The Last Two Weeks

*PICTURES : Myself out at the Hiltonia (our resort beach) reading/A view from an italian restaurant at one of the 30 malls in the city (Abu Dhabi Mall) looking out over Beach Rotana and seeing the 30+ cranes in working mode, building onto an already sky scrapper packed city/ Myself with my homeroom class 5B/ Myself with my first salary paycheck !!!

Friday/night was a great start to a weekend. After my first week of school, I spent the day of Friday purely lounging poolside with a buddy I met at the gym. I indeed got a bit burnt but it has turned to a silky golden brown! After a full day at the pool he offered to take me to dinner with a buddy of his. He picked me up in his fancied up, brand new bmw and said, “Well we were going to go grab a burger at Fuddruckers, but the mall is packed, so we are going to go to a great Japanese restaurant/bar in the Emirates Palace. Is that okay with you?” HAHA are you kidding me?!?! The…THE Emirates Palace? I of course was in! We headed on our way and met up with his friend George who also seemed to be driving a brand new bmw (ohhhh the money in this city!!!). As a walked through THE EMIRATES PALACE, I was in awe! I will make an effort to go back soon to take pictures for everyone to see, but all I can say is WOW!

After trying some more amazing new food/appetizers it was time for the bill. As I reached for my money clip, knowing I had no more than 80dhs (30$), Tony of course said “It is on me bro, consider it a welcoming gift to the city.” We headed to this little social area, with a small DJ, called the Yacht Club and enjoyed some good music and company. Let’s just put it this way, when the night was over, he had paid for all three of us and it ran around 1500-2000dhs. I tried so many different types of Japanese food, it’s not even funny.

Saturday consisted of a fulfilling breakfast before making my way to the school by cab for some time in the classroom. Sunday came very quickly and it was officially the first day of our entire school being open (KG1-5^th). As far as my department, things went very smooth and are coming along very nicely. My kids are great and full of knowledge. They lack the understanding of basic tools for English/Reading/Writing but when someone takes the time to answer their questions they are quick to learn. I would agree with my colleagues in saying, the 5^th graders here are closer in educational level to the 4^th graders in the U.S.A.

As far as the KG kids, there is a whole lot of screaming and crying for the first few days. This is one reason why I refuse to work with that age group until I have some KG kids of my own running through my own house J.

The week has been full of getting to know the kids, parents, their drivers and nannies. We will not be full speed in the curriculum until the third week. We are required to pull each student and do assessment of how advanced they are in their English. This forces us to take 20-30min with each child until we make our way through the class. Unfortunately this requires us to give the students worksheets to work on as we assess. Thankfully, I student taught for an amazing man, Mr. Nyegaard, who gave me access to binders after binders full of worksheets/keys. I have provided the 5^th grade staff with Verb Helpers and Verb Worksheets to get us through these two weeks. This will give the students both in class work and homework and give us teachers the time to pull kids individually. It is not what I want for as far as the role of teaching is concerned, but it is what I am being told to do.

My classroom is slowly coming together. I am putting quotes up including:

“Excuses are the nails you use to build your house of failures.”

“Success is how high you bounce once you hit bottom.”

“Live as if you will die tomorrow. Learn as if you will live forever.”

I enjoy decorating the classroom and making it my own and a place of home for the students. Although it takes time that I don’t get because of the staff shuttle schedule and lack of money to afford a cab, it is coming along.

It is most certainly getting a bit more comfortable in temperature/less humidity, but it is still hanging around 100 degrees. However, I feel I am definitely adjusting to the weather and it is becoming much more comfortable.

My patience has been most certainly tested beyond my wildest dreams while I have been here. The way of life is very fast but the way things are done and accomplished is very slow. I am not used to this, bring from America, I was taught when you say you are going to do something…do it! I have learned to be patient and to HAVE FAITH it will all work out. I received my bank information yesterday (28^th) but don’t have a check yet to deposit into it. I am getting paid tomorrow for 6 weeks of work and will be taking a picture of that as well J. I hope to be getting my reimbursement check and furniture allowance within the next 1-2weeks. My keys to my apartment are available to me, but I am waiting for water and electricity to be turned on. I will then move in and have limited amounts of…well…anything until I get my furniture allowance and reimbursement checks.

Life has been stressful, but God is good and I have been burying my head in an amazing book a good friend of mine (THE Mr. Jon Bishop) gave me a while back. A book I read before but didn’t get as much out of it then, as I wanted to. Going through it this second time has opened my eyes and mind to some amazing new things. God has done a lot of work in me in the last 5 months and jumped back into this book with a new mindset and am excited to read more and finish. I know I am here for a reason and need to accomplish this challenge in order to build a strong enough resume teaching wherever I may want to. I have many opportunities over here not only through teaching but through travel and more and need to take advantage of them. GOD HAS A PLAN!

These school weeks have been good but I am looking forward to getting full speed in the curriculum with the kids starting Sunday. Also, I cannot wait to get these stinking assessments over with! My 5^th graders need my attention and I can’t give it to them with these assessments breathing down my back.

On a much more exciting note…Cassie got her ticket to Abu Dhabi mailed to her the other day and had it in hand. This is very exciting for we will have a very large period of time together over here. Not to mention, a much needed large period of time together. This has been very hard, but we have both chipped in and done our best to get in touch. Once we both have full internet connection in our apartments, things will be a lot easier and hope to be able to catch up with you all from home. I will be in touch and posting blogs more often for sure.

I miss you all and hope the weather is not getting too terrible to quick yet over there. Scream extra loud at GameDay for me and remember it was only a year ago you watched GameDay at Autzen and saw three massive black and white heads bobbing up and down behind Lee Corso’ head J (represent me well Saturday Cass!!!)

A&F