Merry Christmas from the United Arab Emirates!

We are so grateful for all of the many blessings we have this Christmas. We thought it would be hard to feel the Christmas spirit this year because we are so far from family and snow, but it has been stronger than ever! We miss everyone, but we feel closer through phone calls, FaceTime/Skype, and Facebook.

What is it that makes us feel the spirit of Christmas so strongly?

Maybe it's the climate and region that the Savior was born and died in.
Maybe it's the charity and generosity of the people we are surrounded by.
Maybe it's all of the lights and decorations around town (from National Day) in red, green, and white.
Maybe it's the camels that remind us of the three wise men.
Maybe it's the sheep that remind us of the shepherds.
Maybe it's the Christmas music playing in department stores.
Whatever it is, we are feeling it and we are loving it!

We hope you are well, and have a wonderful Christmas!

Love,

Matt & Lindsay

Christmas card, 2013, front

Christmas card, 2013, back

Food!

by Lindsay

I've been meaning to blog about food for a while, so this blog post is going to be about some of the amazing exotic foods and the comfort "home" foods we have enjoyed so far in the UAE.

I'm not sure I blogged about camel milk before, but I tried it once at the Grand millennium (our hotel in Abu Dhabi city). It was interesting. Not completely gross, but it has a bit of a kick of an after taste.

This ice cream with fresh fruit was so refreshing, especially after a 20 minute walk in the heat! Our friends all had dinner, but we had just eaten and were only out for the company, so we shared this. Yum!

First date! Haha, I don't think this was really the first time I have had a date, but it was my first date in the UAE! ...and it was delicious! My friend was nice and had a cup of the less than tasty coffee. I am lucky to be able to say I can't have coffee, because for me it is "haram" (a sin).

I love the variety of spices available here, but I prefer to buy my spices in bulk from LuLu's, where they are behind glass and I am fairly certain fewer hands have touched them. Some of my friends have seen kids just playing in the rice and other bulk items.

Mangosteen (left) and rambutan (right)! I haven't seen good mangosteen here yet, but it is my favorite fruit in the entire world, and I am constantly on the lookout for it.

Digestives and Pocari Sweat were two things I loved in Hong Kong and haven't seen since I lived these. I was pretty stoked to find these! They sound gross, but names can be deceiving!

Matt and I laugh every time we see fried chicken labeled "broasted chicken." My friend said it probably just means it is chicken roasted by bros. Ha!

In case you are running late, here is a great ingredient to add to your meal!

Durian. In my book, this is officially the grossest fruit on the planet. A spiky, stinky fruit should be safe from being consumed, but alas, it is a popular fruit on this continent.

While we were living in the hotel, this was a typical meal... Bread, jar cheese (the best kind is Almari, and it really is good!), regular cheese, meats, and veggies. This would last us several meals and cost about $15.

Bread, Papa John's garlic butter, jar cheese, meats, flamin' hot Cheetos, more cheese... Don't tell my mom!

At the Spinney's in Dubai, we visited our first pork shop...

15 oz. of bacon for $8.71!

90 g (3.17 oz.) of pepperoni for $4.22!

More items in the Non-Muslim section... Jiffy cornbread mix? Pop-tarts?! Really?!

So many kinds of Spam!

An interesting way to display bagels and pretzels...

Love love LOVE Ribena!

This was my typical breakfast at our hotel brunch. Probably a good thing I only got it on Fridays and Saturdays, when I was there at breakfast time. Other days, I got a box breakfast that also lasted me through lunch. I usually had a yogurt and a pastry for breakfast, a sandwich and juice and fruit for lunch. All from the breakfast box! The sandwiches got really old (piece of bread with mayo and a slice of deli meat), so I started putting jar cheese on them and bringing snap peas and carrots to add a bit of variety.

Matt found a little Mexican place when he took my abaya to the cleaner, and took me back that night for some amazing and much craved Happy Nachos with carne asada! The next time I had them, we had them delivered and they put real shredded cheddar on them. Yum!!!

They also included a side of rice and salsa. Que delicioso!!!

