The Verows @ UAE!: And The Winner Is....

The Dates are falling! I've been taking photos of them over the last few months. Now they're mostly in nets so when they fall off, the net catches them. They are very hard right now.

The kids are enjoying their summer – just hanging out with the babysitter, swimming, and sleeping in. And by sleeping in – that just means up around 7ish. And it is hilarious how they think they are so independent now. Cole got his cereal all by himself, poured the milk, and had no issues. Fast forward a week – he repeats the same task except the milk slips and quite a bit ends up on the floor. And of course he had no worries. And if I hadn’t come downstairs, the milk would have been there waiting for one of us to tell him to clean it up. They are enjoying playing with their friends.

This is a note Cole's teacher gave him. Too sweet!

We had a great time the Al Ain Zoo. One of my photographs was selected for their 2013 calendar. There were over 600 photos submitted. We were invited to an event for the winners. We were given a tour of the zoo on the tour train and we did a few rounds. Then we were taken to the education centre where they did like a private bird show with some parrots and cockatiels. Cole even was selected at a volunteer. He used his hand to pretend the shoot the bird and then the bird rolled over to play dead! It was very cute. Then we rode the tour train over to the African mixed exhibit where they had all the photos displayed and we had juice and ice cream. We took photos, and then they did the awards ceremony. We were given a bag with a Fuji Polaroid camera, posters, stuffed animal, t-shirt, hat, and a year membership to the zoo. And then we went to the outdoor evening bird show where they talked all about falcons (very popular here in the UAE!), owls, and eagles. We ended the evening with a dinner. We had a great time despite the temps were probably about 115! Ouch! I think we all lost weight since we sweat so much!

This was my winning photo.

I was thinking the chimp and penguin were better but they liked this one.

Cole wanted to hold all the animals and take pictures with them. Caralyn wanted nothing to do with them. She wouldn't get close enough for a picture.

And how come I forget customs in this region sometimes... like you never shake hands with a muslim woman. Well Rhoda (seen above handing me the award - I think that was her name!) was at the sign in table and she said, "Oh Shawn - nice to meet you!" And what did I do - reach my hand out to shake hers. HELLO! And then of course I had to say something. So I said, "oh sorry - it's the heat - I'm loosing my memory!"

So Tuesday June 26^th, I was sitting in the English Department playing hearts on the computer. While I know that this is not necessarily what us Americans are used to doing at the end of the school year. Proctoring exams for 90 minutes and then what you do the rest of the time it up to you. We leave around 10 if we have no exams to mark. So anyway… On this day one of the local teachers at my school (and by local – we mean a person who is from any Arabic speaking country – not just an Emirati fellow) came in and said there was long list from our employer and it listed all the folks who are having their contract ended. So while it is basically like getting terminated, I think it’s more like getting laid off. And I wonder, “What do they do now?” since they are here for work and now there is no work. I suppose they can get hired at one of the many private schools in the area. And what makes it even more interesting is that one of the social workers at my school was one of the “chosen ones”, and he (so it appears to most of us) does more work than the other two social workers we have. So it begs to ask, “Why THIS social worker?” Well…the answer is obvious…the other two social workers are Emirati. And of course they have some wasta – clout – and know their jobs are secure. They’re probably always going to be employed regardless of what happens because of who they are. But this is where we say, “Just the way it is!”

All us cycle 3 (cycle 3 is like high school) teachers met up to mark all the grade 12 English exams. It’s quite a process. You go to a school and report to your assigned room. You sit at a table with other teachers (locals and EMTs). You are assigned a certain section and mark away! And no one wants essay marking. But you get what you get! So you do this process for 5 hours. And not one day – but TWO! So we spend typically an average of 10 hours marking exams. And we do get a break with some dinner. Not that many folks actually eat the dinner. But it’s a nice gesture. And we do this whole process 3 times a year. And we get paid 400AED each trimester we do our marking. The cost is about $108USD. It’s not how I’d like to spend my evenings. But it’s part of the job. Well for some of us it is. Turnout at this gig is always low. Last trimester my room had ½ of the folks who were assigned to it. And yet our workload never changes. And of course these folks who do not go – get no consequences. And like any human – if you have no consequences for your actions – then you do what you do and you don’t care about the rest. And the kicker, I think, is that not ALL (locals and EMTs) English teachers are required to mark these exams. Apparently if you are not qualified to teach high school English, then you are not asked to mark these exams. However – they obviously deem you educated enough to teach these students trimester after trimester but you can’t mark an exam. Very interesting. Does it make sense? Of course not! As we say here, “when things seem logical –they’ll do the opposite!”

We’re anxiously awaiting another visitor to the UAE! Our friend, Dana, is coming in two weeks! Can’t wait! And of course we’re super excited that we get another visitor – but the fact that our summer vacation is FINALLY here is even more exciting! Part of our contract is that we are provided a travel allowance for all of us each summer. We booked our flights a month or so ago hoping to save some money. And we were a little leary about it, since we were not sure what we’d receive for our travel allowance. Well luckily we got more than we needed for our place tickets. And that was AWESOME! So we get to travel to Paris then to the states and the flights are on our employer. And our time at Disney Paris – mostly covered by our employer since they were generous with the travel monies! We have friends who are really taking advantage of our location and traveling all over Eastern Europe for quite a few weeks. And they won’t have to pay anything out of their own pockets! This feeling makes all the stress from the long school year and chaos worth every penny. Well more like worth ever dirham!

As I reflect (had to throw out an education buzz word!) over the past 9 ½ months we’ve been living away from home there are several things that constantly go through my mind. I created a Letterman’s TOP 10 of my thoughts that are the most recent:

10) The memories my kids will have with them forever!

9) I can’t believe we actually move across the world

8) Can’t wait to get back to Dubai for the weekend

7) I miss my family and friends back home

6) I can’t wait to get back to a “normal” school

5) I’m so glad we’ve made some awesome friends here

4) So thankful my kids have yet to be homesick and have never been sad about moving

3) I look forward being at a school where I am informed regularly, confident, and trusted

2) Can’t wait to travel during our next year – especially for our South African Christmas

And the most frequent thought that slips to my forefront –guess for reminder purposes:

1) That bonus check at the very end will make it all worth it. Right?

ONLY IN THE UAE...Can you get a car wash (inside and outside for about $8USD) and a hair cut!

I've been trying to learn new recipes! And I've had fun making new things from scratch! I've made some cajun chiken pasta, fried pickles, and in this picture I made a homemade alfredo sauce with soem blackened chicken. (Would have been better if I had a grill!)