A Ginger Teacher in Abu Dhabi: Freaky Fog

Saturday 11/9
Today I had the honor of watching Gizmo and Vinnie for the day. They are such cute dogs, and today I received several kisses from Vinnie, he is becoming lots more comfortable with me. I also received a text from their owner asking if she could put me down as their emergency contact at the Vet! I truly felt honored that they would ask me to be that important person for their pets. I made a breakfast in my Crockpot that I sent with them after they dropped the dogs off and Rebecca came over for. It was hash browns, cheese, ham (forbidden in this country due to religious beliefs, but one grocery store chain in the city carries pork products), eggs and onions. It was to die for! I will definitely make it again! Later that evening, Rebecca and I made our way out to the Liwa Hotel (beautiful hotel in the middle of the desert). We met Alex and Brandon out there for dinner. It was delicious, I had Pad Thai with chicken. Next time we go, I want to do the buffet, it looked amazing! On Saturdays they have Teacher's Day which means you can come and use their pool, gym, have high tea and some other things I'm not sure of. Rebecca and I are going to check it out on Saturday! As we drove to the hotel, we noticed they are starting to set up tents for the Camel races/festival. I can't wait to check it out! My goal: to hug a camel, I don't care how smelly they are, I want to hug one!
Sunday 11/10
Today was a pretty good day for teaching, the students pretty much listened to me and my lessons went well. When it came to practicing for National Day, my HoF had recorded herself singing a made up song about the colors of the UAE flag. I played it for the kids and we practiced singing it. I then let them play with blocks and puzzles while the song played, the kids kept singing it, it was awesome!
Monday 11/11
Today was another ok teaching day. I had to swap my teaching time for English with my Arabic co-teacher because I needed to go do a peer observation in another classroom. It was nice to see what other teachers are doing in the classroom and get ideas from them and what they do. I wish we had those back in the states, I think we can learn so much from each other and it helps us become better teachers. The teacher I watched did a great job of managing her kids as well as teaching the lesson on the letter R. We practiced the song for National Day again and my kids really like it, it's so cute to see them sing it. During out playtime, I put out some paper and colored with some of the kids. I drew a picture of what home looked like for me so they could see. I drew a tree with red, yellow and orange leaves falling from it into a pile on the ground. I drew green grass with flowers in it as well as dark clouds with rain falling from them to the ground. Oh how I miss the RAIN! I have always loved the rain. I remember when I was a sophomore in high school, my English teacher was teaching this great lesson on something (so I don't remember what she was teaching me, it was 12 years ago, but I know it was a great lesson, because she was a great teacher!) and she stopped in the middle of her lesson and told us to turn around and look out the windows. It was raining super hard and she told us to look at the rain hitting the cement and how it looked like hundreds of little people dancing and having a party. I will never forget her doing that, thanks Mrs. Harbaugh! From that day on, I have loved the rain and even stop my classes and have them look outside at the tiny people having a party and dancing. Anyway, I really miss the rain, the sense of the earth being cleaned is so refreshing. They were super impressed with my drawing and even pointed out what I was drawing so the others could come look at it. One of my little girls who is super smart and super hyper (seems to always go together!) finished her drawing of a rainbow and said "teacher, TaDa!". I could not stop laughing, she is so stinkin' cute even though she drives me crazy because she can't sit still or control herself.
This evening, I was video chatting with my parents and while I was doing so, I was getting an incoming call from my brother. I told my parents I would call them back as my brother was going to open his birthday presents from me so I could see (pretty cool that his birthday is on Veteran's Day and he served in the US Navy for 25 years). I pressed answer on the call and instead of hanging up on my parents, it added my brother to the video chat! I added my sister as well, so we could all celebrate his birthday together, it was the best conversation via video chat I have had yet. Technology although at times very frustrating, is totally awesome!
Tuesday 11/12
Is it Thursday yet?!?! I had a rough day of teaching today. It is super difficult to get my kids to do anything when my co-teacher isn't in the room to translate. English went ok, but from Math on sucked. My students weren't listening, doing what they wanted, laughing at me when I tell them to do something, running away from me when I tell them to stop and try to get them to sit on the carpet. It was very frustrating. I have definitely implemented some of what I have seen on SuperNanny when it comes to time outs. I had two students who sat out the WHOLE play time because they weren't listening and continued to not listen after being put in time out. Of course of them turned on the waterworks when my co-teacher came back into the classroom, but she didn't show sympathy for him which was nice. I think we have the same feelings towards behaviors which is nice!
I had a good chat via text with my HoF this afternoon which started out as me just asking questions about required things for school such as portfolios (I NEVER thought I would move 7,000 miles away from home and have to do portfolios again, ugh) and planning. It then turned into her telling me that I am doing a good job. Boy was that nice to hear! I also told her that she is doing a good job of being a HoF (it's her first year) and I can tell she is trying to make our lives as unstressed as possible and I appreciate her hard work. I have found that the smallest of compliments or even a smile (a genuine one) can make all the difference in someones day.
Oh! I forgot to talk about the fog this morning. I was told when I moved out West that school can be canceled due to fog. This morning I set out for school and about 10 minutes into my drive turned around. I drove through fog one morning a few weeks ago, but this was worse, the car that was in front of me disappeared into the fog and I felt for my safety I needed to turn back. I got back to my place after talking to my HoF and her advising me to wait and leave later and sat in my car. I text the other teachers that I knew left earlier than I do (one takes the bus and the other share a car with someone else who teaches in Mirfa) and asked them how the fog was. The teacher on the bus said it wasn't bad once you hit the E11 and the other two said basically the same thing. I decided to try it again, it was pretty scary in a few spots, but I made it. I wasn't late for school, but I was late for me. I didn't want to show up late to school, it totally throws my whole day off. I remember my first year at Visitation (my school I taught at for 6 years), there was a morning my alarm didn't go off and I woke up at 7:45. School started at 8! I woke up panicked and immediately called my principal and told her I would be there ASAP (she didn't know I wasn't there). I made it to school by the second bell at 8:15. My whole day was thrown off, it wasn't a good feeling. So, that is why I powered through the fog.
Here are some pictures from the last few days, enjoy!