About Jamie's National Day.

This week at school we had national day.  National day is a celebration for Emiratis to remember Sheikh Zayed and how he formed the country of UAE 43 years ago. That is as old as my Dad is!

At school we had a camel, goats and a horse. It was funny because the camel did a wee!  There was a rope maze which you had to climb through, a falcon display where you had to run with the falconry glove to see how fast you were until the falcon could catch the glove.  There were henna tattoos, a majilis tent where they made traditional food, traditional dancing with sticks and lots of arts and crafts things to do. We all had to dress up in UAE colours.

On one of the 5 days of national day holidays I went kayaking with my Mum and my Dad around the mangroves. The company was called Noukhada.  We got to go for a swim. It was very fun and hard work.  When we went inside the mangroves, it was very narrow and tricky to kayak.

School and Halloween blog

My school is called Cranleigh and my teacher is called Miss Cullen. There are 15 pupils in my class. My best friends are called Sebastien and Noah. The people in my class come from all over the world. For example, Australia, Canada, Pakistan, Egypt, Germany and England. My teacher comes from South Africa. At school we have lots of different lessons like music and Arabic and after school we can try new things like recorder, art club and rugby.

Me in my school uniform:

Yesterday it was Halloween. I was a Zombie and my Mum was Cruella Deville but Dad was at the cricket pretending to be an Australian cricket fan! I went guising and got loads and loads of sweets.  We had a party at the house with a pumpkin and then there was a celebration where we live with a big bouncy castle and I had ice cream. It was a great day!

Me in my Halloween costume:

At the top of the Burj Khalifa

On Friday I went up the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. The Burj Khalifa is the tallest building in the world. At the top I saw the mall and the top of all the buildings in Dubai.  It was very high and the lift was super-fast.  I could see how fast it was by how quickly the floor numbers changed inside the lift.

I did a wee at the top of the tallest building in the world!

The Burj Khalifa is the big tower in the middle:

This is me at the bottom:

This is the view from the top:

This is the crazy road:

Ramadan Kareem!

It's Ramadan now, which is a special holy month for Muslims.

Every day Muslim people do not eat a thing until the sun goes down and say prayers.  Before they have their Iftar, which is a big party dinner with family and friends, they have three dates to break their fast.

We had an Iftar, it was lovely.  I tried a date and lots of other Arabic foods.  I had two chocolate brownies, a sticky ball and a little almond cake for pudding.

There are very special lights for Ramadan in the city, but during the day I am not allowed to eat or drink outside!

Here is a traditional Ramadan lantern:

Now We Are Six

This is my birthday blog.  On the 9th of June I was 6.  I went to Yas waterworld.  First I went to the kids play area, then I went to the bigger one, then I went on the rollercoaster, then I went on the lazy river, then I went on the slithery snake slides.  I also went in the wave pool and did a treasure hunt.  The best thing was the lazy river.

On my birthday I got:

A bicycle
A world cup football and a world cup Brazil t-shirt
A water gun
A tennis racket and some tennis balls.

The next day at night time I walked around the Formula 1 track.  It took a long time and it was fun.

Me in my Brazil top at Yas F1 circuit

Things in Abu Dhabi

Here are some of the things I have been doing in Abu Dhabi since I arrived:

McGougan's reunited

1. I saw Yas waterworld.

2. I saw Ferrari world and the F1 track.
3. I have seen jet skis

4. I have a swimming pool in my back garden and I went swimming.

5. I went to the grand mosque, it had the biggest carpet in the world! I saw the Koran.

6. I have got the chicken pox.

7. I visited Sheikh Zayeds old palace in Al Ain.

Sheikh Jamie

8. I saw a gecko and a cockroach.

9. I went to the fish market and I saw the wierdest fish.

10. I went to the museum and saw an exhibition about 'A History of the World in 100 Objects'.  It was very interesting. My favourite object was a sculpture of a lady made out of guns!

Chair sculpture at the museum

J in the Park

Today was my last day at Strathblane Primary School.  It was a great day because we had a demonstration by the Riderz bike stunt team and I had two parties with my friends.  One in school and one in the park at the end of the day.  Thank you to everyone for my cards, pictures and presents, I will miss you. Here are some pictures of all the fun!

Goodbye Britain, Hello Abu Dhabi!

We're going on a double decker plane, awesome! Do you like it? I'm looking forward to watching the movies.

Only a couple of days until we go. I hope you will keep in touch with me.

My email address is jamiemcgougan@outlook.com