July, 2009  Day 5                    1:41PM                                            Dubai Hotel

Last nights concerts were interesting. We performed at a smaller mall which was far out of the city, so it was more of a local mall, which means it didn’t have many tourists. The crowds were much smaller, so we had to advertise our product even more. We will have to do the same tonight. I think we are planning on having the children advertise it in the concert. That’s what they usually do in their full regular concerts, and it seems to be effective. It’s really important because the only way we make money for the children is through product and any donations we may get, which aren’t very much so far. It’s still early though. We will be at some large malls next week. 

Today was good so far. We went to one of the lady’s church that works for the organization that is hosting us here. It was really good, especially the music, the children got to join the kid’s church and we went with them. There were a lot of South Africans there from all over the country. It was very well put together, a lot of places aren’t prepared for 23 children to show up, especially if it’s a smaller class. Most importantly the children loved it. We are scheduled to perform a few songs there next week, so everyone is quite excited now that they have met the children. I thought it was interesting that they held church on a Friday, I didn’t get a chance to ask. It was held in a conference center, and that could be the only time that its available for use. It’s summer so it doesn’t really affect children’s schooling, but I’m not sure how it works for the business world and work. It’s a large place and the auditorium was packed, they had to put up more chairs for everyone to fit. I will have to ask someone. I have so many unanswered questions about things I have seen here. Especially the clothing, there’s so many different styles.

It’s now nap time. It has been extended to 2 hours. (I’m so grateful!) Then we will have rehearsals and school time has now turned into rehearsals, so I’m pretty much free until 5 when we will leave for the concert. I just can’t leave because I have to be here to get the children from place to place. The other 4 chaperones that weren’t off yesterday are off today, so we are taking care of their kids as well, so it takes a bit longer to get to where we need to be, hopping back and forth to each hotel room to get them. It’s fun though, and I am enjoying it more here everyday. The heat isn’t really an issue unless you are having to go outside a lot. 

Well folks, I’ve got an hour and a half until I need to wake up the children, so I’m going to take a nap myself. We have had some really late nights due to the 9 30PM concerts, and then having to get back to the hotel (the place we are performing tonight and last night is an hour away) then showers and getting them in bed. It can be quite tiring at times. I want to get all the extra sleep I can so I’m done typing now :)

So I slept 10 minutes past my alarm, I woke up to the sound of the doorbell...oops! I gave myself 30 minutes to get us there, so I just rushed them, I felt so bad. 

Now I’m just planning for school. We are doing a Dubai project where we are going to put the kids in 4 groups and we will make our own newspaper. The groups are Food, Fashion, Weather, and Religion. We are going to show and talk about the differences. Its going to be really cool when we are finished. My group is fashion :) I’m going to try and take them into a few stores during their concert break so they an see some things they have here. It’s such a great learning opportunity for them to be here. Yesterday they went on a school trip to a mosque. I was off so I missed it, but I heard they learned a lot, I’m going to have to ask them about it. Some of the chaperones gave me bits and pieces but I feel like I missed a lot not being there. 

Time to get changed for the concert!

Monday, 27 July, 2009   Day 8                        11:20AM                              Dubai Hotel

Wow, I don’t even know the date. So since I’ve last updated...I’m tan after being in the sun for 1 hour (2 sessions of swimming for 30 minutes) The swimming pool is on the roof of the hotel. That’s all it takes in 40 degree weather. We can’t stay outside much longer than that, it’s not safe for the kids, or us. My shoulders got a very mild burn the first day, but it was gone by the morning. 

We performed at Modhesh World the last 2 nights. It’s an indoor fair, much like Playland but the roller coasters are much smaller. The other rides are the exact same. We got to ride them for free, that was really fun. The kids loved the bumper cars and the swinging boat the most. The boat is like the one at West Edmonton Mall if you’ve ever seen it, it goes back and forth quite high. I felt sick when I went on it before, so I avoided it this time. I’ve taken a video of it. 

They had camels there and we really wanted to ride them, but we had to pay so we couldn’t go on them. I was very upset, that’s one thing I really wanted to do while we were here. We didn’t have time either. 

I got left behind the first night. After the concert everyone just disappeared and no one told me where they were going. So I sat for almost 40 minutes and no one showed up, so I thought they had left, so I headed to the main entrance to ask if they had seen them, and I spotted them. No one even noticed I was missing, we are usually focused on making sure we have all the children. It was scary though. I got left behind another time going to dinner, but Heather found me and we found them together. 

They were in a closed of section sitting down to eat a fancy catered dinner with the shake (I’m sure I’ve spelled shake wrong, but the shake is similar to a governor) They have one for each Emirate. I never actually got to meet him or figure out who he was. There was so much press taking pictures of us and different people talking to the children. We really do live celebrity lifestyles, especially in Dubai. People stop us walking to take pictures all the time. Head turning and eyes staring constantly. I’d do it if I was them. You don’t often see a line of African children in Dubai, although there is quite a large number of Africans here. 

Tomorrow is my day off, we are performing in the Dubai Mall tonight and tomorrow, it’s the biggest mall in the world, so I’m expecting product to do really well. We will also get to spend our day off there, which will be fun. 

