EID , My Knight in a LandRover, Camels, and Goats

Well, another week has passed in the UAE and as usual it was anything but boring.  Sunday, we began a short week of school (Sun-Wed.) and will have long weekend Thurs-Sunday and return to school on Monday.  EID is an Islam holiday celebrated here this week.  It is a time when locals and Muslims give thanks for their blessings and share with those who are less fortunate.  Goat is the meat of choice for celebrations and entire families get together for big meals.  Reminds me of Thanksgiving and Christmas rolled into one...there's lots of gift giving.  Sunday and Monday went by and we used this as a review weeks for all letters, sounds, numbers, English words, and patterns we've taught.  On Tuesday morning, something weird happened....I have 24 students and only 6 showed up.  Thought it was a fluke, but all the other KG teachers only had 5-7 students each.  I asked why and the teachers said that some families had already left for relatives homes and wouldn't be back the rest of the week.  I had the best time.  One on one review and teaching was great....and yes, we played some fun games....we laughed, giggled, and got to know each other better.  Well, Wednesday rolled around and there were 3 students who came to school in the entire building.  Principal called parents and sent them home.  We stayed and worked in our rooms for a bit and my principal let us go home early for EID....I smiled all the way home! 

Slept in and then decided to go to the Camel Market to see if it was open today....I still haven't been up close and personal with a camel.  Took my trash out and noticed a LandRover following me.  Walked back across the street and waited for Andrea Brown to come and pick me up.  As she turned in and I got in the car, noticed the LandRover again.  When we headed out to the main road, he pulled up beside us and had the biggest grin on his face.  He was waving and obviously wanted to talk to me. 

 This was the view out of my window.....no worries Dan.  I'm a one man woman and he probably wanted me to be wife number four.....I'm always number one :).  I waved, told him to have a good day, and he kept following us.  He loved that I took his picture....Well after about 5-6 roundabouts, he went his way and we went ours.  Nice to know I still got it!  (well, the flirt was nice anyway!)

Well, when you turn the corner before the Camel Market, you smell money....camel poop.  Reminds me of the pig farm, but stronger.  There were cars, trucks, and all types of people lined up to enter the market to purchase goats for their EID celebrations.  The strangest thing I saw was a man carrying a sheep on his back.  He opened his trunk and stuck the goat in with there with the other two already in there. Guess he was using what he had, but it was weird.  As you drive through this area, there are people taking goats to cars and trucks.  Andrea and I hoped that some of the goats would make a run for it!  We shouted "Run, Forest, Run!"  and "Free Willy!"  in the safety of Andrea's car :). 

 

 

 

Every person we saw was buying not one or two, but three goats.  And I wondered why, so I did research?  Here's what I found:

 

On the first morning of Eid al-Adha, Muslims around the world attend the Eid prayer and a brief talk from the Imam at mosques. After that, every household sacrifices a goat, sheep, cow or camel, in much the same way that Abraham sacrificed a ram if he or she can possibly afford to do so.

The meat would then be divided into three equal parts to be distributed to others. The family eats one third, another third is given to relatives, friends or neighbors, and the last third is donated to the poor and needy. Thus, The Feast of the Sacrifice symbolizes obedience to Allah and its distribution to others is an expression of generosity and compassion.

 

So this explains the three goats....

 

Next, we decided to go an find camels.  From the smell, we could tell they were close.  :)

 

 

This camel wouldn't let me get very close before he/she started moving.  Couldn't believe how quickly he got up from this position.  The camel rangler came over quickly and shooed me out of the pen.  Well, let's just say...he smelled just like the camels :).  We made a quick retreat to the car and headed out for a day of roaming around getting lost.  Thanks, Andrea for having my back!

 

I'm going to have a lazy weekend and catch up on some tv shows been missing.  Have to be prepared for next week because Hanaa is going to have surgery on her hand Wednesday and will be out for two weeks.  She has to do it now or surgery will have to be more extensive by Christmas break. Hanaa told me that she knew the next two weeks would be hard.  I care about her as a person and know it has to happen now to ease her pain. Praying very hard for the Lord to help ease my worries and fears about being alone for that long.  My children are sweet and well behaved most of the time, but they act like I do in meetings where they are speaking Arabic...I only listen to the English part. I'm putting on my big girl panties and digging deep! 

