While the rest of my friends are back home surviving their first day of school with kids... I should like to inform you that I survived my first day of work with ADEC today. Nah, it wasn't bad at all. We woke up super early and went down to breakfast. At 8:00, we were shuttled on the bus to go to a Model School here in Abu Dhabi City. Being the dorks that Cathy and I are, we pulled out the Abu Dhabi map I purchased and searched high and low until we found where we were going.
The school was pretty fantastic. I think I was expecting more elaborate classrooms and hallways when I first walked in (not to say it's not incredible... just expect more I suppose). It was huge! The classrooms were all glassed up... doors, walls, and windows. Every room had 25 chairs for tables and they all had a form of a Promethean Board (Hitachi brand) and I saw a few Smart Boards sprinkled throughout the school. As we arrived, we were instructed to pick up our packets with our contracts (which reminds me, I still need to read over it and sign it). Khadijah, Kahleel, Alison, and myself all waited in line until the last possible minute to get our fingerprints for ADEC done so that we wouldn't have to come back and wait for 200+ people to get it done at lunch. We rushed into the auditorium right as His Excellency Dr. Mugheer Al Khaili and the rest of the board walked in. We listened to him speak about his vision and goals for Abu Dhabi and it really hit home that I would be a part of a growing country's future growth. It was really neat to hear it in this perspective. He said that "when the oil runs out, [they] want their children to be better off than their ancestors before them were." And that's the thing about this country... they know that one day the oil will be gone and they want to be better off for it. They want to be prepared for a future outside of oil. And I have the honor and privilege to be a part of that in a small way by teaching the children here.
We listened to a ton of speakers after that--my favorite being an Emerati woman named Sara Salem Mohamed Al Suwaidi (can you tell I copied that from the program?!) She was hysterical and has personality! When she first stepped up she said, "I wonder who out of all of you will be the person to thank me when I am finished." (after each speaker, someone got up and thanked the speaker for their time, knowledge, etc.) She spoke about the culture here, the religion, how to develop relationships within the schools, and topics to avoid. She clarified which maps to use in the classroom, the five pillars of Islam, and shared stories. I think I learned the most from her... and had a few laughs to go along with it. For example:
After a lackluster lunch, we were back at it with guest speakers from ADEC in the sauana that was the auditorium. We were all hot and tired... I won't mention any names, but a few people around me even dozed off (KHALEEL and CATHY! lol) that lasted until around 4:00. We were told that we would hopefully be receiving our housing Halloween in 4-5 days time. So we'll see...
I got back to the hotel and did some Pilates (boy am I out of shape...!) and then went to dinner with Jen up at the food court. Rewarded myself with some chocolate frozen yogurt with strawberries from Pinkberry for my workout.
Now it's off to look over my contract, sign it, and then get ready for Day 2 tomorrow. We're supposed to find out which school we will be going to (again, we'll see how that works out) and we have a lot of different seminars to attend tomorrow. Looking forward to it...
Hope everyone back home had a wonderful first day of school with your new kids! It's weird not being a part of that for the first time in 4 years.
The school was pretty fantastic. I think I was expecting more elaborate classrooms and hallways when I first walked in (not to say it's not incredible... just expect more I suppose). It was huge! The classrooms were all glassed up... doors, walls, and windows. Every room had 25 chairs for tables and they all had a form of a Promethean Board (Hitachi brand) and I saw a few Smart Boards sprinkled throughout the school. As we arrived, we were instructed to pick up our packets with our contracts (which reminds me, I still need to read over it and sign it). Khadijah, Kahleel, Alison, and myself all waited in line until the last possible minute to get our fingerprints for ADEC done so that we wouldn't have to come back and wait for 200+ people to get it done at lunch. We rushed into the auditorium right as His Excellency Dr. Mugheer Al Khaili and the rest of the board walked in. We listened to him speak about his vision and goals for Abu Dhabi and it really hit home that I would be a part of a growing country's future growth. It was really neat to hear it in this perspective. He said that "when the oil runs out, [they] want their children to be better off than their ancestors before them were." And that's the thing about this country... they know that one day the oil will be gone and they want to be better off for it. They want to be prepared for a future outside of oil. And I have the honor and privilege to be a part of that in a small way by teaching the children here.
We listened to a ton of speakers after that--my favorite being an Emerati woman named Sara Salem Mohamed Al Suwaidi (can you tell I copied that from the program?!) She was hysterical and has personality! When she first stepped up she said, "I wonder who out of all of you will be the person to thank me when I am finished." (after each speaker, someone got up and thanked the speaker for their time, knowledge, etc.) She spoke about the culture here, the religion, how to develop relationships within the schools, and topics to avoid. She clarified which maps to use in the classroom, the five pillars of Islam, and shared stories. I think I learned the most from her... and had a few laughs to go along with it. For example:
- the Bible is a book that they believe is from God, but it has been touched by humans (unlike the Quran)
- The Five Pillars are (Faith in Allah, the five daily prayers, "Zakat" which is given out to those in need during Ramadan and based off of your savings, fasting, and pilgrimage to Mecca (for those able bodied).
- Adah is the call to prayer
- people here are NOT okay with the Arabian Gulf being referred to as the Persian Gulf
- we are not to use illustrations of Mohamed
- it is highly offensive to name non-living things or animals Mohamed--he is so loved here and is a role model to all here
- It is Palestine--not Israel here in the UAE and is frowned upon to reference anything related to Israel.
- Muslims do not believe in the Human Evolution Theory--they believe that Adam and "Eve" are the mother and father of all people.
- angels only speak to prophets only
- birthdays are joyous occasions, but are not typically celebrated (family decision)
- pigs are not here in the UAE... Sera has never seen one.
- Dogs are not loved here either... they are seen as unclean and if you come into contact with one, you must wash your hands.
- Asalam-Aleikom is a greeting that means "peace be with you"
- your response should be, Wa-Aleikom el-Salam which means, "and with you be peace"
After a lackluster lunch, we were back at it with guest speakers from ADEC in the sauana that was the auditorium. We were all hot and tired... I won't mention any names, but a few people around me even dozed off (KHALEEL and CATHY! lol) that lasted until around 4:00. We were told that we would hopefully be receiving our housing Halloween in 4-5 days time. So we'll see...
I got back to the hotel and did some Pilates (boy am I out of shape...!) and then went to dinner with Jen up at the food court. Rewarded myself with some chocolate frozen yogurt with strawberries from Pinkberry for my workout.
Now it's off to look over my contract, sign it, and then get ready for Day 2 tomorrow. We're supposed to find out which school we will be going to (again, we'll see how that works out) and we have a lot of different seminars to attend tomorrow. Looking forward to it...
Hope everyone back home had a wonderful first day of school with your new kids! It's weird not being a part of that for the first time in 4 years.
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