SURPRISE!

So, way back in April I decided that I was going to make a short three day trip home in June.  Let me explain the reasoning for this, when I first started teaching in the states, I, like most teachers was struggling to make ends meat and so I acquired a second job.  I have my sister to thank for finding the ad on Craigslist.  The ad was for a home care aide to a 12 year old boy with Autism.  I immediately contacted the mother of the boy and set up and interview.  When I was in college, I nannied for a 3 year old boy with Autism, so I had experience as well as a special place in my heart for children with Autism.  Long story short, I was chosen to be a part of this family and can never see myself being anything other than that.  It was never work for me, it was going to hang out with my little brother, go on awesome adventures, help him through tough social situations, and have family dinners with his parents and grand parents.  I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason, and they were put into my life to be an extension of my immediate family.  So, when I looked on Dylan's high school's website to see when his graduation was (such a huge accomplishment), the decision was easy.  There was nothing in the world that would have stopped me from flying home, surprising him, his mother and grandparents, and seeing him walk to receive his high school diploma.  
I recruited the help of his dad to make sure I knew where they would be on the day I flew in as well as making sure I had tickets for myself and my family to the graduation and to be added to the reservation (without Windy knowing).  I can honestly say I wouldn't have been able to pull it off without Mike's help!  So, here's how it went down.....
I left the UAE on Friday morning and arrived on Friday morning in Washington (I love flying against time..).  My first stop however was to surprise my very best friend in the world.  I cannot put into words what Justine means to me, she's been my boulder through everything since we were 12.  She has this wonderful man in her life who I'm sure literally jumped up and down at the idea of surprising her.  We even exchanged fake stories so she would be thrown off in this whole thing.  She also has said over and over that she can't be surprised, well we sure pulled off one hell of a surprise!  She was stunned and then started crying as did I.  To hug your best friend is one of the best feelings in the world!  AND, to meet the man that is making your best friend so happy, was even better.  I seriously felt like I had known him for years, he's definitely a keeper!  After having lunch with them and my friend Callie and her beautiful new baby boy, Heather drove me to Gig Harbor to pull off the big surprise.
Dylan was at a local park having a picnic for CIP (community inclusion program) and everyone was there, his parents and grandparents.  Well, I walked up and couldn't find any of the people I was looking for!  I was stopped by a family friend of theirs who pointed out that Windy was pretty much right in front of me and Dylan was in the woods with his dad.  I surprised the heck out of Windy and was able to give her the biggest hug.  Dylan must have spotted me hugging his mom and immediately started to run across the field as did I.  He gave me the biggest hug and high five I've ever received from him, and he's pretty spectacular at both of those things.  After he let go of me I told him I was here for his graduation to which I received an even bigger hug from him!  That was probably one of the best moments of my life!  Later that evening I surprised his grandparents who were also floored to see me.  I then was able to finally go to my parents house, hug my parents who I've missed terribly as well as see my Moe.  He was so excited to see me he was jumping and girl barking.  I miss him so much!  
The next two days were filled with brunch with my Visitation/Teacher Family and Dylan's graduation!  I am so damn proud of this kid, he walked out like he owned the day and received his diploma with the biggest smile on his face!  He was escorted by his aide's son who was also graduating. Dylan is so lucky to go to a school where he is supported not only by his teachers, but by his peers.  I know that just knowing that set his parent's at ease when he started school.  
It felt like I wasn't really at home, but when my parents dropped me off at the airport, seeing the look on my Moe's face broke my heart.  I can't wait to come back for good next summer.  I can honestly say I didn't want to get on that plane, but I'm no quitter!  
Coming back to school, my students that showed up to school sure did miss me.  I actually missed them as well.  And graduation is finally set in stone (haha) for Monday.  I can honestly say that as ridiculous as this school year has been, I am going to miss my students.  They really have come so far and I really wish them the best.  Here are some pictures to enjoy......

This is in Target and is for Mrs. D.M...........

