Today, I’m feeling a little bit blah. I’m starting to miss my green lawn and my flowers and my dogs and my horses and my kids and my husband…who else have I left out? I think the reality is starting to set in. The honeymoon phase is almost over and we’re going to get pushed out into the real world to sort out our differences and to make our way.
At times, I am a very social creature and that is fine when I first arrived. It was fun to approach a group of people and ask all of the typical questions, “What’s your name? Where ya from? Where are you teaching? “ Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It’s all really good and really interesting, but like too much chocolate, it soon gets old, or I grow weary and I begin to search for something old, something familiar, something that feels like home, something comfortable.
I’m waiting. I’m waiting to see if my townhouse will be approved. I think it will, so that’s not really a worry. I’m waiting for 6:45 so I can go out to dinner. I’m waiting for tomorrow to find out which school I’ll be in and what grade I’ll teach. I’m waiting for a bank card, which should, Inshallah, come out tomorrow or the next day. I’m waiting for the realtor to get back to me with a lease agreement. Waiting is okay. I’m not complaining. I’m just practicing patience.
I’m waiting to find out how to get Doug over here, or when I can get him over. It doesn’t seem right for me to want to get him here when not even all of the teachers are here.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Friday, August 27, 2010
Television Trials and Tribulations
Okay, so some people have been asking me about TV in Abu Dhabi. I have a story. It was day two, or three here for me and I have decided that the women here are definitely not size XXL. So in order for my ego to survive I need to do something about that. Ramadan has helped because it is illegal to eat, drink, or smoke in public during this holy month. The Muslims are fasting from sunup to sundown. Once the sun reaches a certain point the people come out and celebrate. The malls and businesses are open until 1:00 a.m. and they have great feasts called Iftar.
After browsing through the CO-OP clothing racks and noticing that the XL shirts might fit a medium sized gal back in the states, and then getting all excited when I saw a tent that might fit me marked XXXXXL (yep, count ‘em, I did) FIVE X’s ! I decided it was time to hit the Beach Club. So, I moseyed on over early one morning past the pool and the running stream stocked with Choi fish, through the big glass doors and up the marble winding staircase to the gym. I scanned the area. It looked safe, only a few people, lots of my personal favorite machines, the treadmill, and I began to set myself up to… eh-hem, “workout.”
I strapped on my MP3 player, plugged the headphones into my ears, straddled the conveyer belt and started searching for the way to make the machine go. Ah, yes, “START.” No problem. All was going well for awhile until I began to scan the TV’s mounted on the wall. There were several and I noticed that the screen two treadmills down the row from me was playing Two and a Half Men! Yay! I was so excited to see Charlie and Allen that I decided I must immediately search for their channel on the TV screen on the wall in front of my treadmill.
Eventually I found their channel and then set about multi-tasking to simultaneously unplug my headphones from my MP3 player strapped on my arm, walk, locate the headphone plug on the treadmill, walk, plug the tiny little long silver prong into the tiny little silver prong hole on the treadmill, still walking, when I met with success! Headphones plugged in, but… no sound from my TV on the wall, well apparently that wasn’t going to work, so I decided, still walking, that I should listen to my MP3 player and try to read Allen’s lips, and I then began the task of hooking the darned little silver prong into the little hole in my bouncing MP3 player on my arm, still walking, when suddenly much to my surprise and chagrin, I found my feet deposited on the gym floor. I suppose I’m not much good at multi-tasking when athletics are involved.
Once I wiped the surprise off my face and giggled a little bit with the coordinated woman next to me, I resumed my walk and my search for American TV with Charlie and Allen. About that time a fit young man with a worldly accent came around with a remote and started to mute all of the TV’s in front of me. I asked him if that could have been the reason I couldn’t hear Charlie picking on Allen, at which point, he became oh so helpful and concerned about my welfare and needs.
He started pushing buttons on the monitor screen on my treadmill. Ah ha! TV shows started appearing on the monitor on my treadmill. It took him some time to find the right channel. He needed to go to other TV’s to get the right channel and then he had to push many more buttons on my treadmill, and by this time I probably only had about two minutes left to my 30 minute regime. I managed to smoothly transfer headphones once again from MP3 player to treadmill and…. Yes! I could hear them, Charlie and Allen….speaking…in Arabic. No subtitles. The English channels have Arabic subtitles. So long Charlie and Allen. Sigh.
After browsing through the CO-OP clothing racks and noticing that the XL shirts might fit a medium sized gal back in the states, and then getting all excited when I saw a tent that might fit me marked XXXXXL (yep, count ‘em, I did) FIVE X’s ! I decided it was time to hit the Beach Club. So, I moseyed on over early one morning past the pool and the running stream stocked with Choi fish, through the big glass doors and up the marble winding staircase to the gym. I scanned the area. It looked safe, only a few people, lots of my personal favorite machines, the treadmill, and I began to set myself up to… eh-hem, “workout.”
