Thursday, February 21, 2013

Getting around

So the inside lane goes all the way around to exit crossing three lanes, the middle lane does whatever it wants, and the third lane takes the first exit off the round about.  This is part of my new driving lessons. I feel like I'm 16 again navigating and learning new rules for all these roundabouts.  Ive only gotten lost once, like - where the hell am i lost - not im on the wrong street lost.  im on the wrong street everyday...cause all signs are in arabic.  I count roundabouts to figure out where im going.  Driving to Jamie's school is simple but watch out for camel crossings.  The camel farms are near the Oman border near her school.  Speaking of Oman!  i got stuck at the Oman border with two girls in my arms for 2hours.  The attendant made me get out cause they were frustrated with me.  Apparently i wasnt doing something right.  Who me? Not my kind of excitement.  The drive is rugged, desert brown land, but the mountain across the street from the school is majestic.  I love that drive.  The radio plays everything in Arabic, as they should, but when the rare American song comes on, the girls get excited to hear a piece of home.  Home...the girls miss home, until they get into one of three pools, then all is forgotten. Me, I'm good taking it all in, trying to remember names and getting our permanent housing set up. Still in a hotel for now living out of a suitcase. Still feels like a vacation.
- Jeff

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

School Daze

It really is a daze at times! I have to say, some things are the same as the states and some things are vastly different. Learning my students will be difficult b/c I have 53 total (27 one class and 26 in the other). I miss the older days where I only taught 10 at a time.  Many of my students share the same name. I have all girls which is a blessing from God b/c the boys here are rough. I have a Emrati principal, 2 vice principals, 1 head of faculty and a grade level chair-chain of command is rough. My school is 1 year old and very nice & huge! We have 1300 students & I get lost in the building every day, seriously! The school week here is Sunday thru Thursday, so instead of TGIF it is now SHIT (so happy it's Thursday) -don't you love it. We were given a list today of topics not to teach; one long list by the way. I had to go to the board of Ed office and get fingerprints. While there I found out we may be getting a brand new, 4 bedroom apartment for housing-sweet! How awesome is He. So far, so good. Very tired and dazed. - Jamie

Saturday, February 9, 2013

People

We have met many teachers here from New Zealand with great accents who call McDonald's fries "chips."  I was invited to a room where people were playing ukuleles and singing.  They handed me a guitar so I had to join in fumbling with chords of Irish songs.  I did learn how to play the ukulele quickly.  Just an awkward sing along all together.
We take a taxi just about every where in our new city of Al Ain...till we figure out the bus system.  We have learned taxi drivers really don't know where anything is.  They may circle around the block then say, "I don't know."  Driving is nuts.  There are round-abouts everywhere with people maneuvering through three lanes around the circle.  I felt like we were drifting (fast and furious).
Many of the women are covered head-2-toe in abayas on the body and the scarf on the head.  I can't wait for Jamie to try it out.  She doesn't have to but...
The kids haven't really asked about this or why the men wear these skirts going commando underneath.
The minority group here are people from India.  I'm trying to learn names but sometimes the names are long.  Luckily, men are just named Mohammed.  I beat a guy named Mohammad in ping pong today.  He gave me a look...I thought, what have I done?
And then there are Americans. We are in a hurry and we demand a lot.  We have learned to slow down and be patient.  Nothing is done fast here except when they drive.  That's where they release all their patience. - Jeff

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Things that make you say huh?

There have been some things that have made me stop and go, "what in the world." First, we went grocery shopping and cannot find squash! If you know me, Ed, that hurts so bad. Oh we'll, at least this way I can try new things, such as the cookies called Anzac. They are awesome, no idea what exactly they are, but they are yummy.  We bought paper plates that are recycled and made from bamboo and sugar cane-crazy! Jeff wanted to try and eat the plate, I had to stop him, ha! Ha! Get this,  Jeff was cooking and turned on the stove thinking he was cooking on a flat top, but in fact he was supposed to raise the flat part to find the eyes underneath. Needless to say, it was smoking and stinking and we got lucky that the alarms did not go off. That really made me say huh? The biggest one would have to be the sign in the picture. Make sure you enlarge and read it clearly. We went to Heritage Village and the sign said something about if an alarm goes off while in the museum, gas will  be set off. Scary! Anyway, still waiting on medicals to come back so we can move to Al Ain and get this party started. We are going to be about 2 hours from here and I will be at a brand new school. They put plants in the walls for oxygen in the rooms and solar panels for energy in the ceilings. Huh? Okay, i'm almost done. the best for last right?! apparently there is a sprayer next to the toilets here that look like a water hose.  Londun has discovered the hose and loves to spray it. When i go in to get onto her, she points to her butt and says, "butt". At least she knows what it is for.  Well, again, whatever is waiting, we are ready! -Jamie

Sunday, February 3, 2013

FOOD: my favorite past time


Ill start by reminding myself how incredibly particular my family is when it comes to food.  That being said, Jamie has tried Lebanonese, Venezuelan pastalleto, and hummus for the first time.  She may have taken a bite of lamb but we will not speak of that. Londun my two year old tried a falafel and liked it!  Brooklin, liked hummus but is sticking with basics.  We all like the Shawarma.  Friday we realized everything closes until late afternoon.  I thought of the outcry in the US if all places closed Sunday like chickfila.. oh how i miss thy expensive breast.  So I am very proud of my woman and girls for venturing out.  We must because we are stuck in a hotel right now not knowing when we are leaving.  KFC and Pizza Hut are the local American favorite.  They are everywhere.  The Walmart here is called LuLu's and is huge!  We will eventually buy groceries there.  I did spend the day looking for a crock pot.  All the LuLu's seem to be attached to malls that are 7 stories tall.  Food taste different.  It's SuperBowl day back in the US.  It's 3:00pm here and some of you are just waking for church or other activities.  I will totally miss the party food when the game begins. - jeff

Friday, February 1, 2013

It is Friday, not Sunday right?

Seriously, it's very odd to attend church on a Friday. What a new experience we had. We attended ECC today.  This church is housed in a building with about 40 other churches. There were a lot of people in attendance and the children's ministry assigned you a number so you could be matched to your children and picked up-very familiar my CCC family. Being at church made me happy that people love God everywhere, but made me miss my church family soooo much! Because it is a church day many things are closed and if they do open, they open late. The pool is also closed today because it's being cleaned. It appears each day may be a new adventure. Bring it on! I have tried many new foods. I am ready for it all! - jamie