 

 

 

 

 



 

Another One Gone, Pampering, and EID

This week has been filled with much emotion.  On Sunday, my school week began with a bang.  At 7:30, my telephone started ringing and then 3 text messages came one after the other.  I'm already at school by now, but have no children yet.  Decided that something must be important, so I checked the phone.  There was a number I didn't recognize in missed calls and 3 text messages from the same number.  Turns out the person calling was someone from my next door neighbor's school.  She had not shown up for work this morning and she'd been sick last week.  This person was concerned that something had happened to C.  Immediately I called back and let the person know that I hadn't seen her all weekend.  C usually goes to church on Friday (that's our Sunday) and spends time with her friends.  C and I speak in the hall and check on each other.  When I cook in my crock pot, I always shared with her....don't know how to cook for 1.  C doesn't cook, so nice to be able to see her smile when I hand her the bowl.  She brings me dessert....good plan, right? 

C's friend came to our apartment building on Sunday to see if C was okay.  No one was home.  Friend called me again and asked if I had any way to contact C.  I pm'ed her in Facebook and she answered me sometime during the day.  She was tired of being sick and missed her family, so C went back the USA.  I will miss seeing C's smiling face, her Southern accent, and her checking on me.  It's awful quiet next door.  Who will I share my food with? 

My HOF (Head of Faculty) notified us that we will have to give a pre-test to all of our students in English.  General K stuff.....letter identification, sounds, colors, shapes, numbers, counting, etc.  All directions are given in English....needless to say, my students are going to show so much growth by the end of the year.  A majority of the students know the letters and numbers I've taught , so there's a bright spot!  During snack time, one of my students held up his banana and said "buh nah nuh" in his best Southern accent....I was one proud Momma!  :)  You have to find joy in the little things...that's what makes life interesting!  Life is about the stories! 

Speaking of stories.....a certain friend of mine, Andrea Brown, is having her 21st birthday again this year on Saturday!!!!  In honor of this monumental moment, we had a spa afternoon...hot rock massages, haircut for Andrea, and a spa pedicure for me. I was lucky enough to have my massage first.  The 98 lb. young lady who gave my massage had "magic" fingers.  She removed all my tension and worries from the week and made my back feel the best its felt in years.  She even massaged my face with warm rocks....sinus opened right up...AH!!!!

Next, I took a shower and went for my spa pedicure.  Anyone who knows me well, knows  that I don't like people touching my feet....creeps me out.  In the UAE, your feet get extremely dirty and dry.  I understand why people always washed feet as a sign of hospitality in bible days.  It's dry and dusty here and your feet show it.  Most people wear sandals/open toed shoes.  The skin on your feet gets extremely dry...no matter how much lotion you put on your feet.  Since moving here, I treat myself to a pedicure every two weeks.  The last time I came, the pedicure lady looked at my feet and well....she said I needed major work :)   I signed up for a parrafin and spa pedicure for this visit.  Normal pedicure, special treatments for my feet (nice oils and lots of scrubbing) plus a parrafin (wax) dip for your feet.  Think of it like dipping an apple into the caramel to make a caramel apple....yep, it was hot.....Then, she wraps your feet in plastic bags, insulated shoes, and warm towels.  Then, you sit and wait for it to cool.  Must admit that I fell asleep.  When she came back, she peeled the wax from my feet and shazam....my feet were as soft as a baby's bottom!!!!  Some of you may have already had this experience, but I'm sheltered!  This is a definite do again......Maybe someone touching my feet isn't so bad after all. :)

Well, I've been in Al Ain since September 2 and no school holidays yet.  Our first holidays are coming up...woo hoo!!!!  (picture me doing the happy dance!)  EID is coming up.  My next post will discuss EID in detail, but for now, you need to know that it's an Islamic holiday.  Everything here is based upon when the moon.  When it is sighted, the official days of the holiday are set and fasting occurs for 10 days (not me!).  EID is a celebration to mark the end of the fasting and a time to give thanks for what you have and to share with those who are less fortunate than you.  There are big feasts and families get together and travel great distances to see relatives they haven't seen in a while..sounds like Thanksgiving in America...except here, goat is the meat of choice instead of turkey (I will not be partaking!).   There are BIG sales on electronics and other items and everyone and his brother and his brother will be out shopping for deals....yep, still sounds like Thanksgiving.

