When in Dubai...Be A Dubian

Hello All!
So the rest of last week was pretty boring. Kids were leaving early for vacation so I had to keep my kids busy but not give them too much work so the students who were gone would fall too far behind. We started monologues in theatre class and we wrote scary stories in my speech class that I collected. The monologues are going to be pretty easy compared to most because they are stories that actually happened to them and they are heightened emotions-saddest moment of their life, scariest moment, happiest moment, etc. Some of them just found out today that they will probably have to re-write their story for me to look off of and memorize and act at the same time by themselves on stage *GASP* It’s quite fun to see their reactions when they realize these are things that happen on a regular basis in acting. Also, they always want me to show them exactly what to do because the culture here never really requires them to be creative or do any critical thinking. But this time, instead of showing them to start off what they’re getting into, I am moving right along with them but giving snippet examples as we go along. Mostly because I wasn’t prepared either but they don’t know that. In speech we’re taking a short break from doing complicated (for them) speeches and did a little bit of impromptu speaking and now we will read scary stories. They all wrote real or fake stories and I collected them. I plan on shuffling them around so that no one knows who anyone’s is and they will practice oral interpretation-take someone else’s words/story and making them their own. With Halloween coming I thought it would be fun especially since they don’t really celebrate that here.
This past weekend was a 4-day weekend so most of us teachers went traveling. I went to Dubai again with Taylor but Mohamed and Brendon joined us this trip. It was actually really fun because it was a different feel travelling with people I wasn’t best friends with and not planning a lot in a short amount of time. On Friday, we left around 9am and got to Dubai around 11am (time change). We brought all of our bags to the hotel first and dropped them off before Brendon and Mohamed went to the Burj Khalifa (tallest building in the world) in the Dubai Mall. Since Taylor and I had already been there, we went to the Mall of the Emirates and ate and just hung out for a while. We went back to the hotel to find the guys in the hotel pool so we joined them for a bit. We had to leave after about an hour to catch a shuttle to a comedy show that we were going to. If you know Dave Chapelle, he was the headliner. It was really cool just to see a comedy show in really life. Also, I was surprised Dave was performing because he has a sort of crude humor and because he had a sort of fall-out in the past years.
When we got back to our hotel that night before the comedy show, I got to explore our hotel room a little bit. This hotel was basically a 2 bedroom apartment with a kitchen full of utensils, 2.5 bathrooms and a living room. Oh, and a balcony that went all the way around our room. It was pretty sweet. Although we never used the kitchen except to store stuff in, Having all of the things we got for a cheap price was pretty amazing. The view from the balcony was pretty awesome and we got to sit out there in the morning and enjoy the sun and wind.
The next day, Mohamed, Taylor and I went to SkiDubai and got a pass that let us ride toboggans, sleds, zorg balls, and the chairlift in the mall. It was a lot of fun to be able to do it even though I would have liked to have gone skiing and I think it would have been worth the money more so than what we did. But I still had a ton of fun in the short amount of time we were there. The toboggans and sleds were pretty full with a lot of children and their parents because even though it was a short sled/ride, that’s the best thing to do as a kid. Not to mention that it made you go the fastest and you didn’t get sick. The zorg balls were probably my favorite part just because of what it was, not the ride itself that we got. Zorg balls are basically those gigantic rubber balls you jump in the middle of and roll down the hill in. I thought this was really fun…mostly because I figured out how to slide down in them and not roll constantly and get sick like Taylor did. The hill was small so that’s why the ride wasn’t as fun, but if it had been a longer hill, I think it could have been way more fun and way more worth it.
When we left SkiDubai and got back to the hotel, we only had about 30 minutes to relax before someone came and picked us up for our desert safari. This safari was very similar to the one we did in Abu Dhabi but Taylor and I wanted to go on it again because it was really fun. As the night progressed, I did notice quite a few differences. On this one, the dune bashing was not nearly as fun nor was it as long. It was maybe 10 minutes long and he drove a little slower and more carefully so I think he was a new guy but it was still cool for the guys to experience. When we got to the tents, Mohamed had paid extra to drive an ATV and so he paid for me to do it too since I left my money in the hotel. It was pretty fun just to drive an ATV in the desert for 20-30 minutes but they were slow because they were for tourists, they were small, and we could only drive around in a circle in this blocked off area. A lot of us still drove around wherever we wanted in the blocked off area but every once in a while, they would yell at us to go around the outside. Before the dinner began, we also had a lot of things to choose from to do.
Mohamed and I stuck together for the most part since we were the only ones to do the ATVs. The next thing we did was get in line for the camel rides, but that quickly changed as Mohamed has a short attention span. Instead, we found a guy who was giving rides on his horse for 50 dirham…about $13. Granted, it was a few minute ride but I still didn’t think it was worth it and the horse looked so sad but Mohamed was all for it. Next he found a guy who let people hold and take pictures with his falcon for 10 dirham. Once again, I didn’t think it was worth it since I was at the falcon hospital in Abu Dhabi but Mohamed hadn’t been this close to a falcon yet so he went for it. There was finally a short enough line for the camels so Mohamed and I got on one (this was included in the safari). It’s quite different than riding any other animal mostly because they had to sit down so we could get on and then we were just about thrown off the front or back when they were getting up or down.
