Day of Mourning

They say, "Bad news comes in three's". Well, we've had our three. First, my grandma died and then in 24 hours we got news of two of Russell's auties dying. Now we're trying to figure out how Russell can head back to the US for some time to help sort his aunt's possessions. He probably doesn't need to head out there for about 30 to 40 days, so that gives us some time. Preferably, we'll figure out how to keep Lyra here and in school even though she's out before my work-day ends.

Since November 27, she's had 4 days of school. That's all that was scheduled. First, we had an extended break because of Eid al Fitr and then the UAE National Day. Then she went back for four days and has now been off since December 18th for Christmas/Winter break. She was supposed to go back today - but there has been a national day of mourning declared in the UAE.

The ruler of Umm al Quwain, a neighboring emirate, died on Friday. My first clue that something was up was driving Lyra to a birthday party. There was nothing on any radio station except for classical music. Evidently, as a show of mourning, radio stations are not to broadcast their regular programming. This happened a few months ago when some cousin of a Sheikh was killed in an accident. So, I knew that someone must have died. Then they announced that it would be 3 days of mourning starting on Saturday.

They even cancelled the celebrations for Sheikh Mohammed who's anniversary for becoming the Ruler of Dubai was yesterday. All the government offices are closed and some private companies. But not mine - oh well. Whenever the government offices close, then schools are required to also be closed. So, late last night we got a text message from the school announcing they were closed. Gotta love text messaging - they use it for so much here that we would never think of. Not sure about tomorrow. If it's supposed to be 3 days of mourning starting Saturday, then we've only had 2 so far. So, are they also closed tomorrow? We'll find out later I guess.