Bangkok Part 3

Ban Battra Community and Jim Thompson House 3/29

Tuesday was a very relaxing day.  I slept in, had a late and relaxing breakfast with sausage (although the sausage wasn't good at all), and hired a taxi to take me to the Ban Batrra Community. 

Ban Battra is the last remaining community that makes the alms bowls that the monks used to carry to get their food and donations.  It is a dying art, and it is beautiful.  The bowls are handmade from steel.  They pound together 8 pieces of steel to make the bowl.  While there I met this amazing woman who is one of the last people to make the bowls.  She was so sweet and greeted me on the street with a smile and a bow.  She couldn't speak much English, but that didn't prevent her from talking to me and mentioning my height and her height!  She is very tiny, as most Thai are.  She showed me around her little community and allowed me to sit and pound at the bowl that was being made.  She sat with me and showed me how to do it!  While I was looking at the different bowls she showed me her guest book and proudly pointed out all the visitors that she had from USA.  I just couldn't tell her that I was from Abu Dhabi, she was so pleased to have another American visit.  I guess in reality I'm from America via Abu Dhabi.  So I signed her guest book as an American and then bought a bowl (happy birthday Mom!!!:)  As I was leaving this wonderful lady we took another picture near the entrance to the community (the difference is height is very pronounced when we both are standing) and she instructed me to send her a copy of the picture.  I will definitely do that! 

After leaving the community my taxi driver took me to the Jim Thompson House.  Jim Thompson was an American who settled in Thailand and helped to make the industry of Thai silk what it is today.  His house was made from 6 separate houses and moved from different parts of the country to Bangkok.  Pretty neat how they put it all together; you really can't tell that it's 6 different houses.  Each room was a different house.  The most spectacular part of the house were the gardens.  Absolutely beautiful.  Lots of vibrantly colored flowers, hanging vines, ponds with fish, and greenery everywhere.  An interesting note about Thai houses; they build very high entrances into the house (what is that called?) so that the evil spirits that can only travel in straight lines can't get into the house.  Interesting, but made for painful entering of each room/house.  I took a quick tour of the house and went to the gift shop.  The Thai silk is beautiful.  Very colorful and soft.  It really didn't feel like silk at all.  The silk was very expensive, even in Bats, so I did not buy anything I just looked. 

I left the Jim Thompson House and headed back to the hotel for a relaxing afternoon and evening.  I would have loved to sit by the pool, but the weather was not cooperating at all; cold and windy all day.

Temples and City Tour 3/30

Another early morning.  I had to be ready to leave the hotel at 7:30, so I got up early and had a quick breakfast so I would be ready for the tour.  The driver showed up at 7:30 and then we went to 2 different hotels to pick up other tourists.  There were only 5 of us on this tour so we didn't have a big bus, just a van.  It was still pleasant and there was enough room for all of us to be comfortable.

The tour started with the Golden Buddha.  This Buddha is made of nearly 5 tons of solid gold!  The interesting story is that it was covered in plaster during a war and it wasn't until 1955 when it was discovered that it was made of solid gold. 

From the Golden Buddha we went to the Reclining Buddha.  This Buddha is huge!  More than huge, massive.  It is not made of solid gold, but the gold leaves.  The feet of the Buddha are made of mother of pearl and are gorgeous.  The Buddha measures 46m long (~150 ft) and 15m high (~ 49ft).  It was very difficult to get a full length picture of the entire statue.  The head itself is huge.

The last Buddha we saw was at the Marble Temple.  This temple is made from Italian marble and is very different from the other temples in the area.  The Buddha that is featured in this temple is pretty much like the other Buddhas.  There is one area that has 52 Buddha statues, including one of Buddha fasting. 

After the temples we were taken to the largest gem factory in the country.  Thailand is known for its gems and jewelery.  At the entrance to the factory/store there was an armed guard.  Kind of impressive and scary at the same time.  We toured the factory and got to see the gems being cut, polished, and placed in jewelry.  Pretty neat.  After watching the process of making the jewels we got to tour the store.  Lots of jewelry and gems.  Very sparkly!  Very expensive even though I know the prices were cheaper than they would be at home, it's still too much to pay like 20,000 Bat for jewelry.  I just enjoyed looking at the different cuts and stones.

That was the last stop on the tour so it was back to the hotel.  Once at the hotel I had lunch and now it's time to get ready to leave.  It's been a great vacation, but I am ready to go home.  Not necessarily ready to go back to work, but ready to go home.  I have seen some wonderful sights and had a great vacation, but it's time to return to normal.