Teacher/Visitation Family

I finally met Arthur!

Gretchen did not want me to leave....

Super hard to leave this face.....

They are ready!

Love this picture!

Well That's New......

Alright, it's been a really long time since I've last blogged, and for good reason, most of which I won't get into.  Let's just say when my dad says "things can only get better" that is the biggest lie I have ever heard!
I am currently watching one of my favorite episodes of FRIENDS, the one where Monica and Rachel lose their apartment.  This show totally makes me forget all the ridiculousness that happens at school each day.  
So this blog entry will not entail school stuff, instead I will list some things I thought I would never see, hear, or experience while living here:
*crosswalk signs that have an outline of a man in a Kandora
*Camels in trucks
*Camels walking along side the road
*Camel beauty contest
*Men walking along the side of the highway waiting to be picked up by someone
*Flashing your headlights to get someone to move to the other lane (I regularly do this)
*Having to get a license for everything (residency, driving, medical, alcohol, school- all separate)
*Being put in front of a HUGE line of men even though you just arrived to the line (huge plus)
*Being stared at, not just normal stares either, I'm talking take a picture and save it, it lasts longer type of staring
*Going up onto the sidewalk to avoid speed bumps
*Cash machines only dispensing 100AED and then businesses look at you all pissed off when they have to break it
*The loudest children ever, seriously when they all yell it is deafening and I'm pretty sure I have hearing loss
*Men just slowly walking across the highway with cars going in excess of 100 MPH
*Never knowing how much you love something until you don't have access to it (i.e. real Mexican food, being able to get American products)
*Hearing a prayer throughout the country 5 times a day
*Walking outside when it's 113 and saying out loud, it's not that hot
*Communication doesn't happen here
*Learning to communicate with gestures and different words

And that's about all I can think of at the moment, enjoy the pictures!

Getting better each time!!

So since they like to give these 4 & 5 year olds deflated balloons (choking hazard right?) my busy bee drew a picture of me and said "Teacher, this you!" and then laughed and laughed!

They made the mistake of telling the EMTs it was PJ Day!  

Denise and I cheering on the West's kickball team!  They won!  (yes she knows it is upside down)

What Would Happen If We Just Didn't Show Up?!?!

Well, let’s see the last time I blogged, things were going great right?  How quickly things turn in this line of work.  We were told on Monday of last week that we needed to come up with something for Cultural Day that was to be held on Thursday of the same week (that’s right 3 days later).  After several attempts to convince the translator that we shouldn’t be in charge of doing something for Cultural Day, she agreed we should not in fact do something that had to do with their culture.  She did try and convince us we could take something that we do in our culture and change it to be Arabic culture related.  Yeah, no.  I was insistent that American culture is very different than Arabic culture.  We were finally told to do two tables for Abu Dhabi Reads.  Mind you, we were not told who was coming to this special day and what it involved.  So, like we always do, we made two tables, one with arts and crafts and the other we read Brown Bear, Brown Bear to the kids and they made bookmarks gluing the characters in order.  We were told on Tuesday (keep in mind this is the day AFTER we were told this whole thing was going to happen) that we needed to stay late and set up our area.  Ummmm no, they seem to forget that we all live far away from school (an hour plus for some) and to tell us 5 minutes before we are allowed to leave is NOT ok.  We assured the translator that we would have things to put up the next day and it would get done, as it ALWAYS does.  The principal agreed that was fine (of course none of this conversation ever happened with the principal in our presence, who knows why she can’t talk to us herself with the translator there to help, but that’s another thing…).  We left the building seriously irritated.

