Adventure to the souk at Dubai Creek

So, on Friday, Christine and I decide to take an adventure to the Dubai Creek area. We are unsure of what we will find but are eager anyway. Christine has a book about Dubai and we looked at information there. Using the GPS, we choose Dubai Creek Park to begin. Well, when we got there, the entire place is empty. Quickly realizing this is not where we want to be, we decide to ask the lady at the entrance of the gate. She has no idea what we are talking about so we head back to the car and head to the Dubai Museum thinking it may be closer to what we want. We find the museum and park. Initially thinking we will visit the museum, we head that way and take some of these pictures. At the entrance, there are lots of men standing around and we walk to the door and one guy says "no open. 2:30". 

So we leave and head to the area we THINK might be the souk. Passing a mosque, we see several men leaving and someone washing the floors. We go through an ally that looks like we should run the other way but we keep on. Finally, we spot the creek off to the right and head that way. We walk through some more ally ways that have vendors on each side selling their items and bombarding us with questions about buying their items. We finally make it through that area and get to the area to take a water taxi across the creek to the other side where there are more vendors and a larger souk. These pics are of us boarding the water taxi and crossing the creek. We crossed the creek for 1 dirham each (36 cents). 

Me, on the water taxi

Christine, on the water taxi

These are boats are on the side of the creek and have tarps that cover them. People live there. We figure it is the men who navigate the water taxis back and forth that live in these "boat houses". 

We arrive at the Grand Souq "Diera" and are immediately met by a man who says come to the Spice souk. Christine is looking for spices for her daughter so we follow him. It is a dark alley but we smell the spices so we know we are heading in the right direction. 

 

Sure enough, we find the spice souk and these 2 pics show 2 of the men who are selling the spices. The second picture is the boy who was insistent on selling me a pashmina and wanted to take a picture with me. I didn't buy the pashmina. 

At the spice souk, Christine found spices for her daughter and frankincense and myrrh for her Sunday School lesson for Christmas (she is going home for Christmas).

I also learned that rock salt is used as deodorant here. 

Leaving the souk and heading back to take the water taxi all these little birds are perched on the rail. It didn't matter how many people came up, they just kept sitting there. They didn't seem to be afraid. 

Crossing the creek again, it begins to rain. We get very excited since we haven't seen rain since August. We were like kids excited about the rain!

 

National Day Celebrations

This week has been crazy!! Celebrations have been happening for the upcoming National Day. National Day is December 2 and this country will be 41 years-old. These people are extremely proud of their country and it is apparent as you travel around the city. 

On Tuesday, I went to the Post Office to pick up a package from my parents. As you go in the Post Office, these 2 displays are located INSIDE. The displays depict traditional artifacts from this country. Many of the artifacts I recognized from seeing on a regular basis or at an assembly we had at school where the girls were shown older artifacts that are not as commonly used today. 

Also, on Tuesday, the grade 2 girls did a dance for the entire school. They were so proud of their dance and did a great job. They had been practicing for about a week. Here is about a fourth of the grade 2 girls lined up waiting on the music to begin. 

On Wednesday, there were many activities for the girls to be a part of. These included henna, lots of dancing, food, more dancing, more food, and lots of playing. Here is the henna I had done. 

On Thursday, there was a 3 hour assembly celebrating National Day. Many of the girls danced and some read passages or sang passages from the Quran. All of it was in Arabic but I recognized some of the "songs" from the Quran that the girls recite during our regular morning assemblies. Also, gifts were given and of course there was plenty of chocolate dispersed. 

