Early Intervention Centre, HCT teacher on the left with large brown bag over her arm.
Head of the Centre and a little fellow from there. All the disabilities are lumped into the same facility. I just tell myself when they know better they will do better. The country has come ahead in huge strides even acknowledging disabilities. Now they are doing something about it.
A shop that caught my eye.
26 October 2009
Well it has been a couple of weeks. Matthew had been granted an extra day for the last Eid holiday so was required to work on the Saturday. The college hired a bus to take everyone to Dubai. It was an all day affair. That was the day Matthew got to shake the hand of the Sheik. J No photos of the occasion sorry.
I have been volunteering at the Deaf unit. I am accepted fairly well by staff and students. Class starts at 8.15 and school finishes at 1pm. I now have a timetable for the Sunday and Monday that I go. I assist in English, Science and Arabic classes. Every classroom has a red and green flashing light. It is the green light that flashes when the bell is sounded for end of class. I hope I’m not there the day the Red on flashes. I don’t know what I would do. A couple of times I have had to hail a taxi to get home. The cheapest are the gold and white, but they don’t have seatbelts and smell of Indian labourers. So if possible I try to hail the Silver cabs. A little dearer, but their meters work, they have seatbelts, the drivers speak better English and smell cleaner. One driver one day smelt like Brut. Reminded me of Nathan and Bradley.
I heard recently of an Indian restaurant being shut down after an entire family died of food poisoning. Luckily Timothy is coming to work in the environmental field or there would be a whole lot more closed down.
Matthew is getting great at finding his way around. When we were first here he kept hearing about Russell Kymer. Being new he didn’t think to ask who the fellow was but thought he would discover at a later date. So recently he had to make a work related trip to Russell Kymer. So he had to ask directions of how to get there. It was then he discovered Russell Kymer isn’t actually a person but a place, Ras Al-Khaimah.
We have found our Soy milk here. Sanitarium, exports to the Middle East.
The mornings are so very pleasant with the cool desert breeze coming across. So beautiful to go for a morning walk.
A couple of Fridays ago I drove around the block. A big step for me but Friday is the best day to start. Then I braved it out on to the main drag down to the big roundabout at Twam hospital. Then home. A good start anyway.
I was asked by one of the teachers at the college to accompany her and her students for a couple of days on excursion. The first day a Sunday, we attended workshops at the Early Intervention Centre. A well resourced and fairly modern facility. The students were great and so well behaved sitting to lectures ALL DAY. At least for them it was in Arabic. But the lunch was Yummo! The little desserts were just as delicious. Such a variety but some way too sweet. My favourite was a small short sweet pastry filled with a custard, topped with a chocolate disk and garnished with a sliver of pineapple. Yeah that was the yummiest.
So this past week was shaping up as the most boring report as I have been so very sick. I just slept, and drank water and slept for 3 days. By the 3rd day I had a small bowl of cereal. I knew I would be alright if I just kept up my fluids. Which I did religiously. Coughing, headaches, tired all I could do was sleep. If I sat up for ½ an hour I needed to sleep for 2hrs to regain some strength. It all started on the Monday the 2nd day of my excursion to the Music therapy workshop. By Friday I had eaten a couple of meals of cereal, and a cup of soup. I wanted to go to church so off we went. Then I came home and slept for 4hrs. Sat was Matthew’s birthday. I hadn’t gone out to buy him anything. He gives me an allowance every week that is my money, so I said, “Go buy yourself a couple of spiffy ties, that is what I was going to get you and take it out of my allowance.” I was happy with the 2 he bought. Then he came home to do the cleaning. I couldn’t even drink the whole glass of celebration fizzy he had bought and been saving for 3wks. So that was going to be the end of my weeks report. That is until yesterday.
A lady at work suggested Matthew take me to the hospital. I was feeling so awful; I didn’t even put up a fight. A trip to the hospital is a story in and of it’s self.
We found the Oasis Hospital thanks to the trusty GPS. I couldn’t walk in Entrance A = That was Mens only, Matthew couldn’t come in Entrance C cos that was Womens only. I asked at the counter if my husband could come in and she pointed to another door marked Entrance B Families. He waited with me for about an hour bought me a drink then left me to go back to work to finish some stuff off. I would call him when I was done. I was called for a preliminary exam with the nurse so my BP was elevated slightly compared for my usual. (Dr Kym info for you because you are the only one that cares about my BP stats– 128/80). J I was asked if I had any preference for Drs. Nope, Just one that speaks English. Then sent back to the waiting room where there were so many little babies.
