Thursday, December 5, 2013

Wait .. it's December already?!

Good God. As much as I dislike the phrase, "Time flies," I feel that I must attract some attention to it as summer in the middle-eastern desert has flowed seamlessly into fall and fall has clumsily tripped into winter. I didn't even realize it was officially 'winter' until today when I asked my students what causes the changes in seasons during our science lesson. I looked at my whiteboard and saw I still had the current season listed as fall and quickly corrected it. I use these seasonal names loosely because the weather here hasn't changed much. Temperatures are still in the 80's and if you stand outside under the sun for too long in a long shirt and long sleeves, you'll feel a little glistening action fire up. It feels warmer than I remember Phoenix being this time of year.

...I hate when people discuss the weather. And I have so much else to share. Moving on ...

My last post was centered on my homesickness and other emotions. Although I always miss my friends and family at home, my emotions have be checked and I've not had another wave pass over me since earlier this month. I've been keeping in better contact with my family (the 11-hour difference is hard to deal with, but we have found pockets that work for us ... and thank god for texts) and relying more on my local relationships and friendships. I went out a few weekends ago with a friend and just walked along the Corniche (the beach/boardwalk) and we wound our way in and around the city. It felt good to finally be to the point where I can explore and continue to enjoy this place that is my home.

I celebrated Halloween here by dressing the part. As per usual, I left my costume until last minute, so thank goodness for my friends Kay and Asma who helped me throw together a costume they called "Arabian Jasmine." Asma did some henna on my stomach, added fake lashes to my eyes and dripped a gold chain around my hair. Went to an Irish party first with my friend, then out to a bar, where I will just say that I probably had too much to drink and leave it at that. Lol.

Yvonne, Eimear, tornado and I at Irish house party downtown.

The next night, we had a Jay-Z concert to go to on Yas Island. A whole group of us went and met up at the Aloft Hotel to have dinner and drinks first. I was excited to see Jay because he was a little piece of home (this was my homesick weekend). The concert was outside, no seats, standing room only. There were no opening acts (weird), Jay came on stage around 10 and everyone went crazy. I found it amusing how many locals were showing him love. The crowd was an equal mix of expats and Emiratis. This was Jay-Z's first middle-eastern concert, he brought Timbaland with him and played a fusion of new and old songs, blowing a speaker in the process.

Rochelle and I @ Jay-Z concert at Du Arena
My sister is in the middle of planning her August wedding and has been dress shopping since my parents arrived in Arizona. I got to go once with her before I left and we found several dresses that looked stunning on her, but she hadn't pulled the trigger on any yet. I skyped with her and my parents one day when they were at a boutique and got to watch the process. One of the dresses I saw her try on for the first time ended up being the one she chose. I'm so grateful I got to be a part of that important day! I have a picture of the dress, but I won't post it. Y'all will have to wait until Aug. 16, 2014. Abbey and Bray just got their engagement pictures taken (got a sneak peak and they are so sweet) and things seem to be moving along smoothly. Abbey agreed to do her bachelorette party in Wisconsin in July while I'm there for my friend Dana's wedding, so I'm so glad to be a part of that!! I'm missing so many elements of helping her plan, this is one big event that I won't have to miss. :)

The middle part of November was filled with lesson plans, National Day preparations, and winter holiday planning. I bought a Christmas tree for my flat and have had the lights on every evening to add some festive spirit to my evenings when I spend them at home. All the stores and malls have tons of Christmas decorations up, which I find super comforting, especially this time of year. A friend helped me set her up, and I know she looks a little Charlie Brownish, but she'll do :)

This will be the first year I have not celebrated Christmas with my family. I will be somewhere in southeast Asia instead.
On November 21, it rained. I remember this date because rain in this city is unheard of. The evening before I noticed clouds in the sky off my balcony (also a rarity here, just like Phoenix) and sure enough on Thursday it was raining on our drive into school. When we got to school, we were so amped up with the excitement that school would possibly be canceled that we could barely concentrate. There was no morning assembly due to the rain (we normally hold tabor outside in the courtyard), and my girls were dancing around me asking if I had seen the rain (drops were falling from the sky all around us, but no I hadn't lol). "Miss! The rain! You like?" "Miss, no school? We go home?" "Miss, look!" (jumps in puddle, splashes everyone in a 2 meter radius.) The girls were as jittery as I was and even though I raised my shades all the way up so they could watch the weather our room was much darker than normal. We got through two periods and then the day got chaotic. There were Arabic announcements every five minutes: "Miss, she say buses come. We go home." "Miss, we get bags?" "Miss, we go now?" "Miss, it's RAINING!" "Miss, do you have rain in America?" The girls left school early and teachers got to leave by noon, jump-starting our weekend in the best way possible!

