2. My first year in Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi ........Well let's see how do we describe it without sounding to crass. It's the middle east must I say more LOL. Here is a short diary entry from my first weeks in Abu Dhabi which is nothing like the sex in the city Abu Dhabi by the way. In my diary entries you will see a reality shift just in the first couple of days and then I will write a closing blog summing up my Abu Dhabi time.

September 3, 2010

I made it!!! I just got into my room after a 21 hour flight from LA to New York and then to Abu Dhabi. I thought I'd never get here the flights where eternal but I had awesome conversations on the plane. In my flight to New York I made friends with a Gal that works in some sort of production (commercials). She was great to talk to and was very positive. I have to admit that she has inspired me to travel more and to enjoy life as it comes :) In the second flight I met this nice guy from India. He filled me in on some of the differences and or culture shock that I might experience in the emirates. He was going to visit his family for 2 months and too like myself was under the pressure of marriage. As I meet others in my age group that too are single and without children that I feel better about not following with that pressure of meeting a deadline for marriage and children LOL! At least for me it’s more of a conceiving deadline because marriage isn't in my immediate plans, or better yet plans at all LOL. I can hardly believe my eyes this room is …...well wonderful. I am waiting for them to come knock on my room door and say sorry this really wasn't your room. I am a teacher and already I think there is lots more appreciation for teachers in this country or at least with this company. I have a king size bed, big bath tub separate from the rain shower, toilet room all on its own, sink for two, a nice big desk, a modern couch, enough closet space to live here, complimentary tea and coffee, complimentary fruit and water bottles, phone by the bed and desk and in restroom, big flat screen TV and a incredible view of the beach and grand mosque. Wow!!! They must have confused me with someone else but I’ll take it Lol. I'm so glad to be here the whole plane ticket scheduling was so... well let’s just call it delayed and there was little communication to keep us informed that I was starting to think they forgot about me or that there was a hold up in my paper work that kept me from being hired and it was never relayed to me. After all I had sold it all, turned in my house, packed and stored everything so that was a scary thought :( I AM IN ABU DHABI SOIL!!!!!! And so far all is great except for the heat. Let me tell you when we exited the plane into the airport yikes the windows were sweating. The condensation of the temperature difference between the nice air-conditioned airport and the outside humidity..... Let’s just say it took my breath away. I was drenched in sweat in less than 5 in of standing outside. It reminded me of my trip to Cancun once upon a time but intensified by 3. As I sit here at my desk my windows here too are fogging up and I wonder what the temperature is after all its 10 pm how hot can it be?! Well I'm going to try and get some sleep after this oh so long day. Wish me luck because my brain says its day morning and almost lunch (11 hour difference). Good night :)

September 4, 2010

We had the day off and worked at night how weird is that LOL! We had a meeting at 8:30 p.m-11pm never in my wild thoughts would I ever thing there would be a teacher meeting that late. It was cool that we got to sleep in and rest then meet at night. The meeting that I was hoping to clarify the many details of where and how I would be living ….and where I would be teaching didn’t quite answer anything. All is still ambiguous at the moment. We are having an orientation slash meeting again tomorrow morning from 9 am to 1pm so hopefully questions will be answered then :)

September 5, 2010

Grrrr! No questions were answered once again. It is so frustrating yet at this meeting our Head of HR has blessed me with a really good piece of advice. He said that as a type A I would have to learn to take it easy and that thing in this country happen ….well when they happen. It is now as he said my motto to take it “shway shway” (slowly) LOL! Apparently things change all the time nothing is set in stone so therefore nothing is reliable. Can you believe that when he started working years ago they even changed the weekend days just like changing a food order LOL

