My Saga as it unfolds and I move my family to the next chapter...Alaska!

So how did I end up where I am anyway?

2011-12-04T11:38:00.000-08:00

Here we are. My family lives in Alaska. I like to call myself 14 years ago and say, "hey Leah you just lived in the middle east and now you live in Alaska?" I remember when I was 19 years old I had just dropped out of Hawkeye Community College and I was making some pretty poor decisions and living with my mom. My friend Jessie and I were discussing moving to Iowa City, why not? My best friend lives there and I always have fun visiting there. It is this mystical place only an hour and a half away where everyone is a little more liberal, earthy, hippy, and enlightened. So I throw everything that matters to me into my $750 Mercury, Topaz with one of those sunroofs that open labout an inch and I drive to Iowa City. Liz has spoken with her roommates at the "Farm house" and they have all agreed that I can stay until I get a job and find a place. Jessie comes to Iowa City for the weekend and we never hooked up that weekend - she partied with some friends and then headed back to Cedar Falls so the "big move" just didn't work for her.

In just a few weeks I start talking to Brynn and Ginny and Scott and we decide that we should get a place together. We start looking at houses after I scored my high rolling job washing dishes at Carlos O'Kellys. Scott is the average college kid with funding from his mom and dad. He is currently living at home and decided he is ready to get a place. Brynn and Ginny have just decided to leave the big city of Minneapolis to see what Iowa City can offer them. They too are lured by the hippy culture, vegan restaurants and huge Reggae and Creative writing that this party and college town has to offer. Not to mention the gay per capita is higher than anywhere in the mid-west. The thrill of the "farm house" bonfire keggars has us all excited for the numerous parties that Iowa City boasts to have.

We find the perfect house! With in walking distance of campus for Scott, a great distance from all the bars and a great basement for future keggars. The problem? It is a 5 bedroom so we are now challenged to find a 5th roommate. So uhhh there is this guy Mike, he is like 25, but he just got back from backpacking and traveling around Montana and he needs a roommate. Why not? 25 is pretty old though - but on the upside he can buy us beer and he will be responsible and pay his bills on time so why not? We meet Mike and we sign a lease. Bowery street yellow house shaped like a barn in Iowa City really became a famous party spot for our group of college aged misfits merging hippies, punks, and goth kids that frequented our living room playing vampire role-playing games next to a drum circle fighting over whether to play sublime or Bauhaus on the stereo. There were some crazy parties, a lot of shouting, a lot of stragglers and even a few hippies living on our couch or in the basement or on sleeping bags in my room. We had the party with the naked guy playing twister, the party where the couch was caught on fire. Needless to say Mike didn't last long with us before he had to move due to our consistent noise making and lack of respect for a 25 year old man done with this stage in his life - not to say that his "mellow" stage was any better. Why am I talking about this? I guess to have this memory sitting in Mike's bedroom when we first settled into our new home. Mike had this huge coffee table style book of Alaska. Bright blue and white glaring from the pages and I remember the way he spoke about moving to Alaska. It really sounded like a far away fantasy land to me at that point. At this point I had barely been out of Iowa and was living only 90 minutes from my hometown. He spoke about how he would some day move to Alaska and go to Alaska and I remember thinking, yea, sure me too.

So my best friend Liz says, "enroll at Kirkwood and take some classes with me, it will be fun," I was incredibly too impressionable at this facet of my life and I thank her all the time for being my roll model on that day. So I started some general education classes and found student loans. With my first loan disbursement Liz, Brynn, Julie - Mike's younger and much more fun college student and 19 roommate replacement, and I jumped in my 1986 Toyota, Carolla with plaid interior and our mix tapes of Jimmy Cliff, Sublime, Toots and the Maytals, Liz Phair, and Ween (I will always associate my first drive down the strip in Vegas with the song "Piss up a rope") and we drove to Albuquerque, NM (I had this moment at a keggar we happened upon and met these so much more liberal hippy types than Iowa City and I thought I wanna live here - wow what a pretty mountain) and finally to San Diego, California. I guess that is when I fell in love with traveling and the world started to open up to me.

As I finished Kirkwood and went on to University of Iowa I was now a waitress that had down-sized to a more acceptable amount of roommates to get any real studying done - just one. Between studying, waiting tables, and Monday night $.50 cup night at the Que, Dollar pitchers at Gabes on Tuesday, dollar you call at the Airliner on Wednesday, and then of course Thursday was almost the weekend, Friday, and Saturday.... I was still using every break from classes to hop in my car and take a road trip. There was another journey to New Mexico carefully suggested by Liz who I can later give credit to my choice in moving there. That was the original idea of camping in the mountains in January. I don't care what your sleeping bag claims you will still have to pee and sit around the fire before bed it just is a stupid idea unless you are one of those hardcore boy scouts and if you are you will be prepared unlike us. There was the drive to Florida where drunk moms in bikinis roam the beaches with their Milwaukee cans in coozies and young children are encouraged to try and piss off the crocodiles at the everglades. I would just say I lacked the drive to return to Florida . The springbreak 2000 trip to Galveston Island - I feel like I really went to college having this shot drinking experience. Then there was the back packing around Europe. I was living the whole world is my oyster experience and I guess it just never ended. I graduated from the University of Iowa in 2003 and set my sights on New Mexico. Why? I thought what a beautiful and inexpensive place to go to grad school and do some writing and of course travel to anywhere I wanted at my leisure in the Southwest.

So before I left on my journey I naturally acquired a dog because otherwise that move might have been scary! So Afton and I were off in 1993 Ford, Ranger pick-up in the year 2003. I spent a few years in New Mexico somewhat extending my college years. I found some younger college aged kids to hang out with and I landed a job waiting tables at Landry's and as most people in the Service industry can relate to there is no lack of people to go out with for a drink. I got a little distracted and there was nothing being written, I kept my letters of recommendation in a nice stack for when I got around to applying to grad school - the creative writing MFA at University of New Mexico was what my heart was telling me. Then I started to think I needed more of a career - I mean seriously - serving? Really I was in my 10th year in the service sector and was carrying around this degree and still had no clue what I wanted to be when I grew up. So I somehow decided to apply at AOL - one of the larger and highest paying call centers in Albuquerque. That is about when Liz decided to pick and move there too - oh and did I mention Julie and Surekha gravitated there as well. I like to think I have a magnetic pull!

So I started in sales it was my duty to answer the phone and convince people to sign-up for the free trial providing payment information in the hopes they would forget to cancel and the company would actually make some money off dial-up internet that was significantly over priced. We also helped people get a high speed connection to go along with their high speed internet. I ended up being decent enough to have some nice bonuses each month and aspired to coach and trainer in the company. I made my way to Consultant Support Specialist - which was one wrung on the ladder below coach which I am sure I would have eventually made (if the company wouldn't have been on it's way to it's demise). I also scored an interview as a trainer which I totally blew as I wasn't prepared to model my teaching strategies - I for some reason often think back to that and know I would rock it now with all the the teaching experience I have now. Anyways here I was a Consultant Support specialist, when the whole call center was unraveled and rumors of closing came down the pipe when I had just bought a new home with my now husband Michael. Did I forget to mention the romantic tail of meeting my husband at the call center and the wooing friendship of 1 year before we finally got together - and then bought a house with the very next day? So the call center is closing and I am suddenly hating my job so I say, Verizon, ok and I quit. I started at Verizon and decided on University of Phoenix for Graduate school finally. Kind of lame I know but the application process was a breeze so I can just start - that was sort of the appeal. I am actually pretty sure the reason I never started at UNM is that I was too lazy to fill out the application and write an essay etc. I didn't make it at verizon very long mostly because I got pretty sick and missed a lot of training and the job was really annoying - face to face customer service with too many acronyms and policies and procedures and standing still for eight hours really was killing my feet - I wanted my soul at the end of the day and corporate America was denying me that. So low and behold I decided to take on substitute teaching and thus began my teaching career and I haven't looked back since.

Teaching, like student loans has become another the world is my oyster kind of thing. Teaching brought me to the middle east and then teaching brought me to Alaska. Is this where we plant our roots? I now have this amazing family and I am really happy at my new teaching position so I am starting to think this beautiful and majestic - yes I think majestic every time I look out the window of a car, or my house or my school and not sure I will ever think anything else, I live in a majestic place and I may just stick around. I think about Mike's book 14 years ago and I think yep it's like that you were right and I live here - I do- because I can, right?

Now the naysayers will tell me "make it through a winter first," and I have to say I am trying so hard to do everything in my power to do that with some sanity of course. When I first started at my school one of my colleagues said to me, "we love it when people move to Alaska. We just hate it when all they can do is complain about the winter," she has no idea how powerful that was as I have mentally decided I will not complain about the winter. It has become a mantra! I will not complain that it is snowing. I will not whine about the lack of sun. I will not moan in March when we get even more snow. I will not be so petty and be one of those people that move to Alaska and then have the audacity to be sour with the snow and darkness - that would be ridiculous. I know somewhere in my psyche there exists a bout of depression and emotional baggage waiting to suck me under. So I started weight watchers - cross feeling unhappy about my body off the list and going down to a size 12 jeans has helped a lot and now I am working to a size 10 and I may just feel what size 8 feels like. I started taking yoga classes so I can get some exercise and relaxation at least once a week. I am trying really hard to find my core and to own my yoga positions so I can flop on the floor and do it on my own with out a class or DVD (which avoid because most of them are just plain evil with their redundant warrior twos and flank position - I mean seriously I am trying to relax here and find my core lady!) I am playing in the snow with Gavin to get my real sunlight as often as my schedule and the weather makes it possible. I am really excited to get my own snow pants and we are going to make a fort and a snowman as soon as the snow is a little bit packable. I am swallowing down vitamins - I may overdose on vitamin D. I avoid dramas and tv if I can at possible and I am also trying to spend lots of time cooking fabulous high fiber, low fat, low carb meals that require time in the kitchen with music and singing. Here is my plug for cooking absolutely in love with this lady's blog and her recipes are all pretty amazing and can honestly not say I have made a one that I haven't enjoyed. http://www.laaloosh.com I have taken up painting, and planning to take up knitting possibly and now I am even writing - although this is kind of lazy not thinking not planning kind of stream of conscientiousness writing. Yet I know it is sneaking in - I have these moments where in the bottom of my throat I feel that gonna cry chunk of something for no real or apparent reason. I let a dad last week yell at me over the phone send me into tears. So next step I am going to go to a tanning booth now once a week - why not maybe it will help? Upping my exercise too and downsizing wine intake of course. I think getting through the holidays is key and then we will start gaining daylight again and in a way we will be half way through the dark tunnel of winter.

Overall I am happy here and I think buying a house next year is a fantastic idea. I think I may just decide to get my PhD when Gavin starts elementary school and I am thinking I may like to work with kids a little more one on one on some level or I could be a college professor. Who knows? Also I have been toying heavily with the idea of becoming a foster parent. Not sure on that one yet but I sort of feel like taking a few kids home with me every year I teach and well I know I can't really take my students home with me but maybe I could put that love somewhere and help a kid that feels so unwanted feel wanted during his or her transition to an adoption.

The next chapter...Alaska

2011-08-27T13:45:00.000-07:00

I apologize to the five people that read and follow my blog (sorry mom!) for the excessive amount of time between blog postings. However a lot has happened! In late May and early June after Michael returned to the United States we started to imagine our life back in the states. There was a list a mile long of pros and cons of both decisions but in the long run we realized that Gavin needed an in home daycare situation in which he could socialize and work on increasing his social skills. Unfortunately the life we were living in the UAE did not seem to provide enough opportunities for him to interact with kids as we would like him to. I know that many teachers can tell you a much different story but for our family personally we just were not making the right connections and it wasn't working out for us. The compound living in close quarters with so many other teachers was having its long-term affect on us and it was really becoming apparent it wasn't a fit for us and our situation. The other thing that was really clear was that it was stressful for Michael to be the stay at home dad with little to no opportunity for social interaction for him. Due to the way labor forces work in the UAE there was not going to be an opportunity for him to work there. The reality for our family was it just wasn't healthy for me to work and my boys to stay home all day together. Many of my wonderful friends in the UAE had great suggestions and solutions but in the long run we just knew it was time for us to go.

I want it to be very clear that we had an amazing experience with our year overseas and we were able to do and see many things that I never had thought would be possible in our lifetimes. I had an amazing year in the classroom and will never forget the 47 beautiful girls I had the opportunity to work with. I also made some friendships I hope will continue to last over the years. With all that in mind I made this decision and moved forward with it. I started to apply all over the nation thinking in terms of both teacher pay and areas that my family and I thought would be nice for us to live. With in weeks I was interviewing for multiple positions with in Anchorage, Alaska. I came home knowing that I would likely not return to the UAE and spent some time in Iowa with family and friends. On my way from Iowa to New Mexico I had a phone interview for a special education Language Arts Middle school position and I hung up thinking, that is my dream job, that is the school I want to work in. With in days I was offered the position.

I will be honest we have faced a great deal of criticism from both family and friends in our decision to make this move. The biggest thing we have heard is the 6 months of winter, the increase in the cost of living, and of course we may be eaten by a bear or stomped by a moose. We thought really hard about these cons and here is our response. Let me start by saying the biggest increase is in rent and we were able to find a reasonable rent margin by moving outside of Anchorage in Wasilla, housing is significantly lower and there is a great small town vibe that we have been getting in the few weeks we have been here. For example an afternoon at the park means learning everything we can possibly do with our children from all the moms. Or the cashiers chatting with you or cars letting you in and using their blinkers on the roads. Walking in a store and bumping into someone and both parties apologize and smile, strangers chat in grocery isles and lines. I could go on and on but most of you know what I mean and as much as I thought I was a big city girl because I kept identifying with that Iowa girl that wanted to get out of small town Iowa so desperately, well it is me and I feel happy. I can already visualize myself joining the bowling league, the aerobics class with other teachers and I see myself happy.

Michael has already done his research and there are multiple options for employment for him right here in Wasilla and as soon as we can get Gavin into daycare (which is looking very promising and will happen in just days) then he can begin to actively seek employment. With us both working we will be making significantly more money then we did in the UAE and start to make some headway in some of our debt. We can both see our futures here and raising our son and future children here. Before we get too ahead of ourselves we of course plan to get through the winter, but I am confident if we can get ourselves out sledding, ice skating, skiing and being active the darkness and cold and longevity of it will hopefully not prevail and make us completely insane. Only time will tell but I am hopeful we will come out the other end putting some roots down.

I have been in my new school now for three weeks, two weeks with my kids. I am again feeling at home in the middle school special education classroom. I am amazed at the money in the district and the plethora of supplies and well the complete lack of the need for me to supplement as I have had to in previous teaching jobs. I swear I keep getting slanted looks when I ask, "are you sure I can have this whole container of glue sticks? Should I only take 3 or 4 for the kids to share?" And when I am super excited that we get free school t-shirts and we have enough consumables for all the kids and they were in my classroom at the beginning of the year. My desk was covered in teacher supplies with a welcome note and everyone wants to help me. The school is less than 15 years old and absolutely beautiful with an amazing view from every window. Another astonishing thing that I am not used to is the staff meetings and staff lounge are filled with positive attitudes, I have yet to come across the jaded teachers that complain. Everyone problem solves and everyone is enthusiastic. I am thrilled to be working in a school where learning is happening and parents are involved and the staff seems so competent at their job (I have never seen such a competent staff usually there is the sit on my chair and yell teacher and complain about any changes coming down the pipe or in the UAE the lazy Arabic staff that seemed to float around and drink lots of tea etc.).

Life is falling into place here and I am starting to form a nice routine in my classroom and really enjoying my kids and my troublemakers are far less then they have been in previous schools and I am even figuring out what works for them. I am meeting with a mom here in Wasilla starting an in home daycare this afternoon. She has a three year old daughter which will be great for Gavin and I have just felt really great talking to her. She is certified through the state which means she has had all the appropriate background checks and she is of course cpr/first aid certified. I will keep you posted on how that works out but thinking it will be a great fit for Gavin as he will get more one on one attention.

2011-07-17T13:38:00.000-07:00

So it has been a long time since my last blog post and I guess you could say life got busy. Let me see if I can summarize the last few months. The most beautiful thing I can share is the realization that I came so far from the beginning of the year with my girls to the end of the year. My girls really surprised me and I had them doing so much more than I thought possible. The writing process was taking place, students were retelling events from a story with enthusiasm, Scientific experiments were hitting home and there was a plethora of aha moments. I have to also give a few cheers for the achievement of the standardized assessment, scores accross the board were higher in English, Math and Science then in Arabic and Islamic studies...hmmm maybe this whole reform is a good idea? My girls were really motivated by my ice cream chart to learn their multiplication charts and in the end they even got excited about division. I learned a lot teaching elementary this year and even more about ESL then I thought I could through application in the classroom...it is funny to when you instinctively start doing something that you later learn in professional development is a "strategy". It was an amazing year for me. As the year came to a close with my girls we had an amazing celebration for the end of the school year and as the girls had promised they stopped coming on June 1st.