A housemaid caught my attention. While the mother sat, the housemaid rocked and nursed the tiny sick little figure. Not sure I could do that. Finally, I was called into see the DR.
A requested chest x-ray and then a dose of something in the nebulizer. I saw my chest x-ray and knew all the snow on the bottom of my 2 lungs probably wasn’t normal. Back to the exam room and with the curtain drawn had the nebulizer. I turned it off myself then 30-40mins later I woke up aware that there was now a fellow on the other side of the curatain coughing and an Indian fellow interpreting for the dr. He had been complaining on headache, high temperature and cough for 10 days. I was up and out of that room quick smart. I didn’t want to get anything else. So I asked the Sister if I had been forgotten and seemingly guess what – I was. They had me wait in another Drs room and finally was seen by a different dr. He agreed with the first attending and explained that my lungs are only functioning at 2/3. There was no oxygen getting to the lower part of my lungs.
What a blessing to have health cover as part of Matthew’s employment package because including the medication I came home with all up cost about 500dhs. The nebulizer treatment alone was 90dhs. So for Dr Kym and my mum, I came home with, 2 bottles of cough syrup, to take 4 times a day for 2wks. 1 weeks supply of Clarinaise tablets to be taken at bed time, for 1 week. 1 box of Panadol to be taken prn. Lastly but not the least of my medication list was a Pulmicort puffer with instructions to take 2 puffs bd. I looked at the pile of medication on the counter and said, “Crickey, it will either kill me or cure me. “ The Pharmacist laughed and said, “It won’t kill you it will cure you.” Thank goodness I thought to myself.
So that was about 5hrs of the day spent at the hospital. To go to xray, I had to walk through the mens section out the back door through an alley way to the back where the xray clinic was. As I walked out I thought to myself, “Crickey which was back?” Luckily a nurse had taken me half was to xray, then on my way back another nurse or whatever they were saw my expression and took me back to the consult area. Phew, talk about a tender mercy.
So what was going to be a very dull 2nd week report turned out to be quite eventful. I am so glad I went to the hosp, I hadn’t realized how sick I was. Matthew is at a work meeting in Dubai today and then Abu Dhabi tomorrow.
Timothy arrives this Friday night and I am getting very excited to have him here , and share these experiences with family. I better go and have a rest.
Until we meet again. God Bless
Love RG, Aunty Rhonda, Mum etc, etc
Well it has been a couple of weeks. Matthew had been granted an extra day for the last Eid holiday so was required to work on the Saturday. The college hired a bus to take everyone to Dubai. It was an all day affair. That was the day Matthew got to shake the hand of the Sheik. J No photos of the occasion sorry.
I have been volunteering at the Deaf unit. I am accepted fairly well by staff and students. Class starts at 8.15 and school finishes at 1pm. I now have a timetable for the Sunday and Monday that I go. I assist in English, Science and Arabic classes. Every classroom has a red and green flashing light. It is the green light that flashes when the bell is sounded for end of class. I hope I’m not there the day the Red on flashes. I don’t know what I would do. A couple of times I have had to hail a taxi to get home. The cheapest are the gold and white, but they don’t have seatbelts and smell of Indian labourers. So if possible I try to hail the Silver cabs. A little dearer, but their meters work, they have seatbelts, the drivers speak better English and smell cleaner. One driver one day smelt like Brut. Reminded me of Nathan and Bradley.
I heard recently of an Indian restaurant being shut down after an entire family died of food poisoning. Luckily Timothy is coming to work in the environmental field or there would be a whole lot more closed down.
Matthew is getting great at finding his way around. When we were first here he kept hearing about Russell Kymer. Being new he didn’t think to ask who the fellow was but thought he would discover at a later date. So recently he had to make a work related trip to Russell Kymer. So he had to ask directions of how to get there. It was then he discovered Russell Kymer isn’t actually a person but a place, Ras Al-Khaimah.
We have found our Soy milk here. Sanitarium, exports to the Middle East.
The mornings are so very pleasant with the cool desert breeze coming across. So beautiful to go for a morning walk.
A couple of Fridays ago I drove around the block. A big step for me but Friday is the best day to start. Then I braved it out on to the main drag down to the big roundabout at Twam hospital. Then home. A good start anyway.
