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!)

Adorable!  At church for the Family-Friendly service this past week! 

Cute swimmers!

You can check out some videos I put on our YouTube channel - Verowsuae. 

Everytime I see this chocolate I think, "I can't imagine a company would call their product this."  

Stay Tuned...

Here we are in the thick of June and heat is out of control!  It is so hot we rarely play outside.  We have been enjoying swimming though!  And since we always have the same clear skies we can swim all the time!  The kids are doing great swimming and as usual Cole has no fear and just swims away.  Caralyn is finally swimming quite a long distance but still not really comfortable swimming unless it’s to the side or to one of us!  We’re back in good health after another – YES ANOTHER – round of illness!  It was like we were in our own version of Groundhog Day.  But it has passed…

Cole & Caralyn are finishing school this week.  Hard to believe they’re finished with grade1!  We have been blessed with the teachers they had this year.  Each one seemed perfect for our kids!  They have learned so much, are reading so much better, and it’s awesome seeing the confidence in Caralyn.  She is now picking up books on her own to read.  Hopefully they get some great teachers for grade 2 next year!  Inshallah…

We’re counting the days until we get out for summer break.  July 12th can’t come fast enough!  Last week was the week when we no longer had students to teach so it’s hard to feel sorry for ourselves when we go to work and find things to keep ourselves occupied.  I spend my hours checking our Facebook, seeing what our “friends” back home have been up to, checking the local newspapers, and chatting.  Last Thursday we did start exams and we do that for two weeks.  So about 90 minute block a day for exams.  Then if any grade took an English exam, we spend a few hours marking the exams.  When that is finished, we are finished for the day.  Tomorrow we have grade 8, 10, and 11 exams to mark.  So not sure what time we’ll get out.  Don’t you feel sorry for me! 

Jennifer is spending her time organizing her stuff, cleaning her room, enjoying hour long lunches, and who knows what else.  She is enjoying taking tea breaks with her English and Irish co-workers.  She just goes to chat not drink tea.  Her hours are now something like 8 to 12.

Other teachers are always saying, “oh a rough day at work?” with our schedule being so short these days and in my head I tell myself, “Hey – we’ve earned this!”  Which we totally have.  All the long days dealing with the behavior issues, lack of support, and no one caring about any of us isn’t always easy.  But we’ve made it!  One year down – one to go!

The end of the trimester is always interesting because the students all of a sudden have the strong desire for the highest mark they can get!  I’ve dealt with all sorts of students and parents and never – EVER – have had parents ask for higher marks.  And I guess the difference is back home we’d grade various assignments and the averages were averages and that was that.  And we sent home documentation every three weeks notifying the parents where their students grades stood.  Here we don’t do that.  We work all semester on one research project and then typically one or two specific skill based assignments and that is their mark.  And typically at the end of the trimester they find out their mark.  The downside to that is when they find out their mark there is really nothing they can do.  Time is out.  No more classes.  But it doesn’t stop there!  I hear lots of, “Why teacher….Why?”  And then I rehash all the comments I’ve said all trimester long about their efforts and behavior.  And it’s like – HELLO – did you not believe me? But it is what it is!  I have been fortunate enough to not have parents constantly asking for higher marks and then pleading with other teachers to come to me and ask for higher marks.  Other English teachers at my school – not as lucky.  Can you imagine going to get another teacher in your child’s school and asking them to go to a specific teacher and ask for higher marks?  And then to top all that off, you somehow convince the school nurse to go and plea for higher marks.  The nurse.  And all of this after you were told that your child is lazy, disruptive, skips class, etc.  Okay – I’m over it! 

This is typically the season for graduations in the states and it’s not really any different here.  Well graduations are not as typical as we’re used to in the states.  My school had a recognition ceremony and I think it was for all the students, not just the grade 12 ones. But I’m not sure.  The only think I knew about the recognition ceremony was that there was one on Thursday at some school in town and we were not required to go.  Communication here is not something that is common.  But I was reading a neighbors blog and her summary of her schools graduation was great, I thought!  So I included it here: 

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Yesterday we had the grade 12 graduation. This is a 'big' event in the school calendar. As always I bought my own preconceived notions and experiences of what is a typical end-of-year celebration of academic success to the event. I thought I knew what to expect.

I should have known better.

Of course, as is consistent with my experiences in the UAE, this was an event like nothing I've ever witnessed before! Gone were the blue khandoras and black abayas and shailas. The gowns were beyond glamorous. The make-up was a face-mask. The sequins and glitter were beyond comparison. The shoe heels were toe-curling. The flower arrangements, balloon archway and golden carafes of tea and chocolate were in abundance. The time, energy, money and planning that had gone into presenting these beautifully coiffed young women was significant.

The fact that the Sheikha (one of the Sheik's daughters) attended and the level of security surrounding her helped to boost the significance of this event. All but one of the external doors were locked (yes, I know, mum) and 200 cellphones were taken from attendees upon their entrance. Upon entering the auditorium you couldn't be blamed for thinking you were in a totally different world; nay dimension!

