Springtime and other transitory things

Time goes quickly here. The school year seems so long at the beginning, and when people post days left until the end, those numbers make it seem even longer... This is true of school breaks as well, because suddenly you have all this time and then you wake up again and it is back to school. I haven't even written a word about our spring holiday and in three weeks, my grade 12 students will stop coming so they can prepare for exams. In about two months we will be headed to the US for our first visit since we moved to the UAE in 2011. I am sad that the last day of school is July 4th because it is one of my favorite holidays, but this year we can take comfort in knowing we'll be seeing family & friends for BBQs & picnics, even if we miss out on the fireworks.

For our spring holiday, we mostly stayed around town. It was nice to have the family time, do dinners with friends, and just recharge from a chaotic first term back after my fabulous maternity leave. We did take a mini family vacation out to the western region of Abu Dhabi (think very remote and a bit barren). We went with our expat extended family and enjoyed pool time, meals, camel rides, and Rob even went out on a quad (4-wheeler, not chair lift) with the other husbands.

This term back at school has not been without its challenges, but I feel like I have a better grasp on the curriculum this term (because I was part of the planning!). The girls are already planning their graduation celebrations and in the office the phrase, "Next year, we should....", is increasing in its appearance.

Our family started this year planning to return to the US, but we have reconsidered that decision and are planning to extend our time here. This is a bit of a bittersweet decision because many of our friends who started this journey with us (from the "oh my God, we are going to Abu Dhabi" stage) are completing their UAE experiences. Every year we've had to say goodbyes, and this year it seems like there are a lot more farewells. We, of course, have made friends who will be completing their "newbie" year and others who extend beyond their initial two year contract, but it reminds you that we live in a country and a community that is constantly in flux. You make friends faster here than you would ever do at home because you know time is short, but the shared experiences and need to rely on one another create strong bonds that you would never imagine happening in other circumstances. But I'm going to hold off on the farewell post until the end of June because I don't want to think about how much I'm going to miss the people who have been such a rich part of our experience.

And the Sheikh came to my school...

The last couple months have been an experiment in keeping our heads above water. We have spent some time at the park, the Green Mubazzarah, and mostly trying to keep up with life in general. The weather has been so beautiful.  Now that we've finally gotten our schedule together, I'm about to have school break. I just finished putting all my marks (grades, if you are from my side of the world) in the system (which is good since the systems locks you out after today) and next will be a couple weeks of invigilating (aka proctoring) exams and then finally marking the Ministry exam at the end of the month. Our holiday starts on the night of the 28th and I think we are all ready for the break.

As I'm in the middle of the midyear blahs, I want to recount some of the blessings I have had with my school this year.  I have been really lucky with my grade level coordinator who  always goes to bat for us when necessary. She is really an instrument of change for the reform. In addition, I have a fabulous co-worker who has helped me to navigate the unfamiliar land of grade 12 in the UAE, assisted me with marking and overall making my transition to this grade level so much easier. My principal has been very supportive during some recent meetings, and I really adore so many of my Arabic colleagues who have gladly offered assistance when necessary and are also trying to help me improve my Arabic. I can't wait to go to my first wedding tonight for one of the biology teachers at our school. To top it off, our school had its grand opening celebration on Thursday and the Sheikh (Prince of Al Ain) came to my school!

On Friday, we took the girls to Global Village. It's only open until the end of the month, and some of the countries had closed already, but we had a good time taking in all the sights. It is kind of like a giant global flea market with lots of different food choices and performances.  Because it is in its final weeks, you can bargain quite a bit from the first price given, but doing that always makes me uncomfortable. I want them to just give me the "last price" to begin with, which means I will never actually get the real last price. There were so many products it was overwhelming, but at the same time, we didn't feel a huge urge to purchase much because so many items are imported into the UAE that most of the items for sale can be found somewhere here. Our favorite pavilion was the Africa one, but we had to leave without seeing as much as we wanted of it, when Zofia became tired of her global tour... I think after our visit to the Village, we'd all like to see a bit more of the world.

And today is two years since I interviewed to start this adventure.

Religion in a Muslim Country

It is common for some of my students to pray in the back of the class in the early afternoon.  They do so quietly, but devoutly, and the attention they pay to their faith is inspiring. This week, one of my students asked me what religion I was, and another answered, "Christian." I just smiled. We aren't supposed to talk about any religion outside of Islam in school.

Later this week, I was walking my students to the computer lab and we passed another classroom. My students made me stop so we could look in. The classroom had paper snowflakes taped to the window (odd in the desert), fake snow sprinkled on each desk with a small treat, and a fully decorated Christmas tree with gifts placed under it in the corner of the room.

