There's not much to tell about my holiday in RAK, but I'll try to describe it for you. Fara, Arian (her 11 year old son) and I left Dubai around 1:30 and arrived at Acacia Hotel in RAK around 3:30. We checked into the fully booked hotel, went to our room (which was super tiny) and then went across the street to have some lunch. Our lunch wasn't all that pleasant as we were attacked by flies and cats. The season of the flies is upon the UAE, but this was beyond ridiculous. It was like we were sitting right in the flies' nesting spot. They were all over our food. Disgusting. Then there were the cats. There were two and they almost had a cat fight while we were having lunch. Needless to say we left ASAP! Once we got back to the hotel, Arian and I went to the pool while Fara went to the gym (I didn't bring my gym clothes so I couldn't work out). Arian went swimming, but I just sat on the edge soaking my feet. By this time the sun was beginning to set and the water was cold. After some time Arian convinced me to get in and I swam a few laps anxiously avoiding all the kids who were having a blast with water guns, in and out of the pool. Fara showed up about an hour later and we sat outside for a while before heading back to the pint-sized room to get cleaned up and head to the mall. Because our holiday was during Eid not much was open, just the hotels and malls, so that's what we did.
Tuesday we spent the day at the beach. The Acacia Hotel is part of a group of hotels and although the Acacia is not on the beach one of the their other hotels is and we got free passes to their beach and swimming pool The Bin Majid Hotel was much nicer than the Acacia, but I'm sure it was at least twice as expensive since it had its own private beach. But we got to enjoy the beach without paying the beach resort price! Nice deal. Relaxing on the beach was nice; the water, not so much. It was like someone had dropped all their grass clippings in the gulf. It was gross. Arian and I pretty much stayed as close to the shore as possible until we found this path (I know sounds weird, a path in the middle of the gulf, but that's what it was) that enabled us to venture further out. We spent a good portion of the day at the beach and at the pool before heading back to Acacia to get cleaned up and then make an exciting trip to the mall for dinner.
Prior to checking out on Wednesday we just spent some time by the pool. I enjoyed my time at the beach, but I definitely won't be going back to this hotel. The room was small, no extra towels, crammed breakfast area, no pool towels, and the beds were nearly on the floor. If I end up back in RAK I'll definitely be going somewhere else; most likely paying the money for a beach resort, just not during Eid when everyone hikes up their prices!
95 degrees at 4:30
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Saturday, October 12, 2013
Life at ENS and in a Muslim Country
It's been a few weeks since the changes all took effect and I suppose the chaos has settled down things have gotten a bit back to normal! Things are still really busy, but not like the first week when all the changes went into effect.
Due to all of the changes, I got 4 new students (3 from Vemal and 1 from Kevin), but only 3 have been in my class, one is out of the country for medical reasons and I don't know when he'll return. I'm hoping that he won't (not that his medical issues are bad enough to make him not return, just that he'll go to another school or stay out of the country) because I have heard that he's "bad." That's coming from the students, but they know. They have told me that he "shouts" and "doesn't listen." I don't need another one of those! One of my new students, from Kevin, is a huge behavior problem and was causing complete destruction in his class, so they moved him to my class, is continually disrupting the class. He doesn't stop talking or making noises, he sings, laughs, makes noises, yells, anything to hear himself. Thankfully my boys are pretty mature enough to ignore it. I did have a hard first week with my class adopting his behavior, but I talked to them about it and they have gotten much better. It's still hard, but not like when my class was going crazy because he was. I have just decided that I'm going to send him to the PCO (parent care office) every time he gets out of hand and when my strategies (move his name, separate him from his group, ignoring, take away points, praise, and give points) aren't working. What typically happens when a student gets sent to the PCO is that they call the parents and let them know of the behavior and in extreme cases they demand that the child be sent home. Yes they really do that. But in this case the parents know the school number and are refusing to answer the phone when the PCOs call so nothing can be done. Frustrating. Although thankfully they don't send him back to class until the next period so I do get a break. It is going to be a long year and I have to rely on God's strength and patience to get me through it. The question now is what will happen after we get back from our week break for Eid. Looking forward to that! Just kidding!