The next day we put up our stuff as we said we would, and our display looked awesome (see the pictures below).  However, after we had finished, the translator, “VP” and art teacher were looking at our display and talking about how it needed more.  We all walked away and agreed if they had messed with it after we left, we wouldn’t do anything during cultural day.  Why ask us to decorate if you don’t like it and want to change it!  Anyway, we came in the next day and it wasn’t touched, thank goodness.  During Cultural Day, we were completely ignored by all the Arabic staff.  The only time they talked to us was to let us know we needed to go watch the kids and make sure they had their breakfast.  Again, I am a professional babysitter.  Then we were told to take the “leftover” kids into the play area and sit them at our tables and do the activities with them.  THEN, we were told to stop and wait until our cluster manager walked in and then start so he could see us doing something.  WOW, excuse me, so he could see us doing something, as opposed to us NOT doing anything, which is apparently what they think we do. 

We told our cluster manager that we had been ignored the whole day and not told anything as to what was going on what the schedule was like for the day, etc.  He apparently didn’t seem too thrilled with that information, but I’m guessing nothing happened because we weren’t told anything was said.  It’s ok; we celebrated the end of the worst week ever in our own way J. 

This week, I was in charge of lesson plans since Abu Dhabi Reads was finished and all we did during those three weeks was review (not too sure why, but ok).  Our next theme according to our yearlong plans which the EMTs all look at when doing lesson plans was Staying Healthy.  I was actually really excited about doing this theme, there are so many things you can do with it, bar graphs of veggies and fruits, etc.  So, we walk into our staff room at 7:45, 15 minutes before the bell rings for the start of the day and the translator who is also a KG2 teacher walks into the staff room to talk to us.  The words that came out of her mouth about made me have a heart attack!  She says that we aren’t going to do Staying Healthy for this week, we are going to do Animals instead because someone is coming to evaluate the principal and there are more things we can do with Animals than Staying Healthy.  I about flipped my lid; I looked at her and said “no! we aren’t changing, I’VE already done the plans for the week.  Another KG2 teacher informed her that we plan ahead and don’t do things last minute and that wasn’t going to work for us.  So after arguing back and forth for that whole 15 mins, we stood our ground and she left to go tell everyone else we weren’t changing.  The audacity of her to come and tell us on the day we are supposed to start teaching that we aren’t sticking to the plan, when she knows we plan ahead!  That pretty much told me and everyone else that they do in fact not come to school prepared!  However my co-teacher is always prepared and does a very good job, I really miss her and hope she is able to come back to school soon.  The kids were also horrible for the two days I was at school this week.  I told on every single one of them to their moms too, I don’t care if they get annoyed of hearing that their son or daughter isn’t listening; I am going to let them know.  I also let them know when they had a good day as well, not just the bad.  On Monday night, I went to the other teacher villas with Rebecca and we had ourselves a little Cinco de Mayo get together.  I met someone that was in the Happy video that was filmed here in Abu Dhabi and I freaked out and got a picture with him.  I show my kids this video all the time and they love it!  That night, my throat started to really hurt, it was very very painful for me to swallow.  I didn’t sleep that much during the night and the next morning I went to the doctor instead of going to work.  He told me I had a virus and gave me 4 medications, one of which was actually relevant to my symptoms.  I decided the meds weren’t helping me since I was in so much pain, so I took some Aleve and gargled warm salt water and it was almost instant that I felt better.  I didn’t feel 100% better, but still, I could swallow with minimal pain. 

It’s so funny to me that I complain that the kids are so difficult to handle and teach and the moment I am away from them for longer than a day, I miss them.  As naughty as they are, they all have my heart and I miss them and feel bad that I have messed up their routine we have worked so hard to establish. Anyway, I hope this was informative, entertaining and a “short” break from your day!

Enjoy the pictures!

What happens when you scream and run down the hall, EVERYONE gets a time out before playing!

And your teacher will take pictures of said punishment!

This beauty is in KG1, she's adorable!

The boys finished matching the capital to the lowercase and the picture that goes with it!  At the beginning of the year they could only match at most 5!  They aren't in order, but baby steps.....

LaQuanya and Chauntell decorating part of our corner, nice job ladies!

I love it when my kids sit like this, especially when they are in their Kandoras

I dog sat for Vinnie and Gizmo again, much needed dog time after such a stressful week!

