Weekend

What a wonderful weekend at the exact moment that I needed it!  Kisha came from Abu Dhabi to spend the weekend with me and Cassie.  It was great! 

We went to church on Friday morning then out to lunch at one of our favorite restaurants.  No, not the Family Restaurant.  We went to Corriander.  It's a wonderful Indian restaurant where all the food tastes so fresh.  The service is fantastic and the food is prepared right when you order it.  The spices are wonderful.  I love the curry.  Not too spicy though, just a little bit!  Great lunch!  Then we did some shopping at Bawadi Mall (our favorite mall).  I got some Christmas presents!  Be on the lookout for some handmade gifts from Pakistan.

We then headed up the mountain and since I had bought a new camera I could take some pictures.  They didn't turn out all that good because it was dark, but have a look anyway.  I love it up there!  It is so beautiful and peaceful.  Well, it wasn't all that peaceful on a Friday night, but it was still beautiful.  Nothing here is peaceful on a Friday night.  I didn't have coffee like I wanted to, but it was still nice to go back up.  I will have to take a trip in the daylight. 

top of Jebel Hafeet where the coffee shop is

view from the middle, valley in the middle and city beyond

After our trip up the mountain we came home and just hung out in the apartment.  We had some girl talk time!  It was very nice.

Saturday we had a nice breakfast and then went to the camel market.  We had to take Kisha there; it's just something that you have to experience when in Al Ain.  We saw baby camels that were only 1-3 days old.  Very cute.  When they are sleeping they look like they are dead.  We saw a few that were sleeping and I thought they were dead until a guy told us they were sleeping.  

Now it is time to study Arabic:( and get ready for the week:(  Where does the weekend go??  Next week at this time I will be getting ready for my trip to Jordan.  Well, not really at this time since it's only Saturday and I don't leave until Monday, but it will be a lot closer. 

Arabic class

I am not quite sure how to explain my frustration.  If you have ever taken a foreign language and have struggled making certain sounds, you know how I am feeling.  It's frustrating, difficult, and very overwhelming. 

I had gone into tonight's lesson feeling very confident and prepared.  I had studied and even memorized 10 words.  I could read them in Arabic and translate them to English and read them in English and translate to Arabic.  I was enjoying writing the letters and I could even identify some letters in words!  I was ready to show her what I knew.

Unfortunately that is not how the lesson went.  I knew that it was going to be difficult right from the beginning when I saw on the top of the page "letters with no Engish equivalence."  Oh no here we go again.  That brought back memories of 2 weeks ago when I attempted the /ha/.  Supposedly my /ha/ is getting better, but I still don't hear it.  Anyway, I glanced down the list of the letters we were learning this week and saw /s/, /sh/, /s/ (yeah, exactly why 2 /s/'s?), and /d/.  I thought I had learned /d/ last week.  I had only learned one /d/.  There are 2 and they are slightly different, just like the 2 /s/'s.  Sound hard?  I wish you could hear the letters, maybe then you could help me because I don't hear the difference in the /s/.  I can hear it in the /d/.  One is more like the regular /d/ sound and the other is more like /daugh/ like in daughter.  Easy enough by itself, but try combining that sound with an e.  /daughe/????  Try saying that one.

I was so frustrated and overwhelmed that I started crying after she spent several minutes trying to get me to hear the difference and say the sounds.  I just couldn't do it.  They all sounded the same and incorrect when I said them.  The more frustrated I got the less I wanted to participate.  I just wanted to go home and quit.  It became very difficult to continue the lesson.  I even had trouble with the letters that I knew.  I couldn't even find the /b/ (one of the easiest letters and one that I learned in the first lesson) in words and I couldn't say words that had letters in them that I knew.  All the letters were becoming jumbled, which isn't too difficult in the first place since they are all smushed together and change shape based on their position in the word. 

Now that I know all the letters in my name, she showed me how to write it, but I wasn't all that impressed.  I know she was trying to cheer me up, but I didn't care.  She is very kind and encouraging so I shouldn't be getting upset because she really isn't putting any pressure on me.  She is very patient and wants me to do good.  She kept telling me that I need to be proud of myself because I am reading and my /ha/ is better, and I can do the /r/ (rolling r's like in French and Spanish), and /kh/ very well while others are still struggling with those sounds.  She made a point of making me read the word patience, in Arabic of course.  Learning takes patience and practice.  It's pretty bad that on the 5th lesson my instructor can tell that I am a perfectionist and sensitive. 

Hopefully things will get better.

Birthday in the UAE

Today is my birthday and although it is different not being with friends in NC, or family, I have made friends here who are helping to make this day special for me!