Eid Mubarak! Joyous Eid! My holiday officially started Thursday afternoon and I get a week off. I'll be going to Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) on Monday with Fara and Arian, her 11 year old son. I've only ever driven through that emirate and stopped at a beach so it will be nice to spend a few days there and explore the region. Everyone that hears that I'm going to RAK says that I will love it. They say that it's completely different from anywhere else in the UAE and it's very quaint. We'll see. I am looking forward to it; knowing that I'll spend some time at the beach and the pool relaxing and not thinking about school!
Eid Al Adha is the festival of the sacrifice where Muslims celebrate the saving sacrifice that Allah provided when Abraham was set to sacrifice his son Ishmael (Isaac in the Bible). So they sacrifice a lamb or goat in memory/honor of the sacrificial ram that Allah sent. This is not a good time of the year for a lamb or goat! Anyway we had our Eid assembly Thursday morning where the 3rd and 4th graders dressed in Haj attire and walked around the handmade kabba (represents the one in Mecca). In addition to that someone brought a goat! Poor thing. I thought they were going to sacrifice it right there during assembly, but all they did was role play the sacrifice with a plastic knife. After the pretend sacrifice they led the goat away and proceeded with the rest of the assembly. The assembly lasted the entire first period so that was nice to have a break. We didn't do much on Thursday given that I only had 15 students; thankfully Suhail, my behavior challenge, wasn't one of them.
I had to leave school early to help Fara work on getting paperwork for her divorce. She is Muslim and needs to get an Islamic divorce in addition to a legal one, so she needed witnesses to get the process started. We (Fara, Tara, and I) went to the court at 2 only to find out that they were closed until 3 (Fara was told they close at 3), so we waited around until they reopened at 3 to find out that she needed male witnesses. Women don't count; they are weak and may lie (the reason given to us by the attendant, with us women standing right there). After getting over the initial shock of being called weak and a liar simply because we're women we found out that the witness just have to be men, she didn't actually have to know them. So two men were rounded up from the courts to be her witnesses. Not sure I agree with that, but oh well. She had her witnesses so she could now get the paper granting power of attorney to her friend in the UK. Once the attendant found out that the recipient of the power of attorney was female he stopped the process. Nope. Power of attorney can't be granted to a female, for the same reason. Ugh! Frustrating and it didn't even really effect me. It's just seeing how women are treated here. Fara eventually found a male family friend who agreed to be her power of attorney so she could get the paper. So they printed out the power of attorney paper, and had her sign it. Not a problem except it was in Arabic! No English translation at all. What in the world was she actually signing?! OK I know that I live in an Arabic speaking country and that I am a guest here, but so is 80-90% of the population and English is the predominant language. I guess not at the court. An additional frustrating fact is that if Ali, her husband, wanted the divorce all he would have to do is go to the court and sign a paper and it would be granted. Thankfully she got the paper and is sending it to the Imam (like a Muslim pastor) in the UK that is going to grant the Islamic divorce.
On a side note, Kristie is coming back! I'm excited, but I'm also sad for her because she will be coming back without her husband. Their marriage didn't work out at all and he's not willing to leave so they can get work elsewhere. She's working on getting her visa and a job in Dubai, so I don't know for sure when she'll be back, but she will be back!
95 at 3pm and it's only supposed to get to 99! Hopefully no more 100s for a while!!!
