Dubai Exchange Blog 2011

Our final day was set to be entertaining with more ‘new experiences’. After a welcome lie-in, and packing, we gathered downstairs for a trip to I-Fly, an indoor skydive area.

When we arrived at the Mirdif Mall we were kitted out with all-in-one suits, goggles, ear plugs and a helmet. One of the ways that instructors communicate in 125 mph winds is to use hand signals, which we were briefed on. Being fairly logical, it was easy to remember what each one meant, for example a Churchill V shape represented “Straighten Legs”.

After the crash course we split into two groups of eight, and seated ourselves in one of the massive cone shaped funnels, sealed off from the outside by a door. As they were made from a clear material, the mall’s many shoppers could see in at our attempts. As the numbers on the wind speed counter increased, the sound of the wind rushing past the inner door to the wind tunnel made us all look at each other apprehensively. There was nothing left for it, and so Ryan was first in. It has to be said he made a good job of making it look fairly easy, and as each one of us had a first go lasting one minute, we learnt the basic position with help from the instructor.     

One of the most surreal things is staying in roughly the same place, stretched out. Words can’t really describe the feeling of being suspended on a column of air.  Looking down past a wire grid, acting as a floor, and up to the heights at the top was fairly scary, knowing where it was possible to fly. After our preliminary go, we had another, this time slightly more advanced. Half way though the instructor took hold of you, gave the nod at the controller, and sent you both flying upwards to the top. As the wind speed increased to around 150 mph, the instructor dropped and raises us both. Trust is also important here, as dropping down before pulling up with no control is quite scary!

After a dash back to the boarding house we then all headed out to Dubai Mall, and Urbanos, a restaurant for our final meal at the base of the Burj Khalifa. Also here were our exchange partners, and we all seated for a meal with plenty of banter. After, we had chance to splash out the rest of our cash (for some non-existant!) and have a final ‘Coldstone Creamery’ visit, for some the second of the day! Then, we all hopped back on the bus back to school where some final table tennis and packing commenced, before what is now bed-time. Tomorrow we are set to be out of here by 6:30, which means an early rise for a long journey home.

Posted by James Shires

Today was all about the sand. Having nagged Mr Clark since before dinner last night, he gave up his lunch out to take us all to the beach, where he and Miss Hill constantly nagged to make sure everyone had their factor 50 sun cream on.  Mr Clark even splashed out to hire more sun covers to give us no excuse!  Some girls needed their fix of the sun and so the parasols were only used to get out of the heat. Being at the beach we had our normal lunch at “Malik Burger” - with the creepy cat under our bench and the table covered with burger wrappers it was shown to be rather popular.

After lunch we decided to go for a swim in the rather warm sea and play the game of…well it doesn’t really have a name but the objective is to through the ball to each other without letting the other team take it (or getting splashed and dunked by Ryan and/or Jack.) After drying off, James and I decided to swim out to the end of the swimming area to take a picture with my “waterproof” camera. Except when we got there we discovered that it wasn’t so waterproof - more like water-full! After the beach we returned to school and played some Fifa, with the girls showing off their gaming talent against the well-experienced boys.

We then met at the Arch to be taken by Toyota Land Cruisers and a Hummer to the middle of the desert in Al-Sharjah, one of the other emirates close to Dubai.  We were off on a desert safari!  When we arrived in the dunes the drivers let down the tires and after a few photos it was time to set off “Dune Bashing” - no normal drive through the desert! With Mr Clark being thrown around in the front seat James, Sevi, Alia and I took our chances in the back.  Our driver threw the car around like an expert, with the massive cars scaling and descending the colossal dunes at seemingly impossible angles.  If dropping down the vertical sandy drops wasn’t enough it would be sliding down side ways that would make your insides turn inside out. But all was worth it as it was the most exciting part of the trip so far. 

We also had the chance to visit a camel farm, where we saw some baby camels  (5 days old!) After Sevi and Alia were persuaded into a picture where they look like they’re trying not to look to scared in front of the rather big sand-walking creature the driver thought it would be best if we all had a picture, which was fine as the camel itself struck a pose. We then had the chance to watch the sun go down over the dunes and watch Mr Clark try to get to the top of a particularly tall one.  We took loads of picture of us jumping off the dunes and in some cases (Frannie!) rolling down them.

