Finally got time to sit down and write about the past few weeks which have been quite eventful!
I now have an address!!!
Angel Ardoin
PO Box 57605
Madinat Zayed, Abu Dhabi, U.A.E
0529869601
I now have an address!!!
Angel Ardoin
PO Box 57605
Madinat Zayed, Abu Dhabi, U.A.E
0529869601
Saturday, September 8: Today, I moved into my Villa, Villa 8/Rooftop 2. We were told the bus would be at the hotel early, maybe late in the evening or possibly the next day. By this time, we were ready to be out so we ordered two taxi's and hoped to get everything into them. The first taxi was SO packed and filled that it did get pulled over on the way over with my friends. The police officer just checked the car and they were on their way again. He must have felt sorry for them squished between all the bags! I made it to my villa and I just stood in my doorway and looked at all of my stuff and thought for the first time...I'm home! This is definately not where I thought I would be at this point in my life, but God has thrown me some curve balls and I just feel incredibly fortunate to be on this adventure. The best thing about this is I have no plans for the future for the first time in my life. I'm just living one day at a time and living it to the fullest. I will post pics later as I was waiting to get my Villa fully furnished.
I stayed in most of the day and washed dishes, put away clothes and did the best with making it look comfortable until all my furniture arrived. My friends and I had dinner together and then got ready for my first day of school tomorrow.
Sunday, September 9:
First day of School at Zayed Al Khair School for Boys!!! Boy oh boys!!!!
First, a little background on the school: New Principal, new staff, no returning EMTs...so basically brand new start with these boys.
Teachers have to be at work at 7am and students start at 7:15. When you come into the school, you can smell the incense burning. I had no idea where to report so I just kind of walked around and looked for little ones. I will be teaching Grade 1, but in the U.S., this is Kinder. The kids are supposed to start at KG1 (Kindergarten 1) and KG2 (Kindergarten 2) but some opt out and start in Grade 1.
I was told by a few Arabic teachers that they told Grade 1 students to go home and they would start the next week. So, I went back into the gym. Then, I was told to line up with the five boys that were still there. I was told before school that not many kids would come on the first day or even the first week.
First, was Assembly. The schedule says it lasts until 7:30 but today it was more like 8:30 today. They had dressed up some of the older boys in adorable animal costumes (bears, lions and bunnies). I wish I could post pictures - this is the one time that they looked adorable and innocent. One of the teachers dressed up as Mickey. The kids played musical hula hoops. They chose a few boys to play and the rest sat outside in a big circle. This was exactly like musical chairs at home except they used hula hoops. The boy that won received a prize. I learned at this moment that prizes would come in handy with the boys...Bribery:) Then, they tied a balloon to the boy's ankles and they ran around and tried to pop the others' balloons. The last one with their balloon still inflated on their ankle won. WOW. They were so competitive and basically trampled each other to pop the balloons.
At first sight, the boys are adorable and then they smile and you see a lot of rotted teeth:( Apparently, they eat a TON of candy or no cleaning. The older boys were taller than me and you could tell they ruled the school. The boys ran around the gym with no shoes on. There were soccer goals and basketball hoops in the gym so I wonder if they play these games in school.
Lining up, or queuing, is a hot mess. They don't know the meaning of a line. The boys don't listen to any teachers and just ran out the gym door while hitting and pushing.
When a man enters the room, some of the Arabic teachers quickly cover their face. This can be a sheer veil that they pull down or just take the extra material and hold it to cover their face. The Arabic teachers are mostly Emirati but some are expats from Jordan, Egypt and other countries. You can tell the difference between them because Emirati woman wear all black. I met my Arabic co-teacher, Diala. She speaks very, very limited English but she was very pleasant and smiled.
I finally got the kids to my room and tried to do a few fun games with them. The boys understand NO English...I mean NONE! I did get them to understand Duck, Duck, Goose; Sit and Stop so it was a successful day! I can already tell who will be my challenging boys this year, one in particular that stuck out, Naser. He kissed his hand and then slapped my face. OK???? Not sure about this but he sure does test my patience and will be a handful. I realized that for some of the boys, this was the first time they saw a woman (other than their family) uncovered.