Notes about Bangkok

• Very crowded
• Traffic is atrocious
• A lot of poverty, begging, and pickpocketing
• Good train system for traveling within the city
• A lot of pollution, both noise and air because it is so crowded
• 9,100,000 people in Bangkok
• Green in color and recycling
• Very nice people (everyone greets you with a bow and welcome to Thailand or their greeting)

Bangkok Part 2

Night Market 3/27

After resting yesterday afternoon, Susan and I headed out to Chinatown for dinner and then to the night market.  On our way to Chinatown we we were planning on seeing a Wat with a Buddha lit by candles.  As we were walking to the Wat we saw the Giant Swing.  When Susan pointed it out to me I was quite surprised because there is no swing.  It's just the very tall metal poles to hold the swing.  Evidently they attach the swing during ceremonies.  I just found it quite weird that they would call it the Giant Swing when there isn't actually a swing.  We stopped long enough for me to take a picture and then continued on our way to the Wat.  The Wat was beautiful; as they all are.  It's amazing how many they have here; like mosques in the UAE they are everywhere.  Anyway when we arrived there was a service going on and many Buddhists were praying and reciting something.  Very interesting to witness, but I felt like I was intruding on something very spiritual as I was walking around taking pictures.  Just like a mosque, when you enter a Wat you have to take your shoes off.  A sign of respect.  We walked around the grounds for a while, then collected our shoes and searched for a taxi to take us to Chinatown for dinner. 

Chinatown was packed and quite intense!  Food and people everywhere.  The concierge said that any restaurant we chose would be good, but it was difficult to choose.  There were so many, and most of them just served seafood.  We eventually found one off the beaten path that served more than just seafood.  Now, when I say restaurant it's not what you think.  We ate in the street and the food was cooked right there.  Just like the lunch at the weekend market.  I ordered fried rice with crab meat, and it was delicious.  I am pretty sure my crab was alive 5 minutes before I ate it.  OK maybe not literally 5 minutes, but I'm sure it was fresh and they most likely killed it right there before cooking it.  It was delicious!

After dinner we headed to the night market.  This was not like I had imagined at all.  I was thinking something along the lines of the weekend market, but I was way off.  It was packed and there were a lot of "nighttime" activities being offered all around us.  Not something I needed to witness.  Not that I saw anything other than ladies dancing and people advertising the services they offered, but it was still more than I needed to see.  Needless to say, we didn't stay all that long.  There really wasn't anything worth buying there anyway.  So we headed back to the hotel so I could get up early for my tour in the morning.

Auttayah Tour 3/28

I had a 7am pickup from the hotel scheduled so I got up quite early at 5:30 so I could have breakfast before I left.  There was no time for any made to order breakfast this morning so sausage will have to wait until tomorrow morning.  The tour driver picked me up promptly at 7:00 and we headed to get some more tourists before going to the bus parking lot. 

There were about 25 of us on the tour and as soon as we all boarded we headed out of Bangkok.  The drive out of Bangkok is very nice.  Very green, with rice paddies lining the roads when you get out of the city.  The drive to Auttayah was about an hour.  Once there I saw the Summer Palace.  The Palace is amazing.  There are a lot of western style buildings there, as the king who designed it really liked the western architecture.  Of course there was a temple there along with many other statues.  I think my favorite building was the gathering house.  It is made in the Chinese style and it's beautiful.  I loved the Chinese calligraphy on the walls and the murals.  I also liked the gardens; they were so green and had statues of animals cut from bushes.  Amazing how people can do that.  After touring the Summer Palace for about an hour we headed to the Wat ruins at Auttayah.

The ruins are beautiful.  Striking how they can still be somewhat standing after all this time and the way they were built.  Kind of reminded me of Petra, although Petra was in much better shape.  At the Wat ruins you could still see the place where the Buddha would have been placed.  The most impressive part of this part of the tour was the Buddha head that was on the ground surrounded by tree routes.  They say that it fell off the Buddha during a storm, or was cut off during the war, and a tree grew around it and that Buddha protected it so the roots wouldn't cover the face.  There was also a statue of Buddha surrounded by headless Buddhas.  During a war (can't remember which one) non Buddhists came and beheaded all the Buddhas.  It was kind of odd walking around looking at Buddhas without heads.

From the Wat ruins of Auttayah we headed to 2 other Wats.  Pretty much the same as the others I have seen other than the huge reclining Buddha.  Massive.  Very long and tall.  This one is made of stone unlike the one in Bangkok which is made of gold and slightly bigger than the one at Auttayah. 

After our tour of the Wats we headed to the river for the river cruise and lunch.  The river cruise was neat because I got to see traditional Thai houses and the way of life along the river.  Something not so touristy.   The houses are built on stilts so during the rainy season their living quarters aren't flooded and also so the children have somewhere shaded to play (that is if the house isn't actually in the river; some were and some weren't).  The tour ended at the River Plaza and we were taken back to our respective hotels.  Maybe I'll just relax tonight!

Oh by the way it's freezing here!  Well at least for me it is!  It's been gray and overcast the entire time and it even rained today.  Not much more than a light drizzle, but still rain.  It was very windy as well, which meant that I stayed inside for most of the boat trip.  I just didn't bring my winter clothes; they're all in the States anyway!