After hurrying back to the car we arrived at the camp were we would have a BBQ and experience the local entertainment. It was not long until we were all stood outside the henna tattoo parlour having our arms decorated with immense skill and speed by the Henna artist. After letting them dry the boys and then the girls found themselves enjoying the local delicacies like falafel and shawarma before it was time for the entertainment to begin.

It started with a belly dancer which none of the boys (especially Ryan!) had complaints about. Then it was time for the stage to be taken over by a man in a skirt constantly spinning round for eleven minutes with flashing lights. But the best was yet to come. The man in the skirt then invited Ryan to come on to the stage and try spinning around with the skirt for himself, which ended rather dizzily. But to top it all off James Novotny was taken by the man round the stage collecting tips before lying him down and spinning on one had round his body.

It was then time for tea - a delightful BBQ of traditional Arabian foods, sat at knee height tables.  The whole day seemed to take it out of Ryan, however - we found him fast asleep under the table after we’d gone to get some food.

After tea we ventured out for a quick walk to the top of the nearest dune for some night time pictures and some sand surfing, on snowboards, but we soon hurried up when it was time to sing a nine year old boy happy birthday and watch him show us some impressive head stands and cart wheels.  Some of the girls took this opportunity to take camel rides around the camp.  Finally we climbed back into the 4x4s to head back across the sandy desert and back on to the motorway for our trip back to the boarding house - a great day, enjoyed by everyone.

Tomorrow is our last full day in Dubai. We’re going to iFly Dubai, an indoor sky-diving centre in Mirdif City Centre, before a leaving dinner with the whole exchange group in the shadow of the Burj Khalifa – read all about it in tomorrow’s blog!


Posted by Olie Hetherington

Today was great fun and full of different and strange events. We started the day with a well-deserved lie in (but only for the boys – unlucky girls!)

We had a day out of school to visit a small suburb of Dubai called Al Karama where we had a strange shopping spree. We had 2 hours free time to browse this famous cheap shopping area, looked after by our bus driver with local knowledge, Mr Habib.  We were greeted by lots of people happy to see tourists with money and they sniffed the chance to drain it out of us. We knew that everything there was amazingly cheap but we still had to work hard to barter the dealers down to a price that our wallets could deal with. Tom and I managed to get watches, we were bargaining and bidding like mad, we came out having being asked for 300 dirhams at the start we got them for 150 dhs which we would call a bargain. Jack, used his crafty negotiating skills to get a belt and James Shires bought yet another watch. The girls also triumphed with Lois geting a purse and Miss Hill a clutch bag.  The dealer-of-the-day award went to Sevi who managed to get more than 70% knocked off the price of a bag! But the highlight of the day had to be Mr Clark buying a dish-dash (Traditional Arab Dress) to fit in with the locals.

It was then back to school for the House Shouts and House Harmonies which at Repton UK we would call house unison and house harmony. The standard was pretty high with Foremarke House winning both harmony and unison and with my house, New House coming in second. Afterwards we were invited to a formal dinner by Mr Hughes-D’Aeth, and I particularly enjoyed the amazing chocolate cake for pudding.

None of us can wait for the Desert Safari tomorrow evening – read all about it in tomorrow’s blog!

Posted by Ryan Binns

Today the group and a couple of OR gappers spent a day in the sun at the beach. A little too much sun for some who now have bright red faces (Sevi..!)  We got up early and got to the beach for nine in the morning – it was deserted so we could take our pick of where to set up our camp.

Frannie immediately ran to the sea like an excited child, splashing about. The boys played football as the girls tried to tan. Then a few of the girls decided to go for a swim, until they were rudely interrupted by the boys charging in and soaking them through. Soon almost everyone was in the water apart from the hard-core tanners (Maddy).  We played boys against girls with the ball (which the girls obviously dominated.)  After we had dried out we headed for food. We had an extra special and unexpected visit from Mr Setterington, who was in Dubai for a couple of days.

After we had all filled ourselves we went straight back to the sun. Ollie had brought a camera which could be used underwater, which caused much amusement and resulted in some surprisingly good snaps. It wasn’t long till someone had to be buried in the sand:  Ryan and Jack volunteered. After we buried them even passers-by on the beach stopped, laughed, and took pictures. Extra-strength sun cream will be the tip for next time as the majority of the group are now slapping on the after-sun.

