Holidays are different...

Today is Mother's Day in the US, but it did not feel like Mother's Day.  In truth, none of our traditional holidays feel quite the same over here. I was at work today, as well as on Labor Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Easter, and although we were on break for Christmas and New Year's -they still did not feel the same. Being at work on these traditional days is one part of the difference, but also absent is the commercial build up for each of these holidays. There are no television reminders that these dates are approaching or the planning of how to fit in all the family visits or festivities that usually accompany our holidays. But in some ways I think time feels different here for our family as well. We are used to seasonal changes to show the progression of the year, and although there are two seasons in the UAE (oh my goodness it is HOT, and this is nice), they are not quite the same as the seasons in NH (winter, spring - with a touch of winter, mud, blackfly, sweet summertime, foliage, and winter).

Happy Mother's Day...

Traveling to Turkey

I'm a bit of a history geek. I love learning about the past, and it was a close call whether I would go to school to teach English or history - English won out, but mostly because I could still use history.  That being said, I don't incorporate a lot of history into my teaching at this time - mostly because I am not as familiar with the UAE history as I am with other regions of the world.  So when it came time for vacation, my family and I decided to visit some of the rich history of Turkey.

Our first stop was Ephesus and the Celsus Library. We learned about the powerful Greek and Roman influences in Anatolia, as we explored sites dedicated and celebrating gods I'd studied in school, or taught about while exploring older literature.  During long bus rides, we entertained Belle with the stories we recalled, so that she would understand the relevance of Dionysus and why everywhere we went had beautiful theaters still standing in his honor.

We also were able to visit some historic sites that are important to our Christian faith, the Basilica of St. John, with his tomb, and the Home of the Virgin Mary, where she is said to have resided after being placed in John's care. Within Virgin Mary's home, there were gifts from the last three Popes.  Everywhere we went it was amazing to think about the people who had come before us.

 

 Our last two major stops before returning to our home overseas were the City of Troy's ruins - the site of the Trojan war, and the Gallipoli memorials from more recent history.  Belle climbed to the top of the Trojan horse replica after we toured the remains of the many incarnations of Troy - it was continually rebuilt and enlarged. 

The Gallipoli memorials were the first time that I had learned about these battles, and ANZAC day (April 25). Our Turkish guide was full of pride in speaking of the role that both Turkey and Australia have played in remembering and honoring a generation of soldiers that never returned home, falling on foreign soil.  As my former students can attest, I have a special place in my heart for war memorials, because how we remember those who have fought for us, I believe, speaks loudly about who a nation is.  The memorials on the Gallipoli peninsula spoke poignantly of the place these soldiers continue to hold on both their foreign resting places, and their far away home. 

 

"Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives... you are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours... You, the mothers, who sent their sons from far away countries wipe away your tears, your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace after having lost their lives on this land. They have become our sons as well." Ataturk, 1934

It made me cry.

We finished our trip by spending our final night in Istanbul, staying near the Hague Sofia, and enjoyed dinner on one of the cobblestone streets. 

It was a good holiday.

Vacation at last...

I haven't always been a teacher or a student, but in recent years, the end of February means vacation. This was the first year in recent memory that there was no break.  Yesterday was the first day of my spring break...

Since November, we've been trying to use our Cobone to get to Ras al Khaimah and Iceland Waterpark. Every time we tried to book a date, it was booked for that entire month. I had despaired of ever using it, when the travel agency called with a one day availability. This meant leaving after work, which mind you is an hour's drive away from my home in the midst of the desert, and traveling over three hours more to Ras al Khaimah on typical UAE directions (which means confusing as heck).  After many wrong turns, and roads, we arrived in time to eat dinner and get to bed. Rob and Belle had a bit more energy and ordered room service for dessert.

Then after a leisurely breakfast and walkabout at the hotel, we headed back into the car with more UAE directions and eventually found Iceland Waterpark. After much coaxing, Belle finally tried some of the big slides and we had a wonderful day. We're looking forward to going back to Iceland again. Now, it's on to prepare for our trip to Turkey.

Vacation is off to a wonderful start.

Happy St. Patrick's Day and one year ago

 One year ago, I left my friend Liz's home to be in Boston, not for the green beer (well, okay, for one green beer), but for a job interview to teach in Abu Dhabi.

Today, I went to the pool not quite 8 minutes away and managed to get a sunburn. Then we took Belle to her art class, so she could finish her second oil painting. While she painted, Rob & I  went grocery shopping at Lulu's.  And I did not make corned beef.

In five days, I will start my much anticipated spring break.

A lot can change in a year...

Parenting Abroad

Belle with her classmates & teacher

It is a hard decision to take your child overseas, moving her from the town she has grown up in, and all her friends, to a country her parents remember only from a Middle East geography quiz in high school.  Overall, Belle has adjusted remarkably well.