I strapped on my MP3 player, plugged the headphones into my ears, straddled the conveyer belt and started searching for the way to make the machine go. Ah, yes, “START.” No problem. All was going well for awhile until I began to scan the TV’s mounted on the wall. There were several and I noticed that the screen two treadmills down the row from me was playing Two and a Half Men! Yay! I was so excited to see Charlie and Allen that I decided I must immediately search for their channel on the TV screen on the wall in front of my treadmill.
Eventually I found their channel and then set about multi-tasking to simultaneously unplug my headphones from my MP3 player strapped on my arm, walk, locate the headphone plug on the treadmill, walk, plug the tiny little long silver prong into the tiny little silver prong hole on the treadmill, still walking, when I met with success! Headphones plugged in, but… no sound from my TV on the wall, well apparently that wasn’t going to work, so I decided, still walking, that I should listen to my MP3 player and try to read Allen’s lips, and I then began the task of hooking the darned little silver prong into the little hole in my bouncing MP3 player on my arm, still walking, when suddenly much to my surprise and chagrin, I found my feet deposited on the gym floor. I suppose I’m not much good at multi-tasking when athletics are involved.
Once I wiped the surprise off my face and giggled a little bit with the coordinated woman next to me, I resumed my walk and my search for American TV with Charlie and Allen. About that time a fit young man with a worldly accent came around with a remote and started to mute all of the TV’s in front of me. I asked him if that could have been the reason I couldn’t hear Charlie picking on Allen, at which point, he became oh so helpful and concerned about my welfare and needs.
He started pushing buttons on the monitor screen on my treadmill. Ah ha! TV shows started appearing on the monitor on my treadmill. It took him some time to find the right channel. He needed to go to other TV’s to get the right channel and then he had to push many more buttons on my treadmill, and by this time I probably only had about two minutes left to my 30 minute regime. I managed to smoothly transfer headphones once again from MP3 player to treadmill and…. Yes! I could hear them, Charlie and Allen….speaking…in Arabic. No subtitles. The English channels have Arabic subtitles. So long Charlie and Allen. Sigh.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Spreading Our Wings
So, up until now, we've been sticking pretty close to the hotel. Venturing out every so often to the mall attached to our hotel, or splitting fares to take a taxi to another mall across the city. Malls are safe, tourist-y, easy ins and outs. We've discovered the pharmacy where we can go and talk to the pharmacist behind the counter and get something for a sinus infection, or a bug bite. Not so bad. We've been learning about the two phone companies and how to use our visa and passport to get a pre-pay phone. We can't get a contract on a phone, or lease or buy a car until we have letters from our employers and our residency visas.
We're even getting quite competent with our conversions of dollars to dhirhams. I've gotten so that I don't quite freak out at spending 15.75 dhirhams for a bottle of hair conditioner. I've just got to remember to tell myself, "Divide by three, Sheri, divide by three." So, a bottle of hair conditioner is about $5.75. Not quite so bad, or maybe even a little bit less since the US dollar is worth about 3.68 dhirhams. I've got to remember to start training.... er, I mean telling Doug to start thinking when he pays say $3 for something at home to remind himself that it will probably be about 9 dhirhams in Abu Dhabi, or his frugal nature will suffer quite a shock! So much more to share, but I am tired. We returned late from being fingerprinted at the police station.
We're even getting quite competent with our conversions of dollars to dhirhams. I've gotten so that I don't quite freak out at spending 15.75 dhirhams for a bottle of hair conditioner. I've just got to remember to tell myself, "Divide by three, Sheri, divide by three." So, a bottle of hair conditioner is about $5.75. Not quite so bad, or maybe even a little bit less since the US dollar is worth about 3.68 dhirhams. I've got to remember to start training.... er, I mean telling Doug to start thinking when he pays say $3 for something at home to remind himself that it will probably be about 9 dhirhams in Abu Dhabi, or his frugal nature will suffer quite a shock! So much more to share, but I am tired. We returned late from being fingerprinted at the police station.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Da Plane! Da Plane!
How exciting! I have 4 followers, yay! I've always been a wannabe writer. So, yesterday we checked out hotel apartments, and today we had our medical check. Tomorrow we are scheduled to be fingerprinted and have our police check.
