Apartment Living

Living in Abu Dhabi is not only my first time living abroad, but it's my first time living in an apartment. Unless you count college dorms as an apartment. But I don't. My college dorm was just a playhouse, made for adult-sized children -- nothing very real-life about a sleepover every night and then breakfast in the dining hall every morning. But then again, there's not a whole lot that feels very real-life about getting to live here:

Sometimes, it is pretty fabulous to live in an apartment:

1. No lawn to mow. No plants to water. No dandelions to do battle with every spring.
2. Less space that gets dirty; therefore, less space to clean. And I use clean in a very loose sense of the word: we have a wonderful lady who comes and cleans our apartment once a week. We pay her. She mops. It is a win-win situation.
3. Pool, gym, security, and elevator provided.

No lie, it can be pretty awesome.

But while there are some amazing positives, the negatives outweigh the awesomeness at times:

1. It was 118 degrees yesterday, so our air-con pushes beautifully cold, but recycled, air into our apartment 24/7.  Therefore, I woke up this morning to the smell of whatever fishy, peppery, with a little bit of sickly-sweet, breakfast my neighbors are cooking. There is no IKEA candle powerful enough to combat this smell.
2. A family with small children moved into an apartment on our floor. Don't get me wrong, I love kids. I hope to have my own some day. But other people's children, screaming in the hallway at 6:42am? Not okay.
3. No pets. And we miss our little dogs.
4. When you burn dinner, the entire floor hears the fire alarm screaming "1311 IS BURNING SOMETHING AGAIN! WHAT A TERRIBLE COOK SHE MUST BE!" And then security calls or knocks, just to check and see if "Everyone is okay?" Yep, we are fine. Just trying to cook chicken. Again.

But these are the two most important things that I have learned while apartment-living it up:
1. We don't need a ton of space. We currently have a comfortable bedroom, 1.5 adequate bathrooms, and a sizable dining and living area. When people visit, it will be a bit cramped by first-world standards, but it will not be uncomfortable.
2. We don't need that much stuff. Since my current living situation is temporary, I give a lot of thought to the things I buy and bring home. Before I make any purchase, I think "Do I need this?" and "What will I do with it when I leave?" and it has saved me a lot of money. Now, I do not claim to have become a minimalist who never buys anything, (Seriously, who can go to IKEA and not buy everything?), but reevaluating spending habits and tendencies has been a tremendously rewarding experience.

Yet another detail for the "pros" list.

-F

And where are you guys from?

Over the past two months, one of the most common questions Rob and I have been asked is, "And where are you guys from?" The answer to this question was simple at first, "The US." But then people ask, "Okay. Where in the US?" 

This is where it gets tricky. I say, "Idaho" and Rob says, "Michigan...but we live in Idaho." 

The response is normally, "Oh! Idaho? That's near the Great Lakes, right?" 

I think most people get Idaho and Iowa/Ohio confused, like Idaho is a hybrid of the two. I have started saying, "No, Idaho is in the Pacific Northwest" and when I still get the deer in the headlights look, I resort to saying, "It's near Seattle?" and most of the time, by this time, they nod like, "Oh, yeah...I know where that is."

As we've gotten to know people better, they've been more honest with the fact that they can't place us in the US, based on our accents. I think most UK-ers think that Americans all talk like they are from Kentucky or Louisiana.  Our good friend, Dawn (a Scot) says things like, "Hiiiiiii. I'mmmmm Ameeerrriiiiicaaaaannnn" in a long, drawling, southern accent, and it crack us up.

But it got me to thinking, do Rob and I really speak that differently? I mean, I make fun of the way he says, "Cahllege" instead of "College" and "Mawm" instead of "Mom," but honestly, how different could we really sound?

Turns out, quite differently. You may have seen this NY Times link floating around Facebook: "How Y'all, Youse, and You Guys Talk" so it was perfect timing to test it out.

This is a pictorial representation of my results. Pretty spot on, if you ask me!

Faith's Results

But the "most similar" area on my map is quite large. Granted, I was born outside of Portland, used to live in California, and have spent most of my life in Boise (pretty cool that Boise was one of the three cities that popped up!). But, I thought, okay, it's just one of those tests that gives everyone a very generic result.

So, here was the real test: what would Rob get? His results are below and my mind is officially blown. Look at his "most similar" area - holy moly! Grand Rapids? Toledo? Detroit? Are you kidding me? 

Rob's Results

Best. Test. Ever.

