The U.A.E has recently been gracing the headlines of major news channels for the horrendous murder that occurred last week in Abu Dhabi by a person who was initially called "The Reem Island Ghost." Since then I wanted to inform everyone of the details and set your minds at ease that I am okay. For those of you who are not yet aware I'll summarize what happened last week:
Two months ago the U.S issued a warning to teachers living in the U.A.E as they had received an anonymous threat that American expats in the U.A.E would begin to be targeted. Then last week a teacher who was shopping with her two 11 year old sons was fatally stabbed in a bathroom by a woman in a niqab. The Yemen born Emirate woman entered the Reem Island mall in full niqab (black abaya with black gloves, and nothing showing except the eyes). She then attacked the victim who entered the bathroom and had left her two sons outside to wait for her. The woman escaped the mall unnoticed, but was later caught the next day attempting to plant a bomb at the home of an Egyptian-American doctor. They arrested her and her husband within 24 hours of the fatal stabbing and the woman has since confessed to both crimes. Since her arrest the Sheikh has informed the family of the victim that the U.A.E government will fund the education of all three of the woman's children for their entire lives.
Is this scary? Yes, anytime something happens so close to home it shakes a person up. Yet, am I in danger? The answer is no. There has yet to be conclusive evidence that this woman had ties to ISIS or whether she was working on this act of terrorism individually. The government here was so swift in their response and has since provided even further protections for the expatriates in this country that I am sure nothing like this will happen again.
The fact of the matter is that terrorism and bad people exist everywhere. Terrorism is not exclusive to one religion or one group of people. So, while it is terrible what happened do not worry, I am safe here in the U.A.E. My students expressed many fears to me since the incident. The fear of wearing the niqab and being ridiculed for it. The fear of going to the mall. The fear that their teachers will leave. I simply told them that we can't let bad peoples actions define how we live our lives. And that while ignorant people may judge them they can take that as an opportunity to teach the world that this woman's actions does not define the U.A.E.
Thursday, December 11, 2014
Friday, October 10, 2014
New and Exciting Things in the Sandpit
It dawned upon me this year that the UAE has changed so much in the past year that I've lived here. We were joking the other day that the new teachers can get their drivers license here in our little town, while just last year getting our license was a horrible experience that we had to go to the city for. Then I saw our town on the news that same week. Google decided to strap a mapping device to a camel in Liwa (a town fifteen minutes from us). The camel and a young boy (actually one of my student's cousins) are walking through the desert and putting the sandpit on google maps. You can read more about it here:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2014/10/08/google_put_a_street_view_camera_on_a_camel_in_the_liwa_desert.html?wpsrc=fol_tw
And while having Google mapping our backyard is pretty impressive even more so is what has come about from the UAE's involvement with aiding the US in airstrikes against ISIS. In their first air strike against ISIS an Emirate female led those missions. I teach seven girls whose dreams are to be pilots. When that news hit the National Newspaper my all girls classes were squirming with excitement for this enormous step for females in the UAE.
Now this last move of progress is going to seem trivial after stating those other events. However, all of us teachers are so elated at the development of our little town. At the end of last year we finally got a gym in town. Then new hospitals. And now a real grocery store!! Not a bargaining for your groceries and only labels in another language kind of store. No, a real grocery store like we would find when we go to the city with fresh bread and everything! It makes me nostalgic to think back a year when there was only one main road in our town and only two teachers apartment buildings. Now the town has expanded out even further into the dunes and with these expansions many western luxuries are coming to us in Madinat Zayed. Although, I still have yet to find cool ranch Doritos anywhere in the UAE which has come as a big hit haha. But seriously, who doesn't sell cool ranch Doritos?!
http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2014/10/08/google_put_a_street_view_camera_on_a_camel_in_the_liwa_desert.html?wpsrc=fol_tw
And while having Google mapping our backyard is pretty impressive even more so is what has come about from the UAE's involvement with aiding the US in airstrikes against ISIS. In their first air strike against ISIS an Emirate female led those missions. I teach seven girls whose dreams are to be pilots. When that news hit the National Newspaper my all girls classes were squirming with excitement for this enormous step for females in the UAE.
Now this last move of progress is going to seem trivial after stating those other events. However, all of us teachers are so elated at the development of our little town. At the end of last year we finally got a gym in town. Then new hospitals. And now a real grocery store!! Not a bargaining for your groceries and only labels in another language kind of store. No, a real grocery store like we would find when we go to the city with fresh bread and everything! It makes me nostalgic to think back a year when there was only one main road in our town and only two teachers apartment buildings. Now the town has expanded out even further into the dunes and with these expansions many western luxuries are coming to us in Madinat Zayed. Although, I still have yet to find cool ranch Doritos anywhere in the UAE which has come as a big hit haha. But seriously, who doesn't sell cool ranch Doritos?!