So much to say, and yet I feel I have so little time. Many folks have asked about the flight over. It was long. The service was excellent. Since it is Ramadan, food was served in plenty throughout the night. During my 14 hour flight I received 2 meals, a snack bag of crackers, and a Klondike bar! Sandwiches were offered and drinks distributed often.
We had a monitor on the seat in front of us. We could track our flight from Chicago to Abu Dhabi. There were a variety of views. I was pleasantly surprised to see Jackson, MI on the flight path. I didn't realize until we were beyond Jackson, but I could have zoomed in for a close look as we flew over. Pretty neat!
I lucked out. I chose an aisle seat in the back near the bathrooms, so I had room to get up and stretch often. And, as luck would have it, the two seats behind me were not occupied. Thinking ahead before take off, I asked a flight attendent if I might be able to move if the seats were still empty at take off. She replied that there was only supposed to be one empty seat, but she would let me know, so I wasn't too hopeful.
Well, a little man quickly spied an opportunity and planted himself in the empty seats. My lovely flight attendent immediately supplanted him out of the seat and directed me to the double empty spot! I loved her for that. Prior to moving to my roomy spot, a nice young Pakistani man in the seat next to me initiated conversation. He was very pleasant to chat with for a few minutes. I was a little bit worried that sitting next to a woman would make him uncomfortable. Apparently not.
There were movies and games and TV shows to choose to watch and play and radio and music. I was delighted to be able to watch 2 episodes of Big Bang Theory that I hadn't viewed before. Other than that, much of the flight was a blur for me. My mind was pretty numb and I felt much in a daze. I honestly don't believe that I slept at all, except for the last 15 minutes of some movie that I hadn't seen before, so I backtracked the movie and tried to watch the ending, but alas, it was time to land. I'll just have to be left with the unknown. Sigh.
I was very glad to note that my arm didn't swell from my lack of lymph nodes, and my ears didn't plug up like they normally do when I fly. But, best of all, I didn't collapse into a blubbering blob of emotion on the plane. I thought for sure I would have been a wreck. My mind keeps going back to the final moments at the airport when I clutched my carry-on to my chest and hugged and kissed Mom and Dad and Sadie and Em and Jesse and Doug. I felt myself turned in circles hugging and consoling the sniffles and tears and choked back sobs. I totally felt like Dorothy clutching Toto and saying goodbye to the Cowardly Lion and Scarecrow and Tin Man. Good-bye! Good-bye! Well, I'm not in Kansas anymore.
So, the flight was fine. We were met at the airport by ADEC people and handed our VISAS and herded into one line or another. The first stop was a retinal scan, some one told me it may have been to check for HIV, although I wouldn't want to say that was for certain. Next, we were hustled through customs and our carry-ons were X-rayed. Our VISA's stamped 2 times and then off to collect our luggage. We pushed our bags through hallways and by-ways at some point receiving a rose, until we exited the airport building to a HOT, humid, muggy, evening. We loaded luggage onto a truck and boarded busses to take us to our hotel.
Once again we were herded into a room, collected our room keys after turning over our PASSPORTS, but we had been forewarned about that, so I was okay with it. At that point porters and all available clerks began the task of unloading all the luggage from the truck. Zoom, zoom, zoom! It reminded me of the poor valets collecting keys and cars for our mass exodus from the national Reading Recovery conference last year. Those folks were hopping! I identified my luggage and went to my room. Sleep was a huge priority for me at that point, and I was not disappointed!
So much to say, and yet I feel I have so little time. Many folks have asked about the flight over. It was long. The service was excellent. Since it is Ramadan, food was served in plenty throughout the night. During my 14 hour flight I received 2 meals, a snack bag of crackers, and a Klondike bar! Sandwiches were offered and drinks distributed often.
We had a monitor on the seat in front of us. We could track our flight from Chicago to Abu Dhabi. There were a variety of views. I was pleasantly surprised to see Jackson, MI on the flight path. I didn't realize until we were beyond Jackson, but I could have zoomed in for a close look as we flew over. Pretty neat!
I lucked out. I chose an aisle seat in the back near the bathrooms, so I had room to get up and stretch often. And, as luck would have it, the two seats behind me were not occupied. Thinking ahead before take off, I asked a flight attendent if I might be able to move if the seats were still empty at take off. She replied that there was only supposed to be one empty seat, but she would let me know, so I wasn't too hopeful.
Well, a little man quickly spied an opportunity and planted himself in the empty seats. My lovely flight attendent immediately supplanted him out of the seat and directed me to the double empty spot! I loved her for that. Prior to moving to my roomy spot, a nice young Pakistani man in the seat next to me initiated conversation. He was very pleasant to chat with for a few minutes. I was a little bit worried that sitting next to a woman would make him uncomfortable. Apparently not.
