Teacher Halloween Party

These are the belated pictures from our teacher Halloween party. Lots of great costumes and fun. The flat was decorated to the Halloween 9's.

Halloween pictures of my class

Here are my kids in their Halloween costumes -- just like home!!! Of course I had treats for them and they brought in goodies as well.

Life in the Desert

Hi everyone -- a couple weeks of updates are in store -- brace yourselves!!

Things continue to roll along at a steady rapid pace. I decided to attend the "Jewelery and Watch Show" one evening and that was an interesting event. I got bored soon enough when I realized everything was pretty much out of my spending league. Jewels that were 30K -- millions of dollars. Many Emirate women trying on massive diamonds while their husbands sat in a lounge area drinking coffee, smoking and talking business. Once you have seen these lavish pieces of jewelery you've seen them all.

The New York Philharmonic was in Abu Dhabi last week for performances in a "Classics Series" at the Emirates Palace Hotel. A small group of them made an appearance at our school and we had an assembly to expose students to music.

JEWELERY ALERT -- made my first jewelery purchases a couple weeks ago. 2 rings, 2 earrings and 4 charms -- all 18 kt. gold -- they don't event have 14 kt. -- the price of gold is high so future purchases are on hold until gold comes down a bit. I am eyeballing a few bracelets.

I had a business idea to start tutoring Emirate adult women who already speak some english but want to improve their conversation skills. I would form 2 groups of 3 women in each group 2 times per week. I have spoken to many people about this and they think it's a great idea, but my time is so limited I have not yet had the opportunity to explore possibilities further. The main problem is how to network this concept. I will have to keep the idea dormant until I can manage enough time to investigate further.

I found a tailor named Mohammed (imagine that). He has sewn me a couple tops with fabric I bought locally. Many women get things made here as there are many fabric stores, which they call textiles, and there are several tailors everywhere. They do not follow a pattern, just copy a piece that you bring into them.

We recently held an awards assembly at school for grades 1-5. Students were presented with awards for being a "thinker" and being "principled" in each grade level. These characteristics are part of our International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program that instills these ideals in our children. I selected 2 girls and 2 boys in my class and they were thrilled. At the end of the assembly they usually play some type of game and this month it was "Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader". The 5th grade students decided to take on the grade 4 teachers so we had to get up in front in the gym and answer questions competing against the grade 5 students. I had a ball and was hooting and waving at my class and my students loved it. The other grade 4 teachers were rather subdued in comparison to my enthusiasm and excitement. The teachers won and our price was dress down day for all the elementary teachers.

My class of students love to see me act crazy from time to time. It allows them to see another side of their teacher who is usually strict and following a tight learning schedule. I love my kids!!!!

We recently had a bake sale and popcorn day. The kids go crazy and buy as much as they can. The proceeds go to "Red Crescent" which is like the "Red Cross". Parents bring in donuts and baked items for sale and I believe they raised $6000 dirhams which is like $1700 dollars.

Its funny how similar everything is here to our way of life back home. Kids are kids -- they like candies and sweets and popcorn day and bake sales. Their parents contribute and participate. They love holidays and Disney Paris and visiting their cousins. They like to goof-off in school and be mischievous whenever I am not looking. Their parents adore them and these youngsters just want to have friends and have fun and play football (soccer) and go to movies. Life in the Emirates is more like life in Canada or America than any of the Middle East countries we see on TV (Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan). I believe the majority of people just want to live and it is the crazy leaders and religious extremists who ruin everything for the average person living in the Middle East. (Sadam, Akmidenijad, Taliban, Bin Laden) They give the muslim world a bad image and instill fear where fear is not necessary -- it is normal in most every way here. No fear, no extremism, no anti-western world attitudes.

I celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving with a lovely gathering sponsored the "The Canadian Business Association" at a top hotel. I attended with fellow Canadian, Doug Bowsher, and my invited guest and American, Emma Mercado. The food was tasty, but they ran out of turkey and stuffing by the time we made it to the buffet after standing in a long line. The hotel felt so bad, they offered another evening meal to all those who did not get turkey and stuffing. Although I dined on beef tenderloin (because of no turkey), mashed potatoes and a great selection of desserts, I was approached to attend the 2nd Canadian Thanksgiving with Doug and Emma in tow. It will be held next Tuesday night at the same venue, but without the crowd of over 300 people. A 2nd meal for the price of FREE sounds good to me!!!!

