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!

 

God is AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!

Friday is the Holy Day here in the UAE. So, Christine, Nicole and I set off to find the church. I had heard and read about it prior to coming here and was anxious to attend. It was amazing!!! The preacher was dynamic and the song service was uplifting. However, we were not out to beat the lunch crowd to the restaurants. Service started at 11 and the preacher began at 11:45 and he preached for 45 minutes. At home, I would be clock watching but here he was so interesting and dynamic that I only looked at my watch and was surprised to see that it was 12:30. Shortly after that he wrapped up and we were dismissed. We will be returning!!! AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
                          God is AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

So, after this amazing service we head to lunch. As we are entering Al Jimi Mall, I notice chickens on the side of the entrance. You never know what you will see here!!!

 

Speaking of never knowing what you will see, as we were leaving the mall, we saw a blue car with a young guy driving. He stopped and let us cross the parking lot in front of him with all our bags. The fact that he stopped is amazing. Most of the time you just have to walk out in front of people to cross, very different from the US in that perspective. Of course, not being a "car" person, I didn't know that it was a Lamborghini so as he passed us, I turned around to read the back of the car to find out. Amazed!!!! Christine and I laughed and said if we didn't have our hands full we would have taken a picture. Well, just our luck! After we got in the car and started leaving, we passed the blue Lamborghini again and this time, I pulled out my phone and took a picture. That is why you see the back of the car. Yes, I was driving and taking a picture behind me!!! Mom, I know, I know..."Dangerous...you are crazy!!!!"  Yep, But I wanted the picture for the blog!

 

 

 



 

Off to the hospital

Well, ice-ing and ibuprofin was not as successful as I had hoped.  The alarm went off at 5:30am and I quickly realized that going to school was not an option. It was a rough night attempting to sleep. As long as I was still, I was ok but to move was quite painful. So, I call my friend that I ride to school with to let her know I won't be coming and then I call, Robina, my Head of Faculty. She tells me it's ok and to go to the hospital and she will take care of my class and putting away anything that the girls may try to get into (markers, stickers, etc).

Well, I'm already up, I might as well go to the hospital now. I call the taxi dispatch and ask for a taxi to take me to Oasis Hospital. The driver comes and I tell him to take me to Oasis. He drives crazy which only makes me hurt even more. I was thankful when I got there. I go in and there is only 1 other person there. I see the registration person and give my insurance  information then he tells me to go to the women's waiting room where I am the only one. Finally, a nice lady comes to get me and takes me to Triage to get all the basics (bp, temp, weight, etc). Then, she tells me to go back to the same waiting area. Really???? At this point, sitting and standing are extremely painful and I'm ready to be in one place.

Finally, about 10 minutes later, a guy comes to get me to see the doctor. I go in, he tells me to sit....again. Then the doctor asks questions and tells the guy who came to get me what to type in the computer. The doctor would tell him every letter and click to make....wouldn't it just be faster to do it yourself????  I guess not! I explain what happened and he asks me to stand and he pushes on my low back in 3 places then says he will give me Celebrex. No x-rays, nothing. Oh well!!

Then I ask about some prescriptions that I need to be refilled from home. He agrees to give me 2 of them and I need to see another doctor for the other 2. Ok, no big deal. But wait, I have to go back to the waiting area before I can see the other doctor. Now there are about 4 women in the waiting area. I'm no longer alone. More waiting and then they call me again and I go see Dr. Brent. I really liked him. American doctor from Philadelphia. Super nice and answered tons of questions. He agrees to give me 1 of the remaining 2 prescriptions and tells me I will have to go see another doctor for the last one. However, he writes a prescription for it and tells me to go to Al Ain Hospital Pharmacy to see if they have it but that they may tell me I have to see one of thier doctors to get it. Ok, no problem!  I ask him about the note and the stamp for work and he takes care of that too and tells me I cannot return to work until Wednesday. Now, I'm off to the pharmacy to get the prescriptions that I can have. Ahh, all done! Now to find a taxi to get home.

I happened to walk outside at the same time a taxi was dropping off someone else. Thank you Lord for that small blessing!! Now, that I am home, I am in the bed and trying to stay as still as possible. Please pray that the pain eases and I am ready to go back to my girls at school on Wednesday.