"It is Christmas, Miss."

I looked into the classroom in shock. They translated from the class' Arabic teacher. They were studying major holidays in other cultures and religions and their relation to Islam. I really wanted to sit in on that lesson....

Meanwhile, as a family, we have found a church that reminds us of home and have been attending weekly. It is the same church that Belle and I went to last year that was closed by the town... Instead of meeting in a church, it now meets at a golf club at the other end of town. It is a nice way to begin our weekends, and fulfilling to my spirit to be part of a faith community.

Where's the snooze button?

I'm now teaching grade 12. It is a different pressure due to my students' exams mattering more than their ECART and the number of exams increasing. Luckily, I work with an awesome grade level team and they did a lot of this term's planning while I was being a full time mom.

It is weird to come into a class mid year because you feel a bit like a sub and it is a harder time to build rapport with your classes. I think it is because they've already established class norms and now I'm tasked with changing them to fit my expectations on how the class should function or adapting my management style to align with their expectations. Add to this the stress of formal observations and you'll understand why I'm a little overwhelmed at the moment. And I'm sure it has nothing to do with leaving my baby all day either....

Zofia & Rob are working on developing new routines, and Belle is working hard on her homeschool curriculum. We are all adjusting to an alarm clock and this weekend went very fast.

Back to school

Tomorrow, I go back to work. It has been a nice extended maternity leave (it ran into the December vacation), but I still haven't finished Zofia's paperwork. The process changed at the end of November, and required an extra step. By the time I received the now required approval to apply for her visa, her required medical card had expired. So, now I must wait to receive her new card with our new insurer to finish the process. Craziness, but typical.

 I had a lovely lunch with one of my favorite co-workers, who eased my mind about all the back to school planning I really didn't do. I've been so busy spending time getting used to being a family of four and celebrating holidays - and trying to catch up on sleep....  I work with a great team, and thanks to their efforts, I should be back in the groove fairly quickly, albeit while getting to know my new students. I don't know my schedule yet, but I'm happy that I will be on nursing hours so I can spend more time with the baby.
Right now, I'm going to go back to cuddling her because tomorrow at this time, I'm probably going to be with a room full of students, missing her.

Christmas Cookies

 One of my favorite holiday traditions is making Christmas cookies. Last year, Belle and I did an abbreviated session because our kitchen was tiny (our refrigerator resided in our living room because there was no room for it), so this year it was nice to go all out. My friend, Kim, and I invited a bunch of little girls over and two nice big brothers and went to town. We made Christmas wreaths, gingerbread houses & cookies, sugar cookies, peanut butter cookies with Rolos, and Russian tea cookies. So yummy!

Here are some pictures from our afternoon:

The festive season begins...

The nice thing about the "winter" season is that it becomes comfortable to spend time outside.  We enjoy being outdoors and the winter makes it comfortable to sit outside, visit the sand dunes, take walks, and play.  Our neighborhood becomes more alive as children run about playing tag or riding bikes and scooters. This season has been extra special because we've experienced several rainstorms - one lasting most of the day (and causing flooding in Dubai because the roads are not designed to handle precipitation).

One of my favorite things about National Day is how the streets are all decorated with the  UAE national colors (green, red, and white), which helps to fill the missing holiday lights we'd be enjoying at home.  The cars get decorated as well, even though this year there were strict regulations not to do this activity.  Our neighbor has very colorful vehicles and decorated all four of them in similar style. We haven't seen them since the holiday, so they are likely off being repainted and de-crystalized (yes - he added crystals!).  We went with friends and celebrated the holiday in the desert. Most of them camped overnight, but with the new baby, there was no way we were sleeping in a tent for the night. 

All the hotels in town offer special holiday events and tree lightings.  Last year, we attended the Danat's and Santa arrived via camel. This year, we decided to bring the girls to the Rugby Club's Christmas Party for the Santa visit. This year, he arrived in a 4x4...
The nice thing about the Rugby Club event was that there were lots of Belle's friends there, and they were able to decorate cupcakes, make reindeer food, ride horses, have dinner, and eat cotton candy while waiting for Santa to arrive. Belle was awesome and brought Zofia up when she visited with the jolly elf and posed for pictures prior to his arrival:

Now we are planning a cookie baking day to have some of her friends over to help make it a bit more festive. It makes me miss Belle's godmother and uncle because there won't be any collegiate colored cookies without them and Audrey is an awesome baking partner. Next year.