I had a Professional Development day this past Sunday because a guest speaker from the U.S. was visiting our school for a week. Her name is Cheryl Sigmon and she is an expert on our "4 blocks" literacy program -- guided reading, self-selected reading, writing and working with words. The day long seminar was very informative and I hope to implement some of her ideas into my classroom. Our daytime schedule is so jam-packed that it seems rushed everyday to fit in what is needed to be covered. It feels like a whirlwind most days for me and I think for the students as well.

Halloween is Saturday night and we celebrated at school on Thursday (yesterday). I dressed up as a cat/mouse and the kids loved it. I had 15 students dress in some type of costume. There were not witches allowed so as not to offend the muslim population. I did, however, see witches at the high school level student population. I had treats for all my kids and they also brought in cupcakes and mini bars. I showed Michael Jackson's "Thriller" from the internet onto my smartboard. The students loved it. We also watched videos from my favourite scientist "Bill Nye the Science Guy" and of course, I taught them to sing the opening song in all the crazy voices. It was a fun day with only a little work done -- that's OK sometimes.

It is Formula One weekend in Abu Dhabi. Many teachers have tickets to the weekend event which has been celebrated for the past week. It is a huge event for the Emirates -- many people come from Dubai to hang with all the beautiful people. Beyonce was performing last night and many scored tickets to that concert. Aerosmith, Jamiraquai and The Kings of Leon are also performing. It is big international deal here!! 3 of my students left school early on Thursday to kick-off the Formula One events. 1 boy is missing school on Sunday because of the last day of Formula One. I was offered a pair of Jamiraquai tickets for tonight (Friday night), but I will be attending a teacher Halloween party in my building. I am going as a "Glamour Bat". It should be fun.

That's about it for the past couple weeks. I am trying to book a trip to Egypt for Christmas with my brother Scott. I am also looking into Morocco or Hong Kong for a week at the end of November. Those plans are still up in the air.

I'll keep you posted on the next couple of weeks. Stay well and enjoy the fall season back in Canada.

Loretta (Rhetta)

News and Updates

PLEASE GO BACK TO MY SEPTEMBER 29 POST FOR PICTURES OF THE GRAND MOSQUE, PURCHASES AND SOME SHOTS OF MY FRIEND EMMA MERCADO IN DUBAI.

Hi everyone -- my journey continues in the Emirates with overall enjoyment and positive adjustment. The school days fly by with non-stop business from 7:00 until 4:00 followed by marking at home at night. I am usually in bed by 9:00 to 9:30 and sleep soundly. 5:30 in the morning nearly kills me, but that too is an adjustment I am getting accustomed to. I really sleep in on the weekends to catch up a bit.

I just completed my first Parent-Teacher Conferences and they were a huge success. I was quite organized and confidant with the parents and always tried to praise their child in some capacity or another (although difficult for some). The parents were quite receptive to my observations and evidence, as presented in the form of their child's work and test scores. I have some very bright children in my class and some very weak children -- about 5 children are at kindergarten or grade 1 level and they are in grade 4. Can you imagine the range??? It is crazy and since they have no Special Education department for children with identified needs this complicates things.

As I type this, I hear the call to prayer and reading of the Koran over the city wide loud speakers. You really get used to this and the call to prayer is generally a very soothing melody -- don't get me wrong, it's not Sinatra or Streisand, but it has its own Arabic beauty.

The Middle East International Film Festival (MEIFF) is currently taking place in Abu Dhabi. Some of my fellow teachers have gotten passes to allow them to see several movies -- they are viewing constantly. I did not partake because I am a first time teacher and too busy with school work to attend that volume of movies. I hope to catch a couple of movies this weekend, but will play it by ear. Some of the movie viewings are at the Emirates Palace and that would be an excellent experience to view a movie in such grandeur.

I am in my own little groove with my grocery store, my laundry, my corner store, etc. I continue to understand the layout of the city and can manage to give directions to where I want to go to most taxi drivers.

Back to School!!

Did you read the last September post -- be sure not to miss it!!

Started back to school after the glorious break on Sunday September 27. What did this mean exactly? Wake up at 5:30 a.m. -- yes this is not a typo. 5:30 a.m. every morning nearly kills me. This means I am in bed by 9:30 most nights just simply exhausted. After I awake at 5:30 I must be ready and in the lobby for my 6:35 a.m. bus pick-up for all the teachers from various buildings. We arrive to school around 6:55 a.m. and I have a little time to organize things and get a few task completed. Children start trickling into the classroom around 7:30 ish to drop off their backpacks and lunches. The bell rings at 7:45 a.m. and the kids are in school until 2:45 p.m. -- this is an extremely long day!! Since we are back on regular post-Ramadan scheduling, we are finally into the groove of what a normal day looks like. This first week was so tiring. Keeping the kids on task is the hardest part followed by trying to figure out what the hell I'm doing!!