One teacher came in my room before 11am and said go home. Students left at 11am instead of 1:05. Nice first day! I took them to the main area for dismissal and just watched the chaos. This was pure chaos. No transportation tags like good ol' Hearne but just teacher aides that stood at the front of the "line". There were fights and I'm talking real fights with punches and all. How you can be in Elementary School on the first day and fight is beyond me. We were told just to leave them and go home but the other EMTs and I just stood outside and talked about our first day. INTERESTING! We were told from the beginning to just go with the flow and not to try to change things. Those who know me well, know that I am a planner. I LOVE to make plans and know exactly what I am doing. Here, in the UAE, there are no plans. You just have ride it out as things change every day and even every hour. I came for a challenge and an adventure and I think this is exactly what I will get!
First Week of School:
Gradually, each day I got new students. So by Thursday, I had about 18 students total. We worked daily on sit, stand, raise hand and line up. By Thursday, they almost had it. We played games with it and they loved that. I showed them what it looks like and tried to get them to understand that this is a classroom, not a playground:) But, I swear I've never seen kids love a game as much as they love Duck, Duck, Goose. Who would have ever thought that this would be my saving grace.
I had one student, Alsudari (pronounced Sudari), whose Mom came in and stayed with him because he cried and cried and cried and cried. Another teacher told me that this is his third year attempting Grade 1 (he is 8 years old). I have heard that the boys are extremely spoiled, but this case surprised me. His mom finally left him alone after the 3rd day and he cried and cried. One of the teachers finally came and told me that he needed to go to the bathroom but he couldn't go because his mother cleans him. There are no phones in the school, so if you have a problem, you just open your door and hope someone comes by. The kids say Hamam, which means bathroom. I finally got this after the second day. I hear Hamam about 50 times a day. They LOVE going to the bathroom but I stopped this pretty quickly as some were asking every ten minutes to go to the bathroom...REALLY?
I expected a ton of nannies but the mothers actually brought the boys. I also had another parent, Bekheet's Mother, that stayed the entire week in my classroom! She was very kind and just told me Sway Sway, which means slowly in Arabic. Now, please note when writing this I just finished week 5 and Mom is still there but has moved outside my classroom and she stays the whole day!
The conversation between my friends and I has changed SO much. We now speak in words...Come, Call, Sit. It's strange not being able to hold a conversation all day so you take short cuts and then you come home and try to form a sentence again. Sounds strange but you really have to be here to understand.
Our last shipment of furniture arrived so I have my final Villa pictures to post!
First Trip to Abu Dhabi Since Moving Out West:
Symunek, Martha, LaRue and I left on Friday morning to come to Abu Dhabi for the night. We stayed at a fabulous hotel, Jumeirah Hotel in Etihad Towers, which is across from Emirates Palace. It was fabulous! I wrote about going to the bar there for my birthday so now we get to stay here. We had a full day planned for Friday. First, go to Mushrif Mall to get money transferred at our bank. For some reason, this is the only branch that can handle our accounts. We found a teacher supply store in the basement that had a ton of bulletin board borders and posters. I also found a few books and games for my boys. This was a great place as we haven't found any school supplies like we had back home. We ate upstairs in the food court at Wendy's. After, we took a taxi to Tips and Toes on 30th for mani/pedi. This was a treat. I had a manicure, pedicure and neck/shoulder/head massage. This location felt more like a real spa than the Marina Mall location. Afterwards, we headed to El Sombero, at the Sheraton, for dinner. We LOVE this restaurant. I had margaritas and taco salad. It was packed tonight with rowdy expats:) We left here kind of late and went back to the hotel and stayed up talking. Tomorrow would be the day we waited for...time to rent a car!