Due to all of the changes, I got 4 new students (3 from Vemal and 1 from Kevin), but only 3 have been in my class, one is out of the country for medical reasons and I don't know when he'll return. I'm hoping that he won't (not that his medical issues are bad enough to make him not return, just that he'll go to another school or stay out of the country) because I have heard that he's "bad." That's coming from the students, but they know. They have told me that he "shouts" and "doesn't listen." I don't need another one of those! One of my new students, from Kevin, is a huge behavior problem and was causing complete destruction in his class, so they moved him to my class, is continually disrupting the class. He doesn't stop talking or making noises, he sings, laughs, makes noises, yells, anything to hear himself. Thankfully my boys are pretty mature enough to ignore it. I did have a hard first week with my class adopting his behavior, but I talked to them about it and they have gotten much better. It's still hard, but not like when my class was going crazy because he was. I have just decided that I'm going to send him to the PCO (parent care office) every time he gets out of hand and when my strategies (move his name, separate him from his group, ignoring, take away points, praise, and give points) aren't working. What typically happens when a student gets sent to the PCO is that they call the parents and let them know of the behavior and in extreme cases they demand that the child be sent home. Yes they really do that. But in this case the parents know the school number and are refusing to answer the phone when the PCOs call so nothing can be done. Frustrating. Although thankfully they don't send him back to class until the next period so I do get a break. It is going to be a long year and I have to rely on God's strength and patience to get me through it. The question now is what will happen after we get back from our week break for Eid. Looking forward to that! Just kidding!
Eid Mubarak! Joyous Eid! My holiday officially started Thursday afternoon and I get a week off. I'll be going to Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) on Monday with Fara and Arian, her 11 year old son. I've only ever driven through that emirate and stopped at a beach so it will be nice to spend a few days there and explore the region. Everyone that hears that I'm going to RAK says that I will love it. They say that it's completely different from anywhere else in the UAE and it's very quaint. We'll see. I am looking forward to it; knowing that I'll spend some time at the beach and the pool relaxing and not thinking about school!
Eid Al Adha is the festival of the sacrifice where Muslims celebrate the saving sacrifice that Allah provided when Abraham was set to sacrifice his son Ishmael (Isaac in the Bible). So they sacrifice a lamb or goat in memory/honor of the sacrificial ram that Allah sent. This is not a good time of the year for a lamb or goat! Anyway we had our Eid assembly Thursday morning where the 3rd and 4th graders dressed in Haj attire and walked around the handmade kabba (represents the one in Mecca). In addition to that someone brought a goat! Poor thing. I thought they were going to sacrifice it right there during assembly, but all they did was role play the sacrifice with a plastic knife. After the pretend sacrifice they led the goat away and proceeded with the rest of the assembly. The assembly lasted the entire first period so that was nice to have a break. We didn't do much on Thursday given that I only had 15 students; thankfully Suhail, my behavior challenge, wasn't one of them.I had to leave school early to help Fara work on getting paperwork for her divorce. She is Muslim and needs to get an Islamic divorce in addition to a legal one, so she needed witnesses to get the process started. We (Fara, Tara, and I) went to the court at 2 only to find out that they were closed until 3 (Fara was told they close at 3), so we waited around until they reopened at 3 to find out that she needed male witnesses. Women don't count; they are weak and may lie (the reason given to us by the attendant, with us women standing right there). After getting over the initial shock of being called weak and a liar simply because we're women we found out that the witness just have to be men, she didn't actually have to know them. So two men were rounded up from the courts to be her witnesses. Not sure I agree with that, but oh well. She had her witnesses so she could now get the paper granting power of attorney to her friend in the UK. Once the attendant found out that the recipient of the power of attorney was female he stopped the process. Nope. Power of attorney can't be granted to a female, for the same reason. Ugh! Frustrating and it didn't even really effect me. It's just seeing how women are treated here. Fara eventually found a male family friend who agreed to be her power of attorney so she could get the paper. So they printed out the power of attorney paper, and had her sign it. Not a problem except it was in Arabic! No English translation at all. What in the world was she actually signing?! OK I know that I live in an Arabic speaking country and that I am a guest here, but so is 80-90% of the population and English is the predominant language. I guess not at the court. An additional frustrating fact is that if Ali, her husband, wanted the divorce all he would have to do is go to the court and sign a paper and it would be granted. Thankfully she got the paper and is sending it to the Imam (like a Muslim pastor) in the UK that is going to grant the Islamic divorce.
On a side note, Kristie is coming back! I'm excited, but I'm also sad for her because she will be coming back without her husband. Their marriage didn't work out at all and he's not willing to leave so they can get work elsewhere. She's working on getting her visa and a job in Dubai, so I don't know for sure when she'll be back, but she will be back!