For those teachers out there who are reading this blog you may relate. We follow a new math program called "Investigations" which no one has had any training with so everyone is winging it. We follow a language arts program called "4 Blocks" which includes: SSR (self-selected reading), GR (guided reading), www (working with words) and writing. I have had no training with this method so, you guessed it, winging it. Because we are an IB school (International Baccalaureatte) we follow the PYP program (Primary Years Program) and there are transdisciplinary themes which we must cover, e.g. -- How We Organize Ourselves" -- this is my current unit and it deals with "How authority and rules effect people and the environment". These units are to create young thinkers who have a global perspective on the world and their place in it. Some training has been provided here, but I am definitely in the learning curve. Every classroom has its own Smartboard and there has been no training as of yet, but I a told it is coming. When do I make the time to teach myself the smartboard? I have 4 children who have learning difficulties or language deficiencies who have tutors right in my classroom. I have 2 girls who daydream and do no work and I have one very bright boy who is a total behavioural handful. Other than the 7 children I just mentioned, the rest of the class are quite good behaviourally and within the average to highly-skilled range academically. You can see why I am whipped at the end of the day.

There are two school buses that take teachers back to their apartments at the end of the day. One leaves at 3:15 and the other at 4:15 -- I am always on the late bus because I try to get extra work done at the end of the day. So my day begins with be waking up at 5:30 a.m. and I get home from school about 4:40p.m. I often have marking in the evenings and hope my energy increases so I can do more work at home at night to stay on top of things. It is currently Friday, October 4 (my Saturday) and I will have the day free to shop, maybe get a massage, try to buy some new black sandals and get some facial hair threading done. Tomorrow I will go to school to try to spend 4-5 hours setting up my weekly plan and trying to get some level of sanity in my head. My desk is piled high with tons of stuff that I need to go through and sort. I have so much reading material my head could explode. That is in essence the training -- "here's a link, read it".

I will survive, but as mentioned to many of you in conversations of past, I HATE being in the learning curve -- it sucks the life out of you!! Anyway, all is not lost, last night I went to a beautiful hotel that has an open grassy/garden area which people called the "beer garden". It was a colleagues birthday and there was a huge turnout. There was live music -- kind of BeeGees Barry Gibb mixed with Jewel. It was rather mellow music and everyone was hoping for dance music -- needless to say, the dance floor was empty all night long. There were large tables and comfortable chairs set all over this huge grassy area with a large air-conditioned tent and a buffet or modest pizza/burger menu to order food. I enjoyed myself and even broke down and had 1 shot of sambuca and 2 cigs!! Usually I stick to my "Coke Light".

Eid El Fitr Holiday

Greetings from the Middle East!! I was off work for the past 9 days and it was FABULOUS!!! Ramadan is officially over and was followed by one week holiday to celebrate Eid El Fitr. My school holiday started at the end of the day on Thursday, September 17 and we returned to school on Sunday September 27.

OMG -- OVER 2 WEEKS OF INTERNET PROBLEMS!! Spent an hour the other night updating the blog and my internet just died before I had a chance to save or post my work -- everything was erased -- the entire written masterpiece! I have since tried to start over and my internet has gone down again. I have had the internet provider to my apartment 3 times in the past 2 weeks.

So here I go again .........

Originally I had thought of going to Muskat Oman with a friend, but by the time we got our potential plans lined up it was the day before our tentative departure. We decided it was all too rushed so we decided to travel to Dubai for 3 days instead. It was a good decision because my gastroenteritits was acting up a bit and it would have been most uncomfortable to travel when I needed a day of rest.

My friend, Emma Mercado, has lived in Dubai for the last year and decided to move to Abu Dhabi and work at my school this year. Picture a 5'1" American/Mexican, full-of-hell, fun-loving, fiesty woman with 2 masters degrees. She was my travel companion of choice and you can see why!! She has her international drivers license and would be able to navitage her way. We rented a car and hit the highway.

The barren desert between Abu Dhabi and Dubai is a reminder that the development in this young country is fairly new and continues to flourish. There are pockets of development as we traveled the clear new highway. No speed limit signs naturally encourage speeders -- if only I had been behind the wheel!! There are occasional radar monitors as you get closer to Dubai to clock your speed and issue electronic tickets. The trip took about 1.5 hours and passed quickly.

