"Do you want an abaya?" Lara came into the LT room this afternoon asking me this exact question. I hadn't really planned on getting one, but since the Emirati teachers were going abaya shopping I decided to go as well. It would be a nice opportunity to get out of school and spend time with the Emirati teachers. So, Ashley and I got into Lara's car and went to Al Yahar (about 20 minutes from school towards Abu Dhabi).
Abaya shopping with Emirati's is a process. First of all there were 8 of us in one tiny little abaya shop with 2 Arabic speaking men. It's a good thing 6 out of the 8 of us are able to speak Arabic. Ashley and I couldn't do much. We filled the tiny store and browsed the selection of abayas. They are beautiful! Really. Not just black. Most of the abays are black in the front with color on the sleeves and down the arms. There were a few with color on the front. They are quite embellished as well. Lots of sparkles! They seem to like that here. There is a huge selection and they can pretty much make whatever you want.
After you find the abaya that you want you try it on. Most likely it won't fit, but you could be lucky. Of course mine didn't fit, but that's no problem as they will make it fit. The abaya that I picked out had purple flowers with gems on the sleeves and it was originally priced 600dhs. I didn't want the gems so the price went down to 550. I also wanted blue not purple flowers. That wasn't a problem. The problem was the price. Moza did a great job of haggling with the owner and got the price down to 350dhs. I couldn't really understand what they were saying other than the price. After we agreed on the price I had to get measured. Moza (not the same one that did the haggling) measured my height/length and the length of my arm. Turns out I am proportionate! 66 (I am assuming inches here) from my shoulder to ankle and 33 from my shoulder to wrist. Exactly as it's supposed to be! Anyway back to the abaya. There was a debate over who was going to measure the width of my shoulders and Khowla tried, but she couldn't do it right. I eventually said it wasn't a problem for the man to do it. They don't like men touching them so that's why Khowla tried. I thanked her, but I think we would have been there forever if I didn't let the man measure. It should be ready for pickup in 2 weeks. I will wear this abaya to school since it was bought for me by Moza. What a nice gift! Not sure what I'll do with it when I come home, but it'll be a nice souvenior!!
School has been going ok. I have been printing a lot of stuff to laminate; center activities, file folder games, and books that I scanned last year. It's been boring, but I've had stuff to do at least for a few hours each day. Today I found out that I will be teaching a grade 3 class and a grade 4 class (not a combination 3/4 class). It will be challenging have 2 grade levels, but I know the 3rd grade curriculum and I like the age of 3rd graders so that will be nice. I wanted 4th grade because for the most part I liked my 3rd grade students and I wanted to move up with them. I know them, their strengths, and their weaknesses and they know me and what to expect from me so it should be easy. I just hope I don't get a lot of students from 3/1!!!! I will also have my own classroom! I am so super excited about that! It will make teaching a whole lot easier. I won't have to worry about taking my supplies from one classroom to another, changing desks everyday, things being taken off the wall, markers and erasers going missing, the carpet being moved, sharing wall space... it will be so nice! So, now I can get excited about coming back and teaching in Aug.
Tomorrow we're going to Dubai. I don't think I'll be buying anything, but it will just be nice to not have to go to school. We don't even have to go and sign in; we can leave right from Hili whenever we want to. That's nice because Hili is on the way to Dubai and the school is on the way to Abu Dhabi (totally opposite directions) and it would have been quite silly to drive to the school and then to Dubai.
Just 3 more weeks until I leave for Dublin and 24 more days until I arrive in MI!!
100 degrees at 7:30
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