Customer Service WOWZERS... and a mouse.

A lot of the time I can't be arsed to pick up the phone and make a call.  Sheer laziness leaves me in the dark, though I have an important question.

Instead of writing a poem about a mouse, I decided to pick up the phone and call Emirates Airline and see about my flight home, January 1, 2011.  I was originally scheduled to be on the 10:40am flight, but who really wants to get up and drive to the airport that early on New Years Day??? I don't want to.  The evening flight was full when I booked.  BUT tonight, rather than writing a poem about a mouse, I picked up the phone and spent 15 minutes listening to the Emirates elevator music.  Much to my wondering ears did I hear, but a seat was to be found on the biggest airplane here!!! How many people can say they flew on this giant airbus?  OK, ok, quite a few can as it's a HUGE plane, but have you?!??!  I'm now confirmed on the evening flight AND I have a window seat.  Not emergency exit row - I made that mistake on the flight home for Christmas and my seat was a good 15 degrees cooler than any other seat on the plane. NOT ideal for a cold girl like me... After securing a spot, I hung up and called Starbucks.

Now I've had my card registered with starbucks for a loooooooong time. And please believe, things were NOT adding up when I looked online and only had 6 stars on my account.  SIX??? it takes 30 to get a gold card and tons of benefits, how come I only had 6???? I called the hotline and was immediately connected to my current hero who took one look at my account and bumped me to GOLD.  Just like that.  In 3-6 weeks my gold card will be arriving and I'll receive all the benefits that a Starbucks Gold Card can offer!!! SWEET!  Sometimes it does pay to pick up the phone and dial that free 800 number...

But what's this about a mouse???

Twas the night before this morning, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, 'til that stupid freakin' mouse.... whuuaaat?

I'm scared of mice.  Ever since the Rat's of Nimh, I've been scared of mice, rats, rodents.  They might look nice and friendly on the cover, but there are evil, malicious rats in the film.  Do NOT show to children or they will be scarred for life. I'm not getting younger and I'm still scared to death.  I love my parents house, but it's nearly 200 years old and a warm shelter for mice.  At 5am I sprang to my bed 'cause there arose such a clatter - no wait, I dug deeper under the covers because I heard it plotting my demise.  Squeak squeak squeak thrash clutter bang.  A mouse had found it's way into MY CLOSET!  I did NOT sign up for a roommate, I requested a single room, not dorm style.  For over 2 hours, I lay awake listening to this little villain plot an uprising.  I mean, I couldn't go back to sleep - not sure my fate should I doze off.  My mother saved me two hours later.  I heard her in the kitchen and ran in to ask for help and to get sympathy.  I ran to the bathroom (I'd been holding it for awhile) and when I came out, my mom was chuckling at my fear.  She had investigated and the murderous mouse was thrashing about and squealing in fear, stuck in a trap.

The mouse is now gone and I hope I will sleep, though nightmares of war might persist as I fear mice nibbling at my feet.

Moral of the Story:  Invest in airmiles, latte's, and night lights.

Why Blog?

Inevitably, all bloggers post about why they blog.  There are many good reasons - typically asking people to look inside and think about some deep universal truth.  BUT what if I just blog because twitter has a word limit?  Would anyone judge me?

Obviously the latte that's consumed with blogging is another great reason.

I'll be home for Christmas

I love Coldplay's new song, it's exactly how I've felt the past while... haven't been feeling the Christmas spirit. BUT in 8 sleeps, I'm headed to the airport and flying home to spend Christmas with my family.  And I feel a little Christmas creeping in.  Last night I finished up my shopping for my secret santa here in the UAE.  A few of us girls are getting together this week and doing a gift exchange and dinner... obviously, I can't eat the sweets because I'm still detoxing, BUT the girls are going to enjoy dinner and desserts.

Because of some creative booking, I get to fly direct from Dubai to New York on Wednesday night.  This morning I spoke with my principal and it's not an issue that I'm missing Thursday at work (so long as all my end of term marks are submitted before I go).  phewf.  He did remind me that teachers are expected back January 2nd and of course I'll be back... eventually (even I can't predict volcanic ash or a New York Blizzard)... blizzard, I miss DQ Blizzards. . . stupid detox.

You know what I won't miss when I leave this place?  I won't miss the perma-wet bathroom floors, seriously, is it necessary to wet the ENTIRE bathroom floor while using the hand held bidet? SERIOUSLY?  I'm pretty sure the toilets at the world cup were cleaner than the one at my school. ICK.

Also, what's with the teacher who wears the same shirt 7 days in a row?  Does he have 7 different PINK shirts? Or is it the same shirt again and again?   This week he's moved on to a peach shirt.  Equally as attractive as the last one.

Somehow I ran out of internet time while drinking my green tea here at Starbucks... as I was rambling along here, forgetting my purpose, boring you in the process...

Moral of the Story:  Should have stuck with Coffee.

... this isn't columbine ...

Living and teaching overseas opens up a can of craziness.  I know facebook is trying to force our lives into the truman show, but sometimes I just wish that there was a camera following me around.  When I arrived at school yesterday I was NOT looking forward to the day... but after hearing the music teacher announce over the microphone to all of the students at assembly, "don't forget to wear your traditional clothes tomorrow and to bring your guns to school," I couldn't get rid of the smile on my face.

Tomorrow is UAE National Day - 39 years as a country - and in anticipation, today was a giant carnival.  Not eating sugar or starch made the buffet impossible and I resisted the smell of popcorn and cotton candy.  At one unfortunate time I found myself at the top of the giant blow up air slide monitoring the kids (haha, you know I loved every second of it).

Happy National Day UAE!!!  And don't forget to bring your guns to school!!