A Ginger Teacher in Abu Dhabi: Long Time, No Blog

We are going to start all the way back on October 8th for this one. Here goes! My lessons went well today, the kids are starting to listen more. I did have to sit two Mohameds out because they were BOTH not listening during center time and running around the room. For Science, I they are learning about themselves and the basic parts of their body (head, shoulders, knees and toes) and so I had them draw a picture of themselves. I demonstrated first, drawing my head, orange hair, green eyes, neck, shoulders, arms and hands. I drew my clothes also. Well, when they drew themselves, some of them had green eyes as well. Let me tell you something NONE of them have green eyes, so that made me chuckle. I received a call during school from a number I didn't know, I couldn't call it back since I don't have any local minutes left, so I found out from Rebecca it was the place we got our mattresses calling to say they were going to deliver today sometime after 8PM. Well, since we had specifically asked for it to be delivered on Thursday since we wouldn't be out of the hotel until them, we were a little ticked off. The delivery driver kept calling saying trying to get us to have someone else let them in, and we firmly had to tell them NO and that we weren't going to be there. They finally said OK and that it would be delivered sometime next week, thank goodness we purchased air mattresses to sleep on for this exact reason.
October 9th
This morning I video chatted with Justine and Isabelle while Isabelle was getting ready for bed. I got to see her open one of the birthday presents I sent her. She made sure to tell me that she "loved me very much", which melted my heart. She also told me all about her wonderful birthday party! I also chatted with my parents about nothing in particular. During our morning assembly today, I noticed that all of the Arabic teachers had their faces covered which meant to me that there was a man in the room. However, I didn't see one until after their morning pledge. Into the playground area came about 4 men, two in Kandoras and two in their bus driving uniforms. They did a presentation about bus safety, showing the children how they should walk around the front of the bus, don't run and be careful when exiting the bus. I found out from my HoF that we are required to take them on field trips, which is something I love to do (I used to take my class on at least 5 field trips each year), but in a foreign country where my students don't understand me?!?! I was assured that I would be going with one of the other KG2 teachers and our co-teachers would accompany us as well, that made me feel much better! One of my students was wearing a Kandora today with the Keffiyeh(head scarf) which was red and white. This means that he is from Saudi Arabia. He looked absolutely adorable, I tried to get a picture of him, but he had taken the Keffiyeh off and it came undone. Apparently if they wear a Kandora or an army uniform it is meant to let others know they are well behaved children and looked at as leaders by their peers. School went well again, the kids did a very good job of listening, had to sit another child out and he thought it was funny, myself and my co-teacher however did NOT think it was funny at all.
After school, Rebecca and I drove to MZ to check and see if our villas were cleaned, which they weren't, so we happened to run into a woman that cleans a lot of teacher's villas and we paid her to clean our places, she didn't do the best job, but for the first initial cleaning, it was acceptable. We also ended up catching the Internet guys outside out place, so they half way hooked up our Internet, they didn't have routers, so they have to come back with them. We also received a call from the Living room store telling us our mattresses would be delivered on Friday!
October 10th
I can honestly say I now understand why the people who speak Arabic, speak so loud, they play their music SO loud! During our assembly for Eid, I think I lost part of my hearing, the music was SO loud! The assembly for Eid was very interesting to watch, the brought in a big black box with gold around it. Here is what I found out about it:
The Kaaba (Arabic: الكعبة‎‎ al-Kaʿbah IPA: [ælˈkæʕbɐ], "The Cube"), also known as the Sacred House (بيت الحرام‎ Baytu l-Ḥarām) and the Ancient House (بيت العتيق‎ Baytu l-'Atīq), is a cuboid building in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is one of the most sacred sites in Islam.^[1]
Al-Masjid al-Haram, the most sacred mosque in Islam, is built around the Kaaba.^[2] Muslims are expected to face the Kaaba during prayers, no matter where they are. From any given point in the world, the direction facing the Kaaba is called the Qibla.
