Orientation & School Assignments

It's been a crazy 2 days!! We have had Orientation for the last 2 days which meant I had to set the alarm clock for 6:15am for the first time in 3 months. I did not like it but I guess it's time to get used to it again. We were bussed from our hotel to Mubarak Bin Mohammed School in Abu Dhabi about 10 minutes away. The school was gorgeous and is relatively new. On Monday, we were introduced to the "higher ups" of the Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC). I was really cool to see how these men were regarded by the others. Some were very fluent in English and a couple had translators which did an excellent job. I am simply in awe as I listen to them speak in Arabic. Maybe, I will learn some while I am here. We spent the day in the auditorium listening to various presentations like ADEC vision, culture, do's and don'ts, contracts, etc. We also took another photograph and did more finger printing. There is NO doubt who I am or what my fingerprints look like. I think this was the 4th set since I decided to take the position here in Abu Dhabi. Considering there were almost 400+ teachers, it seemed very well organized and moved swiftly.

Today, Tuesday, we went back to the auditorium and met briefly this morning to tell us what the day would hold. There were 4 break-out sessions which included kid watching, resources, pedagogy, and learning outcomes. We all received two 1" binders with Learning Outcomes and the Teacher Handbook. Both are well put together, in color and on sturdy paper (I say this because all the notebooks back home were cheap and on thin paper tha would come out of the notebook easily and I hated it!). The last session was on assessment and how scores are placed in the computer system. All of this to say, while I will be teaching another grade, many of the assessment tools are VERY similar to teaching Georgia Pre-K which was my very favorite!! I am excited to get back to teaching the way kids learn and assessing them where they are to maximize their potential. So we leave with the explanation that school assignments would be placed under the doors of our hotel rooms and that they are not quite ready. NOT exactly the case...

Emails started coming in about 6:30pm with school assignments. People started posting their school assignments on several of the Facebook groups I am a part of. Sure enough, I check my email and I will be at Shamma Bint Mohammed School. I then begin a search to determine if the school is girl's, boy's or co-ed. Thankfully, it is a girl's school with grades 1-5. I hope to learn more in the days to come but so far that is all I know.

Emirates Palace

Wow!!! Beautiful!!! The first words spoken as Christine and I entered the Palace.

These gentlemen greeted us and opened the doors of the taxi and the doors entering the Palace. They told me that they take turns being inside and outside every 30 minutes. With their dress and the heat, it is extremely HOT!!

 The next 3 photographs are paintings of the Sheikhs here in the UAE.

All clocks at the Palace are Rolex. As a matter of fact, they are at our hotel too. 

 This beautiful young woman is part of the guest services department. There were several of them as we entered who immediately approached us and other guests. We loved her outfit!

 This is our tour guide. I will try to tell you the highlights of the tour with each picture.

 This is the dome (looking up) of the center of the Palace. The Palace took 3 year to build and approximately $3 billion to build along with 20,000 workers. Marble was brought in from 13 different countries to complete the Palace.

 Sitting area in the center. This is largest dome of the 114 domes in the Palace.

 This is the auditorium in the Palace which is currently under maintenance. Awards, concerts and high profile events happen here. 1,100 guests can be seated here.

 This is the business and meeting area.

 

 These 2 rugs show the Palace during the day and at night. Each is a 1 ton rug, hand woven in Thailand. Each taking 3 years to complete.

 This is the Japanese Tea House which was gift from Thailand to the Sheikh. Occassionally, there are classes on tea.

 A hallway with palms lining.

 A sitting area. Take note of the horse painting and the detailed ceiling.

 This is the Grand Ballroom. Each chandelier is constructed with Swarovski crystals. The first chandelier is unlit and the largest of them in the ballroom.

 These 3 chandeliers are gold leaf plated. 5kg of pure edible gold is used per year to decorate mainly desserts.

 This is the elevator that is only entered if you are accompanied by someone in guest services. The "Rulers Suite" is on the 8th floor and only for the Sheikh of the UAE. This girl had been working at the Palace for 5 years and had never been there. She did say there is tons of security there.

Floors 7 and 8 are Palace Suites where we got to see one. GORGEOUS!!

Floor 5 is the VIP Majlis or a gathering place.

Floor 4 is the Palace Dome-Lobby where everyone enters the Palace.

