A Ginger Teacher in Abu Dhabi: I Have No Idea What Just Happened!

Saturday 11/2
Today, I decided to say in Abu Dhabi one more night. Since we didn't have school on Sunday, I decided, why not? We made our way down to Cindy's apartment for another amazing breakfast and delicious coffee! This time Buddy was attached to the door and the kitten was roaming about the house. Cindy wasn't sure what Buddy would do to the kitten since she is so small and vice versa, so in order for them to exist in the same room, Buddy had to be attached to the door. He was perfectly content there and the kitten stayed away from him, for the most part. After breakfast, we ventured to the mall and did some shopping. I decided I was sick of the 2 different smells I had to choose from for air fresheners at the store in MZ, so I decided to splurge on some air fresheners, candles, and soap at Bath and Body Works. Let me tell you something, my place smells like delicious apples!
Sunday 11/3
We went to Melissa's spa for an afternoon of pampering. They were having a special which included an hour full body massage, mani and pedi. I also got my eyebrows waxed, which was interesting.....I miss Dina and her wonderful talents! Everything was amazing, I will definitely be back! After that, I headed home, where I met Rebecca for dinner and picked Cormack up to have him work on my Roku. He FIXED IT! Took him a little longer than expected, but he saved me AED 300 and I bought him some ice cream as a thank you.
Monday 11/4
Well, today went ok teaching wise, I can't remember anything significant other than we watched our HoF do a model lesson for us. Her lesson was great, but she understands as well as us, that our co-teacher isn't always in the room to interpret for us and the kids aren't always well behaved either.
Tuesday 11/5
Well, today was difficult, the kids weren't listening, my co-teacher wasn't really in the room which made it difficult to teach. I also discovered that my tire had gone flat while I was teaching. I called Hertz and the explained that someone would come out to change the tire (I will admit I know nothing about cars, I can turn them on and work the radio, that's about it. Not really, but I can't change a tire). Long story short, another teacher at my school was kind enough to wait until I figured out what was happening and drive me home. I explained to Hertz that I was going to leave my car unlocked and at my school and they could change the tire when they arrived (coming from the city, it would take them 2 hours). With the help of my HoF (who offered to change my tire for me, reminded me of Daniele), she helped me explain to the security guard that I would be leaving the car and they would come and change the tire. He was kind enough to offer to change the tire himself, however I was irritated with Hertz (they told me flat tires were not covered under insurance and I needed to pay to have the tire repaired myself) and wanted them to drive all the way out to Mirfa to change it. The security guards for the schools live on campus, so there is always someone there. It wasn't a problem for him to make sure they knew what car, etc.
I headed home with the teacher from school, this was about 2 pm, from 2-6:30 I received 6 calls from the gentlemen looking for my school/car. Let me tell you something, Mirfa is tiny, you could drive through it in 10 minutes. There is only 1 KG school in the whole town and 4 school campuses total in the whole town. I kept telling them what it was close to and they couldn't seem to find it, finally on their last call to me I told them it was close to the hospital, apparently they understood that because they never called again.
Wednesday 11/6
When I arrived at school today, my tire had been changed. I noticed that looked exactly like the rest of the tires. I at least know that spare tires look different in size than the rest. I checked the spare and it was still in the trunk. So, what had happened was they decided to change out the tire maybe because it was damaged beyond repair. The security guard came up to me and told me they did come out to change it. I figured they would add the cost of the new tire to my bill, which I wasn't too excited about, but was thankful I wouldn't have to deal with taking it to the tire shop. After school, Rebecca and I met some friends at the mall for dinner. We had some great conversations about traveling and where we had all been. We talked a lot about Paris and how many neat things there are to do there. I can't wait to go back and see more this summer or spring.
Thursday 11/7
School was so fun today. The English teachers organized something called Science Day. We basically taught science all day to the different classes in our grade. I taught my lesson on sound 4 different times, to all the KG2 classes. They absolutely loved it! I demonstrated LOUD sound and quiet sound with different objects and then had them make telephones out of string and two paper cups. I showed them how it worked and the look on their faces when they could hear my voice was priceless! They also were able to keep their phones and take them home. I came home and ventured to the mall with Rebecca for a treat and then went to bed early.
Friday 11/8
Bright and early this morning (8AM), Rebecca and I hopped into my car and headed to Abu Dhabi. Our mission this time was to exchange my car for something smaller and more affordable. After our trip to the airport (I got a Honda City, look it up, it's a cute car), we headed to Casey and Lindsey's apartments to check them out! They are gorgeous, beautiful views and the perfect size! We then went to Jones the Grocer for lunch (I am obsessed with this place!) which was delicious of course. After that we went to the mall so I could get a few items for the crock pot breakfast I was going to make the next day and a few other items you can't find in our town (shocking, I know!). After shopping, we headed back to MZ. It was really weird driving in such a small car when I was so used to an SUV here and that is what I had back home as well. Rebecca made us some delicious ham, brie, and apple sandwiches on a fresh baguette that she got at Jones the Grocer, for dinner. This sandwich reminded me of the sandwiches Windy made for the teachers at Dylan's school. After dinner, we decided to take a walk to get some exercise. Well, that is something we will do again, however we will never do alone. The same car (Emirate) drove past us 4 times, each time saying something to us out his window. First of all, that's super creepy, and secondly, you look like an idiot doing that. The walk was nice, it was cool out, but I still worked up a good sweat.
Here are some pics from the week, enjoy!