Everyone is getting tired, especially the children, so we have decided to give them all a night off by taking 5 or 6 of them out of the concert and they will stay at the hotel with a chaperone. Tonight is my night, it gives me a break from product, but it’s not always easy being responsible for 6 children. I’ve got some boys who don’t always like to listen, so it’ll be interesting. We are going to do some drawing, play games, read and then I’ll feed them and then get them to bed early. Then tomorrow a different set will go. We have tried to choose the most tired lot to go first, but they really are all quite tired. They are also trying to cancel one day of concerts if they can, so we can all just relax. It would be really good. 

As far as differences in Dubai go, they don’t really eat yogurt here, I know they have it because I had a potato salad with plain yogurt, it wasn’t nice. They may have it in the stores, but it’s not at the hotel. I’m missing it. They have toast and cereal, but most people don’t eat it. It’s usually hot dog sausages, eggs, porridge, and hash browns, pancakes, french toast, fruit salad, it changes each day. The hummus, pita and raw veggies and fruit are there every meal. I’m feeling much better with the food here. 

I’m not sure if I mentioned during one of our breaks between concerts we had hot dogs from IKEA, and they are SO much better here. I really like them. I’ve heard the UK ones are better also, but I haven’t tried them. I only eat ours because they are cheap and can tie you over until the next meal. 

The children are in Siswati class now with Agreeneth so I’ve had a bit longer of a break which is nice, I can’t seem to type fast enough though. I have a lot to type up before tomorrow. I don’t want to pay for internet if I’m spending half the time typing things. It’s not worth my money. 

I’m going to work on my support letter now. 

Now I am playing with the children who are staying here, we played junior scrabble, I didn’t think we would make it until the end, but they really liked it. Now they are playing with play doh and making funny masks. 

Well, it took quite a while to get them to be sleeping, but we got there. I really want to sleep but I know once my head hits the pillow the doorbell will ring, and then I have to do it all over again with my boys. I’m excited for the day off tomorrow. 

Ray is here with us in Dubai and he has been working hard to network with as many people as he can to help people learn about what he is doing with the ACC. We now have connections in Australia and Indonesia, so we are hoping that everything works out and our choir will get to go both places after Christmas! Nothing is set in stone, but having heard it from him means the chances are good as long as everything goes smoothly. Angee also asked us last night how we felt about boat cruises as she was mentioning Indonesia, so I think that’s part of our trip there. I’ve always wanted to go on a boat cruise. 

Thursday, 30 July, 2009 Day 11                   10:43AM                                  Dubai Hotel

So I’m sick :(    I’m pretty sure it’s from the transition from A/C to heat, or even just the A/C. I really feel yucky though. My head feels like it weighs 50 pounds. I’ve heard it’s really horrible being sick on tour, I was sick last month, but it wasn’t as bad at this. It’s the second day, and I’m a lot worse, my voice is going in and out. One of the boys had a cough, so I could have gotten it from him. I’m with girls now, and one of them has started, so she could have gotten it from me or him, because we were both in this hotel room (apartment, not room.) Lauren has also joined me in my room. We have 7 rooms and 8 chaperones so some of us had to share our rooms. It’s nice having someone else to talk to, it gets lonely at times. I’m happy to have girls now, the boys were a lot of work, but I miss them a lot. They didn’t want to leave me, it made me so sad. It’s also great to have someone else help get the children ready, so we take turns, makes it a lot easier. 

The mall we are performing at (Dubai Marina Mall) has free internet if you buy a drink from a cafe, so I am going to do that tonight. Last night I didn’t know, but I decided to go shopping on my break, so I got all my souvenirs. Things are so expensive here. I found a really cool shop with lots of neat things. I didn’t get everyone something, because I’m trying to stay on a budget if possible. I don’t know if i’ll ever get back here, so I wanted to make sure I got some things. 

Oh I wanted to mention that people drive on the right side of the road here, I didn’t even notice at first, I guess because it looked normal so I didn’t realize. Also, people drive quite fast here, so even on non busy roads, it’s hard to cross. It’s interesting that I haven’t seen any accidents since I’ve been here. Some drivers have road rage, but I think they are just those kind of people. I found that not many people would slow down to let us cross, it’s a bit of that New York thing where everyone is in a rush to get nowhere. It’s not as severe, but I have seen more of it than I see in Canada, that’s for sure. 

Most tourists tend to be North American, African, or Indian. There are people from all over the world, and I’ve seen more than I can name, but based on the accents I’ve heard that’s the majority. Also quite a few Australians. It’s interesting to see the people that Dubai attracts. I see more families and females shopping than anything, which makes sense with all the malls, and child attractions throughout. 

The tourists, especially the kids really do love seeing the choir perform. The locals are interested, but tend to leave after seeing one song, I’m not sure the reason though. 

