Seeing your prayers come to fruition is a beautiful and humbling experience. When I first started applying for this job, I turned it over to God and didn't stress about anything. I have learned how to trust and have complete faith in a life-changing decision in ways I never thought I had in me. And I didn't... until I began to pray for it. And now every single time some new decision is revealed to me, I realize just how much faith I have put in God for things here to fall into place. From my placement, to my school, to my friends, and my co-workers. Leaving behind something that was so good and starting something so new and foreign.
Here's what I've learned today:
I have just gotten back from work (well, went to lunch at the mall after I technically got back from work).
This morning I woke up to meet my Maria downstairs for an early breakfast since she is shipping out to the western region of Ruwais. By now she should hopefully be there. The past 3 weeks have been vacation and last night I was on my way back from Ikea (where I spent more money at one time then I have ever made in the States) when it hit me... my friends would be leaving Abu Dhabi City. It was a strange thought. Maria shipped off to Ruwais; Martha, Angel, and Cathy headed off to MZ; Justine and Julie are off to Al Ain. I'm glad I had my breakfast date with Maria though... I'm going to miss her fun loving free spirit and especially her laugh. She always knows how to make me laugh.
So after breakfast, Khadijah, myself, Rebecca, and Kathy headed down to hail a cab and attempt to locate our school. We didn't even know if we were supposed to report to it today, let alone where it was. Luckily, my handy-dandy iPhone purchase came in handy (sometimes it pays to sacrifice a tv for an iPhone). The taxi driver didn't have a clue where it was so we eventually had to call the school to ask for directions. They talked to the driver and he took us off roading and then eventually said, "we are here." Ask me where we were... just do it. Ok, he dropped us off at the car wash of a petrol station. No lie. Khadijah, the funny lady she is said, "no, this is a school. We don't need a car wash, we need our school please."
He dropped us off at Hmoodah Bin Ali School and the butterflies started. What was it going to be like? Have there been many changes (it was an all Arab male staff last year). What are the Principals and VP's like? What about my Head of Faculty (HoF)... will they be helpful and supportive? How many kids will I have? Are there many behavior problems? What grade will I be teaching? Will we fit in? All these and more were floating around in my head all at once.
As soon as we walked in the office, we were greeted very warmly by our Head of Faculty, Ina. She is from South Africa and seems to be very nice. She took us back immediately to meet or principal, Mr. Salim. He is an Emirati man and was very nice to us. We exchanged our information (how many years we've been teaching, what grades, where we were from) and sat in the office with him as more and more people entered and introduced themselves. Our AP, Mr. Ahmed, is a very organized man and already has our timetable down (schedule) which is pretty amazing.
After we left Mr. Salim's office, we met the other returning EMT teachers. They are a nice bunch of people. Very friendly and extremely informative. They are open and honest, and I appreciate that. We met Andrew, a Canadian "firecracker;" Martin, a gentleman from Great Britain; Rimi, a lovely sweetheart from the US of A. Those are the three I can really remember and spent the most of my time talking to. There are about 14-15 of us (6 newbies to the UAE). We talked for a few hours while everyone went in to have a short talk about where they would like to be placed.
I went in first and let my HoF, Ina, do most of the talking--haha. They asked me to remind them about my credentials and she said that maybe I would like to teach Grade 2 since it is more like our first grade back in the states. So I said, yes. Grade 2 would be great and then Grade 1. We talked a bit more about resources since I have brought a ton with me and books and such. And that was that. I will find out tomorrow morning when the principal signs off on it what grade I will officially be teaching. Then I can actually start being productive for school! Hey-yeah!
Anyway, when everyone was done (some had like mini-interviews for a possible Grade 1 and 5 day--so they'd teach one class of Grade 1 and then one Grade 5 in the afternoon) we went for a tour around the school. It was a nice tour. I didn't get many pictures because most of the doors were locked, but here is a shot of the outside common area where we will have assembly in the morning. The classrooms are in like hallway/pod groups around it.