The weather will begin to change and a little cooling will occur.  Hanaa says that weather will begin to change and we will need a jacket in the early morning and if I go out at night.  During the day, it will be more like 75-80 instead of 100....waiting to see this.  I know there is at least one more EID celebration in the Spring, so I associate EID with changing of the seasons too....not sure if this is correct, but that's how I link it up.  Next week I will tell you more after EID has passed and I've lived through it.  The good news is that next week, we go to school Sun-Wed.  Thursday-Sunday are school holidays.....that means two 4 day weeks...woo hoo!!!

 

Sometimes Words are Not Enough!

Think back to my last post...Remember how I told you that one day my Arabic counterpart would be out and I would have the children by myself.....well, it happened this week!  Sunday, the first day of my school week, Hanaa fell while standing on a countertop trying to put something on the wall.  She landed on her tailbone and broke it. She was out Monday and Tuesday.  Needless to say, I was worried about her, but worried about me too...I speak very little Arabic and my children speak very little English.  My Head of Faculty came and told me that Hanaa would be out 2-3 or more days.  Honestly, my heart sank to my toes and I felt my stomach do a flip.  In this case, there are no substitutes...I would have them all day by myself.  

Quickly, I started running through my activities for the day in my head. Yesterday we took a tour of the building and talked about all the things we saw with our eyes.  One student was blindfolded and was the "blind" person who couldn't see.  I am really working on building vocabulary through real experiences.  We took pictures with a camera and labeled all the things we saw.  Today, we are talking about hearing.  I prepared a Powerpoint which has an embedded sound and on the following slide, there is a picture and word for the sound (telephone ringing).  There were 24 different sounds because I have 24 students. 

The moment of truth arrives.  As the children lined up in the courtyard, they noticed Hanaa wasn't there.  They lined up quietly and we went inside.  Children put bookbags in the normal spot and headed to the rug.  They followed our morning procedures.  We sang our good morning songs, sand days of the week song, months of the year song, and "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes".  Thus far, our routines have helped them stay on task.  Then we did the activity with sounds Powerpoint....they loved it.  They would tell me the Arabic words for the sounds...or at least I think they were....and I would say the English.  Please know that I am using small words....sit, look, listen, and broken English at best to try to get them to understand me.  By the end of the Sound Powerpoint, I had worked up a sweat!  Thought I was having a "FLASH" and then realized the air conditioner wasn't working.....I thought "what else could go wrong????" 

Then, I went to click on my "Rainbow Fish" video link and the computer freezes.  I have to restart and by this time the children are chatting with each other in Arabic...have no idea what they are saying.  Two boys get into a disagreement because one bumped into the other one and it's on.  They start shoving each other and I say "La, La (No, No)" and move them away from each other.  I turn around and there's a girl sitting in my chair at the computer and is punching buttons...guess what...the computer is frozen again.  I say "La, La (No, No) and tell her to sit on rug.  By this time.....sweat is in places ladies don't discuss and I take a deep breath.  Start clapping a pattern and they copy me.  They are back on track.  We sort some pictures by color and then by shape...with a mix of Arabic and English.  Then, there was a smiling face at my door.  One of my fellow teachers came to check on me during her break time.. She said, "Well, you seem to have everything under control!"  I said if only you'd been 10 minutes earlier...not so much.  Then, a few minutes later, my neighbor came to check on me too.  Just seeing a friendly face meant so much.  Finally, the Art teacher came to the door for my break time.  I have never been so happy to see an Arabic person in my whole life! 

I took a much needed drink of water and wiped the sweat from my brow.  Sat down to contemplate Plan B and C or the rest of the day.  One of the Arabic teachers came and volunteered to teach my children an Arabic lesson tomorrow so they wouldn't get behind.  They have to learn 150 Arabic words and sight words this year.  I thanked her up and down and pulled myself together.  When students came back, the day seemed to fly and we made it to the buses safe and sound....My line was not as straight as normal, but I was just glad everyone made it without any major problems.  I dragged my weary body to the room and tried to think about tomorrow. 

