The Last Two Weeks

The last two weeks have been nothing short of a whirlwind. With school starting, Rob arriving, apartment and housing being finalized, I'm surprised we are still functioning.

Here's a quick recap of the last few weeks and I promise to write more once things get settled, more specifically once we get settled into our new home.

School:
Teaching in Abu Dhabi is unlike anything back home. There are no procedures, no norms, no real schedules, nothing. One example of this: my school (along with every other building in Abu Dhabi) doesn't have an address. Take just a second and let that one sink in...there are NO addresses for ANYTHING. So how did I find my school on the first day? GPS coordinates (thank goodness for Google Maps).

Now that I've driven (scratch that: ridden) to school a few times, I pretty much have it down. As you can see from my notes, it's not exactly straightforward:

Did I mention that I teach at an all girls school? And, yes, everything is pink. The hallways, my classroom, the students' uniforms, their roller backpacks - yup, it's all pink. I actually am extremely blessed to be teaching in an all girls school. Because we were so delayed in getting here, most of the other female teachers in my group ended up at all boys schools. The boys are much harder to manage and not nearly as cute and nice as my little ones, so I count myself extremely lucky to have landed my spot at Al Lulu's School for Girls.

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Extra Tidbit: Rob had his first day of school today at an all boys school and he doesn't even have the words to describe how wild it was. One example, fistfights happen constantly. So much so that it happens in classrooms, on a daily basis, with no repercussions or consequences for the young men. It will be an interesting year for him to say the least. But more to come on that from his perspective later.
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Here are a few other pictures of my new school. I haven't taken any pictures of my (shared) classroom, but when I get time to catch my breath, I'll hopefully get that somewhat organized. I walked into a mess of a classroom, so I'm choosing to avoid/ignore it for now!

The courtyard of Al Lulu

Even with school starting, we've still managed to get in some fun. We've met some wonderful people over here, which has made all this "moving away from home" stuff a bit easier. I'm actually watching this little Scottish guy, Charlie, tonight while his mum and dad shop for apartment furnishings.

Dawn and Ryan are Charlie's parents and they are delightful. Like I said before, it's been so great to have met people who are at a similar life stage and are going through the same things as us.

More to come once we get settled!
F