Other than that, it is very important to mention that sandboarding actually worked this time. There was only one board but thankfully we were the only ones attempting it when we were on the dune. Mohamed and I were both able to make it down the slope without falling off, face planting, or getting stuck halfway down. I’d say it was pretty successful compared to the first try. Later on, there were two dancers. One was basically twirling a bunch of things on fire and lighting the gasoline on the ground. It actually looked really cool. Then there was a guy who was a professional spinner-which apparently is very prestigious here because they train for years to become a professional. He spun continuously for like 10 minutes and did different things with some props and his costume. Parts of his costume had lights on and he had two parts of his skirt thing that lit up too. Finally they served us food and in my opinion it was better than the first one. They had a little bit more variety in the food, there wasn’t so much meat kabobs this time (for Taylor’s sake, she’s a vegetarian) but the hummus was terrible this round L Afterwards, they had a belly dancer again but she wasn’t as good as the first one. Plus it seemed more like a strip club because she accepted monetary tips from the tourists as she was dancing. Overall it was shorter and a little bit worse in most cases but some stuff was pretty cool. The guys loved it though so that’s all that really mattered.
The last day in Dubai all of us went to Atlantis Waterpark. This time, Taylor and I went to go to a sea lion encounter because then it would be a bit different than the first time we went to the waterpark. We got to the building and we met a Dutch family that was going to be interacting with the sea lion with us. We went over a few safety procedures after changing into our wetsuits (which were terribly hard to get on by the way, I think I got a burn on my ankle from it). Then we went into a cold room where we met our two instructors-one for us, one for the sea lion. We walked into the pool and met Mollie the sea lion who was 21 years old. Next door were some of her babies from previous years ages 18, 14 and 8 and they just played around in their pool. First they brought us into the pool and we just got to pet Mollie and take photos—sea lions are even softer than penguins! After we pet her the first time, we began to do a couple poses with her and a lot of group petting, which helped reinforce her good behavior. Then we got to let her kiss us either on the cheek or on the lips. Of course Taylor and I chose lips because how often can people say they’ve kissed a sea lion? She did a few more tricks for us like reminding us to pick up trash and recycle bottles (the trainer threw a bottle into the water and Mollie retrieved it and dropped it into a recycling bin) and showing us how strong she was by standing on her front two flippers. By this time it had already been an hour! We had to leave and go back to the waterpark to meet up with the guys.
Taylor and I grabbed some money and ate a quick lunch before heading off to ride some slides and search for the guys. Although we never really did find them on purpose, Taylor and I had found Mohamed and Brendon on the first ride we were going on-which was actually Taylor’s favorite ride. They were just a few groups ahead of us so they just waited for us so we could all go together. It was a big water tube slide that had about a 70 or 80 degree drop of 20 feet towards the end of the ride and then a tall side that brought us back down. After that we did Poseidon’s Revenge-my favorite-where the door drops down beneath you. Brendon and I were all for it but Mohamed and Taylor were a little hesitant, however, we all went down the slide and they didn’t think it was nearly as bad as they imagined. We stayed together for the rest of the day at the waterpark for the most part. We rode a few more rides and did the Lazy River for a little more than one round of it (about 30 minutes) before getting ready to go. The boys went back to change and get their voucher for food at a café in the waterpark and Taylor went back early to change since it would take her longer than me. I got in line to ride Leap of Faith again-the one you slide down a couple stories and go through the aquarium before coming out. However, by the time I needed to go back to change I had made it only ¾ of the way through the line so I just left.
We grabbed a taxi and went to the Dubai Mall. Brendon and Mohamed went off in search of something a co-worker wanted from there and to look around while Taylor and I went to Rainforest Café and ate an entire meal. I had a voucher for two for a main course and drink there because when we were there over Eid I wrote a very negative feedback sheet and put my contact details down. The first time it took a very long time to get anything past our drinks. Whole families had come in, eaten, and left before we even got our food and they said it would only take 20 minutes. Anyways, the manager sent me an email and extended the invitation to come back for two free meals so we did. It ended up to be about a $60 meal for free so I can’t complain. That was the last stop before we went to the airport.
On Monday night a co-worker, Rhonda, was hosting a small party at her house. Her apartment building has a pool and a sauna on the roof and she said she would make chili so I figured I couldn’t lose in the situation. But, in payment, we had to bring some treats and stuff Halloween bags for her students. Mohamed and I went together so we were on the roof in the pool and sauna for about 2-3 hours before going down to her apartment to eat and help her with her Halloween bags. It was a very relaxed evening and it was good to do that the day after coming back from vacation. Anyways, I need to do some more work, as always, so I’ll catch up with you guys later.