The next week was filled with 42nd annual National Day celebrations. National Day is the anniversary of the UAE's existence as a country and was officially celebrated on Dec. 2 this year. When I found this out, I was like, but where was everybody 43 years ago?
They were in the desert living in stone huts? Damn.
There was no Dubai or Abu Dhabi as we now know these cities. Can you even believe that?
At school, the history was celebrated through traditional performances, dances, songs, food and traditions. We had two days of festivities as school where the girls danced in cultural costumes (they did this hair flip move, which is my favorite part of the traditional dance here) for everyone, the Arabic teachers brought in local homemade food, mothers came in and sat on carpets in the courtyard and made henna, a falcon (a traditional bird for the UAE) was brought in for girls to take pictures with), and girls got dressed in traditional clothing, including the gold burqa shown below. The young girls were excited to wear the clothing and the gold burqa - seems to be viewed as a rite of passage.


The girls entertained a packed gym of teachers, mothers, aunts, sisters and friends for the entire morning. Before we knew it, the early-release bell had rung and the girls in their lipstick, eye liner, gold head pieces, and fancy costumes were all a blur of red, white, black and green running toward the buses. 
Some EMT's: American, Irish and Canadian.

I booked my ticket for my winter holiday with a friend today! We are flying into Bangkok on Dec. 15, back to Abu Dhabi on Jan. 3 and will traipse through Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia for the three weeks between. We'll be spending Christmas, New Year's Eve and my 30th birthday in southeast Asia. This.is.why.I.came.here! Trip number two is about to go down!

Thanksgiving crept up quickly - we were conveniently given the day off school due to Dubai winning the bid for the 2020 Expo. I hosted dinner for a few friends and ordered a ready-made turkey from the Holiday Inn and my guests brought so much food! My friend Kevin from Ireland came to experience his first Thanksgiving. Everyone asked me if I got homesick on this day. I purposely avoided thinking about what was going on at home (my grandmother, aunt and uncle, and cousins flew into Arizona from WI and WA to be with my parents, sister, Bray and his parents for dinner), so I could enjoy my new Thanksgiving tradition. We had a blast, ate, drank, changed into sweatpants, watched Planes, Trains and Automobiles, smoked shisha, played beer pong and talked long into the evening. On my way to bed, I skyped with my family as they were all sitting down to eat, so got to see everyone and wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving.


Then, there was Duabi. Last weekend. The day after Thanksgiving, two friends and I hopped in a car and drove the hour and 15 minutes to the flashiest city in the middle east.


We spent the weekend cruising the city during the day and partying at night. Didn't get in til 5 in the morning. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves, but I love this city and will be back soon!


Bar Baristi (a beach club near the marina) celebrating Derek's birthday.
Burj Khalifa!
60th floor overlooking the city's coast.

Danielle, Joy and Haneefa at Club 360.

Burj al Arab, leaving club 360.
Now that we're all caught up, I'm going to bed. Cheers to the weekend. Five more teaching days left until winter hols and Asia!!!!




Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Tidal wave


This weekend I got smacked straight in the forehead with some level eight (or however high tsunamis are rated) homesickness. I'm the unsuspecting city about to get pummeled with a whole ocean's worth of feelings, thoughts and people of home. I feel blindsided. Not that I expected a sick-free two years out here, but dang, I didn't expect to get hit so hard and so fast.  

It started on Saturday when I knew my parents were flying to Arizona for the next few months to be with my sister, her fiance, the holidays, and to help with wedding plans. Knowing that they were all going to be together without me put a sour taste in my mouth. Now, my sister and I have been living away from my parents for the last five years, but I've always had her and my parents always came out for the holidays. This year is going to be completely different. Fingers crossed for fun Thanksgiving plans! Christmas/birthday plans, check!

It's creeping up on three months of living and working abroad and all of my relationships at home are being tested. Most are passing with flying colors, but a few are fading away into nothing. Those that are fading away of your own choice, you make me sad and have hurt me, but there is nothing I can do to change who you are and how you react to challenges. I wish things were different, but it's time for me to focus on those who make an effort to be in my life and show me that they love and care for me in all sorts of different ways, despite the time difference, schedules and life in general. 

So, to my friends and family who sensed the storm from the air and dropped me a parachute, I love you  to the moon, and I'm so grateful to have you in my life corner! Xoxo 

Monday, October 14, 2013

Waiting #wringing hands

This is the most excruciating part of my journey so far.

Waiting.

 I'm not the best waiter. At first, I didn't mind and felt sort of relaxed about letting someone else on another end do some processing after running amok trying to get a document updated by the Arizona Department of Education and sending those revised documents off to become authenticated by the state, the US Embassy and the UAE Embassy.

But that was about a month and a half ago. I haven't heard from Footprints in ages (when I e-mail my rep to check in, she just says there is "nothing new to report yet, waiting on visas,") and am ambushed by millions of new posts on my Facebook threads of teachers moving to Abu Dhabi in August. Comments and questions such as, "Is coconut water easily available?" "Make sure you purchase international life insurance or change your existing life insurance policy so you are covered," "How soon after we arrive in AD does our health insurance kick in?" "Living Will, Living Trust, Power of Attorney, Pour Over Will, Advance Health Care Directive ... get it in order before leaving!" "What are you doing with your car while in AD?" "What bank have you found that will wire money internationally for free?" "How can I watch American TV in the UAE?" "Do I need the magic jack AND a VPN AND the Buffalo router in order to fool my computer into thinking it is still in the US?"

Enough. I am not even thinking about half of these things! I didn't know I was suppose to. And now that I am, I am stressing out because I don't know the answers to any of them!