Saturday:
Woke up early and went to Marina Mall while we waited for United Car Rental to open. We finally got in touch with someone and they would bring the SUV in from Dubai and we could pick it up at 3:30. We shopped in the mall at Bath and Body Works and Home Centre. We left all of our packages at Home Centre and then took a taxi to United Car Rental (about 20 minutes away). We filled out the paperwork and paid the money and got the keys. I got to drive first and it felt strange driving after over a month and in a new country with roundabouts! We made it back to Mushraf Mall to go back to the teacher store in the basement so we could spend more time and look around. Trying to find parking...I went down a road that was separated by cones. There was a huge SUV coming straight toward us so I thought maybe I made a mistake and this was a one-way street. This wasn't- he was wrong and went to the other side and ran over a cone. I got nervous and didn't' know what to do so I hit the cone and it got stuck under the car. The security man pulled it out for me as we entered the parking lot:)
We also stopped at Lulu's while we were in there so I could buy a Garmin GPS. By far, my best purchase in the UAE yet. We named the man on there, Stanley. We always thank Stanley for getting us someplace and telling us how to go in a roundabout, first exit, second exit, third exit. Makes it easier. We went back to Home Centre afterwards and tried to stuff the car further with no luck! We had to leave some of our stuff there to pick up next weekend. Glad we got a bigger car! I wish I had taken a picture but I could't even reach my phone!
We finally got on the road to come back out west around 8pm.
One of my co-workers, The'Resa just came in Group 2 so she hasn't moved into the Villas yet so I took her back to her hotel one day after school. I came at just the right time to see them exercising the camels. We pulled over and took pictures and I wanted to get on SO bad...in time.
Second Week of School:
Boys are starting to learn basic directions - they know sit, stand, raise hand, come, now, bathroom and stop and go. As for the older boys, many fights. One threatened to stab another with scissors. Now, students aren't allowed to carry scissors and we have to put them away. A Grade 4 student stabbed a boy in the neck with a pencil so we have to keep pencils in our desk and pass out only when students need them. Other than that, things are crazy and I have realized quickly that I should never expect anything. Lunch is a hot mess. The older boys throw their food and run around the cafeteria screaming. I just breathe and try to just let it go. When the other Arabic teachers don't say anything to correct them, I learned to just let it go too. Don't let it stress me out. Now, my friends from Hearne know that this would NEVER fly in my classroom. I led a very structured classroom and didn't let them get away with anything. It worked for us:) Here...no go!
Second Trip to Abu Dhabi:
This weekend, we wanted a little relaxation so we stayed at Hilton on the Corniche because they had a nice beach club. We stayed two nights here. This was not a very pleasant hotel. The carpets were stained, the toilet didn't work so we switched rooms, staff not friendly. Oh wait, I'm used to 5 star hotels and this isn't one! I've been way too spoiled since I got here:) I like the friendly staff waiting to greet you when you come through the door and all to eager to accommodate your every need...again, spoiled!
We went to Ikea after lounging by the pool. We found a few more things to pack the car with. We ate dinner at Chili's and it was just as good as Chili's at home. We ordered spinach queso for the table and Symunek dropped her cell phone in it...yes, dropped the entire thing in the dip! We had a real good time at dinner with tons of laughs.
Mom's Birthday and Day Trip Back to Abu Dhabi:
Friday, October 5, Mom's birthday!!! I so hated to be away from her on her birthday as we always do something fun. I called and sang her Happy Birthday from Abu Dhabi and sent her a fun Fall flower arrangement. We both LOVE the month of October because of Halloween. Happy Birthday to my best friend and mother, Sherry! I LOVE you all the world!
We went back to Abu Dhabi for the day. We stopped at Ikea one more time to get a few more things. Afterwards, we went to Marina Mall, ate at Fuddrucker's and went to the movies. We saw The Words with Bradley Cooper. Here, the seats are assigned. We picked VIP as it was higher and the seats are leather. The tickets cost 40 AED. It was the cleanest theatre I've ever been to. We also went to Spinney's to grocery shop. We went to a different one that we found that was a lot smaller and didn't sell alcohol. Tip - stick to the one you know. I really wanted a bottle of wine:(
I stayed in most of the day and washed dishes, put away clothes and did the best with making it look comfortable until all my furniture arrived. My friends and I had dinner together and then got ready for my first day of school tomorrow.
Sunday, September 9:
First day of School at Zayed Al Khair School for Boys!!! Boy oh boys!!!!