There were movies and games and TV shows to choose to watch and play and radio and music. I was delighted to be able to watch 2 episodes of Big Bang Theory that I hadn't viewed before. Other than that, much of the flight was a blur for me. My mind was pretty numb and I felt much in a daze. I honestly don't believe that I slept at all, except for the last 15 minutes of some movie that I hadn't seen before, so I backtracked the movie and tried to watch the ending, but alas, it was time to land. I'll just have to be left with the unknown. Sigh.
I was very glad to note that my arm didn't swell from my lack of lymph nodes, and my ears didn't plug up like they normally do when I fly. But, best of all, I didn't collapse into a blubbering blob of emotion on the plane. I thought for sure I would have been a wreck. My mind keeps going back to the final moments at the airport when I clutched my carry-on to my chest and hugged and kissed Mom and Dad and Sadie and Em and Jesse and Doug. I felt myself turned in circles hugging and consoling the sniffles and tears and choked back sobs. I totally felt like Dorothy clutching Toto and saying goodbye to the Cowardly Lion and Scarecrow and Tin Man. Good-bye! Good-bye! Well, I'm not in Kansas anymore.
So, the flight was fine. We were met at the airport by ADEC people and handed our VISAS and herded into one line or another. The first stop was a retinal scan, some one told me it may have been to check for HIV, although I wouldn't want to say that was for certain. Next, we were hustled through customs and our carry-ons were X-rayed. Our VISA's stamped 2 times and then off to collect our luggage. We pushed our bags through hallways and by-ways at some point receiving a rose, until we exited the airport building to a HOT, humid, muggy, evening. We loaded luggage onto a truck and boarded busses to take us to our hotel.
Once again we were herded into a room, collected our room keys after turning over our PASSPORTS, but we had been forewarned about that, so I was okay with it. At that point porters and all available clerks began the task of unloading all the luggage from the truck. Zoom, zoom, zoom! It reminded me of the poor valets collecting keys and cars for our mass exodus from the national Reading Recovery conference last year. Those folks were hopping! I identified my luggage and went to my room. Sleep was a huge priority for me at that point, and I was not disappointed!
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Abu Dhabi Day 3, 8-22-10
Here I am, in Abu Dhabi, UAE. I've even managed to set up my own blog... well, with a little help from my friend Michelle. I couldn't figure out how to get my webpages to show up in English instead of Arabic. It's all good now, "No problem." We seem to be hearing that phrase often.
Before I go into all of the exciting activities of my life, I need to thank some people. There are so many people who have helped me to be sitting where I am right now. Thank you Mom and Dad for letting me fly whenever I've needed to. Thank you Doug for not letting me back out of my dream. Thank you Jake and Sadie and Emily for giving me your blessing to go. All three of you said these words to me, "Mom, I think you should go." I saw the worry and the pain in your eyes. I wonder if you also saw the guilt and the fear in mine?
Jesse, oh my goodness. Thank you for pushing me to hold that stinkin' yard sale. It had to be done, but it sure wasn't fun. Derek, thank you for all of the scanning and carrying. Mel, thank you for understanding. Jeffrey and Andrea thank you SO much for letting us have Roman last week, what a treat. Jeff , you win the patience award for setting your dad up on facebook, whew! Scott and Amanda thanks for all your techno support. Joy and Eric thanks for the hook up on the blog and the international phone. I do not know how I am going to do all alone on the other side of the world, I guess I'm just going to have to stretch my wings and fly.
Jeff and Joy and Scottie, thank you for letting me drag your father halfway around the world. Roman, you little stinker, thank you for letting me be the chosen one for just a few hours and thanks for all the sloppy smooches and hugs. The list goes on and on. I'll just mention a few more names and you'll know your part: Thanks John and Kim and of course, Mom and Dad once again, and ANGIE! Wish you were here, you'd love it! Molly, Maeghan and Josh, thanks for the stellar references on such short notice.
I wish I would have started this blog earlier to be able to share what has been running through my mind all summer long. The summer has been busy. I believe I have accomplished more since the close of the school year than I have in the last four summers combined. I feel like I have been putting out fires since I signed my contract with ADEC, (Abu Dhabi Education Council.).
ADEC, oh my goodness. Some of you may know this all started when Tammy mentioned that Angie was going to interview in Toronto for an overseas position in Abu Dhabi. I didn't even know where Abu Dhabi was! But, that night was sleepless for me. Abu Dhabi ran through my mind over and over and over. It wouldn't leave. Just for kicks, I decided to pull together a resume and cover letter to see what transpired.