Last night we were able to experience one of her school events that helped to confirm that this is a good experience for her in her understanding of the world.  Her school had a World Cultures Day, which was very different from the Cultural Diversity days I remember having in NH as a high schooler - where we had special guests come in to introduce a small aspect of their culture for one day, and then we went on with our lives the next day - whereas Belle is every day experiencing new cultures, foods, and people, and she gets this experience in third grade! The parents and students surrounding us were truly a global representation of humanity.

The evening started with UAE National Anthem, followed by a parade of flags from around the world, mostly representing the nationalities of students and faculty associated with her school.  It was eye-opening to me that I was not able to immediately identify which country each flag represented, and even later, still relied on signs to identify the different countries. Belle is already better at matching the country to the flag than her parents.

After some more musical presentations celebrating different countries, there were booths to visit representing a large number of countries, complete with signature foods. Belle and I tried the Phillipines' booth first, and had delicious egg roll and samsoas type food. From there, we tried Syrian, Egyptian, English, Jordanian, Palestinian, Indian, and other countries. There was even a USA booth giving out hot dogs, KFC, cotton candy, popcorn and apple pie. The Canadian booth had a small tub of "snow" too! 

I think one of the best parts for me was seeing how involved Rob has become in Belle's school. The teachers and staff, and other parents, recognize him from his daily drop-off and pick-ups, as well as for the time he spends checking on Belle's progress and that of our friends' children, who he also transports. In the states, it was always the role I took charge of, so this is a new experience for us all. It makes me realize how lucky I am that I have a husband who was willing to move across the world, and also how lucky our daughter is to have a father who is happy to take an active role in her life.

The last piece I want to share is bringing it more globally. As a family, we probably pay more attention to the countries surrounding us then we did at home, with some added perspective. Last night, Belle made a point of bringing me to the Palestine booth. She wanted me to know the story of the little boy who doesn't show his face. He will only show his face when there is peace in the Middle East. This is a story that I couldn't have taught her at home, but she knows and will always carry with her because of this experience. For that, I am grateful.

February fun...

It is hard getting paid once a month. Lucky for us, there are free things to do in Al Ain:

Camel racing

Rob finally made it to the races.

Wild camels...

Hanging with friends

An international horse show

Photo ops in the mall

Lost in translation

Bidet: foot bath or booty washer

When I was little, my great uncle Marion taught me how to cuss in Polish, except I didn't know what I was saying.  In high school, it was a game to try and figure out what the cuss words were in French, so we could use them on trips to Quebec. I felt so daring.

In adulthood, I try hard not to cuss and it bothers me to be around a lot of profanity. I'm a bit of Puritan when it comes to things like that, but I'll allow there are times where a good cuss word can come in handy. When I decided to move overseas, I wasn't searching for cuss words in Arabic, but rather words that might help me survive in a foreign country. Luckily for me, and my inability to roll r's, almost everything I need to get done is able to be accomplished in English. The first Arabic word I learned was "shukran" which means "thank you." The second was "shway, shway" which loosely translates to "by and by" or "easy, easy" or "slowly, slowly." Yeah, you see the problem - few things translate exactly, and I don't know if you've spent a lot of time thinking about the English language, but we do some pretty crazy/silly things that make learning it a lot more challenging.

I've heard beauty can be found in
a saloon...
I didn't know it was interchangeable with  salon.

We've been working on verbs this term in my classes, and I needed to bring in a straw and water bottle as a prop to teach "suck" because the Arabic dictionary I used had it translated to an infant's nursing. But the verb is used in more contexts than that, and honestly, I've never really thought of sucking=nursing.  And we were working on food vocabulary - so context...

I've also recently learned that some English words have words that sound similar to Arabic words, but mean very different things. "To think" in Arabic sounds like a very vulgar English word, while the abbreviation for a common fastener sounds like a very vulgar Arabic word.

Ok, Santa on a camel was cool...

And then there was today....
I walked into my 10th grade class for our second period of the day (after reminding them at the end of our earlier period to make sure their homework was completed because I would be checking it then).

One of my favorite students looks at me and says, "Oh, sh*t." (This is a very respectful student who is always concerned with being a good, honorable girl.)
I swung my head around a la Poltergeist. "What? That is a bad word. You should not say that word."

The class and student looked at me in puzzlement. "But, Miss, it means: 'oh my gosh.'"

"No, no, it doesn't. It is not a good word for you to use. It is an unclean word. It is word for the bathroom."

The cussing student: "But it is on tv all the time and the translation says 'oh my gosh'. All the time, at my house, my mother and I say, 'sh*t'." I have had a recent conversation with her mother, who while limited in her English, is very strong in French.

"It is a bad word for 'poop'. You should not say it. Tell your mother it is the same as 'merde'. She will understand. It is unclean. Do not say it." Guess my French cussing came in handy for something besides being an obnoxious teenager....

Another student: "What about 'damn it'?" 
...........