I was asked by one of the teachers at the college to accompany her and her students for a couple of days on excursion. The first day a Sunday, we attended workshops at the Early Intervention Centre. A well resourced and fairly modern facility. The students were great and so well behaved sitting to lectures ALL DAY. At least for them it was in Arabic. But the lunch was Yummo! The little desserts were just as delicious. Such a variety but some way too sweet. My favourite was a small short sweet pastry filled with a custard, topped with a chocolate disk and garnished with a sliver of pineapple. Yeah that was the yummiest.
So this past week was shaping up as the most boring report as I have been so very sick. I just slept, and drank water and slept for 3 days. By the 3rd day I had a small bowl of cereal. I knew I would be alright if I just kept up my fluids. Which I did religiously. Coughing, headaches, tired all I could do was sleep. If I sat up for ½ an hour I needed to sleep for 2hrs to regain some strength. It all started on the Monday the 2nd day of my excursion to the Music therapy workshop. By Friday I had eaten a couple of meals of cereal, and a cup of soup. I wanted to go to church so off we went. Then I came home and slept for 4hrs. Sat was Matthew’s birthday. I hadn’t gone out to buy him anything. He gives me an allowance every week that is my money, so I said, “Go buy yourself a couple of spiffy ties, that is what I was going to get you and take it out of my allowance.” I was happy with the 2 he bought. Then he came home to do the cleaning. I couldn’t even drink the whole glass of celebration fizzy he had bought and been saving for 3wks. So that was going to be the end of my weeks report. That is until yesterday.
A lady at work suggested Matthew take me to the hospital. I was feeling so awful; I didn’t even put up a fight. A trip to the hospital is a story in and of it’s self.
We found the Oasis Hospital thanks to the trusty GPS. I couldn’t walk in Entrance A = That was Mens only, Matthew couldn’t come in Entrance C cos that was Womens only. I asked at the counter if my husband could come in and she pointed to another door marked Entrance B Families. He waited with me for about an hour bought me a drink then left me to go back to work to finish some stuff off. I would call him when I was done. I was called for a preliminary exam with the nurse so my BP was elevated slightly compared for my usual. (Dr Kym info for you because you are the only one that cares about my BP stats– 128/80). J I was asked if I had any preference for Drs. Nope, Just one that speaks English. Then sent back to the waiting room where there were so many little babies.
A housemaid caught my attention. While the mother sat, the housemaid rocked and nursed the tiny sick little figure. Not sure I could do that. Finally, I was called into see the DR.
A requested chest x-ray and then a dose of something in the nebulizer. I saw my chest x-ray and knew all the snow on the bottom of my 2 lungs probably wasn’t normal. Back to the exam room and with the curtain drawn had the nebulizer. I turned it off myself then 30-40mins later I woke up aware that there was now a fellow on the other side of the curatain coughing and an Indian fellow interpreting for the dr. He had been complaining on headache, high temperature and cough for 10 days. I was up and out of that room quick smart. I didn’t want to get anything else. So I asked the Sister if I had been forgotten and seemingly guess what – I was. They had me wait in another Drs room and finally was seen by a different dr. He agreed with the first attending and explained that my lungs are only functioning at 2/3. There was no oxygen getting to the lower part of my lungs.
What a blessing to have health cover as part of Matthew’s employment package because including the medication I came home with all up cost about 500dhs. The nebulizer treatment alone was 90dhs. So for Dr Kym and my mum, I came home with, 2 bottles of cough syrup, to take 4 times a day for 2wks. 1 weeks supply of Clarinaise tablets to be taken at bed time, for 1 week. 1 box of Panadol to be taken prn. Lastly but not the least of my medication list was a Pulmicort puffer with instructions to take 2 puffs bd. I looked at the pile of medication on the counter and said, “Crickey, it will either kill me or cure me. “ The Pharmacist laughed and said, “It won’t kill you it will cure you.” Thank goodness I thought to myself.
So that was about 5hrs of the day spent at the hospital. To go to xray, I had to walk through the mens section out the back door through an alley way to the back where the xray clinic was. As I walked out I thought to myself, “Crickey which was back?” Luckily a nurse had taken me half was to xray, then on my way back another nurse or whatever they were saw my expression and took me back to the consult area. Phew, talk about a tender mercy.
So what was going to be a very dull 2nd week report turned out to be quite eventful. I am so glad I went to the hosp, I hadn’t realized how sick I was. Matthew is at a work meeting in Dubai today and then Abu Dhabi tomorrow.
Timothy arrives this Friday night and I am getting very excited to have him here , and share these experiences with family. I better go and have a rest.
Until we meet again. God Bless
Love RG, Aunty Rhonda, Mum etc, etc
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