First of all, what did I forget to tell you yesterday. Well, I forgot to tell you about the fun and games I’m having every time we get a taxi back to the apartments which are named Sunrise Apartments. Problem is that none of the taxi drivers know where it is and when you recognise where we are going they don’t listen. Also many of them speak very poor English so my Mackum accent is certainly making life more interesting. But hey its not all bad! I’m apparently 5 mins walk from the beach, I say apparently as I haven’t found the time to walk down there yet! But I’ll see the sea tonight as we’ve an outing at the Hilton Beach club later after a tour of RAK.

So today, we were picked up by school bus from the apartments at 8:40am insula, which means that the driver finally turned up at around 9.20am! But we arrived at school and although Roy (Principle) didn’t know who I was, having never spoken to me before. He seems quite nice and appears to know what he’s doing. Monty (head of secondary) however recognised me straight away and came over to talk to me and make sure I was settled. He said that when he called yesterday and I wasn’t there he was impressed as it showed him I was independent and confident enough just to go out and explore on my own. But Monty is a really nice guy and has a similar Ora to John (for non BSA friends that was my head at BSA) and of Tony (head at LJS). He knows what he is talking about and is very very open and approachable. So I feel quite confident that I will have the necessary support available to me.

This morning we had intro to phone systems and I should have broadband in my apartment within the next week! YEAH!!!! Then we had a talk about cultural awareness and there wasn’t really any surprises. However, I think you may find I’m one of the calmest people you know when you see me next as the following things are illegal

• Road Rage
• Gestures
• Swearing

And it is socially unacceptable to loose your temper and to shout! So hey the new me begins now! Only other thing we found out was to do with the British couple who got arrested the other week for having sex on the beach. They deserved it more than the British media allowed to be known. I mean firstly they were being pretty stupid to be doing something like that in Dubai anyway, but they were actually asked by the police to stop, the police then walked away and came back a few minutes later to find them still at it. Hence, the police choose to arrest them, and they then proceeded to insult the police man. So they were very silly people who quite frankly deserve to be banned from entry to UAE! Also found out that emirates don’t believe Israel exists. Full stop as far as they are concerned the place is non-existent!

So anyway, I saw Roger’s classroom on the tour and was told mine was next door so had a very quick peer throught the window of mine which appears to be the same just a mirror image of his. And they are huge! It will definitely be my biggest room ever. For BSA staff you could fit 222 into the room about 3 times. For LJS friends try fitting C4 into it about 15 times and for my Pennywell friends about twice C9. So its pretty big and the layout appears to be pretty good too. The secondary section of the school only has 340 students with a total of 1200 across the site.  But the school site is huge!!! It feels bigger than any of my previous school sites. The corridors are the widest I have ever seen.

But I’m back at the apartment now just having some lunch as at 16:00 we are being picked up for a tour of RAK before being taken to The Hilton Beach Resort for a tour of facilities then a chill out by the pool!

I should explain also that there are 2 schools called RAKESS in RAK. They are sister schools, mine has been running since 1975 where as the sister school has only been open 2 years and is one which is only just getting a yr 8 this September. They have different principles but we share accommodation with them. Hence, I know I’ve got the right one as I was chatting to them about their interviews in London and they seemed very similar to our Amsterdam ones. Plus, they have been given no itinerary, visa’s were not ready for collection when they arrived etc etc. So definitely got into the right sister!

My boxes are apparently being picked up from the airport at the moment so hopefully I shall have them by the end of the day! But hey no-one knows as their not sure if my letter of permission for the school to collect will be good enough yet or not. I may end up having to go up with the driver to get them tomorrow otherwise.

Oh, so far the heat means I don’t feel like eating much. So I think the possibility of loosing weight here is high especially as I seem to do nothing but sweat when I’m outside and they say that going from hot to cold all the time makes your muscles work harder to keep your body at the right temperature etc. So hey up, you could be seeing a slimmer me very soon!

Girls: (boys may not wish to read this sections)

So far we seem to be far more women than men, but there is plenty of people from Oz. The guys all seem to be accompanied except 1 who has caught my eye. He teaches PE lets call him J. So we shall wait and see if there are any fit single men in the existing staff!

Lads (you can start reading again now!) LOL!

So how am I settling in, well the answer is really well! I think I could easily be quite happy here. I look forward to meeting Roger my head of department, and then the students the following week and then hopefully I will be still as happy and settled as I strangely feel now!

Hey ladies, sorry lads..... just had a few staff from the sister school knock to say hi and there was this really cute guy lets just call him A, so J Watch this space while I find out more over the next few days.

Anyway, I think I’m going to go and find my bikini and get ready to go on my bus tour of RAK and then to the Hilton Beach Club..... ey its such a hard life here! LOL!

Back from the Hilton Beach club...... well its beautiful but at the same time I think it costs a lot for what it is. But hey, I’m gonna look at all the options and then decide. Because the deal is membership free to RAK hotel, but not many staff use it partly because all the arab men hang out down there to watch ladies in bikinis. So if you don’t go there the school gives you the cost of the RAK hotel membership towards the one you choose and you pay the balance, which seems fair. But apparently the one we are going to tomorrow is planning to match the RAK hotel price, so we wont be paying anything for it either, so I’ll have to wait and see what I think.

Update on men, A has a girlfriend who works in my school but I can’t work J out! And men before you say it..... no I can’t just say are you single!!!!

Eating habits, think this place is definitely gonna help me loose weight..... with the heat I just don’t feel hungry at all. All I’ve had today is a pot noodle for lunch and I’m now sitting at 22:39 eating a cuppa soup, apple, glass of orange juice and some green tea. But I don’t feel hungry at all!!! Oh but you should be  proud of me because I actually ate breakfast.... yes it was a struggle, but then you cant beat coco pop cereal bars..... and they have them here yeah!!!!

Can’t wait to show you all the photos I’ve taken, when I can get them off the camera, only problem is that I can’t find my USB lead..... Kath it isn’t still in Amsterdam by any chance???? Will have to try and get hold of one because the card reader I have won’t let me access the card and wants to format it. This is a problem I’ve had before when using 1GB cards in card readers, so really need to find a lead for it pretty quickly! But I think you will like them. There’s some of the flat at its different stages of unpacking and sorting. Then there’s some from tonight at the Hilton Hotel where we were swimming by moonlight! All very nice!

Anyway, that’s about it! Going to sign off for today and finish this food before bed. As got another busy day tomorrow! With a party at the principles house afterwards! Oh and an all important run to the booze shop before it closes for Ramadam!