Monday, September 22, 2014
Round Two
Well it has been about four weeks since I came back to the desert for round two. Summer vacation was much needed. I spent six days in Spain with friends before flying home. We went to Barcelona, then to Pamplona for the Running of the Bulls Festival, and ended our trip in Madrid. It was such care free and relaxing trip. My friend Dan and I went to Montserrat Monastery outside of Barcelona on our second day in Barcelona. Then the guys went and ran with the bulls in Pamplona. Stephanie and I didn't want to run, but we watched them run into the arena. It was fun to watch the running, but after all the people were in the arena they kept sending out these baby bulls for the guys to "play with." They would jump in front of them, smack them, and taunt them. It got out of control several times with men tackling a small bull for not charging them. Below are some pictures of the trip.
After Spain I got to enjoy six weeks at home with family and friends. It flew by so quickly I didn't even have time to breathe. And now I am back in the desert for my second year of teaching. I am teaching 6th grade girls and 8th grade girls and have taken on quite a bit more responsibility this year. I have somehow become the 8th grade level leader this year as well as the unofficial team leader of the female campus middle school team. This means outside of my teaching I am trying to communicate information to the rest of the team, schedule and facilitate meetings, taking care of scheduling conflicts, and every other little thing in between.
The middle school principal left within the first two weeks of school, so now we are left without a principal. Luckily, we are a very strong team both on the female and male campus. Yet, this lack of administration and support has made the start of the year very difficult for many teachers. Yet, outside the administrative issues my classes are absolutely amazing! I have the same girls from last year, and our relationships are even stronger than before. And I am now teaching 6th grade girls as well. They are both such a joy to teach. My first unit with my 8th grade girls was autobiographies. I had them making autobiography books with six pages of writing! Everyone told me that it would be impossible, but I am so proud of my girls that they did it. They even wrote three drafts of it for revising! I told them on Thursday when it was due that I couldn't be more proud of them. I will post pictures of their autobiographies once I grade them and put them up for display.
Not much else to say since I got back. This second year is great because I am already settled down. Most of my weekends have been spent in Madinat Zayed trying to get stuff at school sorted out. But, hopefully by time Eid comes I will not be needing to spend extra days at work. Most of the weekends is just creating bulletin boards, word walls, and other stuff that I didn't have time to do during our professional development week.
Enjoy some pictures of Spain and my summer vacation below:
After Spain I got to enjoy six weeks at home with family and friends. It flew by so quickly I didn't even have time to breathe. And now I am back in the desert for my second year of teaching. I am teaching 6th grade girls and 8th grade girls and have taken on quite a bit more responsibility this year. I have somehow become the 8th grade level leader this year as well as the unofficial team leader of the female campus middle school team. This means outside of my teaching I am trying to communicate information to the rest of the team, schedule and facilitate meetings, taking care of scheduling conflicts, and every other little thing in between.
The middle school principal left within the first two weeks of school, so now we are left without a principal. Luckily, we are a very strong team both on the female and male campus. Yet, this lack of administration and support has made the start of the year very difficult for many teachers. Yet, outside the administrative issues my classes are absolutely amazing! I have the same girls from last year, and our relationships are even stronger than before. And I am now teaching 6th grade girls as well. They are both such a joy to teach. My first unit with my 8th grade girls was autobiographies. I had them making autobiography books with six pages of writing! Everyone told me that it would be impossible, but I am so proud of my girls that they did it. They even wrote three drafts of it for revising! I told them on Thursday when it was due that I couldn't be more proud of them. I will post pictures of their autobiographies once I grade them and put them up for display.
Not much else to say since I got back. This second year is great because I am already settled down. Most of my weekends have been spent in Madinat Zayed trying to get stuff at school sorted out. But, hopefully by time Eid comes I will not be needing to spend extra days at work. Most of the weekends is just creating bulletin boards, word walls, and other stuff that I didn't have time to do during our professional development week.
Enjoy some pictures of Spain and my summer vacation below:
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| Heading to the top of monastery. |
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| At the top! |
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| Dan and I at the top! |
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| Some amazing street dancers |
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| East coast gang (West Coast is the Best Coast;) |
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| After running with the bulls. |
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| Steph and I |
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| Steph and I on the ferris wheel! |
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| At the top of the ferris wheel |
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| Look at the guys faces as the bulls come in! Priceless. |
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| Yes. That is a person underneath that bull. |
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| Love this picture. |
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| GSAD in Spain |
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| We ate SO much, this was our 6th or 7th meal that day. |
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| Add caption |
Thursday, June 26, 2014
A First Year Teacher's Reflection
The school year is coming to a close and my students are taking their last few exams. As the year ends all the teachers and students look forward to summer with anticipation, but I seriously think that the teachers are more excited than the students. But, before I set off on a plane bound for a much needed vacation I really needed and wanted to reflect on my first year as an educator.
