A Ginger Teacher in Abu Dhabi: Rain and Wind and Flooding, Oh My!

Wednesday 11/20
Well, today it was supposedly back to normal at school. It was difficult for the kids to get back into the regular routine as well as the teachers. I had forgotten what my regular schedule even was! I can't remember anything in particular that happened today.
Thursday 11/21
Well, this morning I was just going about my normal morning routine, stopped to get gas and then went inside the gas station to get some coffee and water. Good thing I did, I received a message from my HoF telling me that Mirfa (the town I work in) was flooded because it has a torrential downpour! I had no clue any of this was happening, all I noticed in MZ was that it was super dark. I also received a text from another teacher who was about 20 mins away from school and decided to turn around and come home because she couldn't see 5 feet in front of her! Long story short, when it rains here it's a HUGE deal and therefore schools closed and kids went home early. I had some breakfast and decided I was still going to head into the city to stay with Casey for the weekend. I must have made it between storms, because once I arrived at my destination it down poured again. This country is not built to handle rain whatsoever! People on the highway were driving VERY cautiously which was a relief to me. Once I arrived, Casey was shortly behind me and we took off to run a couple of errands. I managed to get my driver's license and Emirates ID. When I walked into the driver's license place, I strangely heard someone call my name. The thoughts going through my head at the time were 1) no one knows me here 2) they can't be calling me 3)I'll just ignore it. Well it turned out to be some I knew, obviously. It was Brandon and Alex, they had managed to make it between storms as well. Casey and I went to dinner with a few of the people that we were in the hotel with when we arrived. It was great seeing everyone again, I felt like it had been so long since I had seen everyone.
Friday 11/22
This morning, Casey and I met Melissa and Rebecca at a cafe close to her house called La Brioche. i have wanted to go to this place for quite a while now. The weather had stopped having a tantrum long enough for us to sit outside and have a wonderful brunch. I had eggs Benedict (my new obsession) which was great. We sat and chatted about various things, just normal girl talk. After breakfast, we made our way to the central souk to do some shopping. This place is beautiful, the architecture is amazing, it looks like you're outside but obviously you are on the inside. We also made our way "home" aka Al Whada Mall. This is the mall right next to the hotel we were all put in when we arrived. Walking through this mall made me feel at home on the other side of the world. We also went to Jone's the Grocer for dinner, YUMMMM. I had their pumpkin saffron soup which was amazing. I can't get enough of this restaurant and I get something different every time I go.
Saturday 11/23
When we woke up in the morning, we tried, but failed to see if any place would deliver coffee and some sort of breakfast. However because of the location of her apartment, we had no luck. We quickly made ourselves presentable to the public eye and made our way to Starbucks. The pastries at Starbucks are larger than life! They also have square, yes you read that right, square doughnuts. I left with a turkey and cheese croissant and a toffee nut latte (they have select holiday flavors and last year's red cups). We had plans to have dinner with the head of our recruiter (Footprints) at 3:30 with other fellow Footprinters. In the mean time, we wanted to make a quick stop at the mall, key word quick. It would have been quick if we hadn't missed a turn. However if we hadn't missed the turn, we would not have seen the coolest National Day car ever! While getting lost going to the mall, Casey decided to drive like a local, we went up and over a curb because we were going the wrong way, stopped in the middle of the road to see where we needed to go, and honked a few times at drivers who weren't driving properly (you know, because we were driving perfect!).
Dinner with our recruiter was really great. It really pays to go with a small recruiter, they are much more personal (obviously, they came to the city to do interviews and wanted to get everyone together), and it was great to see Bob who I met at my in person interview and Alison whom I had corresponded with during the summer while submitting documents. They were kind enough to pay for our amazing dinner as well. I made my way back to MZ to discover that National Day had thrown up on MZ. All the lights we drive past every day and night were finally turned on and it looked like Christmas!
Sunday 11/24
School went well, our after school training/meeting was boring....
Monday 11/25
Well, today was ok. I was told that when it comes closer to National Day, the kids stop showing up. NOT the case for my class, I guess it's good that they like to come to school, but come on give us a break! ;). Anyway, it was a good day. I am teaching them Enter and Exit for the letter E. I demonstrated my exiting the classroom and entering the classroom and they thought that was the greatest thing ever! From that day on, they can't wait to show me enter and exit. After school I was invited with a few other teachers over to the school Nurse's house for food. HOLY CRAP was it delicious! We sat on the floor and ate. We had a delicous spread of veggies, chicken, and a noodle with meat dish. We sat and conversed for 3 hours. It was great to get to know her better. We also had the honor of meeting her daughters and husband. They were all so excited to have us in their home and to share their food with us. Even though I didn't get home until late, it was so fun.
Tuesday 11/26
Today was an ok day of teaching, for some reason while they eat breakfast, they turn wild. They also don't listen either. Ugh! Anyway, I made my way home to find out that one of the teacher apartments in the villas had been on fire (electrical strip caught fire) and when the teacher got home he opened the door and smoke billowed out! Rebecca and I went into the apartment and saw every single room was covered in black soot! I feel so bad for this teacher, he has only been in his villa for 11 days, he is from my same recruiter and was one of the last ones to get his visa and ticket to come here! He is remarkably positive and kept saying that the things that were burned are just things. ADEC is going to help him and hopefully give him another housing allowance. There is another villa open that he is going to move into, and hopefully they put him up into a hotel for a week until he can figure out furniture.
Wednesday 11/27
Well, today looked as if it would be a normal day, however I quickly realized that in fact it was not. My co-teacher was trying her best to talk to me yesterday about something and I think she was trying to be kind enough to warn me that she wouldn't be at school for the second half of our day. I didn't realize this until today when she told me goodbye and she had her purse with her. What happened was they took the kids that did performances for National Day around to different places in town to perform again. After I realized this I was fine. However for breakfast this morning, my busy bee was super excited that she had brought a doughnut and then quickly crushed when I told her she could not eat it because it contains too much sugar and that was the last thing she needed. She listened to me and was fine with not eating it until my co-teacher showed up and she explained that I said she couldn't have it. Amany looked at me and asked why I told her she couldn't have it and I explained it was too much sugar and that the little girl would be bouncing off the walls. She said she would be fine, I said that was fine as long as she realized she would be off the wall. Well, of course she didn't care if she had it or not, she was LEAVING! So, the rest of the day with her was very difficult, but she doesn't do things to be naughty whatsoever, she is just so active, inquisitive, busy, it just enhanced everything. We spent the afternoon in another teacher's classroom since our lessons had been taught, watching a video on the 7 emirates which was awesome. When the video made it to Abu Dhabi, my busy bee yelled Ferrari as the camera flew over Ferrari World. It was the funniest thing I had heard all day, they certainly know their expensive cars here! Not really though, it is just a large indoor amusement park that I am sure they have been to or want to go to.
Later that evening, Rebecca and I went over to the boys villa to play some trivia. Well, my team lost, but we managed to keep the record for the fastest buzz in for the answers we did know! We were all glued to the newspaper sites here to see if Dubai would win the bid to host the 2020 World Expo. They did win and it was only a matter of time before everyone passed around a message from the Sheik saying school was canceled to celebrate! This is how this country rolls and it is one thing I will never complain about! This weekend is going to be insane in the city with celebrations for winning the bid and National Day! I am so excited to see how this country celebrates their existence as a country, the cars have been amazingly decorated and I can't wait to see more!
Enjoy the pics!