I found this interesting considering the numerous notices sent out by my employers stating that students should continue until June 23, but they didn't listen. They laughed at me when I told them three more weeks of school. So the last few weeks of school were spent getting reports finished and packing up our classrooms as our school is set for demolishing next year and we are moving into a new building with boys and girls, consolidating with two other schools. My coworkers and I drove by the new building and it is getting closer to complete but we have some doubt that it will be ready for the new school year.

There was a bit of professional development tossed in the mix by some amazing heads of faculty and I can honestly say it was some of the best professional developments I have been to. I also had the opportunity to lead some of my colleagues in a professional development that I came up with and presented on Marzano's research-based strategies. I didn't get nervous and actually felt very comfortable in the role and am thinking I wouldn't mind being a facilitator for other teachers or adults at some point. The end of the year meant buffets, making hair ties, and henna with our staff. We also had a nice secret sister present exchange which was a lot of fun but kind of lame because no one opens presents in front of anyone else...It was very sad because two of our teachers from Egypt were fired. One just returned and recovered from breast cancer and it was a very upsetting moment when she cried and told us all how much she loved and appreciated her. Our employer gave her reasoning for being fired sick leave...with no mention of the cancer. A bit cruel? Well we aren't in Kansas anymore...

Michael, my husband, had some things that he had to attend to back in the states in mid May and so we decided it was more economical for him to stay there until I returned. We figured he could spend some time with our nephews and I even thought it might be a nice break from him. Of course I decided that I could not live with out Gavin so I set out to do some single parenting UAE style. It started off nice with me wearing him out at the pool and paying a friend's nanny to watch him. But after awhile I started to feel lonely, sad, overwhelmed and the day care situation became too dramatic and I even had to find Gavin another baby sitter. Now I sit here with 31 hours before I fly home for my United States tour and I couldn't be more ready to stroll through Wal-mart, Target, Best Buy where the salesmen know what you mean when you ask about DPI, drive-ups, left turns, pumping my own gas, using my debit card for everything, family, smoothies with out ice cream, Old Navy, showing my elbows and knees and ankles off, and many many more perks that await me that I have forgotten to list here....

No matter what I will never regret this experience and will cherish all the friends I have made. I am a better teacher and person for moving here...

Stream of Conscienceness.....counting the days to summer

2011-04-29T22:42:00.000-07:00

So last night I had a dream that I was on a road-trip looking for housing and a few of my friends spread around the states were there along with my grandmother. I was looking at homes in Iowa, New Mexico, and of all random places a basement windowless apartment in California outside of LA (where I have never visited) and in the dream I remember saying to the strange man showing me the apartment, "am I staring in the movie Dangerous Minds?" Strange dream isn't it? I think I can go out on a limb and psycho-analyze it. I am feeling in limbo here and my mind has been wandering to ask the question, "what to do next after the UAE?" I mean my position here is nearly half over. Now remember this type of thinking is dangerous, you remember what I said about culture-shock in the UAE? There are two types of expatriates in this country those that make a life and find acceptance in this culture and those that count the days until they return to their home and constantly commiserate with other expatriates...I might be falling into the second category lately, but does this information fit accurate with teachers? Because we are all counting down at the end of the school year and so optimistic and energized at the beginning of the year, so I might just be experiencing the end of the school year teacher syndrome. I am fairly certain with this end of the year teacher syndrome we all toy with finding another position at another school and then are happy to return the next year. Or it could mean that I am dangerously in that place in my journey here where I can't help but think about going home, going home, going home.

The other interesting thing this dream brings up is that I an not sure where home will be after this experience comes to a close. Iowa, as much as I love my family and friends there, I just cannot live there again with the severe weather and mosquitos, New Mexico, as much as my heart wants to be with my best friends, beautiful nephews and in-laws, we sold our home to leave the crime and poverty and underpaid teacher scenario that plagued me there and vowed not to live there again. So, of course we are back to square one who is hiring teachers in America with all these budget cuts and teachers losing jobs? Well the good news is that as a special education teacher I have more choices, did you know that 12,000 special education positions go unfilled each year in the United States? If you are a teacher out of work have you considered going back to school for special education because hello job security. So maybe Alaska? Florida? Virgina? DC? Somewhere that will pay me what I deserve Insha'Allah...this is still another year out but cannot help but daydream about a nice rental home, grass, and taking Gavin to a pre-school that can accommodate him. I haven't had a chance to blog about this incident, have I?

Well my husband was diagnosed with ADHD as a young boy and I am pretty sure there was no mystery when he was kicked out of his first pre-school for escaping the classroom and obsessively jumping on the couch in the foyer of the school. I can totally picture this with my own son and can proudly say like father, like son. I am absolutely sure that Gavin is likely to have that ADHD label slapped on him at some point. As much as friends and family have chimed in to say he is only two this is how two year olds act! I still believe maybe this is true but am perfectly fine with the idea that my kid has more energy then most. I mean watch him as he learns his ABCs, he is super smart for a two year old (three next week), he knows his ABCs, all his shapes, colors, and can count to 10 and spell his name (found this out last night!).
http://qik.com/video/38855514/untitled

So prior to spring break I had visited and spoke over the phone to multiple nursery schools here in the UAE. I had been beginning to feel that for the sanity of my husband and for Gavin as an only child to gain some social skills, it was important for him to start nursery school. So after searching and searching and realizing many of the western schools were really pricey, had waiting lists, or you just cannot start until next year. So finally I find a school that is Arabic run with a bilingual program that teaches half the day in English and half the day in Arabic. This was the first Nursery school that I had walked into that was Arabic run that made me smile. Some alternatives left me a little concerned for safety and made me sort of feel like I would be dropping my kid off for battle everyday (25 two-year olds to 1 teacher not my kind of ratios). I kept thinking about that daycare in Mexico a few years back that the teacher was slipping benedryl to the kids to get them to take longer naps and the infant died because he was so sleepy he couldn't roll over.

So here were the choices:

House of Colours Nursery (UK run) I would only have to sell an organ to get him enrolled but wow it would be worth it! Licensed teachers, amazing curriculum, and I almost got a loan from the bank to sign him up... Here is their website: http://nurserycolours.com/home.html

The Jungle Book which was seriously, frighteningly under-priced and understaffed for the kids (1 to 25 ratio), there was coloring on the walls, which led me to believe there were moments that the kids were left to their own devices, lots of metal corners and edges, hard floors and concrete, but they speak English with the children so for a moment of insanity it was in the running.

The final choice was so amazing at first! I toured and they had a bilingual program, reasonably priced (around 500 a month) and they didn't have a waiting list and you could start at any time. I was really excited! We toured and it seemed it would be a perfect fit for Gavin. Here is their Facebook which is mostly in Arabic, Kids Land Nursery

So Gavin was off for his first day and I realize now it was a mistake to not stay with him for a bit on his first day, and it was a mistake to make his first day a full day, all again mistakes. But honestly every time I have left Gavin with anyone I hear nothing but wonderful things. At his in-home daycare back in the states he was one of her favorites (ok so she is one of my best friends and has to tell me this) but she had nothing but wonderful things to say about him! So around 10 am I decide to call and see how it is going for him. I am told he has not cried, he is happily playing with the other children and having a great day. So I am smiling and happy. Then I go to pick him up from his first day at Nursery school. When I get there the teacher's aid is standing there with all of his things packed and he is ready for me. She hands me the phone, the head teacher wants to speak to me, over the phone...I am assuming she has forgotten the English forms again so I grab the phone.

Here is the conversation:
What is wrong with your son?
Excuse me,what? Nothing is wrong with my son.
Have you taken him to the doctor for hyperactivity?
No he is only two years old. He has a family doctor and has gone to all his regular check-ups
He is very hyper.
He is two and yes he is very active.
He doesn't listen, he doesn't sit, he doesn't play with the other kids. He is very hyper. I think he is hyperactive and the ministry of education states that children like him must be serviced at special schools.
(at this point I guess I just panicked and again I am not proud but I start to cry. In hindsight I should of asked for her credentials to make such a statement).

She goes on to tell me she will try one more day if I want to bring him back but she just does not believe that her school can provide my son with the services he so clearly needs. I hang up crying and run out of the school crying. Again not my finer moments. So we left the Nursery school and haven't been back and we are back to having Gavin stay at home with Daddy.

We joined the health club at one of the hotels and I am hoping that some pool fun will help him with socialization (a lot of the families from my complex have joined) and I am also going to start going to church with him so maybe he can make some friends at Sunday School (or is it Friday School lol?). Not sure about next year because I know my son learns differently and I know that he is going to need some patient teachers and unfortunately lack faith that they exist here even in a Western capacity. Maybe I should try a western pre-school next year I am planning to take a tour at Sunflower Nursery and may find out how they work with more active children but am thinking that I can just wait until we are back in the states and begin him in a pre-k program for the 2012-2013 school year; at least I know that the right protocols will be followed before I am forced to staple a label on my son's forehead.

I have to admit this blog has really become a stream of conscienceness piece and I wish it could take on the form of a narrative essay but unfortunately I cannot seem to keep on one topic. So back to my thesis at the beginning which for the record my pre-school experience weaves into because it is another reason I miss home. I have taught special education and I have a clear understanding of the process in which goes into trying interventions before jumping the gun and labeling a two year old with ADHD. In contrast I have a few students in my class that have undiagnosed learning disabilities and unfortunately if they get the services they need then they get a label which could make them "unmarriable" later in life. So I work to find alternate ways for them to learn which is what this pre-school teacher was unwilling to do for my son.

I have been having a lot of missing family and friends moments. I miss Surekha, Liz, and Tamara. They were my friends back home. Liz since I was eleven, Surekha since my early twenties, and I met Tamara just a few years ago and we instantly clicked and I never felt like we skipped a beat with our friendship. Do not get me wrong I have made some wonderful friends here, like Sylvia from South Africa that I ride to and from school with every day. I honestly do not think I have ever had such a wonderful friend with such amazing advice and she has become a wonderful confident. I am raising my virtual glass to Liz and I's hikes at the dog park, cooking breakfasts together, chats in the yard with a glass of wine or a beer, checking out a local live music show, or shooting pool. I am raising my virtual glass to making curry (or watching her make it lol) with Surekha and watching "So You Think You Can Dance" and bad chick flicks. I cannot tell you how much I miss nerding it up with Tamara talking about the latest teen fantasy novels we have read or standing in line to watch the latest Twilight Saga movie or playing Apples to Apples, or an awesome garage sale with a kiddie pool and too many drinks the night before.

So here I am counting down the days until the end of the school year when I get to return home for a month. And I know next year will be a breeze compared to this year because I won't have to reinvent the wheel I have everything I put together this year. I have a clear understanding of all of the things my employer requires so knowing this going in I shouldn't have too many surprises. I am thinking hard about our future after this adventure and I think this is healthy because as much as the free spirit in me would like to float around I am realizing my body, mind, and spirit needs some roots, needs to see family more often, and I need to make some friends in a long lasting community (this one feels so temporary). So I leave this blog contemplative....

Mind the Gap!

2011-04-08T04:11:00.000-07:00

I have found with previous breaks from school, since my time overseas has commenced, my tendency is to crave time at home with my son and husband. I day dream during my busy weeks of simply enjoying the neighborhood parks, the zoo, trips to Dubai and even just lazily reading a book or catching up on my television shows. Well this is a great way to spend a break and it sort of stretches it out making it seem to last longer and it gives me the much needed rest and relaxation but I have also found that I have this unwanted company on my breaks. That company is the longing for home, missing family, missing my girls back home. I often spend at least one evening during these breaks having one to many glasses of wine and simply tearing up missing everyone. So with spring break coming I wanted to avoid this.

One thing that everyone here can share with you that comes with culture shock is the roller coaster of feelings of anxiety, depression, anger, and frustration. Each of these feelings is contrasted by feelings of enlightenment, joy, amazement, and even sometimes just a high that comes from so many new experiences. I remember once thinking that I was starting to get old enough that I had pretty much done all my firsts. First bike ride, first airplane ride, first time behind a wheel, first drink of alcohol, first time whitewater rafting, first time traveling across the states, first time in a foreign country, first kiss, first bite of sushi or curry, first time swimming in the ocean, and the list goes on and on but you get the point right? You get caught up in day to day life in America the daily grind so to speak and you hit 30 and you have your career, you give birth, you get married, and well this looming feeling of I did all life has to offer and now I just sit back and wait for things to happen to my son so I can live through him now right? Well I suppose this feeling is sort of gone for me now that I live overseas I mean I really start to see how large the world is and I know that I have so many firsts if I just travel. So I took my first trip to Athens, Greece so cross that off the bucket list.

In college I had a great roommate named Ginny and we quickly became great friends. Memories with Ginny include having a good time laughing, dancing, playing pool, traveling to Colorado, and whitewater rafting on the Amazon river. We have kept up contact over the years and when I would travel back to Iowa we would meet up for a meal or lunch. Ginny began working at this restaurant in Iowa City owned by this great Greek man named Dimitri. They fell in love and have been together ever since. She used to tell me they would move to Athens, Greece and would marry there. I remember thinking how mythical that sort of life might seem. Well just over a year ago they did, they sold their home in Iowa and were off to Athens. I have to admit feeling so distanced from our friendship I had some anxiety about showing up on her doorstep in Athens and staying in her home but it was wonderful. We didn't skip a beat from college it was like no time has passed and we found as we started to discuss that we had a lot of the same feelings living in new countries. We have similar observations of the void of culture in the United States compared to an Arab culture or Greek Culture. When Ginny and I were roommates we held one of the best cocktail parties ever. Here are a few images from that time.

Here is Ginny all dressed up.

This is my friend Julie and I at the same party all dressed up...

We had some really fun times that I will never forget and it was really great to spend a few days with her in such an amazing place! Let me tell you about my trip to Athens, Greece now! Here is a picture of Ginny and I on top of Mount Parnitha. We haven't changed too much from 20 to 30 right?

I had originally scheduled a cheap flight through one of those online booking agencies that give you a great deal with multiple connections and long layovers. I was a little annoyed but couldn't refute the price, around 400 USD and I could fly to Greece. Well my layover was planned to be in Bahrain and I figured it would be a great chance for me to do some reading and relaxing in the airport and from my research and from asking around Bahrain was a safe country. Well then the protests in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, and Bahrain started. Bahrain was considered unsafe to fly by British authorities but unfortunately most other countries still felt it was safe enough at the airport. The country itself had declared a state of emergency, urged people to stay indoors, and schools and government buildings were closed down, but my flight was still scheduled as planned. I was going back and forth should I stay or should I go? Most likely I will be safe right? I mean if it isn't safe they would shut down the airports, right? Well as the date approached I was anxiety ridden and decided as a female alone I shouldn't take the unnecessary risk so I bit the bullet and swallowed around 60 USD in cancellation fees and booked a different flight through Etihad airways (super fancy airline and I recommend it if you can find some last minute deals because it is like first class in coach). I ended up on the same flight of my friend Julie, a teacher in Al Gharbia whom was flying alone to take a cruise from Athens. It was nice, we met up at the airport and were able to get seats by one another for the flight.

We arrive in Athens and I am expecting to see my friend Ginny at the airport. Well she isn't standing where I expected her to be. In hindsight we both realized we have sort of adapted this relaxed attitude about things living in both Arab and European countries. It is like you lose the need to manage all the little details like well getting your friends mobile number. She apparently checked the board and found a flight from Dubai that was delayed so decided to head to the shopping mall. Meanwhile my flight was actually twenty minutes early. So Julie and I drag our luggage back and forth across the terminal searching for tall skinny girls with brown hair and a Greek man (this is how I describe Ginny to her). Which funny enough is almost every couple at the Athens airport. After I send multiple emails to both Ginny, and everyone I know that might know her and attempt to friend her fiancée on Facebook hoping maybe he has a data plan and will get the notification to his phone (yea right! they are not so connected to electronics like we are sharing one basic mobile phone). After around an hour I realize that it is possible that Ginny never received or noticed the email that my flight has changed so she is thinking my flight will be in a day later. I leave the airport depressed and convinced I will never see my friend Ginny. Julie graciously offers up her hotel room and we share a taxi to downtown Athens.

Julie and I sauntered around the down town area and I continued to send emails to my friend Ginny and call people in the states at ungodly hours hoping to find her mobile number. Julie and I decide to enjoy some coffee and ice cream at this cafe centered in the middle of town near the plaza.
Here is Julie enjoying some ice cream...

Here I am at the cafe drinking a cappuccino...

Julie and I drag ourselves to her hotel room and lounge on the beds of her very tiny hotel room. We take in the view out of the room and just when I have accepted my fate and am ready to fall asleep for an afternoon nap Ginny calls me. She explains laughing the whole time why the mix up happened and we have a good laugh and she tells me they are on their way to come and get me.

