Term 3!

Term 3…

Well looking back at term 3 it for sure flew by.  i actually never thought the day would come that we would be out of school for the summer that term 2 was so long!  This term brought many exciting new things though!  At school we continued to work away to ensure we could get through the rest of the curriculum needed for the girls to succeed to go to Grade 6, we went on three field trips!, and many other things I will get to in this post.

So when I got back from Thailand I was refreshed and ready to get back to school yet exhausted at the same time!  i don't think that looking daily at my countdowns helped too much!  However, the week after we got back from spring holiday- I took my girls on a trip to the eastern mangroves at yas beach- here we got to kayak to the mangroves (slightly entertaining watching 5th grade girls attempt to kayak- but they did it :)) and then learn about the mangroves!  it was really fun going on a trip with the girls!  The next exciting thing that I did at school was help with our Grade 11 fashion show- what happens is two teachers from the secondary school have an after school club for the grade 11's- in this club throughout the year the girls raise money as well as design their own dresses to be modeled at a fashion show.  The girls do an incredible job with this event to say the least!  They put on a huge water carnival to raise money and do other various things.  Then the fashion show is amazing- they transform our theatre into a true fashion show spot!  They have the run way and all!  The girls then model their own dresses for this show for their moms, aunts, cousins, etc.  These girls are some of the prettiest people i have ever seen and they are quite talented as well!  Helping with the fashion show was a really neat way to be able to meet some of the students from our secondary school as well.  Back to 5th grade---the next exciting thing we did was go to Dubai to the 360 planetarium.  And wow- road trippin with 20 10-11 year olds----whaaaat a ride!  We had an absolute blast though!  We were able to lay our huge bean bags and watch imax movies while learn about the solar system!  Way better than listening to me i am sure!  Our third and final field trip I took 1/4 of the students to Emirates Palace (please google this place!!) and we were able to meet an artist and participate in a workshop.  In this workshop we learned about Arabic Calligraphy.  We were each given our own styrofoam board and were given 2 different pastels- with these pastels we all wrote Allah in Arabic (meaning god).  At the end all of the pieces were put together to make a even bigger Allah (see picture!!).  This was a really neat thing to be able to do with the girls as well!  With this term being so short my girls had kept a huge secret with me and we had to prepare for our Poetry party for our parents a bit early since they knew i was taking off to the states for the weekend for Meg's graduation!  Our poetry party was absolutely great!  The girls decorated our classroom, all wore tea party dresses, memorized poems, and set up a actual tea party for their parents!  They also learned a song and even made a dance to go with it!  This was our end of the year celebration and the girls did such a wonderful job with it!  

On a social aspect….Yacht Party, Justin Timberlake, Shaggy, Monday Trivia, Paintball, Go-karts, Archery, Brunches, Al maya island!, Yas Waterworld and finally my first Iftar! I don't think my life was too lame this last term either.  One of the girls and her husband rented a huge yacht for the day and we all went out and swam in the arabian gulf!  During this time we also were jumping from the 3rd floor of this yacht, tubing, and just swimming and partying the day away.  Not a bad way to spend a friday!  Justin Timberlake came to Yas Island- need I say more?!  AMAZING!  Shaggy came to emirates palace!  Monday Trivia became a weekly event in our lives as well- we would go to the good old Park Rotana- Coopers! to play trivia/pub quiz night each week.  Our teams varied in size but usually we had 5 of us consistently there- and two weeks we were even the champs so we were able to eat dinner for free the next week!  I can not wait to get back for this however, will certainly be missing two of our team members that have retired and moved back to the UK :(.  We went paint balling at a sports complex one night for two of the girls birthdays that was also super fun! We had to wear jumpsuits and all!  Go-Karts and archery were at the same place a couple months later.  Brunches for birthdays!  Al Maya island is this island that takes about 30 minutes on a ferry to get there from Abu Dhabi- we went out here for another one of the girls birthdays and there is a huge pool, pool bar, beach, dj, etc and we just spent the day out there- it was a greaaaat day!  Our last weekend in Abu Dhabi a group of us went out to Yas Waterworld for the day-this is a huge watermark in AD that was just a good way to spend a day!  And thank goodness it wasn't too hot!  The last thing that I did that i found to be interesting enough to write about was I went to my first iftar meal.  So as you all know the UAE is a Muslim country- so during the holy month of Ramadan the people fast.  This means from sun up to sun down they do not eat anything or drink anything including water- as a non-muslim they do not make me follow these guidelines however- out of respect there are no restaurants open and you are not to eat or drink in public.  We had secured areas where we could go to eat and we also had certain places that would deliver to us.  But at sun down- "the breaking of the fast" they have what is called their Iftar meal- this basically is the time where they eat and drink and just sit with family and friends after the day of fasting.  I went with a few people I work with to a hotel and had my first Iftar meal- it was a  really cool thing to be part of!  After this year I don't think I could ever say I lacked a social life as many people thought may happen when I moved over here.   

