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Wednesday, November 20, 2013

My Trip To Jail

     Don't worry this isn't what you think.  I didn't do anything bad.  I promise.  I went to jail with my students. Wait, that doesn't sound much better. Sometimes I wish I could put some of them in jail...But that is a whole other story.  Let me start at the beginning.

     As I mentioned previously, National Day is around the corner (December 2 and 3).  National Day is a BIG deal here.  I always thought that Trinidadians (where my parents are from) were patriotic.  We have soca songs that praise our country, we always wear T-Shirts and sport red, white and black whenever we get a chance. I have a few pairs of earrings that are in the shape of Trinidad, I love Trinidad.  I also thought that Canada was super patriotic.  I do have more than a handful of friends with maple leaf tattoos, we are always proud to say that we are Canadian.  Then I came to the UAE. National Day, oh I am sorry days (yes 2 days) is a huge deal here.  We have been getting ready at school for a month.  Everyday a class at school gives a presentation at the morning assemble talking about the country and the girls come to school decked out in red, green and black, the colors of the UAE.  They dance, sing and feed us chocolates and tea. There are pins, cell phone charms, flags, hats, dresses, chocolates, cakes, decals for your nails, the list goes on and on.  This year they are celebrating the 42nd year and there are 42's everywhere.  I have been given a few pins that I sport every day at school. Sorry, I am getting of track.  I was informed that today all the grade 6's would be going around the town that our school is in and we would be giving out chocolates and singing songs at the Polics Station, Bank, Phone Company Office and Family Center dressed in our UAE best. We headed out on the bus around 9 am and did just that, we sang patriotic songs and gave out chocolates.  At the police station we even got to visit the jail.  Some of the girls were scared and did not want to see it.  I took a look and there was one prisoner in the jail cell.  I was told that he was arrested for driving without a licence (or stealing, depending which student you believe) and that he was going to be in jail for 3 weeks and then be sent to Al Ain, the big city, to be processed I guess.  They gave him chocolates, which he accepted. I felt bad for him, he was kind of like a caged animal with all of us gawking at him.

Tomorrow we are having a big party for National Day!  Parents will be coming in and we will be eating and dancing our little hearts out!

Just another day in the UAE!

2 comments:

  1. Take photos of the festivities! You should get nail decals.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Poor guy, well at least he got chocolates! haha

    ReplyDelete