What is a teacher?

What is a teacher? Is she four walls? books? pencils? Is she the curriculum? desks? chairs? Is she her students? I don't know that I know that answer anymore. Today the ground that finally felt somewhat solid turned to quicksand with 5 words. "I'm moving you to KG." I feel like I instantly went into survival mode. I just kept thinking, "This isn't happening." I walked around trying to wrap my head around it. Thinking, not of where I was headed, but what I was leaving behind.

I know that I'm capable of teaching these 4 year olds. That's not actually what's causing me most of the problems. What's causing me the most problems is the heartache of leaving behind 9 amazing students.

There's SM with her amazing personality! She is super smart and is always ready to help and has her work done before most of the others. I would be lying if I said she wasn't my favorite... Then there's B who makes me laugh! He's always ready for the next thing and knows exactly what I want to happen. K with her ridiculous dress, she wears it over a full uniform! SA with her quiet little voice... unless of course she's speaking Arabic, then she is one of my loudest! I just realized that I have the most to say about my four students who sit together! haha that's pretty funny if you ask me.

It was with a very heavy heart today that I spent my last hour of work moving their desks to their new classrooms. I feel like they were stolen from me. I mean we all know that I have attachment issues...

Here's what I leave behind. It was the worst feeling. Like I had failed. I don't think my feelings really have much to do with my ability to work in KG2...It's about leaving behind my first class that was 100% mine. There is no second first class. There's just the one. And to know that I wont get to watch them grow and learn is heartbreaking. My heart literally broke today for all the firsts I will miss and the fact that I have no control over it. 

Goodbye G2C, I'll miss all 9 of you even though you'll be just up the stairs, you might as well be in a whole different country.

I don't know if I'll stay past Christmas break. I've even looked at tickets and I've got a job to return to, though it's a step backwards. There are only a few things keeping me here, one of which is possibly a cop out. The real thing that's keeping me here is the fact that I'm not a quitter. I don't know how long I'll allow myself to be pushed around (yes, I that's how I feel), only time can tell. But I know one thing for sure... I know longer know what a teacher is... I sure don't feel like one anymore.

37 Weeks until I'm free to come home!

Eid Mubarak Break

So here I thought I was going to spend my entire Eid break sitting in my room, or chilling by the pool, but instead I just spent most of my break that way. Leigh made a great proposal and invited me to come to Abu Dhabi with her. So the two of us and Jane and Harry piled in the car and headed out.

Leigh and I had a whole list of things that we needed/wanted to get or to do. On the top of the list was a good burger! So we headed straight for Central Station. A burger place with only like 5 things on the menu! I got a burger and sweet potato fries! It was SO good! We also met up with a friend who works in MZ for lunch, which was a bonus!

On our long list of places we wanted to go was a bookstore... for those of you back home you should know that their idea of a bookstore is nothing like ours... this particular store had only a few rows of books and electronics, craft supplies, school supplies, office supplies and I'm sure there were other areas I didn't look at. I got a few things that I needed for the classroom and we checked one thing off our list. We decided to wander around the mall that the bookstore was in and I learned something new that I might just be obsessed with! It's called the "travelator" it's like an escalator without the steps! They're VERY popular here!

The Travelator

Over the next two days we went to a couple different malls, and YAS island to IKEA! I picked up a new pair of shoes, some more supplies for my classroom, a handful of new tops/under shirts and I even got some cheddar and sour cream ruffles! Oh and some strawberries from california... but they looked and tasted more like Hoods to me!

The right side view from the hotel room.

We joined back up with Harry and Jane and stopped by yet another mall on our way back to Ghayathi. I was able to find a couple more things to add to my growing purchase pile before we made it home! The remainder of the break has been spent catching up on TV, reading and relaxing... Too bad we head back to work on Sunday... 

One of my new tops and a happy girl to be back in my own room!

For the record I've started a Flickr account to keep a photo log of my time here... if you'd like to have more information please email me @ CnStars23@gmail.com and I'll get you the info you need! Thanks for reading!

An Emirati Wedding

A few weeks ago I learned that one of the staff members at the school was getting married. The more I heard the more intrigued I was by the whole thing. She was to be his second wife and the first didn't approve so she left, leaving her as the second, but only wife. I also heard that he was among the richest men in the city he lived in. I am being vague as a show of respect, hopefully I don't overstep those bounds. As people started talking of going to the wedding it was said that everyone would be invited, but I didn't actually hear that we all were until just days before. I made my plans to go with Leigh, Jane and Harry. Knowing that Leigh wouldn't steer me wrong in any way. Jane took me to a shop that sells abayas and I found one I really liked. So Thursday after work I showered and dressed and decided to go down to see, not only when we were leaving, but also if my dress passed muster. This is what I opened my door to...

Yes, that is my hotel... a picture taken right after stepping out of my room. It was straight out of a horror flick! Especially since we still had power in our rooms. Luckily there was power in the surrounding halls or it would have been much scarier!

Mr. Harry and his 3 wives, Ms. Jane, Ms. Leigh and Ms. Cara 

I don't know how to describe the wedding, I can say that it was an experience. We were greeted by a line of women, non of which I knew who they were. We then found our group from school and sat while they brought around huge two person trays full of all kinds of sweets and coffees and teas! It was more food than I could ever imagine and it was all before dinner! There were a few women who were dancing, but not many in comparison to the number of women who were in attendance.

Once dinner was served our table very carefully uncovered plates and put things onto our plates, while the locals literally dug into their platters! We were served camel and lamb, I actually tried some of the camel after two of my tablemates raved over the taste. It tastes a lot like pot roast, though Gramma's is MUCH better! 

This is the only picture I felt was ok to take of the hall as a whole. The case shown is one of two cases displaying the jewelry that was gifted to the bride from the groom. At the very end of the hall the wall was covered in white fabric and then beads were scalloped in front and up lit to change color. It was the only source of color besides the red carpet. Everything else was in white, light grey and silver. Over all things were beautiful especially the bride! It was a great chance to see some of my coworkers with their hair down, literally as they are all covered by shaylas at work.

This is the final picture of the night. I realized that I had gotten dressed and never took a picture before I put my abaya on for the night! But I'm super glad I had my abaya to wear as this outfit would have been far too revealing since no one ended up taking off their abayas as I was assured they would. 

Well I have SO much more to say about others matters so I will wrap this one up!