Weekend Getaway!

Musandam, Oman and Dibba, UAE

This last weekend I had a lovely little weekend getaway. Still recovering-- I'm so exhausted! It seems to be a pattern here, looking forward to the weekend to catch up on sleep, get to the weekend, go a little crazy, lose sleep, make it through the week repeat. Dubai lifestyle!

This was a dhow cruise and snorkeling trip. Left with a group of teachers and a few random people, 2 hour drive to Oman. Waited at the Oman border for FOR-FREAKING-EVER, finally got through, hopped on the dhow. Had some sweet, sweet views of the mountains, ocean, and beach. It was all beautiful! The divers left and went on their dives. The rest of us snorkeled around the shore-- saw some fish and even a turtle! Can't wait to get my scuba cert again... probably will happen sometime in November.

After a few bumps in the road during the evening, we got our drink on. Honestly walked up through a hole in a wall, and there appeared a drive-up liquor store. Our high quality accommodations? Well, we stayed at a children's adventure camp in Dibba. Continued to get our drink on, had our own pool party, kayaked in the pool, and slept in bunk beds.

Saturday we had breakfast, walked along the beach, got some more sun, and came back home. Still exhausted, but it was great to get away and finally get in the ocean:-) Loved it!!

Views from the dhow cruise

I'm on a boat!!

Jumping off the top of the dhow:)

Divers getting ready to hang out with the fishies

Beautiful views

More beautiful views

Day 2-- Beach

Day 2-- Ocean:)

Day 2-- Resort pool that we took over

 

I'm a survivor!

I have survived my first full week of school and am working on the second! Sunday is certainly the most exhausting day of the week--6 classes and two meetings. I feel like the kids are getting to know me a little bit, and I am getting to know them.

Our new gym mascot:)

Last week was my birthday, and I have an almost birthday twin! What are the chances?! So, we celebrated birthdays together. We went to Hard Rock Café during the week, and had a nice breakfast at a place called The Farm. Who knew there was a green oasis in the middle of the desert? I had a nice birthday week, and so far a great birthday month:) Although, I did have to restrain a child at school on my birthday. True story. I quit working in residential right?


Birthday twinnie:)

I certainly am not taking my new friends here for granted, and everyone is very supportive. I even got a giant card from one of my classes (so adorable) and another really sweet one from one of my students. One of the girls bought my breakfast brunch, and ladies always get free champagne at one of the bars here! It was a great weekend:) I feel so grateful!

My GIANT card.

My really cute card.

New friend and free champagne:)

You know you live in Dubai when....

You know you live in Dubai when....

85 degrees at night feels like a magical cold front!!!!

Seriously, a 4th grader today looks at me and says "Miss B, you are sweating... a lot."

Thanks child, I know!! It is 112 degrees outside! On the up side, I got lots of hugs and the kids loved the game we played today:-)

I'm a teacher:)

This was my first week at my first full time PE teaching job and it was AMAZING!! Almost all of the kids are super great, we have tons of equipment, and most of the kids love PE:-) The stressful part is having to go in the main building pick up a class, walk them out to the gym, have class, walk them back to class, pick up the next one somewhere else. Pick up/drop off is not always at the classroom, so it is a lot to remember! The good news is that I'm getting in all the sunshine and exercise I need at school.

There are so many great people here! I feel lucky to have met them.  Everyone has been new at some point, and it is nice to know there are lots of people I can lean on. I hope next year I can pay it forward:)

Sometime soon I will do some touristy things so I can share photos of all the cool buildings here. I'm lucky it has been such an easy transition. I even got to Skype my mom this week! Post again soon.

Life here

So... tomorrow is the first day at school with kids! Terrifying. I know I will do fine, but I'm still super nervous. Also, learning some of these names is going to be tricky. Since I am PE I have 250 names to learn!

This has been an easy place to transition. All the amenities of home, a great PE staff (team of 7), good food, good company, lots of new great friends. Yesterday I bought a few international minutes so I was able to call home. My neighbor who also works at the school is also kind enough to let me steal his wifi so I was finally able to Skype with my mom:-) It was super exciting.

This past weekend was fun per usual. Thursday night I stayed in with one of my friends who has TV and wine. Then Friday I went to Hops Fest at a place called Irish Village which was pretty awesome. Everyone thought it was going to be a nice, calm, classy beer tasting. However, upon arrival we bought vouchers to drink beer inside, then walked through the building to get to a GIANT dark tent, where there was live music, lots of people, and lots of beer. It was super crazy and super fun. Loving life!!

In other news, my roommate takes a lot of pictures, so I shall share them with the world.