Floor 3 is the Mezzanine

Floor 1 is Council Chambers where meetings are held. For example, the G6 Summit.

Not sure why there is no Floor 2.

 Here is Palace Suite 1714. You enter through a hallway and into the dining area. Each plate is gold plated and the crystal goblets cost 750 dirhams each.

 This is the bedroom...HUGE!!!!!!!!!!

 The business area in the room with a desk, chair, and huge TV.

 The massive tub in the bathroom.

 Bathroom

 Double sinks in the MASSIVE bathroom.

The Palace was AMAZING!!!! The pictures certainly do not do justice to the beautifulness of it.

 

Other facts:

• There are 1,200 employees from 60 different countries
• There are 12 external fountains and 8 indoor water features
• 394 suites and rooms in 2 wings, east wing and west wing, both are identical.
• There are 8 escalators and 102 elevators
• You can stay in the Palace Suite which includes 3 rooms for 50,000 dirhams per night which is $13,612.85. OR you can get 1 room in the suite for 25,000 dirhams or $6,806.43.

 

Anyone ready to book a room for vacation ;-)

 

 

Money, Call to Prayer, Traffic

Money...a necessity to learn in a foreign country. I now vaguely understand the "deer in headlights" look that I have gotten for many years money to kindergarten and first grade students. That is the way I feel when learning this money. I'm starting to get the hang of it and thankful that the UAE decided to color code and use size to equate to the amount, at least with the bills. I've learned a few arabic numbers simply by using the currency. However, the English version is on the back. So while the Arabic 100 looks like a one with two dots beside it. Fives look like zeros so that still throws me for a loop. Here are pictures of bills and coins.

Here is 1000 dirhams, 100 dirhams, and 50 dirhams.

Here is 20 dirhams, 10 dirhams and 5 dirhams. The coins, from the top, 1 dirham, 50 fils, and 25 fils. The fils still are not solid in my mind but I do ok with the rest. While I am able to pay with dirhams, I still use my iPhone to conver the money to US dollars so that I can get a handle on how much that is. So, I guess technically I still think in US dollars.

The Call to Prayer...I do not hear this in my room but have heard it several times while being out. I am not offended and kind of like the reminder to pray. While many Muslims will go to the "Prayer Room" if at the malls or other places, it is a reminder to me to stop and pray. While out shopping for furniture the other day, the call to prayer rand out and it was impossible to find a taxi for the next 30 minutes. There is also an arrow in my hotel room that points toward Mecca. Some hotels have a Quran and a Prayer Rug for guests in each hotel room. Maybe if more people in the US were reminded to pray 5 times a day, the US would be in better shape. I'm just sayin'!

Traffic...Interesting, terrifying, fast, close your eyes, lost! These are all of the words that would describe my use of the taxis so far. While there are lines on the road and they are observed by the drivers, they like to use the brake at the last minute, honk if someone in front of them doesn't move fast enough or is in the way, and they may not know where you want them to take you but will not tell you that at first. This has happened once and was thankful that one driver actually told us we needed to take the next one. That doesn't happen very often but it does happen. Basically, other than driving fast and weaving, it's kind of like Atlanta traffic. Also, the taxis' speed is monitored by the monitor in the car. If they go over the speed limit, it will flash red and tell them to slow down. That happens at least once in every ride I've had so far. They do slow down though.

Just random information I thought might be interesting. 



Henna and HOT, HOT, HOT!!!!

Well, since the country is in the middle of celebrating Eid Mubarak, there are all kinds of things happening at the malls. So I went to the Kalidiyah Mall. As I enter, there is a tent set up where a gentleman is serving dates and tea. I say "no thank you" to the tea since he was re-using the cups after others drink from them. Inside the tent, are 2 women in abayas with the sheila on thier heads. They were drawing Henna tattoos on people for free. So, I decide to go for it. I LOVE it!!! I will definitely do it again.

The art of using Henna has been around for many years. Henna leaves are crushed and water added to create a paste which will stain the skin for approximately 1 week. Some people with sensitive skin can have difficulty.

Being very careful not to photograph the woman, she is using henna in a tube with small opening. Similar to the tip that may be on a pastry bag. The opening was very tiny.