The girls knew it was my birthday today and they have been asking me about it for the past week.  I'm actually glad it's over with so they won't ask me anymore.  "Happy birthday today, Miss?"  Everyday for a week. 

Oh the gifts!  They are so different from gifts that I have gotten from students in the past.  I got a lot of jewelry!  And those of you who really know me know that I don't do a lot of jewelry.  I got a necklace with a big flower on it (too big for my taste), one with black and red beads (that one is kind of nice but very heavy), and a diamond necklace and earrings (that's more my style:).  It's very nice, I was actually looking at something similar in the store and thought about buying it.  It's very simple yet elegant.  I love it and I can't believe that it came from a student.  I also got some perfume (Chanel), a watch (diamond studded, but I don't know if they're real diamonds or not) and a huge heart ring.  I will definitely be wearing all the jewelry so the kids see that I have it on, but some of it is just not for me.  It's the thought that counts and I was truly surprised at the gifts.  I also got some more traditional gifts; things that I would have gotten from students back home.  I got a few hand made cards!  Those are precious:)  I got a box full of candy (I don't need it, but it's chocoloate:), some stickers, and a liter of Pepsi.  Yes, a liter of Pepsi.  OK that one is weird, but I'll put it in the fridge and drink it anyway.

So that being said, I got all the gifts and then succeeded in making 3 girls cry today.  Yeah not the best birthday present, but the afternoon was rough.  I am sick of it.  I am tired of them listening when they want to and doing whatever they want to.  So I decided to make the ones that weren't listening go back and sit at their table for the rest of the day.  They also got no stickers.  That's what made them cry.  I know 2 of them will be better tomorrow because they are usually very good students, but the third one I'm not sure.  I had 10 girls out of 26 in my 3/1 class that were listening all day and not yelling at each other.  Many of the girls that weren't listening said "I sorry, Miss", over and over  but I wasn't taking it today.  They constantly tell me sorry, but they continue in their misbehavior.  Maybe things will be different tomorrow.

So that's my birthday.  I talked to family members yesterday and even this morning, which was still last night in the US.  It was kind of interesting to talk to Amy on my birthday, but it wasn't my birthday yet.  I get to celebrate my birthday for 32 hours!  How many people can say that?

Marriage Proposal (kinda - sorta - maybe??)

The music teacher found out that I am single and is working on setting me up.  She has given me information about 3 guys that teach with her husband.  I "know" one of them as he was at the InterCon with me.  He is way too young so that brings the number down to 2. 

Thursday afternoon she called me, during school mind you (that doesn't matter here at all).  I had my planning period so I answered the phone.  She told me that her husband and his friend (translate guy #3) were going to be here in 5 minutes.  At least school would be over then!  She asked if I could stay.  Well, she didn't really ask she kind of just told me not to go anywhere.  What could it hurt meeting this guy?  So I stayed, my taxi driver was late anyway so that wasn't a problem.  I met the music teacher's (I can't remember her name) husband and friend in the parking lot and we were chatting.  Well the husband said that we could finish our conversation at his house!  I tried to get out of it by saying that I had plans (I did; Susan, Cassie, and I have made it a plan to go out every Thursday) and I had to get home, and my taxi driver was already there.  She convinced me to come saying that it would be very quick and she would get me back in time for my plans.  So, being the nice person that I am and not wanting to hurt anyone, I agreed.  I told Dhammika (my taxi driver) that I would not need his services this afternoon as I was going home with the music teacher.  I felt really bad because he could have been out making some money instead of sitting in the school parking lot waitng for me, so I gave him 10dhs.  That's 1/2 my regular fare.  Then I got in the car with the music teacher and headed to her place.

When we go to her place she gave me some wonderful juice and we chatted until her husband and Mohammed arrived.  When Mohammed arrived we talked a bit about our jobs, how long we've been here (he's been here for 11 years), and our families.  It was a really pleasant conversation, even though there was a bit of a language issue.  His English isn't all that good, and you know about my Arabic, so we had to rely on the music teacher's husband.  Not too big of a problem.  We had been talking for about 15 minutes when he asked if I married him would I go to Egypt with him!!!  Oh my gosh!  After 15 minutes we're already talking about being married!  I told him that I believe that a husband and a wife need to be together wherever that is.  He didn't really like that answer and wanted a specific.  But, I don't know if I'm going to marry him!  So how can I be specific?!  He then asked what I thought about marrying him since he is a Muslim.  I tried to explain that I'm a Christian and I should marry another Christian.  Plus there are huge differences in our faith.  I asked him what he thought about being with a Christian.  He replied that some Christians are good and some are bad.  True, but what does that mean about marrying outside of your religion??  Evidently he's open to it since he kept talking about marriage!!  As he was leaving he told me that I am very kind.  I said thank you.  The music teacher's husband told me that I need to tell him that he's kind as well.  I told him and Mohammed that I couldn't do that since I have only known him for 1/2 an hour.  He seemed like a nice guy, but that's too soon.  Anyone can be kind for 1/2 an hour!  So he left and I had a nice conversation with the music teacher and her husband where I told them that I need to take things shway, shway (slowly; a very common expression here, unless of course you're talking about marrying an Egyptian in which case things are anything but shway shway:).  They took me home and I still had time to get ready for my birthday night out with Cassie and Susan.