"Your first year is the hardest," are the words of encouragement I received in undergraduate regarding my upcoming career. But, nothing that they had said could have prepared me for this year. The challenges that arose from my precious 7th graders are unlike anything I have ever imagined. Behavior management, which I used to think was my strength, I struggled with. Connecting literature to teaching the students how to be compassionate human beings was next to impossible. Teaching writing was a wreck. No one knew what a sentence was. Reading was a whole other catastrophe as I struggled to teach the kids to read with the only resources given to middle school teachers, which were novels way beyond their level. But, the curriculum wasn't the worst part. The blatant disrespect and misbehavior of the boys and the intense cyber bullying and social drama with the girls was what kept pushing me over the edge of sanity. How do you make a boy who has been told his whole life that he is better than everyone else listen to you or other adults? How do you stop a group of twenty-six girls from cyber bullying and excluding others when it is all happening in another language? How can you discipline a child who fears no punishment (expulsion, suspension, ect.)? And what do you do when children who are twelve years old think it is okay to punch, kick, and call the cops on teachers during school? Luckily, being a female I never was victim to the last situation. However, I watched on several occasions when teachers of the highest caliber were kicked or punched by students. And just last week when one student proceeded to call the cops on a fellow teacher for telling him he couldn't hit other boys. No narrative I write here could ever explain exactly what this year was like or what these students are like. Yet, you can imagine how discouraging it was as a new teacher. The entire time I kept thinking I am failing these kids, and I am failing in this job.
However, veteran teachers and professionals who have taught for many years all told me that they shared in my struggles as well. This knowledge made me feel somewhat hopeful. Hopeful because if these amazing teachers with experience struggled the same with these students then maybe I wasn't failing them. I realized that it good to doubt myself often and reflect on how I can do better for next year. And as I reflected I realized all the incredible things that these crazy kids have taught me and that maybe I managed to teach them a little something along the way.
They may still be a long way from grade level, but the fact that the average reading level for 7th grade was 3rd grade last year and now at the end of this year they are at 6th grade reading level, is a small accomplishment. They may struggle to write paragraphs but they can write sentences now. And they may not have become changed by it, but they now have the knowledge of the wrongs of racism and bullying planted in their heads. I didn't change any of these kids lives this year. And in five years when they graduate they may barely remember me. But, I learned from them so much and look forward to a new year where I can take my mistakes and tears from this year and turn them into something productive for next. And as hard as 90% of this school year was for me the other 10% really makes me sad to say goodbye to these ridiculous students. One student summed up what I am feeling when he told me "Miss you know when you have something you don't like it. And when it is gone then you miss it. We didn't like you, but now that you won't teach us again we are really sad to not have you. Please teach us next year!" While I don't anticipate teaching them again I will miss them when they are no longer 'my crazy kids.'
"Your first year is the hardest," are the words of encouragement I received in undergraduate regarding my upcoming career. But, nothing that they had said could have prepared me for this year. The challenges that arose from my precious 7th graders are unlike anything I have ever imagined. Behavior management, which I used to think was my strength, I struggled with. Connecting literature to teaching the students how to be compassionate human beings was next to impossible. Teaching writing was a wreck. No one knew what a sentence was. Reading was a whole other catastrophe as I struggled to teach the kids to read with the only resources given to middle school teachers, which were novels way beyond their level. But, the curriculum wasn't the worst part. The blatant disrespect and misbehavior of the boys and the intense cyber bullying and social drama with the girls was what kept pushing me over the edge of sanity. How do you make a boy who has been told his whole life that he is better than everyone else listen to you or other adults? How do you stop a group of twenty-six girls from cyber bullying and excluding others when it is all happening in another language? How can you discipline a child who fears no punishment (expulsion, suspension, ect.)? And what do you do when children who are twelve years old think it is okay to punch, kick, and call the cops on teachers during school? Luckily, being a female I never was victim to the last situation. However, I watched on several occasions when teachers of the highest caliber were kicked or punched by students. And just last week when one student proceeded to call the cops on a fellow teacher for telling him he couldn't hit other boys. No narrative I write here could ever explain exactly what this year was like or what these students are like. Yet, you can imagine how discouraging it was as a new teacher. The entire time I kept thinking I am failing these kids, and I am failing in this job.