EATING ALL THE FOODS!

Once again, nothing has really been going on around here. School was pretty normal now that QQA is gone and the hubbub surrounding that has died down. This past weekend was a three day weekend due to a religious holiday. For the most part, I just got to hang out and enjoy doing nothing-which is something I hadn’t been able to do yet. There was one day when I got to sleep until 1pm and it was awesome…then again, I spent most nights staying up watching movies or talking with people until 2 or 3am. There was also a lot of indulging that happened. With food. Many times my friends would be ordering food so I ordered with them. But it was good and I needed a complete cutoff from school.

On Friday morning we went to brunch at a place called Saffrons. They have some really good Arabic and Bahraini breakfasts that are pretty cheap and feed three or four people. Between 9 of us, we ordered 4 breakfasts and I don’t think anyone completely finished off the food. I still have no idea what we ate even though it’s the second time I’ve had it but I think it’s really good. I also ordered orange juice with my meal and it was really good because it is freshly squeezed on the spot. We thought about walking around for a while because the restaurant was in the middle of the Manama Souq. However, it was midday and therefore very hot and humid so we just left. Most people came back to the apartments and took naps or started working. I had to nap because I was so full and stayed up late. Later on some people went to the Souq but I just stayed behind to get ahead at work.

On Sunday after school I went to a coffee shop with some friends and ended up working for quite a few hours. Like 5.5 hours. Oops. It’s not that I put off anything or didn’t do anything I needed to do over the weekend I just had so much thrown on me all of a sudden that I had to sit for so long. I wish we got paid for work outside of school. I’m pretty sure all teachers would love that. And we’d all be millionaires by the end of our lives.

Anyways last night it was Caroline’s birthday-she was one of the teachers here when I first got to Bahrain and showed us around the first week. We went to Senor Pacos again, the same place we went to the first week of school. It was really fun because I drove so I could slightly remember the trip but not nearly enough to know where to go without help because we went there right when we got here. I had lots of food and listened to lots of music and got to hang out with people that I don’t usually hang out with. My car ended up leaving at 9:30pm to go back home because we still had school today but I know a few people stayed for longer and some even went to sing karaoke afterwards. I got home and I was already falling asleep on my couch.