As you approach, Dubai traffic increases and you come upon the most impressive buildings of shiny steel and sparkling glass that reflect the sun's rays. The architecture is truly impressive and innovative. You know a great city lies ahead!! Intricate highways unfold and constant construction causes roads to change and driving to become confusing and erratic. We made our way to the apartment building that Emma used to live in. One of her friends had vacated her apt for a few days so we had a place to stay. I met some of Emma's friends who were most hospitable and welcoming.

Although I have made my first trip to Dubai, I never lunched at "The Burj" or rubbed shoulders with the residents of "The Palm". I never made it to the grand hotels along the water or the "Mall of the Emirates" to ski on the indoor ski hill. This city needs many trips to take in everything and on this trip we started slow with 3 malls and visiting with Emma's friends. It was a warm-up for future visits.

I must note that all the malls are really beautiful and extremely modern. We first visited a mall in Sharjah which is a neighbouring emirate that is more conservative than Dubai. Naturally I did not wear my halter top and Daisy Duke shorts on this trip! We then went to a fantastic mall in Festival City back in Dubai. This is the mall Emma frequently shopped at when she lived in Dubai. Very large and home to a huge IKEA.



The next day we enjoyed a lovely breakfast hosted by Emma's friend Wanda (Canadian) and also attended by April (American). So we had 2 Canadians and 2 Americans just to even things out. We all then made our way to the "Ibn Bututa" mall. I loved this place!!! Ibn Bututa is a famous arabic explorer who traveled and discovered many lands and the finary they had to offer. The mall is divided into sections based on his travels. For example, the Persian section would be decorated like Persia, the Indian section like Indian the Egyptian section like Egypt and so on. It was so unique and beautiful.

We enjoyed our short visit and returned back to Abu Dhabi after 3 days. I am waiting for the arrival of my brother Scott to do partake in the full Dubai experience in December.

Upon arrival back to Abu Dhabi I met with friends for dinners and drinks, slept in every day and went to school on 3 separate occasions to try and get myself more organized.

We organized a "field trip" for a group of 12 of us to the "Grand Mosque". This is the largest or second largest mosque in the world. It was quite impressive. All woman had to wear an "abya" and cover our heads. The workmanship is absolutely magnificant and very intricate. Remember, money is no object here! Marble, granite, crystal, gold -- it has it all. The carpet is the largest hand made carpet in the world. Everything is hand crafted and spotlessly clean. We spent a couple hours here and anyone who visits me will have this stop on their list of "must see places."

I bought a lovely carpet from a market exhibition that was hand made in Afghanistan. It is a Killim rug and contains all my favourite decorating colours. I have also purchased 2 stunning wall hangings that were made in Kashmir. They are a patchwork of beading and handwork. My roommates have moved out to there own apartment so I have been on my own for 1 week now and LOVING IT!! This privacy will be short-lived as I will eventually get a new roommate. I have however, tried to warm up the place a bit with my new purchases and I am having the apartment painted to get rid of the large, stark-white walls. I otherwise feel comfortable in this apartment and have adjusted quite well. It is not 2483 Chilver by any means, but I am very adaptable to living quarters and my decorating and "stuff" are what make it home.

This break was great to recharge, reconnect and rejuvenate myself. That has been about it in the past few weeks. I will try to post pictures and will now begin a new post to fill you in on the past week since I started back to school.

Lots of Pictures

Hey everyone -- go back to the very beginning of the blog to see all the pictures I have posted.  Hope you enjoy.

It is Wednesday and I have had some diarrhea for a couple of days and crampy stomach.  I had to leave my classroom this afternoon from noon until 1:30 and lay down in the nurses's office -- I went to the Gulf Diagnostic Centre and waited about 1 hour -- saw a doctor -- got prescriptions for free and my visit cost me AED 50 which is approx. $16.00.  Everything was covered by my school medical insurance (drugs, tests, dr.) -- I only had to pay the $16.00 bucks.  I have gastroenteritis, which is inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract.  A student in my class was just in hospital for this very same condition -- I believe I caught it from her.  So many germs and viruses floating around in the classroom.  I clean most days with Lysol Bleach, but I must be more diligent.  They clean the desks, but not thoroughly -- I will have to start doing this nightly.  The doctor is requesting a stool sample to check whether or not this is viral or bacterial.   I am laying low tonight and hopping this passes.  I am still in limbo regarding my Friday departure for Muscat, Oman.  If I don't get a positive response from the travel agent by tomorrow then the trip is off and it will be just a few days in Dubai and going into school to catch up and just rest for the Eid-al-Fitr week holiday.

Enjoy the pictures -- there are more to come soon,

Loretta -- Goddess of the swampy belly!!