At The Dubai Mall I got totally swarmed by people wanting to buy product from me, it was great, but I got a bit flustered with them all yelling at me at once. We had to get more sent in because we sold out of almost all the t shirts. It’s a great thing :)

We are teaching the children geometric shapes right now, it’s really fun. We are going to make some out of toothpicks and foam balls, Michelle tried to find marshmallows, but couldn’t. I struggled a lot yesterday trying to introduce it only being able to use the shapes in my dining room for examples. Each tutor has their class come to their room for school. We can all fit in one room, but there isn’t enough table space for all of them to write. My table seats 6, but I took 2 chairs a bedroom so I can sit also, there’s still lot of room to write, the chairs are just large. 

It’s funny because I just realized why the hotdogs from IKEA taste better here. They don’t have PORK in them. I worked with a Muslim guy from Sudan, and remembered they don’t eat pork. I’m not a big pork person, I might have bacon or ham every once in a while, but otherwise I avoid it for the most part. So at breakfast every morning we have cut up hotdogs, but it’s called chicken sausage. I’m not a big sausage person, may have mentioned that before, but its because a lot of sausage is usually pork. I eat the chicken sausage almost everyday because it taste like the good IKEA hotdogs. I’m surprised I didn’t realize earlier. I did notice it said chicken, I just never thought about why it said that. 

I’m so thankful that I’ve found free internet I can use. It’s such a blessing. I was prepared to pay the hotel only because I knew I wouldn’t get to go to the cafe again while I’m here, and once we are at camp it very very likely we won’t have it. I have a feeling the Edinburgh Fringe Festival is going to be a bit like Dubai where our schedule will be quite hectic because of all the concerts we have. It’s not as intense as here, I think we have one or two days off in the week, and then weekends off, but they have 2 concerts on concert days, as well as school and rehearsals. I’m excited though because we will get time to do some sightseeing, which will be fun. 

On Saturday we are getting up early and going to the beach. I don’t know how I feel about it. I guess if we are in the water it won’t be too bad, but I’m very nervous about burning. I don’t know if there will be any shade, I’m not counting on it. I didn’t buy sunscreen because I didn’t expect to be in the sun long enough to need it. I think we are only scheduled to be there for an hour, so it shouldn’t be too bad. It’ll be fun though. It’s great to be able to say I went to the beach in Dubai. We haven’t gone swimming all week because we use the time to nap, which is good, but my tan isn’t getting any darker haha. I’m just kidding around. I’d way rather sleep right now, especially feeling so sick. I think I’ve gone through 30 tissues in the past 48 hours. Not fun :( 

I encourage anyone reading this to make comments and ask questions. I’m sure you have them as you read, and I try to answer them before being asked, but I can’t always think of them all. 

* I'm at the Mall now... 9:00PM with 30 mins til our last show.. some lady came up to the product table and started talking to me about what we do and so on and then she bought me Starbucks, it was so sweet of her, it made my day :)

Off to answer emails now...

Saturday, 1 August, 2009    Day 14               1:16PM                                      Dubai Hotel

So I just got back from Jumeirah Beach. It’s a private beach so you have to pay to go there. It’s sooo sooo amazingly beautiful. It’s like the resort beaches you see in the magazines or on TV. The water is bluish/green and you can see through. The water is very very warm. We went early to avoid the heat, it can’t be avoided, but we tried. It wasn’t bad at first, but as time passed it became quite uncomfortable. 

It was the kids first time to swim in the ocean, their first response after going under water was “my eyes hurt” or “I can’t see”, the second was a sour face and “the water tastes bad!” so we had fun explaining it wasn’t just a big pool. The have been to the beach before but they were just playing in the sand. It’s an extremely messy thing taking  23 children to the beach in hot weather. We had fun, but I don’t think I’d want to do it again. 

We stayed longer than scheduled so I’m hoping I didn’t burn too bad, I’m thinking I burnt for sure, just not sure how bad it is yet... :(

We just had lunch and it’s nap time until 5PM. I’m so excited. Kyle wants to go with me to the internet cafe because this may be our last chance so I’m typing this quickly before we head over.

I forgot to tell you all my experience eating at Chili’s on my day off last Tuesday. The 4 of us that were off decided to go there. So we sat down and the hostess tried to get us to buy alcoholic drinks, obviously to make money, we asked for water and she said room temperature or cold, we all said cold. So they brought cold mugs and a 1.5 Litre bottle of Aquafina. We all looked at each other, I said “I bet they are going to charge us for it.” They did. I don’t know the price, because Kyle put it on his bill. Before we ordered  we asked for separate bills in case it was going to be a problem. The host didn’t speak very good English so she kept repeating it back trying to figure out what we wanted, she eventually figured it out. Then we got chips and salsa and guacamole as a starter so they brought that out, and no server came up to us, we were in a bit of rush because we wanted to look around the mall and we were already an hour late getting there because of a wrong turn our driver took, and she had to take the long way to avoid the tolls. 

It seemed like forever until the host came and took our order, she repeated it back about 3 times each. I got a chicken quesadilla, and she said “so you want chicken in it?” then kyle got steak fajitas and she asked if he wanted steak in it. It was very interesting.  I think she was nervous to mess up our order. We all just felt really awkward the way she was speaking, it was like she didn’t understand us at all. Our food came with someone else, and then another person checked up on us. We never knew who our server was. I think I was being a bit critical because of RR training. The food was really good, all of it, I was glad. 

