I am sitting at Dad’s kitchen table as I write this; amazingly, I have been in the US since early December. Thanks to a confluence of Muslim and Christmas holidays, along with the 37th birthday celebration of the UAE, our school has the entire month of December off this year! The family Rodgers is taking advantage of the good fortune to come Stateside and cavort with family, especially among little cousins.
Besides a fantastic visit to Amsterdam on the way west, during which Sam bonded with an old buddy from Manila, Sam and Sophia have had nary a friend nor cousin to frolic with thus far, and at this point they have each invented imaginary friends who kick the heck out of each other. First Sophia invented Flora and then, in response, Sam created Knuckles and his dog, both of whom torture and abuse Flora at every turn. It is time for some playmates! Jared’s side of the family will provide fun in triplicate as his brother’s kids arrive tonight. I, meanwhile, have been given the gift of time alone with Mom and Dad here in Baltimore, which has been fantastic!
As a quick update on the past few months, we returned to Abu Dhabi after a lovely summer on Nantucket. Summer was spent playing tennis, going to the beach and trying to ignore the scary news that accompanied the weekly reading of the Sunday New York Times. I hope this past summer does not turn out to be the last hurrah!
Our second year in Abu Dhabi has not yielded the tales of interest that last year did. When one arrives with a fresh set of eyes to a new location, unique observations abound. At this point, I have seen enough five-o’clock shadowed, dish-dash wearing, cell-phone clinging, dark sunglasses wielding young men to stop craning my neck and pulling my children closer to me each time they pass by. I still have to stare in disbelief when I see the black-clad local women float by in the mall, with diamonds dripping from their sleeves and other precious stones adorning their head scarves, but with no hint of a human being present underneath the garb. I do not care what cultural explanations are ushered forth to explain such dress styles; it seems absolutely archaic to me.
Most of our lives, however, are spent at our school. I am teaching the same curriculum for the second year in a row – the first time in my teaching career I have ever done such a thing! One would think it would get easier, but it is still quite an undertaking to deliver an exciting and challenging program to the little 12 year-old devils. I actually have the privilege of teaching the BEST 7th grade class I think I have ever had, which makes going to work a real joy every day. Jared continues to shape the minds of the 10 year-olds; they love him!
Sam and Sophia are in third and first grades. Sam is learning cursive and multiplication and Sophia is deciphering an increasingly complex variety of words and writing stories like a future novelist. Their lives mirror a typical American kid’s life, with sports in the afternoons and weekends, scads of play dates, Boy Scouts, piano lessons, and fun weekend activities like trips to the beach, the desert, or to our local club.
I have been playing loads of tennis. I am in a league and have a fantastic partner; we have a lot of fun and are undefeated so far. In January, Abu Dhabi is hosting a small exhibition tournament with some top names of men’s tennis: Nadal, Federer, Murray, Roddick and a few others will grace the center court at our city’s tennis arena (built four years ago and never been used! They are resurfacing the courts for the event!). I am on the list to volunteer my services for the event; my only hope is to get close enough to my heart throb, Rafael, to be splattered with his sweat!
Jared has been following a strict work-out regimen, replete with yoga, weight lifting, cardio moves and lots of grunting (not to mention sweat splattering!). Part of the paraphernalia includes a pull-up bar in the guest room. Sam and Sophia have figured out how to shimmy their way up the doorframe and grab onto the pull-up bar. You should see little Sophia’s burgeoning muscles! Jared is also working on a Masters degree in technology, in hopes of moving into a more tech-oriented position at school. More on that as events develop…
As you can see (if you are still awake), our lives have become quite…dare I say it…normal. The days of coups, floods, garbage crises, and eye-itching, lung-clogging air pollution are a thing of the past at this point. The challenges we face now look like this: Abdullah, our apartment manager is off to India for a few months, leaving us without a man to clean our car every day (egads!)…. traffic has gotten worse in the city; if we do not leave our house by 7.15 for school, it takes 9 minutes instead of 7 to get to school (oh, horror!)…. now that the weather has turned PERFECT, I can sleep sans aircon, which leaves us vulnerable to being awoken at 4.30 am with the morning’s first call to prayer (say it ain’t so!). With troubles like these, we really have no reason to complain (and I know people have a LOT to complain about these days).
As the sound of soft rain patters against the window panes, I will take a sip of my hot chocolate and bring my ramblings to a close. Dad, sitting across the table, is busily scribbling hand-written Christmas cards (sucker) and I need to go in search of some wireless internet to send my electronic creation off.
We Rodgers wish everyone a happy December and may good fortune shine upon you all as we enter cautiously into 2009!
hand at skiing, to great acclaim! Rountop, PA ROCKS!
Family on Christmas eve.