In the evening, some of the boys went karting with their exchange partners and the others went out for dinner. James Shires spent the evening with an old friend and Foremarkian, Joe Pederick who is a pupil at Repton Dubai and whose parents work in the School. The girls went back to their partners’ houses, some went shopping and one even went to Atlantis for dinner. I think everyone was ready for a good sleep after all the swimming and running about, and having to wake up early the next day for some shopping in the Al-Karama, the well-known cheap shopping district and an essential calling point for any visitors to the Emirate.

Posted by Lili Kettlewell and Jess Variava.

After a couple of lie-ins over the week-end, Sunday morning 6.30am was an early start! Unfortunately Elena, my exchange partner, was ill so her brother and I made it into school for lessons starting at 7.45.

 Lessons here seem slightly different, with a lot more active pupils. Double French consisted of the teacher constantly speaking French, the Repton Dubai pupils replying fluently and Jess, Lili, Ryan and I politely smiling and nodding, catching as much as we could of the language and trying to get involved.  The pace slackened a little in English – a cover teacher meant we weren’t working at full pace. English brought us a cover teacher which meant a relaxed lesson! Having no prep meant Maddy and I had a nice hour in the library checking up on everything which was going on back home.

Home time came round soon, where it was really nice to sit down and relax. Elena and I planned to watch a film however no longer than 10 minutes into the film I was fast asleep; I think the early mornings have started to take their toll! Another early morning on Monday wasn’t easy, but knowing I had DT kept me going.

DT meant I could finish fixing “Boris The Golden Gnome”. Boris was a present I was given before Dubai. The plan was to take him everywhere with me, take plenty of pictures of him and complete his diary, sadly Boris’s life ended during a fight to reach the comfiest chair in the corridor. So D.T came and I managed to fix his feet and finish off his torso, hopefully Boris will be able to make his way back to the UK! After school the family I have been staying with treated me to some spag bol – proper English food. It was another early bedtime after catching up with 90210 and a nice bowl of ice cream. It has been really fun staying with another family and I really hope to keep in touch with them.

Posted by Frannie Beharrell

This morning we all excitedly met outside the boarding house, ready to go on a day out to the water park, Wild Wadi. We all piled on to the yellow school buses and we were soon there. We unloaded and had to wait for a while as someone (Lois!) was late. When they finally arrived we were all quickly through the gates and getting changed for the long day to come.

As soon as we were all in our swimming gear, everyone raced through the park eager to be the first one of the rides. In total we probably spent about five hours going down rapids and flipping out of rubber rings. One of the slides at Wild Wadi was called the ‘Jameirah Sceirah’ and it was the steepest and scariest ride there. Most of us braved the slide but some chickened out (Lilly and Lois!). It was a great day and everyone had a fantastic time but no one had more fun than Frannie who had never been to a water park before, and could only be described as being like a child in a sweet shop! Some of us got picked up at the park and others got a taxi back to school but everyone was ready to have an early night as we were all shattered from the day’s events and had to get up early for school the next day.

Posted by Maddy Galbraith (4F)

Today was an eventful day filled with out-of-school activities. The day started off at Ski Dubai one of the big tourist attractions in the Emirates. Frannie and Lois decided against skiing since they hadn’t before and had a laugh in the snow park instead. The rest of us headed for the piste but it wasn’t long before we had our first fall when shortly after our arrival Ryan decided to stay a little longer on the chairlift only to find himself sliding on his backside.

The crash of the day award went to Jess and Sevi: they decided to ski alongside each other only to go just a little too fast down the slope and did a splendid triple roly-poly down the slope overtaking Ryan in the competition for the best fall. Despite that the star skier was Jack showing off sometimes, speeding down the slopes winning the competition with Tom to be the best skier. A nice surprise was also to see Steph Baker (OR) who drove all the way from Saudi Arabia just to meet us for the day.

As it was my birthday afterwards we went to the Cold Stone Creamery, an ice cream parlour where they throw the ice cream about and do tricks to amuse their customers. For my birthday we were given an ice cream chocolate cake, delivered with a rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’. Later, they gave a display of “ice cream pitching” where one threw it to another at the opposite side of the shop! They failed twice (narrowly missing an innocent mall-goer!) so Ryan thought he could fair a little better and tried only to fail narrowly.