I paid cash, and it was DHS 48.60 and I paid with 200, and got back 150, a 1 dirham coin and a coin which none of us knew the value, because it was in Arabic. It confused me because I was quite sure they didn’t have a .60 coin. (After doing a bit of research on the Arabic numbers I figured out it must have been worth .50 I don’t know the word for ‘cents’ is here) We couldn’t find anyone to ask, and just wanted to leave. All I had in my wallet was another dirham, so the tip was 2.50, I felt really bad because none of us had any other way of giving them more. When we left at least 15 of the staff said thank you to us. We were laughing just because it felt quite strange walking out. 

Yeah so that was my Chili’s experience at The Dubai Mall, not sure if I’d want to do it again. 

We performed at the Deira City Center Mall last night. It is a happenin’ place. Our hotel is actually in Deira which is a suburb of Dubai, so we all expected it to be a tiny local mall. It honestly was like Metrotown the day before Christmas. Apparently it’s always like that. I had to set up product very quickly because so many people were stopping by.  Surprisingly the sales weren’t as much as I had expected. We had a huge crowd but I think the people in that mall aren’t used to performances like ours so they didn’t really clap. There weren’t as many foreigners as in Dubai. But A LOT more people. It’s a great mall. 

I have pictures but no time to get them up, sorry :( 

Tuesday, 4 August, 2009    Departure Day                                          1:14PM                                                    Dubai Airport

So I'm sitting in the airport and have a lot of time to use before our flight... I wasn't prepared to have internet so I don't know what to do with all the time. 

Yesterday we went to Ski Dubai, it's an indoor ski/sledding place in the Mall of the Emirates. It's great. It was the first time the children got to see snow, and they were so excited. After about an hour, they started to complain their hands were cold, and a few started crying, I felt really bad, the gloves weren't very thick. I took lots and lots of photos, but don't have time to get them up right now. We just went sledding and tubing, the skiing isn't very safe, we didn't want to deal with anyone getting hurt, and no one did :)

So I'm flying to Manchester now and we will spend 3 days in England at a camp where we will play and relax, like I said before, and then we go to Scotland for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. 

I have more things to say about Dubai, I just have work to take care of first. 

Overall, it was a really good trip, I have mixed feelings about leaving. I'm sad and happy. I think I'm more happy because I like going to new places. Everyone has said Edinburgh is one of their favorite places, so I'm expecting it to be a great 3 weeks there!

Dubai Week 1

 Thursday, 24 July,  2009                     11:19AM (UAE time)           Dubai Hotel Apartment

Hey everyone!

REALLY sorry about not being able to update. Internet is VERY expensive at my hotel, I found a place across the street that has wireless for 5 Dirhams/Hour, it’s 25. I didn’t want to spend that much unless I had to. I was going to look into the price for phoning, but I’m sure it’s cheaper to buy a phone card. 

So let me start off by telling you about my last few days...

The Flight: 

It was raining buckets when we left Liverpool, fortunately it stopped when we got to the Manchester airport. Direct flight which we were all happy for. Departure was 2PM London Time and we arrived at 12AM Dubai Time (Abu Dhabi, UAE) The plane was huge. Biggest one I’ve been on so far. I sat in the middle section next to Nompie, Sikhombuzo, and Gabsile (which are my bag check children). On the left section I had Phepile, Pretty, and Nomkhuleko. So I was responsible for all of them on the flight. Not easy. Let me tell you why. 

On long trips the children are allowed to watch movies. Each chair had a TV. So we set it that they were all watching the same movie, and they weren’t allowed to function them. Being children, it didn’t take long until they got bored and wanted to watch something else. So I would switch it for one, then another would ask so I’d have to do it for them as well. All the movies were started at different times, so I was starting a new one constantly, and then I realized, some of them weren’t started at the beginning, it had just started where someone else had left it, so they weren’t actually seeing the full movie. I think there was 2 hours left when I realized it was happening. I also told them they had to watch the full movie if they wanted me to change it. I can’t tell you how many times I had to get up. I was trying to watch movies myself, but I got interrupted so many times, I only got through 2. It was a bit stressful, but more funny than anything. 

About 3/4 of the flight I started to feel the heat. It was quite interesting to feel the change in the temperature. We have been warning the children for weeks that it’s going to be VERY hot when we get there. 

Landing/First Sights: Of course the airport is air conditioned, but it still felt warmer. The airport is beautiful. I took a few pictures, and didn’t realize I was at customs and got told to put it away. I felt very embarrassed. 

The male airport staff all wear white garbs (not sure on the spelling) and then a head dress with a black rope tied around their head. I will have pictures. They communicate through cell phones. I could immediately see the wealth of the country. 

They spoke English but still had quite a thick accent, so had to ask them to repeat. We all got through everything with a breeze. It was great. 

Once we picked up our baggage we met the people who were hosting us here. Then we had to go to the parking lot to get on the busses. Covered parking lots are hot to being with, the temperature was 35 and it was 1AM.

