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! :)
No comments:
Post a Comment