We bought a tea set so we can give our guests tea (peppermint) and dates when they visit. I have to say, peppermint tea and dates are an incredible combination and are even better with good company!

Our first guest for tea, my co-worker in the class next door, and fellow EMT.

Taco Tuesday with one of our favorite families! They have taken us in and made us feel like family. We love them!

Some of the most amazing pizza I have ever had, thanks to our friends Seth and Gayle Sinclair. They also made some amazingly cheesy garlic chicken pizza that was seriously incredible. If Seth wasn't such an awesome teacher, he would have to open up a restaurant.

The tap water here isn't good to drink all the time, so we get bottled water, and our water delivery company marked their territory on our doorbell! Haha, it is totally fine to use more than one company, but it is just funny to me that they wrote on our doorbell in permanent marker.

The Wheels on the Bus, or "Transportation"

contributed by Lindsay

A couple of weeks ago, after work, my co-teacher dropped me off at the Al Foah mall so I could catch a cab back to the hotel. After I did some shopping at the Daiso (a dollar store on crack... Amazing, and dangerous), and picked up some Papa John's pizza to surprise Matt with, I went outside to hail a cab. After 10 minutes of standing out in the hottest part of the day, I walked around the mall to try and find a cab stand, and there weren't any. I only saw one cab right before I walked outside, and hadn't seen one since. I realized I was going to have to figure something else out, and luckily I had water, so I started walking. I passed a bus stop, but the operating schedule said the bus ran from 7:30-2:00, so I was out of luck. A minute later, however, a bus drove by in the opposite direction. Since I was across the road and had no idea where it was going, I kept walking. The call to prayer was sounding in the mosque I was passing, and it was very apparent that I was in a foreign land.  I looked back every couple of steps to see if a cab was coming, and noticed that the bus had turned around and was at the bus stop I had passed a few minutes before. I turned around and started walking back. It was at least 200 meters back, but I wasn't about to run to catch the bus in the heat in a long skirt with a bag full of stuff and a box of pizza, salad, and sodas. I figured I could flag it down as it drove past. As I got closer, I did start to hurry, but made it with time to spare. I paid 2 dirhams (about 50 cents) and basked in the glorious air conditioning. I didn't even ask where it was heading. I figured I would stay on until I got to a place where taxi cabs were slightly more abundant. As we drove, I noted our route. The bus stopped right after the roundabout near my school, where two men stood next to a speed limit sign. I followed our route with the GPS on my iPad mini, and prayed that this bus would take me where I needed to go (there were no maps on the bus). Every roundabout we went through gave me a mini panic attack as I hoped it would take the exit I needed. Oh, and nearly every intersection is a roundabout here. About 30 excruciating minutes later, when we came to a stop at the Al Ain Souq, I realized that the bus could only turn left or right from there, and I needed it to turn left. I asked the bus driver which way he was going, and he said he was going right. I asked him if he would get any closer to my hotel and he said no. He told me I could take a cab from there, but someone overheard us and said that there was a bus coming that would take me straight to the hotel, so I waited for it, and it worked out perfectly. So instead of paying $10-15 for a cab, I paid $1 for the buses.

The next morning, I decided to try my luck at getting back to work on the buses. I left my hotel room at 5:41 AM, found the bus stop going back to the Al Ain Souq by 5:50, and the bus came at 5:53. When I got to the Souq, I got off, but realized (too late) that I had gotten off prematurely. I ran to try to catch the bus, but failed. I ran to the next bus stop and ran up just behind the bus. I didn't need to catch it, but I knew I hadn't at least missed the bus I needed. I sat on a bench and my bus came about 10 minutes later. When I got on, I told the bus driver to drop me off before the Al Khleef roundabout. A man came up and said he also works at the school and would let me know when to get off. I sat down, got out my breakfast, and enjoyed my 30 minute ride to work. When we got off, it was only a 5-10 minute walk to the school, and I arrived by 7:00. I had 30 minutes to spare! Normally the commute would be 30 minutes by car, but an hour by bus is ok with me, especially since I can read, eat breakfast, and not think or worry about driving.