We spent the first evening at Ginny's lovely home. She lives in a suburb of Athens called Metamorphosis, I am sorry but can you think of a cooler name for a city to live in? Ginny and Dimitri live in this amazing villa that sets upon a mattress shop and surrounds a lovely courtyard. Here are some images of the street from the balcony facing out to the street.

Here are some images of the courtyard from the balcony facing the courtyard.

Dimitri's brother and family and his mother and father occupy the adjoined villas that surround the courtyard. During my stay I had mentioned that I wanted to eat authentic Gyros, spanakopita (spinach and cheese pie), dolmas, and baklava. So on each night of my stay his mother would drop off one of these dishes. Every night we ate dinner in Ginny and Dimitri's home and Ginny would make this wonderful Greek salad and put out a plate of feta cheese and bread. I seriously felt like I had died and gone to food heaven. Here are a few images of the wonderful things I feasted on. I learned that the traditional Gyro and the shwarma I have come to know and love in the UAE are not much different. They both come with french fried on the inside (which just never happened to my Gyros in the states which leads me to a whole new conversation to be brought up later that every country has a version of food from another country that is adapted to meet the needs of their taste buds).

Dimitri's mother brought these by for us. They called them donuts. Donuts? Um yea dunkin and crispy creme you haven't got nothing on these decadent "donuts."

This was my favorite evening of cuisine! We had two different cheese pies one with spinach and one just loaded with cheese. Homemade meatballs by Dimitri's mother (whom I never met) and potatoes...and of course some feta cheese and a Greek salad.

The great thing about traveling to Greece in the spring is that there is actually a spring to enjoy. I have been living in a desert climate for so long I have forgotten what spring smelled and sounded like. It is very cliché but it smelled like blooming flowers and there was the sweet sound of birds singing. You got the feeling everyone was out and about just to appreciate the sun shining in the sky. Here is an image I took as we strolled though town of all the trees in bloom.

Mind the Gap! That is what you will read and hear before you get on and off the subway all around Greece. What a great way to get around town and to walk off some of that pita, feta and fila dough. We took the subway everywhere we went. What a great way to people watch as well. I was memorized at the fashion gurus that strolled on and off the subway both women and the metro-sexual men. The women of Athens are strikingly beautiful and I struggled to find my own minds stereotype of the fat and happy Greek women and men that American films had painted for me. Instead I found myself gazing and staring at such beauty and style accessorized down to the toenails and earings and hand-bags. Here is an image I captured while walking down town and you can see what I mean. The women of Athens are fashion divas!

So naturally I did the tourist thing and I saw the Parthenon, the temple of Poseidon, the temple of Olympian Zues, and the acropolis. I did not get to see the The National Archaeological Museum because due to off tourism season they kept strange hours and it just didn't fit into my plan to see everything in just four nights. Here are some images from these historical landmarks.

Then we strolled downtown to the same coffee place Julie and I had been at when we first got to Athens. This time I had Dimitri with me so it was nice to let him make recommendations. I soon feel in love with the Nescafe Frappe and sipped on one of those before we headed over to see the changing of the guard. After the silly spectacle they put on we got to take our picture with them. The changing of the guard is not meant to be silly but they are grown men in tights and mini skirts with pom-pom's on their shoes, it is really hard to take them serious. Here is Ginny and I taking turns posing with the men in tights.

For our last excursion I so desperately wanted to live out some fantasy I have always had of taking a boat to a Greek Island and so it was fulfilled! We took the ferry to the island of Aegina. The trip was right around an hour and the boat was really large. Dimitri's family owns a house on the island that they go to most weekends during the summer. They informed me that these ferries were filled with people and hard to find a seat in the summer. In March we nearly had the boat to ourselves. It was a really nice trip a little cold but nothing a warm Frappe couldn't cure. Here is Ginny and I enjoying our Frappe's on the deck of the ferry boat.

The island was really mellow during the off season and I imagined it alive and filled with people in the summers. Boats filled the docks and the townies cruised along on motorcycles and mopeds. We enjoyed some spinach and cheese pies and walked along the shops. Then it started to drizzle so we spent the afternoon in a coffee shop enjoying Frappes and having some delicious ice cream that reminds me of Gelato. We took the ferry back all of us thinking how nice a nap would be. Here are a few images from the island and from the ferry.

All in all it was an amazing and relaxing trip. I still found enough time to finish a novel, sleep in late, and being away from Michael and Gavin made me miss them like crazy and appreciate how wonderful my little family is and how much I need them in my life. I think it is important to realize this from time to time because we can find moments where we forget this in the daily grind. It was strange landing back in the UAE and feeling this weird feeling of familiar. This Arab land is familiar? I felt home driving down the long street past the burger king in the back of the taxi as I pass the mall that will never be built and pull into my immense compound of apartments to building ten, ok now I am home where I find my sleeping boys. Is this what they mean by Zen moments?

I will always choose the roller coaster over the merry-go-round

2011-03-19T05:21:00.000-07:00

So I realize that my last post may have sounded a bit unsettling but that was how I was feeling. Since my last post I have gotten my car back, my evaluation postponed, and received a lot of support from my faculty head to help our girls succeed on this standards-based assessment.

I recently watched the old movie from 1989 Parenthood remember with Steve Martin. It was a fantastic trip down memory lane and I thought it hit home a little for me now that I am a parent. Remember the kid Justin in the movie how he butts things with his head and is just silly? Well that sort of reminds me of Gavin...yeah he is the weird kid at the park, yeah he is the destructive little boy at the Valentine's Day craft party, but I love him and I know he is having a fantastic childhood and that is all that matters right? And well let's not forget he is a toddler and they are crazy!

The whole reason I bring this up is because towards the end of the movie the Grandma talks about how she used to love riding the roller coaster. It goes up and down and up and down. There is an exhilarating feeling and a wonderful feeling and your stomach may get upset and you make get really scared but it is worth it right? She goes on to say that some people like the merry-go-round it just goes round and round and you always know what to expect. She says but I always preferred the roller coaster myself. Well the scene ends with Steve Martin yelling at his wife, "If she is so wise why is she getting in the neighbors car?" which of course cracks me up as I wipe away the tears from this philosophical and home-hitting moment on the screen in my living room. I will always choose the roller coaster over the merry-go-round. I get so bored and restless when my life becomes too predictable. So yes I went through a few tough weeks but I have come out the other end with a big smile and even a few lovely experiences to share with my readers.

Last week my friend Sylvia and I went to my first Emirati wedding (Sylvia goes to these every chance she gets; she is an old pro and talked me through the whole experience so I knew all the dos and don'ts). It was in a huge wedding hall near Jabel Hafeet the mountain here in Al Ain. The men were located outside dancing and eating in large white tents and the women were all in the wedding hall. We had a big screen that we could view the men while they were doing a very traditional dance with sticks. I didn't take any pictures but found some images on the Dubaiheritagewordpress.com website, to show you what I mean.

The women were located inside a large wedding hall and they were all wearing these gorgeous dresses that some of them were quite frankly busting out of! They were all beautiful and it was quite the scene. There was long red carpet that led to a run-way on stage with this beautiful throne. On both sides of the running red carpet there were absolutely gorgeous tables set up with beautiful place settings. There was an array of tabouli, hummus, breads, salads, and dolmas or mashi to snack on. Lovely ladies dressed in gold came around offering fresh nectars, divine chocolates, decadent bisquits, turkish coffee, tea, perfumes, and even some traditional incense to cleanse you. I was unable to take pictures but am providing some samples of images that describe what I saw.

I found some similar dresses to what some of the ladies were wearing on http://www.ecplaza.net

At every social event I have been to they come around with these divine and decadent cannot describe like heaven in your mouth more expensive then gold chocolates!

So Sylvia and I enjoy the chocolates and watch all the ladies saunter around kissing one another likely commenting on how beautiful everyone looks. We choose our favorite dresses and chat for a bit. Then it is time for the main course. Each table of 6 to 8 guests of course, naturally, gets their own goat on a platter of rice and chick peas. Sylvia and I are sitting next to three older Emirati ladies that are wearing Abayas with the traditional burqa style. I found an example of what I mean on http://www.photoburst.net/

When the platter is set down I take a little bit of rice on my plate but am already quite full from all the chocolates and biscuits and appetizers. Well these ladies toss their plates to the side. The lady grabs the bone from the platter and begins to vigorously shake it until the marrow splats into the center of the platter. Then all three ladies dive into the platter with their hand shoveling the food under their burqas as fast as they can with cow chewing cud sound affects. Sylvia and I look at each other and simultaneously put our forks down to indicate we have both lost our appetites...to each culture is to their own right? Mean while I am carefully ensuring the whole time that I don't do any double dipping-sort of a fruitless gesture at this point lol.

The beautiful golden ladies come out again to collect our dishes and Sylvia and I are both growing tired as it is a week night. Some time past 10 o'clock what the whole room has been waiting for happens, the scared and beautiful 17 or 18 year old bride comes down the red carpet. Her dress is elaborate and white covered in sequence from head to toe, it takes three ladies to keep her dress from collapsing under her feet as she takes each step. There is a spot light as she walks so carefully towards the stage. She comes on to the stage and walks to both sides of the stage. Then she sits on the throne. We walk over to greet our Emirati collegues as it is now an acceptable time to leave. Sylvia informs me that sometimes the groom joins the bride and other times he does not. The ladies are astounded that after attending the wedding we are going to work tomorrow! Must be nice to take a day off to re-cooperate from a wedding...not us! No such days off for the westerners. They tell us that the groom will be coming so we must stay just a few more minutes. So we sit and watch the ladies scurry to cover up their evening gowns with black Abayas and shaylas. Then the young groom of 24 comes in to meet his bride. They are presented to the ladies with no smiles on their faces. They are both very nice looking. Sylvia and I take this as an opportunity to follow the crowds out the door.

Then just a few days later all of the English teachers at my school were invited to our vice principal's house to celebrate the birth of her seventh baby. So my faculty head, and some of my colleagues join in on a caravan to our vice principal's home just blocks from our school. As one of the other teachers point out you can immediately see how much money a family has from the gate that you drive through to enter their property. There are multiple houses on the property. I am told there is a house for the men to entertain, a house for the women to entertain and then there are the main homes for the family. We are ushered into the house simply for entertaining female guests. The front room is an Arabic style room with cathedral ceilings, a couch that wraps around the room. There is a gorgeous Egyptian style rug on the floor covered with ladies sitting and enjoying an elaborate feast of traditional Arabic dishes. We are escorted into another beautiful room with the traditional Arabic style couches and again cathedral ceilings to sit and first have juice, chocolates, and coffee. It is a little off-putting because it feels a little like segregation the Arabic teachers in one room and the English teachers in another. But we are informed that Emirati culture is very specific with the tradition order of entertaining guests. Step one we must have chocolate, nectar, and coffee. Then the baby is passed around for us to stuff jewelery and money if we so desire. I quickly passed the baby on because he became fussy. He was a tiny little thing with a full head of hair. At this point the baby is taken away and the Arabic teachers say good-bye. We are then ushered in to the next room to eat. We had these crepes wrapped around falafel and cream cheese that were amazing, and these little tuna wraps, then of course the goat and rice. Ending with some cakes and these things that are a lot like donut holes that I have yet to learn the appropriate name for but will continue to refer to them as sticky balls. So we are on our way.

Finally last night I got to something I have wanted to do for a long time! A safari tour! We went through funtoursdubai.com leaving from the Mall of Emirates I got to enjoy a delicious BBQ Dinner and Folklore Show in a traditional Bedouin Camp. The safari included Camel Rides, Henna Art, a Show, including traditional Arabic Musicians, Belly Dancers and Egyptian Tanoora Dancers. It was a lot of fun! The dune bashing was a little more than I could ever handle again they cruise up these dunes super fast and then slide down them with sand cascading off the windows and the jeep is literally free falling. I got a little nauseous in the back seat but I wasn't too scared of rolling the drivers seemed pretty good at their jobs. What frightened me was how close we were to the other jeeps. Here are some images I tried to capture as I was bouncing around in the back seat.

So after I gathered my stomach from the back of the jeep and my hands stopped shaking we moved towards the line for camel rides. It was really just a photo opp with a short walk in a small circle. Here I am with a random stranger whose brother took pictures of us. They made us ride in pairs so I had to find a buddy because Keith and Heather were riding together.

Then we moved on to ride the quads. This was about 30 Usds for 15 minutes so I opted out. Then the guy running the thing felt sorry for me and made me sit and get my photo on one of the quads. Then I got on the back with my friend Heather and she took me for a cruise. It was a lot of fun but I know I am old because I was really nervous about tipping over!

After our ride around the track a few times on the quads we headed down to the main festivities where two lines had formed; one for female and one for male to get food. We got our plate of food and sat down to watch the entertainment. There were some tourists that plopped down from a country somewhere near Poland and Russia that is slipping my mind right now. They spoke no English but introduced themselves and shared their remy martin cognac with us which warmed my mouth, throat, and belly!

Then Heather and I were off to get Henna done. This is the first time I have gotten Henna done. The young girl was from India and she did a beautiful job so quickly, I was impressed!

We finished the evening in the Shisha tents where I smoked Shisha for the first time, just to say I have done it. I tried apple and grape, I preferred the grape as the apple seemed a little more potent. Then we were off to the buses to head back to the mall of Emirates. I sat next to a young lady from somewhere in the UK that has just taken a job as a teacher (I had a good laugh because she said she is just looking for a low stress job that pays well) and lives in Al Ain.

So my life in the UAE remains a roller coaster of times when I am missing home and consistency and things that make sense to me to times where I feel like I am on a lovely ride that I would have been crazy to have ever passed up. I am again thankful for this opportunity and grateful for my experiences thus so far on my journey in the middle east.

Superwoman...

2011-03-11T00:28:00.000-08:00

I have to be honest at times living overseas becomes a bit too much and I have moments of weakness where all I think about is hopping on the next plane home. I do not thing that is uncommon for most of us here. All changes leave us conflicting as we grow older and make significant life changes. When I went off to college and moved only an hour and a half's drive from my hometown I remember having these moments. The first time I crashed my car away from home or got the flu my first instinct was to think, "I need my mommy." I remember this sinking feeling of being in something unfamiliar and wishing so much that my mom was there.

Then I graduated from college and did something obscene! I drove 24 hours and planted my roots in New Mexico all the way from Iowa. New Mexico was so different! I went through a whole new kind of shock. There was stop and go traffic, drunk bums in my yard on Christmas, crack heads asking me for money in the grocery store, and people were even speaking Spanish all around me. I adapted and I even made a life for myself in New Mexico at times thinking I wanted to scurry home to the familiar and it all seemed to work out.

Well in hindsight with both instances the times that I felt like I needed my mom or wanted to run home with my tail between my legs are when my job became too stressful, or it seemed like my health was poor and my car had problems or I got in a car accident or had a bad break-up from a boyfriend. All the usual need your mommy kind of things, right?

Now I am 33 years old and I have to say it is not so much my mommy I feel like I need these days. I do miss my mom don't get me wrong but what I am realizing is that I miss the comfort in understanding how things work at home. The consistency of living in the same country for 32 years of my life and knowing what to expect in certain social situations, emergency situations, and even professional situations. These moments of certainty are fleeting living in a completely different country and when I have these moments of heartache, failure, frustration that come with living I feel at odds with this fleeting feeling of unfamiliarity and my instinct is to jump on a plane and fly home; I won't act on this because my mom taught me not to quit so I won't quit and my practical side makes a mental list of pros and cons of my new life here all the time and in the long run the pros out weigh the cons and I know that this is a great experience across the board.

Let me take a moment to evaluate why I am feeling so at odds with my soul in a sense. The end of February I was blessed with the sandbox sinus infection which left me feeling wiped out paired with my thyroid levels being a little off which equated to scrapping my diet and becoming super exhausted all the time stuffing my face with as much chocolate and cheese as I could grab. So I imagine this didn't help me in the long run. I was frustrated because I wasn't getting better and spent two weekends in a row lying in bed trying to get better so I could work during the week. Due to the lengthy process of getting sick days off I feel like it is just easier to go to work sick then to deal with going to the emergency room and then going to get your sick note stamped and now the expectation that this is all entered into the computer or your wages are docked which is just too confusing for my head to get around when I am sick.

Well then the 100 days of school was coming upon us and we decided that we wanted to throw a huge educational fair with games revolved around the theme of 100. It was really fantastic and our girls really enjoyed it and we really impressed our Arabic staff with the quality of organization that we put into it. It was well worth the effort but it was time consuming! We spent days after school staying until 4 or 5 o'clock arguing over details, organizing, and setting up for this thing. The day finally came last week and we were all wiped!

Here was my corner, the art corner (never again so exhausting after 300 girls!)

Here are some of the girls working in my corner

Here are a few other corners we had. There was also a relay race and a race to 100...

Here is a picture of me and one of my classes...they all have on necklaces we made that week and crowns!

