Transfers...wanted and unwanted!

Hard to believe the end of January is this week!  And the end of the month meant pay day!  Well for some at least!  There were several LT’s who did not get paid last Wednesday and unfortunately I happened to be one of them!  The good thing for us is that we have two salaries and are used to living on Jennifer’s salary so it’s worked out okay for us.  I just need to figure out why I didn’t get paid and when it’ll happen!  I’m sure ADEC will get it all sorted out….and we’ll throw an inshallah on that too!

This week we received our kids’ first report card.  Or marks as they call them here!  I remember my grandmother asking me periodically, “How are your marks, Shawn?” And I would think marks…like an injury I was waiting to be fully healed or what?  But they love marks here! I still say grades, and I’ll hear a “chu” (pronounced shoe – meaning what is Arabic) from a few kids.  Sorry…Back on track!  So we get their report cards and while some grades we were surprised they did that well in, there were some areas of concern.  And we wanted to make sure we didn’t discuss each other’s grades all together so as to not have any issues later on.  They both did poorly in Arabic.  Well I say poorly – 58 and 67 – which here is passing!  So technically they passed all their classes.  I remember using that as an excuse!  Aside from Arabic – Cole did great – all A’s and B’s.  Ms. Sara said she loves having Cole in her class and he is always excited to share and participate – especially in Science.  The school has a Science Club that she was helping out with and she invited three of her students to go and participate in the club even though it was for grade 2 and up.  Cole loved it.  They did some writing with “invisible ink” using lemon juice and then when you put it over a candle it turned the liquid brown and you can see the drawing or message.  He got an award too from his teacher.  Caralyn did great in English which was the area we were worried about in the beginning.  We are going to do some math reinforcement at home to help bring up that grade.  Ms. Emily is very proud that Caralyn is enjoying school and that she is beginning to want to participate more than the previous months.  She has made a new friend, Kanna, who is also quiet and shy and Ms. Emily said they are perfect together.  We met the Arabic teacher and her first comment was, “Cole is naughty, but very smart!”  We were not surprised…not at all!  But the school has an issue there because they go to Arabic with another class and while the other class is being taught; his class just sits there and does nothing.  So can we blame him for being “naughty”?  Not at all!  And the worst part of it all is that the final average was only the final grade.  So you expect a grade 1 kid to take one exam at the end of the trimester and that’s their average?  That’s nuts.  But they’re changing that this trimester.  I felt like an Alief parent for a minute thinking, “it’s only Arabic – not like he’ll need that grade back in the states,” but it’s the idea of doing well in school so we’ll work on that.  And I gave her my number/email  (another déjà vu moment!) to call/write if there was a behavior issue.  As a teacher – I would never wait 4 months and not call a naughty child’s teacher.  But we’re not in Kansas anymore!  And it’s even worse that she sees us every day when we pick up the kids.  But anyway…we put it all into perspective!

We decided to try something new this weekend – ice skating!  We had a blast.  Jennifer didn’t last long – she said the skates hurt her feet.  I think I had more fun than the kids!  I was sweating so much – guess it was so much work.  We even skated with a kid in Jennifer’s class – Na’ama.  Caralyn says they are friends now.  We tried to explain to Caralyn that we don’t really want her at our house since she’s Jennifer’s student – but Caralyn wants to play more with her.  Maybe a park or something.  I’m sure Na’ama will be telling all the kids at school that she saw Ms. JenFar at the mall!

We’ve both have had our observations now too.  It wasn’t really that big of deal. You pick the date and period they come too.  How much easier can it get?  So that’s another hurdle completed.  Now we have these portfolio’s that have to be “audited” by our administration.  It’s even funnier – that at my school we’ve never had a meeting to really go over what exactly goes in the portfolio and such….love it!  It’s another one of those ‘learn as you go’ things! 

The weather here is starting to warm up a little.  This week we didn’t have all our morning assembly’s since it was “so cold” outside!  It did actually get into the lower 40’s and the highs around 60.  So now with high’s in the 70’s it’ll be perfect weather! 

My school did have a change this week – they transferred an LT to another school.  And he was told one story how we had too many teachers, and such.  Then we heard another from an Arab teacher who typically tells it like it is regardless if it’s not the popular thing to say.  It’s called reality people!  So he tells us the principal requested that the LT be transferred.  He wants an Arab teacher instead.  So it makes you stop and go, “uh oh”….but I think he wants an Arab teacher because he knows what these classes are like. It’s the 7^th graders.  They are a mess!  And the LT who is being transferred had two issues with them.  And it’s one of those situations where it’s the kids’ word against the teacher’s.  And so since he’s been transferred, guess who takes this class?  ME!  And I knew it would be since I have the least amount of classes.  And I’m ready for the challenge I guess. Ready or not, right?