Pepper and I, it was her first Cinco de Mayo celebration!

Rebeca and I

Meet Bradley, he was an unplanned dinner guest who quickly was returned to his natural habitat of the great outdoors! He wasn't really red, more peach and transparent, it was the filter on my camera that made min look radiantly red!

So, You're On Your Own....

Well returning from spring break was an interesting experience.  I will blog about London at a later time, it's just too much to write about and I can't seem to get myself to sit down and do it.  Anyway, returning from spring break as I said was interesting.  Here's what I mean by that, I was actually really excited to see my kids (as much as I complain about them, they completely have my heart) and the staff I hadn't seen since break, especially my co-teacher.  I was became concerned when I didn't see my co-teacher and quickly figured out that she wasn't at school.  I was interrupted by the vice principal/substitute teacher during English.  She, in the best way possible, tried to tell me that my co-teacher would be out for 3 weeks and that she would come in to teach my kids Arabic and Islamic.  I later found out that she had a hysterectomy.  From that moment on, I started to change how things were run in my classroom.  Being as I look at it like the classrooms in our school are the Arabic teacher's, even though we teach the kids more than they do, I have just kind of gone with how she runs things.  Well, since I am on my own with them for 3 weeks, I made some new routines and have STUCK to them unlike how the Arabic staff runs things.  I am shocked they don't understand or care that routines for kids are very important and can really help students succeed.  I have quite the morning routine down with my kids and they love it and are used to it by now.  We finish morning assembly, they grab their money from their backpacks and come sit down on the carpet.  I start by taking their orders for breakfast followed by them choosing what job they want for the day.  Once someone has picked to help me pass out the breakfast food, they get to put our money container on the shelf for the cleaners to collect later on.  The line leader and "teacher" get to wear their badges, my attendance student does their job, seeing who is here and who isn't, and my day's of the week student says the days of the week to which the rest of the class repeats after them (in English first and then Arabic).  We also write the date on the board and review our schedule for the day.  I can't tell you how smoothly this goes and how much they listen and are engaged in it all.  I know my co-teacher will appreciate this, and it gets the students settled before teaching begins instead of running around the classroom while she talks to other teachers.
So, these past two weeks have gone pretty good, I moved my tables around so I have one long group and a smaller group set up which makes it easier for me and the kids benefit by sitting all mixed up.  I had one student who has had my heart since day one, work harder than I have ever seen him work, but knew he was capable of doing so.  He was sitting next to my busy bee and wanted to do as much work as she was doing, so of course I let him.  I was so proud of him, I let him put his paper on the board and he couldn't have had a bigger smile on his face.  I even sent a message to his mom telling her he had a great day and worked super hard, she was excited to hear this and thanked me for telling her.  
I have been communicating with some of the parents in my class, sending them pictures of what we do throughout the day.  The other day I sent pictures of the kids gluing popcorn kernels to for numbers and one of the parents sent a message back saying I was a good teacher for the kids.  This simple statement made being here worth it.  It is amazing what a thank you or a you're doing a good job can do.  
That same student I mentioned before that worked really hard, was the recipient of an award from me for eating healthy for the months of February and March.  I contacted his mom to let her know he would be receiving it on Thursday morning and if she could make it that would be great.  She unfortunately had to work, but I took pictures and she was overjoyed that I sent them to her.  Another student of mine was also the recipient of the same award, and her mom was able to come and watch her receive it.  
Tuesday of last week, while I was lining my kids up to go into the play area, the Arabic HoF came into my room and said I needed to go into the meeting room, all the teachers needed to go in there.  She told me to take my kids into the play area with the bus moms.  I walked into the meeting room to a huge spread of food!  We found out that our principal was thanking us for doing what we do.  We all received a rose and certificate.  The food was great, but it's so heavy I couldn't eat much of it.  It was nice to be appreciated for what we do.  
Last weekend, Rebecca and I had ourselves a stay-cation in the city.  We stayed on Yas Island at a nice hotel, lounged by the pool all day and celebrated my friend Melissa's birthday in the evening.  It was really relaxing and a great way to spend the weekend.  This weekend, I stayed with Melissa and we went to the Macklemore concert.  That's right, that Thirftshop Seattle boy came all the way to the Middle East to preform!  It was an amazing concert!  I cannot believe how close I was to the stage and what a great show he put on.  He was literally dripping sweat during the show, even though it was nighttime, it was still 90 with about 50% humidity!  Everyone was sweaty and sticky, but it was worth it!  Melissa and I took our friend Marc with us (I am friends with Alecia, she was the second person I met when I arrived :)) and met up with Lindsey, Danny and Gary (he's from Gig Harbor!).  It was a great time, I can't wait to see Justin Timberlake in May!  
Enjoy the pictures!

