heartstrings 27.0: city livin'

Should be planning a lesson for my possible observation tomorrow... but seeing as the I only had 12 kids in each class today, I am not expecting a big turnout tomorrow.

Instead, while I wait for the laundry to finish, I wanted to give you a sneak peak into my home now that I am settled in. It's still a work in progress, but I love it here!

my living room area - love the windows and the view of the city

dining room with a "Christmas-y" feel

view from the couch -- I need to add something to the walls

view of the living room, dining room, and kitchen

my reading and traveling room! I love love love this room! I will add more to it as I travel more

hutch and the travel map

so far, red is some of the places I have been and green is where I want to go -- I need to get smaller pins to work with but I can't find them here in this country.

my bookshelf clock (that I have yet to put batteries in). Everything on there is a souvenir from another country

my newest collection in Abu Dhabi... super hero action figures! lol

little sand art and holy water from the Jordan River along with my Jordan shadow box

my reading chair where I can sit and read and watch the city below me

my newest friend from Dubai, Cap'n K9... aka Cap

Heartstrings 26.0: pure kid joy

What is this... two posts in two days?!? Someone must have a lot of time on her hands... actually, I had a couple of really cool experiences today at work (aside from the fact that this morning Mr. Salim, the principal, announced that the kids would be going home at noon today).

I was sitting in my room attempting to do eSIS and talking to my co-worker, Rimi, when one of my kids came in the room. He popped his head in, I said hi, and he ran out... haha. A few minutes later, this boy's mom comes in the room to explain why Saif had missed the last week of school. Poor thing was in the hospital all week.

Anyway, this mom proceeded to tell me that her son loved me a lot and was excited to come to school. I was so touched. This kid is precious--he is so interested in the world around him and really enjoys learning. He's always smiling and you can't help but smile back at him. She went on to tell me that Saif loved me so much that he didn't want her to take the doctor's note and the money for his Kumon books to his Arabic teacher... he wanted his mom to come see Ms. Krista. My heart just about melted. I think I just may have a favorite now :)

Another really cool story about my awesome 1B boys: Earlier this morning, we were doing picture cards for vocabulary development and I showed the boys a picture of the UAE flag. I asked them if this was my flag and they said no. Saif then asked me what my flag looked like... so I showed the class the US flag. They told me the colors on the flag and I explained to them that there were 50 stars on the flag. One of the boys said, "why Ms?" so then I had to show them the United States map. I showed them Texas and asked if Texas was big or small. With big eyes, the boys said, "Ms.... biiiiiiig." haha... then of course they saw part of Canada and they ran up to the board and said, "Ms.... this is BIG!" And that was that for the US.

Saif was so fascinated in the map at that point so he asked, "Ms. where is the UAE?" I pulled up a world map and they got a big kick out of how far away my home was. Especially when I drew the trajectory the plane takes when I come and go back to the states. They thought that was the best thing. I showed them where London was (one of the boys will be going there for the winter break).

It was the coolest thing seeing the kids actually excited about the map and where I am from. I shared all of this information with them when we first started school but they didn't really care too much about it then (most likely because I was some strange lady speaking a language they didn't have a clue about).

I'll end this post with a funny short story... while doing our vocabulary cards we came across the picture of a nose. The boys told me the name of it in English and I asked them what we do with our nose. None of them answered so I asked them if we eat with our nose. They all laughed and said "YES!" I told them they were silly boys and that I would bring them food for them to eat with their nose because I would like to see that. Of course, I went on and asked them if we walked on our nose... they laughed again and said, "YES! YES!" I called them weird boys and said I'd like to see that too. We went on and on as I asked if we write with our nose, if we see with our nose, etc... they all laughed and said "YES!" every single time. It was good fun. I'm still waiting for them to show me how they can walk on their nose!

heartstrings 25.0: run the race...

Well folks... I have 5 days before we have a glorious 3 week vacation! Those five days will not be a walk in the park either...

Here is what my week will look like this week:

• I have to finish eSIS which is a grading system that is ridiculous and way too time consuming!
• I will have my first formal evaluation on Tuesday with my "bad" class so I am praying they are good. 
• I have to finish data charts for the eSIS information to turn into my Head of Faculty. 
• Organize things for my trips
• Begin the packing process
• Clean up the flat for a 3 week departure
• Clean out my rental car to return to the company 
• Go to the bank and get a payment situated that they messed up royally
• Laundry, which is actually a long process here
• Mail off Christmas gifts from Abu Dhabi

After all that gets sorted out in this short week, I will be extremely relieved and needing this extended break. This whole teaching thing here is not quite what I imagined it would be. Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed myself and still thank God for this incredible opportunity pretty much every day; but it's just not what I expected it to be.  I came in here with the hope of really pushing myself to be a better teacher and for the opportunity to grow as an educator and learn different ways to teach things... so far, it's been a much bigger challenge than I expected. My kids don't know a whole lot of English and the culture here with the boys is much different than what you expect--even though beforehand, you have heard firsthand what it is like. It just doesn't process until you live it, I suppose. There are a ton of things that here you just can't exhaust your energy doing because it's just not worth it--it won't change the outcome. For example, I don't know how many boys I let run by me, push, hit, and fight with each other. If they're not my boys, it's not even worth taking the time to waste your breath because once they run three steps away from you; they are back at it again with no regard as to what you just told them. I would never in a million years allow that back home in the States, but it's something that I have learned to let go in order for me to maintain sanity with my kids.

I've been really hesitant to say anything online about the experiences that I am having because although it happens, when it's over and you're given the opportunity to travel, or when you get home at 1:50 every day, or when you can just hang loose with some friends... it all seems to go away and it doesn't seem as bad as it was in that moment. The way I choose to look at it now is that I am experiencing things here in Abu Dhabi so that when I get back to Texas, I can take a look back and be grateful for what we don't have to put up with in the education system. I can look at the State of Texas and be thankful that there is a sense of organization in the way we teach things (even though it changes so frequently) and that there is a sense of professionalism in the way things are handled.

Again, I don't want to give the wrong impression here... this opportunity has been a fantastic experience so far. And it could be so. much. worse. It's hard, it's a challenge, it tests your patience to no end... but the kids can really make you smile. And there is pure satisfaction in watching them grow and finally understand things in English. And to watch the excitement that they have when they see in visual form (aka: flashcards) how much English they have learned. And when they can teach you some words in Arabic... they just flippin' love that! Their little five year old faces light up like nothing else... and they get a good kick out of you when you can't pronounce the words in Arabic the first, second, or tenth time you've tried.

Anyway, here are some pictures of how we celebrated National Day here in the UAE. There was lots of color and some pictures I am not allowed to share for legal reasons...  I was sick the for the first two days of this week and came back just in time for the fun.

Andrew and I celebrating National Day by kicking back and watching the festivities... he took up the wooden flag holders from the boys

My girl, Rimi, and myself... we totally owned some 5th graders in a game and won a pen! Go Team USA!

Cathy, Niamh (my co-first grade teacher!), and myself at the end of the day

little scared at the moment cause I had no clue what was going on... nah, just got impatient waiting for the camera to take the picture... lol

The boys were well excited to celebrate and look at this cute as a button face...

best part of the celebrations... this sweet baby and his mama as they came to school to celebrate the 41st National Day with his brother

They love a good piece of candy in this country... and not just for celebratory reasons either.

Best co-workers in the UAE right here... Rimi, Andrew, and Martin--who was a good sport and let me stick my candy on his face! :)

The 5th grade boys doing a little local dance to celebrate the UAE