First, a little background on the school: New Principal, new staff, no returning EMTs...so basically brand new start with these boys.
Teachers have to be at work at 7am and students start at 7:15. When you come into the school, you can smell the incense burning. I had no idea where to report so I just kind of walked around and looked for little ones. I will be teaching Grade 1, but in the U.S., this is Kinder. The kids are supposed to start at KG1 (Kindergarten 1) and KG2 (Kindergarten 2) but some opt out and start in Grade 1.
I was told by a few Arabic teachers that they told Grade 1 students to go home and they would start the next week. So, I went back into the gym. Then, I was told to line up with the five boys that were still there. I was told before school that not many kids would come on the first day or even the first week.
First, was Assembly. The schedule says it lasts until 7:30 but today it was more like 8:30 today. They had dressed up some of the older boys in adorable animal costumes (bears, lions and bunnies). I wish I could post pictures - this is the one time that they looked adorable and innocent. One of the teachers dressed up as Mickey. The kids played musical hula hoops. They chose a few boys to play and the rest sat outside in a big circle. This was exactly like musical chairs at home except they used hula hoops. The boy that won received a prize. I learned at this moment that prizes would come in handy with the boys...Bribery:) Then, they tied a balloon to the boy's ankles and they ran around and tried to pop the others' balloons. The last one with their balloon still inflated on their ankle won. WOW. They were so competitive and basically trampled each other to pop the balloons.
At first sight, the boys are adorable and then they smile and you see a lot of rotted teeth:( Apparently, they eat a TON of candy or no cleaning. The older boys were taller than me and you could tell they ruled the school. The boys ran around the gym with no shoes on. There were soccer goals and basketball hoops in the gym so I wonder if they play these games in school.
Lining up, or queuing, is a hot mess. They don't know the meaning of a line. The boys don't listen to any teachers and just ran out the gym door while hitting and pushing.
When a man enters the room, some of the Arabic teachers quickly cover their face. This can be a sheer veil that they pull down or just take the extra material and hold it to cover their face. The Arabic teachers are mostly Emirati but some are expats from Jordan, Egypt and other countries. You can tell the difference between them because Emirati woman wear all black. I met my Arabic co-teacher, Diala. She speaks very, very limited English but she was very pleasant and smiled.
I finally got the kids to my room and tried to do a few fun games with them. The boys understand NO English...I mean NONE! I did get them to understand Duck, Duck, Goose; Sit and Stop so it was a successful day! I can already tell who will be my challenging boys this year, one in particular that stuck out, Naser. He kissed his hand and then slapped my face. OK???? Not sure about this but he sure does test my patience and will be a handful. I realized that for some of the boys, this was the first time they saw a woman (other than their family) uncovered.
One teacher came in my room before 11am and said go home. Students left at 11am instead of 1:05. Nice first day! I took them to the main area for dismissal and just watched the chaos. This was pure chaos. No transportation tags like good ol' Hearne but just teacher aides that stood at the front of the "line". There were fights and I'm talking real fights with punches and all. How you can be in Elementary School on the first day and fight is beyond me. We were told just to leave them and go home but the other EMTs and I just stood outside and talked about our first day. INTERESTING! We were told from the beginning to just go with the flow and not to try to change things. Those who know me well, know that I am a planner. I LOVE to make plans and know exactly what I am doing. Here, in the UAE, there are no plans. You just have ride it out as things change every day and even every hour. I came for a challenge and an adventure and I think this is exactly what I will get!
First Week of School:
Gradually, each day I got new students. So by Thursday, I had about 18 students total. We worked daily on sit, stand, raise hand and line up. By Thursday, they almost had it. We played games with it and they loved that. I showed them what it looks like and tried to get them to understand that this is a classroom, not a playground:) But, I swear I've never seen kids love a game as much as they love Duck, Duck, Goose. Who would have ever thought that this would be my saving grace.