Bangkok Part 1

Departure 3/24

After a crazy hectic day at school, which consisted of a 1/2 day Mother's Day assembly/party and a 12:15 dismissal I went to the bank so I could be financially prepared for my trip.  I got home did some cleaning, laundry, got packed, studied some Arabic, and rested for a bit before Susan and I left for Abu Dhabi. 

Our flight was scheduled to leave at 9:55pm so we left Al Ain at 5:15.  We got to the airport around 7 and no problems checking in.  Susan did discover that the flight was over booked and she was going to see if she could get bumped to business class.  No such luck:(  I did get an exit row seat with a ton of leg room.  It was wonderful! 

Our 9:55 departure turned into an 11:00 departure.  A lot of waiting.  I think I was pretty much up all night; I may have slept for an hour or 2, but I did get to watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows I.  Great movie!  Not the best screen to watch it on, but I still enjoyed it!  Can't wait for part II!

Arrival 3/25

We arrived in Bangkok about 8am and waited forever in immigration.  There were so many people in line and the process was taking so long I thought we were going to be there until our 2pm check in time.  We eventually made it through immigration and I got my 4th entry stamp!  Susan had requested a car from the hotel to pick us up at the airport.  We found the driver and got into a very spacious car with water, a cold towel, and breath mints.  I was totally surprised because they drive on the other side here!  That was a very weird feeling to be sitting on the right side of the car behind the driver.  We arrived at the hotel, the InterContinental, at about 11am.  Our room was ready so we were able to check in!  I was starving, since I didn't eat on the plane.  They served dinner around midnight.  I just can't eat at midnight.  So, I went to the lounge and had a delicious bowl of vegetable soup and an orange juice.   After my breakfast/lunch we headed to our room for a nap!

Feeling refreshed and clean we headed out at about 3pm.  We walked to a nearby Hindu Shrine where there were many people praying and offering incense and flowers to the god depicted in the shrine.  If someone had received an answer to a prayer they either bought something (mostly elephants) or paid some women to dance as an offering.  They dancing was pretty neat, but they really didn't look all that into it.  While there I was talking to a lady who was telling me what I needed to go see; The Grand Palace and the weekend market.  Those were both on my list.  In fact the weekend market was scheduled for Saturday. 

When the incense began to burn my eyes Susan and I left and just walked the streets.  The sights, sounds, and smells were just a bit overwhelming.  There were many stands set up where you could buy street food.  The meat was raw and sitting out in the sun so I didn't have any of that, but it sure did smell good when they put it on the grill.  I got some corn, which was amazing!  The corn was fresh off the cob and cooked in some buttery sauce and then mixed with sugar.  It was delicious.  We continued to walk around this little bazaar and found that you could even buy your underwear there!  We headed to a nearby mall where we stopped at NaRaYa (a very popular Asian store that sells all sorts of handbags).  I spent 715 Bat (about $30) and got a bag, travel bag, and a wallet.  With our shopping finished for the day we headed back to the hotel. 

We went to the Ambassador Lounge and had appetizers and drinks.  As members of the Ambassador Club we upgraded for this option which includes breakfast, tea time in the afternoon, and cocktails at night.  After a long day of traveling and site seeing it was time to turn in!


Weekend Market 3/26

What an experience!  The day started with an early morning breakfast and then the train ride to the market.  The train ride was something!  It was packed and people just kept squeezing on.  It's amazing how many people can squish together.  As we neared the market, I could see the rows and rows of stalls from the train; they just seemed to go on forever!  We walked through a very nice park to the entrance of the market.  It wasn't all that crowded at 10am, but somehow I knew that wouldn't last!  I didn't think it was that hot either, but again I knew that wouldn't last either!

Susan and I walked through the myriad of stalls and bought many souvenirs.  I'm not quite sure how much I spent, but it was less than 2,000 Bat (about $70).  They had everything from statues of Buddah (I bought one), to underwear.  There were even pets for sale!  The puppies were so cute!  I would have loved to buy one.

The food was another experience altogether.  There was squid eggs, chicken legs (not what you think - actual chicken legs), some sort of live shrimp flopping around in a bucket, tons of fruit, and great Thai food.  We stopped at the food tent where I had fried noodles with PORK!  It was delicious!  Sitting in the food tent was an experience for all the senses.  The language is something totally different; glad I'm not learning this one!  Not sure if I'd ever be able to write it, let alone speak it.  The smells of the food made me want to try everything or throw up.  I enjoyed sitting there taking in the sights, sounds, and smells. 

As the day wore on it got hotter and more crowded.  I was dripping in sweat, even though it was overcast, as I squeezed past mobs of people.  We eventually reached a point where we both had had enough and were ready to leave.  I know we didn't see everything the market had to offer, but I did get a lot of good souvenirs.  We made our way through the crowds and back to the train station.  We got onto an empty train and headed back to the hotel.  The train didn't remain empty for long; by the second stop we were squished like sardines.  We squeezed off the train at our stop and headed across the street to our hotel.