So while all of this is going on I am not saving any energy for my husband and son when I get home. I am exhausted and cannot seem to shake this evil sinus infection. We are eating fast food almost every night (which I think may be the leading cause to depression lol). We have stopped our evening walks around the complex or to the park. I have stopped cooking and playing with play-doh with Gavin every night. We aren't lying in bed reading Sandra Boyton books and things seem to be taking an ugly turn for me.

Then my car dies on the way to school on one of the busiest round abouts in the city. I stand there waiting for the tow truck to come (thankfully I knew I had road side assistance with my insurance company). A police officer comes along and he speaks little to know English. I stand there with him trying not to burst into tears while I wait for the tow truck driver. He asks me, "Car no run?" I shake my head telling him it won't run and assuring him that the tow truck driver is on his way and isn't far. He walks away and makes some calls and comes back asking again trying to make sure he states it very clear, "Car-no-run?" This scenario repeat itself again and again as time drags to a stop and we wait for the alleged tow truck driver to get here. Finally after he asks me,"Car no run," for the millionth time I proceed to rein-act the sounds my car made as it died. Then I demonstrate for him the sound of an engine attempting to turn over with no success. He seems pleased with my performance and thankfully does not ask me again, "car no run?"

Now the tow truck driver comes and of course he speaks no English and apparently the insurance company gave him no information on where I would like the car delivered (why would they?). So after I find a million different ways to explain that the car needs to go to Dubai to the dealership and I plan to grab a taxi and do I have to pay for the extra kilometers? Mafi Inglisi...no English...I try calling my faculty head who speaks Arabic, the policemen calls his friend who speaks broken English and then I do what of done to begin with and call the insurance company to translate. After a few phone calls and another half an hour I am in a taxi on the way to school.

What is wrong with my car? My brand new used car? Well it was the radiator and then apparently due to my negligence it became a cracked head gasket. However only the day before had I noticed the cars gauge was reading hot when the air conditioning was running (not when it was off!). So I took the car to get the oil changed at the Adnoc lube. All fluids were checked and topped off and I was told coolant levels were fine! I was also shown my black sludge oil which indicated to me that the oil was not changed before the car was sold to me...go figure?! So now I have been with out my car for going on two weeks now and have had to rent a car and am still not sure if my warranty will cover this and honestly (although now I am being told they will do everything they can to try and get this covered under the warranty). I am trying to tell myself my car will be ready when it is ready and if I have to pay out of pocket then that is what credit cards are for, right? It will all work out right? But you can see how it sort of feels like things are piling up and I might want to hop on a plane these days? I will reiterate now it becomes a positive affirmation, I can do this, I can work through this, life only gives us what we can handle right?

Now the 100 days of school party is over and my car is being worked on so breath right? Wrong now my faculty head comes in with a copy of an observation she did when I was sick and had given an assessment; not actually delivering a lesson. Until now she has showered me with positive feedback. Not today! On this day she piles it on, three paragraphs summarizing my failures at this particular juncture. I haven't provided my students with an objective for the assessment (a multiplication chart isn't that self explanatory?). I haven't provided clear expectations for what the students should do when they complete the assessment (I try to encourage them to free read but they just weren't listening). Finally, I do not have enough time on task and I need to ensure I am consistently implementing my behavior stop light. I can give you a list of justifications for all of these things but the reality was it was just a bad day, I was sick, and I wasn't prepared for an observation and we all have bad days. It just kind of hits me in the gut because I am already asking myself am I good teacher (Do not see Waiting for Superman because ever since I keep asking myself if I am a charismatic enough teacher; I mean I didn't teach my kids the times table with a song did I?)?

Then we find out that grade 3 has a standards bases assessment coming up in March and we get a copy of the test to begin preparing our students for. The test we are told will make up 20 % of their grades! Are you kidding me? A child can actually be held back in the third grade due to their performance on a standards based test. I pour myself over these tests really beating myself up and wondering again teaching....am I good at it or do I do this profession justice or is this my calling? Math is predominately word problems rather then calculations. The science is written in very scientific language. The English test is pretty easy and I know I have prepared them for this. But I feel like a big jerk hindering my girls because I decided to modify science and instead of using a word like dissolve I have said, "goes away," or instead of observe I have said, "look" because in my heart I think like a special education teacher. I want them to get the concept and I want them to feel successful. Have I hindered my girls because we don't drill vocabulary in science or even math. In math my girls do not know things like, "how many all together" or "sum of" or "number placement (they can tell you what place the one is in but will be very confused with the terminology on the exam." So again I feel like a failure! So more cheese and chocolate and now I make a trip to Spinney's Liquor because Mrs. Leah grade 3 teacher needs some wine in her house again.

Don't get me wrong I have managed to create a very strong support system here and after collapsing in tears my good friend Sylvia from South Africa took me to starbucks and turned my tears into giggles. My friend Carrie from my school reminded me how we all struggle with these same fleeting thoughts. We come over here to the UAE to teach, with high hopes of turning these girls into grade level standard performers and instead they can carry on a very simple conversation in English and they are beginning to read and maybe even tell you why they like a book. These moments when a girl comes to me and says in very broken English what she predicts will happen in a book and how she smiles when she is right and then when she tells me why she likes the book I know I am doing something. I am teaching my girls to love literature in a country where the average citizen reads two pages of literature a year (according to The National). Unfortunately these are not the results that my employer wants. They want more and that can feel defeating at times.

Now add to this now prevailing feeling of failure and apparent spring fever in my girls which means they are as Sylvia might say, "out of their trees," or even, "all over the show." I am finding it really hard to handle them lately and am very concerned with my upcoming observation because the principal expects their behavior to be perfect when she observes. Spring break is just two weeks away and I can see it over the horizon but unfortunately that means mapping booklets must once again be completed. Which means for me 46 booklets, one for each girl, with 14 pages of standards to high light and decipher whether I believe they have completed such feats as "uses descriptive and/or figurative language to support a point of view," or "model and describe equal groups of arrays and find their totals," or "Group materials according to whether they are solids, liquids, or gases," and did I mention this is all written in size 8 font. Then once these are finished (only takes about 45 minutes per girl...that is all) then we get to enter the same information in a different format into the computer (which can be minimized to about 20 minutes per girl). All of this while in the back of my mind we have to make sure our classroom will meet our employers standards because we are expecting a visit from a group of cluster managers and administrators to evaluate our school and spend two days at our school looking through our assessment binders, our mapping booklets, lesson plans, and curriculum maps. So no stress right?

So if you ask me at this moment if I love my job, love this experience, am I happy I might not want to answer because honestly I feel like this kind of pressure is what can lead to nervous breakdowns. I am trying to chill out relax and not take everything so serious and trying to have the attitude that I can do this and it will make me a better teacher and all of that. And when my girls bring me flowers and tell me they love me and draw me pictures and grin from ear to ear from an activity we are doing in the classroom it all feels right. A night at the movies giggling with my husband about some of things that make me laugh so much in this country. I need that. Writing a blog and putting it all out there, maybe therapeutic. Maybe I simply need some validity that I am strong and I am prevailing over some pretty challenging weeks past and coming. I need a reminder sometimes that teachers, we really are superwomen (and men) all around the globe and isn't about the summers off.

I want to end this blog on a little more positive note. I am going to get through the next two weeks and I am going to come out on the other end feeling empowered and after spring break I will be refreshed and ready to get through the last trimester successful and I will come back next year knowing so much more and I just know things will be running a bit smoother with this reform and my job will get easier and I will start to know what to expect on some level and I know things will get easier. After all I get to hop on a plane in just two weeks and go to Greece and see a good friend from college.

Michael has started taking classes online and they are going well and I am really proud of him. Gavin is going to start nursery school soon which will be really good for everyone and he can socialize with other two year olds and three year olds which will be good for him too.

My thoughts on culture shock...

2011-02-18T23:45:00.000-08:00

Culture Shock is defined by http://dictionary.reference.com/ as,

"a state of bewilderment and distress experienced by an individual who is suddenly exposed to a new, strange, or foreign social and cultural environment ."

Culture shock can be defined in five stages and not everyone goes through them.

The 5 stages of culture shock:
* The Honeymoon

* The Actual Shock/Negotiation

* The Adjustment

* Assimilation

* Reverse Cultural Shock

Before I came to the United Arab Emirates. I read everything I could about culture shock and these five stages came up pretty frequently in my research. These five stages are very general and often fail to consider that people will experience different phases in different cultures. The United Arab Emirates is completely different in terms of what someone might experience because the country is made up of so many expatriates (you can almost avoid the culture all together if you work in an office of other expatriates). If someone is from India and comes to the UAE they may feel some of these stages but they may also just surround themselves with other Indian expatriates. Someone from Australia may feel these stages as well but never quite assimilate because they too find other Australians and continue to live very similar lives to what they lived in Australia. And me? I am from America and for the most part who do I spend my time with? Other Americans? But as an educator I come into contact with Emirates and Arab Expatriates everyday these are my colleagues and my students so the shock was inevitable.

So in my research I read that in the UAE there are two types of the stage of "adjustment" in the UAE. In one type we surround ourselves with expatriates from our home country or western countries and live very familiar lives from back home down to the cinema, the food, and even our extracurricular activities. We often join in on complaint sessions in regards to the Emirates and Arabic culture. On the other end of the spectrum there is this world where expatriates become friends with Emirates and Arab expatriates and learn about their culture. They experience the food and may attend an Emirate wedding or celebration. They see the beauty of the Muslim community and they find some acceptance. This acceptance brings them to a place where they really see the UAE as their home rather than temporary situation in their lives. In my research I remember reading that if one did not come to this place of acceptance that they might as well have a calendar on their wall counting down the days until they get home. They forgot to mention the fuzzy gray area in between the two places that I seem to have landed. So finding myself in limbo of acceptance and rejection I want to really dissect my culture shock according to the five stages of culture shock. First I will give the definition of each stage and then I will attempt to summarize what my feelings were during this stage.

According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_shock the Honeymoon Phase is defined as the following:

During this period the differences between the old and new culture are seen in a romantic light, wonderful and new. For example, in moving to a new country, an individual might love the new foods, the pace of the life, the people's habits, the buildings and so on. During the first few weeks most people are fascinated by the new culture. They associate with the nationals that speak their language and are polite to the foreigners. This period is full of observations and new discoveries. Like many honeymoons this stage eventually ends.

When I first arrived in Abu Dhabi we were greeted with roses and brought to the 5 star hotel the Rotana Beach with view of the gulf out our window. Honeymoon? Yes! I felt like I was in a fantasy land with enormous sky scrapers everywhere. I was snapping a million pictures of the beautiful buildings, the hotel, I even went stark mad just taking photos of trays of food in the breakfast buffet. I was trying new foods and even ate the McArabia from McDonalds just because it was different! I look at this stage and fear that maybe my honeymoon phase was short changed by the wear and tear that hotel life started to have on us.

According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_shock the Negotiation Phase is defined as the following:

After some time (usually three months but sometimes sooner or later, depending on the individual), differences between the old and new culture become apparent and may create anxiety. Excitement may eventually give way to new and unpleasant feelings of frustration and anger as one continues to have unfavorable events that may be perceived as strange and offensive of one's cultural sensitivity. Language barrier, stark differences in public hygiene, traffic safety, food accessibility and quality may heighten the sense of disconnection from the surroundings.

For us I think the "Negotiation Phase," came sooner due to hotel life becoming so draining! I kept finding myself saying again and again that once we get into our homes everything will be easier! I won't fight with my husband and my son won't make me insane if we can just get in our home with an internet connection and a stove and a fridge. I was starting to feel like my hierarchy of needs were not being met. Many would laugh at me and I feel ashamed to say that when so many people could and would never consider living in a 5 star hotel challenging; but it was! We were ready for our apartment and space!

We were running out of money and getting really sick of eating out, not having internet, and not having space for our very active two year old son to rome about (his legs were covered in bruises from running into the furniture in the small hotel room) or even a space for him to nap or fall asleep before we did. In addition to that is the anxiety that comes with this country deriving from questions like: when will have a meeting? When do we move to our apartments? When do we move from Abu Dhabi to Al Ain? When do we get our passports back? When do we find out school placements, get debit cards, get rental cars, when do we start school and how will I find my school? For a type A personality that likes a lot of control it can feel like the honeymoon phase comes to a crashing stop. I still felt myself saying and still do over and over again am I really here? Am I really living in this fast growing country across the world from all that I know with camels in the back of Toyotas? And I smile because it is something that will continue to amaze me and justify this decision.

According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_shock the Adjustment Phase is defined as the following:

Again, after some time (usually 6 – 12 months), one grows accustomed to the new culture and develops routines. One knows what to expect in most situations and the host country no longer feels all that new. One becomes concerned with basic living again, and things become more "normal". One starts to develop problem-solving skills for dealing with the culture, and begins to accept the culture ways with a positive attitude. The culture begins to make sense, and negative reactions and responses to the culture are reduced.

So I know on some levels I am here in this phase right now. I am used to the new culture, I am never surprised and often anticipate many things that were shocking at first. Food delivered may take two hours and that is ok even if they said 45 minutes (complaining does you know good). I may have to return to the electric company four or five times to get the utilities switched in my name and they may be completely inefficient but it doesn't surprise me. Cars may fly up on two wheels around the round about and I may feel like I am on the defense often when driving; but I am not phased by this lack for safety in this country. I may pick up son up at a day care stuffing his face with cotton candy delivered to him by a stranger and I won't even raise an eyebrow. The prayer calls have become background noise and I know to go shopping on Fridays around noon to have the malls to ourselves and the other western expatriates. I know that most places are closed from 2 to 4 and on Fridays so I don't even bother trying to get things done then. I know that "No problem" does not always mean there won't be a problem. I know that sometimes Insha Allah means it will happen and sometimes it won't. I learned the world won't end if my son pulls his pants down in the mall or I wear a short sleeve shirt or accidentally eat with my left hand or cross my legs in public. So in so many ways I feel right at home here.

I have also found my favorite places to shop, get dinner, joined a bowling league, go to movies, have a reliable babysitter, my favorite route to work, and have made some good friends. We have favorite parks and Mike, Gavin and I love to go to Dubai just to go to the book store and eat at big American chains like Outback and Fridays. We love to go to explore Al Ain and love that there is so much to do that revolves around family. We are happy here. We miss family and can't wait to see them this summer and look forward to a time when we return to the United States but are not by any means checking dates off a calendar.

As I read the last portion of the this phase of culture shock as defined by Wikopedia it states, "The culture begins to make sense, and negative reactions and responses to the culture are reduced."

Some may say I am extremely self-absorbed in my own cultural ways or too confident or cocky even, to say that the way we do things in the United States is best. Maybe? But I will never be able to make sense of the way things are done here! I will never be able to understand (I can deal with it and let it roll of my shoulders) why the bazillion stamps and why there isn't a universal computer server for each company. For example if I want something done with my bank I have to go to a certain branch and no one can just pull something up from a connected server on the computer (this means lots of driving around). Lack of efficiency across the board at the government level and the business level and I can never find any sense in something that I see so inefficient, I just can't! I really believe that there are some Emirates that are paid some outlandish salary just to sit in an office and stamp things. I will continue to have negative reactions to these things and opposition to the backwards and inefficient planning for so many things in this country. So does this mean that I will not find acceptance?

I suppose on some levels my reactions have reduced to a shrug of the shoulder and a certain expectation for this inefficiency so that I blink my eyes and more or less forget that I had to give five copies of my passport to someone for some reason and they still need another copy because they can't find it. I know I can't let these things eat me up but do I have to make sense of it? In my professional opinion no! I can let it go but I cannot endorse inefficiency. In contrast anyway I could make a list a mile long of the inefficiencies in the United States so I suppose in some ways I have not quite found acceptance even in my own country...

According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_shock the Mastery Phase is defined as the following:

In the mastery stage assignees are able to participate fully and comfortably in the host culture. Mastery does not mean total conversion; people often keep many traits from their earlier culture, such as accents and languages. It is often referred to as the biculturalism stage.

Mastery is still over the horizon for me. I am still learning so much and this learning could go on for a while. For example it was just brought to my attention that drinking coffee at the morning assembly isn't culturally appropriate and apparently I have been getting looks of disgust for months now. I feel terrible now and I do not bring my coffee to morning assembly and I felt pretty bad that I made such a terrible mistake ongoing for so long with out thinking twice. Culturally for me teacher + morning = coffee mug in her hand. I never considered the notion that no one else was drinking coffee. I have to say my mornings are a little off now but I am working on it. I suppose mastery will be when I avoid making these little mistakes all together for the most part. Insha Allah...