I’m also going to put in a transfer to teach at a cycle 1 school (elementary).  At the start of the year, we were told that they were feminizing all the schools – meaning no males would be teaching in elementary grades.  Well the latest email update said the feminization situation was still being discussed.  So I got the impression they might not be doing it. And it’s hard to understand why they are doing it anyway.  We’re in a culture where boys (from early on) are taught (indirectly) that they are superior to women and such.  In a family if the father is gone, or dies, then the oldest son takes charge – even if he’s 15.  I wish I could have run my family when I was 15!  HA!  So anyway… it’s no wonder these female LT’s have such a difficult time dealing with these boys. But there are some who are finally seeing progress.  I think the number one reason for me to transfer is to actually teach.  I want to feel rewarded to see kids really learn English.  And I’d get to teach English, Math, and Science.  So it all goes back to I want to really teach, and feel some sense of progress/reward personally and professionally.  If I don’t get the transfer then I’ll keep “playing school” as one neighbor says!  And with any transfer there is a risk associated with it. I could end up farther out and such.  Time will tell!  And it’ll be awkward to tell my principal since he has to sign my transfer form.  But I think he’ll understand…well hopefully.  I’m just going to approach it from the whole side of this is the grade level I am experienced with.  Besides…he’s got to know there is not really good deep teaching going in in high school here. 

This week in all of my classes at some point - we all had a laugh over the word synonym.  The kids always crack up when I say synonym.  And then they all repeat is quite a few times and laugh.  I think, "finally you're willing to repeat a word to practice saying it!" 

Here are this week's photos:

JenFar went on a trip to the Date Palm Friends Society. 

They were taught all about the date palm!

Jennifer brought us a sussy - these date filled muffins. They are actually really good.

This is impossible!  Cole's class did an activity about things being impossible. 

 They cut out pictures from magazines and newspapers.

Caralyn's examples of the 5 themes of geogrpahy! 

Cole's award.  The not being tricked part was because when they were reviewing for their final exam in math, they were coming up with answers that are there to trick you!  And Cole was good at creating answers that he knows students will pick and he would explain to the class why. Ms Sara was very impressed!  He'll do great at standardized testing!

If you are "friends" with me on facebook - you might have seen this.  The kids' school is having student council elections this week. And there are posters everywhere.  I saw this photo (the kid pictured is not the one running I don't think). It's very small but I noticed fingers - and zoomed in and sure enough! 

Pajama Day at school!

They cooked pancakes too!

Cole's name in Arabic.

A cow at the gas station. Guess he's being sold?  Bought?

 He let out all kinds of moo's too!

I think they ordered enough happy meals!

The kids used gliders (adults can use them too!) to help them get around the ice.

It's gotta be hard to ice skate in a kandora.  If you fall I guess the kandora just rides up your legs a you go down? 

We couldn't stop laughing when we first got on the ice.

Not an "on purpose" pose...it was more of 'do anything you can to help yourself not fall' move!

I was getting good!  I could turn around and skate backwards and then go forward again without ever stopping. I did see one student - so tomorrow I'll hear, "teacher - you ice skater?" 

Na'ama and Caralyn

Cotton Candy fingers!

I've seen these Lifebuoy ad's in all the bathrooms. 

This one cracked me up.

Does he even know what they symbol is? 

And here are some new arabic phrases for you to learn:

(disclaimer: these are not written the correct way - but phoneticaly I think they'll work)

1) ek tube - write

2) ma araf - I don't know

3) ek tu biss ma - write your name - I use this daily and the kids crack up when I do!

4) tha rot (not rot like rotting but rot with a slight roll of the r) - fart



Stay Tuned...

And The Top 3 Are...

Let’s start backwards!

Today was actually a great sight to see.  This morning, in the cold (more on weather later!), they honored the top three students from every class.  They started with grade 6 and went through grade 12, called out the names, handed them a certificate, a gift, and of course they paused to take a photo.  They photograph EVERYTHING here in the schools!  There were several parents who also would meet their child at the table, shake all the hands, and stand for the photo shoot. There was one mother, and she of course didn’t shake anyone’s hand.  It was good to see parents there and these children rewarded.  The kids I knew deserved the award.  This ceremony lasted about 40 minutes all while we all stood there – kids and teachers.  It was great to see classmates hoot and holler for their classmates when they walked up to get their award.  And there was never any boo’s or anything.  It was finally something positive for those who really deserve it!  The gift they received was a watch.  A rather nice gold watch.  And this ceremony just goes along with this idea that so many of the students in these schools want to be #1!  Their parents expect them to be #1!  Parents will even ask, “Is my child number one in your class?”, because that is what they expect.  And you would think that with the competitive nature of the students, their behavior as a whole would be better – not so much.  And I also think there are students who know they will never be able to beat out, academically, some students so they don’t bother trying.

