Geez Louise!

I've been renting a car and driving in the UAE for two months now, and I've been in Al Ain for almost as long. Al Ain is notorious for having more roundabouts than traffic lights, like 10 to 1! You have to be bold about the roundabouts, and I have been...until now.

I noticed the guy in front of me was hesitating at the roundabout for an inordinately long time as I approached the roundabout from like 200 meters away. But then, I looked at the roundabout traffic, assumed that he would have gone, and then tried to go myself. No damage, cool.

But then, I'm in the middle of 3 lanes wanting to go straight through to the 2nd exit, and as I'm mindlessly continuing, the guy to my left (far inside of the circle) cuts me off to make a right at the 1st exit. 

What the heck! I need to read up on the traffic rules here. I can't take another series of rapid-fire episodes like I experienced today.

Efficient Friday!

Unlike most Friday mornings, I rose early (after a difficult Thursday evening--dehydration & me don't work well together). Primarily to get to my still unfinished apartment (no gas for the cooker/stove) in order to tidy up before my scheduled cleaner appointment.

So as she cleaned (and boy did she clean!), I worked and ran errands. As a teacher, one's work is never done. When I think that she cleaned for 3-1/2 hours, I still shake my head at her refusal of my initial offer. She saved me so much time! I am happy that I was able to work instead of slogging through chores.

Then I went shopping for shelves. After 4 hours of trying, I decided to wait for drilling help. Not even my "girl-friendly" uber-drill was powerful enough in my weak hands for concrete walls.

I'm grateful for the people in my life: new and old, here and abroad. (OMG, I want to puke! Damn those children for making me so stressed out!)

Another week down...at least it is cooling down

School continues to be torture, but the temperature is getting nicer. 84 degrees Fahrenheit this morning! Yes, it is still humid, but the lower temperature helps.

As another week comes to a close, I will move into my apartment this weekend. After two and a half months in hotels in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain, I hope it will be nice. The parking garage wasn't complete as of two days ago when I scoped out the location of my assigned underground parking spot. Living without television will be a vacation, but living without internet will be a chore. All in all, I can't complain anymore than I usually do:)

Coming together

This week was the most difficult one yet. Ironically, World Teachers' Day on Wednesday was the most annoying day of the week. Why hand out chocolate to any child at 9 am? What is wrong with this place? Probably the same thing that leads to seeing children at malls after 10 pm any day of the week as well as the majority of my students tell me they haven't eaten breakfast before coming to school. This isn't America, where often schools have a federally subsidized breakfast program. Y'all are rich, folks. And raising children isn't rocket science. To be ready to learn, they need the basics of rest and food. (Even grade 1s learn that!)

On a brighter note, I'll get my closet/wardrobe tomorrow:) (I hope IKEA delivers as promised.) My couches arrived on Wednesday Tuesday evening. I'm still waiting for the construction crew to be finished, but things are coming together slowly but surely.

If only the same could be said about my classroom experience.

Abu Dhabi revisited

I went back to Abu Dhabi, purportedly to exchange my Yaris for a Peugeot 207 from different companies. I didn't get that new rental, but it wasn't a completely wasted trip.

The Yas hotel was RED for at least a short time (it had been purple hours before). I found myself getting to previously visited locations with more success, though not all the time. I instinctively knew the turn for the "new" Yas Island tunnel that my 2010 GPS is not aware of. I got to see friends:) And, I found my favorite beer of all time: Hoegaarden!!!!

And it gets complicated

Not that I've ever had an extraordinarily positive outlook on life, but things are getting worse. You see, I'm teaching both 1st and 2nd grades. I have one colleague at each grade level. We three met to plan this afternoon, and while we were making great strides in one grade level, the other teacher stormed off into the heat of, well, this humid desert.

We are here now, and we've got to make it through this year. I would love to work cooperatively with my teaching colleagues, in fact, I need to! Fingers crossed that moods improve quickly! I know it is hard to be so far from home and the lives of loved ones that continue forward without our presence.

OMG, I'm being the level-headed one! What's happened in this universe?

Sleep...who needs it?

Weekends are too short, everywhere, but especially when I spend at least half of both weekend days at school. Unlike my last job, in Alaska, the cleaning staff work on the non-sabbath day of the weekend. I was constantly in the way! Here it is, 1 am, and I know I shouldn't sleep. I shouldn't be writing this post either! But then, I face my G1 girls first tomorrow. I have the vice principal taking my class for an hour and 15 minutes while I observe an amazing colleague. I know the girls will behave for her, at least.

November 4th can't come soon enough! (Another Eid holiday) Until then, I will try to smile daily. But I've got to hide the cookies. That so wasn't worth it!