Spontinuity and Impulses

2011-02-07T10:23:00.000-08:00

So last week I traded in my rental yaris tin can for a lovely new Mitsubishi, Outlander, a crossover 4x4. It is used and for just a little more then a rental I will have it paid off in two years and it is still under warranty. It couldn't be more of a boring color, white, but as my friend Abby points out it is pearly white. I really love driving it and can tell already that I am getting more respect on the road from my fellow drivers and maybe my head is a little taller to not be driving the same vehicle as the Farooj Chicken delivery guy. But I have to complain, there is a tape player! No CD player and how did I miss that, well I am super impulsive and didn't look for details like a CD players or MP3 player compatibility...the worst part is that all in the same week the one station in Al Ain that plays American music, which is pretty bad top 20 stuff suddenly stopped playing American music and switched to Hindi. Fantastic! So I am currently improvising with my phone or netbook for music or I sing to myself. I plan on doing a little shopping for a CD player for my car at some junction; but not on the agenda this month. Here is a picture and in case you are wondering I am not leaving the plastic on the seats like some of the strange locals (apparently this is big here to keep things in their packaging to keep them nice; not uncommon to see all the stickers on the computer of a teller or customer service rep.

In other news I joined a bowling league. Yes there is bowling with out alcohol and I suck at it! I joined with some other teachers and so far we are having a lot of fun. It seems to be all teachers for the most part and no one seems super competitive although it is clear we all want to win! We get to just unwind and be super silly and laugh a lot and it is nice to get away from Mike and Gavin and have some guaranteed girl time once a week. Also bonus, it counts as activity points on weight watchers! Here is a picture of my team, "split happens,"

From right to left there is Jolynn from Illinois, Sylvia from South Africa, and of course me, and Abby from Illinois (I met her in Iowa before we came out here).

We have a lot of laughs and I am really enjoying bowling so far!

This past weekend was really fun and full. On Friday, my friend Abby and I got much needed pedicures, which we agreed we needed much more frequently. Then we were off to the Al Ain Airshow. I haven't been to an airshow since I was a kid, it was pretty amazing! Gavin was all over the place running around and had gasps of enthusiasm for the planes and loud booms and had his fill on junk food. We went with Abby and her family and really enjoyed it. Here is a picture of Mike and Gavin enjoying the airshow (yes we try to keep Gavin strapped in as much as possible!)

Then afterwards we decided to throw caution into the wind or be sponteaneous and we hopped into our rugged new 4x4s packed with hot dogs, wood, a grill, some chairs, and sand toys and found us some random dunes. We are in the desert so why not? So we drove abound 8 miles towards Dubai and pulled off into the nearest deserty sand dunes stocked with some camels nearby and everything. Abby's truck got stuck in the desert! Mike and Andy had to jump on the back of the truck and jump up and down and do some pushing to get it out. Apparently they weren't working the 4x4 correctly but I had to make the joke and ask if they were still planning to join the off roaders club when they got stuck in the sand making a three point turn about.

We set up near a few dunes and the boys started digging with their toys and the sun began to set quickly! We got the grill and fire going and made some hotdogs and smores. It was a lot of fun! The only downside was that Gavin is really impulsive/active/unaware of the whole toppling down a dune to be injured concept so after trying to corner him in a cornerless desert to play in one area, we were forced to strap him to his stroller and supply him with enough chips, graham crackers, and marshmallows to keep him from whining.

Here is a fantastic picture my friend Abby took of me, Gavin, her boys, and Michael at the top of a dune at sunset.

Here is another picture of Abby and I making smores around the little grill Abby brought.

Then on Saturday I was invited to a Valentine's Day craft party at another teacher's flat. She had put together a whole morning of activities for the kids to make crafts including picture frames, necklaces, and valentines. I really thought it was a good idea for Gavin! I really did! Gavin has limited activity with other kids and I really thought this would be a great opportunity for him to get to play with other kids! I also have spent time coloring and working with play-doh with him and as long as I am there to guide him he loves it and can spend quite a bit of time focused diligently on the task at hand. Plus I just figured in his love for hearts was a plus, I mean how could we go wrong?

Well we arrived and everything started off so sweet and innocent! Gavin was nicely gluing hearts together creating a lovely valentine for Daddy or Mommy. He even was coloring on it very nicely. Then he notices the necklace making station with beads. Hearts, and starts! Oh my! He loves hearts and stars (he seems to have a thing for shapes lately-really really into them). I grab a nice handfull and bring him back to our area where I try to focus him on making a neckclace with the beads I have. Before I can stop him he dives towards the nicely organised dishes of beads and he dumps them over. OH no he doesn't stop there! He then preoceeds to wave his hands back and forth to see them fly accross the room. At this point my sweet hostess is grabbing the broom and scrambling to pick them up and assuring me that isn't a big deal and I am sure at this point it isn't, everyone is laughing and Gavin is really confused when I put him in time out. I apollogize profusely and then decide he needs a distraction. Gavin is compulsive, I am going with," it is a normal two year old thing."

For example if he sees a toy at the park and wants to play with it and the child that has it refuses then we have to leave the park because he will think of nothing else but getting his hands on the toy. At times distraction will work but mostly it doesn't and why didn't my gut realize that the beads fell under this very same category? Here I am with a group of ladies that I barely know hoping to have some new friendships for both Gavin and I to flourish trying desperately to get Gavin to eat a cookie and get his mind off of things. And he dives again into the beads! Desperately trying to ensure every bead is spread across the room. Again my hostess smiles as she scrambles to pick up all the beads and my heartrate goes up and I feel panicky and Gavin sees the other kids going to play and he follows. Maybe he is distracted now? I saunter down the hall to see how Gavin is playing when oldest boy begins to point frantically at the cookie on the floor, "who brought food in the bedroom? There is no food allowed in the bedroom! Who brought food in the bedroom?" I apollogized to the young boy and scurried to hide the evidence hoping no one would see my child with the red scarlet cookie. Well at this point Gavin decides to give the beads one more toss around the room and our sweet hostess has given up on cleaning up the beads plopping defeated on the couch. Gavin is now attempting to dislodge the door from the princess doll house of the little girl and I can see I need to leave. They all smile and nod and say good-bye and I even imagine are feeling a little sense of relief. I left and in hindsight realize Gavin just might not be ready for craft day.

Here are the beads before Gavin attacked them lol:

Here is Gavin's valentine before he turned into baby godzilla:

Next week Michael and I are headed back to Abu Dhabi for the first time since we were bussed away from the Beach Rotana last August. We are going to Yas Island to see Eric Clapton! I cannot wait! Details to come on that venture! I am up way past my bedtime but I have to admit it is kind of nice. Michael is in Dubai with a friend and for the first time in a long time I have the place to myself while Gavin sleeps; the peace is kind of nice.

2011-01-27T22:48:00.000-08:00

So a friend posted a link to this blog that another teacher has written and I think it really captures all the negatives of my experience thus so far. I also think it would be a good blog for anyone considering this experience to read.

Here is a link:
http://mellyschu.blogspot.com/2010/11/truth-is.html

This is pretty intense and I can see all of what she is writing about. I think in a way I am pretty lucky at my school, while there is a division and probably some teachers that look down their noses at me (not probably there is!). I choose to only notice the happy bubbly Egyptian music teacher that always smiles at me (and makes less money then us). She is a larger woman with glasses and a very colorful and elaborate kandora and head scarf, and she wears a thick pancho over her clothes in the cool weather. Every morning she gets the girls together to play music for the assembly and she works so hard and because she is Egyptian her salary is less then us (salary for expats is generally a significant amount more than one would earn in their home country but not equal to other teachers at the school...westerners all make the same based on experience and then Emirates naturally make significantly more). Well she greets all of the LTs every morning with eye contact, smiles and firm handshakes. She asks about family and really cares. One morning my friend Sylvia from South Africa was shivering a bit and coughing and she took her warm pancho off and gave it to her! This is just an example of some of the humanity in this country that does exist. Another teacher works in Special Education (I still have no idea what she does but she has a child with special needs of her own and openly admits it and this is humbling for someone from this country). She has lost a child from illness and I imagine that has been humbling as well for her. She is an Emirate woman and due to her child's illness she lived in the states a few years so she has more acceptance and appreciation for western society. She lights up when she sees me. When I was out sick with kidney stones she was scribbling down homeopathic remedies for me and had legitimate concern for my health. So there are some open minded opened arm teachers at my school; however they are in the minority and many of the ladies shake your hand if you come up to them and they look somewhere else and they force fake smiles, and I try to attribute it to the language barrier (hey I got to sleep at night!).

The principal to me is a quiet woman that stands at morning assembly and never addresses the student body. She is thin and frail and wears a very simple black abaya and shayla. She doesn't say a lot and is always very quiet and smiles when she sees us. From what I can tell she appreciates and wants us at her school and understands how hard we work) It seems the assistant principal is the real authority and I do get a bit of disgust from her and lack of appreciation for what we do (for example she wanted us to complete our marks over Christmas vacation with no value for our time off). For the most part I know that there is a division at our school and there is a level of disrespect to the point that some of us feel like servants at our school but I just choose not to see it that way. I come to school just as I always did in the US and I teach. I close the doors and I close out the drama that exhists at every school (which comes with the territory of working in a female dominated profession, too much estrogen makes me choke). I dot my i's and cross my t's and I stay under the radar as much as possible. My principal has stepped foot in my classroom twice and both times she smiled. I also have a few random Arabic teachers that stroll in to yell at the girls, pass out notes, take my girls away or whatever and I go with the flow. But honestly I can do this and I feel like what I am taking from it is that I am becoming a better teacher for it. I am seeing some progress with my girls and in the grand scheme of things that is what matters.

We took our girls on a picnic at the park. I brought a jump rope and they loved it! Great picture of girls jumping rope.

Many of the girls just as their culture teaches them, tossed their trash on the ground. Well, the Arabic teachers were happy with that and I guess thought that the laborers could clean it. But the LTs brought trash bags! And all the grade three girls new the words to the Barney "Clean up" song. The Arabic teachers jaws were to the floor as our girls happily sang the clean up song scurrying around picking up garbage and sorting out any food that was untouched to give to laborers at the park or the cleaners at the school (these ladies are from Ethiopia and the Phillipenes and make roughly 200 USD a month that they send home so they eat very poorly). It was fantastic! When one of the LTs said to the Arabic staff, "we don't want the park to spread around how filthy our school is," they agreed to this disgusting task as they certainly were not going to pitch in!

This is not a Muslim or Arabic thing, this is just what money does to these people. Why walk or find a trash can if someone else can pick it up? It is not uncommon to see trash flying from a car, or to see a family cleaning the trash from their car on the ground of a parking lot. We were also amazed that the Arabic staff just left their picnicking materials on the path thinking someone would pick it up and of course we did (sure that makes us look less like their inferiors right?),

Ok so this blog I mentioned earlier in my post got me thinking because the real cure to culture shock is acceptance and appreciation of the culture but I know for me that will never really happen, I will leave here repelled by Arabic culture (ok not all Arabic culture but for the most part any Arabics with lots of money) and the opposite is happening to me. For example when I see Arabic kids at the playground I grab Gavin and go away because I know they will be throwing sand, taking his toys, or just plain push him away because he is an annoying two year old (they will come up to me and tell me to make him stop trying to play with them...so sad). Instead of keeping an open mind I find myself thinking or expecting these kids to be rude brats. Let me exemplify, last night we were in Dubai at the Chucky Cheese and Gavin was playing with one of the employees and he got away and was on the run so she was chasing him and I was right behind her chasing him too. Well he saw an Arabic boy , maybe ten or eleven playing dance revolution and jumped on the game too! He started playing with the kid. I caught up to Gavin and grabbed him and the Arabic kid is screaming bloody hell at this employee. His mother and father are at the table near by taking the whole scene in and they are not intervening. He wants a refund because this little boy ruined his game. I was holding Gavin in my arms watching this and I said, "stop yelling at her!" I handed him my game card, "I will pay for another game, my god he is two years old." He glared at me and stomped over to his table and grabbed his card and paid for the game. The employee rolled her eyes at me and smiled.

I am trying to find the beauty in the Arabic and Muslim cultures but not sure I can really find the needed appreciation and acceptance to really allow myself to settle here for even a moment. I guess on some levels my culture shock is becoming less and less as I learn my favorite places to shop, my routes to and from school, make friends and I am even joining a bowling league and buying a car so in a sense we are making a life here but I know it will always be us and them and that I will leave her never really taking on the original acceptance and appreciation I intended to have or gain when I leave this country.

I think about what made me want to pick up my roots and run away from New Mexico and it was mainly poverty. Because of poverty the social problems that existed made Albuquerque a not so enticing location to raise a child. High rates in alcoholism, drinking and driving, drugs, gang activity, garbage in the parks and streets, lack of parental involvement with children (which translates to poor academic performance, more violence and bullying on the playground), and too much crime. Our neighbors were shooting shot guns on the holidays into the ground, our neighbors would not think twice before stealing packages from our step or letting their dogs crap in our yard. You get it, no sense of community, the parks were not safe, and the schools were not safe. I didn't want my son to grow up and be hazed for a gang...you get it right? I couldn't leave soon enough after four men walked into the Denny's down the street with machine guns leaving the 16 year old waitress dead.

So in contrast what disgusts me here is the money (which breeds poverty that lives in fear so it doesn't translate to crime). I appreciate the family values and the safety that the stringent laws creates. But so much faith in their god seems to translate to lack of safety. They feel like God wills them to be safe. So no carseats, stuff 100 kids on a bus made for 60 kids, drive like maniacs and if a child dies it was their God's will and there was nothing they could do to change that. Then the life of priviledge and having a servant to do everything means complete lack of humanity for some of these laborers. They always have someone to carry things for them or clean things for them. I could go on and on when I think about lack of humanity in some of these people and lack of work ethic. It seems like too there is also a lack of parent involvement because these women just shoot out babies (the more babies the cooler you are) and so they don't have time to give their children the attention they need and often the nannies take care of them. So this translates to no discipline, bullying, violence, and poor academic performance. Hmmmm interesting how similar poverty and money can translate to the same thing...

I guess what I am saying is that suburban and middle class America has never looked so good to me.

2011-01-20T23:10:00.000-08:00

As my two week holiday came to an end and I came back to school with my new years resolutions to eat healthier, be a better mom (in other words time for potty training and getting the kid off the sippy), and to be more active. What am I doing to make these changes?

I started by joining Weight Watchers online on January 1st which has put me in a position to really track my food intake. I am more aware of my portion sizes and how to make healthy substitutions. I am trying to be active in some way at least 20 minutes a day and trying to vary it up with Pilate's, yoga, walking, and the weights and treadmill we purchased over the holidays. I have also added multi-vitamins to my life and am eating more fruits and vegetables which also means Gavin is slowly becoming more interested in eating healthy. So far while the pounds are not flying off I am feeling more energetic and more comfortable in my clothes. This also translates to being a better teacher because I am sitting down a lot less which means I am a more vigil and active teacher.

How am I becoming a better teacher so far?? I am trying to reflect on student performance and group my students accordingly. I have organized my girls into reading groups and am attempting to differentiate instruction giving the girls different leveled readers and activities and surprisingly there are not too many complaints that they are doing different activities. On a side note why this surprises me is because this culture squashes individuality on some levels and often I see so many girls attempting to be just like the other girls and this can be related to the fact that the mothers and fathers are so much the same in attire and even mannerisms and walking...I mean to say most of the Arabic ladies walk the same; they sort of slowly float along and the men do as well. Which in contrast is funny because in their cars they drive like maniacs. Anyways so my whole point was that because I see my girls so desperately needing to be the same as the group I thought they would throw a tiffy when I started to give them different activities but I found that as long as they are in cooperative learning groups and the girl next to them is doing the same thing they are fine. Now in each class I have one girl that is even beyond the highest reading group. I have given these girls even high readers and activities to choose from.

While I have been able to differentiate in reading I am still really struggling with this in math and the reality is I need to. For example the past two weeks I have been struggling to teach carrying and borrowing in addition and subtraction. I have used hundred charts, and base ten blocks and still I have some girls that are just clueless and some girls that are ready to move on. So I know that a good teacher could find a way to get the higher girls to move on and would find a way to go back over the skill with the girls that still are not getting it. But I just don't know how to do this because very few of my girls are independent learners. I can give them a task and they need constant recognition so when trying to work with the low girls the high girls are right there to show me their work and look for recognition. So this is something I know I need to improve on.

My faculty head says to me after an observation that I struggle with my "time on task," and I have to agree with her. I have trouble getting my girls focused and they easily get distracted. This derives from poor classroom management. Now I know I don't have the worst classroom management but I know for sure it could be better. Now in contrast there are teachers that are excellent at classroom management but the children complain to their mothers that the teacher is mean and then the mothers complain to administration and there is a cycle so it is almost like we can't win. My faculty head is also looking for us to exhibit an equal amount of positive reinforcement as negative reinforcement so it is a balancing act. My issue is out of fear of being reprimanded or brought under a spot light by administration or even worse ADEC themselves I set out at the beginning of the year to only have a positive reward system. Which on some levels has worked for me and has been motivating and the mothers love it. But back to the problem at hand, I simply do not have enough time on task with my girls. So the new year brings a new behavior management system.