Finally ... a comment with calming properties.

"As I sat all evening going through years of papers, I thought we are all so brave and inspirational. For us to take such massive leap, uprooting years of routines, friends and so much more, we deserve credit. Whatever the outcomes are, we took the leap and should be proud as there will be no 'what if'. :)"


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyF_kZcdEGQ

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Eid Mubarek!


Sri Lanka!

Oct. 13th: Today was our departure date. We had a red-eye flight out of Abu Dhabi, that had us arriving at 5 a.m. Sri Lankan time. I popped into a mall close by to my apartment before my travel companions arrived to pick up a few last minute items I needed to travel. Grabbed a sub and coffee on my way out and headed home to pack. Once my friends arrived, I chugged the rest of my coffee and locked my door. We were on our way to Sri Lanka! The airport was crazy crowed - everyone was traveling for Eid. 

Which was perfect, because after we got through security and got boarding passes printed and were scavenging for food, I started to feel ill. Whatever it was hit me like a ton of bricks and I had nowhere to go but in a public trash can in front of everyone. Oh god. Mortifying. I thought after I had thrown up once, I would feel better. And gratefully, we hadn't boarded the plane yet. Unfortunately, my body had other plans for me. I threw up almost every 15 minutes from that point on until we landed in Colombo. No, I did not have a seat partner (they should thank their lucky stars), and yes I used the air sick bags. Multiple. Worst flight ever. My stomach felt like it was doing ab crunches for a marathon body building competition for hours on end. And not in a good way. Let's just say I will not be ordering anything from Subway or Dunkin Doughnuts again.

Oct. 14th: So, we arrive in Colombo around 5 a.m., get our passports stamped, get through security, exchange dirhams for rupees and search for our drivers that came with the package we booked. Still getting sick as we load our suitcases into our car. I even, embarrassingly enough, had to ask my driver to stop and pull over as we exited the airport. Ugh. Sure he was happy to have me in his car. Lol. Upon re-entering the car, I asked how long of a drive it would be until we got to our first hotel, Jungle Beach. "Miss, about 5 or 6 hours. Maybe quicker. I go quick?" Hold ON. Did he say five HOURS? Not five minutes or five miles. Holy hell. I guess no one had bothered to check in to seeing where Colombo was in comparison to Trincomalee. As it turns out, Colombo is in the southwest region of the island and Trincomalee is in the northeast. Polar opposites of one another. Pretty big oversight on our part. If I hadn't been sick, I would have really enjoyed the drive. And I did still, despite my stomach bug. Our driver was very accommodating and friendly and pointed out many sights along the way, including Kanthale Lake (the biggest lake in Sri Lanka) made by King Agbo. 

Halfway to our hotel, we stopped at a sleepy beach-side restaurant with views of a bigger-than-life Buddha statue across the water from its deck seating. With trepidation, I ordered some Ginger Ale and fruit. I was so hungry and thirsty, but didn't want to embarrass my company further by another airport episode. Thankfully, the food and drink stayed down fine and I was on my way to full recovery! Once we arrived at Jungle Beach, our jaws dropped. This place was straight out of heaven. A true jungle oasis. We were welcomed by warm staff and given a white flower to place into a bowl of water to signal the resort had new guests. We were ushered to our rooms that included an outdoor shower and bamboo ceilings and got changed for the beach immediately. We had dinner at the hotel, rented a movie from the front desk and nursed our bug bites.


Oct. 15: This morning we woke up early to get our tour started early. We hopped into our cars and headed to Kanniya Hot Springs where a man holding a snake and had a monkey tied to a pole got us to take pictures with him, then demanded rupees. Lesson learned. There were five or six wells of water in the springs, increasing in heat. We all dipped out feet in them -- I was crossing my fingers for some healing on my mosquito bites -- then moved on to see the ancient and crumbling Welgambehera Buddhist Temple (where we learned never to turn our backs to a Buddha statue), drove across the longest bridge in Sri Lanka: Kinniya Bridge and stopped for a fresh king coconut at a roadside shop on our way toward Marble Beach (a Navy-owned beach and best beach on the island, according to our drivers). We had lunch there and swam, then drove to The Dutch Fort to visit the Thurukoneshwaram Hindu Kovil (a Hindu temple on the highest point in Trincomalee). 

This was the highlight of the trip for me. I was intrigued by the Hindu/Buddhist influences of this island and think it might be something I look into further. The religion just seems so blissful and peaceful. It got a hold of me during my time there and since my return to Abu Dhabi. We bought some souvenirs, stopped at a pharmacy on the way back to the hotel (for guess what? bug spray), got dinner and drinks delivered to our rooms, had a henna specialist come in and give us all henna and called it a night.



Oct. 16: Today was ELEPHANTS! We all wanted to make sure we got to ride an elephant while on the island, so our drivers made it happen. We drove to Habarana City where we had a ride on Aliyah the elephant through a jungle/marsh area, and took a village tour. The tour involved a cow/cart ride, a boat ride on Hiriwadunna Lake where we saw tons of lotus flowers (Lotus Flower Bomb, anyone?), and homemade lily pad leaf hats crafted by our boat paddlers.



