Sister Visit

So my next post was supposed to be on the camel race I attended in February.  Unfortunately I'm still trying to open the file my friend sent with all the pictures and videos (I forgot my phone at home and had to use her camera).  So I will table that post for another day when I have nothing else to talk about.

For now let's talk about my first visitors!!!  At the beginning of March my two sisters - Asani and Briana, along with our friend Traci came to visit me.  I was so excited my family was going to see where I have been living for the past seven months.  Of course the time went by too fast, especially because they were only here from Friday to Monday.  That's not enough time when you're traveling internationally FYI.  I was just as tired as they were if not more by the time they left.  Check out our weekend together.

Our view. No, not from my house.  Our view from our hotel room in Abu Dhabi!

First stop, desert safari.

Dune bashing time.  EEEEE!

Desert photo shoot....

gone wrong!

Man down!  It's not easy walking up these sand dunes.

My attempt at sand boarding was a fail.  I wasn't on a big enough slope.  Therefore I didn't move at all.

Guess what day it is??  Not hump day, but we got enough time on the camel for some photos.

We were ready for some action on the ATV's. 

Time for entertainment and dinner.

Day one complete and we were ready for some sleep!

Ready to hit the road on day two.

Brunch time.  Coffee anyone?

Sightseeing in Dubai

Day Three, back in Abu Dhabi at the Grand Mosque

 Emirates Palace

Gold to go!  This is first gold ATM machine in the UAE.

On the steps of the palace.

Briana hugging my car.  She called it a clown car.  We definitely looked like clowns after packing ourselves and all of the luggage in there.

Last group photo after a great dinner at the souk.

That's it for this visit.My next group of visitors will be here at the end of April.  For now I'm getting ready for my Spring Break.  I'm heading back to Thailand.   Three years ago I had the opportunity to visit Phuket when a friend of mine was teaching English in Thailand.  This time I'll be in the city of Bangkok and then head back to Phuket to hang out at the beach.

Food Truck Fest

I'm back!!!  I have a few things to share, but I'll be breaking it up in three different post just to keep you guys coming back for more!

First let's talk about this weather.  I know if you are reading this and live on the east coast of the United States you might get upset about what I'm about to describe as winter here in Al Ain.  Since I've been back we have been experiencing our winter season.  The days start of cool somewhere in the 50's ( I say somewhere even though it's most likely the high 50's because we have windy days that make it feel like it could be the low 50's), by the afternoon we are in the 70's, and in the evening back to the 50's.  You would think that this weather is no big deal, especially if you're experiencing a snow storm every week.  Well, at school I started seeing boys coming to school wearing coats (yes coats, not jackets), scarves, mittens, and hats to keep them warm.  Oh, and this wasn't just the kids who were trying to stay warm, the women and my job were wrapped up as well.  Lately the weather has been very back and forth.  During the week it will be nice spring weather and then by the weekend it could be cool enough to throw on a jacket.   It's very unpredictable at this point.  I said all of that really to make some of you jealous but also to use it as a segue into my next topic.

The weekend of Valentine's Day, Al Ain hosted a food truck festival.  Based on how the weather had been we all knew that it would be a nice event outside at the park.  We were right about the event being nice, but we were wrong about the weather.  Our winter had taken a break (similar to what is happening in Atlanta from what I hear) and it was hot.  It was like if you are in the sun you are sweating hot!  We thought our winter here was officially over, but we were wrong.  But like I said the event was nice and we had a good time.

The food truck festival was a small event (small amount of trucks and literally small trucks), but it was big for Al Ain.  We usually have to travel to the Abu Dhabi or Dubai to attend a festival.  Luckily this event was traveling to three parts of Abu Dhabi - out west in the desert (all of it is technically the desert, but out west is nothing but desert), Al Ain, and then the city of Abu Dhabi. The Chairman of Tourism and Culture went to Europe, experienced food trucks, decided to ship some trucks over, and make it into a festival for all of the Abu Dhabi Emirate to experience.  Now I'll share some of my experience with you!

My recommendation: British Cheddar

I loved these small trucks!

My recommendation:  lamb and the king prawns

Wam Bui and I  enjoying the festival

James and David stuffing their faces

 Pretty sure these hot-dogs weren't pork.

This juice was delicious!  My recommendation:  pink lemon..aid

 

The spread!