Henna goes on wet and is not painful. However, it stinks!!! The wet henna dried in about 30-45 minutes depending on how thick it was. Once it was dry, it flaked off and was an orange color on my skin.

This is how the henna tattoo looked this morning. It is more brown than orange.

HOT, HOT, HOT!!!! Walked down to the beach this morning to take a picture with Shon and Christine. There was a board of information near the entrance to the beach. It gave random information like the temperature, water temperature, humidity and other random things. Only a few things were interesting...The temperature was 49C which is 120F with humidity at 85%. That is the reason we were POURING sweat. Literally, soaked by the time we got back to the hotel. This is by far the hottest day since I've been here!!!!!!

IKEA, Spinney's, Chili's

It was quite an interesting day. Up and at breakfast before 10, then meeting Christine in the lobby to go to the Emirates Palace only to find out that the formal tours do not begin until Wednesday since we are celebrating Eid, the end of Ramadan. So we decide to go to IKEA. That was a long way. It cost 65 dirhams to get there; our mall trips only take 10 dirhams which is about $3.67 US. Anyway, we enter IKEA much like the one in Atlanta, the only problem is all the rooms are described in meters squared rather than square feet. SO, I'm lost. I don't really get the metric system. Thankfully, I have "an app for that" on my iPhone. I did find a couch, wardrobe (no closets here), a rug, ottoman and a few knick knacks. No purchases since we are still waiting on the furniture allowance. So off to Spinney's we go....

Spinney's is a somewhat local grocery store that stocks more items for the larget expat community. TONS of fresh produce that I recognized. Then, of course, there is a fresh fish ice table that has the largest shrimp, or prawns as they call them, that I have ever seen. They were larger than my hand.

Then as we continue down this aisle, there is the "Pork Shop for Non-Muslims". Yep, that is exactly what it said on the door. In there, there was all kinds of pork: bacon, ham, sausage, panchetta, etc. Also, there was REAL ranch dressing, PopTarts, fried pork skins, baked beans, Spam and much more.

Also, found at Spinney's was Downey fabric softener. Tide seems to be in every store in powder form but this is the first for Downey. I might make it here after all....LOL!!!  Now off to Kalidyah Mall.

We went to the mall in search of stuff for our apartments, plates, silverware, microwave, toaster oven, you know all the stuff for a brand new EMPTY apartment. When we got to the mall, LuLu's was closed and wouldn't open until 5pm. LuLu's is most similar to Target. They have a little bit of it all and the prices are great, I think.  So we went to Chili's at the food court for lunch.

I was so excited that Chili's had Dr. Pepper to drink. Pepsi is everywhere and served with every meal, fast food or sit down, it seems. That is the reason for my excitement!!!  They also had Mushroom Jack Fajitas which the Chili's in the Atlanta area quite serving. I am one HAPPY girl!!!! I will make it here after all....LOL!!!!

Tomorrow is a relaxing day with only LuLu's on the agenda...after 5pm of course ;-)

Schwarma....NOT what I expected!

So the day was pretty much uneventful though I did visit a few new places. I went to The Living Room which is a furniture store that sells beds and couches. I definitely found a bed I like and will be purchasing it when we receive our housing allowance. I also saw some couches that I like but I am not in LOVE with them. Therefore, as my mom says "Don't buy it if you don't LOVE it!" So, I will continue to shop around.

Next I went to the National Bank of Abu Dhabi located in Al Musharif Mall. This mall has plenty of fountains and a huge vertical fish tank as you enter. During Orientation, we completed forms for our bank account that our pay will be deposited in each month. We had to go to a specific branch to get our debit cards. We showed copies of our visa, signed a few pieces of paper, gave our local phone number and then used the ATM to choose our passcode. Simple and Painless!!! The way I like it!!! Of course, there is no money on the card or in the account. But we will receive a text message when funds are available. Kinda cool!