Once we docked, we visited a local home situated in the middle of a big vegetable farm. The home was a tree house, with tarps around the windows. The kitchen a shack with a fire. The woman of the house cooked for us and we tasted homegrown bananas, herbal tea served out of a coconut cup and jugary - Sri Lankan rice with cucumber and macioc curry. We had lunch, stopped at a gem store and a sari store, where we were all treated to the best service and some of us bought silk saris or pants. Joy had braids in for the trip and had her hair up in a large bun and got stares EVERYWHERE we went. Our driver told us the locals were commenting on if the hair was real or not. They couldn't believe it. The girls at the sari shop were amazed by it and shocked when Joy took it out of her bun for them to see. Lol.


We drove to our second and final hotel of the stay after this, Ulagalla Resort. Clouds started rolling in, which wasn't unusual, it had rained a little bit each evening we had been there, but by the time we got close to our resort, it was full on storming! I was loving it - didn't get much rain in Phoenix and haven't seen rain in Abu Dhabi yet. It was the most beautiful welcome, in spite of the rain, and perhaps because of it. The manager of the hotel came out and served us cinnamon tea in coconuts and had us light a candle and ring bells signaling our arrival to the rest of the staff. It was late and we were exhausted, so we ordered room service and watched The Impossible. If you know this movie, it may not have been the smartest choice, as it is a movie based on the tsunami that ripped through Thailand and Sri Lanka in 2004. The area where were were staying was the worst hit on the island. Our drivers told us it used to be full of hotels, resorts, beaches and restaurants, but all was lost when the tsunami hit. Jungle Beach Resort was only a year old. Every five minutes I kept glancing at the thin walls of our bungalow, fingers crossed that the movie wouldn't come to life!

Oct. 17th: We spent this day by the pool, getting spa treatments and riding bikes around the 58 acre property. There was another rain storm this evening, but we had an amazing five-course dinner upstairs in the resort's open-air restaurant with bats circling around us while we ate :)



Oct. 18th: Today we leave. Five am wake-up call to start to long journey back to Colombo. I was awake almost the entire drive soaking up last-minute scenery (hard to believe, I know). We stopped to see Buddhist temples from afar and in a coastal fishing village (The Impossible flashbacks) to see a "magical" church and rows upon rows of deformed beggars. I bought two books on Buddhism and our flight to Kichen, India was flawless. I slept the whole way.


Once we got to India though, man. I felt like a prisoner. Airport security escorted us and two other women traveling from Sri Lanka on to Abu Dhabi into a glass room where they inspected only our hand luggage, took our passports to print our boarding passes and where each of us had to go into a smaller curtained box to be patted down and inspected, all while lots of men stood around the glass walls and watched. Then, I was told I needed to come with security to identify everyone's luggage because the woman in Sri Lanka put them all in my mind. The men were super scary and serious and told me I needed to know the contents of every suitcase, say that they were all mine and I couldn't bring my purse or passport of phone with me to do so. I walked away from my group thinking, "Well. This should be interesting. I hope my heart doesn't pound out of my chest." We walked a ways, then went down a wobbly elevator to the basement level where luggage was being loaded and into a small, dirty room. They pointed at a chair and told me to sit. To be honest, I was petrified, but was trying to keep it together. Was this procedure because we were American? Female? Do they do this to everyone? I identified our luggage successfully and was brought back through basement security again to meet up with my friends. Never been so glad to see their faces! Flight home was seamless, had a loooooooong line to get stamped back into the UAE, almost even longer line for a taxi (no one knows what you're talking about if you say cab), and by the time I got home, I fell into bed immediately.

A great first trip -- memorable in every sense of the word. Learned many traveling lessons this time around and next time will be more prepared. Cheers to many more trips like this one!


Monday, October 7, 2013

I get by with a little help from my friends

Today was rough. I cried three times. I felt like I was drowning in work. I was frustrated and irritated with myself that I couldn't snap out of whatever this funk was and get my ish together. People were counting on me: my principal, my HOF's, my parents, my students, and my coworkers. And I felt like I was letting each and every group down over and over again. I just couldn't keep my head above water, nor find solid footing when it came to work.

After our PD meeting today, my coworkers and friends, Jacinta and Eimear calmed me down and told me all the things I was doing right and told me to bing home the load of tests I needed to grade and enter and they would help. On the car ride home, the two continued to reassure me, along with our friend, Jennifer. Upon reaching Beach Towers and under strict orders to "have a cup of tea" and take a half hour to myself (which I spent a good chunk of lying on the cold, hard floor, first crying and then pulling myself together) Eimear, Jacinta, my neighbor Kevin, and friend John all piled on my couch and knocked out test after test. Kevin even brought a pizza!

The process started at 4:30 and ended by 8:30. Without my circle of friends here and handfuls of people (so many new!) who make it a point to show up in my life when they know I need it the most, I flounder. With these people and my family, I flourish.

Jennifer, Jacinta, Eimear, Kevin and John - this is for you! Shukran :)

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Inshallah

...Inshallah, Inshallah, Inshallah.

A helluva lot has happened since I last posted. It's October now, the third month I've seen since arriving in August.