This coming weekend is another long weekend. We have a half day of school on Thursday and professional development to fill in until the end of the day and then we have Sunday and Monday off. For this quick break I decided to go to Dubai again with one of the same girls from the last trip, Taylor, along with two newbies-Mohamed and Brendan. I had a voucher to use with FlyDubai that expires in a year so I was able to pay for all of us but 18BD so I feel like that was a good deal. We are planning to go to Atlantis Waterpark again but this time, Taylor and I will spend about two hours in another area where we will meet and get to interact with a sea lion. Meanwhile the two boys will stay in the big area that we’ve already been to. So this time I will narrow down my choices as to which ones to do and make sure to go on my favorite rides but I think I can do it in about half a day. While the boys are going to the Dubai Mall and the Burj Khalil, Taylor and I will go to SkiDubai in the Mall of the Emirates and will ski for a couple hours. Taylor has never skied before so she will need to take a lesson with a ski instructor for an hour and I will just pay to ski for two hours. This is assuming I can pass their basic skills test, but I’m certain I’ll be fine because I’m in the Middle East where hardly anyone has seen snow before. Plus I’ve skied a couple times in Iowa and spent a week skiing around Lake Tahoe this past Christmas with my aunt, uncle, and cousin. (Thanks again for bringing me along with you and teaching me how to actually ski Ted, Teresa, and Teddy-you guys had to be very patient and I appreciate it J) We are also all planning on going on a desert safari. It’ll be similar to what we did in Abu Dhabi with a few differences-ATVing is included in the price and the dune bashing is supposed to be longer. Maybe I’ll try the sandboarding again if I have the energy. And I’ll for sure ride a camel there.

I was talking with some fellow teachers and I’ve realized that I haven’t said many nice things about the school since I’ve been here. Despite the resources that I do not have, like any other teaching job, it is the kids that I enjoy. I love getting to work with them day in and day out and they are what makes me come to work every day. Granted, there are days when we struggle and when we don’t want to deal with each other but we come to class again two days later and it’s all a new beginning. I do love this job and the kids make me love it.

Eating My Feelings and Cha-Chaing With Style

Salama! (Hello)
So once again, this week has been pretty uneventful. In fact, I was really focused on school and preparation for the week. This week there was an accreditation group that came in to survey the schools on every level. They went to observe the majority of classes in action over the course of 3 days and then gave us a rating at the end. We were told not to expect them to come in until the 2^nd day at least and that I probably shouldn’t expect them because only two of my classes were English. We were told that we had to show off the best of what we do and make everything highly interactive and fun to watch as well as have good classroom management. I was told they really only wanted to see the “major” departments of English, Math, Science and Arabic and see about the efficiency of the school for tardies and absences as well as for interactive lessons. Of course, they came into my class the first block of the first day they were there. It was a work day in Speech; they were working on their speeches. Awkward. The lady that came in walked in about 20 minutes late and then sat there for about an hour and took notes. I was already walking around and answering kids’ questions about their speech and the outline so it wasn’t too bad, but she missed the beginning when I gave them instruction and she left early at the end so she missed the announcements I had for them. She only talked to me to ask about what grade levels were in class and which class it was at the time. She ignored me for the rest of the time it seemed like and she looked at the things on my walls and made notes about it. She also walked around the class and asked students what they were doing, why it was a mixed class, and looked over their shoulder to see that they were actually on task. Overall, it was just more of a headache to have them there and also pretty pointless. From the little I have heard from their review, they said they saw the same problems that the teachers have been complaining about all year like attendance. The rating scale is from best to worst: Outstanding-Good-Satisfactory-Unsatisfactory. We got ranked as a Satisfactory, so basically we’re barely average. We got ranked Good last time. Welcome to MKS. The only good thing about them being there was that stuff got done, like I got a whiteboard installed the day before the accreditation arrived. Still missing a garbage can, but I have a whiteboard. (Update: I just got a garbage can today!)

After QQA (the accreditation team) left, the entire school was really dreadful because of the rating and we all believed we deserved better. A lot of the teachers, from what I’ve heard, will be hardly teaching for the next month just because of the rating. At the end of the week, most of the first and second year teachers went to brunch at the Four Seasons. It was a very formal event and we all had to dress up in suits and dresses just to eat so much that we couldn’t fit into them anymore. I started off Friday morning by waking up about 3 hours before we would leave and took like an hour to fully wake up. I then spent the next hour actually getting ready and making myself look like a girl (believe me, that’s hard to do with all the girls I was going with) before going to my neighbors’ room and joining everyone for some coffee with Bailey’s before going to brunch.

