Madinat Zayed Where I Am Going to Live and Work

today was the big trip day, which was of great fun and suggest. I was up by 6:30 this morning to breakfast and ready to meet with the other teachers that where going with me. We head out on the hour and a half car ride, which I ended up falling asleep on about a third into it. Well after I woke up I found out we were in Madinat Zayed.

I then was able to get into my school, Al Hamdaniya, which was great. I was so excited to get inside and meet my CfBT head in my school. She was able to sit down and go over so of the question I had about the school and what I need to wear, and know. I was then able to walk around the school get an idea of the lay out and where my classroom might be. After that I was able to see what they think my schedule will be. About half way through the day another CfBT head from another school came by to meet with one of her LTs.

With her help we were able to take a tour of the town. This was of great help to me and the other teacher that was with me. I was so excited since she took us places I never would have thought of going into. She showed us a fruit and vegetable market, so little restaurants that we could eat ate, a spa we could us, and stores that we can find appliances at. We were then taken to see where the park which is a great big park. The day was a great and I got to see so much and learn some much about my soon to be home.

Oh I also got to see the Apartments I am hopefully living in.

India Food

Oh what a fun day, it started off as any normal day, went to breakfast to a sadly much quieter time. It was amazing how many empty the room was with the people in Al Ain. So after the quiet breakfast I headed to co-op with another teacher. I decided that I wanted to get some basic things I need and need to get some laundry soap. So then I headed back to the room and I made myself a pizza sandwich (yeah sandwich maker). Then I did half my laundry, yes bathtub laundry, but all my shirts are hanging and drying. Tomorrow I will do the other half. After that I played around on the computer to see if I could make DVDs on this computer, didn’t figure it out but hopefully soon.

Then while they kicked me out of my room to clean it I again rain into another teacher. We then decided to head to the lobby to watch the people that where coming in. However it was a pretty dead afternoon in the lobby. Yet we didn’t need to worry soon we where meet by a few other teachers got into have a great chat and conversation. They then decided that they wanted to go get dinner and know where every wanted to go. Yes they wanted India food, so I decided that you know I need to try more things so I went. It was great fun and great food, I ended up eating Chicken Butter, Chicken noodles, Nana Bread, and some fried rice (yes I ate rice and liked it). I will say that I couldn’t go to spicy but I did really like it. I think that as long as I am here I will have to keep my mind open to eating whatever I can. We then went for a walk to fine gelato, which we couldn’t find. So we ended up heading to Madinat Zayed Mall and I found a great pair of shoes to replace my other sandals that broke and I learned to haggle. So over all it was a great day and now I am just going to finish my night and watch the Princess Frog.

Activity Day

So what a day so far, the day started with heading to the school for what is called activity day. I was so not looking forward to this since I woke up not feeling well, but off I went. When we got to the school they called it activity day. Well the start of the day was our group 13 working together to answer a quiz. It was an interesting quiz, part of the group went throughout the school, and part worked on geography questions, one on your flag, and the rest of us work of mind twisters. Our group was then broke up into three smaller groups one worked on building a car, one worked on making a building, and my worked on making a rap to perform. It was so much fun. We had to come up with a skit or poem or song about being in Abu Dhabi. The group I was in came up with a rap about coming to Abu Dhabi and working with the kids. Then we had to get perform our rap in front of the whole group. After that we had a small break and then went to culture class. We were able to hear a great speaker on his life growing up here in the UAE. After that is was a small discussion about will and a company that is here to help us.

Finally we were on the bus home. Sadly the group of Al Ain teacher had to pack up so that they could move out of the hotel and head to their new place in Al Ain. So I sat in the hotel lobby for a while my friends packed their bags and their children’s bags to get on the bus. So now I am off to get me some pasta from the mall and finally buy my internet. Well I didn’t buy it yet since I found that I can now work inside on the internet. So still going to be getting free internet.

Sheikh Zayed Mosque

We started our day at the Sheikh Zayed Mosque. This was one of the best places that I have been able to see here in the UAE. I don’t think that the picture even as beautiful as they are can do this place justice. All the women had to put on an abaya and shayla there are these white columns with gold pecks, then each column has this amazing flower deign going up the sides of them. Then we were able to go inside the Mosque and see the prayer room. It was so amazing to see the gold accents and the ninety-nine names of their God on the wall. Our tour guide gave us some great information about the mosque itself. We learned that the carpet in the mosque is all one piece of carpet. We also learned that they people who made the rug created raise parts of the rug where they are to line up on during their prayer time. We then were able to gather and have a Q&A session with the tour guides of the Mosques.