However, veteran teachers and professionals who have taught for many years all told me that they shared in my struggles as well. This knowledge made me feel somewhat hopeful. Hopeful because if these amazing teachers with experience struggled the same with these students then maybe I wasn't failing them. I realized that it good to doubt myself often and reflect on how I can do better for next year. And as I reflected I realized all the incredible things that these crazy kids have taught me and that maybe I managed to teach them a little something along the way.
They may still be a long way from grade level, but the fact that the average reading level for 7th grade was 3rd grade last year and now at the end of this year they are at 6th grade reading level, is a small accomplishment. They may struggle to write paragraphs but they can write sentences now. And they may not have become changed by it, but they now have the knowledge of the wrongs of racism and bullying planted in their heads. I didn't change any of these kids lives this year. And in five years when they graduate they may barely remember me. But, I learned from them so much and look forward to a new year where I can take my mistakes and tears from this year and turn them into something productive for next. And as hard as 90% of this school year was for me the other 10% really makes me sad to say goodbye to these ridiculous students. One student summed up what I am feeling when he told me "Miss you know when you have something you don't like it. And when it is gone then you miss it. We didn't like you, but now that you won't teach us again we are really sad to not have you. Please teach us next year!" While I don't anticipate teaching them again I will miss them when they are no longer 'my crazy kids.'
Thursday, June 12, 2014
25 things I've learned
Okay so I may have been binge reading Buzzfeeds lists today as I sit at home sick. But they inspired me to make a list of everything I've learned while living here. Some of them are silly, some serious, and some just random observations that I have found while living abroad.
1: Don't sit on the concrete it will burn your bum through jeans
2: Cold water doesn't exist from June-September
3: When a sandstorm comes in wrap your scarf over your head (see #4)
4: Always have a scarf on or in your bag
5: Don't drink the tap water. Ever.
6: Book flights 6 weeks before your flight on Tuesday 3:00 pm Eastern Time
7: You really only need to pack three outfits for a weeks vacation
8: Vitamin D deficiency is huge here because it is too hot to be outside for long
9: UV rays are strongest in the winter and very minimal in summers here (results you burn/tan in winter but not the summer)
10: Any drug is available without prescription at a fraction of the cost in U.S . . .
11: You can barter for literally anything
1: Don't sit on the concrete it will burn your bum through jeans
2: Cold water doesn't exist from June-September
3: When a sandstorm comes in wrap your scarf over your head (see #4)
4: Always have a scarf on or in your bag
5: Don't drink the tap water. Ever.
6: Book flights 6 weeks before your flight on Tuesday 3:00 pm Eastern Time
7: You really only need to pack three outfits for a weeks vacation
8: Vitamin D deficiency is huge here because it is too hot to be outside for long
9: UV rays are strongest in the winter and very minimal in summers here (results you burn/tan in winter but not the summer)
10: Any drug is available without prescription at a fraction of the cost in U.S . . .
11: You can barter for literally anything
12: Bucket Lists and having an "agenda" of what to do/where to travel never works out well
13: A black camel is worth around 1 million USD
14: Every document needs a stamp. Every single one, even receipts
15: Don't put your clothes outside to dry. The sandstorms will blow sand onto your wet clothes
16: Always dress up for a "brunch"
17: You won't get into any bar or most restaurants in flip flops (male or female)
18: Keep a pair of sunglasses in the car, one on your head, and one in your bag
19: Maxi dresses/skirts are a girls best friend
20: It's not that you ever get used to the heat you just learn to ignore the sweat
21: Even in the winter you want to run before 7 am when it starts getting to warm
22: Always have a jacket handy at night during the winter. It gets surprisingly cold
23: "Ladies" don't ride camels apparently
24: Shared taxis (mini vans) are 2x faster than the bus system at the same price, only downside being the only female in a dirty smelly van for 1.5 hours to or from the city
25: Living abroad is no different 99% of the time than living at home. A cycle of work. Eat. Sleep and repeat and in between just binge watching tv and working out. It's the other 1% of the time that make people stay abroad.
13: A black camel is worth around 1 million USD
14: Every document needs a stamp. Every single one, even receipts
15: Don't put your clothes outside to dry. The sandstorms will blow sand onto your wet clothes
16: Always dress up for a "brunch"
17: You won't get into any bar or most restaurants in flip flops (male or female)
18: Keep a pair of sunglasses in the car, one on your head, and one in your bag
19: Maxi dresses/skirts are a girls best friend
20: It's not that you ever get used to the heat you just learn to ignore the sweat
21: Even in the winter you want to run before 7 am when it starts getting to warm
22: Always have a jacket handy at night during the winter. It gets surprisingly cold
23: "Ladies" don't ride camels apparently
24: Shared taxis (mini vans) are 2x faster than the bus system at the same price, only downside being the only female in a dirty smelly van for 1.5 hours to or from the city
25: Living abroad is no different 99% of the time than living at home. A cycle of work. Eat. Sleep and repeat and in between just binge watching tv and working out. It's the other 1% of the time that make people stay abroad.