Fish tank (don't know how to turn it) at Al Musarif Mall

Since it was dinner time, we (Nicole and baby Ethan, Christine and I) decided we would be adventurous and try a schwarma. I had read and heard so many wonderful things about a schwarma that I was expecting it to be wonderful! I am sorry to report that is not the case. I chose a chicken schwarma. Thinking it would have chicken and maybe some sauce, I figured it was safe. Not so much!!! It had chicken, french fries, some kind of bitter white sauce along with some kind of fermented sour pickled veges of some kind. The 3 of us only ate about half before we gave up. We then decided we would get a Wendy's burger to get the HORRIBLE taste out of our mouths. Christine surprised us and brought over 3 chocolate frosties. This made us all happy!! Nicole was even putting the frosty on her burger to help get the vinegar-y taste out of her mouth. It was a rough night for food. Next time I will ask for one without white sauce or veges...LOL!

Chicken Schwarma

Nicole putting chocolate Frosty on her Jr. Hamburger

Overall, a great day!!!

Lebanese Flower & Bakery and The Beriut Roaster

So the day was relatively uneventful. Apparently, the lack of sleep caught up with me and I slept until 12:30pm, almost 12 hours. So I missed breakfast and ordered room service...not that great. I spent the afternoon at the pool. Considering I am in the desert, the pool is surprisingly cool and I didn't even get burnt and doesn't look like I was even out there unless you could have seen my "pruney" fingers :-)

So for dinner, Shon, Christine, Nicole, baby Ethan and I ventured out to the Lebanese Flower. People have raved about how wonderful it is and it is mentioned in almost every blog I read when doing research to come here. I can now say I have been there and was not impressed. While everything was gorgeous, it was just not all that. I had the grilled chicken and it was a little too blackened for me. Really just tasted like any chicken you would put on the grill. No extra flavor. I tasted Nicole's lamb and it was pretty good. Far better than the lamb I had whe I was in Greece. After waiting for what seemed like FOREVER for the "bill", we went to the Lebanese Bakery (a different building). It smelled wonderful. They were out of chocolate eclairs but Nicole got 1/2 kilo of some random selection of chocolatey stuff. Some was good, some tooooooo rich!!! 

Now off to the Beriut Roaster. It smelled of coffee, curry and sweets. And guess what...they had all of that. Most was sitting in what looked to be burlap sacks and you would just get what you want and put in a plastic bag to be weighed. Quite interesting.

Below are pictures from dinner at the Lebanese Flower. I will try to explain what things are but we don't really know the correct names for stuff.

This was brought to the table first. It had a sliced tomato, lemon, peppers, black & green olives with pitts, red onion, cucumber and some type of lettuce. Also brought to the table was fresh, warm pita bread. The pita bread was the best part of the meal...INCREDIBLE!!! The lettuce was spicy and the black olives were more bitter than I like. The tomato was good.

Then came the hummus. YUMMY!!!!! That's all I have to say about that.

Then this salad came. Not really sure what was on it but it had some kind of dressing and baked pita chips in it. It was the closet thing to a salad I have had since I got here.

This was Shon's meal. That is falafel. It is roasted chickpeas that have been fried. It tasted better than it sounds. I had never had it before.

Haven't seen this in many years. This Diet Coke can has the pop tab from the '80s. All soda cans are this way.

Here is my dinner, grilled chicken. It was ok. The fries were cold and the chicken was took blackened for my taste. However, the pita on top was not warm and was YUMMY!!!!

This is Nicole's Lebanese Flower Grill. Basically, lamb and chicken with some kind of pita on top. She said the one on the top left was good but the one on the right not so much. This is the lamb I tasted that was really good.

And here is her Coke Zero written in Arabic.

Lastly, they brought us some "dessert". We are unsure of what it is. There were actually 4 brought (I forgot to take a picture). Three had some kind of cheese in them and the other one had some kind of fig/date/nut combo in it. It was cold and seemed to be soaked in a syrup. It was too much like a pancake for me and I don't care for pancakes.

Now, this was bought at the Beriut Roaster. We all thought it was interesting. And most of you know that I am an EXTREMELY picky eater. I decided to try this. I convinced Nicole that if she would eat half, I would too. So, I bite it and give her the other half. It was interesting. I kept eating. She finally eats it and has to spit it out. I don't really know how to explain it except that it is some kind of fruit and nut "nougat" that is rolled in crushed mini roses. We saw the mini roses at another store to buy but couldn't figure out what they were for. I guess you roll candy in it. Anyway, it tastes like red roses smell. Will I ask for more? NO WAY!!!! But I can say I tried it.