Once back at the hotel we changed into our suits and headed to the rooftop pool.  It was very breezy up there and the water was cold so there was no swimming for me, but it was so nice to sit there with my feet in the water.  That definitely helped the swelling and cooled off my feet.  After a full day it was nice to relax by the pool and then the lounge.

The Grand Palace 3/27

I will start this out by telling mom and dad not to be freaked.  I traveled by myself today and I lived to tell about it!  Susan had already went to the Grand Palace when she was here in December so she didn't want to go again.  She gave me very good directions on how to take the train and the water taxi. 

After breakfast (which included BACON!) I headed to the train station.  I walked to the next train station, Siam, so I didn't have to change trains.  It was a nice walk by their skywalk.  I succeeded in buying my ticket for the train and waited in line for the next train.  The ride was very nice; not crowded at all.  I even got to sit down.  I got off the train and headed to the water taxi.  Now, that was a nice ride.  A lot to see on the river.  Temples lining the river and a lot of beautiful 5 Star Hotels.  I was tempted to get off at Chinatown, but I didn't.  I did get off at the wrong stop, but it worked in my favor because I got to see some pretty neat things and talk to nice people. 

I got off the water taxi at the station for the Reclining Buddah instead of the Grand Palace.  But the Reclining Buddah was amazing!  Check FB later for pictures.  It is huge and gold.  I walked around that Wat for a while and looked at some pretty neat stuff.  Once I left the reclining Buddah I took a tuk-tuk (not sure how to describe this; it's like a taxi but not a car) to the Grand Palace. 

Wow!  Huge and beautiful.  Lots of Buddhas, and intricately decorated.  The Emerald Buddha is the main attraction and I must say that there is no reason it shouldn't be.  It is amazing!  Tiny, but beautiful.  It sits upon a very high throne which is surrounded by gold and flowers.  The Emerald Buddha is made of jade (weird) and the king is the only one allowed to touch it.  It has 3 outfits; one for each season (summer, winter, and rainy) and the king changes the outfit.  I walked around the Palace and took tons of pictures of the statues of the Buddhas and the dragons and monkeys.    The grounds were beautiful as well.  I saw some very old bonsai trees.  I tried to take in all the sights, but there was something different to look at from each angle.  A lot of statues and thrones.  After walking around for a bit I headed back to the hotel.  I decided to take a taxi instead of the train.  This was fine.  It was more than the train and water taxi, but not much (maybe 50 Bat).  It was just easier than trying to find the water taxi station by myself. 

I got back to the hotel and Susan was waiting for me.  She had planned our evening.  Tonight we are going to Chinatown, to a Wat (oh, that's a Buddhist Temple), and then to the night market.  It should be fun. 

I will write more later and post pictures on FB when I get home.

Conversion???

After the girls finished the math EMSA and before break I was in 3/1 trying to keep them occupied and under control.  We were talking about the test and then I just let them talk.  Here's what happened.

Rauda - "Miss you said" followed by a whole bunch of words that I didn't understand in Arabic.
Me - "Wow!  I didn't know my Arabic was that good!"
Rauda - "No, Miss you said" the string of Arabic again.
Fatima - "Gooley (say) Miss"
Me - "Oh, Rauda you want me to SAY that?!"
Rauda - "Yes, gooley"
Me - "OK say it again"
Rauda - Arabic sentence???????
Me - "Too fast go slow"
Rauda - Arabic slowly!!!!!
Me - Whatever Rauda said I said although I had no idea what I was saying.

Look of shock on the rest of the girls' faces and a few gasps!  Oh no, what did Rauda just make me say.  She's not the type of student to make me say something bad, actually none of them are, so why the response.

Ashwaq - "Miss you Muslim" or Arabic word for Christian that I don't know?
Me - "I am Christian"

More gasps and a lot of yelling at Rauda in Arabic.  Yikes.  What happened?

Me - "What did I say?"
Ashwaq - "She make you say something for Muslims Allah put her in fire!"
Me - "No, Allah not put her in fire."  I probably should not have said that because I don't know what the Qu'ran teaches, but I didn't want Rauda to think that Allah was going to put her in the fire.
Moza - "She is small, not know." 
Ashwaq - "No she say so Allah not put her in fire."
Me - "What?"
Ashwaq - "She say for you be Muslim so Allah not put her in fire."
Me - "Oh, she wants me to be Muslim so Allah won't put her in the fire?"
Ashwaq - "Yes!"
Me - "OK, but I am a Christian and I am happy to be a Christian."

So, Rauda wants me to be a Muslim so she doesn't go to the fire.  I have to give Rauda some credit here; she has a lot of courage to talk to her teacher, even if it is in Arabic, about becoming a Muslim. 