September 11, 2010

The day before yesterday we went to a marine party (The black party as in you wear black). It was a little scary to take the lead of making it to this party with no address what so ever LOL. My friend Andrea sent me an email regarding a Marine party that was going on and I was excited to however her reply to me asking for directions was “there are no addresses in Abu, just tell the cabby you want to go to the US embassy shaped like a cheese by the Pepsi factory”...... OMG are you kidding me. We made it regardless the lack of direction although I was concerned for a second since I told the cabby what my friend had said and he scratched his head for a minute and then nodded and said ok. I quickly remembered Don's wise advise from the orientation a few days ago, “they often will tell you yes they can do whatever you ask because they want to please you however they have no clue”. A tinge of worry in my stomach flashed however we made it and the whole seemed odd. As I arrived with my newly made new BFF Noy we both looked at each other with concerns since the place was very quiet and desolate. The guard quickly asked where we were headed we answered the Marine party and he pointed to the glass window in a building. We went up to the glass window and handed our Ids they checked that we were on the list and they opened the door. This room felt like I was going in to visit an inmate LOL. They took our ID's again and in place gave us some badges to wear around our necks. Had us sign into a log book and then place our purses through an x-ray machine. You know like at the airport..... at least we didn't have to take off our shoes Lol. Then our entire bodies were wand scanned. We were then asked if we knew where it was and we said no its our first time. A gentleman came in and did the same process behind us and he volunteered to show us the way. The way was once again quiet, desolate and buildings were cold and jail like starkness came to mind. When we arrived in what they called the marine house it was lively inside, music and drinking at the bar. My new BFF and I quickly went up to the bar for a courage drink to mingle in this new and odd land we happen to live in now. I came up and asked the guy at the bar for a sex on the beach and he looked at me with confusion in his face. He then said ummm I don't know how to make that ….I then said lemon drop? And he shaked his head as to a no. He then quickly said hold on. He ran and brought over another guy and he then said what were u asking for? I said a mixed drink do you know any?  Lemon drop?  He said yes I think I can do that for you left and then came back with a bottle of something and in a few minutes we had two lemon drops. My new BFF and I dance and mingled the whole night :) It was the first place it seemed to me normal in this country. People seemed more like people we would now at home and the environment as well. The nice bartender eyed me once in a while and they even played some Latin music it felt just like a bar at home LOL. I even had a gentleman come up to me and tell me that his friend wanted to talk to me like if we were in middle school awww boys was my thought. I took it as a compliment and responded ok but he just smiled and never said nothing more so I walked away. At the end of the night I had made a few new friends that said they would fill me in on where to go salsa dancing. As we walked out to leave the nice bartender came over and asked me for my number. I only 4 days fresh in the country did not have one and told him this. He looked at me like I was giving him a line LOL. I then explained no really I don't I’ve only been here 4 days and told him to friend me on facebook. I told him I was on the Marine house facebook friends and that he would find me there but not as Sandra as Morenita LOL and then he really gave me the you are lying face. I assured him I was and left. This so far had been the most normal day in Abu Dhabi and that’s not much to say.

November 20^th

I finally have my apartment after almost 2 months of luxury at the Fairmont Hotel we were all moved to our permanent housing. It’s a step down from the Fairmont but that was expected. My housing if average I'm in a hotel apartment and don’t know how I will feel about living in a hotel but we will see. Slowly this place has shown its true colors.....since my first week diary entries.....well I've learned lots about this place. The process to get my permanent housing was a nightmare and almost tears were shed in how frustrating the process was (some actually shed tears). Getting situated has been so slow and made complicated. The organization is not this company’s strongest suit. There are so many of us that it doesn't help matters because we all need the same things at the same time. I've learned there is no reason to the way things are done here and just need to accept it. As a type A personality this place has required some adjustment on my part. I have discovered some good things about this place ..… Here women are a commodity. Noy and I discovered this on our second week here when we decided to go on a walk to get to see the city streets a little and grab a bite of street food. We walked no less than half a block and then realized that we were walking on streets full of massive amounts on men, the working class dirty, hairy and smelly men in their pajama looking clothe. The sight took our breath away and not in a good way LOL! Literally took our breath away everywhere we looked and turned hundreds of men coming our way. We walked amongst the hordes of men for like 20 minutes and quickly realized that it was not a place to walk in LOL. They stared as if they had never seen a woman before and this is in our Abu Dhabi friendly cloth (skirt to ankle and completely covered shirts). It made sense later to us as we learned that there Is a skewed ratio of men to women for every woman there is 4 men! Pretty much 70 percent of the Abu Dhabi population therefore is men!!! This is not good since it isn’t anything any of us expat women would even want staring at us none the less date LOL. However making the woman a commodity therefore we don't pay to get in anywhere and drink for free all the time!!!! LOL. Taxis are cheap so you taxi everywhere. I live in a hotel apartment so I always get helped with my bags and they clean my room as I request :) Living in a hotel apartment I also have a small pool and gym at my disposition at all times. I guess there are some rewards to dealing with the idiocy of this place LOL.