One afternoon last week, I was waiting next to the speed limit sign bus stop and a man pulled up to offer me a ride. He worked for the Abu Dhabi transportation department, and at first I thought he was like a bus manager going from stop to stop picking people up because the bus wasn't running or something. I must have looked stranded standing out there. He said it was too hot for me to be standing outside and insisted that I get a ride. I told him I wanted to take the bus, and he said it didn't matter what I paid him. He just wanted to be nice. So, I got in. He took me all the way to my hotel and didn't expect to be paid a lot, but I felt so grateful (and also guilty that I make five times what he makes), so I gave him about what I would pay for a week of buses. He said he could come pick me up the next day, since he drives a school bus out near the Al Foah mall. I accepted, but didn't have the best feeling about it. He was too friendly for the culture here, and talked about going to America and being friends, and as I got out of the car, I heard him say, "I love you." Uh, not halal (it means "kosher"... The opposite, "haram," means "sin."). Later I texted him that I had my transportation worked out, and not to come. I promised my mom and my husband that I would never, ever take a ride from a man by myself unless he was an official taxi driver.

The next day, my bus came 5 minutes early, and I totally missed it. I sat on the bench and waited for the next bus, which should have come 30 minutes later, but it didn't. And who pulls up, but my "friend" from the day before. I had almost reached the point where I would take a ride, but literally 1 minute before he showed up, I recommitted myself to my promise. It took a lot of convincing that I wanted to take the bus, but he finally left with the promise that he would pick me up to come home at 2:30. Uh, so not happening. He probably did only have good intentions, but I didn't have my phone with me, and I wasn't about to risk it. I ended up hailing a cab and paid about a week's worth of bus fare to get to school, but we drove past the two men I usually get off the bus with, and I clocked in 2 minutes early.  After work, my coworker drove me home. I really missed the buses that day. I can get work done (cutting, planning, reflecting) on the bus home, and I can read and eat breakfast on the bus there. Even if we had a car, I would still take the bus.

I've learned my way around Al Ain through navigating the bus routes. I am pretty impressed with myself. Haha... None of the websites I could find have bus schedules, so I took pictures of some that were posted at a bus stop. I like teaching people how to ride the buses here, because it can save so much money. We have spent 1/2 the price we would have spent on a car and gas by just using the buses and taxis. We also get rides from friends, which we really have appreciated. However, I feel so much more independent if I take the bus or a taxi. And I don't feel like I'm putting people out.

The bus I take from the Al Ain Souq to Al Khleef, and back.

The bus I take from my hotel to the Al Ain Souq, and back.

Other bus schedules... Only a few of them. I need to find the others!

This would have been really helpful on my first bus ride.

Lindsay's new hobby! And Matt's too, maybe.

Contributed by Matt

Today was a great day. I spent 2 hours at breakfast, just enjoying the atmosphere and good buffet food. I also got to work out a couple of meetings for Wed. morning for possible job opportunities.

This evening, Lindsay came in, and she got a text message from Tara, a fellow church member asking if she wanted to go play rugby. We quickly agreed to go, and then ordered pizza to be delivered to our hotel. The delivery should have left us about ten minutes to eat before getting picked up. It turns out that the delivery person did not show up before Tara, so we left money and a message at the concierge desk, and left. We got a few calls from a very confused delivery driver, but eventually it all got figured out.

The Al Ain Rugby Club is amazing. It has some of the nicest and well maintained grass I have ever seen. The weight room and other facilities are top notch. The temperature was a perfect 85°F. No bugs. Flood lights lighting up the playing fields. I sat on the sidelines in the grass while Lindsay did warm-up exercises with all the other girls. They did some jogging, stretching, and then worked on ball handling skills by pitching and catching the ball. Halfway through the two hour practice they split into two groups - One group for playing touch rugby, and another group for playing full contact rugby. Lindsay decided to join the group with four others playing full contact rugby (about twenty five women were in the other group). They worked on techniques for tackling and how to get tackled.