I had one student, Alsudari (pronounced Sudari), whose Mom came in and stayed with him because he cried and cried and cried and cried. Another teacher told me that this is his third year attempting Grade 1 (he is 8 years old). I have heard that the boys are extremely spoiled, but this case surprised me. His mom finally left him alone after the 3rd day and he cried and cried. One of the teachers finally came and told me that he needed to go to the bathroom but he couldn't go because his mother cleans him. There are no phones in the school, so if you have a problem, you just open your door and hope someone comes by. The kids say Hamam, which means bathroom. I finally got this after the second day. I hear Hamam about 50 times a day. They LOVE going to the bathroom but I stopped this pretty quickly as some were asking every ten minutes to go to the bathroom...REALLY?
I expected a ton of nannies but the mothers actually brought the boys. I also had another parent, Bekheet's Mother, that stayed the entire week in my classroom! She was very kind and just told me Sway Sway, which means slowly in Arabic. Now, please note when writing this I just finished week 5 and Mom is still there but has moved outside my classroom and she stays the whole day!
The conversation between my friends and I has changed SO much. We now speak in words...Come, Call, Sit. It's strange not being able to hold a conversation all day so you take short cuts and then you come home and try to form a sentence again. Sounds strange but you really have to be here to understand.
Our last shipment of furniture arrived so I have my final Villa pictures to post!
The door to my Villa - notice the apple welcome mat:)
Front full bathroom
Headboard made by Shadows. Jose did an amazing job!
My bedroom (all made by Jose, except the nightstand, lamp and mattress)
Armoire in my bedroom to hang my clothes (there are NO closets here)
Back bathroom by my bedroom
Another view of my bathroom
My living room
Another pic of my living room
Second bedroom which I am using for storage
Hallway to bedrooms
My dining table and camels:)
Picture from door to Living/Dining Room
First Trip to Abu Dhabi Since Moving Out West:
Symunek, Martha, LaRue and I left on Friday morning to come to Abu Dhabi for the night. We stayed at a fabulous hotel, Jumeirah Hotel in Etihad Towers, which is across from Emirates Palace. It was fabulous! I wrote about going to the bar there for my birthday so now we get to stay here. We had a full day planned for Friday. First, go to Mushrif Mall to get money transferred at our bank. For some reason, this is the only branch that can handle our accounts. We found a teacher supply store in the basement that had a ton of bulletin board borders and posters. I also found a few books and games for my boys. This was a great place as we haven't found any school supplies like we had back home. We ate upstairs in the food court at Wendy's. After, we took a taxi to Tips and Toes on 30th for mani/pedi. This was a treat. I had a manicure, pedicure and neck/shoulder/head massage. This location felt more like a real spa than the Marina Mall location. Afterwards, we headed to El Sombero, at the Sheraton, for dinner. We LOVE this restaurant. I had margaritas and taco salad. It was packed tonight with rowdy expats:) We left here kind of late and went back to the hotel and stayed up talking. Tomorrow would be the day we waited for...time to rent a car!
Saturday:
Woke up early and went to Marina Mall while we waited for United Car Rental to open. We finally got in touch with someone and they would bring the SUV in from Dubai and we could pick it up at 3:30. We shopped in the mall at Bath and Body Works and Home Centre. We left all of our packages at Home Centre and then took a taxi to United Car Rental (about 20 minutes away). We filled out the paperwork and paid the money and got the keys. I got to drive first and it felt strange driving after over a month and in a new country with roundabouts! We made it back to Mushraf Mall to go back to the teacher store in the basement so we could spend more time and look around. Trying to find parking...I went down a road that was separated by cones. There was a huge SUV coming straight toward us so I thought maybe I made a mistake and this was a one-way street. This wasn't- he was wrong and went to the other side and ran over a cone. I got nervous and didn't' know what to do so I hit the cone and it got stuck under the car. The security man pulled it out for me as we entered the parking lot:)
We also stopped at Lulu's while we were in there so I could buy a Garmin GPS. By far, my best purchase in the UAE yet. We named the man on there, Stanley. We always thank Stanley for getting us someplace and telling us how to go in a roundabout, first exit, second exit, third exit. Makes it easier. We went back to Home Centre afterwards and tried to stuff the car further with no luck! We had to leave some of our stuff there to pick up next weekend. Glad we got a bigger car! I wish I had taken a picture but I could't even reach my phone!
We finally got on the road to come back out west around 8pm.