 It honestly felt like going into a sauna. That’s the best I can describe it. I just said WOAH. You sweat in the first second, and it just keeps going from there. It’s hard to breathe. My glasses got all foggy because of the temperature change. The children immediately started to complain it was hot and they wanted water. It was extremely extremely uncomfortable. We got the kids into the air conditioned bus, I was one that had to help load all the baggage in. We had SO much baggage. 31 people. It felt like it took an hour to load it in. My jeans just stuck to me. I didn’t want to wear them, but it was cold when we left, and I wanted to save the weight in my suitcase. Some of us had to take another smaller bus because it couldn’t fit all of us and the bags. The heating system doesn’t exist in the vehicles. It’s all blue: cold and colder, we laughed. I didn’t have my camera to take a picture. We got them to blast the cold air, but we were still sweating. They drive on the right side of the road here. I thought it would be weird to transition back, but after a minute it felt totally normal to me. 

Food:

We arrived to the hotel and ate. It was about 2AM. They serve food as a buffet. It wasn’t what I expected. Fries, rice, chicken, fish, vegetables. Everything we had already been eating. I went to the other side, and there was raw veggies, and some special salads. I was very excited. They were Mediterranean type. I haven’t had really anything like it in the UK. So I loaded up. Then I saw the Hummus and pita and the big smile came. It was one of the things I was looking forward to eating here. It’s a regular part of my diet at home. 

The Hotel Rooms:

After eating we sorted out who would be with who, and planned on the kids taking showers but decided last minute just to put them to bed because it was so late. 

The rooms are hotel apartments, and amazing. They really are apartments. It’s bigger than my brothers place in downtown Vancouver. I opened the door and I see a huge dining room and living room. A 1/2 bathroom to my left, I turn the corner and open the door to a kitchen that is more than twice the size of my bedroom at home. Fully equipped, no dishwasher, but we don’t need one with the buffet downstairs. There was a washer with a dryer included in it. Then I went into the bedroom to find the full bathroom and 2 queen beds, so I checked the other room to see where I would put the boys. It also had a full bathroom, but had 2 twin beds, it was the bigger room, but I needed to give the 3 boys the bigger beds. Two shared and I just told them we can switch around. They were sleeping almost immediately after their heads touching the pillows. 

The closet space is excessive. Much more than necessary, but I’m not complaining, the kitchen is also full of cupboards and drawers. There are 3 flat screen TV’s. All at least 30” screens. Need I go on? I was very excited. 

We had a quick meeting and went to bed. It was about 3:30 or 4AM when I climbed into bed. I don’t even know if I brushed my teeth and washed my face. I was quite out of it, even though my body wasn’t on the time zone. The flight drained us all. 

We had to be up for 9:30AM which we were not happy about. They had planned on taking us to the Dubai Mall Aquarium and Wild Wadi Water Park. We were excited to go, but really wanted to sleep instead. 

I then got a call from Angee saying we needed to be downstairs at 12 for lunch, they decided the children (and adults) needed the extra sleep. I was so grateful.

I forgot to mention that they had their prayer at sometime around 5AM, which is quite loud and woke me. I just put on my ipod and fell asleep a little while after. 

Monday 20 July was Day 1: 

It felt like I didn’t sleep. The kids were mad and confused because they said the night was too short. I felt really bad, I’m glad we didn’t have to be up for breakfast. 

Lunch food was quite similar to dinner, they changed the style of things, cooked it a different way, changed things around a bit. It was enough to not make it feel like the same thing which I appreciated. I think there was some pasta, don’t quite remember. 

Then we took a very nice tour bus to the Dubai Mall which is supposed to now be the largest mall in the world, only beating West Ed by a very small amount. It’s quite nice inside, I couldn’t really see how big it is, we just went to the Aquarium and walked through part of it. 

We also got to see all the tall buildings on our way to the mall, I don’t know the names of them, but it’s all the ones in the pictures. It was really hard to see them with all the dust. I took the best pictures I could. There’s a lot of construction here, but I knew that because a friend had just visited here and told me. 

The aquarium was fun, the kids got to go on a boat ride on top of the tank. I can’t remember what the measurement was for it, but it’s really really large. Many of them were scared to go in, but we all convinced them they wouldn’t get eaten by the sharks or fish. The bottom of the boat was glass so we could see into the water, it was really cool. To me it was a lot other Aquariums I have been to, I’m glad I didn’t pay. They also had a tube and you could walk through the tank, I took a lot of video and pictures, but they have 31 sharks, so I got to see them very close up.

The mall has a lot of North American stores. They just put the Arabic name next to it. Some of them look quite funny translated. They have Chili’s, which just looks weird. I am planning on going there before I leave. Many of the stores are still being put in the mall. They are building a Rainforest Cafe next to the Aquarium. I guess it’s the one they took out of Metrotown, hopefully it does better business here. 