One of the Five Pillars of Islam requires every Muslim to perform the Hajj pilgrimage at least once in his or her lifetime if able to do so. Multiple parts of the Hajj require pilgrims to make Tawaf, the circumambulation seven times around the Kaaba in a counter-clockwise direction. This circumambulation is also performed by pilgrims during the Umrah (lesser pilgrimage).^[1] However, the most dramatic times are during the Hajj, when millions of pilgrims gather to circle the building on the same day.^[3]^[4] In 2013, the number of pilgrims coming from outside the kingdom of Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj was officially reported as 1,100,544.^[5]
^{So, during the assembly, the children walked around it seven times saying a prayer of some sort. It was really neat to see. After breakfast and recess, we kept the children in the play area where they sang and received balloons (which they LOVED) and then our principal gave each child a picture of a lamb with AED 5! The lamb is something that they sacrifice during Eid, which is sad to me because every time I see them in a truck, I know what their fate is, but I understand it is part of their religion. The school called the buses to come get the kids early, but we had to stay until 12:45 so our clock out wasn't early. We sat in the meeting room where we were given fruit drinks and just chatted until we could leave. We said goodbye to the Arabic teachers and did this cheek kissing thing with them, they all do it differently, so you can imagine how stupid I felt when one did it 5 times and the next only did it 3! I found out from my HoF that my co-teacher really likes me and is happy I am here. That made me feel good, she is so sweet, but I just didn't know if she thought I was doing a good job or not. It is really nice to have someone tell you that you're doing a good job instead of pointing out everything you're doing wrong as I had in the past. After school, two of the teachers from my school that live in Abu Dhabi City drove me to the airport so I could rent a car. I knew exactly what I wanted, however they didn't have any Honda Civics, and I didn't want to drive a Camry, so I asked for an SUV and I got a Honda CRV. I LOVE IT! It is more expensive, however their the stipend we get for living in the Western Region, it only comes out to being about $500 a month with insurance. I attempted to go to Ace Hardware to get another teacher an air mattress, I found it easily enough, however I got stuck on the damn island and couldn't get off! I finally made it off and made it back to MZ just in time for my appliances to be delivered. So the first night in my villa I had curtains put up in my bedroom and I slept on my air mattress.}
^{October 11th}
^{This morning Rebecca and I went grocery shopping, twice. We had to be back by 11 so that I could meet the dogs I would be watching Saturday. Another teacher in the other teacher villas has two little dogs, one is a gray poodle and the other is a gray mutt of some sort. They were in need of a dog sitter for a few days during the break and another teacher at my school got a last minute plane ticket home and so she asked me if I still wanted to do it. DUH! So they brought the dogs over to check out my place and get firmilar with the smells, etc. Their names are Vinnie and Gizmo and they are adorable. Vinnie is a very frightened little dog, he was a rescue that they picked up in June. He spent most of his life in a puppy mill and because of what happened to him, he is terrified of things. They stayed for a bit and afterwards, we ventured to the grocery store again (different one with more variety). Right before we came back to the villas though, we stopped at the fish, meat and produce market. WOW! FRESH fish for your to buy, they clean, cut AND cook it right there for you! We were only there for a bit, but we will be back. The prawns were HUGE!!}
^{October 12th}
^{I had the dogs today from 9:30-10:30. They cuddled with me on my mattress (only thing to sit on as of right now) the whole day. We did venture down to Rebecca's place for dinner with her and the boys. Rebecca made the most amazing HOME COOKED meal! She roasted a whole chicken, made mac and cheese, green beans and onions, and salad! We also had chocolate cake and ice cream! It was amazing to have a home cooked meal, I enjoy eating out, but there comes a point where it gets to be too much and you get sick of it. That point came about 2 weeks ago for me, so this was quite the treat! After dinner, we ventured over to the boy's villa and watched a movie because one of them had a couch, so we watched a movie with his laptop sitting on an ironing board. American teacher in the Middle East problems haha.}
^{October 13th}
^{Rebecca and I ventured into Liwa to see the hotel that some of the teachers were put up in. On the way we found the camel racetrack. Holy balls it is LONG! We saw lots of camels and their owners practicing (the season starts soon). They were crossing the road, as we were taking pictures of them the riders/owners were waving at us. I drove my car onto the sand road where the camels were penned up and we got out to take pictures. I really wanted to pet one, so I kept inching closer and closer. I got pretty close to one of them and then she sneezed on me and scared the crap out of me! I tried again and was successful! I was suddenly face to face with about 5 camels, they were so cool! We took lots of pictures and then ventured back into MZ. We found some teacher stores in the co op in town, purchased a printer and some supplies. Then we went out to the industrial area where we found the BIG teacher store, we found lots of good things there!}
^{October 14th}
^{Today we drove into Abu Dhabi City to get a crock-pot and go to Ikea again. We met up with Casey and Lindsey at the mall and it was as if we were seeing long lost friends! We spent the whole day together, just shopping and talking. We ate lunch at an Ethiopian restaurant which was delicious, I've never had that kind of food before, but I would totally go back! We also made a stop at Starbucks, I was extremely happy! They are going to come visit us on Friday after our furniture from Ikea is delivered. I can't wait for Thursday so I actually have a couch to sit on and not my mattress on the floor! Enjoy the pictures!}