Let me start by updating you all on my housing situation. On Sept. 24 (five weeks after arriving), we got notice that our housing keys were ready for pick up at Paris Sorbonne University on Reem Island. I had heard rumors and been told I would be placed in Beach Towers on Reem Island, but being here for a few weeks and seen how things change on a dime, I wasn't holding my breath until that key was in my hand!

We spent the whole evening at Paris Sorbonne University signing lease agreements, reading contracts, standing in lines, paying deposits, standing in more lines, and finally getting keys. The deposit was something we were not notified of at all until a few days before key day. It sounded like only those placed in the city were paying deposits on their flats. AED5,000 for one-bedrooms, AED6,500 for two-bedrooms, and AED7,000 for three-bedrooms. I owed AED5,000 ($1,361.29) out of our AED20,000 ($5,445.14) furniture stipend ADEC provided us. This deposit is refundable, but still unexpected. Luckily, I did find out I was placed in Beach Towers, and this building came with a fridge, stove/cooktop and washer/dryer combo and built-in wardrobes. Most buildings come with none of the above and these purchases come out of the furniture stipend. So, if I had to pay a deposit, at least I didn't have to then buy appliances/a closet. #silverliningswherevericanfindthem.

Beach Tower B
 

My friends John, Nicole and I were one of the last ones to get keys and we grabbed  a taxi to the property together to check our layouts out.


I, somehow, landed a one-bedroom large flat. There are one-bedroom smalls and one-bedroom larges in our building. My flat has marble floors throughout and tile in the kitchen, three bathrooms, and a "maid's room." There are doors, locks and sets of keys everywhere. My living room has a door with a set of keys, as does my kitchen and my bedroom. All my bathrooms have locks on the doors. I have tried to reason with the amount of security within the apartment, and can't. I have a huge balcony space with access from my living room, kitchen and bedroom. Walking around in this huge space, my voice echoed. Moving on up (square footage wise) from a garage studio in downtown Phoenix!

Since this night, I've had furniture delivered and now have a bed, a few chairs, and a couch, as well as balcony furniture. I have an air mattress in my maid's room and a couch that pulls out into sleeping space for anyone who wants to visit! I bought a dining room table and chairs, nightstands, a dresser, a rug, and a few mirrors that will be delivered Saturday. Little by little, my corner in Beach Towers is feeling more mine.
 


Ok, now school. Maybe two weeks ago, I was having a great day with my girls. Things were running smoothly, I remember actually thinking that I had found my groove. Then I was called down to my principal's office, along with two other teachers mid-day. Rumors about ADEC cutting classes due to low enrollment had been circling for the past two weeks, and I knew whatever I was about to hear would be connected to that. Indeed it was. In third grade, ADEC was cutting one of my two groups of girls. They would be dissolved into the remaining five sections of third grade. I was going to move classrooms and take on two new groups of girls. This was on a Wednesday afternoon. We were told the switch would happen on Sunday. I was grateful to not have been transferred, but my head was going a mile a minute about how I and my students would manage this transition smoothly and elegantly. At least I had the rest of the day and the next with my current classes and to move items into my new room, right?

Ah hem. As soon as I made it back to classroom, the bus aids and social workers were speaking loudly and quickly in Arabic at me and my girls and telling them to move their stuff and sending off the girls in the cut section to their new classes. What?? I thought not until Sunday? Sigh. "Miss, you have period five in new room right now. Go there now. Teach." Oh. Ok. Brand new room. Brand new girls. No materials of my own. Still third grade. I can do this. I felt reeeeeaaaaally pushed out of my comfort zone, but I did it. I went in to my new room and introduced myself to my new class, we practiced my class rules, we talked about what they do if they needed to get a drink or go to the bathroom, I showed them how I expected them to line up/walk in the hallways. We talked about rewards. We talked about their families. We skip counted. We ended the day the best we could.


The next morning, I multi-tasked having my girls work on mini-projects while I transferred my things into my new room. The day went quickly and I prayed thanks that it was the weekend. I needed some time away to gain composure and perspective.

Since this time, I have got my room set up (mostly), have gotten to know my two new groups of girls (oh yeah, we had parent night last week - thankfully only two moms came to me and thankfully it was more centered on school expectations and not class progress), but am feeling overwhelmed with all that needs to be done. It did make me smile when a mother of one of my original girls came to talk to me about getting her daughter switched back into my classes. She said her daughter came home crying every day because she missed me. After talking to the principal, not once, but twice, she got her way. Must be doing a few things right??? However, I got myself sick over the weekend, lost my voice and stayed home from school today to see a doctor.


My coworker helping me cut down creepy, dusty stuffed animals from my new ceiling during Parent Night.

Four more day until our Eid holiday (nine days off if the moon phases cooperate!) begins, so I'm going to try to keep my chin up, orange juice in hand, and mind calm through these next few days. 

Wish me luck!

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Settling in

I've been in Abu Dhabi for over a month now (so hard to believe!) and have started to settle into my school and with my two classes of third grade girls, am on my last few days at the Intercontinental Hotel, got my apartment keys, bought furniture (after hopping a concrete sky high mental block) and have formed a family of close friends from around the world. My mind is slowing making the switch from visiting this country to living here.