This is the first time Lindsay has ever touched a rugby ball. She has never played, and never had interest in playing before tonight. She just wanted to exercise and be social. She had lots of fun, and we are now looking at joining the Al Ain Rugby Club just to play rugby.

After getting back to the hotel, we found our pizza and salad sitting on the counter in our room. It tasted delicious, even though the croutons were soggy and the pizza was cold. We look forward to ordering from them again and have our food being a bit more fresh.

Things I Love About My Job

contributed by Lindsay

I feel so blessed to be teaching here.  These are some things I love about my job (in no particular order):

• The children are so cute and smart and loving!
• I have 22 students, and the cap is 23.
• I have 6 Mohammed's, so names were not that hard to learn.
• My classroom is full of resources and supplies for crafts.
• We have reams of copy paper and laminating sheets to use.
• We have a SmartBoard, two computers, and a color printer in our classroom.
• I get to teach side by side with my friend almost the entire day.
• I learn Arabic from her!
• There are sweet maids that come in and clean our classroom throughout the day.
• I work with a group of very happy and supportive women.
• My hours are 7:30-2:30 Sunday and Monday, and 7:30-12:45 Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.  The kids are in school from 8:00-12:30 and they have 30 minutes each of music, art, and PE every week and Islamic for 30 minutes a day, giving me about 4 hours of prep time a week.  They also have lunch and recess for a half hour every day and library once a week, which I supervise with my co-teacher.

What I Wish I Had Known...

There are some things I wish I would have known before I came, and I wanted to share them with others who may come after me.

Leave of Absence

In the event of a parent's (or child's) death, I am (at the approval of my principal) allowed 5 days of paid leave from the date of passing, only with the proof of death by death certificate.  For anyone else's death, there is no paid leave.  When I am gone, there is no one to take my place.  Subs don't exist in this system, so everyone has to pick up the slack when someone is gone.

My Take-Away: No one I love is allowed to leave this mortal life until I return to the US.  Well, okay, that is out of our hands, so the real take away is that I need to make the most of the time we have together here and now by maintaining frequent, quality communication, and remember that God is in charge, and families can be together forever!

Pay

I only get paid starting from that date I landed in the UAE.  Unfortunately for me, it took my visa so long to clear that I lost about a month's pay.  My last paycheck of my final year here will be through August.  I arrived on September 12, leaving a gap of about a month with no pay.

My Take-Away:  Oh well, at least I receive an end-of-contract gratuity of a month's pay for every year I teach.  Plus, I was able to spend more time with friends and family, and I felt that I was exactly where God needed me at that time.

Flight Allowance

If your spouse is not sponsored by you because they have a job in the UAE, they will not receive a flight allowance.

My Take-Away

Oh well! Hopefully if Matt is lucky enough to find a job, it will cover a yearly flight allowance. If not, at least he will be staying busy and making some money.

Housing Allowance

The housing allowance is worked off over a period of the initial 2 year contract, and that 2 years is counted by the day.  Since I was about 20 days "late" (stupid visa/immigration), if I choose to leave at the end of my 2 year contract, I will owe back a pro-rated amount for the remainder of my $5,500 housing allowance (it will probably end up being about $100).  

My Take-Away: Oh well!  I probably would have been really stressed had I known this before coming, as that meant that my tab at the end would be growing every day.  Hopefully I will stay longer than 2 years and not have to worry about that.

Macs aren't compatible with the WiFi at schools

My iPad mini will not connect to the WiFi at my school, even with the correct password.  My HOF told me that her MacBook and iPhone won't connect either.  I brought Matt's android phone in to see if it would connect, and I couldn't get it to work either, but I'm not sure if it was because I didn't know how to use his phone or was blocked as well as my iPad.

My Take-Away: Oh well!  I'm just going to have to get used to using the desktop computer that is connected to the SmartBoard.  I won't be able to use Doceri here, but I can get over that.  I can still use ClassDojo if I decide to, but just not from my iPad.  I'm just going to have to figure out other ways to integrate technology in the classroom and get around the fact that I can't do some really cool lessons just because I'm lacking some authorization from the network administrator.