School Days

I've been a little quiet, so I thought I would update you all on what's been going on over here.  Not much, lol.  I haven't been moving around much or doing much traveling.  I have actually been preparing my place for all of the visitors I will be having in the next few months.  If you didn't hear about the crazy tickets that were on sale to Abu Dhabi on Christmas day, I'm sorry you missed the under $300 round trip to Abu Dhabi opportunity.  But some of my friends and family as well as line sisters will be coming to Abu Dhabi this spring.  So instead of talking about some new place or event I've been to, I thought I would just tell about what's been happening at the place I visit five times a week...school.

When I went home in December everyone asked me how my experience had been so far and what is was like teaching here.  My response, "It is totally different from teaching back home.  It takes a lot of energy, not only because I'm teaching all boys but because I'm teaching all boys who don't understand most of the words coming out of my mouth.  I am constantly repeating myself over and over...and over."  Teaching here has almost put me back in my first year of teaching.  I say almost because now that I have had the classroom experience, I have tools I can pull out of my tool belt when necessary.  On the other hand, I have never taught like this before.  Let me break it down:

1. I'm at a new school in a new country.  So not only did I have  to get used to new procedures and routines (which is something you have to do at any new job) but I also had to adjust to a new culture.  When making a decision to move here I definitely didn't think too much about how the school would be.  Once I stepped outside of the little bubble I lived in, I realized that not everyone thinks or operates the same way we do at home.
2. Some of the students I'm teaching have never been to school before.  Not only am I having to teach them my classroom procedures, but I also have to teach them how to be a student.
3. I'm teaching students who don't know any English at all!  The best thing I can compare that to is teaching a baby how to talk.  When I talk to my students I don't know if they are comprehending anything I am saying.  I have to repeat myself several times and I am constantly playing a game of charades.  Pictures and hands on items are my best friends.

With all of that being said, I have had to really make some adjustments to my classroom.  

Now that I have started my second trimester (yes, trimester) my students and I have really started to get the hang of things.  We are both starting to understand each other better.  Let me break it down:

1. When my students come to my classroom, they still might run around before they get in line, but they know they need to get in line before they enter my classroom.
2. As a teacher, you create your classroom environment and build relationships with your students.  I wasn't quite sure what that was going to look like here and I'm still not sure how it will look by the end of the year, but it's slowly forming into something. As my boys enter the classroom I shake each of their hands.  Now some of my boys have decided to kiss my hand when they enter and I have two who give me hugs (hugs from the boys isn't very common).
3. When you are teaching students a new language growth is very clear to see.  My students are really showing progress.  My higher students are beginning to blend their sounds to read words.  My students are writing sentences correctly from left to right (keep in mind that Arabic is from right to left, so it takes them some time to get used to writing or even opening books from left to right).  Every day during our warm-up we unscramble a sentence and the boys write the sentence on a small white board.  If they finish quickly I allow them to draw a picture to go along with the sentence because it usually includes science vocabulary we are covering.  One of my students actually drew an octopus, but decided to make it a Ms. Britni Octopus.He pointed out that he gave this octopus hair which made it me.  He thought it was the funniest thing.  I actually laughed as well.  The fact that he was able to make that joke and explain it to me was major (proud teacher moment).  I had to take a picture - 
   
   Ms. Britni Octopus
   
   
   
   This is from one of my lower performing students.  He is unable to write independently.  I create the tracing dots on his board and then he traces over them.
   
   
4. My students are teaching me now!  This past week we went over the letter M.  I have a book that shows things that start with M.  While I was teaching them how to say it in English, they were teaching me how to say it in Arabic (because they are so young I can trust they are teaching me that actual words and not profanity).  They get a kick out of me saying words in Arabic.

As you can see, not only are my students learning, but I'm learning a few things myself.  I am very interested to see how this school year ends and what my relationship with my class will look like by then.  I'm actually considering looping with these guys, but let me not get too ahead of myself.

Egypt

Many of you who know me know that I love to travel!  One of the reasons why I wanted to teach overseas was to be able to have the opportunity to travel even more.  So this past UAE National Day in early December I took the opportunity, added another stamp to my passport, and visited Egypt.  I know I'm a bit tardy with this post.  I had it ready to go before Christmas but Sony gave me issues with using certain songs on YouTube (they just keep causing problems everywhere) and then I went home for the holidays and didn't even crack open my laptop to post a thing.  I've been back in the UAE for a week and trying to get back on track.  YouTube is still acting funny towards this video so I couldn't put on my page.  Hopefully when you click on the link below you can  check out some of my pictures and videos from my trip!

http://youtu.be/P1BM4We3QOQ