I've already mentioned how proud these people are of their country. Here are 2 cars that have been decorated to show their pride. The first car has a flag attached to the top along with stickers all over the body. In the window is a wrap that pictures the Sheikh. The second picture is a car at the mall that is completely "wrapped" with the flag and pictures of the Sheikh. These 2 cars are "mild" compared to the one I saw at the mall but was to appalled that I forgot to take a picture. It was complete "wrapped" with pictures of the Sheikh, flags everywhere, mirrors covered, and feather boas in red, green, white, and black wrapped around the luggage rack on the top of the SUV. It was quite shocking!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

So, I had to work on Thanksgiving but was not left wanting a Thanksgiving meal. While I miss my family terribly and can't wait for them to visit, I was able to have Thanksgiving Dinner on the rooftop of my apartment building with many of the teachers that live here. We all brought a side dish and enjoyed Thanksgiving together. Some of the things at dinner included smoked turkey, ham, lamb chops, chicken, 3-mac-n-cheese, brocolli casserole, green beans, pasta salad, chili, salad, 2-mashed potatoes, several different rice dishes, several cakes, cabbage, rolls, cornbread and much more. It was definitely dishes to represent all of the different cultures of teachers that are here. The weather has been perfect this week. It's cooling off and it is incredible. There was a slight breeze on the rooftop and we had a blast telling stories about our schools.

 

 

I will be heading to another Thanksgiving dinner tonight to share in more family and friends and good times!

 

Activities leading up to National Day

National Day is December 2. This is the day the entire country celebrates the Birthday of the United Arab Emirates. I'm told this is like the 4th of July in the US multiplied by 100.

So at school, we have already begun celebrating at school. Each day this week at school there have been longer assemblies with various guests or extra singing and performances by our students. It began this week with a note being sent home for students to bring a flag to school. During our morning assembly, the girls all had a flag. While the National Anthem played and the girls recited what I refer to as their pledge, they we all waving thier flag. It was quite moving to watch.

 

 

Later this day, we had a visit from the Police Academy Band. The girls gathered once again in the courtyard for this performance. This lasted about 30 minutes and the band marched around the courtyard and the girls waved the flags. Once the band was in the front of the courtyard and playing songs, some of the girls were directed by the PE teacher to come out in front and "dance". This dancing involved swinging their hair back and forth. I'm told this is the traditional dance for girls. Honestly, it made me dizzy to watch them.

Later in the week, we had some girls come from another school to do a short performance. And again, the girls were dancing in front of them. Here is the picture of the guests performing before our girls got in front of them.

Finally, there was an announcement on Tuesday afternoon that Wednesday would be a day to decorate for National Day. I didn't know what to expect, so Christine and I headed to Gift City to buy a few things to decorate with. Also, on Wednesday the girls came in with armfuls of stuff for decorating. So, during 4th period, we spent the time decorating. The girls were supposed to come to class and things were to be "on schedule" for 5th period. Well, we got the room and board outside decorated during 4th period but the girls didn't come to class during 5th period. So the class was empty. Here are some pictures of the final decor.

While decorating, some of my girls were naming the Sheikhs that were pictured. I am amazed that these students can tell me all of the Sheikhs pictured and can correct me when I put up the colors in the wrong order, yet still have trouble identifying the letters in the English alphabet. It definitely goes to what is important to the girls and the exposure that they get.

I'm told there will be many more activities this coming week at school and that on Thursday (before a 4-day weekend) will be one BIG party to celebrate National Day. I will post more pictures as the week progresses.

 

 

Eid al Adha

Well, it's time for the first holiday break. Eid al Adha is one of the Muslim holidays celebrating the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice Isaac as an act of obedience of God instead God provided a sheep for the sacrifice. This 3 day celebration begins on Friday. ADEC opted to give us Thursday and Sunday off.

So, now that you have background information I will tell you what happened. The week at school has been rather low-key. More students absent than normal. On Tuesday, about 6 girls in each class were gone. The girls were bringing in "gifts" actually, it was candy, candy and more candy. During the morning assembly, the girls were singing and older girls were bringing gifts for teachers and students. Gifts included a rolled paper that explained the 5 Pillars of Islam along with an explanation of Hajj, the Muslim trip to Mecca. Many of the gifts were bags of chocolate or individally wrapped chocolate. (Side note: the chocolate tastes different) We attempted to have a somewhat "normal" school day but with so many students absent that proved to be difficult. So we spent time reviewing, writing and coloring. The girls enjoyed that and also continued to try and teach me more Arabic. The girls think that is soo funny.