This was the picture I sent to the mothers to remind them their child needed to bring sunglasses the next day for a performance in front of the school.

Happy Birthday Melissa!

Stay-cation!

Our appreciation buffet!

My certificate and rose.

My healthiest eaters!

Look at the little boy's face,  he couldn't be more proud/happy to be getting this!

Macklemore!!

Another Week Down.....

Last week involved teaching (obviously) but with a few minor burps in the schedule.  We started the week with Color Day which was put on by KG1 and was also supposed to be held at the local park.  Since the weather wasn't the greatest, we had a change of plans (shocking) and held the events in our indoor play area.  The events consisted of tug-o-war, various competitions that I would play with my PreK and K kids last year in PE, as well as a banana eating contest.  They sang songs about different colors and painted pictures in their color groups as well.  The day was fun, but not exactly organized, which seems to be how most things go.  Later in the week we took a field trip to the public library.  This library was beautiful, the kids section was so cute, the chairs were unique as well as the tables.  There were lots of books in English as well as Arabic.  The librarian took my class into a reading room, read them a book about feelings and had them pick from a fish bowl different faces with expressions from the book.  The kids loved it, and the librarian even invited me back with the class so she could teach them an English lesson!
Over the weekend, I had the opportunity (last min.) to go to Fujairah which is one of the seven emirates.  I stayed at a resort, swam, relaxed, ate amazing food, tried Moroccan tea and watched the filming of a show called Abu Dhabi Top Ten.  This show highlights various things you can do around Abu Dhabi and in this case a weekend getaway.  The sea was absolutely beautiful, not too warm and not too cold.  I of course put my feet in the water multiple times, you can't go to a body of water and not out your feet in, anyone who knows me knows this.  I also visited one of the oldest Mosques in the Emirates.  It isn't built like any other mosque I have seen here.  I also walked up to the watch towers to see where the watchmen would look out for the pearl divers to come back as well as if any enemies were coming.  This part of the emirates is very mountainous which was very strange to see since all I have seen here is sand.  On the way back, I caught a ride with Casey and Anna back to Abu Dhabi from Dubai.  Casey and I shopped a bit at the mall before I headed back west.  On Saturday, Rebecca and I decided to head to the Tilal Liwa Hotel and use their pool.  For a fee which we LATER found out would have been cheaper if we had told them we were teachers (they told us it was too late).  The pool was very relaxing and we also enjoyed some afternoon tea.  Rebecca informed me that real afternoon tea (AKA in London) is nothing like what they have here and not to base this experience on a true afternoon tea.  I can't wait for London and to have real afternoon tea.  
This week started with almost a full class (not too sure why they are coming to school since we have been told that attendance will be down due to this being the week before the holiday, but oh well. Hopefully by tomorrow the kids will dwindle in numbers.  I always have my UNO deck with me just in case!  Enjoy the pictures!

My students sitting in our reception area waiting for the bus to take us to the library

Such cool furniture!

Denise and I doing a colored sand project for a PD

6 Months

Well the past few weeks have been a little hectic to say the least.  We have had a snake problem that resulted in the students going home early, taking them to a beach festival for the day and not showing up in fear of the snake.  The snake problem was "solved" by spraying chemicals outside which seeped into through the doorway and into our lungs.  We left the school in a hurry; hopefully it was fast enough. 