We went to one of our favorite restaurants; The Family Restaurant.  We have to eat upstairs in the woman and family room, but it's mafi mushkala (no problem; another very common expression everything is mafi mushkala or inshallah - God willing - here).  The food is delicious.  It's authentic Arabic and they serve a ton of food.  You get chicken, rice, hummus, soup, salad, and bread all for 20dhs.  And it is to die for.  The hummus is sooooo smooth and the chicken is tender and flavorful!  What a find!! 

After dinner I wanted to go up the mountain (Jebel Hafeet) and have coffee and shisha.  So we took a taxi up the mountain.  It was a very long and winding road up the mountain and he was going shway shway, but not all drivers go shway shway as we saw a lot of speeding up the mountain.  Anyway the views are fabulous.  I don't have pictures because I need a new camera and it was dark so they wouldn't have shown up anyway.  To look out and see the whole city was amazing!  Everything looked so sparkly.  The rock formations were beautiful as well.  It's amazing to see all the different formations in the mountain.  We arrived at the top and were greeted by fall weather!!  It was wonderful stepping out of the cab into the cool mountain air.  I almost needed a sweater!  What a difference from the city below.  The only things that were missing were the fall colors and the sound of leaves crackling beneath our feet.  No coffee and shisha though.  The coffee shop on the top of the mountain is a little dumpy place where you pay 15dhs for coffee from a Nescafe machine.  I was not going to do that.   And there was no shisha at all.  So we just enjoyed the view for a while and headed back down the mountain.  From what I understand the good coffee and shisha are at the hotel.  So I will be taking another trip up the mountain to stop at the hotel for my coffee and shisha.  Hopefully I'll have my camera by then.  OK change that to I'll definitely have my camera by then because I have to get one before I go to Jordan.

Susan and I spent a couple of hours tonight planning our trip and I can't wait!  There are so many interesting things to see and do there.  We are going to go to the Dead Sea!  Wow!  I can't believe it.  It's 2 weeks away and I can't wait!

Birthday Box!

I got a package today!!  Well actually I got it yesterday, but I went to pick it up today.  I got birthday presents from my family and items that I can't find here.  Oh yeah, I got bacon as well!!  Can't wait to cook that on Sat. morning!  I got a ton of Chapstick.  That brand isn't available here.  The chapstick they have comes in a container that looks like a glue stick.  It's ok, but I really like the Chapstick brand.  So now I have a lot that will hopefully last me until I go home in July.  I got Cheez-it's!  Those are my favorite crackers and they aren't here either.  I also got some plain Goldfish!  I love those crackers, but believe it or not they have them at Lu-Lu's here.  I couldn't find the plain ones at Walmart in NC, but they're in the UAE.   Go figure!  I can never have enough of those.  I can cook now because I got measuring cups with customary units on them instead of fluid ounces or something else.  I had no idea how to use them.  No worries now!  I got 2 beautiful pictures of MI scenery that I can't wait to hang up.  They will definitely help make this apartment look and feel like home.  I got all the necessary ingredients (including the pan) to make my own birthday cake!  I am pretty certain that Lexi made me a sock puppet, but I guess it could have been anyone!!!  I can't wait to use it when I'm talking to her!  It will be difficult and different not celebrating my birthday at home, but I have a wonderful family that is helping to make this birthday special for me!  Thank you for everything:)  I love you all!!!

Arabic lessons.  Hard.  That's all that needs to be said.  She's really drilling us on the sounds that aren't in English.  I guess that's necessary since I don't know how to say them, but I can't say them correctly.  She says with practice it'll come.  Hopefully.  Writing is very hard.  It's hard to go from right to left.  I think that's the biggest part.  I'm pretty sure I could write the letters/sounds if I could go from left to right but that's not allowed since you read from right to left and the letters join.  I spent a lot of time on one little wavy symbol above the /Alif/ (a).  She also had us reading words (or made up words) today.  That is hard as well because all the letters/sounds run together so it's hard to tell where one stops and a new one starts.  I never really wanted to learn to read and write Arabic.  I just wanted to understand it and maybe speak a little.  But I guess I will.  I will do my homework tomorrow and practice and try to memorize the words that she taught us so I will be prepared for Wednesday's class.  But right now it's time for bed:)

Better day!