I studied up on directional Arabic words, like "stop" (gif) and tried to think about tomorrow's lesson....Smell.  I put things inside ziploc bags to smell (popcorn, tuna, perfume, flowers, etc.).  Some good smells and some bad smells.  Thumbs up for like smell and thumbs down for do not like (we've done this before with other things, so I knew they would understand it).  They didn't like the tuna or my perfume (lol!).  They were much more well behaved today and having an Arabic lesson today with Mrs. Amira really helped.  Before Amira left, I asked her to tell them two things.....Shukran (Thank you)  for listening and helping Mrs. Christine learn Arabic.  The children laughed!  We had a much better day!  Needless to say, by the time I walked all the children to the bus, I was whipped.  I turned around and started walking back from the buses.  From nowhere, one of my students who was standing with her nanny started running toward me saying "Mrs. Christine!Mrs. Christine!" with her arms wide open.  She almost knocked me down she hugged my legs so hard! Thank you, Lord!  Shamsa loves me!  So needed this after my tough two days :) 

The good new is Hanaa was back on Wednesday and bad newis is she  has a broken tail bone.  Six months to heal and pain medicine is nowhere as strong as American drugs.  She's one tough lady!  I hugged her when she came in on Wednesday.  Never been so glad to see someone!  Good news for me is that I could've been a weak person and given in when the going got tough, but I didn't.  That which doesn't kill us makes us stronger.  I have a long way to go, but definitely grown as a person and as a teacher this week.  All things are possible through Christ who strengthens me! 

My Week, Memorable Moments, Church

This has been a very hard week for me....personally.  At school, I've been teaching All About Me-My Family.  We discussed the differences in what an American family might look like and an Arabic family might look like.  Introduced vocabulary-mother (momma), father (poppa), brother, sister, grandma, grandpa and read Goldilocks and the Three Bears this week (They've  never heard before).  Five Little Monkeys was one of my students' favorite songs this week. Students are beginning to find letters in environmental print (around the room, on fronts of books, etc.).  They seem eager to learn new things....little sponges. 

As a teacher, there are moments you will never forget.  Well, I had a first in Al Ain.  The first Arabic child threw up in my classroom....I know its gross, but all teachers can relate.  There's a virus going around.  The child that was sick speaks very little English and he just stood there stunned...like it didn't really happen.  I tried to be the calm and help clean up.  The cleaners (janitorial staff) don't have the antibacterial sawdust, so they just come and mop.  They don't use as many chemicals as we do in America. I found antibacterial wipes and cleaned up quickly and Hanaa took him to the school nurse.  We have 2 full-time nurses and they do complete physicals for the children once a year.  They keep records of illness and yes, check for bugs....

Up until this point, I have felt good about what I'd taught my students and thought they understood what I was saying.  Well....not so much. I had a moment.....one that scared me.  Hanaa left the room to take the student to the nurse and I was alone with 23 five year olds who have extremely limited English.  Not thinking, I just started talking to my students if they were native English speakers.  Giving directions and talking about our next activity.  They looked at me as if I was speaking a foreign language......I was!  Then I said to myself....they don't understand you....what was I thinking.  Then two little boys started hitting each other and I said "La,"which means NO! He seemed shocked that I spoke an Arabic word, then he turned right back and hit the boy again.  I went and moved him from the circle and told him La, La, La.  If they don't understand the first time, you say it longer and louder, right?  Nope!  When I turned around one girl was on my computer.  I looked as her like...Oh no you didn't!!!!!!  I must have had a look on my face.....you know the Momma look...the girl froze in her tracks.  I moved two more students to chairs and began singing a song I knew we'd been practicing and things calmed down. 

Hanaa came back from the nurse's station and I told her what happened.  Hanaa translated my words to them and we had church with them about listening to me even when she wasn't there....This was very sobering to me.  In America, my classrooms had very good discipline.  Here, the language barrier is a problem.  In KG1(4 year olds) and KG2(5 year olds), there is an English and Arabic teacher in the room because they know very little to no English.  I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.....I know very little Arabic and there's going to be a day that Hanaa is sick and I'm going to have them by myself all day with a language barrier.  Have to rethink.  Sit, Stand, Look, Listen, Table, Color, Pencil, Good Morning, Hello, Teacher, Miss, Mrs. Christine, La (No), Sway Sway (Slow in Arabic....they like to run here), and Moffi (Zero or none in Arabic) are phrases I know they understand.  I was trying to treat this like native English speakers.  Next week, I will work on adding more English words to their vocabulary and more Arabic words to mine.