95 at 3pm and it's only supposed to get to 99! Hopefully no more 100s for a while!!!
Saturday, September 28, 2013
Weekend
Just a quick post about my boring, yet productive, start of the weekend.
I had planned a weekend in Abu Dhabi to visit Kisha, but that had to be postponed due to the amount of work that I needed to get done. I am now planning on going the last weekend in October, which will be much better because the weather will be cooler and we shouldn't be nearly as busy. So with Abu Dhabi being rescheduled I had planned to go to Dubai for church and then come home. But after thinking about that, I changed my mind. I usually don't get anything done after I go to Dubai, even if I come home after church, so I decided to stay here. I went to the Anglican Church in Al Ain so I could get as much done as possible on Friday. The Anglican Church is very different from Redeemer, and I could not do it every week, but it is very Christ centered so it can be an option if necessary. After church I did my grocery shopping and was home by 12:45. Amazing! Then I spent the rest of the day finding resources for my non-readers, lesson planning, and figuring out the online component of Reading Street, since that's what everyone wants to know how to use. I got my class set up and assigned some lessons and sent an email with instructions so the teachers that want to do that can. That was my Friday. I managed to get most of my work done so I can relax today. I'll get some cleaning done and then go to the gym/pool. I haven't been there since I've been back and with the cooler temperatures it'll be nice to sit outside. I may also work on finalizing my Christmas plans.
So with three posts in September, I should be all clear for October!!! Just kidding:) I'll have to post about my Eid holiday, whatever I end up doing. Just 2 more weeks!
I had planned a weekend in Abu Dhabi to visit Kisha, but that had to be postponed due to the amount of work that I needed to get done. I am now planning on going the last weekend in October, which will be much better because the weather will be cooler and we shouldn't be nearly as busy. So with Abu Dhabi being rescheduled I had planned to go to Dubai for church and then come home. But after thinking about that, I changed my mind. I usually don't get anything done after I go to Dubai, even if I come home after church, so I decided to stay here. I went to the Anglican Church in Al Ain so I could get as much done as possible on Friday. The Anglican Church is very different from Redeemer, and I could not do it every week, but it is very Christ centered so it can be an option if necessary. After church I did my grocery shopping and was home by 12:45. Amazing! Then I spent the rest of the day finding resources for my non-readers, lesson planning, and figuring out the online component of Reading Street, since that's what everyone wants to know how to use. I got my class set up and assigned some lessons and sent an email with instructions so the teachers that want to do that can. That was my Friday. I managed to get most of my work done so I can relax today. I'll get some cleaning done and then go to the gym/pool. I haven't been there since I've been back and with the cooler temperatures it'll be nice to sit outside. I may also work on finalizing my Christmas plans.
So with three posts in September, I should be all clear for October!!! Just kidding:) I'll have to post about my Eid holiday, whatever I end up doing. Just 2 more weeks!
Changes
After a pretty slow and normal start to the school year the changes have begun. I will start off by saying that this could happen at any school, no matter where it is located, and that management did a fantastic job ensuring that no one will lose their job despite the many changes taking place.
This all started due to lower than expected enrollment. No one knows for sure what caused the decline; it could be that Brighton College (a prestigious UK private boarding school) opened, it could be because parents just don't want to pay the extremely high school fees, or it could simply be because parents are dissatisfied with the education their children are receiving. Whatever the cause, enrollment has dropped and when that happens there are small (in management's eyes) class sizes and things need to be done. So with lower than expected enrollment in Al Ain and higher than expected enrollment in Abu Dhabi City (ADC) and Madinet Bin Zayed (MBZ; on the way to Abu Dhabi) something needed to be done. So here is a list of all the changes that will take effect on Sunday.
93 degrees at 11:30 am. It is getting cooler as it's only supposed to get to a high of 100 today!!