After this the girls went back to their exchange partners’ homes while the boys decided to sneak out for Birthday dinner at India Palace in Festival City, a marina area with lots of huge yachts and chances to see some Arabian culture - we saw some traditional Arabian dancers. The meal itself was very nice and to some extent a feast, although we were though quite boring in our food choices, all ordering the same curry, chicken korma, except Mr Clark who opted for the hotter jalfrezi!

This was the end to another busy day – Wild Wadi awaits tomorrow!

Posted by James Novotny

Today was a quiet day at the end of a long week. The group have settled in really well to life at Dubai. So far they’ve attended lessons, completed preps, took part in activities in the afternoon, represented the school on the games field, took part in House Unison and Harmony rehearsals, been to the opening of an Art exhibition, been to the top of the world’s tallest building, shopped in the world’s biggest mall and been to the beach for a long afternoon… and this is only half way.

The week to come looks even more active. In addition to the academic programme, we have the House Singing Competitions, dinner with Mr Hughes-D’Aeth, visits to Wild Wadi water park, Ski Dubai, iFly Dubai (indoor simulated sky-diving!!) and the much anticipated Desert Safari with some dune bashing and sand boarding.

Keep an eye out for further updates!

DTC

Today was an exciting one.  We had a morning of lessons  - I had double physics and English; we’re reading Wuthering Heights by Bronte.

We missed the afternoon lessons and went as a group to Jumeirah Beach Park.  We played volleyball and football on the beach, and we all swam in the sea too thanks to Frannie who ran straight in and encouraged everyone else to get in too!  When everyone had got the courage to get in, we played a bit of American football in the water and Tom had a go at catching some starfish!  The girls took advantage of the hot weather to top up their tans and get some reading.  Oh, and let’s not forget GLH’s fake-tan incident! (Sorry…!)

We left the beach and spent the journey back admiring the pictures we’d just taken (you can see some of them in the gallery) and being amazed at the architecture of the place.  When we got back to school, we went to see the Junior School production of Arabian nights that was very exciting and funny.  It was performed outdoors in the Repton Circle and D-Block, the main tower at the centre of the school.  The play was written by a member of staff here at Repton Dubai and there were lots of pupils involved, from very young to some of the oldest in the School.  It was great to see some of the exchange students from Repton Dubai on the stage.

Tomorrow is the last day before the weekend and it should be another great one; keep up with the blog to find out!

Posted by Lois Elson.

Today we started off with lessons in the morning. French was the scariest lesson of the day with our whole class just sitting around speaking fluent French. It was really terrifying, especially when they started asking you questions! In History the class ended up so big that we had to bring in extra desks but it was still really good - we were studying the fall of the Berlin Wall and the whole group got involved.           

In the afternoon we visited the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, followed by Dubai Mall, although we didn’t get off to the best of starts, with Jack walking into the wing mirror of the bus, ending up with a gigantic bruise on his head.

First off was the Burj, as we travelled in the lift that ascended at over 1 floor per second. We travelled up 124 until we reached the furthest we could go without being a resident. Still the view from the observation deck up there was amazing.  We took loads of pictures, and James S. took an excellent one by sticking his hand out through the protective glass screen, to get a view of the whole building downwards.  More vertigo-inducing photos can be viewed in the gallery. Meanwhile, Olie and Lois had a go on the “interactive telescope” which showed you what the parts of Dubai looked like just thirty years ago – it’s changed lots!

After coming back down we went to Dubai Mall. Many of us went straight to the food court and Coldstone Creamery, where they threw the ice cream into the air before catching it with the cone, as well as mixing in whatever topping you wanted. It was honestly one of the nicest ice creams I’d ever had. Also we saw a cat walk at Bloomingdales which Jess was lucky enough to actually sit and watch. Overall it was an amazing day, the first day of activities, with many more to come – tomorrow we’re off to the beach!

Posted by Sevi Matthews

On our second full day in Dubai we were to have a more relaxed day, spending more time settling in to the School, and no trip out! This pleased Mr. Clark, who I think had tired of our constant questions about where we were headed next.