Internet is extremely censored here

Something I did know, but didn't know the extent of, was the limited web browsing because of content blocks.  I can't show videos from YouTube (but I expected that).  I was shocked to find that I can't access my Gmail account for the scanned resources I prepared.

My Take-Away:  Oh well!  It will take time, but I will have to figure out what sites they have blocked and which ones aren't.  I will also need to send my scanned resources to my work e-mail.  Hopefully I can do that well enough in advance to prepare.

Overall Take-Away:

The things I didn't know before I came aren't deal breakers, and knowing them beforehand might have just made me more stressed.  Sometimes it's okay going into something without knowing all of the drawbacks.  But for those who do know this before going in, I hope you can realize that the perks of this job far outweigh the drawbacks!

Blessed

Lindsay here (seems to be the norm lately).  Today I am feeling blessed.  Blessed to have a ride to work with a fellow EMT.  Blessed to have an incredible co-teacher and friend.  Blessed to have my best friend here with me.  Blessed to have a church family that are fun, giving, and full of experience.  Blessed to hear good things.  Blessed to be alive!

On my way to work this morning, I had a wonderfully uplifting conversation with my fellow EMT, who is Muslim.  We talked about what we believe.  I don't know about her, but I was strengthened so much by it.  There are so many similarities between our core values and beliefs, and it lifts my spirits to find a spiritual connection with someone of a "different" faith.

My day at work was good and challenging.  I am definitely open to ideas and suggestions from anyone who is wiling to share.  When my co-teacher and I taught bilaterally, it was incredible.  I understood the basis of what she was saying and our lessons flowed relatively smoothly between Arabic and English.  The kids were so good for us today.  However, when it was just me, it was a completely different story.  I am counting that 30 minutes as my work out today, because I was literally dripping with sweat.  After school, I confided my feelings of frustration and concern with my co-teacher, and she was so understanding.  She said that it is because the children can't understand me, and that it is that way in the beginning for all EMTs.  That was confirmed by my conversations with my fellow EMTs on the way home.  After school, my co-teacher and I had a chance to review the day and make some plans for tomorrow.  I think we came up with some pretty good ideas.  I feel so blessed to be teaching with her.  She seems already like one of those people I will be friends forever with.

Coming home to Matt is about the biggest blessing I can think of.  I can't imagine how hard it would be for me to be here alone.  I love him more than I can express.

We had dinner tonight with some of our friends/new family from church.  It was so great to get to talk to people who have been here for a while, and have been teaching and getting to know Al Ain for longer than us.  They picked us up, fed us, and then we all just chatted for hours.  I loved it!

As I was writing this, I was blessed to be able to listen to the end credits of the Hobbit.  Good music always lifts me, and I am feeling really happy... and ready for bed, insha'Allah. :)

First Day of School!!!

Lindsay here!  This morning, my HOF (Head of Faculty) picked me up and drove me to school.  How awesome is that?!  After getting to know each other a bit, she told me about the school (a newer school that has done very well in its first three years); about where I would be teaching (KG 1, with 3 1/2-4 year olds); and about my Arabic counterpart (the best part).  Last year, the two of them were co-teachers and they absolutely loved each other.  My HOF had nothing but great things to say about my co-teacher (she has embraced ADEC's vision of the New School Model, she has great classroom management, loves teaching, is willing to stay late and work hard, plan together, and help me in any way she can).  Honestly, I think the biggest challenge will be filling the HOF's shoes and building a strong relationship with my AMT (Arabic Medium Teacher).

Building that relationship started out with a handshake and kisses on each cheek (but really in the air).  I instantly loved her!  She is so good with the children, has so much patience, is so well organized, and is just an amazing teacher all around!  I actually learned a lot of Arabic from her during her lessons today, and think that I might just benefit from these built-in language lessons!  We taught side-by-side for a lot of the day.  She taught days of the week in Arabic; then I taught days of the week in English.  She taught numbers in Arabic by counting the children; then I taught numbers in English by counting the children.  This continued for much of the day.  When she taught literacy, I thought that she was teaching Arabic letters, so I taught the letter a, but it turned out that she was actually just having them practice circles and lines.  Haha!  Those poor kids were so confused.  So was I!  They absolutely loved my Preschool Prep Video on Letters, and watched it intently for a good five minutes.  They were introduced to the letters A-D.