Now, I have to go study Arabic so I can learn more words and be able to understand the next time someone trys to convert me to Islam!  I have a lot of work to do:)

Testing

OK for those of you teachers out there that are reading this, forget everything you know about standardized testing in the States.  This is nothing like what I'm used to in NC.  Well, other than the fact that the test is ridiculously hard and not appropriate for students who are just learning English.

The science portion was Thursday.  I don't know much about this because as soon as the test was delivered I was kicked out of the room.  No problem, I went to the LT room and got my planning done!  Yeah!  What I did hear, was that it was extremely hard. The girls had to write about would happen in certain experiments.  Now, that shouldn't be a problem, but keep in mind that this is only their 2nd year learning English.  They just don't have the vocabulary.  Now some people would say that the exam doesn't match the curriculum, but it does.  It's just that the curriculum is wayyyyyy off base.  They are testing exactly what I am supposed to teach; it's just that I can't teach what I'm supposed to due to language issues.  That's really all I know about the science part.

Arabic was on Sunday and because I don't know Arabic I was allowed to stay in the room and administer the test.  The first issue arose when I had to pass out the test books.  Yes, I could read the names on the books, but it was taking forever.  So I got help.  Good!  That was not the time for me to be practicing my Arabic reading skills.  Once the girls got their book there was a lot of talking and a lot of questions.  The girls kept talking to each other, even during the test.  Many teachers walked in during the test and began talking to them and asking them how they were doing.  The girls would turn around and look at the student's paper behind them.  The girls were even walking around the classroom.  Now, I tried to stop all of this of course but you know the issues I'm having with them listening to me.  There was absolutely nothing I could do about the other teachers coming in and talking to them either.  One of the biggest problems occured when they were given pens.  Yes, pens!  There was a writing portion to the Arabic test and they had to write in pen.  Pencil is changeable and the administration was afraid that someone (the person grading the exam) would change the answer.  So pens it was.  Well, give a girl a pen and what do you expect.  You expect her to use it.  The only thing is you don't want her to use pen on a standardized test because it ruins the answer sheet.  Well, they were told to only use the pen on the writing part (someone translated for me), but many girls used it to fill in the bubbles!!  I know!  Horrifying!  What could I do?!  I told the principal, but I don't think she can do anything.  I don't think they have extra answer sheets laying around.  Who knows what the Arabic scores for 3/1 will look like now.  Then there's the fact that because I was adminstering an Arabic test I miraculously transformed into an Arabic teacher!  I can not count how many times I heard "abla" followed by something in Arabic, or pointing to the Arabic page and asking "shoo" (what).  OK I will say that I tried to read it, but there were no vowel marks so my reading was not accurate at all, and even if I could read it I couldn't understand what I read.  I would repsond with اقراي (iqraee - read) and اكتبي (iktabee - write).  There wasn't much help that I could offer them.

English was today.  Again I was ushered out of the room as soon as the test arrived.  I did get more information from my girls though.  A lot of girls in 3/2 were in tears.  My high girls were the ones that were crying.  It was too hard for them.  They didn't know the words.  That's what I heard a lot of; I could read, but I didn't know what the words were.  Just as I figured.  If it was too hard for my girls that are reading on a H/I level, imagine what it was like for those that can't read at all.  They also had to write, but they said that the writing was easy.  Who knows for sure though. 

I was able to sympathize today because I feel the same way in Arabic.  I had to ask Lara for help today becuase I needed to answer the questions relating to the paragraph that I read, but I couldn't figure out the words.  How can I (or they) answer a question if we can't figure out the words in the question to know what the question is asking?  Help me with that one!

Tomorrow is math.  Maybe that will be better!

العربية (al a'arabeah - Arabic)

Well, that should be all I have to say!  OK I'll go into a little more detail.

It is so frustrating and I'm not sure if I will ever get this language.  I thought I was doing well.  I mean, I can read (as long as the vowel marks are there, or I already know the word) and write (albeit quite slowly and you really have to stretch out the sounds for me to spell correctly), but hey I was making progress.  Right?!  Yes, I was.  So, what's the problem?  Speaking and listening.  And I thought those 2 were supposed to be the easiest and develop the first. 

I started my new Arabic class this week.  She's very nice and she is giving me new material; which is good.  She has never taught someone Arabic before so she is learning as well.  Well, she is a 2nd grade teacher so she teaches in Arabic and she teaches Arabic, but to native Arabic speakers.  She is using a lot of the strategies that she uses in class with me.  I guess that's a good thing.  Anyway, I told her that I wanted to work on conversation so she tried.  It was rather funny.  I say funny because I couldn't understand what she was saying so I just stared at her or tried to answer and my answers didn't match the questions she was asking.  So she translated, but I still couldn't answer because I didn't know how to say what I wanted to say in Arabic.  So there goes conversation.  I just don't know enough.  I need more words, especially verbs.  Here's the few that she's taught me so far:

لعب - la'iba - he played (to make all past tense verbs feminine just add ت /t/ at the end, easy enough)
قال - quala - he said
ضحك - dauheka - he laughed
قدم - quaddama - he presented
أخذ - akhtha - he took

So those are the past tense verbs that I read about on Thursday.  It was a nice little story about a boy and girl playing a pretend game, like having a tea party.  There were more from today's lesson, but as of right now I can't remember them.  I know 'make' was one of them, but what is it in Arabic?  Who knows?  Hopefully I'll learn it by Monday. 