We had a range of lessons throughout the day and we have really started to get used to the way things work here. One of the biggest difference with Repton UK is that there is a supervised prep session at the end of every school day, before activities and before the day pupils go home.

With no trip, we had to find other forms of entertainment, and for a few free periods we found comfort with the library laptops – the Library is a great place to catch up with the news and whatever else is going on in the world.

Unfortunately our chosen activity, football, was postponed today, but one of the boys from the boarding house (and legendary participant in last year’s exchange) Asad persuaded me and Jack to spend our time getting ‘beefed’ in the gym! After a long - very long - hour and a half in the gym Asad convinced us to challenge him to arm wrestles, and to our pleasant surprise we both managed to fend off the one who calls himself the ‘bear’.

However, we still got a game of football as Ryan, who always has a way of sniffing out a football match, did not disappoint as we joined the boarders in a match after evening prep.

Tomorrow we have a big day –lessons in the morning, and after assembly in the afternoon we’re heading to the top of the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, so look out for the next blog entry!

By Tom Sharpe

Today we woke up at 6:30 in the morning, all of us shattered from the day before as we had a night flight.

We got up and went down stairs and waited to go to breakfast. The first lesson we had was a tutor lesson (I’m in Brook House).  At the moment, Repton Dubai are getting ready for their House shouts (or Unisons and Harmonies back in Repton).  We did a pretty bad job of the song “Stand By Me’ but everyone was dead keen to give it a go.

We have caused a bit of a stir since we got here.  Just after the second lesson I discovered I already had 5 secret admirers, who took a bit of a shine to me asking the teacher in the library if they could come in and thinking of some really stupid excuses just to see me! At the end of the day we had prep for 1 hour, this was complete different to 2 hours at Repton in the UK as it was in classrooms with teachers supervising.

We had to sign up for activities which start tomorrow, so Tom and I made our own entertainment with a cereal eating competition in the amazingly well-stocked kitchen in the boarding House.  We managed to get through 2 giant bowls of choco-flakes - they were amazing!

After tea James, N, Tom, Ryan and I played football on the floodlit tiger-turf, which was a amazing and meant we got to know a lot of boys from the Boarding House.

In the evening, the boys took a trip out of the House with Mr Clark to Mirdif City Centre, where Ollie bought a Plasma Ball (!), Ryan and Tom spent a lot of time amazed at the range of football boots available (!!) and James S. spent a lot of time perfecting his photography skills.

Overall, a great start to the two-weeks – tomorrow we have another full-school day ahead of us.  The girls are playing Netball for Repton Dubai – you should read about that in tomorrow’s entry!

Posted by Jack Clarke.

Under a greying sky, 12 Reptonians gathered by the Arch on Friday before leaving for Heathrow and the second exchange with our partner school in Dubai.  The twelve, six boys and six girls, were given a great send off by friends and family who had gathered in the yard. After a brief scare with a mis-named ticket (sorry Lili!) we boarded the flight for the 6h 30m journey to the UAE.  Some people sensibly opted to try to get some sleep on the flight (well done Tom) while others used the time to catch up with some newly released movies and also to improve their Angry Birds scores!

We were met at the airport by Helen Allen, Deputy Head at Repton Dubai along with three ORs of a very recent vintage (Calum Setterington S '10, Liam Fletcher O '10 and Rob Keep L '10 who helped us to get aboard the bright yellow school bus which had come to take us to the school campus, about 20 minutes from the bustling centre of Dubai.  Most of the group were then taken out for the afternoon by their host parents.   Some to the beach (where they placed bouncy-castle football with a twist - the bouncy-castle is made slippery with soap) and came back with some very early trip tans.  Others had the chance to meet the parents and families of their hosts.  The final group went to the City with DTC and the gap students and had an excellent lunch.

The afternoon got more active, with games and activities designed by the very hard working gap students to get the groups from Repton and Dubai to bond as a team.  Frannie showed some of her mettle when she lead her team to a colossal victory in the Bamboo Game against Jack's more challenging group!  By this point everyone was shattered and a quiet night was had in front of the Arsenal vs Man Utd game before the academic section of the exchange begings at 6:30am on Sunday morning.

Find out about this in tomorrow's blog entry.

Twelve Reptonians will depart from the Arch on Friday 11th March.

Please return here for regular updates on their progress