Then we went through the Jewelry village. There were at least 50 shops. I didn’t see anyone shopping in them. The store owners looked so bored :( 

Wild Wadi is an outdoor water park it’s right next to the famous cool looking hotel, which I don’t know the name of. We were all expecting it to be indoor. So we decided to eat before getting in the water. The shade really did nothing for us. We all put our bathing suits on to eat, but we were sweating so so so much. It was a really hot day.   We first went into the lazy river with all the kids, some of us got separated, as it’s quite a long one, but we all caught up in the end. Then we went to the kids area, it had some smaller slides, and then headed to the wave pool. A lot of the kids were afraid of the deep water, it was a very large pool so I think that’s what it was. We ended going on almost everything, it was really fun, once you are in the water you don’t really notice the heat at all. I think the day cooled down quite a bit because it was hazy, you really couldn’t see the sun the whole day. It’s never a clear day here, or it’s rare. I don’t like that. I didn’t burn which was good because I didn’t have sunscreen on. 

We ate when we got back to the hotel, and then all went straight to bed. I don’t think anyone recovered from the lack of sleep. 

Tuesday 21 July Day 2: 

Early morning, 8AM wake up. Not fun. We had rehearsals, school, nap time which I totally took advantage of (I actually slept longer because I set my alarm to 2AM not 2PM wake up) It went into the kids play time, but I asked if they wanted to sleep or play and 2 said sleep. The other didn’t even answer me.

We have 3 concerts a night each 30 minutes. So we headed to Dubai Festival Mall. It’s quite nice. Because Michelle has been working so hard being the head teacher and doing product we have given her a break from product and I have taken over while we are here, and then Jenny (another Chaperone joining our team) will take it over when we get back to the UK. 

The crowds were quite good for all the shows, and people really like buying shirts. We realized quickly that we didn’t bring as much product as we could have, but we were really worried about the weight limit, so there wasn’t really an option. 

I really enjoy talking to the people, and just sitting there and watch all the people walk by. There are so many different cultures here. I’ve learned so much just through my eyes. It’s interesting to see all the different types of clothing and the styles of garbs, and the women dress different as well. Some have all their face covered except for their eyes, while others cover just their hair. I haven’t had extra time to research about it. 

Wednesday 22 July Day 3:

This day was pretty much the same schedule as Tuesday. 

We performed at the same mall. It changes every 2 days. We sold more CD’s than t shirts, which was interesting. 

Week 7 Continued- England

Saturday, 18 July, 2009                              11:18PM                              Liverpool, England

So I was just in Blackpool, lots to do there, very touristy place. I had my day off but didn't do much, I was just tired. I will have to come back when I have time to do it all.

Liverpool is much different than I expected, I thought it would be more like Glasgow. I don't know how to describe it. It's much older, and a VERY musical place. I love it. Just crossing the border into England I have seen the difference in the entertainment industry. I feel like the music is all around. I think there are other areas of Liverpool that are quite different. I'm in Anfield.

I haven't said much about this place because it's late and I haven't got time. I need to get to sleep now because I'm flying to Dubai tomorrow at 2PM!

You won't hear from me until I'm there and a bit settled. I won't have much free time there so I apologize in advance. 

For those of you who read this if you could pass the link along to others who you know would be interested in reading about my travels, please do. 

Week 6 and 7 - England

Saturday, 11 July, 2009                   1:04AM                                 Leeds, England

I'm in England now, at the hotel, on the floor in the hallway writing this and it's so late. I don't get wireless in my room, but I do down the hall. It's quite late so I'm going to bed. I'm waking up early to have a nice chat with my family. I'm going to be so tired.

I haven't heard much talking here yet, but the little I have has made me laugh because it's a new accent I'm going to have to learn. So far I can't really say which is easier to comprehend Irish or Scottish. It really depends on the person. I like both, and struggle with both. 

I'm leaving now, I may not have internet until Dubai just to warn you all. Love you and miss you!

Monday 13 July, 2009                           11:00PM                                    Lytham St. Annes, England

So I'm feeling really tired, just about to go to sleep. I've ended up getting internet here, but still no shower, hopefully tomorrow. It's been raining off and on all day. First day we have actually spent time in the rain. The kids kept singing " Come rain come" it was funny that they enjoyed it, I figured they would run for shelter. 

I'm missing my family a lot right now. I just found out Dubai is going to be quite busy for me. Especially the flights with the children. I won't have as much free time as I realized. I can't afford to fall behind on sleep, I suffer from it. I'd love to write more but I need sleep. 

Tuesday, 14 July 2009                       10:34PM                                    Same Location

I washed my hair in the sink and shaved my legs using a bucket of water, but I feel somewhat clean now. Agreeneth braided my hair into corn rows, it's in a star type design, it looks quite cool. I will find someone to take a picture of it in the morning. I've never had my hair like this so I'm enjoying it while I can. It's going to be crazy when I take it out, I'll try to remember to take a picture of that too. 

Today was a lot better than yesterday, it was a beautiful day out, we went to the beach and played. The tide is out so far here that you can barely see the ocean, it's quite weird. It would take quite a long walk to get to the water. 

I'm sitting on a really uncomfortable bench right now. Tomorrow we are going to Blackpool which is about 15 minutes from here, out shortest distance between venues so far. I will have my day off on Thursday and Blackpool just happens to be the home of the UK's biggest indoor waterpark. I think I've convinced the other staff that have the same day off to join me in the fun, but they haven't confirmed yet. We shall see. I think it would be so much fun just not alone. I want to get a few errands taken care of, but if I'm smart about it, we will have time. 

