Well we've had a rough couple of days. Christmas was nice but all three of the boys weren't feeling well for a few days. We took them to the doctor yesterday and found out that Mason has bronchitis! Jake has a virus that's close to the flu. They have all been coughing and have runny noses. The doctor said there was nothing wrong with Cash but we sort of doubt that because he's the more fussy out of the three of them! Oh plus the twins are teething, so they weren't happy to begin with. As of right now, I have Jake in my room trying to get him back to sleep while the mom tries to settle down Cash!

Christmas was nice. We hung around the hotel Christmas Eve and got Noodle House for dinner. That's Mason's favorite! One fact about Dubai, everything delivers! Noodle House, McDonald's, and even the supermarkets deliver! It's very convenient but can also make you a little lazy because then you really never need to get out! But for us, we sometimes need the time to get out!! We also watched Home Alone that night!

Christmas day I woke up and went to the living room to find that the parents had been up with Mason for an hour or two and he had already opened all of his presents! Mason got a lot of toys to play with! He got a few more cars to play with, a couple nerf guns, a ball launcher, and a dart game! I feel like I have to be armed when I go in the living room now or else I'll be fired upon! After presents, we ordered room service for breakfast! Then we got cleaned up and later went to lunch at a restaurant here at the hotel. It's an international restaurant and they had a huge buffet spread of all types of food! After we ate, I took the kids to the kids room. We saw Santa, played some games, got a couple balloon swords, made some friends, and got some cotton candy! The rest of the day we just relaxed at the hotel.

You want to hear a funny story? The other day, when I was walking back from the mall, a guy asked me where the metro station was. I actually do know where one is and it's just down the street from the intersection where we were. I told the man that there was one about a mile down the road to our left. Some of you might not find this very funny, but after I told him where one was, he looked at me and just stood there waiting to cross straight. This was after I told him the metro was to our left. He probably thought I didn't know what I was talking about because I gave him a distance in miles and everybody here uses the metric system! Well we finally crossed the street and I heard him ask another man where the metro was. The man pointed down the street, exactly where I told the man it was!!! I forgot that everybody else uses the metric system! That's one thing I have to get better at! Being a math and numbers person and wanting to teach math, I always understood when math teachers said that we use math everyday. And living in a foreign country, I can attest to that! There are so many ways that I use math everyday here! For starters, the time! All the clocks here use military time. I know that doesn't sound like math, but it is numbers. The first couple times, I really had to think about the numbers to know what time it was! For example, looking at the clock and seeing 21:43. It took me a few seconds before it clicked in my head that that means it's 9:43pm. I've gotten better at it and can recognize the time quicker now. I've already mentioned that they don't measure in miles, they measure in kilometers. The temperature is also different. Measuring in celsius rather than fahrenheit. The conversion is 32F is 0C. So when the temperature reads 26C, it's 79F. Probably the most math that I have to use is converting the currency. Over here, the currency is dirhams. $100=367.25 AED. It's harder to keep track of how much you spend. I have to constantly count my cash to know how much I have left. And my mind doesn't comprehend how much something costs because my brain works in dollars not dirhams! So you teachers out there, I have just given you some good word problems for your students to work on!! For example, If you lived in Dubai and wanted to buy a shirt. The shirt cost 125AED and you have $30 do you have enough money. (The answer is no. The shirt would cost you about $35.) Also here they don't have sales tax. So if the shirt is priced at 125AED and you buy just the shirt, your total would be 125AED. Anyways, enough math for today!!

I've been reading a lot in my spare time, which doesn't really amount to much, but they don't have a lot on TV so I read. I have a kindle fire and have a few books on there. The problem is, I've read through most of my books. I'm looking for some more good books. Any suggestions? I have read all the Twilight books, read the Help, and I'm on the third book of the Hunger Games. Any other ideas?!?!