Since I write about the times when I'm feeling sad, I figured I should also write about the times when I am feeling good.  Today was a good day!  I prayed for God's peace and for Him to take away my sadness and He did.  He gave me a very positive day at school and at home!  Praise God!  I know I seem to flucuate a lot in my emotions, but I am experiencing a lot and it is quite overwhelming.

School was very good.  The girls are getting better and we were even able to have a little discussion about different types of weather.  Amazing!  We have been working on weather for a couple of weeks and I think they are actually getting it now.  They know sunny, cloudy, windy, and snowy.  The girls tell me "snowy in America, not Emirate."  We are working on stormy, raining, hailing and sandstorm.  For some reason sandstorm seems to be one of the hardest, with hailing being difficult as well.  I would have thought that sandstorm would be easy for them to understand since they probably experience it a lot.  Granted I haven't experienced one since I've been here but I've only been in the desert for 1 month.  Maybe they occur later. 

I am even making some progress with my 3/2 group in math.  I think they are finally understanding place value!  We have only been working on that since school started.  But, place value is a difficult concept to grasp and learning it in a completely new and different language must make it even harder.  We will see what happens tomorrow when I ask them to show me what they know.

After school I did some prep work for school.  I know I'm not supposed to bring it home but we're making a book in science and I wanted to have the pages cut out so all they have to do is color and write.  It makes it a lot easier and faster.  I was also working on my observation logs for the principal.  I have to turn in assessments tomorrow and I was told that my observation checklists and notes would work so I was making sure they were up to date.  After I got all that done Susan and I studied Arabic.  I got a headache!  We were only working for about 1/2 an hour on a couple of letters combined with short and long vowel sounds, but it's hard.  Susan kindly informed me that when I write I write from left to right not right to left.  Wow!  That is hard!  It is so natural to write left to right.  I had a very difficult time writing the two letters we learned combined with the vowels (the letters themselves were pretty easy) when I tried to write from right to left.  It was much easier going from left to right.  Practice, practice, practice. 

Now it is quarter till 11 and it's time for bed.  I'm up late for a school night, but I wanted to make sure I recorded this day since it was such a complete difference from the last few days.  God is good!  I pray that this state of mind and these feelings continue.

Emotional

I have been feeling quite emotional lately.  Not emotional in a good way, just very sad.  At times I have felt like I could just cry, and I have.  It's been 2 months and it's culture shock I know that, but it still doesn't make it any easier.  I know it's the enormity of the situation as well.  Don't worry Mom, it's all normal and I will get over this.

I just don't have a break.  Everything I do, think about, or talk about is school related.  After talking to a very good friend at home I believe that is what is causing the sadness.  I come home from work and talk to Susan or Cassie about work.  I just don't leave it there.  I know I was told to and everyone says that helps, but it's difficult to leave the work there and even more difficult to leave my thoughts and frustrations there.  I spend my weekends at home getting ready for school and thinking about the lessons and wondering what changes are going to be made and what demands are going to be placed on me.  I need to find things to do that aren't school related at all.  I need a break from thinking about all the pressure and stress.  I need to leave work at work. 

I have signed up for a Bible study which meets on Wed. night so that will help.  I will be able to focus my thoughts on Something and Someone so much more important than teaching in the UAE.  I will also be able to meet more people who aren't teachers and that should help me to talk about other things and think about things other than school all the time. 

The Arabic classes will help as well.  I will have homewok so that will give me something to do and something else to think about.  The classes themselves will be very demanding and require a lot of mental energy, so that will help me not think about school.

I also really miss talking to friends at home.  I think it's because I'm still working on making new friends here.  I had my friends in NC that were always there and I miss that.  I miss them.  I will have to make sure to keep in better touch with them and not just through email. 

A few bright spots of my day.  I talked to a wonderful friend that I haven't talked to since July.  I had a great conversation with Alexa; I got to watch her play and draw and we sang a lot of songs and talked about Halloween!  She can always brighten my day:)  Mason-Man is getting so big!  Thank God for Skype!!  I got my last piece of furniture!  My Victorian chair finally arrived. I love it; it's so different and very comfortable.  I was planning on going to the Al Ain Palace Museum (I have been trying to get there for quite some time), but my chair was being delivered so I had to be here for that. 

I will get over this sadness.  I pray that God will give me His peace and take this sadness away.