Last week we had low numbers because of another snake sighting over the weekend.  I was supposed to be observed by my principal on Sunday, the day I signed up for, however she had other plans and so I was pushed back to another day.  I am not too sure why a sign up sheet was sent around if it wasn’t going to be followed, but whatever.  My co-teacher was observed on Monday and she did an excellent job as always.  One of the EMTs that was in the room during her lesson commented to me that she didn’t need any translation because she was so animated she was able to understand what she was saying to the kids.  I told her that she is almost always like that and I actually learn a lot from her because of it. 

My observation finally came on Thursday.  I didn’t prepare anything special for this lesson, I have always been a believer that when someone comes to observe you, they observe how you normally are, not the person who puts on a show for everyone.  I had my “small teacher” as we call them (student that acts as the teacher during the lessons) show picture cards of things that start with the letter B.  He did an excellent job of this.  He apparently thought that I did a good job as well because he took the sticker my co-teacher had given him during Arabic and put it on my arm to tell me I did a good job.  I just melted when he did this, so sweet.  The kids were actually really well behaved when all 5 people were in the room watching me.   The other teachers were going around asking them questions about what letter was on their paper and what each picture was on their paper and they all answered correctly!  Proud teacher moment! 

This weekend, Rebecca and I took on the challenge of having a Harry Potter marathon.  We thought we could finish it in one day (at least I did) boy was that ever false!  We started Friday at about 9 and finished for the night at about 11:30.  We resumed our marathon Saturday morning at about 9 I think and didn’t finish until 7:30.  I am good on watching Harry Potter for a long time. 

It is only 2 weeks until Spring Break and it cannot get here fast enough!  I will be going to London for 8 days with Casey.  I am really excited to see what this great place is all about!  We have quite the list of things to see and I am certain we will find some other gems that aren’t on our list.  

Side note, on March 13, I celebrated my 6 month anniversary in Abu Dhabi.  I cannot believe I have been here for that long.  I remember the day I received the illusive email.  I woke up to missed calls and texts from my sister telling me that my itinerary had come and I was supposed to leave the next morning!  I was shaking as I went to my parents computer and opened the email, responded to it and repeatedly calling my parents to tell them as they were on their way home from the gym.  They of course didn't answer their phone (why have one if you never answer it!?!?!).   Anyway, that day was filled with text message notifications, eyebrow appointment, saying goodbye to Justine, my sister and Moe :(.  I can't tell you how many times I repacked my suitcase and put it on the scale to weigh it.  How can they expect  you to move across the world with two suitcases weighing 70lbs each?!?!  I didn't sleep that night as I had to be up at 3AM to go to the airport where I said my tearful goodbyes to my parents as they flew to CA and I flew to Abu Dhabi.  Two days later I arrived in Abu Dhabi, stinky, sweaty and exhausted.  I was so exhausted I scared myself when I saw my reflection in the mirror of my hotel room.  The only things that made me feel comfortable was knowing that when I woke up in the morning, I would be greeted by familiar faces I had been conversing with over the summer on Facebook.  The next day when I woke up (actually that same day just in the afternoon), I went to Lindsey's hotel room, she opened the door and greeted me with the BIGGEST hug!  I will never forget that, a hug can do so many things for a person and that one hug made me feel safe, comforted, not alone, and welcome.  Every time I see Lindsey, she greets me with the same hug, it's one thing I will always be grateful for!  I cannot imagine doing this without the love and support of the people I have met here who have instantly become my family and the love and support of the people back home.  Here's to another 1.5 years!  

Enjoy the pictures!

Beach Festival

Beach Festival

Beach Festival, yes that's the Sea in the background

Moe came when I called him!

Thursday shopping trip with my staff and Rebecca!

The Oreo Truffles have become famous here!

Biggest slide I've seen!