A Ginger Teacher in Abu Dhabi: Internet!

Well, this entry is dedicated to Mrs. Margie Mykland, the heart of Visitation Catholic School (my old school). The reason I am dedicating this entry to her comes from my video chat a few minutes ago. She payed my a very nice compliment, saying I should have been a novelist and that when she reads my entries she feels like she is right there with me. I have always struggled at writing, all through my schooling and in college. I have always said I write how I speak, and it warmed my heart to have someone other than my family tell me that my writing was good. To everyone at Visitation that I saw this morning and those I didn't, I truly miss you all.
Let's see there is a lot to cover, so here it goes!
Tuesday 10/15
Today I watched the dogs again, something had Gizmo (normally the more outgoing one) freaked out, it could have been my washing machine, but I think it was all the activity from the morning. I was woken up at 6:15 this morning to what I thought was the call to prayer, but it turned out to be the start of Eid. This "call to prayer", which was louder than normal went on for an hour! Rebecca and I made our way up to the roof of our building to see if we could see what was going on. Sure enough, we saw the big outdoor arena with tons of people! Since our view wasn't the greatest, we got into Rebecca's car and drove closer to it. This is what we saw:

There were a few hundred men on their prayer rugs praying. There was a man standing on a podium who was reciting the prayer very loudly. We drove up near the end, as soon as the man stopped speaking, EVERYONE got up and started to leave, we high tailed it out of there because we knew it was about to get crazy crowded. It was very interesting to hear what was happening, the arena was reciting one thing, but a mosque down the road was doing something different.
Wednesday 10/16
Well, this morning turned out to be different than spontaneously planned. Rebecca and I were going to drive to Dubai, but while trying to make reservations for tickets to the top of the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa, we weren't able to get tickets until Friday. We bagged that idea and being as there really isn't anything to do where we live, we decided to drive to Abu Dhabi just to go to a mall. There is one on the edge of the city that we thought we would try, and it was a success! I walked away(paying for these things of course) with a coffee pot, Sonicare toothbrush (I had been brushing my gums off using a regular toothbrush), rice cooker, hair dryer, and some freshly ground up Starbucks coffee to brew in the morning! After the mall, we made our way to a grocery store called Spinneys. Now, you may be asking yourself why I am telling you this next part, well, trust me. Spinneys has a non-Muslim section, consisting of things that contain pork and pork meat itself, which means BACON! I don't know how much it cost, and frankly I didn't care, I bought it!

We also thought we might find some adult beverages, but this one didn't carry any, so the owner/manager told us how to get to the one in the industrial area across the highway. Well, this "little" journey turned into us driving around for about an hour and a half, determined to find it. We asked two different people where it would be, but they couldn't communicate to us where it was. By the way, driving in the industrial areas is scary, they honk, get super close, don't know how to drive around a roundabout, etc. Well we were in a parking lot where we thought it was and stumbled upon an American! He couldn't exactly tell us where it was either, but we noticed that he had come out of another place that had adult beverages. We drove around some more and couldn't find what we were looking for, so we went back to the place where we saw the American and called it good. Let me tell you something, in the industrial areas, there are lots of workers (all men) and good Lord do they stare! As if they have never seen a woman before, let alone one with red hair. It's really annoying and uncomfortable! So, needless to say we got what we wanted and drove back home.
Thursday 10/17
THE BEST DAY EVER! Furniture day!! The Ikea trucks arrived at 11 am and the two men who assembled my furniture left at 3:30. During this time, I sat on my kitchen counter (the only place to sit) and watched episode after episode of Friends. After they left, the real work began, I was able to FINALLY unpack my suitcase in my new HOME! For some reason when I was in Ikea for 5 hours I thought that 20 hangers would be enough to hang my clothes, yes, HALF of my clothes. I needed more hangers, but I hung what I could. I finished decorating and making my bed at about 6 and enjoyed watching a movie while sitting on my couch!

Friday 10/18
Today started EARLY, we left our places at 7:00 AM. We headed to Dubai with a mission, to visit the largest mall in the world, the tallest building in the world, and the largest indoor aquarium in the world. Mission accomplished! While waiting in line to go to the 124th floor of the tallest building(it goes to 140), we got complimentary henna tattoos. The woman who was doing them was so talented, and quick!

Being at the top of the tallest building in the world was amazing! We could see the islands in the distance that are shaped like countries (man made) and we could see the city for miles. Here are just a few pictures.

There were still 16 more floors!

After our tour, we met up with a girl I met before I came here, she lived in Tacoma and was going to be teaching at a GEM school in Dubai. We got a little lost trying to find her in the mall (it is the largest mall), but when we found her, we had a blast! We visited the aquarium and zoo with her, she hadn't seen it either. I was able to see lots of cool animals there, including the bast of Finding Nemo!