Skipping ahead, when we got to the Four Seasons, we had to find our way to the right area and then had to wait about 10 minutes before we could start eating. We were sitting in the lobby feeling all fancy and getting stared at by some of the other brunchers and hotel guests. We were all very hungry when they finally let us down the stairs to sit down and begin our meal. They sat us down at one really long table (there was 24 of us) and poured us a glass of champagne, pina colada, and stilled or sparkling water. We started going through the kitchen where all the food was but a lot of us had to walk around completely before deciding what we wanted first. There was a lot to choose from-anything from sushi to cheese and crackers to chocolate fondue to stir fry to scallops to prime rib to fresh honey to soups. There was so much to choose from that we stayed the whole four hours we were allowed to stay for just to sit and digest everything so we could get up and eat more food. It was such amazing food and the drinks were even better but I paid about $100 so I don’t think I will do it again unless it’s cheaper. We rarely do these brunches but it was a lot of fun to just sit and chat with everyone because I don’t see many of them anymore with all of us being constantly busy. While everyone was chatting and drinking/eating, there were a few of us who decided to be funny and take the worst pictures we could and it ended up being my highlight for the day.
At the end when we couldn’t eat or drink anymore, a few of us went out onto the patio they had to watch the sunset. I went out simply to enjoy the weather and the view. It’s becoming cooler in Bahrain so it’s actually bearable to be outside for more than 10 minutes now and the Four Seasons was right along a bay and also had one of those pools that goes right up to the water. We obviously didn’t get into the water but it was nice to be standing along the edge after such a long afternoon of being dressed up and eating. There was a bouncy house over the shallow part of the pool and some of the group decided it would be fun to get in. That quickly ended when someone fell over the side and into the pool in her dress. After that, I came back with a few people and just relaxed the rest of the night in the apartments watching movies and TV shows but a lot of people did go out. We, however, were party poopers and too tired.

Monday night I went to a senior dinner with a few other teachers. There were select few that could attend as not many teach seniors and this was strictly a dance and dinner for seniors. Kate and I decided that we should dress up again because even though the invite said semi-formal, we had heard that students will look like Arabian princes and princesses. So we had a few friends come do our hair and my friend/hairstylist/makeup artist, Maris, obviously did everything. I was lazy and I didn’t want to do it again ;) We got to the dinner and there were few seniors there but we found a few of our students and said hi to them and everything. They were all impressed at how dressed up and fancy we looked but they looked very beautiful and handsome too. Not nearly like the princes and princesses we were led to believe they would be, but it was still cool to see them outside of a school uniform and with their friends and all dressed up. Except for the three boys who wore shorts...

Anyways, the conference hall was decorated with black lights and glow sticks because of their Glow theme. It was really cool until people started losing their phones or glasses or anything because then all the lights came on until someone found whatever was missing. And you couldn’t really see the food in the dark. That was a problem. The food descriptions/names sounded good though? No, I did not take any pictures as I would have felt awkward asking my students to take photos with me and I would have felt rude but it was really cool to see all the different styles. Think of this dinner/dance as like a high school homecoming in America. Yes, you dressed up in dresses or button-up shirts but they were more conservative because of the culture. Few dresses were shorter than the knees and even fewer showed bare shoulders. I thought it was even more interesting to see how girls wore a hijab to cover their head and still dress up and make it look fancy. Occasionally you would see a girl or guy in full-out robes to fully cover themselves or to stay traditional but overall, it was awesome. Not just the clothes either, just in general. A teacher I sat beside and talked to for the first time, Jude, and I would make comments to one another about how different everything was like the dancing-guys danced in one area and girls danced in another area, the type of dancing-usually some sort of terrible line dance in which no one was doing the same thing even during the Cha Cha Slide where it tells you exactly what to do, and the girls walking in high heels-which was obviously rare to happen outside of fancy dinners like that. We danced only to the Cha Cha Slide and showed off our awesome dance skills.

We were technically there to chaperone, but we left before most of the kids and I went to bed right when I got back as school was still the next day. Tonight we went out to eat for dinner because it was a fellow teacher, Ben’s, birthday today so we went to the restaurant of his choice. Other than that, nothing else has really happened so I’m going to sign off and do some work before bed.  On a side note, this post included some pictures of my last vacation that I just got a hold of. The one to the upper left has to do with my failure at sand boarding--it's my last attempt to ride it like a sled before I gave up on it. Good night!