This all started due to lower than expected enrollment. No one knows for sure what caused the decline; it could be that Brighton College (a prestigious UK private boarding school) opened, it could be because parents just don't want to pay the extremely high school fees, or it could simply be because parents are dissatisfied with the education their children are receiving. Whatever the cause, enrollment has dropped and when that happens there are small (in management's eyes) class sizes and things need to be done. So with lower than expected enrollment in Al Ain and higher than expected enrollment in Abu Dhabi City (ADC) and Madinet Bin Zayed (MBZ; on the way to Abu Dhabi) something needed to be done. So here is a list of all the changes that will take effect on Sunday.
- Two kindergarten classes have been lost. These teachers will not be replaced and the students were moved to other classes. This is because they had 18 students, which in my mind is perfect for KG, but according to management that's too small. So now the classes have about 23 students. The two teachers are now becoming system wide subs. Fortunately they will get the same pay. One of them is taking the library position because she is out on maternity leave while the other is helping with 3rd grade.
- A first grade teacher is being moved to third grade and the students in her class are being moved to the other classes.
- A second grade teacher was promoted to PYP coordinator and her position is not being replaced so her students are being moved to the other classes.
- Two third grade teachers have been lost. One due to a medical emergency (she fell and is still in ICU at Al Ain Hospital) and the other to cover an eleventh grade English position at the Boys School in MBZ. She was chosen because she had expressed interest in moving at the end of the year. She no longer wants to make the move and is very upset about this decision. Her class will be replaced by the first grade teacher and the other students have already been moved to other classes. The thing is the teacher coming to third grade is black and these people are very racist. They do not want their children taught by a black person. They think Sudanese and for some reason they don't like Sudanese. So once they find out she's black, it doesn't matter that she's American, they will probably want their child taken out of her class and more changes will need to be made to the other classes.
- Vemal is leaving fourth grade and going to fifth grade. His position will not be filled his students are being divided amongst the remaining 5 of us. According to the list that Pete generated on Thursday I should only be getting 3 more students, which would put me at 25, not too bad. Then there's the case of Kevin's problem child who is most likely going to be moved to my class. If that happens I'll be at 26 with one of the most challenging students in the grade. Needless to say that my current class dynamics will change.
- A fifth grade teacher is going to be the new counselor at the Boys' School. Vemal is taking his place so there aren't really any major changes there.
- An Arabic teacher is going to ADC to teach at the Boys' School. His position will not be filled so all the other Arabic teachers will have to take extra sections to cover his classes.
- The IT teacher is going to MBZ to teach at the Boys' School. His position will not be filled so now we all have to teach our own IT. Yeah, like that is going to happen! Just being honest here. I'll most likely use that time to teach reading or math or catch up on the little UOI that I currently teach. The only IT that I'll be teaching is using the Internet to find information.
93 degrees at 11:30 am. It is getting cooler as it's only supposed to get to a high of 100 today!!
Saturday, September 21, 2013
Back to Reality
Well I've been back in Al Ain for about 4 weeks now and back at school for 2 1/2. It's been a transition, but I'm doing good. The toughest part has been getting back in the routine of waking up early and going to work, but other than that it's been fine! I was sick my first week back at school with the terrible cough that I had last year, but thankfully it only lasted a week and I'm feeling better now. I was hoping that it wouldn't drag on like it did last year and leave me with pharyngitis and bronchitis. Praise God it was nothing serious, just allergies as I adjusted to being back in the desert.
School has started of quite well. Currently I have 22 students (I say currently because I may be getting one of Kevin's due to the disruption that he's causing in his class); 16 boys and 6 girls! Very different dynamics than last year, but so far so good. By God's grace I seem to have a really good class. They work had and follow directions (mostly:). We're still working on the raising your hand and one person talking at a time, but other than that they're good. I'm enjoying them; even the boys! So far! I pray that it continues and that I am able to show them God's grace and patience as I am patient with them. I'm really trying to learn from my mistakes from last year and not spend so much time shouting and getting angry. Yes, there are times when I will fail, but I know that God will forgive me and I can hope that the students will as well. My schedule is also a bit better than it was last year; my full days are at the beginning of the week instead of the end of the week as they were last year. I also have more 2 period blocks so I can focus on literacy and math, not sure how much science and social studies I'll get in but the focus this year for the school is reading and math. We'll see.