Crunching 22 years of teaching experience into one small page was only the beginning of the challenges that lay in wait for me. Thanks Joy and Angie for the cover letter advice. Sadie Kay, thanks for all the organizational work with all the paperwork.
I submitted my resume and application on Tuesday, then received a phone call from Teach Away to submit another more in depth application. The phone interview followed on Thursday with an In Person Interview scheduled for Saturday morning in Toronto. Thanks Doug and Sadie.
The contract arrived in my email the following Tuesday and I had to sign and return by Friday. Crazy, life changing events all because one lady said, "Abu Dhabi."
So, you might say, just the words Abu Dhabi? Not only that, but Em goes off to school next week. I've been toting some one to school with me everyday for 22 years. Jake and I started our first days of school together. He went to kindergarten and I faced my first class of fifth grade students. So, I basically dreaded the thought of not sending some one to Western with me. My house might seem so empty. All the fledglings had flown the coop.
So, here I am, and here I shall stay for a while. It is an unbelievable feeling knowing that I am so far away. It is nothing like I had imagined, and I had imagined the worst. But, I knew God wouldn't send me so far away for this not to be rewarding.
It is now 1:30 a.m. I believe I have a tour of accommodations tomorrow, I'm just not certain what time. I found out where I will be staying, more later! Stay tuned!
Before I go into all of the exciting activities of my life, I need to thank some people. There are so many people who have helped me to be sitting where I am right now. Thank you Mom and Dad for letting me fly whenever I've needed to. Thank you Doug for not letting me back out of my dream. Thank you Jake and Sadie and Emily for giving me your blessing to go. All three of you said these words to me, "Mom, I think you should go." I saw the worry and the pain in your eyes. I wonder if you also saw the guilt and the fear in mine?
Jesse, oh my goodness. Thank you for pushing me to hold that stinkin' yard sale. It had to be done, but it sure wasn't fun. Derek, thank you for all of the scanning and carrying. Mel, thank you for understanding. Jeffrey and Andrea thank you SO much for letting us have Roman last week, what a treat. Jeff , you win the patience award for setting your dad up on facebook, whew! Scott and Amanda thanks for all your techno support. Joy and Eric thanks for the hook up on the blog and the international phone. I do not know how I am going to do all alone on the other side of the world, I guess I'm just going to have to stretch my wings and fly.
Jeff and Joy and Scottie, thank you for letting me drag your father halfway around the world. Roman, you little stinker, thank you for letting me be the chosen one for just a few hours and thanks for all the sloppy smooches and hugs. The list goes on and on. I'll just mention a few more names and you'll know your part: Thanks John and Kim and of course, Mom and Dad once again, and ANGIE! Wish you were here, you'd love it! Molly, Maeghan and Josh, thanks for the stellar references on such short notice.
I wish I would have started this blog earlier to be able to share what has been running through my mind all summer long. The summer has been busy. I believe I have accomplished more since the close of the school year than I have in the last four summers combined. I feel like I have been putting out fires since I signed my contract with ADEC, (Abu Dhabi Education Council.).
ADEC, oh my goodness. Some of you may know this all started when Tammy mentioned that Angie was going to interview in Toronto for an overseas position in Abu Dhabi. I didn't even know where Abu Dhabi was! But, that night was sleepless for me. Abu Dhabi ran through my mind over and over and over. It wouldn't leave. Just for kicks, I decided to pull together a resume and cover letter to see what transpired.
Crunching 22 years of teaching experience into one small page was only the beginning of the challenges that lay in wait for me. Thanks Joy and Angie for the cover letter advice. Sadie Kay, thanks for all the organizational work with all the paperwork.
I submitted my resume and application on Tuesday, then received a phone call from Teach Away to submit another more in depth application. The phone interview followed on Thursday with an In Person Interview scheduled for Saturday morning in Toronto. Thanks Doug and Sadie.
The contract arrived in my email the following Tuesday and I had to sign and return by Friday. Crazy, life changing events all because one lady said, "Abu Dhabi."
So, you might say, just the words Abu Dhabi? Not only that, but Em goes off to school next week. I've been toting some one to school with me everyday for 22 years. Jake and I started our first days of school together. He went to kindergarten and I faced my first class of fifth grade students. So, I basically dreaded the thought of not sending some one to Western with me. My house might seem so empty. All the fledglings had flown the coop.
So, here I am, and here I shall stay for a while. It is an unbelievable feeling knowing that I am so far away. It is nothing like I had imagined, and I had imagined the worst. But, I knew God wouldn't send me so far away for this not to be rewarding.
It is now 1:30 a.m. I believe I have a tour of accommodations tomorrow, I'm just not certain what time. I found out where I will be staying, more later! Stay tuned!
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