Yet, the paradox of this country played out yet again during this graduation ceremony. This lavish affair was surprisingly accompanied by what I considered some rather unusual behaviours/traditions/activities (not sure which is the best word choice here!) by western (or at least NZ) standards.

1. At least 50 girls that I saw arrived very late to the proceedings. They got their cap and gown on and then headed to join their peers in the auditorium during the celebration. No worries. No need to be on time.

1. Whilst an effort to take cell phones off parents was made, during the proceedings I witnessed many mothers chatting on their cellphones and even more local teachers chatting and messaging on theirs while the performances and speeches were being made.

1. There was not one moment in the almost 2 hours (it went on for longer) that I saw where the audience were quiet. There seemed to be no compulsion to hold one's tongue at all during the event.

1. Tea and chocolates and petit-fours were brought around to the audience throughout the proceedings. No problem with eating.

1. No males were allowed. No fathers, no brothers to share in the celebrations...

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And here is a pic from the United Arab Emirates University graduation that a neighbor went to.  She had a student teacher who was graduating with a teaching degree.  I loved this pic! 

 

A month or so ago, Jennifer read some blurb in a local magazine about a photo contest that the  Al Ain Zoo was having.  They are looking for the photos for their 2013 calendar.  So I figured, well I have some interesting pics that I took at the zoo.  I thought they were interesting.  Well apparently they did too!  I got an email last week that one of my photos (guess it was one?) was selected for their 2013 calendar.  And the family is invited to the awards ceremony this Friday.  It’s like a whole evening deal.  They start with a tour of the zoo, then some shows, photo exhibition, award ceremony, and then dinner.  I was soooo excited!  Can’t wait to see what photo they chose!  I’m hoping it’s the penguin one.  That is one of my favorite photos I’ve ever taken!  Can’t wait to see it!  I CAN wait to sweat my butt off in the heat.  That will not be fun.  But I’m super excited!!!  

One of the best things about being in this region is the location to travel to soooo many awesome places. We have a friend coming to visit us July 12th! Then on July 22nd we are heading to Paris for several days before heading home to Houston . And the best part about this trip is that we get money to fly home in the summer and we planned it so our stop is in Paris and we’re not paying anything extra! Heck –we might even make some money on the travel! We’re going to Disney Paris for 3 days. The kids are going to love it! And then we’ll see the Eiffel tower. That’s all we’re interested in, I think. And then this Christmas – we’re heading to South Africa! Never would have thought we’d get the chance to go to South Africa! We’re going to enjoy Cape Town and go do a safari! Our kids are going to love seeing all the animals in the wild! Too exciting!!! We want to get in our travels because before we know it, we’ll be job hunting back in Houston and moving home!

For the time being, we’re enjoying our relaxed time here in the UAE with our friends before we all part and do our own thing for 6 weeks or so. I’m sure September will be here before we know it and we’ll be deep into year #2!

 

Caralyn lost her 4th tooth the other day.  She was saying it was hurting and it was bleeding a little. When she moved it forward I could see the bottom coming up.  So after some convincing, she just kept pushing and BAM! it fell right out.  She was so proud of herself!  Her brother just screamed out of frustration since he's lost zero.  She went to the mall today to spend her money.  That will be a fun time for Cole!

The End Is Near!

The days are dwindling quickly!  Well for me at least!  There are rumors (or rumours) floating around about when the kids will actually stop attending school.  See – here the kids don’t attend school until the “last” day on the school calendar.  They sort of just start trickling away and before we know it there will be no students at school.  We changed our schedule to get out about 90 minutes earlier.  Then we had to go back to the normal schedule for the week our school was getting its inspection done.  Then back to the adjusted schedule.  So that already has sent a message, I think, to the students that the school year is just about finished.  And then this week we stopped doing our morning assembly.  Now we all meet in the school yard and once the national anthem is finished we head to class.  Another sign.  A day or two ago they passed out the final exam schedule.  Previously this was a clue into when it’s time to stop coming and study at home.  So inshallah next week there will be very few classes to teach.  But it’s already happening in grade 11!  This is day three this week where I’ve had less than 6 kids in the class.  Today only 2 and they went to talk to the mudir (principal) about going home.  And they let them go.  So it’s hard to complain when our days get like this and it’s easy to come in go home early.  If only the heat would cooperate. 

We’ve been enjoying our weekends in Dubai lately.  It’s nice to get away from the normal grind and spend the weekend at the beach or doing other things we never have done.  One weekend we headed to Dubai and did the Dubai Dolphinarium.  Here we saw a magic show in addition to the seals and dolphin show.  The kids loved it.  It was what I call hokey but we all enjoyed it.  We also went to a new place in Dubai Mall called Kidzania.  This place is awesome for kids.  They start off by going to the HSBC bank inside and getting their “check” cashed where they can spend it to do certain things or even go “work” at various places and earn money.  We enjoyed watching the kids earn their money and spend of it too.  They did things like work for a phone company, pretended to be a fire fighter, a baker, a dentist.  They spend their money to make their own Coke. Well they think they made it at least.  We spent about 3 ½ hours there and could easily spend the whole day there!  Next time we’ll plan better and get there when they open and stay as long as we can last!  We did have a few issues there with lines.  While we were not surprised at all by the “cutting of lines” it was irritating and we have to do our best to keep our space and explain to the kids that it happens and to get used to it!  We did have to have a discussion with one of the employees about one line issue because Caralyn was going to have to wait even though she was in line.  And anytime we have this issue – I totally understand why some of the locals here have the mentality they do.  Like they’re “entitled” to do what they want. We did have to remind one or two others that there is a line and show them where the end was. It’s only fair, right?!?!?  When we’ve gone to Dubai for the weekend we spend Saturday (our former Sunday) at the beach.  And that is always interesting.

