Archives for 2011

Heavy on the pomp.

The school year has wrapped up for my sweet little students. Unfortunately for me, I have a few more weeks of sitting around in a dismantled classroom. The week before last we sent Grade 3 off with a nicely planned but loooong graduation ceremony. (My school only runs KG-3 so the students are “graduating” to Grade 4 at a new school).

I had been dreading saying goodbye to my girls all year. I taught them for two years and they were my first official classroom of students who were all mine. We went through a lot together. Laughing, crying, screaming (there were some bad times, ok?)…

A few days before their graduation the girls began to get extra lovey. One student drew a picture of herself crying and explained to me, “I am sad because I go new school.” Then she joined the crew crafting out this message:

As their graduation approached, I was nervous. I didn’t want to cry in front of all my students, their mothers, and the staff. Turns out, it was much easier to see them go than I thought. Somewhere between yelling at them to stop playing with the copy machine and their disregard for our practiced song formation, I started to feel a bit relieved. Honestly, if we had gone on for a third year together… someone was going to get hurt. (Figuratively, don’t worry!)

[Full disclosure: I did cry a bit during a rose ceremony where the girls stood up and thanked certain teachers, including me, while placing roses in a vase. It was super sweet.]

The ceremony itself was quite the production. There was recitation, singing, dancing, acting, costume changes, slideshows, gifts, and cake. Boy, was there cake. The most amazing cake I’ve ever seen. A giant cake made from 6 individual cakes. With a student’s face on top. Oh. Yes.

Also worth mentioning was the gift giving portion of the ceremony. Every student received a gift from the school. Every teacher received a gift from the Mothers Council. Individual students gave gifts to their classmates and their teachers. It was a bit out of control. My personal haul included: A bouquet of 4 roses from my entire class, a bouquet of a dozen roses from a student, 2 roses and a tea set from the Mothers Council, a necklace, fake flowers, potpourri, a gel candle, and a picture frame all from students. Excessive, but sweet.

A cautionary tale.

My kind friend took a trip to Canada recently. She was thoughtful enough to select some novelty snacks to mail to me. Unfortunately, the weather got the best of them.

My package was sent to a new collection location. As soon as I saw it, I knew why. My package was quarantined! The chocolate inside completely melted and began oozing out the side. Oops!

The Aero bars are completely flat!

I don’t think I’ll be sampling these snacks, but I’m sure they are delicious.

Thank you for thinking of me, Nikki!

xo, jill

Bright and shiny.

Despite being told our reservation for tea did not provide access to the rest of the hotel, we did a little bit of exploring. How could we not?

Once you enter and ascend the escalator, you immediately notice the atrium, the “World’s Tallest Atrium” to be exact.

In the center of the atrium there’s a mesmerizing fountain. The water is so perfect it doesn’t look like water! When it sprays out in tall arches it looks more like clear plastic tubes. Every 30 minutes a column of water is supposed to spray 32 meters up in the air. Unfortunately, if anyone puts their hands in the water the schedule is disrupted and pushed back another 30 minutes. Since everyone is trying to reassure themselves that the perfect water truly is liquid, many hands were in the fountain. No big spray show for us.

We sneakily took an elevator up to the 25th floor. That’s high. Looking over the edge was pretty scary for me. That’s when we realized what we had thought was the ceiling of the hotel, was actually the bottom of a restaurant. We had gone several stories above it

Top photo: looking down at a restaurant
Bottom photo: look up at the underside of a restaurant

During tea our view faced toward the mainland. Here you can see the bridge that takes you out to the artificial island the hotel sits on.

Everything inside the hotel was beautiful but I was especially fascinated by the floral arrangements. Very creative.

I can’t say that I took away any decorating ideas for myself, but the colorful atmosphere was a nice complement to our afternoon of luxury.

xo, jill

And two for tea.

A few weeks ago Mike and I took a look at the calendar and noticed something special. We’d been goofing around together and teasing each other for nearly 12 full months! We decided that was cause for a little celebration at the Burj Al Arab.

Visiting the Burj Al Arab is kind of a big deal. When you make reservations (which are required to enter) you are given a secret code. Without that code, there’s no getting past security or through the gate. Even though I’m not too impressed by exclusivity, I must admit handing over the secret password did give me a bit of a thrill.

Once inside the hotel we were able to do a bit of exploring before sitting down to the Ultimate Afternoon Tea. The service is comprised of 7 courses and costs 325AED ($90) without champagne, 375AED ($103) with champagne.

It was easy to lose count of the courses but I did my best to get photos of all the pretty food.

We started off with sparkling date juice.

Next, fresh berries and cream.

Then, we were brought a selection of meat filled and vegetarian sandwiches.

The sandwiches were followed by a vegetarian carvery course consisting of little spinach puffs, a mushroom quiche, and greens. (The meat selection was a salmon bake.)

A little sorbet to cleanse the pallet.

At this point the actual “tea” or hot drinks were served. I chose a simple strawberry ceylon. Mike opted to be a bit more luxurious. His cappuccino came with gold flakes on top.

The hot drinks were accompanied by scones with cream and jams.

The last two courses consisted of French pastries and truffles on a Ferris wheel.

Near the end of our meal, a server brought over a rose and a card in honor of our anniversary. We couldn’t stop giggling. It was clear they thought we were married.

For the record, I did not elope. And rest assured, if I did, my maiden name would reign!

The tea lasted nearly 3 hours and was certainly a little piece of luxury. My only disappointment was that despite stating on the phone and upon arrival that I required a vegetarian option, I was still served meat. It was all sorted (after my third request) and the food was superb. I guess I just assumed that a “5 Star Deluxe” hotel would get it right the first time.

It was definitely a special afternoon.xo, jill

PS more photos of the interior to come.