I am implementing the stoplight system. I have a hanging pocket chart with colored circles red, orange, yellow and green. Each Sunday (like Monday) the girls start at green. When they move to yellow it is a warning, orange final warning, and red means move away from the group and work alone. Now of course girls can earn their way back up to green. This system also has rewards, if you are in the green at the end of class you leave two minutes early (could never do this in the states it is fantastic!) which means the rest of the class thinks they are leaving late (although we would be in serious trouble if we let any of the girls out late). They are in pure torture sitting waiting for just two minutes and it is really working! Then on Thursday (Friday here) I am giving all the girls left in the green a small prize candy, gum, pencil etc. I know I just started it but really I think it is working out quite well! I only had a few tears (tears must work on mom every time with some of these girls) and hopefully I won't have any angry mothers.

Now as far as helping my son transition into being a "big boy" I am at my wits end! I am hearing from many that "my son was potty trained before two," or "before two and a half," and I am really starting to get a complex so here we go. I let him run around all day no diaper and I sit him on the potty every 20 minutes and after naps and after waking in the morning and after a drink and after a meal and he refuses to go in the potty! He exhibits all the signs he hates wet diapers and tells me he needs a new diaper all the time. He loves his potty, loves to sit on it, but refuses to pee in it. He pees on the floor in the same spot and so we put his potty in the same spot and yet he pees on the floor next to it. I guess eventually he will go in the potty but at this point I just think he is stubborn. I mean take this morning after waking up his diaper was dry and I have him a sippy. I put him on that potty 10 to 15 times and sat with him. We sang the little potty song I made up and we sat and sat. Then after two hours (that means bladder control doesn't it?) he pees on the floor by the potty. I think he just wants to be defiant and stubborn...I know my loyal fans and readers (lol my mom) will tell me he is only two....I digress...

In general news we are trying to buy a car and get a loan because car rental prices are just too high and at least when leave the country we can sell the car and maybe pocket a little extra cash but getting a loan has been a nightmare as everything in this country has been. I think, I believe, I hope that as they say "Insha Allah" it will happen tomorrow. We were thinking of going with a brand new Mitsubishi ASX but now we are toying with the idea of going to Dubai and checking out the used car lots as they have a lot of cars that are still under warranty and less than a year old for around 5000 USD cheaper. There have been over 100 teachers that have left their cars at the airport or apartment parking lots and left the country blowing off their car loans and debt. Apparently their situations were bad enough to warrant such poor purchasing decisions and abandoning debt to become wanted fugitives in a country they can never step foot in again...I am truly amazed at the behavior of some so called educated professionals; they have no idea how bad they make the rest of us look; which is one of the reasons I am struggling so much with getting my own car.

Last weekend I went out with some other teachers to one of the night clubs in the hotels here in Al Ain and I had a great time dancing to top 20 American dance hits while drinking Vodka and cranberry juice (I made sure I dance for 20 minutes straight for each drink I had to burn the calories). It was so much fun and I even stayed out until 3am. I was under the weather the whole next day and realized that a night out at 33 is much harder than it was at 23 but still a lot of fun. Quite the scene even here in Al Ain down to the flamboyant Filipino man in make-up and heels busting a move on the dance floor. Needless to say I will probably keep my drinking and dancing at a minimum as I can't afford to lose a whole day off to a hang over!

Well Michael and Gavin and I have begun a tradition of going of the mall on Fridays when all the Muslims are at church so we can have it to ourselves and the other expats. Gavin gets to play at the play area and we window shop so I am off to do that now! I think we may go see a movie tonight as well...

Holiday, Birthdays, and Sugar Highs!

2010-12-22T00:12:00.000-08:00

The end of the trimester means assessment, grades, and a nice break is coming. In contrast to the US school was over early every day through the week, little to know teaching or learning was really happening, and the last two days of the week almost none of my girls were coming. We made some festive ornaments to decorate their rooms (they certainly had nothing to do with Christmas in this Muslim country!),

We have two glorious weeks off and by some miracle these two weeks happen to encompass Christmas and New Years for us westerners; my family couldn't be more happy to continue some form of tradition together this holiday season. We have our Christmas tree up, a stocking for Gavin, and even a wreath to decorate our front door. As per usual I am running around doing last minute Christmas shopping and procrastinating on getting all the wrapping done, although there is no rush as Gavin will simply tear them apart if I place them under the tree! His favorite past time when mom and dad are involved and not paying attention is to toss all the ornaments around the house.

To get the holidays going my friend Abby held a cookie exchange and I have to admit that I was apprehensive and even felt a little like I was a poser but low and behold I got my mom's snickerdoodle recipe and sat down to make them. After driving all over the city I finally found all the ingredients minus the crisco which simply had to be supplemented by something called Ghee (pretty much the same but easier to stir and I am sure it is not quite the same). Anyways by some miracle it turns out I can actually bake!

I was so proud of myself because I consider myself a flop and failure in the kitchen but as my friend Heather put it, "baking is an exact science, follow the recipe and you can't mess it up, cooking is more like an art; you just feel the ingredients and work and work until you create a masterpiece." So my theory is I am a scientist in the kitchen and as long is there is a recipe I can follow it but I cannot simply taste a dish and recreate it like many artists I know! So I took my plate full of cookies to my friend Abby's home and had a really great time! It was wonderful chatting with other teachers and mothers and sharing our joys and frustrations with this change in our lives. I had a lot of fun and look forward to more get togethers with these ladies. The best part is I came home with a plate full of different decadent yummies that Michael and I had no trouble devouring over the weekend!

My husband and I have really gone overboard with the toys this year for Gavin for Christmas, but with the nephews so far away we can't spoil them as much. Gavin has a nice toy workbench, toy kitchen, some puzzles, books, and clothing to look forward to. On Christmas eve all the teachers and families that haven't left on holiday travels are planning to get together to eat at Chinese restaurant that rumor has is pretty fantastic so I am looking forward to some good Chinese food! We are all bringing one small Christmas present for our children and one of the husbands is dressing up as Santa Clause and delivering the presents to the children. We are hoping Gavin doesn't run away like he did from his last Santa encounter at the Hilton!

We went to the annual lighting at the Christmas tree at the Hilton and it was quite the production with carolers singing all the must-hear-Christmas-songs, the lighting of the tree, complimentary wines and soft drinks, and then Santa of course repelling from the sixth floor balcony on a rope with drum rolls and spot lights, very exciting entrance. Then we waited in line to see Santa and Gavin got his present and ran away after multiple attempts there was no picture for us to post on Facebook or the blog of Gavin sitting like a good boy on Santa's lap.

My birthday was on Monday and I was so happy to see so many birthday wishes from family and friends new and old from all over the globe. It really made me smile, social networking really helps to feel warm fuzzies on our birthdays doesn't it? I spent the morning and afternoon with three ladies getting pedicures, having a wonderful meal of Indian food and doing some light shopping at my favorite local mall, Bawadhi Mall.

For my birthday Mike, Gavin, and I took a trip about 70 miles to Dubai where we stayed in the Holiday Inn Express and I have to say after staying in a 5 stars hotel a 3 stars hotel simply is a place to sleep lol. We went to the Dubai mall which is absolutely enormous and gorgeous and extravagant to say the least. We had our first sushi in 6 months! Gavin sat nicely believe it or not and snacked on fruit and a fresh fruit mango nectar, he loves the fresh juices in this country! The sushi place had conveyor belts going around with color coded bowls filled with sushi. You just grab what interests you and eat it, at the end they tally up how many bowls you have and give you your bill. Michael and I proudly ingested around 264 dirhams worth of delicious sushi! Or around 73 US dollars. It was fantastic! Then we strolled around the mall taking in the beauty of extravagant fountains, the tunnel of fish, and the enormous book store!

I will continue to risk my life driving to Dubai just to have monthly trips to the biggest most wonderful and a bit overpriced bookstore ever! It is called Book World for good reason because it is a world of books! The whole store s-curves into a huge circle of books galore! They have every book that I could think of (although if you ask Michael their Sci Fi and Fantasy sections leave something to be desired). Michael was really excited about the large selection of anime mangas and Naruto calendars (including other anime characters). They even have a huge geek display area in the back that would get any sci fi or comic book nerd oober excited. Enormous lit up museum like displays of action figures. It couldn't help but make me laugh when Michael told me one day he aspires to have such a collection in his man cave...gotta love the nerd in him lol.

We finished the evening at Cinnabon where we shared a mini cinnabon that wasn't really so mini, a piece of carrot cake, and oreo cake. We also had a nice strawberry and banana shake that I thought was a smoothie when I ordered it! Needless to say Gavin had more sugar in that one sitting than he has probably ever had at once and immediately became drunk by it. He was being super chatty and silly making Michael and I laugh so hard, who needs entertainment when you can simply give a two year old sugar and watch him perform!

As we were leaving the Dubai mall there is a section called Fashion row or something like that and it is a string of all the major designers that are referenced on Sex and the City, luxurious carpets line the floor that you sort of sink into! I had to take my shoes off to squish the carpet in my toes. As you are walking there is a runway in the middle that is a lit up floor and Gavin loved it! He was running back and forth just cracking up loving it! Unfortunately we had to pull him away kicking a little but due to his sugar overload his attention was easily averted to some pretty butterflies hanging from the ceiling lol. After our fun filled trip to the Dubai mall we headed to our slumming three star accommodations (hopefully you understand the sarcasm here as the hotel was really nice and right in the category of where we usually stay in the US on vacations).

Gavin, needless to say, had some trouble coming down from his sugar high and was literally bouncing around the room until some time after 12. The next morning we barely made it to the breakfast that left something to be desired after what we were used to at Hilton. It was the bare minimum with cereal, apples, a few danishes, juice, coffee, and milk, but it was nice! Our plan was to go to the Dubai Outlet mall, check out the Dolphinarium, and then end our day with a dinner cruise. But after the Outlet mall we were exhausted from our sugar-hungover-whiny-two-year-old-bundle-of-joy, not to mention we were located about 10 miles closer to Al Ain, it just seemed too easy to hop on the Dubai Al Ain road and be on our way home, and so we did! We have decided our next trip to Dubai needs to be with out Gavin!

Tattered Princess Dress

2010-12-03T01:06:00.000-08:00

I suppose I cannot find much to complain about right now as we barely came back from a nice long break from Eid and were told not to bother teaching this week as the nation begins the many days of celebration for National Day commemorating 39 years as a nation. The city saves no expense on lights and flags decorating the streets as almost every palm tree trickled down the street is dressed in lights. Evenings here are beautiful and are helping me to feel a little of the holiday season that I miss from back home. Never thought I would say I missed shopping to "Grandma got run over by a reindeer," but I do! So this week my colleague Heather and I work all week long to put together an act for the National Day show. Our "act" consists of 33 girls holding colored signs that spell out "We love United Arab Emirates" The colors together make the flag as well and the rest of the girls spell out a cheer saying "We love United Arab Emirates," sort of YMCA style with their arms. All in all very cute, but very discouraging and confusing with our lack of communication! We wanted all the girls in the act! Here are some pictures of practice:

At this time from what we knew the performance would be outdoors like last year after assembly all the girls would simply sit down and the whole school and mothers would enjoy the performance. We are all excited about seeing the girls doing the hair dance and some of the Arabic teachers have some traditional songs the girls will be singing, how fun right? I am told there will be henna and it will be a lot of fun. Well then we are told on Monday no, the performance will be in the Theater. The theater is so small, how will we all fit? I am thinking well it will be close but we will all fit because of course all the mothers and children will get to see the performances! So we do a dry run of our act in the theater and it goes pretty well and looks pretty cute and we feel good. Then Tuesday morning rolls around, we come in and had told the girls to not wear their uniforms and to dress in UAE colors. They came in beautiful, some of them wearing princess dresses and make up and their hair in beautiful curls down their backs! Many were wearing flag colored Kandoras and face painted flags and one girl even had flags on her eye lids! All the mothers were here ready to see their girls performing and the show was set to start at 9 am....

So we line our girls up near the theater in the dingy dirty cement area covered in garbage and we wait.... Then I find out that we are waiting on these gentlemen from the Ministry of Education to come, there is a red carpet rolled out in front of the theater. Then I see angry mothers grabbing their daughters and leaving. I go to find out why? Turns out many mothers have been turned away and they are not allowed to see the performance, either are the students! The only people seeing this performance are these men, who are already over an hour late and the Arabic teachers and some of the more affluent mothers. So we wait unsure when we perform, no direction, waiting for these men so we can start the show, no chairs in this cement almost parking lot behind the theater. The girls are hot, the girls are hungry, the need the bathroom and we wait. Finally the show starts some time after eleven. I have sung every song I know, taught them hand clap games and even duck duck, goose, but we are still miserable! What kind of party is this? If you were to speak to almost any other teacher today from any other school they would share stories of jumping castles, amazing performances, the "hair dance", and they would share pictures of a wonderful day with you, but my girls were miserable!

So finally it is our turn to perform, we were very last, some time around 12! As we file what is left of our classes on to the stage hair ties are broken, make up is running, and dresses are torn but they are smiling. I look out to the audience and the men are leaving! The Arabic teachers are leaving! My faculty head proudly beams at my girls from the audience and a few of the women stay seated realizing there is one last performance. My girls begin and they nailed it! As they filed of the stage not a one of them seemed to notice the lack of audience and they all were smiling ear to ear as I gave them thumbs up, pats on the back, and told them how great they were. My faculty head was to tears as she shared that many of these girls would never see a stage if it were not for English teachers as the Arabic teachers only allow the pretty, smart, and outgoing girls to be in acts. So this makes me feel good. Then one of my darling girls says to me in broken English, "Miss Leah, I thought today be good day...today bad day, very bad day." I look at my sweet little Fatima, "today was very bad I am sorry honey, but you are so pretty and grade three did a great job," she forces a smile and saunters away in her tattered princess dress.

2010-11-10T22:26:00.000-08:00

Life has sure been busy since my last post. We are completely settled into our new home and have really started to enjoy our routine. We are spending much less time shopping now that we have everything we need and are eating out much less, which is good because I am not sure how good the trips to burger king were doing me. Gavin recently acquired a new tricycle which he is enjoying but not quite grasping the concept of pedaling. It has a handle bar so we steer him and push him around the compound while he keeps his feet on the pedals. He is developing into a little trouble-making tantrum-throwing sentence-speaking toddler. He loves to color, he loves to play with play-doh, he is learning to sing, and he loves to do puzzles with Mommy. He loves to climb, dig, run and wrestle with daddy. I was quite impressed he only tried to eat the play-doh twice and I am quite sure he concluded that he did not like the taste. He will get t over excited and begin drawing on the floor, walls, and couch with the crayons if given just a split second with out us. Another thing he has started to do is snatch pens from my school bag and tear off down the hallway dive on the floor of his room and immediately scribble as much as he can on his floor before we apprehend the pen from him. He keeps us on our toes.

Michael has been very busy organizing all of our media onto these media devices that categorize our entertainment from music, shows, movies, kids shows etc. He downloads all the new shows and movies from the United States and we are never have a shortage of things to watch on TV. Mike also figured out how to get kindle books on our phones and so we won't be without books from the states either as we have yet to find a decent book store with books here in Al Ain, there are of course some of the popular books like twilight and John Grisham novels or harry potter in all the book stores but you just can't find a store where you can stroll through browsing the fiction section as the English sections are minimal (there are book stores that would be fun in Abu Dhabi or Dubai but none here so far).

I am excited to announce the grocery stores here seem to be acclimating to the western presence here as I am finding more and more things I actually want to or know how to cook. I still miss my lazy lazy frozen stouffers lasagnas, my x, y, z meat helpers (i.e. chicken helper) and rice a roni packets! And have yet to find powdered mashed potatoes or stove stop stuffing or Cambell soup! I have not been to the store called Spinneys and hope to find it soon as it is said to have all the western stuff for a unreasonably high marked up price that I just may pay 5 dollars a box for some kraft mac and cheese lol.

A little over a week ago I finally got my residency visa which means I am legal so thus starts the journey of sponsoring Michael and Gavin. Lots of driving around lots of official translated documents and important stamps and letters for this and official letters for that, then jump over a tree, across the river, over the bridge, sing while hoping on one foot, and do the hokey pokey....no seriously I don't know if I will every get this visa sponsoring stuff done! I hate to be that girl that complains about the country she is in but this country dots their i's and crosses their t's a few too many times! Then they have to stamp everything. I get frustrated because everyone needs official copies, you cannot for example scan and email someone a copy of something, you must drive there and they must stamp it and you must sign it, I digress...

One last complaint preceded by the statement that I am very happy with my girls. I love them to death! I love teaching here, I love watching them learn and at the end of the day I know I belong in this classroom. I have some great routines going and some real learning is happening with my girls here. I get along well with all my colleagues and feel blessed to be at such a wonderful school that is working so hard towards the reform. But....I know you were waiting for the but!