In order to make the verbs present tense you need to add ي (ya) at the beginning for masculine and ت (ta) for feminine.  Should be easy enough, right?  Sounds easy but in reality it's a bit more difficult. I guess it's difficult hearing them and speaking them.  She is making me do a lot of reading and then asking me to identify the verbs.  I am trying to follow the same rules that I just explained and locate them in the text, but it's difficult.  Don't even get me started on what if it's I..., you..., we..., they... and what if you start with a noun instead of a verb (which they don't like to do, but they do every now and again).  After I read she asks comprehension questions, but it's difficult to answer them when I don't understand what I read!  She helps, she does.  After I read one paragraph today she explained it and had me summarize in Arabic.  Good, but then I had to read the other paragraph and all  my mental energy was going into sounding out those weird Arabic words and I forgot what the first paragraph was about.  I should mention that what I am reading is on a 1st and/or 2nd grade level so it's not difficult, but again I just don't know the words.  Then there's the fact that she ends with conversation, or I should say attempts to end with conversation, because it really isn't a conversation when I have no idea what she's saying, or how to respond.

So to sum up; I need to learn more Arabic words! 

Now you know Arabic verbs!  Or as much about Arabic verbs as I do!  Which isn't all that much!  Amy, you should take this information to work and show them what you know!!!

Camel Race

I wanted to write this title in Arabic, but I couldn't figure out if 'race' would come before or after 'camel'.  I think it would probably come before because they like to start with verbs, but I'm not sure if 'race' here is a verb or a noun.  Grammar!!!  Even in English it's confusing:) 
So it is either سباق جمل sibaq jamel, or switch the words to get jamel sibaq.  I think it's pretty neat that camel in English rhymes with the Arabic words for camel 'jamel'.  Makes it easy to remember.  In fact, that was one of the first words that I learned in Arabic.

I had looked for information regarding the races earlier and this was what I discovered:

1. Thursday and Friday mornings
2. December to March
3. On the Al Ain - Dubai Road
4. The camels have to cross the road to get to the race track

Not much information, but I knew I needed to go soon as it's the middle of March and they would be ending soon.  So I set my alarm for 6am for a Friday!  Way too early for a day I should be sleeping in, but it's camel races!  Well, I didn't get up at 6, I got up at 7.  No problem since Susan and I weren't planning on leaving until 8.  With my camera and video camera in my purse I went across the hall, got Susan, and we headed towards Dubai.  About 45 minutes into the trip I got a little concerned because we were getting closer to the Outlet Mall and I didn't know what to do.  I mentioned this to Susan and she responded with, keep going since you can't turn around.  She was absolutely right.  I had no choice.  Out in the middle of the desert, and there are no exits on the highway so I have to keep going towards Dubai.  We eventually saw a sign for Dubai Camel Racing Club and decided to follow that.  We took the exit for Lisalai and followed the brown signs and the signs with camel faces on them.  It's really not that well marked, which is odd since camel racing is such a big thing here.  Oh well.  It was interesting driving around and I had to stop a few times to allow the camels to cross the road.  That was fascinating!  Some of the men on the camels even waved at us while we were stopped and taking pictures.



Camels crossing the road

After driving around for a while following the camels and waiting for them to cross the road we found what appeard to be the racetrack.  It only looked like the racetrack because we saw some sort of stand and lights.  It was very empty and I was a bit bummed because I really wanted to see a camel race.  There was one other car parked on the side of the road so we decided to park and get out.  I asked the other family that was there if they had seen anything and they told me that there wasn't a race:( but they were practicing and another group of camels was coming.  So, we waited and saw them practice.  It was very interesting!  We were standing right beside the track.  Way close!  I definitely wouldn't want to be standing there if there were an actual race because the amount of sand that just a few trotting camles made was quite a lot.  Plus the road is really for the camel owners to follow their camels and yell at them to scare them into going faster, so if there were a race, I definitely would have been sitting in the stands.  The racetrack is complete sand and the camels trotted by and some of the men waved at us.  Just a very interesting site!  Now, if I would have actually seen a race I would have seen miniature robotic jockeys on the camels.  They used to have 6 or 7 year old boys be the jockeys, but the sheikh outlawed that so now they use these very ridiculous looking robot things that swing plastic whips.  That would have been a site!  That was one of the main reasons I wanted to see a race.  Maybe next year when my parents are here we'll get up early Thursday or Friday and head towards Dubai and see what we see! 