Ok time for my floor bed! :) It's really not bad at all when your tired. 

Week 6 - Scotland

Monday, 6 July, 2009                           10:38AM                             Glasgow, Scotland

So I had my birthday on the 2nd, I spent it walking around Auchterarder. I went to the well known Gleneagles Hotel, it’s really beautiful. They have 3 pools, and a gun club, a horse riding club, and other things. I want to save my money and stay there sometime. I walked into town, which seemed to take forever, especially with how hot it was. I also found a golf ball on the road. Gleneagles is pretty much a golf resort where all the rich people go. I saw so many nice vehicles driving. 

I treated myself to lunch at a cafe called Indulge. Best fajita I’ve ever had in a restaurant. It was so so good. I ate it slow because I really wanted to enjoy it. I took the bus back to the home I was staying in. 

We then went to Arbroath, didn’t really do much there, had a nice host family. We were just back in Edinburgh, but a different part. It’s call South Queensferry. It’s georgeous. The day was beautiful, we took the kids for ice cream and they were fascinated with the cruise ship under the bridge. A very popular bridge, but I don’t remember the name, I took many pictures, the children got a hold of my camera so they took some as well. I’m sure one of you can help me with the name. We also too them to a really nice park to play. 

I wish I had my day off there. I’m now in Glasgow, also a different part than we were before, it’s a large place. We are here for 3 nights, and then back to Bearsden where we stayed before. I’m with a family that has a 20 year old girl and a 16 year old boy, they are really nice to have around, the boys really like them. 

The host mom took me to the bank today, and then took me for coffee (I wasn’t really supposed to go, but I had a bit of extra time before I needed to be back.) Where we are now is a city, so I feel quite comfortable here. I also wish my day off was here. 

I’m getting really tired again. I stayed up late talking to my brother the other night, and woke up early talking to another, so I haven’t really recovered. Most of my free time has been taken up :(

So I will have my day off in Bearsden, I think there are some fun things to do there, we will see. I wish it would just come. 

My battery is low and I forgot my power adapter at the house. 

Wednesday, 8 July, 2009                         10:00AM                          Glasgow, Scotland

So I’ve got a bit of a break right now. The children have a class of Siswati (their home language) once a week, just so they don’t lose it with all the English they are learning.

I’ve had a really good last 3 days here. My host family was great. They had a daughter who was 20, and son who was 16. He was a drummer so the boys I was with really enjoyed playing with the drum set. We also were taught a Scottish Dance, something called White Horse, I can’t remember. The children and I had such a fun time. 

Last night the family after the boys were sleeping they had their children stay home, and they took me for a drive into the downtown part of Glasgow. They showed me all the historic places, it was wonderful. Especially because it wasn’t my day off. It was really nice because I rarely get to see the town where I’m staying unless I’ve got the day off because we are so busy with the children.

I don’t even know what to say... 

We are going back to Bearsden today and sleeping at the church we were at last time we were there, we don’t have a concert there though, so it will be a nice break. We only have 1 shower with 30 people so that’s always fun. My day off is tomorrow, I think I’ve already said that... Then the staff will be going out for Italian food, Kyle and his friend are going to watch the children while we go. Kyle lives near Bearsden. Friday and Saturday we will be in Leeds and staying in a hotel. I’ve very excited. I will hopefully have wireless internet, or internet at least. I won’t for the next 2 days so you won’t hear from me until then. 

I talked to my 2 younger brothers the other night, that was really nice. So now I’ve spoken to them all. It was really good to hear their voices and get updated, it was almost like being there, almost. 

Ok update. I just found out we have a concert booked for December 23rd, and that there is a very good chance we will be here until January. I’m feeling a bit sad knowing now that I won’t be home for Christmas, especially after telling everyone. But I was told things change, and I knew it wasn’t 100% that I would be back. 

I think because of this information we will be going to some other countries. Otherwise my VISA would expire. I’ve heard of talk about Spain and we would really all love to go to France. Taking the children to Euro Disney would be so much fun. 

The children are finished their Siswati lesson now, so I’ll update again when I have a chance. 

Friday, 10 July, 2009                        1:06 PM                              Tour Bus to England

So we are on the way to England... it’s pretty crazy we are leaving Scotland already. 

We will be performing tomorrow at an Arts Festival, so we will be staying in a hotel since  we won’t have host families, so like I said there’s a good chance we will have internet. 

Yesterday was a great day. Michelle and I decided to spend our day off together and take the train into Glasgow. We ended up taking the wrong train so we had to walk for a few minutes to get to where the stores were, but there are maps all over, so we used them to find our way. 

We were told about a store called Primart that was great to shop at, it’s similar to Ross or Winners, but it’s just clothing. We spent about 3 hours there. It’s so big and we kept finding things we liked. I got a bathing suit, 2 shirts, a pair of capris, a really cute dress, some sandals and shoes all for 55 GBP. We wanted to get some more summer stuff for Dubai because we didn’t bring a lot. The shoes ended up hurting my feet, but they didn’t cost much. Michelle got the same pair but a different color so I told her she could have them, but then I realized Agreeneth our Choir Conductor also has the same size feet so I gave them to her. It’s very rare that I find people with feet as big as mine, so it’s nice that we can share shoes if needed. 