Hope you all got a good laugh out of this because we sure did!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Medical Checks and a few other things

Today I had to get up EARLY...5:45am because we had our medical checks and I had to be on the bus at 7:15 and needed to eat breakfast since lunch is not an option during Ramadan.

The medical checks took about 4 hours. There were approximately 40 people taken every hour to the Health Screening Center. We were ushered in like cattle and took a number. We were fingerprinted and photographed for our Emirate ID and will receive them in about 2-4 weeks. Then we took a number and the waiting began. We were registered in the computer and another photo was taken. Then we went behind a frosted glass wall where there was another waiting area. We began with blood pressure checks (mine was good), then they weighed and measured how tall we were. And more waiting. Keep in mind if any locals came for check-ups they were escorted to the front. Which was fine by me. They shouldn't have to wait for all of us, just my opinion in which others were open to disagree with and did. Later we saw the doctor and she did a visual check of my skin and listened to my heart and lungs. She said everything was fine and to go wait again. Then another gentleman called me and he gave me a cup to have a urine sample and then drew blood. I knew there would be a urine sample given so I drank plenty of juice at breakfast. At first, I was concerned because when I walked in this room, there is a "trash can" looking thing labeled "Urine specimen only" but there is NO bathroom. I panicked. Thankfully, he showed me where the bathroom was and then the sample was placed in the "trash can" looking thing. After that I was immediately taken for a chest x-ray to check for tuberculosis. We were not told if we would receive results of the tests or if it will be a "no news is good news" type of testing. Oh, well!! No big deal!!

Health Screening Center

The yellow "trash can" for the urine sample

Now on to a few other random things I don't think I have mentioned before. Breakfast is included in our stay here at the hotel which is nice especially since it is Ramadan. Muslims do not eat or drink from sun up to sun down during the month of Ramadan. Not sure how they do it but I have seemed to manage. I eat a nice breakfast of fresh fruit, bacon and pita bread along with fresh squeezed juice, apple, orange, pineapple, grapefruit, mango and others. Also included on the breakfast buffet is pancakes, french toast, porridge, baked beans, red snapper, yogurt, any kind of bread or pastry except there are NO bagels (I miss those!!), salad fixings like tomatoes, olives-green and black, all kinds of cheese, oil and vinegar but no ranch, and for the first time today there was lettuce to go with the salad. Needless to say, breakfast is good.

Ramadan will completely mess up anyones routine or idea of routine. Since there is no eating from dawn til dusk, the country basically shuts down. I guess since they can't eat or drink, they will sleep. This means that MOST stores and ALL restaurants are closed from about 1pm until 8pm. So, there is no going to bed at a regular time since I have probably just eaten. Anyway, everyone emerges at night and the place is "Rockin'". It is the most difficult time to get a taxi and the roads are crazy busy. Even the bank changed its hours to 10am-1:30pm and 8:30-11:30pm. Typically, the bank is open from 10am-10pm with a 30 minute break at 3:30pm. So basically, I have to wait until 7:30ish pm to get anything done or to find someplace for dinner.

About dinner...I have eaten at Burger King, Sbarro, KFC and Pizza Hut delivered. Burger King is by far the best BK I have had EVER!! The fries were awesome and the chicken sandwich was really good. Sbarro was great pizza with a pasta salad that was ok, a little too much vinegar for me. KFC here has a meal that included 2 wraps with chicken tenders, lettuce, tomato and some kind of sauce that had a kick to it, corn on the cob, fries and cole slaw. The cole slaw doesn't look right but I don't eat cole slaw anyway so that was not a problem. The rest of the meal was wonderful. Pizza Hut delivered last night since we stayed at the pool for so long. The pizza was good but it came with a salad that was NOT what I expected. I expected a traditional salad with lettuce and fixin's. This was heavy and soupy and included raw potatoes, beets and other things I could not identify. Needless to say, I won't be ordering a salad anymore. That is defintely one of the foods I miss. Once I get to my place that shouldn't be a problem because I can go to the grocery store and buy the stuff to make one.

I guess that is all for random information for right now. If you think of anything I haven't covered, let me know. Somethings are becoming the "norm" for me so I don't think about it being random or weird.

I am having a much better day in dealing with the "quaintness" of my new apartment and I am actually ready to move to Al Ain and start getting familiar with that place.