Sunday, May 4, 2014
"You Can't Make This Up: Teaching Moments"
I once sat on the most amusing lunches during my student teaching placements. These teachers would swap their "war" stories of the most insane and ridiculous stories they experienced with children. It came about because I was in utter shock that the boys football team at Oregon City was taking poops in their urinals. And the story's these veterans told me were crazy! They used to joke with me that we needed to write a book called "You Can't Make this S*#¥ Up."
Same boys who later jumped the high school kid.
She kept taking us down as she fell!
Our science teacher skidding on ice
Anyways as I have begun teaching full time I have gained a few "Can't Make This Up" moments and witnessed even more. I thought I'd share some of these for some good laughs (in retrospect I can now see the humor in some of them).
Last week: one of the smallest 7th graders was mad at my ESL support so he proceeded to cuss him out in Arabic and then kicked the poor guy in his...more sensitive area if that makes sense. Same said student also tried punching another male teacher in October (this teacher is over 6'2 and the kid comes to my waist ha). Someone has a problem with male authority essentially.
Last month: A 6th grader in our school refused to get out from under his desk so all the teachers just gave him his work and let him sit underneath it like he was preparing for an earthquake!
Last week: I am teaching a novel on a racially divided town in the 60's so I did a mini lesson on slavery and the civil rights movement in America. We then turned it into a discussion of what is racism. My students swore that they have no racism in their country. Then they proceeded to say when they beat their nannies and drivers it's not their fault and what else are they supposed to do. (This one doesn't make me laugh but just makes me sad for these kids and the people that work here).
Two months ago: A student of mine was running around the room making car noises and refused to sit down. So I proceeded to "race" him during class. The bet was if I won he had to sit. This included me making car noises and pretending to be driving a car around the room. I even included some appropriate drifting action and noises as well. My students were so impressed they were perfect remainder of the day (they're13 by the way).
Four months ago: I asked my boys to write about there winter break. Several wrote about fictional girlfriends they had. When I asked them why they said they have 16 girlfriends they swore that because ALL American boys have at LEAST 4 girlfriends. Theirs words exactly "and miss they lie to all of them and wala they each have 16! Wala my friend has 16!" No matter what any of us say they still don't believe me that guys generally only date 1 girl in America....
Yesterday: We took our students on a field trip to ice skating then bowling at Zayed Sports City. They were wonderful in the ice ring. We were having so much fun. There was another school there (public school) and the high school boys kept talking about all the female girls saying they wanted their numbers. My girls ignored them and it wasn't a big deal. But our boys anxious for a fight starting talking to these guys and claimed they were honor bound to fight for the girls ha. No fight happened till waiting for the buses when a boy from the other school rushed one of our boys and started choking him. Needless to say our boys jumped him. . . Teachers intervened and by then our boys had cooled down should have been over. But the teacher from the other school barged over with his whip in his hand (yes he was whipping kids to get them on the bus) and continued to scream at all of us teachers, while shaking his whip at us, that our kids are crazy and we are ill equipped teachers. We couldn't stop laughing as he said this because at that time he had to physically restrain his students just as he said we couldn't control our students.
I would love to hear more stories from fellow teachers who read this! Maybe someday we can collaborate and make a book haha!! Below are some pictures of the ice skating trip mentioned:
Math teacher
The girls wobbling along
Friday, April 25, 2014
Sky diving in Dubai
Last month I got some crazy idea in my head that going sky diving would be a good idea. It was a few teachers birthdays so we went to Dubai for a weekend on the town and capped the trip of with jumping out of a plane. In the end only four of us jumped. As you can probably see in the pictures below (and the video whenever I learn how to upload it ha) that I was beyhond terrified. Never before had anything scared me that bad. It was 13,000 feet and a 60 second free fall over the Palm Islands. I can easily see how addicting it is though! The adrenaline rush was amazing. After the chute was pulled the guy with me let me stear the chute. The other jumpers went down really fast because there instructors spun their chutes really fast, which made them land quicker. I was freaking out so badly I made my instructor stop spinning. That's when he gave me the reigns and let me fly the chute. If I go again I will definetly have more fun and spin the chute and play around with it more. Anyways enjoy the pictures!
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