Then on Wednesday, NONE of them showed up. So, I spent time working on assessment data for my students and almost finished it all. We got to leave school early at 1pm after having a faculty meeting.

Here are pictures of the gifts given to me along with the girls' favorite candy, ChokiChoki which is chocolate paste.

 

Gifts

On Sunday, one of my girls brought me a sweet little white teddy bear with a ribbon that read "Love". It almost looks like a small bear that one would give on Valentine's Day. She was so proud and so was I. My first gift from a student.

 

 

Today, Monday, another girl brought me these flowers. They were wrapped up in a tissue and were beautiful and VERY fragrant. 

 

I really do LOVE all my girls....All 46 of them!

 

Right hand, Left Hand

Well, it's been a week or so. So here it goes.

Last week was rather frustrating dealing with expectations for lesson plans, books, etc. Why frustrating? Because information is not always given in the beginning but after you have done it wrong. Yep, that's right! No one said there was a particular lesson plan template until I turned my plans in and they were different. Oops! Maybe you should have told me. Anyway, we had a meeting and got that all sorted out! Now my plans are on a template and have all the information they wanted.

Next is books. While this may sound simple, it is NOT here in the UAE. The right hand doesn't always tell the left hand what is going on. So, the first week of school, the girls are given a bag with books in them. There are about 6 Arabic books and 2 Math books. Obviously, I will be using the Math books so the girls take them out and we store them on the shelves. Next, we are given 3 blank Exercise books. These are for students to write in as their portfolio (I assume assessments at the end of a theme or unit...WRONG!!). After a parent asks Mrs. Fatima about the girl's book, she tells me that these books are for daily/weekly student work. Oh, ok. Now, I will use them as they were intended. Again, you should have told me this to begin with. Ah, but it's not over yet. Mrs. Badrya comes and asks me to the students English, Math and Science books. I give her the Exercise books that I assume she is refering to. NOPE! She wants the books provided by ADEC. I look at her confused. I don't know what she is talking about. By the way, she is speaking broken English and so am I. I finally figure out she is refering to the Math books given in the bags. So I give her the Math books and now she wants English and Science. I repeatedly tell her there are none. She seems confused now and leaves my room. I have no idea what will happen with that. But basically, we have Math books but no English and Science books to teach from and the administration did not know this. Right hand, left hand. So, we teach what we know and use resources that we have personally brought or what limited resources may be in the Resource room.

It is nice to get back to the basics at school, but I definitely miss some textbooks.

I am now MOBILE!!!!

It's official!! I am now mobile and not dependent on taxis. This is such a blessing!!! For those of you who know me, I hate waiting and depending on others to get where I need to be. I am far to independent for that!!! So, Wednesday, the rental company brought me a car!! It is a Chevrolet Aveo. While it is small for US standards, it is perfect for here. The only issue is that it is a 4-cylinder and getting "in" the roundabouts really needs a 6-cylinder for pick-up.

Anyway, I made it to work on Thursday with no problems. I was quite proud. However, the trip home was a little more scenic. "James" (the gps) decided to take me to who knows where. I found out it was a lot farther away than I needed to go. So when I saved the coordinates to my "home", it saved some far off place. Anyway, I recognized some landmarks and made it back to my place.

While at school, one of the ladies brought around yellow roses for all teachers. I was shocked and was told it was from ADEC (my employer). How thoughtful!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yep, I love this place!!!

The evening was filled with a little shopping, pampering at Radiance and dinner. Christine and I exchanged some stuff I bought and then went to Radiance for manis and pedis. Much deserved and needed. Radiance is a shop for women only and they do everything from massages to waxing to haircuts to facial treatments and more. We really like it!!

While at the mall, we noticed the display at Ace Hardware which was Halloween. Shocked, we each took a picture of it. This seems so out of place. The clerk told us that they had just got the stuff in and within a week or so it would almost be gone. He also told us that while they do not do "door to door" trick or treating, they do have parties. This was new to us. We were shocked! Oh well, learn something new everyday!