Jamie is rocking along with school. She is nailing the Arabic language down like a beast so I'm guessing she gets a lot of respect from students and the Emirite workers. It's a whole another set of education issues here so you cant really escape that. However, she makes friends of enemies, strongly interjects when appropriate, loves her girls, and puts every ounce of energy into her profession. That's why she succeeds and that's why Christ shines in her.
Homeschooling with my 6yr and 3yr old girls really has been rewarding. There is so much educational freedom to be creative and crazy. Our routeen starts every morning with a dance. I'm sure many people would like to see me bust a move to the Chipmunks. That's like an Area 51 thing. No ones ever really gonna see it or live to tell.
When lesson plans don't keep me busy, I recently started writing a column for a local magazine - The Source. I am also freelance writing online and getting paid! I'm building a "writing resume" to do something amazing one day...right.
In Georgia, "hi y'all, bye, and thanks" work fine...unless you work for chickfila then it's a genuinely forced, "my pleasure." My 3yr old barfed her nuggets in your play ground. Can y'all clean that up? "My pleasure." So I'm learning a lot of basic greetings. Here are a few...
Arabic: shukran means 'thank you'
Sinhala-Sri Lanka: sthoo-ti 'thank you'
Finnish-Finland: moi is an informal 'hello'
Malayalam-Kerala India: sukharam means 'are you well'
It's a sign of respect and interest for my friends who happen to be from around the world. It has been a bonus for my kids to view our world map and talk about where our new friends are from.
Every year has ups: we came home for the summer and really enjoyed seeing everyone including a last goodbye to my mom. Jamie had talked me into going back for the summer so that was good.
We have learn to navigate Dubai and Abu Dhabi and discover something new each time we go. Ski Dubai was a highlight. I'm aiming for SkyDive Dubai next or a trip to Muscat, Oman.
Every year has it's downs: our dog passed away this summer. This was the first Christmas either of us had ever been away from family. My good friend and neighbor died around New Years. I'm suppressing all this death stuff for now, stuffing it way down so it can fester and boil for a while.
The debate: it's possible we talk about this everyday. As the song goes, "should I stay or should I go now?" Ahead of schedule, our school loan will be paid off. Ultimately, one year here has been amazing. July 2015 is the end of the teaching contract. Then what? What is the thing that makes us say, 'we should go home now.' Or what is the thing that says, 'stick around, there is more great things to come.' It's just speculation at this point but we are having the time of our lives trying to figure it all out. - Jeff