 After school social at the Belgian Beer Cafe, it was happy hour:)

 At Irish Village over the first weekend here... Someone thought I looked like Ursula with the lights from the tree.

 Back at Irish Village for dinner two days later....

 This was at Hops Fest at Irish Village (again). My feet were super filthy so I decided to rinse them off and dry them in the "very sanitary" hand dryers. Sorry everyone.

 Part of the school crew inside at Hops Fest.... Lisa, Sean, Me, Sinead, Emma

Me and roommate over looking the tennis courts during a pee break at Hops Fest

Weekend update:)

This weekend was fabulous!! Thursday night (our weekend here is Friday and Saturday) I went to a few clubs with new teachers I work with. It was great getting to know them on a non-teacher level. It was great because we took cabs around Jumeirah, which is basically where all the famous buildings are. The first club, 360, you take a golf cart out into the marina which was pretty sweet. There are definitely some fancy yachts here!!

Friday night was a staff dinner at a Lebanese restaurant. We had some weird appetizers which were all cold... like cold green beans in cold tomato sauce, but there were tons of them. I tried almost all of the dishes, but stuck with the pita bread and hummus (delicious). After most of the staff walked over to the Irish Village and had a few drinks there and chatted. I met a couple who are both high school PE teachers here. After the Irish Village, I went back to their apartment with one of their friends who is also a new teacher at the school.

Saturday I went to the mall (again) with my roommate and we bought some more things to make our place homey and I bought some things to make my bedroom and bathroom a little more cozy.

Ayman, Haddy, Me, Emma on Friday night

The school here is absolutely amazing!! If you have ever worked in the public school system in America, this is like spoiled to the MAX. We have cappucino machines on every floor, an incredible amount of support staff, and so many resources. We are ENCOURAGED to schedule field trips. What!? Yes, seriously.

Examples:

• teacher assistant in PE
• 2 copy rooms (they will bind books for you)
• the school has a full time doctor and 2 nurses
• amazing cappucino/coffee machines on every floor
• staff that will make your bulletin boards
• 4 full time IT people

I mean it is seriously amazing! Oh, and we get picked up and dropped off by a school bus each day just for teachers. It is great. I have also met some fellow Iowan teachers:)

That is all for now. Love and miss you all at home!

I arrived!

I'm finally here in Dubai:) Strange sleeping patterns, as in I got up by myself with no alarm clock at 6:30 am! We have a cute school bus that picks us up at the apartment buildings and brings us to school. Today is the first day of our orientation and we are learning lots.

 My "buddy" teacher is great! She has been teaching PE for many years and showed me around our PE area. There are 3 or 4 storage closets and there is tons of equipment. The gym/pool/tennis courts is in a separate building from everything. The school campus is huge! The pool is outside, but covered. Teachers can use it whenever.

Also, it is really flippin' hot. Currently it is 109 degrees, but feels like 115 degrees. They use the metric system here and so people keep saying things in Celsius which is confusing.

What else.... the flight here was super long, especially the 12 hour one. Not so fun. My apartment is awesome, it is HUGE. The ceilings are high, I have a king bed, and my own private balcony. ROCKSTAR STATUS.

Pic of me on the first day!

Packing

Guess what everyone?? I PACKED ALL MY STUFF!! And I have a tiny bit of room to spare AND it is all under the weight limit! What? Are things really going smoothly with packing? Yes, yes they are. Congratulations... to myself.

<43 hours til takeoff

Colorado was super terrific. I got the cutest/nicest good bye note from my friend Michelle and my 15 mo. old niece said "Ali"...sort of.

 

 Some beautiful Colorado scenery:)

 

My niece is cuter than your niece. There, I said it.

Sentimental Alison: I had my going away party with my friends this weekend in Iowa fashion-- sitting around a bonfire drinking and camping. Lucky to have such great friends!

I also think both of my parents are starting to freak out in their own special ways. My dad (I'm his youngest girl) has been calling me at least twice a day, and my mom (I'm her only child) keeps telling me she is freaking out and on the verge of crying. Kind of makes me sad, but I'm glad to know that they still support my adventure. :-) Love you mom and dad!

Today I was super duper productive. There are so many things to do before you leave the country!!

• returned my license plates and will get $20 back.... in 3 weeks
• ordered AED money from the bank so my mom will simmer down
• closed my Nevada water account
• cancelled my Alliant
• bought some new underwear
• picked up a doctor's note
• returned my work phone.... 2 months after I quit
• cancelled my car insurance

Yep, that is my exciting day.

Also, shout out to my step dad, Joel, who has let me drive his car the last few days. Thank you.