-F

PS

And not to get all teacher-ish, because it's break and my brain is pretty wiped out from the last two months of teaching, but can you imagine being an ELL in a system that has English Medium Teachers from all over the world? Ireland, Scotland, England, US, South Africa, Australia. I make fun of my friend Dawn for saying things like "Mum" and spelling "favourite" incorrectly...man, can you imagine trying to learn English from a Pacific Northwesterner one year, a Scot the next, and then, oh, I don't know, a Kiwi the next? Makes it a little difficult for me to hold misspelled words against my current students.

Rain, rain, stay all day

Today it rained in the desert. Not just a sprinkle, mind you, legitimate, Oregon-style rain. 

Imagine a snow day at home: the excitement, the kids peering out the windows, the feigning of "We should probably let school out early. You know, for safety reasons," the waiting around for the email or call saying "Go home!" It is the same here, except instead of fluffy, white snow, it's normal rain. And the kids were bananas!

We got to go home early from school because of it. 

And the crazy Abu Dhabi drivers? They turn into hazards flashing, window shield peering, blind grandma drivers who go 10 kilometers under the speed limit. Pansies.

Happy (rainy) weekend to us!

-F

A Whirlwind of Whirlwinds (and then some)

I use the word "whirlwind" a lot (probably too much) in my posts, but it is the most perfect word to describe our new life in Abu Dhabi. So I'm going to continue to use it. Also, I officially suck at this whole blogging thing. I had about four posts started, but never got around to publishing them before tonight, so sorry for the randomness in the post order.

So much has happened over the last two weeks that it is all pretty much a blur, and I should have been writing every night, to make sure I wouldn't forget anything, but goodness it has been one of the hardest starts to a school year that Rob and I have ever experienced. We are physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted.

There are no words to describe the overhaul that is happening to the educational system in Abu Dhabi. It's not bad, it's just a baby of a country (42 years old on December 2) and the reforms that they are trying to achieve are simply staggering.

That being said, we've been asked to teach like we would back home without the resources and support systems of back home. Couple that with the fact that we didn't get to start the school year with our classes and half the staff speaks a different language, it is like being a new teacher, but in a foreign country, all over again.

Basically, school is hard and, more so for Rob than for me, not very rewarding. But we are trying to stay positive and we are hoping that it is just not very rewarding...yet.

During this "back to school" phase, we also had 4 days to move out of the hotel and into our new apartment. After we were "evicted" from our hotel, we spent the first night on a couch because IKEA couldn't deliver our furniture until the next day.

As of today, we have most of our furniture and appliances, no oven (or as all of our new UK friends say "cooker"), but who needs a cooker, when you can pick up chicken shwarma for 4 Dirhams ($1.00)?

We are slowly getting used to our new life, but it has definitely had it's challenges: everything moves slowly in Abu Dhabi except, of course, the drivers (that is a whole other blog post waiting to be written), so it takes forever to get anything done.

This week we both experienced some homesick-ness, but we are thankful to have each other. There are quite a few teachers who left spouses and kids back home and I don't know how they are surviving.

I'll post pictures of our most recent happenings eventually, but now, I'm going to bed to prepare for our last work day of the week. Our work week is Sunday-Thursday...yet another thing we are slowly adjusting to.

Love and miss you all.
F

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.

* * *

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.
                                                                             * * *

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

We are still in Idaho, BUT there has been a development!

I received my visa and ticket on Friday. I am scheduled to leave this Thursday (Boise > Chicago > Abu Dhabi). However, Rob hasn't received his, and because he is also a teacher, they won't just add him to my itinerary.  Our recruiting agency told us to not stress, that his ticket is probably on its way, but as none of this process has been easy or stress-free, our stressing will continue.

While it is a relief that we still have jobs, that we haven't been forgotten, that our visas weren't denied, we embarked on this journey together and it sure would be great to take the first steps like we had planned: together.

If you would all continue to pray, hope, and keep your fingers crossed for us (primarily that Rob's paperwork gets processed and quickly), we would deeply appreciate it.

-F

PS

Yes, we will have Internet access in Abu Dhabi. Yes, I will (try to) keep the blog updated as our adventure continues.

Student in Need

A student of ours was in a very serious accident. He is in critical condition at one of our local hospitals; please keep him in your thoughts and prayers!

Summer School

Summer school began today: 7:45am-3:15pm with some of the nicest kids you will ever meet...are you picking up on the sarcasm? Our goal is to completely burn ourselves out by the end of the summer, just in time to start teaching again in the fall. Woo-hoo.

Here's to hoping we don't look like this:

or this:

at the end of the day, let alone at the end of six weeks!

More to come soon,
-F