School this week was pretty interesting.  I did geometry in math, and for those of you that know me I do not like geometry at all.  For 2D shapes I took the girls outside and gave them string and had them make the shapes.  I will say that they did a good job and they really had fun.  My 3/1 class is full of little hams!  They were really hamming it up while I was taking pictures!  Cute!  I will not say that I learned the Arabic words for the shapes, but they were given to me and we wrote them on our anchor chart so the girls would know them in English and Arabic.  But, most of the shapes start with 'meem' which is their letter m.  This is what I remember:

مثلث - moothalith - triangle; three is thalatha so that's pretty neat that triangle has thalath in it

مربع - mooraba'a - square; a'arba is four

مسدس - moosadis - heaxgon; sadis is not six sitta is six

I also did 3D shapes, and this is where I have the hard time.  I just can't see all the faces or edges even with the model in front of me.  And, it doesn't matter how many times I teach it I still don't remember.  So, I had to look up the number of faces, edges, and vertices for the shapes because Wendy is not easily accessible this year.  We also made an anchor chart for the 3D shapes with English and Arabic, although the girls didn't know the Arabic words I had to ask Lara and Monira for help.  I am trying to link the math and science to their language and at least this way they can go home and talk about it with their parents who don't speak a lot of English.  I only remember 2 of the 3D shapes:

أسطوانة - issttawahnah (although this is showing asttawahnah, but Lara and Monira pronounced it with the /i/ sound; one reason I don't really trust the Internet for translation) - cylinder; I like this word!!

مكعب - maka'ab - cube

To help them learn the number of faces, edges, and vertices I had them make the shapes with marshmallows and toothpicks.  I made the shapes first and I was quite proud of myself!  I had never actually made them before and I was able to look at the model and make it!  Amazing!  The girls loved this activity!  They did a good job too:)  I took lots of cute pictures this week.  You'll just have to wait to see them.

In science we were working with magnets.  Magnet experiments; thanks Amy!  They experimented to see how many paperclips their magent could pick up, how many pages it would work through in their book, and how close the paperclip had to be to the magnet before it would be attracted to the magnet.  They learned that not all magnets are the same, and not all metal objects are attracted to magnets.  They really liked moving the paperclip through their paper with the magnet.  Fun times! 

I went to Alliance Francaise for my introductory Arabic lesson on Monday.  I talked to the teacher and showed her what I had been doing and read a little to her and she said that I was almost at a level 4!  Which is a great thing, but the class was only level 2 and she couldn't offer private tutoring because her schedule was full.  So I've been looking and it's hard.  I can't belive it is so difficult to find someone to teach me Arabic in an Arabic speaking country.  There should be classes and tutors everywhere.  Well, there are classes, just not what I need.  I put an ad in a couple of online papers and we'll see.  I found one online school that I may have to try if nothing else works. 

Tomorrow is lesson planning; although it will be pretty easy since all I have to do is EMSA prep, mapping, and grading. 

Next week - more EMSA prep. I found out today that the EMSA starts on Thursday! How silly! Can't they wait until Sunday to start? No. Science is Thursday; and I just found out that the science test is based on grade 2 objectives not grade 3. So, guess what I'll be teaching this week? Yep, grade 2 science objectives. Sunday is Arabic. Monday is English. Tuesday is Math. Wednesday is make up day. I'm not sure what my schedule will be like these days. Maybe it will be a lot of free time?!

Time for bed!  Goodnight:)

اليوم السبت (ilyoom asabt - Today is Saturday)

ذهبت الى المكتبة و بوادي مول و مدرسة اليوم
thahabtoo ila almaktaba wa Bawadi Mall wa madrasa ilyoom - I went to the book shop, and Bawadi Mall, and school today.

 Maybe one day I'll be able to do an entire post in Arabic!  Well, that is my goal, maybe by next August.  I am sure I could do more, but it wouldn't necessarily be anything that actually happened this week.

Another pretty quiet week.  I had some things to write about, but I can't remember all of them now.  So I'll just write what I can remember.