Our class has 22 students, with the potential of gaining one more student at some point, insha'Allah (God willing) it will be a girl.  There are 13 boys and 9 girls.  For the most part, the children are well behaved, but some of those boys are hard!  I witnessed hair pulling, biting, hitting, and saw one sad, swollen lip at the end of the day.  Beginnings are always hard, and all things considered, I think we are going to have a really good year.  The kids are very smart.  A few of them know some English already, and my co-teacher said she is very impressed with how much they remember from what she teaches them.

So, a little bit more about our day... but first our schedule (our pod is called the Farm! So cute!)

We are in the classroom together for most of the day, except for a 30 minute break for me while she teaches Islam, and a 30 minute break for her while I teach Gross Motor Skills.  While she was teaching Islam today, I explored the school and found a library!  I checked out a book to read to them, in case the Gross Motor "Music" lesson needed some padding (and it did).  When it was my turn to teach on my own, she didn't really take her break, but it's probably because man oh man, those kids are hard to control when I try to do it with only gestures and one word commands in a language they just don't know yet!  I tried to do a game with a ball and that was basically a failure, except, as my co-teacher said, my singing is "beautiful." Haha!  I don't know about that, but she is sweet.  Since the ball game failed, I decided to sing "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" with them, and that went better.  I had to keep stopping to get the boys who weren't participating back to the carpet, because I didn't want to start off on the wrong foot.  If I can't even have control on my first day, it's all going downhill from here.  We ended up practicing a lot of standing on the carpet and mimicking the teacher.  I tried "London Bridge" and "Ring Around the Rosie" as well, but "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes," worked the best.  I decided to get them to sit down (they did this much better than standing and moving around, unfortunately) and I read the book... It was about a monkey that lost its mum, and I basically sang the entire thing, because that was what kept their attention.  I pointed out words we had learned in "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" in the book, and had the kids point to their heads, knees, eyes, noes, and ears when they were mentioned in the book.

During our numeracy block (can I just add, that having 2 full hours a day for Maths and Literacy is incredible?  With another teacher, no less!) we both taught numbers to 10 and then we took them outside for a bit.  When we came back in, she wasn't really sure what to do with them (this was the first full day they have had this year), so I suggested I teach them the color yellow with another amazing Preschool Prep Video.  I actually had a dream about doing this, and it went even better than I hoped.  They love the video, which just repeats the word, "Yellow" over and over again with fun, kid-friendly cartoons.  Then, we got some yellow crayons out and the kids had to say "Yellow" before they could have one, and then we let them color with just yellow.  That ended up the day!

After school, we had a PD (Professional Development, for my non-teacher readers), and it was pretty good!  We talked about our PDPs (Performance Development Plans), which is basically a portfolio.  I feel like the staff at my school is very close.  It is all women, and they are so kind to each other, and were very welcoming to me.  I also love the staff of Filipino women who clean and bring lunches.  I think every single word I ever learned in Tagalog came back to me today just so that I would be able to bond with these amazing women.  I know that so many of them sacrifice so much by coming here to provide for their families in the Philippines.  Oh, I almost forgot!  For lunch today, I brought a boxed breakfast from the hotel, but I was given some amazing falafel from some of the Arabic teachers.  Apparently it was from the lunch room, but I don't know who paid for it, or if it will be available every day, but it was WAY better than my ham and mayo sandwich from the hotel.

I got a ride back to the hotel with another EMT who is also staying here, and she was awesome as well!  She was so positive and had some really great ideas for teaching the Gross Motor lesson tomorrow.  I felt better that she seemed to have had about as hard of a time as I did.  It really wasn't THAT bad, but it was pretty hard to see how much better the kids listened to the Arabic teacher.  I just have to remind myself that it's because they don't know English... YET!  I am getting up early in the morning to carpool with that same EMT (leaving at 6) and it is 10:45.  I guess I should get to bed.

