So much to say!

There have been many things happening the last few days. We had the last few of our "free" days, and began the work week on Sunday. This week our orientation is focusing on the schools and the reason for the reform, the vision that is in place, and where we are going from here. In the morning, we have guest speakers with presentations, and in the afternoon we take buses to a MODEL school for Arabic lessons and reflection time. One of our speakers this week was Ask Ali. I recommend looking him up, he gave a great presentation. He has lived in many countries, and he went to school in Canada and the U.S. He is a local Emirati and had a wealth of knowledge to share in a very personable manner. We all got a copy of his book, as well. http://www.ask-ali.com
Our Arabic lessons are very challenging because this language uses sounds that we do not have in the English language.  For example, they make an almost snorting sound that is almost a combination /h/ /k/ /snort/.  I don't really know how else to describe it and I don't mean that to sound awful but I can't make the sound yet and our teacher said the kids won't understand us if we can't do it.  Which is interesting in a way, yet understandable, because when I think about it, there are SO many forms of English here with different accents.  There are people from New Zealand and South Africa and England and Australia and Scotland... and oh boy, if I don't listen carefully, I will miss half of what they are saying if they are really talking fast!!  So if you think about it, the 'accent' that we have by not making the sounds correctly will be confusing to the kids.  Not to mention the variety of English they will be exposed to in the coming years of the 10 year reform.

The other day I rode the bus to Ikea because it was one of the only places open.  It was Friday, the holy day, and everything else was closed.  I figured that I needed to pick out furniture anyway, so I headed over.  I decided to take the city bus with a couple of friends because it is much cheaper than a taxi (1 dirham, so about 27 cents as opposed to 20 dirhams).  When we got on the bus, we realized that they are segregated by male and female.  The women sit in the front of the bus, and the men sit or stand in the back.  Even if a family gets on together, the man must go to the back of the bus.  This is a large part of the culture here.  When a family is walking together, the women often will be seen walking a few paces behind their husbands. 

I also went to the Iranian market one evening.  We thought that since it was on the route of the Big Red Bus Tour, which is a pricey tour, it would be a great place to see.  Well, we got there, after getting a little help from the hotel staff to explain to the taxi driver where we needed to go.  Sometimes the taxi drivers do not speak very good English, and because there are no addresses here and we do not know our way around, it is challenging to relay your destination.  Anyway, we got there and I don't think it was what we expected.  We should probably have figured to expect the unexpected.  We were thinking we would grab some fruit and veggies for dinner... that didn't happen.  We got out of the taxi and immediately saw tons of furniture, tents set up like buildings filled with lots and lots of STUFF, and further down many, many plants.  The Iranian men kept jumping out trying to sell us their items.  It was a little intimidating, but we survived.  The next day, I was talking with someone who has lived here for a few months, and she explained that many of these men are only here because they need to support their families.  They live in one room with 5, 6, or 7 other men and work very long hours, but they value their jobs and would never do anything to risk them because they will be deported if they do, and they need to send the money home to their families.  They don't have t.v. in their home countries, and they don't have it here.  So when they see westerners, or us (who were the only customers in the entire place) walking through, we are like movie stars to them.  It was a different perspective and not one that we had thought of before.

Last night I had the best Chinese food ever.  It was so delicious and I never knew Chinese food could taste so good.  The chicken fried rice was NOT yellow and it was soft and yummy.  The cashew chicken was just perfect, mixed with veggies.  I don't even know how to describe it other than by saying, hop on a plane and let's go eat some!!!

Our trip out to Al Ain to see the accommodations last week never happened.  It was canceled on Thursday, and was tentatively rescheduled for Saturday.  That never happened, either.  So we have yet to be to Al Ain.  Today we were told that we will be moving to a hotel in Al Ain on Thursday before moving into our accommodations.  I was also informed that I, along with another small group of teachers, will not be living in the large complex dedicated to Al Ain teachers because our school district is about an hour away.  I knew the district was far, but they are going to be providing us with a bus to take us to school, so they are putting us in a complex closer to the south side of the city to cut down on transport time.  So it is teachers in my district, and one even further away who will be living wherever they are putting us.  We have seen pictures of where the other teachers are living and know a little about that area, but have no idea about where we are going... not even what it is called.  So hopefully in the next few days that mystery will be solved.  I will probably have to take a bus up to Dubai to get furniture because the delivery to Abu Dhabi is 7 to 10 days, and I really would like to be sleeping in a bed when school starts.  Dubai is supposed to have a larger stock and same day delivery.  So, inshallah, it will work out!  Tomorrow we find out our exact schools, so we will know who from our group we will be working with.  That will be nice.  I'm sure there will be people from the first group that traveled, and the next couple of groups coming, too. 

The weather is interesting.  Some days I feel like I am going to melt, and others, like today, it is not bad.  I did laundry in my bathtub because they do not have coin-op here and instead count out each individual piece and it is very expensive.  It would not dry inside because of the moisture from the AC, and it did not dry outside either overnight because of the humidity.  However, the humidity must be low in the morning because it dried right up in the hour I went to breakfast this morning and I switched it out for new clean laundry waiting in my room.  Another good thing about Al Ain is that there is less humidity, so while I am waiting for my appliances to arrive, I will be able to wash and DRY my clothes inexpensively with the aid of the fancy hotel sink, tub and balcony!

Tomorrow we go to see the Mosque.  The women need to cover completely and will be given abayas and shaylas as we enter.  Men need to wear long sleeves and long pants, which is part of our dress code anyway.  Shoes must be removed to enter, as well.  This will be a great historical lesson on Abu Dhabi, and I am looking forward to it! 

Time is flying and I can't believe I have been here for almost two weeks already!!