CAMELS!

Friday started with a trip to Ikea where Rebecca and I shopped until we literally dropped!  This is going to sound so silly, but it is exhausting trying to furnish a 2 bedroom 2 bath villa in the matter of one day!  We spent 5 hours in Ikea and didn't even make it through the entire store.  Our carts were full by the time we left the bathroom section and still had lighting and decorations to go through.  We decided to bag both sections and come back after we've moved in this weekend.  So, Ikea is great except for the fact that the furniture items which were the most important to us have to be found in the warehouse after you've made it thought the last section.  Luckily we found two amazing workers to help us locate and load everything onto carts for us.  I was completely overwhelmed when it came to looking for the different pieces and then going through the check stand with 2 flat carts full of furniture boxes as well as my completely full cart.  And after we made it through the check stand, we had to move ALL of it to the delivery section where we had to have it delivered and assembled (I have tried to put together Ikea furniture myself and let's just say I don't understand 1,000 picture directions!).  After we left the delivery section, we made our way to Rebecca's car and completely filled it with all of our stuff.  I am so thankful to Rebecca for one, letting me tag along with her and two, for letting me keep my stuff in her car until Thursday.  I will be getting a car next week as I would like to be able to drive myself to school and back, plus on the road I will travel on I will get to see camels probably every day!  So, after Ikea, we made our way into the city and stopped at the Living room store where we picked out a mattress.  We made our way back to the hotel and called it a night, what an exhausting day!
Saturday began with breakfast at the hotel with Rebecca.  Today was a day of pampering in honor of Rebecca because it was her birthday!  We headed to MZ where we will be living by the end of this week.  Rebecca had scheduled massages and pedicures for us at a spa that was recommended to her by another teacher who lives in MZ.  We had time to kill before that, so we made a list of things we needed to do.  First up, we stopped by our villas and checked them out to make sure the power was on and the AC was working.  Luckily everything was working, however they were not clean, they were very dusty!  We were promised that it would be cleaned by Thursday(we will see).  Next we went on a journey to find the place where we sign up for Internet.  In Abu Dhabi, there is one ONE company you can sign up for Internet with, we finally found the building after asking someone at the Tamm station where we tried to get a PO Box.  We filled out a form and were on our way, hopefully it is hooked up by Thursday or I won't be able to communicate with anyone until it is.  They ensured us that it can be hooked up without us being there, but I am not sure that is the case.  After that, we ventured into the Industrial Area where we were told they have good deals on appliances.  I am not sure if everyone is aware of this, but these apartments are completely empty except a toilet and shower and sinks.  I have to purchase a stove/oven, fridge and washing machine.  So after stopping at 2 separate places and being told they don't have enough fridges, we finally made it to a place where we ordered our fridge, washing machine, stove/oven, TV, and microwave.  They will all be delivered on Thursday night.  I cannot express how amazing it will feel to sleep in my own bed, shower at my own place, and WASH my own clothes in a washing machine.  Washing my clothes in the bathtub is not cutting it and they take forever to dry!  The spa that we went to was lovely, my pedicure was great and my massage was amazing.  It was my first one (I have a friend who was going to massage school and would practice on me) and I am hooked.  It was inexpensive as well which is great!  OMG! I forgot to tell you the most exciting thing of our whole trip on Sunday!  We were driving into MZ and totally scouting for camels when ALL of a sudden I saw a whole herd of them!  I was screaming and yelling and Rebecca pulled over on the shoulder of the highway (safely) and we got out of the car and moved closer to them.  I am still in awe of how beautiful they truly are.  I have decided I want one as a pet!  (Not ever going to happen, but I can dream right?!?)  On our way back to the hotel, we saw another herd (it may have been the same one, I'm not sure) this time they were making their way under the highway and through a tunnel and being followed by a truck.  I am not sure if this was a herd that was owned or if they were wild and just being moved for one reason or another.  
Sunday actually went ok, I started teaching my students the letter N.  They know the sound and what it looks like.  My teaching is supposed to be child based learning, so I teach them for about 5-10 minutes about the skill and then put them into centers to work on various things.  For example today After watching a short educational video on the letter N, we practiced writing the letter N on the board and then I put them into centers.  The centers included individual whiteboards where they practiced writing the letter N, the next center was the "play center" where they assembled an alphabet puzzle, and the last center was writing the letter N using paper and pencil.  They actually did fairly well writing the letter N.  For Math, I introduced the number 5, the lesson started with a short video on the number 5, we practiced writing it on the whiteboard and then went to centers.  The centers were the same for math as they were for English only writing the number 5 and the floor puzzle was a number puzzle.  They seem to understand Math a lot better than English, but I am working with them everyday and I am sure it will get better.  Yesterday (Saturday) was Teacher Appreciation Day here, so today, we received ice cream candy bars from our Arabic principal.  She praised us after school at our Professional Development meeting for being on time.  The Arabic teachers were slightly late to the meeting, and she was not happy with them for it.  I took a video of my villa and I will post it if it will work, however the Internet connection isn't the best here so it might have to wait until I have Internet hooked up in my place.  Enjoy the pictures!

Fog in the morning, school can be canceled because of how thick the fog gets!