But I can't!  After work was harder than work!  I got a note under my door telling me to meet in the lobby to go to the ADEC office building for my apartment key!  Matt and I went to ADEC and looked for my name on the lists, only to find out that they were teasing... well, just that I haven't been assigned housing yet.  It's all good.  I could stay here all year and be perfectly happy.  It's 30 minutes from my school, they pack my "breakfast" lunch for me, there's a lap pool, a racquetball court, a full gym, and someone to clean my room every day!  

So... I left my iPad at the school on accident, and had been warned that it might not be safe.  After we confirmed that we cannot confirm where we will be housed, we asked the bus drivers the best way to get a cab to take us to my school.  One of them gave me a number to call... it turned out to be his mobile at home!  Haha, he misunderstood me.  Another driver got on his phone and called his friend.  I thought it was a taxi driver friend, but it was just a guy who drives people around.  I was a little nervous about this, not having a way to ensure he didn't make us pay an arm and a leg, but we went with him anyway.  His car smelled nice, and he was all smiles (in a very good, nice way).  He took us directly to the school and waited while I figured out how to get security to come open the door for me.  The guard was very thorough.  He asked me for my badge, which I didn't have, since I'm not officially cleared to be teaching.  I showed him my PDP binder and explained that it was my first day.  He reluctantly let me go, and as I was walking in, I said I had left my iPad, and he said, "We found iPad.  Here," and he unlocked a drawer, and there it was!  I proved to him that it was mine by finding pictures of myself on it.  I guess I really didn't have anything to worry about.  That school's got great security!  If I had gone in tomorrow and tried to find it, I think I would have had a heart attack.  I don't think I would have thought to go to security (as obvious as that sounds), and it would have ruined my day.  So, even though it was a big ordeal getting out there, I'm glad I did.  And when our driver got us back to the hotel and we asked him how much to pay, he said, "What you want."  Seriously?!  He said he'd even be my driver if I can get a few other teachers to join for, again, "What you want to pay."

Ah, I love Al Ain!

I forgot to mention that we had really great conversations with some Pakistani taxi drivers about being from the U.S. and loving the U.A.E. so much already.  They shook their heads.  Our "driver" said, "U.S., big problems."  Yeah.  I'm sad that I feel more comfortable and safe and respected in a Muslim country (which I have been brainwashed to fear) than I do in my native country.  Culture shock is going to happen to me at some point.  I fear it will be on the other side.

Here are some pictures to enjoy!

My school is so cute!!!

This is where the kids will go for morning assembly.

Welcome to the Farm! (My pod)

What cute dramatic play areas!! So fitting to the heritage. I love it!!

Introducing... Al Ain!

We are so blessed! Tonight, as I was sitting in the mini bus/taxi, waiting for our driver to come back from praying in the mosque at a rest stop, I thanked God in my own prayer for the opportunity to live among this amazing culture of devout and wonderful people. They are such good examples to me!

Last night, a member of the Al Ain branch, Cynthia Steele, was in Abu Dhabi and offered to take us to Al Ain with her and stay in their spare bedroom. We slept on a bed that she is trying to sell, so we actually got to test out a bed before buying it! Church was at a beautiful villa. The members of the branch took us in immediately and adopted us and cared for us. We love them! After the meetings, we enjoyed a delicious pot luck, where we were able to get to know them even better.  Many of them (including Cynthia) are ADEC teachers as well, so they have lots of goo advice to share!

Another member, Tom (aka Santa) offered to take us to the bus station and said he even had time to drive us around and show us the beautiful oasis of Al Ain. We drove around with him for hours! He took us to see a mall, a souq (market or bazaar) that had Arabic couches like we want to get, and even corrals full of goats, cows, and camels!!! We saw the border, where Matt will need to go to renew his visa, went around 50 roundabouts, which each had their own special name to Tom based on what was in the middle. Some of the names included:

Monkey House round about

Deer round about

Globe round about

Mountain round about

Falcon round about

Monument round about

And so many more!

