October 5, 2011
Time for updates:
· I went to Dubai last weekend with about 20 people, and we rented a hotel apartment on the Marina. It was two stories and huge, on the 18th and 19th floors of the hotel, and we spent the whole day at the pool. And in the morning, us girls served up a real, American-style breakfast: fresh bagels from across the street with Philadelphia cream cheese, OJ and coffee, eggs, and LEGIT bacon… made of pork! (You have to go to Spinney’s, an expat specialty grocery store, to get pork products since it’s against Islam to eat pork or to have it near your food. Therefore, we usually just don’t bother with it, save for special occasions.)
· I’m one of two people in my department taking an online seminar for our new curriculum program, and I will be giving a seminar to everyone else on what I’ve learned. Pretty cool, eh?
· I’m finally getting Internet in my apartment!!! And it’s a bundle, so I need to get myself a TV so I can watch HIMYM and House and Friends. Yay!
· My kids are growing on me. Even the kids who give me trouble have moments that show me how much potential they have. If I can just figure out how to bring it out of them constructively, we’ll all manage a little better.
· My expat class is always super excited when they know I’m coming to class after recess on the days I start with the local class. And when I start the day with them, they give me the saddest looks when I leave after recess.
· My “expat” class has 3 Emiratis, while my “locals” class has 16. I’ll have to go into a deeper explanation of what that means later, but it totally explains the behavior problems I have with my “locals” class.
· My kids are so freaking weird, and I love every second of it!! Example: Ms. Alma brought me a brand new stereo towards the end of the day today so I took it out and plugged it in, but didn’t have any CDs on me so I turned on the radio. Flipped through some stations and the 5 kids left in class danced. And they are WEIRD. They sit at my desk and say, “I’m the Miss now!” even if they’re boys, because they’ve only ever had female teachers. So I gave them a whiteboard marker and sat on the carpet, telling them to teach me something. (They drew letters and numbers and told me to tell them what they were… more or less what I do to them. LOL.) And Khalifa (my tiny, naughty little Emirati boy in my expat class) wanted to go home with me after school today. He’s REALLY coming around… I didn’t think he even spoke English until this week, and now he chatters on and on to me every day.
· Tracy and I ordered in a few days ago for what was probably the best pizza I’ve ever had in my life. I can’t even explain how delicious it was. I’ll just take pictures next time. It was THAT good.
· My kids bring me presents, in various forms. Haya brought me a tiny gift box that had a Snow White eraser and a piece of candy, with a note that said, “I love you Miss Katie”. Mahassen gave me a cookie. And when Ms. Maissa (their Arabic teacher) gives them stickers for good behavior, I always end up with one from somebody or other. Super cute.
· I really think that my greatest accomplishment will be getting these kids to say please and thank you. I swear… “Miss, I want open” as they hand me their Capri Sun juices to open. Or they just hand it to me without a word, so that I’m always saying, “Is that how you are supposed to ask?” Seriously… it’s pretty high up on the list to get them in that habit. J Well… that and brushing their teeth every day.
· Al Wahda Mall has a Steve Madden shoe store… part of me died a little when I walked out of there…
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