I did see in one Grade 1 classroom and it was a decent size room. It has a projector and a touch-screen computer. I think they said there were computers for the students as well. Didn't see much else there, so we'll see.
After the tour, Martin offered to give me a ride back to the Beach Rotana since he was headed this way to the post office. So myself, Rebecca, and Nate rode with him and another one of the EMT's took some other people back in her car.
I think I just might like it there at the school. Nice and helpful people who have already gone above and beyond what they needed to do to help some newbies out.
Here's what I've learned today:
I have just gotten back from work (well, went to lunch at the mall after I technically got back from work).
This morning I woke up to meet my Maria downstairs for an early breakfast since she is shipping out to the western region of Ruwais. By now she should hopefully be there. The past 3 weeks have been vacation and last night I was on my way back from Ikea (where I spent more money at one time then I have ever made in the States) when it hit me... my friends would be leaving Abu Dhabi City. It was a strange thought. Maria shipped off to Ruwais; Martha, Angel, and Cathy headed off to MZ; Justine and Julie are off to Al Ain. I'm glad I had my breakfast date with Maria though... I'm going to miss her fun loving free spirit and especially her laugh. She always knows how to make me laugh.
So after breakfast, Khadijah, myself, Rebecca, and Kathy headed down to hail a cab and attempt to locate our school. We didn't even know if we were supposed to report to it today, let alone where it was. Luckily, my handy-dandy iPhone purchase came in handy (sometimes it pays to sacrifice a tv for an iPhone). The taxi driver didn't have a clue where it was so we eventually had to call the school to ask for directions. They talked to the driver and he took us off roading and then eventually said, "we are here." Ask me where we were... just do it. Ok, he dropped us off at the car wash of a petrol station. No lie. Khadijah, the funny lady she is said, "no, this is a school. We don't need a car wash, we need our school please."
He dropped us off at Hmoodah Bin Ali School and the butterflies started. What was it going to be like? Have there been many changes (it was an all Arab male staff last year). What are the Principals and VP's like? What about my Head of Faculty (HoF)... will they be helpful and supportive? How many kids will I have? Are there many behavior problems? What grade will I be teaching? Will we fit in? All these and more were floating around in my head all at once.
 |
| outside of the Hmoodah Bin Ali Model School |
After we left Mr. Salim's office, we met the other returning EMT teachers. They are a nice bunch of people. Very friendly and extremely informative. They are open and honest, and I appreciate that. We met Andrew, a Canadian "firecracker;" Martin, a gentleman from Great Britain; Rimi, a lovely sweetheart from the US of A. Those are the three I can really remember and spent the most of my time talking to. There are about 14-15 of us (6 newbies to the UAE). We talked for a few hours while everyone went in to have a short talk about where they would like to be placed.
I went in first and let my HoF, Ina, do most of the talking--haha. They asked me to remind them about my credentials and she said that maybe I would like to teach Grade 2 since it is more like our first grade back in the states. So I said, yes. Grade 2 would be great and then Grade 1. We talked a bit more about resources since I have brought a ton with me and books and such. And that was that. I will find out tomorrow morning when the principal signs off on it what grade I will officially be teaching. Then I can actually start being productive for school! Hey-yeah!
Anyway, when everyone was done (some had like mini-interviews for a possible Grade 1 and 5 day--so they'd teach one class of Grade 1 and then one Grade 5 in the afternoon) we went for a tour around the school. It was a nice tour. I didn't get many pictures because most of the doors were locked, but here is a shot of the outside common area where we will have assembly in the morning. The classrooms are in like hallway/pod groups around it.
I did see in one Grade 1 classroom and it was a decent size room. It has a projector and a touch-screen computer. I think they said there were computers for the students as well. Didn't see much else there, so we'll see.
After the tour, Martin offered to give me a ride back to the Beach Rotana since he was headed this way to the post office. So myself, Rebecca, and Nate rode with him and another one of the EMT's took some other people back in her car.
I think I just might like it there at the school. Nice and helpful people who have already gone above and beyond what they needed to do to help some newbies out.
No comments:
Post a Comment