I have a new position. The literacy coordinator left at the beginning of the year so that position was available. I applied for it, somewhat hesitantly, but with lots of encouragement from the principal and the grade 4 team. I didn't want to apply because I don't agree with the program that we have to use and I honestly don't think I'm that good of a leader (although I've been told by many people that I have 'quiet' leadership skills, whatever those are). Well I got the job! As of right now I'm not exactly sure what it entails, but I've been told by the principal that we could discuss how to "creatively" use the program that we are being forced to use. I had my first tasks as the new literacy coordinator on Thursday of last week. Melanie was having issues logging in to the online system and she wanted to know what to do. Now I must say that I am the literacy coordinator, not the technology coordinator so I didn't think that would be part of my job description, but I offered my help anyway. I sent an email to the tech support at Pearson, which she could have done herself, and gave her some ideas that I saw online and we'll go from there. Now the other task is more geared towards literacy and what I want to do. Alexandra's PGP (personal goal something) is to improve her reading instruction and she has asked for my help. We're going to meet on Wednesday to draft a plan and come up with ways I can help her. I mentioned model lessons, suggestions, observations and just discussing what's going on and what she's doing. That's what I want to do; help others improve their reading so the students benefit. I just want to make myself available to others who want/need assistance with reading and writing instruction. I'd love to work only with small groups doing reading instruction, but unfortunately that's not the way the school is going. We shall see and I am looking forward to helping.
I've been to Dubai for church every weekend and it's been great to see friends there. Last weekend I went to The Cheesecake Factory with Vanny, her sister, and Jane. Funny that I couldn't go to the one that opened in MI and I had to wait to get back to Dubai to eat there. Now that the mafia men have left it's easy to get a table! It was really good spending time with them and catching up. I do miss Kristie, but it's not as bad as I thought it was going to be. I had feared that Vanny, Jane, and I wouldn't have anything to talk about since it was typically Kristie who was leading the conversations but that didn't happen at all. Our trip to the Philippines in April is still on so I'm excited about that!
I'm thinking about heading to the UK for Christmas. Deborah is going home for Christmas and she invited me and I'm seriously thinking about it. If I do decide to go I won't be able to go anywhere for Eid as it would be quite expensive, but it would be worth it since I've never been. She lives about 20 minutes from Scotland so we could go there as well. I've just got to check prices and stuff. This will probably be my last year of international travel for a while so I better do all I can now!!
109 degrees at 1:40
School has started of quite well. Currently I have 22 students (I say currently because I may be getting one of Kevin's due to the disruption that he's causing in his class); 16 boys and 6 girls! Very different dynamics than last year, but so far so good. By God's grace I seem to have a really good class. They work had and follow directions (mostly:). We're still working on the raising your hand and one person talking at a time, but other than that they're good. I'm enjoying them; even the boys! So far! I pray that it continues and that I am able to show them God's grace and patience as I am patient with them. I'm really trying to learn from my mistakes from last year and not spend so much time shouting and getting angry. Yes, there are times when I will fail, but I know that God will forgive me and I can hope that the students will as well. My schedule is also a bit better than it was last year; my full days are at the beginning of the week instead of the end of the week as they were last year. I also have more 2 period blocks so I can focus on literacy and math, not sure how much science and social studies I'll get in but the focus this year for the school is reading and math. We'll see.