Another fun thing today – the kids started their music lessons!  Cole is learning to play the guitar.  Caralyn is learning to play the keyboard.  They were very excited!  The music teacher, Mr. Jude, from their school is doing the lessons at our villa.  And it wasn’t 10 minutes into the first lesson when the doorbell rang and some kids were there asking, “Is Mr. Jude at your house?”  Yes – we’re the cool house where the music teacher comes!  I wonder if we can a discount for free advertising!  He is going to come twice a week for a month and we’ll see where we stand with interest and such.  Hopefully they will stay interested.  And then the noise will commence!  I will start my violin lessons – inshallah – soon!  I’m going to have my coworker do it for now.  I might even just have the music teacher do mine as well – if he can! 

So the weather here has turned rather chilly over the last day or so.  Today it was very cloudy and windy and the high is only like 61.  The low was 47.  That is winter here!  So this morning when we had our assembly for the top 3 kids – it was chilly standing there.  There was supposedly some rain the night before too. 

The kids’ had two birthday parties this weekend!  Well it started out with one – and only for Caralyn.  And of course, the day she got the invite, she couldn’t wait to tell Cole she got invited to a party for her friend and he didn’t!  Cole didn’t really say much to her about it but we knew he wanted to go.  And the next day they were arguing in their room about something and she brought up the fact that he was not invited to the party.  And he tried to continue in the argument but all Caralyn kept saying was, “YOU’RE STILL NOT INVITED!” And then it turned into her screaming that to him quite a few times!  When we got to the party at the mall – the mother was talking to another mother who happens to work at the kids’ school and they asked Jennifer where “the boy” was.  Jenn said he is outside, that we’d be back to get Caralyn when it was over.  The mother then said, “No, tell the boy to come, come!”  So Cole ended up getting to go to the party.  I don’t think Caralyn really cared at that point.  Then Saturday we had a party for another friend who lives a few doors down. Enough parties!

Last Thursday we did something new – bowling in the UAE!  We went to the mall with some friends and had a good time!  The kids enjoyed it – well only really when they were bowling.  They had a hard time understanding that when it’s not your turn you shouldn’t be sliding around where the bowlers are, playing with the ball that come out of the shoot thing, just bowling when you think it’s your turn, etc!  But they did have fun.  We even saw some folks in kandoras and abayas bowling.  One girl had her abaya hiked up and tied around her waist!  

I recently saw this CNN news article that talks about the whole desalinization process that the UAE uses to provide drinkable and usable water for various things.  It was very interesting and the UAE is trying to take action to reduce their carbon footprint!  But with all the paper that gets wasted in this country – there is lots of work to do!  Like anywhere I suppose!  Check out the story:

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/20/world/meast/carbon-cost-water-uae/index.html

Jennifer had a parent meeting at school this week.  I told her to writ e about it: I was expecting very angry parents since these were the first set of marks that had been sent home.    My principal said to be patient with the “noisy” parents.  But fortunately I had none.  All moms were very happy.  I talked to one mom and she was telling me that her daughter gets with her sister and tells the sister to call her Mrs. Jennifer.   She says she plays school and asks the girl what things mean just like I must.  She says she loves English, Math, and Science too much.  They like to say that.  Mrs. I love you too much.  Mrs. I love you 22.  It is so cute but odd.  Another mom told me that her daughter likes my straight hair.  I told her that the girls did but Miss Fatima, my partner, likes it curly.  She told me that I Iook like a baby with the straight hair.    

What Jennifer didn’t write is they don’t call her Mrs. Jennifer – they say it more like Jen Far.  So it’s, “Oh, Mrs. Jen Far…” Angela and I started using JenFar too!

 Here are some photos from the sandbox:

Cole made Joey's birthday card.  Who is the guy with the sword? 

 It's four arms - from Ben 10! 

Cole is liking his guitar!

Cole, Cene, and Caralyn - Cole was rocking his cross necklace at the mall!

Lost a leg?

Slightly blurry...we'll blame the photographer on that one!  But after JenFar took the photo, she looked at it and said, "I didn't know you were a disabled bowler!" 

Serious throwing going on here!

Her league days came back to her!

Cole tried everything - all the throwing and rolling options. 

Still lost with 6 points.

Check out Joe Cool! 

And at one point he walks up to me with this black loud light up gun he got for Christmas, and just looked at me and then shot me up! 

He thinks he's the terminator now!

LOVED THIS PHOTO! 

This is Cole, Cene, and Caralyn @ Al Jimi Mall

Jen Far

So we're expanding our food options.  Well Cole and Caralyn are.  I was eating some green olives - already sliced with no pimentos - and they wanted some.  Now they love them!