The things that i have learned in just one year of teaching abroad is absolutely amazing.  I really do have to thank everyone in my life for all of the support i was given throughout this year.  It would not of been possible to have done this without everyone.  I would say that overall this year was extremely stressful, not easy, at times downright sucked, but looking back it really blew by and the bad memories are hard to explain to someone.  So I guess seeing it that way I have been blessed beyond believe and have had a fantastic year.  I know each year i get attached to a new group of kids but these girls that brought me in from the first of the year and taught me so much are always going to have a special place in my heart.  From me not having luggage, to knowing no arabic, to being completely new to a culture and place- these girls and their families have brought me in and welcomed me- taught me things i need to know, have cared and loved me back.  I will never be able to forgot nor thank my class enough for the things they taught me this year and can't wait to see what my next group of kids teaches me!  

i am staying in Grade 5 next year and am excited to see what another year in the UAE brings!  But first…onto my summer Europe trip through Italy (Rome, Florence, Pisa, and Venice), onto France (Paris), and finally the Uk (London) before heading back to the states for a month of fun! :)

Thailand! Spring break 2014 :)

Thailand...

For spring break this year we had two weeks off of school.  I decided that I was going to travel to Thailand for the holiday (no one over here says they are going on vacation- you are going on 'holiday').  We got out of school on Thursday and had a 5:40am flight out of Abu Dhabi. After packing my backpack and trying to jam as much as it possibly could into a backpack & after a sleepless night we were dropped off at the airport.  For those of you that read my blog about Germany and Austria we knew a tad more about our plans in Thailand seeing we wanted to see so much of the country in such a short amount of time.  We flew out of Abu Dhabi and had a couple hour layover in Oman..there were two other girls we work with in Oman so we decided to all sit just together and try to stay awake so we could sleep on the flight (thank goodness for diary queen!) we finally made it to Bangkok around 5pm- went through passport control and found our luggage (everything made it!).  Then Thailand has a super cool travels sim that we all got since our phones are unlocked and meant we were able to have data on our phone and some credit to call and text for less then $15 for the whole two weeks!  As we were standing in the line to get our sims another girl walked up to us and asked if we were going to Khaosan Road (there is a very populated road in Thailand for travelers)- we told her yes and decided to all share a taxi. During the taxi ride Belinda and I found out this girls name is Zoe and she is from the UK. After our taxi ride we decided we would meet up after we checked in and got settled a bit.  That night we explored Khaosan Road a bit- got dinner- tried our first Changs and took our first ride on a tuk tuk (these are the taxi-ish things all over Thailand). Bangkok is truly a city that doesn't sleep the first night we were up until after 4am! The next day we met up with another girl from our school and got our first Thai massages (hour and a half massages for about $10!), then had dinner with two others girls from school.  We had a great day just taking it easy and exploring with friends from the UAE.  Later that night we met back up with Zoe and a group of people from Canada who had been living in Australia (it is amazing how some people truly just pick their lives up and travel for 6 months no questions asked!). Our next day in Bangkok we decided to go explore the floating markets and more of Bangkok with Zoe- basically we were in our own boat and we got a water tour of Bangkok and stopped by people in tinnnnnyyyyy canoe looking boats and they are filled with things they are selling. After that we made a deal with a tuk tuk driver and he took us to the big Buddha, the grand palace, a suit store (huge in Thailand), a market area and then a jewelry-ish store where you can watch them make things- all of this was 60 baht for the three of us which is like $3 so pretty good deal for us! That night we decided to go and watch a cabaret show (lady boys...) which was a fun change of scenery! After that we rode what was the equivalent to the Bangkok eye and got to take a higher look at Bangkok. We then found a local area called RCA and hung out there for a bit before heading back to Khaosan being full of people! The next morning we had to journey around to find our train tickets and then just had a relaxing day before taking the overnight train to Chiang Mai which is in Northern Thailand.  The overnight train there was about a 13 hour ride.  We got two bunks on the train.  When we got onto the train we had fairly comfortable seats and lots of room.  Around 8pm the train attendants start coming around to lay beds down.  As we are watching them lay the beds down the top one is looking rather scary. We made it through the night on the train however not so well rested! But we were lucky enough that our hotel let us check in early for a little nap! In Chiang Mai we stayed rather busy! We went ziplining, to an elephant farm, tiger kingdom, explored the city (we had our own tour guide to all the temples!), and even had a fish foot massage (they eat at your feet...grosssss)! Chiang Mai was a beautiful place! After we stayed here for a couple of days we flew back to Bangkok for a quick night at the airport hotel and off to ko samui we went! We stayed at a resort right on the beach here! In ko samui we finally got to just lay around and enjoy the beach. Our resort overlooked mountains and some beautiful Thailand water! In ko samui I even went to my first ice bar...however it was more like a food freezer decorated! Seeing the beaches and just relaxing was a great part of the vacation! However, our next stop was even more amazing- koh phangan! This is a veryyyy small island about an hour ferry ride from ko samui- here we stayed in our very own beach front bungalow! Our friend from the UK that we met in Bangkok also decided to join us here which made it even better! We also met two boys from Minnesota and so the 5 of us went exploring together! We layed by the pool and beach all day! Very quiet resort and we had a hammock on our balcony and all! Also on this island is where they do the big moon festivals- they are kinda like a techno rave- they go throughout the whole night! All five of us went to the half moon festival and w even ran into people we met at the ice bar! It was an awesome festival and you get body neon paint there! It was nice to then go back to our quiet area and just enjoy the last few days of vacation! After that we had one last night on Khaosan road before ending back to Abu Dhabi! Thailand was an amazing place and somewhere I would loveeeee to go back to!  I will update my next entry with an overview of term 3! :)))

Pictures to come!!