Royal Wedding Street Party

As the girls are at a British School, the Royal Wedding could not go by unnoticed! Thursday lunchtime, 600 primary children filled the sports hall which had been decorated with a lot of red, white and blue.  All the classes sat at long tables with another class and shared their food together.  Very special to see it all!

Pancake Maker Project

Over the last few weeks Famke has been working on a project with her classmate Annie.  They had to create an invention, work it out, promote it to a company for production, create a power point presentation and a display poster.  Today was the presentation of the project to all the parents.


Famke and Annie decided to 'invent' a pancake maker, which you switch on when you get up and after getting dressed your pancakes are ready!!!


Some of the features are:

• Makes delicious pancakes
• Ready in 2 minutes
• Different toppings available (nutella, lemon juice, cheese - must have been Famke's input :), maple syrup and sugar
• It cleans itself (my favorite feature!)
• Only 20 dirhams!

Spring Hat Parade

Every year the children in Foundation learn songs for the Spring Hat Parade.  Then on the last day of term they wear their decorated hat in a parade and sing the songs for the parents.  Today was the day but it was raining!!!!  The one day a year that it rains when we go to school had to be this day! The event was moved down to the basement.  It was very nice but not quite the same as outside in the sunshine.

I’m a spring chicken and I’m yellow and small,
My feathers are fluffy and they’re keeping me warm.
My legs are not long, so I’m not very tall,
But I’m a real spring chicken and I’m having a ball,
I’m a chicken, I’m a chicken and I’m having a ball.

----

When all the cows were sleeping

And the sun had gone to bed

Up jumped the scarecrow

And this is what he said

I'm a dingle, dangle scarecrow

With a great big floppy hat

I can shake my hands like this

And I can shake my feet like that

When all the hens were roosting

And the moon behind a cloud

Up jumped the scarecrow

And shouted very loud

I'm a dingle, dangle scarecrow

With a great big floppy hat

I can shake my hands like this

And I can shake my feet like that
---
find a little seed,
(find a little seed,)
plant it in the ground,
(plant it in the ground,)
wait for it to grow,
(wait for it to grow,)
don't disturb it.

don't expect to see,
(don't expect to see,)
changes overnight,
(changes overnight,)
if you wait a while,
(if you wait a while,)
you'll find new life.

Floortje's award

Famke's growth

Proof of Famke's amazing growth in the last 3 years!

50m pool

Today I got the opportunity to swim in the new swimming complex here in Dubai.  We visited the pool in December for the World Championships (see December blog post) but now actually got a chance to touch the water.

A very nice facility!  However, 50m sure seems a lot longer than 2 x 25m :)

First Kids in Space

The last few weeks Year 3 and 4 have been practicing very hard for their musical performance of First Kids in Space.  During the week there have been some dress rehearsals for the other kids in school and the past two nights they had evening shows for the parents.  Famke was part of the choir and really enjoyed taking part.

STORY:  A class of Space Cadets go on their first mission to Moonbase X to repair Androids who have caught a computer virus and are totally out of control. The Cadets must adjust to extreme lunar conditions, eat strange space food and moon-hop around, but will they be able to deal with the rioting androids, and if so, how will they get home?

Famke's award

Well done Famke!

British Mother's Day

Floortje made me a very english card for British Mother's day at school today. Thank you!

Roeland in Dubai

Lots of reunions this month.  A few weeks ago Roeland (a friend from university) had a day in Dubai on his way to Oman and we met up for a quick tour of Dubai (JBR, The Palm, Atlantis Hotel, Madinat Jumeirah and the Mall of the Emirates!).  We weren't sure when we had last seen each other but think it might have been at my wedding.  It sure didn't feel that long ago!

Clubweekend (2)

'Clubweekend' in Maastricht

Last weekend I went to Holland to celebrate the '4th lustrum' (20 years, can you believe it!!!) of Sconfinato.  I arrived on THursday morning just in time to celebrate my mum's birthday. On Thursday afternoon we made the trip down to Maastricht.  It had been over 10 years since I last saw Conny so it was so nice to catch up again.  After a sate dinner we went to our lovely accommodation between Valkenburg and Maastricht.

On Friday most of the girls went for a relax/sauna day but as this is not really my thing, Conny and myself went to Maastricht for the day.  How nice to walk around the HEMA, V&D, Albert Heijn, etc with someone who also doesn't live in Holland.  We got excited about everything!  For lunch we had a 'broodje frikandel'!  Of course we had to have a beer on a terrace on 'Onze Lieve Vrouwenplein'.  In the evening we had dinner and went to a play at the theater.  Strange one that was :)

Saturday morning there was a dropping with an american army truck.  By navigating and answering questions we had to make our way back home.  The weather was really nice so great to be outside in the countryside.

The afternoon was spent with knitting (!) and playing a game that Desiree and Cecile had put together.  The game brought back loads of memories and also some new information.  Lots of fun, anyway!

In the evening we went to a castle and cooked our own meal.  We spent the evening in one of the cellars, eating drinking and talking.

Sunday, the last day already.  We spent a few hours on Segways in Maastricht.  First, becoming comfortable with them and then a tour through the city.

After the tour a quick lunch and back to Aalsmeer as I had to catch the evening flight back to Dubai.

What a great weekend. Thanks girls, we should do this more often!!!!