I have a new position. The literacy coordinator left at the beginning of the year so that position was available. I applied for it, somewhat hesitantly, but with lots of encouragement from the principal and the grade 4 team. I didn't want to apply because I don't agree with the program that we have to use and I honestly don't think I'm that good of a leader (although I've been told by many people that I have 'quiet' leadership skills, whatever those are). Well I got the job! As of right now I'm not exactly sure what it entails, but I've been told by the principal that we could discuss how to "creatively" use the program that we are being forced to use. I had my first tasks as the new literacy coordinator on Thursday of last week. Melanie was having issues logging in to the online system and she wanted to know what to do. Now I must say that I am the literacy coordinator, not the technology coordinator so I didn't think that would be part of my job description, but I offered my help anyway. I sent an email to the tech support at Pearson, which she could have done herself, and gave her some ideas that I saw online and we'll go from there. Now the other task is more geared towards literacy and what I want to do. Alexandra's PGP (personal goal something) is to improve her reading instruction and she has asked for my help. We're going to meet on Wednesday to draft a plan and come up with ways I can help her. I mentioned model lessons, suggestions, observations and just discussing what's going on and what she's doing. That's what I want to do; help others improve their reading so the students benefit. I just want to make myself available to others who want/need assistance with reading and writing instruction. I'd love to work only with small groups doing reading instruction, but unfortunately that's not the way the school is going. We shall see and I am looking forward to helping.
I've been to Dubai for church every weekend and it's been great to see friends there. Last weekend I went to The Cheesecake Factory with Vanny, her sister, and Jane. Funny that I couldn't go to the one that opened in MI and I had to wait to get back to Dubai to eat there. Now that the mafia men have left it's easy to get a table! It was really good spending time with them and catching up. I do miss Kristie, but it's not as bad as I thought it was going to be. I had feared that Vanny, Jane, and I wouldn't have anything to talk about since it was typically Kristie who was leading the conversations but that didn't happen at all. Our trip to the Philippines in April is still on so I'm excited about that!
I'm thinking about heading to the UK for Christmas. Deborah is going home for Christmas and she invited me and I'm seriously thinking about it. If I do decide to go I won't be able to go anywhere for Eid as it would be quite expensive, but it would be worth it since I've never been. She lives about 20 minutes from Scotland so we could go there as well. I've just got to check prices and stuff. This will probably be my last year of international travel for a while so I better do all I can now!!
109 degrees at 1:40
Sunday, September 1, 2013
Details
I was so busy describing the classroom that I forgot to mention a few details about being back home. Either that or I'm just getting old!
I walked into my oven of an apartment and was greeted by a line of ants in the living room, kitchen, and bedroom. Disgusting, but not as bad as I had imagined. I was hoping that I wouldn't find roaches or stinky dried out drain pipes. So I was happy with just the ants. I know weird! I turned the AC on and got out my handy dandy can of Raid (I keep one on hand at all times) and began spraying. Only after ensuring that the ones that I could see were dead did I begin unpacking. In addition to the ants crawling all over the place, most of the surfaces were covered in sand. We had some pretty bad sand storms while I was gone, and even if we hadn't the insulation isn't great here, so everything by the windows, and the bath tub, had a fine layer of sand on them; it reminded me of my years at Ammoryiah. I wanted to take care of that problem, but I was so tired so once the place cooled off I went to bed knowing that I would have to deal with ants and sand in the morning. The following morning I did some basic cleaning but I didn't really do any heavy duty cleaning. I saved that until this past weekend. Now that it's all nice and clean and guess what blew through last night? Yep, you guessed it, another sandstorm!!! Oh the joys of living in the desert!
I walked into my oven of an apartment and was greeted by a line of ants in the living room, kitchen, and bedroom. Disgusting, but not as bad as I had imagined. I was hoping that I wouldn't find roaches or stinky dried out drain pipes. So I was happy with just the ants. I know weird! I turned the AC on and got out my handy dandy can of Raid (I keep one on hand at all times) and began spraying. Only after ensuring that the ones that I could see were dead did I begin unpacking. In addition to the ants crawling all over the place, most of the surfaces were covered in sand. We had some pretty bad sand storms while I was gone, and even if we hadn't the insulation isn't great here, so everything by the windows, and the bath tub, had a fine layer of sand on them; it reminded me of my years at Ammoryiah. I wanted to take care of that problem, but I was so tired so once the place cooled off I went to bed knowing that I would have to deal with ants and sand in the morning. The following morning I did some basic cleaning but I didn't really do any heavy duty cleaning. I saved that until this past weekend. Now that it's all nice and clean and guess what blew through last night? Yep, you guessed it, another sandstorm!!! Oh the joys of living in the desert!