After our great tour we headed back to the school again this time we started the session with breaking off with our school providers. Three other Al Gharbia teachers and I end up working with CFBT out in the PPP schools. I learned that my location has changed from Ghaythia to Madinat Zayed. I also found out that I will be teaching in Al Hamdaniyal an all boys school 1-5 grade. I am excited to know that I have been moved to elementary and that I will be out in MZ. After that we head to our classes and sessions and then some of us received our bank cards and checks.

Once we were back at the mall, I was lucky enough to meet up with two LTs from last year who took some of us to Chinese. We then headed to Madinat zayed Mall (which is in Abu Dhabi) where we were able to find some great deals. I am proud to say that I was able to buy my first abaya for great prices, thanks to fellow teacher. Then I was able to come home and glue my shoe back together. So now I am signing off and heading to bed.

Meeting Day

“Being on a tightrope I living, everything else is waiting”


So where to start, I should have been writing all along, but since most of the time has been meeting I haven’t. Well I guess I will start with Monday, which was quite fun, we got to meet Ask Ali. He really gave some really great advice about ways we should and shouldn’t act in the UAE. Anyone can check out his website at AskAli.com or www.embracearabia.com they is quite a great site for what I saw. So after that we headed back to your Al Mawaheb, to work on our Arabic class and then our wrap up sessions. When I got back to the hotel I was lucky enough to meet with some of my fellow teachers and go over some of the resources that we have brought with us. It was a great chat session so that we could just get out into the open things that we were concerned about in our classrooms for the first day and things that we might want to get and add to your classrooms. I also trying to save money used my sandwich maker and made me a grilled cheese sandwich and some tomato soup, it was a great dinner.

Tuesday, well it started as a normal day with the morning meeting; the only difference was that this was more based on your grade levels. We learned a little more about the model of the schools we will be teaching within the schools. However we are yet to know what the curriculum is, which I think we will start to talk about this next week. We then got a chance to talk about our housing which was so nice to hear about Al Gharbia, after that again to our Arabic lessons and to our reflection sessions. Once I got back to the hotel I was pretty beat, so I used the sandwich maker once again, this time I made a pizza sandwich, which turned out just as great. Then thanks to types from other teachers I headed to the pool area with my computer and swimsuit. I took a nice swim for a while and then proceeded to connect to the internet for a while. It was great, I got all my bills for the next month paid back home. I feel refreshed and ready to get going again.

Fast Food and Hotels

So I thought I would upload some pictures of place where I can eat, since I know there where people back home that where worried about it.

Hotel Pictures

Big Plans

“None of us are as smart as all of us” Chinese Proverb

So I am going to be label the next few days according to the names of the orientation schedules. Today was a pretty good day with everything that was learned and the start of the school orientation. I started the day great getting to talk to my mom, which is always a nice surprise, I headed to breakfast and then to my first meeting. I was early to my meeting by about an hour (so me) and was able to talk to ADEC for a few minutes. They were every open and welcoming to me, which makes it a lot easier. The orientation was full of a lot of great information, a few of the things I learn was that in the Abu Dhabi schools there are 11, 000 staff members, 445 LT (Licensed Teachers) from last year, 940 LT coming in for this year, and 260 Emirates Staff. They also filled us in on the main idea of this reform, “to modernize, not to westernize.”

The second topic was about Ramadan which I found to be interesting since I was immerged into the middle of it. Ramadan I learned is always the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, which is actually 11-12 days short then our calendar. This is why Ramadan moves every year. I also learned that Ramadan means “Dryness/heat”, which includes why they fast, a day fasting can last up 17 hours depending on where you are in the world. They then showed us a movie about the big plan for this educational reform. It showed how in ten years the plans where to have students able to get into the university here in Abu Dhabi. We were also should a movie about the vision of 2030, which showed what the plan for Abu Dhabi’s development is for the next 20 years.

After this we head to Al Mawaheb, a model school here in Abu Dhabi.
Here we started our Arabic lessons. It was neat to sit there and hear our teacher explain how sounds should sound. It was even more fun to listen to the people in our class try and say them. We finished the day with a reflection group about everything we learn. However one of the best parts of the day was sitting on the bus ride home and having a fellow teacher turn to me and point out that the beach boys where playing. Then a few songs later whip it, oh what a bus ride. Well I am off to finish eating my Rice Krispies.