The paperwork is far more extensive then it was in the states. I thought it was actually quite overwhelming in the states as I was a special education teacher and I had to track modifications/accommodations, I had to track academic goals, I had to write IEPs, compile re-evaluation packets, and in the case of a behavior problem I had to conduct functional behavioral analysis', then write a BIP, and then implement and document the BIP and it's effectiveness. In addition to rolls as a special educator came all the data that the state wanted to show that we were making academic progress and evidence. But at the end of the day there was a form and a process that was consistent through out the state of New Mexico that was explained to us in detail. When we used a new program for data we were trained on it (and we complained a great deal about the waste of time on these trainings). I complained so much about all this paperwork in the states. I miss forms, processes, and consistency!

My job here in the UAE is constantly changing, they tell us to do something one way and we spend hours and then they change their mind...this is very consistent. We are expected to map all of our students in six areas three times a year and this I can handle, but the way of mapping has been explained to me in multiple ways and I still have no idea how I am supposed to do it. They have given us a lot of "creative freedom" on how they want this done which means how do we do this? How should we do this? So we all come up with different ways and then they decide we should use high lighters on written forms after I spent a few hours creating templates on the computer that I can use to type things in and eventually make it easier. Then I am handed a nice binder with a pack of high lighters being told they decided we would hand write these forms and color them with high lighters. Just to exemplify....

In addition I have been told I must map my students in the standards of reading and writing, math, and Science ( pages and pages of standards that are not even realistic for students that are learning in a second language and that have limited proficiency). I have to gauge if they know all the standards. The idea here is that each girl with have this binder (so 48 binders total) that will have samples/evidence of their work completing each standard. We will then check off each standard as they complete them and in theory at the end of the year we will have these binders with check lists that we turn in showing their process as they completed all the standards (I am thinking there are over a hundred standards for all three subjects combined). I will have to pour myself over these 48 binders three times this year and can you imagine how large each binder will be for each girl? Not to mention how tragic it will be for me as a teacher to sit there and realize how many of my girls cannot even complete these standards. For example do you know of a Spanish speaking student in the third grade in the states that speaks limited English that can state the scientific method or tell you the categories of animals under vertebrates and invertebrates in English (maybe in Spanish) ? I am trying to remain positive and hoping that somehow I will find a system to make this part of my job a learning experience, and beginning to think I should compile some data myself and write a dissertation for my future doctorate or some kind of paper I could publish? Right? Do we see the Nobel peace prize in my future? I am only kidding but I really have to find some way of validating this large of a work load for myself as I fear that these beautiful binders that I will put together will simply be tossed a side with the intentions being good and they will never be put to use. I digress...thanks for listening to the ramblings.

Yesterday, Mike and I had our three year wedding anniversary and it was quite nice! I found the Spinneys and bought a six pack of wine, oh yes six whole glorious bottles of wine sit in my cupboard at my beck and call. I made a lovely meal, I say lovely because all other meals have been a flop and or just "OK" and this meal of butter filled whole cream chicken and mushroom Alfredo and garlic bread was simply divine! We had seconds and brownies. It was really lovely...we put Gavin in his room with his new babysitter Diego...do not judge, sometimes we need our time! It was really nice...to three years with the most wonderful friend and husband!

Today is sort of a fun day at school, I look forward to a day of henna and dancing and food at school and then we have an entire week off of school for Eid, so Happy Eid!

the lines that separate us dissipate just a bit more....

2010-10-07T03:30:00.000-07:00

It is has been a while since I have blogged and I am sorry for that. I guess in a way the daily grind has begun and I just haven't had the time to write. I wish I could say we are enjoying living in our beautiful new home but unfortunately we are still awaiting the furniture allowance and salary. My salary is said to for sure be in my account today and then we can buy at least some beds, a few appliances, until we get our furniture allowance. I have also had my medical check which is fantastic, because I now I can get my visa and begin sponsoring my family, so things are falling into place and I really can't complain too much because I am in a five star hotel with free breakfast every morning. Although in a moment of insanity I did put some furniture in the hallway the other night to give Gavin some more room to run around as he is bruised up from running into things...he is much happier with a little more space.

I want you to know that I have watched a lot of teachers leave this country fed up and angry and upset and I completely understand why they have done so. I have been blessed in many ways. I am teaching third grade girls whom had an English instructor all year last year and they did a fantastic job paving the road for me. I am at a school with 6 other English teachers and my faculty head is a Muslim American woman that speaks enough Arabic to be a wonderful liason for us between the Arabic faculty and English faculty. My girls bring me presents and hug me and I have fallen in love with all of them. I will not pretend I have not faced some challenges in the classroom and that things have not been difficult, but when I know how things could have been I feel like in some way this was my path and I will not give up and I will not come home and I am blessed because in a way the cards I was dealt are a hand that I can hold and I know many had to fold and walk away from the table. I could have been given a much worse hand and realizing and knowing that has made me much stronger.

When teachers from last year told me just wait until December you will feel much better by then, I know what they mean. In December I will have had steady income, lived and settled in my home and routines with my family, making home cooked meals, and I will have established routines with my girls....this will be when things feel better and the challenges will not feel heavy on my shoulders.... so I do this for December...

So putting all of that out there let me share a fantastic moment in my journey thus so far! Last evening I was invited into the home of one of our Arabic teachers that has just had a beautiful baby girl. All the teachers from my school were there and the home was beautiful marble, with color splashing the walls and very much what you may think of seeing in a traditional Arabic home. First I was welcomed by all the ladies with the kiss kiss (so it's 2-4 kisses depending on how close you are, I only got two kisses). The we sat around a room and had fresh juice, and chocolate and tea. Talking, us in our short phrases we know in Arabic and them using the little English they know. They were so comfortable with hair peeking out, their Abayas open to show their gorgous and colorful evening gowns! Gavin was running around with my friends son whom is also two and they said, Khalas (stop), let him be to me...so I let him thinking in the back of my mind when will a beautiful vase be shattered?

Then we moved into the dining area for a full on feast! They had the full slaughtered lamb on a rolled out table cloth and we sat around on the floor in traditional Arabic form and were each dished out massive amounts of food, I was given an entire leg of lamb! It was all very new and different for me and the ladies were so great to show me how it was done. Gavin was struggling with this new concept of a table and of course strolled right through the meal to get grapes (gapes lol). The ladies handed him a whole bunch of grapes and he ran around eating them, they all loved him as I imagined they would! Then there were many cakes that came out, and then new fruits that I have never had. One was like a small red ball that looked almost like a flower covered in fur and you broke it open to eat this very sweet nectary like fruit and another was like a nut with a fruit inside, I will find them at the store and discover there names, very good.

Then after our meal they passed Arabic perfumes around spraying each other and smelling. One lady came to me and sprayed them all on me and kept asking, "Ms. Leah...and she would name the perfume...you like? It is Arabic." So I came up with all the reasons that I loved each one...and I really do, they seem less chemically then what I have found in the states and I don't think will give me a headache...although I am afraid to find out what some of these perfumes may cost. Next they passed around this incense canister that was smoking, the sent is some kind of wood from a tree (this was the answer I got as I love this smell and want to buy it and she says wood from tree lol). But with this everyone puts there clothing over the smell to fragrant their clothing. She came to me and put my shirt, scarf and skirt over the smoke. When we left they all shook Gavin's hand (unfortunately just before the last lady Gavin picks his nose and eats it, lovely right?). But all in all it was so great and I left feeling closer to my new colleagues and finding the lines that separate us dissipate just a bit more....

2010-09-25T07:58:00.000-07:00

So today is Saturday, which means my weekend is coming to a close and back to work on Sunday. Will I sleep better than last Saturday? Yes, because I know what tomorrow will bring. Last week was really the first week of school. The first week was some professional development and a bit of jump start for the kids to come get their books, say hello, and be on their way. Last week was a whole new story. I found myself flooded with all kinds of emotions, frustrations, and confusions. In contrast, there were many moments of complete joy and a sense that I belong here. My girls are all adorable, many with similar names like Fatima, Shouq, Hamda, Sara, Mariam, and it gets a little confusing because I have to call them by their father's names and sometimes their grandfather's name as some girls even have the same first two names (they have four names).

I was surprised to find that we do have some books for all the subjects excluding science, so for science I will be on my own. Unfortunately our school does not have the teachers guide, although I have heard some schools do, so I am hoping with enough networking I can scan a teacher's manual.

I am proud to say I had very few tears and no runners (lots of runners around the area, kids afraid of the new English teachers) and any tears I had were wiped away and replaced with smiles very quickly with bribery like stickers and stamps. I have found I can get quite a bit from my girls just from stickers. Last week was a bit of chaos with kids changing classes and Arabic teachers coming in to drop girls off and take girls away with no explanation and I just nodded smiling saying "shoe-cran" or thank you in Arabic...my spelling if off and phonetic as it sounds to me...at one point a teacher came in my classroom, shouted to the girls in Arabic and one girl says to me, "Computer, paper, we go..." so I let them all go confused...it was not time for them to go, but who am I to argue with the computer paper? My girls all go outside to get these papers then they roll their little backpacks around and I realize they should probably come back in my classroom. The Arabic teachers walk away...so back to my room they go and isn't that fun to communicate with a language barrier!

So I can only imagine how foolish I look to my girls wildly gesturing to them to get them to understand things. At one point I pointed to my bottom and the chair to get them to sit down. My girls really want to do well and please me and they also want to socialize and be young 3rd grade girls so it is kind of a funny classroom. They will repeat anything I say when I stand in front of the class. For example I asked the girls if they heard the "a" sound in the word "cat" and they responded, "do you hear the "a" sound in the word "cat"?

So I dropped the ball on lessons and ended up putting together a few centers with play-doh, blocks, toy clocks, and letter sets and had the girls working with manipulatives for counting and the alphabet which is really fruitless because they can all count to around 100 and they all know the alphabet. So my real task is working on building their vocabularies and teaching 3rd grade math skills with a little bit of science. So next week for language arts we are going to work on school vocabulary, number placements, and for science I am somewhat at a loss...I am thinking I need to establish a classroom routine first and I just am not sure what I am doing in that regard...

On a different note yesterday we got the keys to our apartments and should be getting our furniture allowance tomorrow and then we have five more days here at the Hilton and we will be in our homes completely. We have done a lot of window shopping and are on the same page as far as furniture goes and have found some great deals for beds for both Gavin and our bedrooms. We are completely in love with the apartment and will have more room then we did in our home in the states and we will be living near all the other families here in Al Ain that came to teach this year. We were excited to get a third bedroom, the maid's quarters, Michael is very happy because he can have his "Man room." We also have an excellent view of Oman just out my window, I can actually see another country out my window, so take that Sarah Palin lol. That is it for now, here is to a much less confusing next week and to soon being cozy on my couch in my new home as I type this blog.

2010-09-15T06:03:00.000-07:00

So hotel life is wearing thin and I think to myself how on earth do people that travel for their jobs do this all the time? Sure having maid service is nice, and having the pool and facilities at your disposal is quite nice as well. You can't beat having someone carry your shopping bags up either...but I want a stove! I want a fridge! I want to fill cupboards with food. I want to do my own laundry and not in the tub or sneaking into the staff only room with the washer and dryer on the fourth floor. I am sick of eating at restaurants and I miss cooking. I also cannot wait to have a place for Gavin to play and spread out and have all of his toys and books tossed about and not drive me crazy. We will eventually get into our housing, Insha' Allah....

So the holiday of Eid a nice holiday until Monday and on Monday we went to the ADEC (Abu Dhabi Education Council) teacher Jamboree. There around 6000 teachers, faculty, and administrators in attendance. It was quite an occasion. When we arrived we were escorted threw security and greeted by danishes, coffee, and tea stations. I can deal with this, much nicer than Albuquerque Public School! I was with a few teachers I have become friends with and we worked the crowd speaking with teachers we have known from different hotel stays, facebook, and through our schools. Then we were ushered into a large auditorium and given headsets to place on our ears to hear the translators when our speakers spoke in Arabic. The presentation was focused on the education reform and some of the changes happening now and the changes to come and was very informative. I found an interesting contrast from the states, they were celebrating small gains, just a few percent, and downsizing the importance of their weaknesses. I don't get the feeling that they expect massive inappropriate gains like we have for Average Yearly Progress in the states under No Child Left Behind.

During intermission I was so excited to see servers with little bow ties carrying silver trays walking around offering tuna sandwiches, and little miniature sub sandwiches! Then after many rounds with the sandwiches they brought out trays of fruit tarts...these were just snacks little did I know there was a large buffet in a grand ballroom that you might see in a really fancy wedding (for me a wedding on tv, I don't know anyone that fancy lol)...let me just say my coke came in a wine glass! After the festivities we were bussed back to Al Ain.

On Tuesday we met in smaller groups with other teachers that will be in our school or neighboring schools. At APS we called this clusters. This was a great day of the type of professional development I was used to. The best part was I got to meet three of the English speaking teachers at my school from last year and that will be back again this year, and I met one of the new English speaking teachers. Two of the ladies are from Canada, one is from Ohio, and the new teacher is from South Africa. It was so nice to talk to them! They told me how approachable the principal is and that she speaks English quite well and that it was a fantastic school to work at. They immediately took me under their wing and I feel like everything will work out and that I am going to have a great year! They are really great ladies!

Today was the first day I got to see my school. I gave the two new English teachers a ride and met one of the teachers for the first time and she is also from Canada. I was so happy to walk inside the closed gates and see a beautiful courtyard shaded with paths and benches. We plopped down on the bench and waited for things to begin happening. We were told to be there at 7:30 and everything seemed to happen after 8. Students were told which class they would be in and taken to their rooms. We stood there anticipating what would happen next. Where should we be? My faculty head, also an English teacher from the states, whom is Muslim and speaks Arabic, and I must add is the most pleasant, approachable, enthusiastic lady ever, points out my students. I ask, should I follow them? Casually she responds, if you would like...I would. Inside I am thinking that I would rather run and hide but I instead walk to meet my little ladies.

I enter the classroom filled with mothers in their Abayas and Shaylas. I smiled a lot and immediately all the Arabic I had planned to use upon greeting mothers and teachers. I got to spend a little time with my students and attempted to learn their names, but it was a little crazy as my room had all the books and there were teachers coming in and out to get books to hand out to their students. To the question what did you do this summer I had varying answers, "I went shopping at the Bawadhi Mall," to "I eat banana." I was able to gauge that there is some basic phonemic awareness after we did a phonics drill and that I will do what I have done best in Special Education and differentiate. All in all I learned that a sticker will easily get the girls to do what I want, one girl refused to sit down until I gave everyone sitting a sticker, seems I will be stocking up on stickers!

Today was short and after the students were released all the English teachers and our faculty head went to the Bawadhi mall food court for an informal meeting and she wrote down a list of requests we have and she plans to "rally for us." This is going to be great. There will be challenges, but all in all I think everything is going to work out and I will be really happy!

You must have a Garmin!

2010-09-09T10:26:00.000-07:00

So yesterday my friend Abby and I set off to find our schools. I have my tiny samsung droid operated smartphone equipped with google maps. For the record we could navigate anywhere with these in the states, but here there is no directions available this way, we only have this tiny little arrow pointing in the direction we are heading and the goal becomes to end up at the star. So here two midwest girls go on our adventure to find out schools (Abby is from Illinois and actually went to college in Iowa, I want to say upper Iowa. So let me try to illustrate what we were dealing with!

So on my phone we have a map of where we are and where we are headed. We are located at or around this blue dot/arrow (accurate up to 20 meters) and our schools are at or around the star in the far right hand corner. So in theory this seems simple right? Take the main road all in arabic south until we hit "truck" road and then hang a left. Now there are no connecting roads from "truck" road, but in theory we should be able get our little arrow near there and then figure it out, good plan right? Now keep in mind this is after we asked everyone and their mother how to get there and realized we were on our own. So off we go!

So we see "truck" road on our map, which was quite literally filled with trucks driving to and fro and there we were trucking along in our little yaris. As we continue down the road it becomes a bit of a dessert wasteland and we both comment on how smart we were to have a full tank of gas and bottled water. We come upon some sickly looking camels and some huts and we joke that we may end up teaching in huts. Drizzled between camel farms and humble looking huts and homes are these astonishingly large mansions, it is immensely contrasting to see such poverty and wealth all in the bling of the eye. We attempt to turn off on some side roads to make it to our schools, the desirable star we can see on our map, but to no avail we can only circle the area!

So finally we find a road called Om Ghafa road which produces many shouts of joy and happy dances because this is our district! There is a camel racing track and a few shops and a much more community feel with kids out riding their bikes. There is still that contrast I mentioned before of the huge mansions and tiny houses, but no camel farms so we are feeling a little bit of relief. Still haven't found our schools but we know we are close! Then I see this huge sign and realize it is my school, naturally spelled differently then on the Abu Dhabi Education Council website because spelling is a huge inconsitency here (at least in English). My school is pretty closed off so I could not go inside, but I did notice through the cracks in the fencing and walls there are portables and the building looks a bit old. I am trying not to freak out quite yet as there are plenty of schools with portables (aka trailers) in the states, as long as I have airconditioning I can make any space work!