Saturday, August 31, 2013
Back to the Desert
I arrived back in Al Ain on a sweltering hot Friday night. After being in the States for 2 months and enjoying the much cooler temperatures (even the days when it was in the high 80s), coming back to the 110s was not pleasant!
My first week back has been filled with work and catching up with friends. The 2013-2014 school year has started off much better than last year began or ended. One key reason is Gursharn is gone! She was a huge source of trouble. The 4th grade team seems to be working really good together and we've accomplished quite a lot already. Another key reason things seem to be much better than last year is that I'm not new anymore! I don't have to learn how the school works, I get to mentor a new teacher and help her figure out how the school works. And by God's grace I'm praying that my response to whatever may happen this year will be much different than how I responded last year.
My classroom is pretty much all set up; I'm just debating about changing the seating arrangement. Currently I have 6 groups of 4, but I'm thinking of making it 4 groups of 6. The reason for the debate is the ratio of boys to girls this year. As of right now, things are bound to change, I have 16 boys and 8 girls, exactly the opposite of what I had last year. The advantage to having groups of 6 I can have 2 girls in each group and not have any groups of just boys. The disadvantage to having groups of 6 is that it's a large group; 6 kids means that there could potentially be 2-3 that just slack off and let the others do the work. I'm still thinking about it.
I am applying for the literacy coordinator position that is available. I love reading and writing, but being a coordinator is not something that I'm all that comfortable with. It's a position of leadership and although I've been told by many people that I would make a good leader, it's just not me. Applying doesn't necessarily mean I will get the job though. Then there's the issue that I don't agree with the program that we are being forced to use. It's "Reading Street" - a basal reading program designed for American students. I've talked to the principal about this issue and she's OK with it. She said if I get the position we can work together to see how to creatively incorporate the program into what we know is best for students. I'll continue praying about it and see what happens.
I've had a good time catching up with a few friends this week and I'm looking forward to spending time with others as the time goes on. I have to say that church was quite different due to the fact that Kristie wasn't there. I definitely miss her!
School starts Tuesday and then things get back to normal! The first week of my last year has been a good one and I pray that it continues throughout the entire year!
My first week back has been filled with work and catching up with friends. The 2013-2014 school year has started off much better than last year began or ended. One key reason is Gursharn is gone! She was a huge source of trouble. The 4th grade team seems to be working really good together and we've accomplished quite a lot already. Another key reason things seem to be much better than last year is that I'm not new anymore! I don't have to learn how the school works, I get to mentor a new teacher and help her figure out how the school works. And by God's grace I'm praying that my response to whatever may happen this year will be much different than how I responded last year.
My classroom is pretty much all set up; I'm just debating about changing the seating arrangement. Currently I have 6 groups of 4, but I'm thinking of making it 4 groups of 6. The reason for the debate is the ratio of boys to girls this year. As of right now, things are bound to change, I have 16 boys and 8 girls, exactly the opposite of what I had last year. The advantage to having groups of 6 I can have 2 girls in each group and not have any groups of just boys. The disadvantage to having groups of 6 is that it's a large group; 6 kids means that there could potentially be 2-3 that just slack off and let the others do the work. I'm still thinking about it.
I am applying for the literacy coordinator position that is available. I love reading and writing, but being a coordinator is not something that I'm all that comfortable with. It's a position of leadership and although I've been told by many people that I would make a good leader, it's just not me. Applying doesn't necessarily mean I will get the job though. Then there's the issue that I don't agree with the program that we are being forced to use. It's "Reading Street" - a basal reading program designed for American students. I've talked to the principal about this issue and she's OK with it. She said if I get the position we can work together to see how to creatively incorporate the program into what we know is best for students. I'll continue praying about it and see what happens.
I've had a good time catching up with a few friends this week and I'm looking forward to spending time with others as the time goes on. I have to say that church was quite different due to the fact that Kristie wasn't there. I definitely miss her!
School starts Tuesday and then things get back to normal! The first week of my last year has been a good one and I pray that it continues throughout the entire year!
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