Camels make the funniest sound!!

Beautiful sand dunes

4 languages, in case you can't figure out what a red hexagon sign might mean. Haha!

Al Ain is a beautiful oasis! Tom said it is like a beach town without the water. And I admit, not having the humidity is nice!

Hahaha! I don't know if this is common or not...

We drove through the oasis... It was a maze of date palms. So cool!

Tom dropped us off at the bus station and a driver convinced us to ride with him on his taxi bus because he was only 20 AED instead of 25 AED, and he could get to Abu Dhabi in 1 1/2 hours instead of 2. The driving here makes most people freak, but it is exactly how Matt drives, and he loves it. I actually didn't feel unsafe in this bus. I would feel much more nervous in a slower moving car.

School Placement!

Lindsay here!  Matt is sleeping.  Today wore him out!  I hope he isn't getting sick, or that if he is, that he can sleep it off. Today was an eventful day!  First off, I have to thank my dear friend, Audra, for posting an amazing recap about our expedition to the Abu Dhabi Heritage Village today, as well as perfectly summing up my feelings about skewed views of the Middle East.  Please read her post here!  She is one talented writer!  In fact, you could read her entire blog from the beginning and get a really good idea of what we've been through over the past few months.  That wasn't really a suggestion.  DO IT!

Second, I found out tonight that we will be living in the oasis of Al Ain, and I will be teaching KG (kindergarten) in Al Khleef KG, which is a school of ALL KINDERGARTEN!  I am seriously near tears about this.  Tears of joy!  I don't want to go into too many details, but I cannot express how grateful I am to be at a school with only kindergarten.  Kindergarten is such a completely different animal (although I learned today that I can't use that term here), and kindergarten teachers just get each other.  No one else gets us.

Matt showed me where my school is, and it is about as close to the border of Abu Dhabi and Oman as you can get.  Which will be super convenient when Matt has to go do a border run in 24 days to renew his 30 day visitor visa.  Awesome.

I can't believe this is my life.

Exploring Abu Dhabi

So, we are both feeling great, sleeping through the night, and really haven't had to deal with jet lag, thanks to "No Jet Lag" on the flights and ZzzQuil for the first three nights.  Matt says he felt he was getting sick the other day, and he did end up sleeping for like 18 hours straight!

Sunday was Lindsay's first day of work, which consisted of one hour of orientation about housing, cell phones (which we already had), and banking.  The rest of the day was free, so we did a little grocery shopping at the mall next door.  Here are some pictures from our shopping excursion:

Kids cooking set for only $5.45

Digestives!  Lindsay missed these from Hong Kong!  Matt said they were in Germany too, but he never tried them because of the name.  He WILL be trying them here!

Just the cutest little boys' clothes ever!

And that was when we realized that there are huge signs saying, "No pictures."  Oops!  Hahaha... Lindsay wanted to take pictures of Pocari Sweat (the drink she loved from Hong Kong) and her favorite fruit in the whole world, mangosteen (although they don't look very appetizing here... maybe they aren't in season).  So, we took pictures out in the mall of the cool signs that were in Arabic and English:

Red Lobster

Tim Hortons (for Erin)

Starbucks

Build-a-Bear

And then some really funny signs:

Trolley?  That is SO much better than "shopping cart"!

Don't smoke or you will die!

Keep the walls looking nice!

And here are some pictures of our hotel room at the Grand Millennium Al Wahda:

These beds are so comfortable and LONG!

We get complimentary bottled water and have a mini fridge.

Our bathroom has a bidet!  So... fancy?  HAH!


Lindsay loves this bathtub. It is really deep and has a handheld shower head.

Lindsay's cosmetics consume the counter top near the sink and bathtub.

Matt sits at the desk, staring at his computer screen.

Our tiny closet. Surprisingly, we got most of our clothes in there. :)

This is on our ceiling.  It points the direction to face while praying.

Camel Milk!  One of the many options at breakfast.  We tried it, and it tastes like watered down milk with a bit of a kick.