This week as I talked about family with my students, homesickness has crept in.  Skype has not been working for me since I left Abu Dhabi and moved to Al Ain...about 6 weeks.  I Facebook and call my family a lot, but "seeing" them is so important.  Evan, an American who helps us with technology issues, has been working so hard and there have been problems like before I left home, my computer crashed a week before leaving for Abu Dhabi.  Geek Squad in Warner Robins helped me get a new computer up and running in 2 days...fully loaded.  All I had to do was turn it on.  Bought an extra router to bring with me so I could talk to my family on Skype.  Skype is not downloadable here, so must be done before leaving home and extra router makes Skype think I'm in America! On Friday morning at 5:00am  my time (9:00pm Thursday night in Georgia-I'm 8 hours ahead), I finally Skyped Dan and was able to "see" him.  Made everything better.  Let's see who really reads my blog....Dan wanted to keep it a surprise, but I'm coming home for Christmas holidays.  The girls were coming to see me, but they have to work. 

I am not sure if I have talked about the Muslims here or not.  Religion is very meaningful to them here and all children are trained in Islam and National Studies from KG1 on up until graduation.  Each day, all students have 40 minutes of study in Islam and study about their country.  The Arabic teacher teaches this lesson in Arabic each day.  The teaching of religion is allowed in school....nice idea. I have no idea what Hanaa is teaching them, but there are lots of songs and the children know the words.  She teaches them about prayer and Mohammed each day....just guessing...I don't speak Arabic.  I sit at the back and do crowd control while she teaches Islam.  Hanaa told me that she is going to teach prophets later.  Muslims believe that Noah, Abraham, Jesus, and Mohammad were prophets.  Muslims recognize the bible, but believe that since Mohammad was the last prophet, he was given the Quoran, which is the last information given to the people. She will teach the children about Abraham and Isaac, Noah and the Flood, and other bible stories I will know.  She says they will be very similar.  I've been in the UAE since August 8 and Islam symbols are everywhere.  Each morning, I sit and listen to my children and Hanaa recite scriptures and other Islam songs.  It makes me want to find a church where I can worship.  I miss singing and listening to the message from my pastor. 

Andrea got her car this week and we discussed going to church on Friday (Sunday in America).  There is one church that is not Islamic, Catholic, or Mormon (my next door neighbor is a Morman).  A friend from Andrea's school invited her to come to the Al Ain Evangelical Church and I tagged along.  Got up early this morning, dressed for church, and headed out.  This church has two services-9:00 and 11:00.  We went to the 11.  This church was a warm place where everyone cares about each other.  They act like a church family.  Reminds me of home.  There was almost a full house.  The preacher's wife, Cathleen, came up and introduced herself and welcomed us.  We had 20 different people come up and welcome us even before the service started.  There was a church member that had a fire and the church reached out to them and bought new furniture the her apartment.  One member who is from America died in childbirth....very sad story and the church is having her memorial service tomorrow.  The baby lived and the church is helping her husband with getting her home.  I feel such a sense of community in this church. 

As a good old Southern Baptist, I was prepared for the traditional 54 1/2 minutes service.  Leave early so you can get to the restaurant early.  Watches start going off at 11:55 and everyone gets mad when the preacher is long-winded....just being real.  Not so much here.  We sang with the praise band for 45 minutes and the preacher spoke for another 45 minutes from Mark.  We studied about the Garden of Gethsemane (sp).  Rev. Steve, an American from Littleton, Colorado (Columbine), is our pastor.  He did a great job by linking the heat here to his sermon.  We have to prepare for the heat....here, you don't go anywhere without water.  As a teacher, you make plans before going in the classroom.  Jesus prepared for what he was going to face at Galgotha (?) by praying in the garden. When bad things happen, be prepared to stand up for what you believe in. It was so good to be able to worship with others who believe in Jesus as the Savior...not a prophet.  "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!" Time flew during the service and I hardly knew that almost two hours had passed.  Definitely going back next week!  Feel rejuvenated and ready for another week in the UAE.  Until we meet again!