My school days begin at 7:25 a.m. Sunday through Thursday. And yes, it is difficult getting used to rising for work on a Sunday morning and calling Thursday your end of the week. I just spoke to my sister this morning and it is Saturday morning for me and Friday night for her. My weekend is ending, while hers is just beginning.

I report to the gym every morning for assembly. I line up behind my morning class (one day it is 3E and the next it is 3F) while they recite and sing in Arabic and do a school dance. The entire school is present for these daily assemblies and we are dismissed class by class. We walk to our classroom (our school is like a big square with the hallways outside and the classrooms inside around the border) and my girls line up outside the room next to their lockers with their homework and notes (Inshallah), while I greet each one by shaking their hands and wishing each other good morning. "Good morning, Ms. Kaitlin."

I write a daily message to them on the whiteboard, although they are all not yet to the point of being able to read and understand what I mean. They work on bellwork of some sort (practicing writing their name and father's name in English, single digit addition and subtraction problems) while I collect homework and give stickers for those who finished and brought it back to class. We pass out nametags and go back to the carpet for calendar time. We do a lot of listen and repeat and hand motions during this time to help them remember what the vocabulary means.


Questions my girls came up with for me to answer.

I have three 45-minute periods with each class of girls, where we touch on English, math and science. The time goes so quickly and before you know it, it's break time (my morning is scheduled like this: period 1, period 2, break, period 3 and my afternoon is scheduled like this: period 5, break, period 6, period 7) or time to say goodbye to one group for the day. There is no scheduled lunch break in the middle of the day. The girls use their morning break to eat lunch and I use my period 4 prep to eat (sometimes). They bring a lot of bread with chocolate spread, and Capri Suns. The canteen sells bags of popcorn, so everyone who can spare a dew dirhams has a bag of popcorn in their hands and you find kernels all over the halls.

My two groups of girls are very well behaved (albeit chatty - I have determined this to be a cultural norm) and most understand and can speak English quite well. However, don't let me lead you astray. There are a handful in each class that give me blank stares quite often. I find myself acting quite a bit in class -- many hand gestures, drawings and speaking animatedly to get my point across. I fall into my bed exhausted each night. When I feel frustrated that my girls can't understand me, I think of myself in an all Arabic classroom and remind myself how lost I would be.

We have quite a big staff -- many Arabic teachers and English Medium teachers from Ireland, South Africa, United States, Australia/New Zealand and Canada. The families we teach are middle class, and my girls arrive each day in pink and white uniforms. The girls are friendly and in general have a good attitude toward learning English. They all tell me it's their favorite part of the day. I must be doing something right! There is much chaos, but I'm trying to find my footing slowly but surely. I want to be as effective with my students as I can. Each day gets better.

Sunday, September 8, 2013

This girl is teaching abroad!

After a week of playing the role of a tourist/explorer, I got ready to report to Al Afaq for my first day with teachers on Sunday, Sept. 1. It tripped me out starting my work week on a Sunday. The Friday/Saturday weekends feel shorter :( We had a week of orientations/meetings/planning/set up with the other EMT's (English Medium Teachers) and AMT's (Arabic Medium Teachers) before the kids arrived today (Sept. 8).

What a roller coaster this week was! I hadn't found my school beforehand, and since Abu Dhabi doesn't have an address system in place (suppose to by 2015), my directions to my school were: "Tell the taxi driver it's near the Bangladesh Embassy and next to the mosque with the four tall pillars." Ok. Perfect. What in the world?! I bumped into someone in the lobby who was waiting for a taxi who was also headed to Al Afaq, so we shared. We got a bit turned around, but managed to find the school within 15-20 minutes (a mere slice of time in comparison to some of our colleagues who were having to carpool or taxi more than an hour from the hotel one way).

 (Dress code at my school is skirts down to the ankles, shirts down to wrists - or at least past elbows - and collarbone preferably covered. Dress pants are also acceptable, but paired with a long tunic that covers your bum!)
(Al Afaq School -- all girls, grades 1-6)
 
Upon arrival, we saw a table full of welcome back boxes for us and Turkish tea. Inside the boxes was a few pieces of chocolate.
 
 (Lobby)
(Box of chocolates :))
 
We were caught off guard by all the welcoming, there were a lot of AMT's and EMT's greeting, hugging and cheek kissing down the hall by the principal's office. The cheek kissing is new to me. Sometimes they kiss one side of your cheek one time, sometimes more, and same for the other side. You don't know how many you're in for, so you just let them lead.
 
Then, we were told that the school had been overstaffed. Reality hit us quickly. What did this mean? What was going to happen? I was instructed to pair up with the third grade team for the day and soak things in from them. I did not have a classroom, nor a guaranteed position within the school. For the remaining days that week, I floated around the school, feeling very unproductive, hearing that more teachers had been transferred in this week and that teachers who had been at our school the year before were transferred out. Finally, on Wednesday around noon (we left at one each day this week), we were given confirmation of our positions (third grade sections E & F) and the go ahead to start setting up our rooms.
 (Luckily, there were a few things left in my room by the previous occupant, and I noticed right away that my walls were green and yellow!)
(The center pod area for second/third grade - my classroom is the teal door in the back left corner)
 
(A little collaboration time with a vet second grade teacher on Thursday -- trying to squish everything in on this last day before the weekend!)
 