December 5^th

I am counting the days to go home!!! This place is just not normal to me. I have gotten use to the lack of time efficiency but can't seem to get use to the lack of common sense LOL. I will get to go home for xmas soon. I am now driving bought a car off a friend of a friend. My girlfriend Andrea has been a great friend :) She has helped me in the process of adjusting and specially learning to just deal with situations that arise. She has the experience to guide me since she was here teaching last year and this is her second year. I am a part of the small expat social circle here thanks to her :) I now own a car thanks to this social circle as well. The driving is INSANE here. They use no turn signals, have no common sense, no regard for other drivers on the road, they are rude and straight out STUPID!!!! Abu Dhabi is the land of roundabouts and OMG I hate roundabouts!!!! specially where no rules are observed. Every time I enter one I pray for my life. I swear I'm short of pulling the catholic cross blessing every time I get in Abdul. Abdul is the name of my car LOL. He came with an Arabic name. I'm glad I'm going home for xmas mas cause this being a Muslim country xmas just doesn't feel the same here. I think xmas could go by and it would feel like it never existed. I miss the decorations, the cold, the xmas tunes and the shopping feeling :) I avoid shopping here ever since Noy and I stepped into the first couple of malls and found them too overwhelming. I have now been here half a year and still find the malls enormous and overwhelming. There is no order or sense to their floor plan set of the malls here. I feel like the malls in the US have a general order or sense of direction while here it’s just like everything else all over the place. I mean come on I still can't get over that there are no addresses just land marks to get everywhere or a P.O box to get mail!!!!

January 15^th

I am glad to report that I had a great xmas with my family and that I am refreshed and ready to go until our next break. I was refreshingly surprised to encounter growth in my students in the first week back from break. I have had a challenging year with my classroom this year. It first was a classroom management roller coaster due to the obstacle of the language barrier. We are forced to teach with an Arabic speaking partner in order to familiarize the students to English through their native tongue. I was lucky to have gotten appointed one of the laziest and by far troublesome Arabic teachers. I was forewarned beforehand of her behavior in the past and encouraged to work on it with her in attempts to improve her teaching professionalism. The children come in speaking zero English and understanding even less. I have been assigned to teach what they call KG 1 which is basically preschool here but with Kindergarten standards. My students are basically 3 and 4 years old and have never had any discipline or order in their lives at home. I don't know how else to explain in but it’s like taming wild animals …..little cave children. The first 2 week I had my partner in the class room which helped somewhat but not enough. In the first 2 weeks’ time instead of teaching the classroom rules, expectations and procedures is what is expected in the US classroom...well not here. In the first 2 months we worked on keeping the students in the classroom and from destroying the few tools/ resources we had in the classroom. Of the first 2 months I had my partner for 2 weeks and then she left on pregnancy leave and was alone for almost a month. After being alone for almost a month they managed to get me a “substitute”. My substitute while nice spoke no English and understood nothing about the expectations set by our company as to what and how to teach in the classroom. It was more like having been appointed an instructional aid that spoke no English. I had to spend massive amounts of time google translating our conversations so that she understood how or what I needed her to help me do I regards with the students. I had my “substitute” for almost 2 months before my lazy partner came back. Once my partner came back I worked with her on cuing her in on what the classroom procedures and expectations set in place for the student which at this point I had managed to get on board. I had my partner back for 2months before we went on xmas break. It is really hard sharing a classroom with another educator that doesn't have the same views of education. I have managed to get my partner to see the need in organizing. I have also managed to get her on board on discipline which is a big problem amongst all other partnerships. The Arabic teachers here tend to treat the students as babies and therefore let the students get away with murder. The children are not made accountable for their actions and you are made feel heartless if you require the students to follow any guidelines. The standards for that we are held accountable for as educators are outrageously inappropriate for this age group. It is even less likely to be attainable with a group of students that doesn't respect or value education. In the culture here in Abu Dhabi students come to school when they want, if they want and the parents don't support education. It is an uphill battle that I'm determined to continue to fight. Anyways what I'm coming to is that I’ve been back a week and 3 of my students have not only retained some of the English phrases but have openly been using them to communicate with me. I feel like there is some hope :)