After the aquarium, we decided to eat at The Cheesecake Factory. We sat and ate for probably a good 2 hours +. After dinner, we decided to walk around the mall a bit more and then decided to venture to another mall which is known for something famous, the indoor ski slopes! We were so excited to see it, we didn't go in because it is ridiculously expensive and plus I don't ski or snowboard (have no desire to). We found a restaurant that over looks it and parked our tired feet there.

After this mall, we were spent and it was about 10:30. Krista was nice enough to let us stay at her place. We brought our air mattresses with us and were good to go! We got up early in the morning to head back home since school started back up the next day. A HUGE thank you to Krista for letting us crash, and we will be back soon I am sure, if you will have us of course!
Saturday 10/19
Today was a lazy day. I planned for the week and relaxed.
Sunday 10/20
First day back from break. I only had 11 kids today, which was nice! I was also able to teach English first thing in the morning because the principal wanted to have a meeting with the Arabic teachers. This was amazing, the kids were engaged and listening! This is not the case every day, since I teach them after breakfast which consists of lots of sugar, you can imagine what I am dealing with and add to the fact that most of them don't understand me, makes for an awesome day (not). For dinner, Rebecca, Cormack and I went to dinner at a Lebanese restaurant. It was delicious! I had a dish that consisted of ground up lamb with herbs pressed between two pieces of the bread they make and grilled. The dish came with a plate of veggies and three different types of hummus. Delicious! I have realized that I cannot find the most basic things at the grocery store here. I was in need of band aids, I couldn't find them anywhere! I am assuming that they are at the pharmacy which is like a Walgreens back home. I guess I should explain who Cormack is, he is a gentleman who teaches at Rebecca's school and is from Ireland. He is here alone as his wife and four kids are back at home. He is the sweetest man! He told Rebecca and I that if we come visit Ireland (duh, that's my first trip!) we could stay in an apartment he rents out for free. He has given us so many cool places to visit when we go, I asked him if I could hire him as our private tour guide because he is so full of information.
Monday 10/21
Teaching today was difficult, they kids decided they weren't going to listen to me, so that made it difficult. I was on a mission after school today, one to get home and two, to set up my Internet. I was successful in this, with the help of the company I have Internet through. The gentleman on the phone with me walked me through what to do and it worked! I also hooked up my Roku, but I forgot to turn my VPN on first on my computer, so it registered that I was here and not in the United States, so the Teacher Tech guy will have to come out and help me. I am one happy camper, I can finally watch the shows I have been missing!
Tuesday 10/22
Well, today sucked. It started with my co-teacher telling me 15 minutes before hand that we were going on a field trip to the fish shop in town. This is just how they do things here, very last minute. So, we took the kids to the fish shop (a 2 minute bus ride) and the kids went in (it was a store with coolers of ice and fish inside) and my co-teacher took out a fish and explained to them about the parts of the fish, fins, gills, etc. After that we got back onto the bus and went back to school. Who in the hell takes 4 and 5 year olds on a field trip and then comes BACK to the school and tries to teach??!!?!? Oh, that would be my school. The rest of the day was a disaster, kids weren't listening, they were running everywhere, laughing when I would tell them to stop something and continue to do it, etc. Even my co-teacher said "children, no good today!" At least we are on the same wave length! So when I got home, I printed their pictures out for the behavior chart and told my HoF that tomorrow they would all be on RED (which is not good) because now all their pictures are on the chart!
Wednesday 10/23
Well, teaching English went really well. I had them collage a traffic light with red, yellow and green paper since we are learning the letter T. They loved it! Math, went Ok, I moved lots of kids from Green to orange right away and they didn't like that at all. The colors for the chart are green, yellow, orange, red and then a chair separated from the group. I walked them to music and found out after being in the room for 10 minutes with no music teacher that she wasn't there. Well it would have been nice is someone had TOLD us that! I took them into the playground area instead and just kept them in there. My HoF told me that if they just aren't listening, that it was ok to keep them in there as long as I make up what I am supposed to be teaching later in the week. I met a student's mother today, one of them that was laughing at me and running away when I would tell him to stop. She wanted to know how he was doing, I flat out told her he was NOT listening to me, and she wasn't very happy with him and made him apologize to me. If I get sent home for telling a parent that their child isn't doing what they are supposed to be doing, then so be it, but I am not going to sugar coat it for them. Anyway, tomorrow is Thursday and the last day of the week, THANK GOD! Now that I have Internet, I will post more often and they won't be as long! Here are some pictures from Tuesday-Today, enjoy!