Then we moved on to find Abby's school and we got to go inside, her school looks fantastic and I have to say I was a little jealous at how adorable and less prison like it is, but again trying to remain positive. This is a huge initiative and I am a part of it and I am prepared to work from the ground up and rise up to the challenge, and best of all I have a friend to commute with every day! To see pictures of Abby's school check out her blog at http://themcalister4.blogspot.com/

So after we both saw our schools we headed back on Om Ghafa which connects directly to the main road through Al Ain that has the Al Bawadi mall on it, which is nice because I can hit up the mall on the way home from work. We timed the commute with traffic and it was about 45 minutes (to our housing not the hotel where we started). So we will commute daily from our housing in the upper northeast outskirts of Al Ain (called the Hili district) to the southeast outskirts of Al Ain (called the Om Ghafa district) which I suppose are like suburbs in the states. The distance between the two districts is roughly 15 miles and we are looking at about 30 to 45 minutes once I get this whole aggressive driving/traffic circle thing down as we have to cut through the center of downtown everyday, although hoping with time we may find a quicker way around the city.

Today we plan to pick up some kind of navigation device and have heard as long as you have coordinates you can get turn by turn directions, and at this point I would give up my life savings for turn by turn directions!

So later in the evening.... We bought a Garmin and I love it! I cannot tell you how fantastic it feels and how much stress is alleviated to know exactly where I need to turn to get where I am going. However, we did discover it is important to know either a. the exact coordinates, or b. the exact name of the place you are going and it should be mildly important. We were attempting to go to the Rugby Club for "family night" where there was bouncing, kids movie, and food, but unfortunately there are three clubs with Rugby in their title so we asked our Concierge and he said that it is part of the Equestrian Club and so we popped that into the Garmin and we were on our way out of the country nearly before we said, forget it, let's go to Chilis! Which thanks to the Garmin was so easy to find, and then our route back to the Hilton was easy as pie! Sorry no pictures here as I am currently tethered to my phone for an internet connection to save some money (nearly 20 USD a day for internet here at the Hilton) and uploading photos takes forever and a day or something like that...

And now we are in Al Ain

2010-09-07T22:04:00.000-07:00

So last Wednesday evening I came home to our hotel room in Abu Dhabi to a letter under my door that declared we would be checking out the following day at 1500 hours. We got this message after a full day at the mall and I collapsed on the bed in despair. Of course I am excited to go to Al Ain and see the city I will be living in! Of course, but I am exhausted! I pull myself off of my bed and get myself in gear to start packing. Michael is making organized piles and I am countering that my jamming everything into suitcases. Extra stuff that won't fit? No problem! I have empty Carrefour bags! So we fall into bed sometime around one in the morning with the room pretty much packed together and I wake up for another day of orientation.

This day felt a bit more like the states professional developments as we did team building exercises including some very entertaining skits, poems, and even teacher raps with some bee-boxing (is that what you call it?)... At the end of the day we cram into the bus and panic ensues, everyone is whining and complaining, "we have to check out," I thought for a moment that some of the teachers may stab the bus driver when he did not open the doors to the bus right away and I thought for sure I would be trampled if I tripped over my skirt...they haven't all figured out the shway shway, they said we would be leaving at 3:00 but this is not arabic time, that bus didn't shove off to Al Ain until after 4 or 1600 hours... welcome to the UAE folks...

Our luggage was piled loosely into a toyota with guard gates around the truck bed, again with the, "hope my luggage makes it, Insha Allah." We cram into the bus and some more whining and bickering ensues from some of the teachers....wondering how long some of these whiners will make it? I stare out the window crammed in my seat with my son standing on me trying to push the light buttons and already frustrating all the people around us. Thankfully just before the bus pushes off our little friends Jordynn and Noelle (Jolynn's beautiful daughters) ask to have Gavin sit with them. His ride consisted of play and apples, giggles, and lots of fun...best of all mom could relax. I seriously need an older daughter, lol!

So after 20 minutes on the road naturally our bus needs to stop for gas, why on earth would they fill up before we leave? These are logical questions that will never be answered so therefore I must not even ask them because they will only lead to frustration, so again with the just go with it...the likely explanation is that until that moment he did not need gas so why get it before?

We get to Al Ain and I am amazed at how green it is, how meticulous the landscape is with each bush being spaced exactly the same distance apart from the previous and next bush all in pretty little rows. Behind this row of bushes are the rows of trees (I need to determine if these are palm trees or maybe another type of tree?), and this city loves their round a bouts! They are everywhere! I know as knew driver in this country the etiquette on these is still lost on me and will be a serious learning curve! Some of the round a bouts are pretty awesome, the clock one is on the way into Al Ain from Abu Dhabi.

I will not go so far as to say the driving is great but significantly better in comparison to the insanity that ensues on the roads of Abu Dhabi, so I rented a car and on day two in Al Ain I got behind the wheel and it wasn't so bad. Although the streets have multiple names or at times no names and wrong turns can mean a significant detour from your destination. At this point it is all trial and error. I took out a long term rental with United Car rental for 1650 AED per month ( 458 usd) I got a 2009 Toyota, Yaris for the next 6 mos that includes full coverage insurance (not a penny deductible even if it is my fault), and any repairs or upkeep are all included in that price. We may buy or change our rental arrangement later down the line, but for now I will drive around my super tiny car, it looks like a station wagon was squished lol. Below is a view from our hotel room...

So for now we are staying at the Hilton in Al Ain
until we get the keys to our apartments which is going to be after Eid, which is the end of Ramadan. The holiday of Eid commences today meaning everything is closed and family and friends spend time together, but Eid is not officially started until someone declared it from the lunar calendar and it is printed in the morning paper, the rumor is it will likely be on friday...what does this mean? We can finally eat in public! Michael and I joke about walking around the mall with candy bars in our mouths. We are on holiday until Monday and I have a car now so we are planning to go out and get lost! We may go to the zoo...

Today another teacher and I are going to try and find our schools, so with some success I plan to take some pictures of the outside of my school.

I am an ambassador of the UAE...

2010-09-01T07:06:00.000-07:00

I have been too busy or exhausted to post the last few days but I have much to share! On Monday we got to meet Mr Ali Alsaloom, he is the founder and cultural consultant for Embrace Arabia. He is an author, cultural consultant, professional speaker, and TV show host, and we each get an Ask Ali book! Here is a link to his website http://www.ask-ali.com/main.asp?pageID=476

Another website he created that is really informative is www.embracearabia.com

I learned that Arabic encompasses multiple heritages but is not the same. The best example that I can compare it to is Hispanic culture being different from region to region in all aspects (language, clothing, food, etc.). The following are Arabic countries: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Somalia, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman (which will literally be in my backyard), Syria, Jordan, Kuwait, UAE, Djibouti, Lebanon, and Palestine.

Mr. Ali told us, "Cultural understanding is blah...doesn't get you anywhere..." Let me try to explain what he meant. We may read a stack of books on Emirate and Arabic culture and think that we have this deep cultural understanding, but in reality we are still making judgments based on our own culture. For example, maybe I will see an Emirate women walking behind her husband and I understand the reasons why but I make a judgment in my mind that I think it is stupid or anti-feminist. How will I ever really be happy in this foreign land? He went on to say, "The ultimate level of respect is appreciation, with out acceptance you cannot appreciate."

He went on to explain a few simple points I want to highlight a few more things from his presentation, he told us the three major influences on culture in the Gulf are modernization, religion, and tribal past. He told us teachers are revered and looked upon with a great amount of respect. We are considered holy! He also told us were are all ambassadors of the UAE because after this experience is said and done we will be sharing with everyone in our country how safe and modern the UAE is. I couldn't agree more!

We also learned about a superstition, the "evil red eye." If you compliment someone there is a fear that something terrible will happen to them so you always say "Masha Allah," after a compliment. The red evil eye can also be protected by images of a blue eye which comes the form of a blue circle with a dot in the center which apparently comes in the form of art or jewelry, so I am on the lookout for this jewelry!

At the end of his presentation we got to line up for pictures and autographs in our books. This by far has been my favorite experience so far. Mr. Ali was a very energetic presenter and he joked around a lot ending by saying, "in answer to a question I am sure many of you have I am 30 and single."

On Tuesday we learned that we will have a great curriculum at some point, Insha Allah! We also learned a bit about assessment, some more Arabic and reflection. I was so exhausted from my long day of work that I came home to the room and made Michael go get takeaway (not carry out here!) and Gavin and I watched American Home videos and fell asleep at around 7:30...so sad. On the upside we have all been sleeping in a bit later each day and I have avoided a nap all week! Today I slept until 6:00 am.

Today we got to go to the Sheikh Zayed Mosque and it was breathtaking. We had a guided tour and learned a lot. I had trouble listening to our guide because I was blown away at the awwww-ness of it.

We ended the day by finding out our placement! I will be teaching in the Om Ghafa region of Al Ain which is about 15 miles from my apartment. I will be in an all girls public school called Al Nebras Primary School. I was really happy because I was a little worried about working in an all boys school. We also got our debit cards and set up online banking. It is all coming together as they said it would, Insha Allah!

"None of us are as smart as all of us"

2010-08-29T18:38:00.000-07:00

Sunday starts the work week here and we started our first full day of orientation. It was pretty amazing filled with details on the Abu Dhabi Vision for the next 20 years. I was excited to see the city planning that is going, the saying "Rome wasn't built in a day," really doesn't apply here. The four themes of the vision for 2030 are Green, Live, Work, and Connect. The The are plans for a more green city, a community based plan for housing, water taxis somewhat like Venice, and a world class transit system.

Then we learned about some of the challenges we as educators and this new education reform will meet. I was astounded at the low numbers of students making it directly into the colleges here in the Emirates. The facilitator said it best when he said imagine if in the States you were told that in order to get into college you must speak fluent Chinese, well this is essentially the current expectation of the students of the Emirates as they are expected to speak fluent English to make it in college which leaves their direct entry rate from high school to college under 10%. Other challenges that the emirates face that are not to different from the challenges we face in many schools in the states are poor student results and students performing below grade level. Of course they have 90% literacy in their own language, they are struggling with their own language. There is also a large absenteeism problem among the students.

The education reform is focused on a Bilingual approach that enforces reading, writing,and speaking in both English and Arabic. Which had me thinking about my ESL students in the states, the approach is full immersion and the students speak fluent Spanish at home with family and then learn to read and write in English. There is no literacy support in their home language and there skills in English are mediocre at best, this system simply isn't working. I think I will learn a lot about how effective the bilingual approach is with continued support until college in both languages and I believe the results will be astounding. Suddenly instead of a speck on this planet I am starting to feel more like a dot with a purpose!

The next portion of the orientation was a very informative presentation on Ramadan. Ramadan is the 9th month of the Islamic calendar and its start and finish is determined by the lunar calendar; as are all the Islamic holidays. The word Ramadan means dryness or heat in Arabic. Fasting means to abstain from food, water, smoking, intimacy, gossip, and swearing from sunrise to sunset. The first meal before sunset is called Sahoor and then they have their first prayer and then the main meal comes at sunset and is called Iftar and this is before the fourth prayer of the day (five prayers a day).

Then they put us in a bus and took us to Al Mawaheb an all girls school.

We had some Arabic lessons and I learned that my throaty noise known as "kh" is going to need some serious work, it almost sounds like you are hacking a lugi for a more disgusting illustration lol. Here are a few phrases (pretty phonetic):

Hello al-salam alaykum
Hello (response to someone saying hello) wa alaykum al-salam
Goodbye (person leaving) ma'a salama
Goodbye (person staying) alla ysalmak (y says "e")
Good morning sabah al-kheir
Good afternoon masa' al-kheir
Good night tisbah ala-kheir
Welcome ahlan wa sahlan OR marhaba

Today we get to meet Mr Ali Alsaloom, he is the founder and cultural consultant for Embrace Arabia. He is an author, cultural consultant, professional speaker, and TV show host, and we each get an Ask Ali book! Here is a link to his website http://www.ask-ali.com/main.asp?pageID=476

On a side note last evening was the closest we have come to a normal night of sleep! We all went to sleep around 8:30 pm and woke up this morning around 4:00 am. I will update you after today and hope to take pictures!

Week one in Abu Dhabi...

2010-08-24T22:30:00.000-07:00

As you will notice from my lack of grammar and spelling skills we are still very jet lagged and sleep deprived. We arrived here in Abu Dhabi last Friday evening on 20, August 2010 (getting used to backwards dates). We have connected with quite a few families from facebook here in our hotel and created a nice social network already of teachers headed to Al Ain in the near future. This is nice because I get to be surrounded by support and Gavin has lots of new kiddos to play with! The hotel we are staying at is a the Rotana Beach Abu Dhabi and it is a beautiful 5 star hotel attached to the Abu Dhabi mall, which is pretty amazing in itself. The mall is filled with exotic perfume stores, designer stores like Dolche and Cabana, Rolex etc. There is a great food court as well that we visit every night that has Hardees, McDonalds, Subway, and also ranges in delicious foods from Iranian to Eastern Indian. To keep on the topic of food the breakfast buffet here at the hotel has been amazing! There is a whole spread just of delicous and decadent desserts, then there is veal sausage and turkey bacon, and random appetizers from vegetable cutlets to shrimp balls to shrimp spring rolls.

I have had a bit of an issue with my entry visa as in I have not received it yet, which means that I haven't had my medical exam and cannot get my fingerprints done...inshallah it will all work out and come together.

Two days ago we ventured outside of the hotel and mall area for the first time and took a taxi to the Marina Mall which has the Carrefour and the Ikea, another fantastic mall and loved driving around the city in the taxi cab. The city is stringed in colorful lights readng Ramadam Kareem, which means happy ramadam!

Today we plan to venture out again and see Herritage Village which is the equivelant to an old town so we can learn a little bit more about the culture and then again to Carrefour (the fancy wal-mart) store. We got some oldschool Nokia prepaid phones which make me laugh after being so used to our androids in the states...mike won't even text with it lol.

Shway Shway...

2010-08-09T17:30:00.000-07:00

One thing I have learned from the books I have read, the blogs I have read, and the other teachers that are already living in the UAE is Shway Shway, or slowly slowly. Things will happen, they will come together, but we must have patience. I am hoping this is a philosophy I can easily adapt to because I know one of my big stressors in life has been that I am always multitasking, desire complete control, and I hate waiting for anything! So here I am, sitting in my rented house after selling my home, our cars, and most of our belongings donated to goodwill, sold in a garage sale, or slowly picked off by friends and family...

And still no word on when we leave...so we wait and we are told again and again it will come together, it will happen and still I really want to stamp my feet and cry, "where is my ticket?"

My last paycheck comes this Friday and I can't help but worry a little about money because I know every moment I sit here in the states I am not getting paid for my teaching position in the UAE. I find myself obsessively checking facebook to see if anyone else got a plane ticket and then checking my email to see if I got a ticket.

Everyone says enjoy your family and friends while you can...but their lives have gone on...we had the going away party and now they have their own lives and jobs and routines...I have to say I am honestly ready to go back to work! I am ready for my adventure to start! On the upside I am pretty sure that Michael and Gavin will get to travel with me when I go, which is a relief...anyway this is more of a rant than a blog...I digress...

Summer Vacation...

2010-06-05T04:47:00.000-07:00

My adventures in life brought me from Iowa in a pick-up truck with my dog Afton to Albuquerque, NM. I met my husband five years ago and my son Gavin came into our lives just over two years ago. We bought a home and I began my teaching career and I thought that was the story for now. As I began teaching in the Albuquerque Public School system I realized that I did not want to raise my son in this city. Michael, my husband, and I began discussing where we would move after I finished my Masters program. We fantasized about Colorado, Idaho, Wisconsin, and Georgia. We had our minds set on Colorado. I began working on my license in Colorado and became distressed at the current job market for teachers, so I said to Michael, "lets broaden our horizons, and apply where there are jobs and then move based on where I get a job." "Sure, sounds good."

So I am browsing and I see this posting for teaching positions in Abu Dhabi. My husband and I joked at first and the idea seemed so far fetched but as I read on and did my research this sounded like a fantastic opportunity with a benefit package that was almost insane to pass up! Not to mention the traveling we could do and the culture we could submerge into and what an opportunity for our son to grow up a little more open minded then most American children?

So I applied. That day I must of spent around 8 to 10 hours just reading up on the area. The next couple weeks were a blur as a phone interview turned into me flying to Dallas for the in person interview and then wow, or "ta da," as my son would say, I was turning in my teaching contract. Now I am counting down the days until we leave at the beginning of August...

Family and friends have had mixed emotions on the idea, there have been some tears, some fear, and some legitimate joy at our choice. Overall I think that everyone sees that this is a great opportunity for us and that we will come out of this with positive experiences.

So we sold our house, we sold most of our junk that we accumulated and we plan to fit everything we own into six suitcases under 50 pounds and make this move in less than two months. Before we head off there is a trip to Arizona, a trip to Iowa, a trip to Idaho, and a trip to Yellowstone National Forrest for us...I have a feeling that this is going to be an amazing summer!