Recently there was an article in the Gulf News about the dress code issues at beaches in Dubai.  They are going to start cracking down on guys who are swimming in their undies and those who come fully clothed to just take photos.  I’ve never seen a lifeguard doing anything at the beach when we’ve gone – that is until last weekend.  Twice the lifeguard called two groups out of the water.  They had folks in their group swimming in just underwear.  So they were asked to leave I guess.  And this was the first time we’ve noticed a sign saying, “no cameras allowed on the beach”. We’ve taken pics several times.  And there were people videotaping their family and friends and such.  But I guess if we’re swimming too then we don’t look like we’re doing anything wrong.  Although I did have to snap the thong speedo dude.

This week has been tough for Jennifer and I since we were both ill.  I started off with some body aches and woke up in the middle of the night with a fever, chills, sweats, and extreme head pressure.  Not fun.  And then I had to do the whole self-discussion of deciding if I can make it through a work day or if I should just see a doctor and then go home and rest.  So since there was a fever, I decided to stay home.  And there’s no “just call in and rest” deal here.  You actually need a doctor’s note for one day off.  So I went to the hospital and three hours later made it home with some meds and a note to rest for two days.  Jennifer gets home early in the afternoon and starts vomiting.  It happened quite a few times and then she decided to head to the hospital.  4 hours later she makes it back home with meds and a note for two days of rest.  So here we were both in bad shape.  And two 5 yr olds to tend to!  But the kids cooperated and were actually good and listened.  Of course bribing with candy helps any kids behave, right?!?!?!  Hopefully we’ll be rested up and feel somewhat normal for the weekend.  Inshallah…

Today is Caralyn’s last day of basketball.  She’s really enjoyed playing.  I think she enjoys doing something that her brother isn’t doing.  Hopefully she’ll want to do it again when they start back up in the fall.  She’s really gained some confidence and such.  She’s also gained a lot of confidence in her academics too – especially in reading.  Just the other day she grabbed a book about seals and was reading rather loudly in the play room.  She’s coming along!  It’s nice to see her come out of her shell a little! 

Before too long we’ll be back in Texas enjoying time with family and friends.  Well after our trip to Paris to visit Disney Paris.  Can’t wait!  And hopefully we can fit a quick trip to the Eiffel Tower too.  It’s nice to be able to visit places we normally wouldn’t.  If we were still in Houston, we wouldn’t even think about going to Paris.  So while it is hard living away from family, we know there are some perks to this location.  And we’re just about half way through this journey.  This time next year we’ll be planning how to sell all our things here we don’t want to go through the huge paperwork trail to head back to the states and pick up where we left off!

Some photos:

The kids started their fun at Kidzania but cashing their check so they can spend some money.  Or they can get to work and earn more!

At the Coke place!  Here they make thier own soda!

Here they were at a bakery making some biscuits.  Not breakfast biscuits - here they call cookies - biscuits.

Cole was working for a bank security place delivering money.

Working for Du - a telephone company.

The Dubai Dolphinarium

We were impressed by these lights.  They tell you if a parking spot is open by the lights!  So if there are all red - keep going to the next row.  Pretty smart!

Jumeriah Beach

This is Lara - the kids' (really Caralyn's friend) friend they met at the beach.  It was really weird at first she was talking to Caralyn and then played in the sand with her and then went out in the water with her.  But I think she just wanted to hang out.  She is from Russia and was visiting Dubai for a week.  They enjoyed her company.

This is what we call a hot mess. 

A week or so ago was spirit week at the kids' school. They did different things each day like wearing clothes backwards, dress as a future career (this is what you see!), a favorite character, mix match clothes, etc.  It made it an easy week of waking the kids up for school!

Dino Live Pics:

The kids used their money to buy these dinosaur fossil blocks.  They scraped and dug out a dinosaur.

We recently had some pics made into canvas hangings.  They are adorable! 

These are 70cm x 50cm.

One of the most common mistakes when our students write is the confusion of the B and P.  Since there is no P sound or letter in Arabic they often choose the wrong one.  Here is a poster that one of Jennifer's students made on the Lamp.  Mary Had A Little Lamp?  Or Lamb?  Another example of how spell check doesn't always help!

I couldn't figure out how to rotate the pic.  But how hilarious is it that a medicine has "retard" in the name.  Really?

Stay Tuned...