Walking into hotel room at Jumeirah Hotel and seeing twin beds for four people!!!!!
The hallway into the room.
Cute camel picture on wall
Twin beds in a hotel???
View of Arabian Gulf from the 34th floor
Front bathroom
Office area
Back bathroom with tub, shower, and toilet
Me showing off the tub and the green plastic turtle that came in the tub (Jumeirah mascot is the turtle)
Symunek showing the separate tub area
Symunek and LaRue showing the separate shower area with dual shower heads
View from the bathroom of Emirates Palace across the street
Hallway from elevator to room
Another view of bathroom view
Getting manicures/pedicures and neck massages at Tips and Toes on 30th
WE GOT A CAR!!!! Symunek, Martha and I are renting this Toyota Fortuner for a month at the outrageous price of $6200 AED (about $1,687). We originally thought there would be four people sharing it, so we got a bigger car to transport all of the furnishings we bought in Abu Dhabi. This was worth it though as we couldn't even fit everything in it and had to leave some of our stuff at Home Centre (furniture store in Abu Dhabi).
Our car for the next month in front of my Villa
First dinner cooked in Villa...my favorite...Spaghetti!
One of my co-workers, The'Resa just came in Group 2 so she hasn't moved into the Villas yet so I took her back to her hotel one day after school. I came at just the right time to see them exercising the camels. We pulled over and took pictures and I wanted to get on SO bad...in time.
Camels by the race track
Sign for Million Street in the middle of the desert with only one road:)
Boys are starting to learn basic directions - they know sit, stand, raise hand, come, now, bathroom and stop and go. As for the older boys, many fights. One threatened to stab another with scissors. Now, students aren't allowed to carry scissors and we have to put them away. A Grade 4 student stabbed a boy in the neck with a pencil so we have to keep pencils in our desk and pass out only when students need them. Other than that, things are crazy and I have realized quickly that I should never expect anything. Lunch is a hot mess. The older boys throw their food and run around the cafeteria screaming. I just breathe and try to just let it go. When the other Arabic teachers don't say anything to correct them, I learned to just let it go too. Don't let it stress me out. Now, my friends from Hearne know that this would NEVER fly in my classroom. I led a very structured classroom and didn't let them get away with anything. It worked for us:) Here...no go!
We went to Ikea after lounging by the pool. We found a few more things to pack the car with. We ate dinner at Chili's and it was just as good as Chili's at home. We ordered spinach queso for the table and Symunek dropped her cell phone in it...yes, dropped the entire thing in the dip! We had a real good time at dinner with tons of laughs.
Spinach queso with Symunek's cell phone case filled with queso
The Beach Club at the Hilton
Jellyfish! We had been swimming and just gotten out when a little girl was screaming. I just knew she got stung. Sure enough, the nanny pulled this one out with a sand bucket. They found another one with a net. Didn't go back in the Gulf today!
Martha is all smiles in the back seat of the packed car!
Friday, October 5, Mom's birthday!!! I so hated to be away from her on her birthday as we always do something fun. I called and sang her Happy Birthday from Abu Dhabi and sent her a fun Fall flower arrangement. We both LOVE the month of October because of Halloween. Happy Birthday to my best friend and mother, Sherry! I LOVE you all the world!
The flower arrangement I sent my precious Mom
We went back to Abu Dhabi for the day. We stopped at Ikea one more time to get a few more things. Afterwards, we went to Marina Mall, ate at Fuddrucker's and went to the movies. We saw The Words with Bradley Cooper. Here, the seats are assigned. We picked VIP as it was higher and the seats are leather. The tickets cost 40 AED. It was the cleanest theatre I've ever been to. We also went to Spinney's to grocery shop. We went to a different one that we found that was a lot smaller and didn't sell alcohol. Tip - stick to the one you know. I really wanted a bottle of wine:(
Ikea in Abu Dhabi
Welcome to Ikea
Martha and Symunek at Vox Theatre
VIP seats
Us trying to take a picture of all of us in the movie
Tomorrow, I will update for the past week and this weekend. I'll finally be caught up! Thanks for following and keep in touch!
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