GSAD Staff Begins Week Two of Orientation!

The last two days have been productive and filled with anxiousness. I have turned in my paperwork for my housing offer and am awaiting ADNOC’ approval. I am surely hoping for this to work out, giving me the keys to a new home and way of living. Cass…you are going to absolutely freak out when you see the view from the building if I get it! Sunday consisted of a day full of training. Training that consisted of technical training, computer software training, smart board training and Atlas Rubicon training. We sat and worked on computers for most of the day. It was informative and necessary, but was very boring.

After a full day of meetings, listening and training, it was time to get on the shuttle and head home. After getting back to the hotel, I made my way to the gym and began another solid chest and triceps workout. I met another workout buddy at the gym by the name of, Tony. He noticed I was wearing my University of Oregon shorts and started conversation. He is from Los Angeles and is garbage USC Trojan. We of course began going over different sport encounters between the two. After a little bit of debate, I made the assumption that if he was a Trojan, then he HAD to be a Laker. Sure enough, he “bleeds purple and gold”. The sporting debates began and had a good ol’ time. He is 24 and here working for an industrial contracting company. Apparently my hotel has squash courts somewhere, so we plan on getting together soon to “squash” it up!

After a good workout and sporting debate, it was time to head out for an evening swim with the most amazing sun setting behind the Emirates Palace. After a great dip in the gulf and pool, I made my way into the hotel and met up with some colleagues to order some food for dinner. Dinner of choice was Subway with free delivery. Like I said, delivery is more than common here! Everything and everyone delivers, you name it, they deliver it. Following a the most neat, tight knit, clean meatball sandwich ever made, it was time to go to bed. My pillow was calling my name!

Monday morning came too soon and my alarm reminded me that I was in a hotel and had a free breakfast waiting for me! After breakfast we made our way to the school. Not a day goes by that I cannot keep myself from admiring the grand mosque that is on the way. It truly is fascinating and I am intrigued to take advantage of having the opportunity to walk through it. I was fortunate enough to get to have a small skype date with my Cass and exchange some updates and I Love You’. She is having/gets to move into my old apartment with her new roommates and is having to re-visit all of the places we spent so much time together. I can’t imagine how tough that is when you miss someone, but she has been so very strong and supportive through all of this and I am very thankful!

Monday consisted of some department/grade team planning for the first two weeks of school. Our sister campus in Ruwais made the trip up to go through the process with us and to receive their curriculum books. After putting all the hard work and many hours I put in at NCU and my classroom management plan, I put the work to use with our team planning. Once done, I slid down the hall to see if Jenn and Layla needed a helping hand with the 3 classrooms (yes 3) full of curriculum books that needed to be organized for distribution tomorrow.

When the day came to an end, headed back to the hotel and got ready for my workout. I am just about completely adjusted to the switch from Pounds to Kilograms. Soon America will change and will join the rest of the world with our units of measurements (kg,meters,etc). After a good workout and picking up my laundry from the laundry mat, I had to rush to get ready for dinner. On the agenda for dinner tonight was being picked up at 5:45 by the school shuttle bus. Glenelg School/ADNOC had an IFTAR dinner prepared for all of the staff that wanted to join. IFTAR is where those who are participating in the Ramadan fasting are allowed to break fast at dusk. There was so much amazing food and some amazing people to share this experience with. My favorite portion of the meal was the Hammer Fish (not sure on the spelling of it, but it is a local fish that swims here in the gulf). It was so so good and so smooth. It was a great experience with some amazing new opportunities to try some new food.

Following the dinner, we made our way back to the hotel passing the grand mosque completely lit up, and up to our respective rooms. They announced that Eid will begin on Wednesday. This is the celebration of Ramadan being over. I am not quite sure of how it is determined, other than the fact that I know it has to do with the position of the moon. This results in us starting our 4 or 5 day weekend on Wednesday. We will return either Sunday or Monday depending on the moon. I am hoping Sunday to be honest, so I can get back into my classroom for an extra day of preparation before the students get there.

Tomorrow we get to spend the day in our classrooms due to the locks being put on all the doors tonight. Workers are working around the clock to get that school finished in time, but it already is better than the Secondary/High School Campus' (shhhh don't tell them) because of how colorful and alive it is. I look forward to tomorrow and to the long weekend.

Hope all is well back home. Go Ducks/Go Beacons! A&F

Pictures: 1)Photos from our IFTAR dinner at Glenelg School 2) The Mosque Lit up on the way home from IFTAR Dinner