School
Lots of expectations.  I now have to make a portfolio for each of my 50 students.  No problem, other than my faculty head wants us to use these super huge binders that ADEC gave us.  I have nowhere to put 50 huge binders.  Isn't the focus of a portfolio supposed to be what is inside the portfolio,  not the actual portfolio?  That's what I'm thinking, but not Andrea.  So as of right now, I am using two expandable files; one for each class.  They are easily stored in the filing cabinet that I share with Elizabeth.  I have to do running records.  OK that really shouldn't be a big deal, but there isn't time.  Plus the fact that my students, especially 3/1, have a very hard time working independently and quietly enough for me to listen to a student to read.  It took me 40 minutes (1 period) to do 4.  Now these aren't super long books; I'm talking level C.  It's not that it takes them that long to read, it's that I had to keep telling the class to be quiet.  A lot of wasted time.  RtI.  Yes, we're starting a scaled down version of RtI (Response to Intervention/Instruction).  Yes, this is a good thing, but it's just another thing added to my already full plate.  ADEC isn't calling for this addition; it's Andrea.  I don't think she understands what we have to deal with on a daily basis.  Mapping.  I have to map (code each student based on the curriculum outcomes) all 50 of my students.  There are 11 pages of curriculum outcomes that have to be mapped.  11 pages for 50 students.  That's a lot of work.  I was told that I wouldn't have to do it for the first trimester, but guess who changed her mind!  You are right, Andrea.  So, now I have to go back and do the first trimester.  But, Esis isn't showing me what I marked for each student.  I can't do trimester 2, until I do trimester 1 so I can correctly show their growth.  All of these are very good things, they all help teachers to know what their students are learning, to show growth, and to help move students forward, but hey it's a lot all at once.  Also knowing that I am dealing with limited resources, language issues, lack of time, and behavior issues all on a daily basis.  I just want to go home and sleep, not do all of this other stuff.  It will get done, but I just needed to vent.

Testing.  I am sick of test prep.  One of the main reasons I left NC was due to the focus on testing.  I guess I just can't get away from it.  I was given a copy of the test that we gave in Sept and told to use that to teach them how to take a test and to review!  Who knows what March's EMSA will look like, but I just hope they change the questions.  Or maybe I shouldn't hope that because maybe my students would do pretty good on it.  Oh, who am I kidding, even if they did reuse the same test most of my students wouldn't remember doing the review and a majority of them wouldn't remember the answer.  The math and science portions shouldn't be that bad because they are in English and Arabic.  Other than the fact that I have to teach the content in English.  They just aren't getting a deep understanding of the concepts.  It's hard when they don't have the language to understand.  One huge reason there needs to be both an Arabic and English teacher in both rooms.

The girls did their first science experiment last week.  They were trying to find out which dissolved faster; salt or sugar and if the temperature of the water made any difference.  I should be very pleased because they got the concept; sugar dissolves faster than salt, and they didn't make a huge mess.  But, there was lots of fighting.  Fighting over silly, ok stupid, stuff.  I kept hearing over and over

انا ملح - ana milh - I am salt

انا سكر - ana sukar - I am sugar
انا ماء حار - ana ma'a har - I am hot water
انا ماء بارد - ana ma'a barid - I am cold water
 
For some reason they wouldn't say it in English, even to me.  Their Arabic doesn't even make sense, unless they were using broken Arabic so I could understand them.  Hey, that's a thought!  Anyway.  There were 4 cups; 2 for salt and 2 for sugar.  There are 4 girls at a table.  I thought there wouldn't be any issues because each girl would get a cup, and be able to put either salt or sugar and hot or cold water in it.  It's not like I was really asking them to work together.  They just had to compare results.  Nope, they had to fight over what they got to put in their cup.  It took us 2 periods (80 minutes) to do this science experiement.  A huge headache.  But, I guess it was worth it.  And, it was their first experiement.  I had done them before, but this was the first time they actually got to carry one out.  I will be trying again!  Am I crazy?  Probably, but who knows they may be better.  We'll be doing magnetism and mass this week. 
 
The girls have been making me read their names in Arabic.  Their names are posted on the door and as they are lined up ready to leave they ask me to find their name and read it.  Read all 5 names of their name.  It's quite difficult because there are no vowel marks.  I know their first name and their second name (their father's name), but other than that it's just a guessing game.  They love this game though!  They have also started writing me notes in Arabic.  One girl wrote
 
انا احبج وايديا سارة انت قمر - ana oohebij (spoken word, she shouldn't have written it this way) wa yahdeyah Sara ante qemar - I love you (something) Sara, you are the moon!  Very sweet!  She made me read it as well.  I did a fairly decent job reading, other than I got caught up on oohebij because when writing "I love you" it should be ooheebokey (احبك).  That's another one of the major difficulties with this language; there is a spoken language and a written language.  I guess that's true of English as well.  I could make out most of it other than the middle word.  I guess that's the comparison.  I can't remember.   But, it was very sweet of her to write that note.  I will save that.  Maybe she'll be a poet one day!
 
Arabic
 
I guess you could say I'm practicing!  The girls are making me practice.  I am trying to work at home as well.  It's just review.  I am really not learning anything new.  I will be going to class on Monday.  We'll see if it's right for me.  I think I will be too advanced for level 2, but who knows. 
 
Still trying to patch things up wtih Najwa.  Last I heard, 2 weeks ago, she had accpeted my apology.  Nothing since then.  Waiting, praying, and hoping things will be ok.
 
I got clothes!  Mom, Amy, and Ann went shopping for me and bought me a lot of new clothes!  I also had did some online shopping.  I can't wait to wear my new outfits!
 
That's really all I can remember, plus it's after 11pm and I'm tired.  It's a school day tomorrow.  Time for bed.