By the time one o'clock on Thursday rolled around, I was panicking! My room was not what I wanted it to be, I didn't have the supplies I needed and I had not wrapped my head around the lesson plans and my rules/regulations/procedures I wanted to present on Sunday yet. I walked out knowing that I'd be stopping back in Saturday morning with a few other new EMT's to finish setting up/organizing my plans and my mind.
 
The weekend came and went far too quickly and soon enough I found myself snoozing my alarm on Saturday morning. A colleague and I took a taxi to a few teacher supply shops in the city picking up posters, border, paper to cover bulletin boards and punch-out letters and numbers and made our way to school, where I proceeded to fall off a student chair while trying to hang border, bruising my left ankle and our sweet HOF (Head of Faculty) called us down to her office for homemade scones and chai tea made from scratch.
 
Then. It was Sunday morning. D-day.
(That might be a fake smile, due to the early hour)

(Who can find the spelling errors?!)
 
I didn't sleep the greatest Saturday night as my mind was swerving and spinning at lightning pace, thinking about how the first day would go. How many students would show up? When would they get there? Would they look small or big to me? What would their English level be? Would they be kind to me and each other? Would I meet parents? Would they be able to speak to me/understand me? How was I going to fill my day? What if I forgot everything I had planned? What if I ran out of activities? What if I just plain forgot how to teach? Oh God.
 
I arrived shortly before 7 to find a student and her mother already in my classroom (the doors aren't locked) immediately. I was hoping I would have a few minutes to myself before meeting students and parents, but I rolled with it. Introduced myself and gave the student a task of cutting some numbered locker tags out for me, while the mother filled out some paperwork. I managed to make a few notes to myself during this time, got my head (sort of) right, and took a deep breath.
 
This was really happening. The thing I had talked about doing for so long was about to go down. Teaching abroad. Amazing. How did I get here?? The other girls streamed in a few at a time throughout the morning up until 10:30. I only had one crier! I attempted to go over rules/procedures/routines with the girls who were there, but was very distracting when every five minutes a new mother-father/daughter pair came in. The girls had a task on their desk of making a name tag for their desks and drawing/writing a few pictures of their summer holiday that I instructed them to continue on whenever new people came into the room.
 
By the end of the morning, I had collected 13, 14 girls out of 24 and that was as high as we got today. We went to the "cantina" (cafeteria) for breakfast around 9:30, then down to the gym for an hour-long assembly/national anthem/school dance/PE games. My girls did a great job on staying criss-cross applesauce, hands in lap, facing forward, not talking while all of this was going on. A few slipped and I had to play regulator and lay down the law with expectations, as I know I will be thankful I did later in the year.
 
Following the assembly, we started walking back to the classroom, but a few were talking in line, so I explained that this was not how Ms. Kaitlin's class would be walking in the hallways this year, and that we would turn around and try walking out again. This time, they came out with bubbles in their mouths and hands clasped in front of them as we practiced. Whew, because the early afternoon heat/humidity was creeping in and I was getting hot waiting for them ;)
 
We discussed teamwork through throwing a ball of yarn around to everyone in a circle; took a few polls about favorite colors and number of brothers and sisters; made a rule poster of my jobs and their jobs in the classroom; I told them a little about myself and showed them on a globe where my family and friends were. "Miss! That is so far!" We ended our afternoon with a big book called Kackadu Jack on the carpet.
 
Dismissal was chaos. Lol. We're going to have to work on that. That's all I can say about that. Much more discussion of rules and practice with procedures and routines on the to-do list for tomorrow, but had a wonderful first day with my girls. And best of all? The nervousness paired with the first day of school had passed. I have my work cut out for me in a lot of areas, but I jumped the first, and perhaps, biggest hurdle today. And I feel like I could climb Mt. Kilimanjaro! I have accomplished a goal that I have had for many years today. I did it. I am doing it. I will continue to do it. And do it well. Let's go!







Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10100310201396445&l=4866575090273748486

 
The mosque has a strict dress code, requiring women to cover from ankles to head scarves. If your outfit did not comply with these rules, you were given a black cloak to wear over your clothes.
 
 
The most spires a mosque has, the more money that region has. This mosque has quite a few. At night, lights that look like clouds light up the white surface of the mosque.

 
Upon exiting the mosque and returning the borrowed cloak, I couldn't take the heat anymore and ditched my cardigan to get some relief. Didn't work. Thought about jumping into the pools ...

Friday, August 30, 2013

Vacation week in the Arabian Peninsula

كيف فظيعة (How awful!) I had a draft saved on here with notes of how I filled each day since arriving to use when writing this entry, but between yesterday and today it seems to have disappeared. I will do my best to remember the main events from each day and recount them for you.

Wednesday, August 21: Today, surprisingly I awoke at 7:30 without much struggle. I knew this wouldn't last, but decided to get up and moving early to take advantage of my mixed up internal time clock. Exciting my room, I ran to the hall windows and gaped at my new view of Abu Dhabi.