What's with the pose?  Too much SASS!

At Joey's birthday party!

If you don't like gruesome stuff - don't look below!  So Joey, about an hour before his party, fell walking down the stairs.  And with these marble stairs of course there has to be damage!  So he cut his head.  And I had to take a photo.  Looks awesome zoomed in!

Another Week In The Sandbox...

One week down – 10 to go until the next break!  This week brought on some interesting things.  Started out rough for me being so homesick and dreading being back in these classrooms here.  Each day I would have a few hours of blah just going through the motions of being here and teaching.  And then I’d get to my 11^th graders – and life was immediately better!  So few of them have shown up this week it’s been a breeze dealing with that group.  Sunday we got out early.  Monday only 5 of my 11^th graders showed up.  Of course all of my 9^th graders showed up all week!  Then Tuesday and Wednesday there was less than 10 kids.  And come Thursday only two were there and they were going home after period 2.  And my one 9^th grade class was nowhere to be found.  Not sure where they went or what they were doing but a few of them did tell me they were going on some school trip to see some sort of police stuff.  So I’ll have to find out tomorrow what their trip was all about.  I am guessing it was to what used to be called the Heritage Village where they talk about various customs in the UAE and they do have a lot on the police and armed services.  Jennifer’s class went on Wednesday to the same exhibit. 

This weekend we just hung out and enjoyed being outside and playing.  The kids love just riding bikes, and playing with all their friends.  Next weekend we’re going to either go bowling or ice skating.  Something new for us here in the UAE!  Later in the month we’re going to spend a weekend in Dubai and take advantage of the Dubai Sales – where apparently the whole emirate of Dubai has massive sales.  This month long sale thing was set up by the government or something.  We’re also going to enjoy the beach that weekend too!  Since it’s warming up, the water should be perfect.

The weather here is starting to feel warm.  We’re having lows around 60 and highs around 80.  And we think 80 feels hot in the sun – we are dreading the April, May, and June weather. 

One thing that has been VERY different for us is the morning prayer call.  Since last Thursday it has been SO loud!  Thursday it woke quite a few people up.  Then this morning – around 5:15 – it was so loud we thought the guy was at the foot of our bed.  We asked our local guy and he isn’t sure why it’s so loud now – but we all think they must have upgraded their broadcasting speakers or something.  Not something you want to wake up to – especially when 30 minutes later the alarm goes off! 

I am finally out of my homesick funk - for the most part.  I was telling someone that I felt like I was a menopausal woman who was refusing hormone replacement therapy.  And of course minus the hot flashes.  But now that the week has finished and we're in a routine it's better.  I do have to pay attention to how much negativity I let myself get sucked into because I know that doesn't help.  I read an article this week on dealing with homesickness (there are LOTS of folks who are homesick here - those who went home for Christmas and those who did not!) one of the things was staying positive.  It's so easy to get wrapped up in the complaining about work, America (I work with two Americans who are determined to never go back and so sometimes they get on their soap box and they can't understand why we will go back to our same city and stay in our profession, and even go back to the same schools we left. But we all came here for different reasons and such), and life in general.  So there were a few times I put on headphones and just listened to music to keep away from the whine-fest!  So I think if we get out more and experience more things, we'll be in great shape!  And let's go ahead and throw an INSHALLAH on that too!  Or as one of my co-workers says, "that's under inshallah regulations!" 

Here are some random photos:

It was a winter wonderland at Al Ain Mall.

These photos below are from this small area where the kids can ride these ATV style indoor cars - and they have a track to follow.  The kids loved it.  It was all about a competition for Cole.  Caralyn, at one point, decided to go the wrong way - in attempts to beat her brother I think.  And of course - Cole had to wear his Ben 10 shirt today!

We went to this store in Al Ain Mall - Heritage Traditions - and they had these camel napkin rings.  We couldn't pass them up.  It'll be cool to have them on our table when we move back to the states. 

Cute photo of Cole!

We tried camel milk today!  It isn't nasty but it's not something I'd keep drinking.  It tastes different than milk.  Caralyn was ready to try it - Cole - not so much.

He finally gave in at some point and took a small taste. 

Just a cool photo of our American breakfast I made this morning.  Grands flaky biscuits (with jelly we brought from home - grape jelly - we can't find any here), applewood smoked bacon (that costs us $9 for 10 slices!), and eggs for Jenn. 

When we were cleaning out something Jennifer found this newspaper and she assumed I was keeping it for some reason and it was all in Arabic.  Well I thumbed through it and couldn't realize why I would have kept it except when I saw this editorial cartoon.  No caption really needed - it speaks for itself, right?

Stay Tuned...