We then went to another store called Next that’s quite popular, I couldn’t think of a good comparison for it. It’s my age type of clothes. I didn’t buy anything there. We ate at the mall and I just got pizza and pasta, it was really good for mall food. Didn’t have much time to go anywhere else because we had to be back for dinner at 5. Then we had our staff night out and decided to go into Glasgow for dessert and to the Cinema to see a movie. 

Most places were closed so we ended up going to Starbucks for dessert, where I had a Mocha and some Blueberry Cheesecake. I had it earlier with Michelle, we were very excited. I treated myself to a Caramel Frappuccino. It tasted the same, so I was glad. 

We had so much together. It’s really great when we can do that, everyone is so much more relaxed when the children are being taken care of by someone else and we can just be normal young adults. We did so much laughing and we were all dancing in the street, we loved it. 

So now we are off to England for a week and then flying to Dubai next Sunday. I’ve been told that we have 3 pending concerts in London, so hopefully at least one will go through so we can spend some time there. Also Kyle said to hold on to my Euros because I may be able to use them, so I’m quite excited to know there is a chance we will be going into Europe. I’ve heard France, Spain and Italy floating around, so if it happens it will probably be one of those places. They haven’t told us yet because it’s not confirmed. I think we will be in London for Christmas only because last year the children did a special concert, so we will probably do the same thing again. 

We are watching The King and I now, I haven’t seen it so now is my chance :)

Week 5 - Scotland

Thursday, 2 July, 2009

It's my bithday! My day off as well :) Happy Canada Day to all my fellow Canadians. (People here don't understand that we celebrate Canada Day, they are missing out.)

I'm in Auchterarder (Oct-ter- ar-der) They laugh when I say it because I don't have the accent or the rolling r sound. It's a very nice town from what I've seen. I will be going into town after I write this. The font size has changed because I am writing this directly, the other times I was writing on my laptop and pasting. I'm using my hosts computer so I won't be able to do it that way. I can't seem to make the size the same. It's easier to read when it's larger, right?

Funny thing, my host family is on vacation right now, so I'm home alone. They had the dates mixed up for when we were arriving, so they had to get a friend to come in and host us, she is working right now. She works at a famous hotel here, very expensive. The house is wonderful, I've got my own suite, and they have boys so there's a lot of toys and books for them to play with.

The most expensive houses in Scotland are in Auchterarder, I think they are near where I am as well. That's what I was told by someone. Can't say much about this place yet, as I have just gotten here.



I just came from Aberfeldy, which was our 4 night stay. It was wonderful. It's in the country, and very beautiful. I had a really great host family. I got to know the mom really really well. We had lots of long chats. She really didn't want us to leave. We had 2 concerts there on the weekend, and then she came to the concert we had last night as well because her husband was away so he missed them.

The father was an architect and built the home on stilts with no doors except the front foor and the bathroom. It was very cool looking, it has been in many housing magazines as well as a book.

My room had 3 walls (one being a window) and the 4th was a curtain. Because of having no doors you could hear everything in the house, and there was little privacy. I had wireless internet, which is why this has now been posted, but I didn't get to phone anyone because my free time was when the children were sleeping and I didn't want to wake them. I was also very tired because I was up late speaking with the mom.

I was with 4 of our girls, and the family had 2 girls that were 8 and 10, all 6 of them got along so well. It was great. We had 2 other host families on the same road, so we got together on the last evening and had a BBQ, it was really nice. The kids got into their bathing suits and made a waterslide in the backyard. Aberfeldy is another place where everyone knows eachother in the town, it was nice to have the children going back and forth between the homes to play with other children.

My hosts found out today was my birthday and were very upset they couldn't spend it with me, they bought me some herbal tea, chocolates and also gave me a card with some money. She drank herbal tea with me the whole time. ( I bought some on my last day off, but she had some) I felt comfortable to tell her that's what I preferred. I also told her my body wasn't reacting well to all the bread I have been eating. I'm not sure if I mentioned almost every meal includes bread, and I don't normally eat a lot of bread, so I haven't been feeling that great. She gave me some healthy crackers and cheese instead. It was so much nicer, and I feel a lot better as well. I am really going to miss them, but we will keep in contact. We also might be going back there in a few months if it can fit into our schedule and they can work it all out. It seems that, like Carstairs, everyone loved their host families and would really like to go back.

Oh, I almost forgot. The hosts paid for us all to go to a place called Active Kids. It's an ourdoor play place in the country, it's in Perth I believe. So there are tons of things to play on and a small farm as well, I've got pictures. The children really had a blast there.

Anyway, the day is getting later, so I'm going to go out.

The weather has been amazing for the last few days. Yesterday was unbearable heat, the church didn't have air conditioning. I can't imagine what Dubai is going to be like....

I'll probably get a tan from walking around today, I think I'm going to wear my shorts :)