I ran to Marina Mall with some friends (Nick, Jaymz, Joy, Javi, April) to get our sim cards for our phones and to stop at Carrefour (a local version of Target/Walmart) to pick up a few food items.


The sim card process was a fairly simple. I bought an international sim card that was put inside my Iphone 4s, 1 GB of data and some calling minutes. My total was 200 dirhams, which equates to $55. I had a bit of a rough go with my phone at first, but upon return to the Intercontinental, technology guru, David Grandidge set up camp in my room for all the new EMT's and got my phone up and running. A new friend of mine, Meena, who I had met from an Abu Dhabi Facebook group prior to arrival, invited me and my new friends Joy and Danielle over to her house for dinner. Meena lives in Abu Dhabi city, on Reem Island in a beautiful tower that overlooks water and the city. I felt so blessed to have someone local open up their home and friendship to me on my first night in the city!! Meena, I will always be grateful for that :) Danielle, Joy and I took a taxi (cars are cheap here - most rides are 20 dirhams or $5) to Reem Island and arrived at Meena's apartment in awe. Her building is tall, three bedrooms, five bathrooms and a large balcony with a fantastic view. She had a few other girls over already (UK sisters Kay and Asma and another UK resident, Rahma) who have become good friends of mine as well. We talked into the evening, soaked up the view and ate home-cooked food cooked by Asma around a purple dining room table with gulf breezes breathing through the apartment. It was the best way to kick off my first night in a new city. Cheers ladies! (There is a great dining table shot of all of us that I can't post because the Muslim ladies weren't covered.) Oh, when I got back to the hotel, I didn't go to sleep until 3:30 a.m. The jet lag is real.


Thursday, August 22: I slept the whole morning away today and well into the afternoon. When I finally peeled myself out of bed (my normal love of sleep is not helping with the jet lag), Danielle, Joy and I met up with Meena, Rahma and the sisters at Madina Zayed shopping center (a local souk), where they were haggling prices on Abayas (long dresses) to wear to work. We went back to Meena's for a few hours, then Joy, Danielle and I grabbed a late meal at our hotel's piano bar.

 
 
Friday, August 23: Fridays in Abu Dhabi are holy days. Like Sundays for most Americans. I began the morning by receiving an electronic Starbucks gift card from my parents through Facebook :) and hit the hotel's gym to run a bit over four miles. I would have really preferred to run outside, but the heat/humidity here ain't no joke. I would have come back to the hotel deprived of all the water in my body had I done so.


After the gym, I met some friends down by our hotel's pool for the first time. They had reserved a few lounge chairs, but even in the shade, it was too warm to not be the pool. Thankfully, ours had cool water coming through the jets, so it felt refreshing. I did a running cannonball into the middle of the pool as soon as I got there. Just kidding. I slathered on sunscreen and spent the afternoon talking with my friends and reveling in the fact that I was sitting poolside in Abu Dhabi (WHAT?!).


After two or three hours or reapplying sunscreen and sitting in the shade, it was time to go. We were heading to a local restaurant we had heard a lot of buzz about for dinner: The Lebanese Flower. Took a taxi (we have been taking taxis everywhere - quite common) and were seated immediately. The food was relatively inexpensive and they had pickles!!! We all got chicken schwarma (sp?), which was delicious!
 
 
 Following Lebanese Flower, April, Nick and I got dropped off at the Royal Palace Hotel (where the President is staying currently) near our hotel to do a little evening touring. Still hot outside, but a little bit more manageable this night. We walked back to the Intercontinental Hotel and called it a night.







 
Saturday, Aug. 24: All I remember about this day was that I went to the gym. Lol. Forgive me. Oh wait, I think we visited our hotel's beach this day. The beach closes by 6 or 7 p.m. each night. I heard the call to prayer for the first time on the beach. It is heard across the city and sounds very melodic. Hearing the prayers in Arabic gave me goose bumps.

 


Sunday, Aug. 25: Today was our first orientation meeting. We met in a gigantic ballroom in the hotel surrounded by ADEC staff. We were welcomed and got some general information about the history of ADEC and teacher expectations.


Then, someone told us that after we filled out our banking information, we'd file into an adjoining room where we'd be receiving our housing location (city, suburb, rural) and our school name as well as have the opportunity to talk with car and furniture rental places. I stopped listening after I heard housing location/school name. I had no idea that was happening today! I could barely concentrate on the directions being given for our bank paperwork. I don't think anybody else could either, because when they said we were finished, the entire ballroom (300+ people) made a made dash for two tiny doors leading into the other room. It was comical, really. The pushing, the shoving, the elbowing. It reminded me of students at Brunson-Lee who would jostle around for positions in line. I always would say as I passed them, "Don't worry, you are all going to the same place. It won't leave without you." Well. Roles were reversed today. I understand their necessity to move quickly. :)

Below is a link to a video I made right before I found out:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10100308854291055&l=4725581462764002247

Below is link to a video following finding out:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10100308861446715&l=3830850066351343510

Revive yo self, girl.

Hi! It's been a while. Life happened and I forgot to write it down.  I read a book recently. One that made me think long after I fin...