Reverse shockology and send postcards please!

While I was sitting on the plane flying back to Canada for the summer, I started to wonder if would feel reverse culture shock or not. It was something I had read about about in a book that outlined the several stages of acculturation and also was told to prepare for during an orientation session with teach away.
Well, I don't think I was shocked too much by anything, but I did find myself doing a few odd things that I never anticipated. I noticed that when I went to pay for an item at a store, I was converting the item from dollars to Dirhams. Other times, I found myself missing the call to prayer which occurs in Abu Dhabi 5 times a day. finally, I discovered that I have a serious addiction to shopping at dollar stores!

This summer was not an easy one as I had to face reality and some unresolved issues in my personal life. I am still working through some major changes but could not believe the support and faith my family and friends have in me....I also have learned that with change comes a lot of emotions. I dealt with my emotions but struggle with the reality that I cannot control those of others. I have always had this unexplained need to have others 'like' me and fear of disappointing others even if it means suffering and putting aside my own feelings to do so. Reality has now been faced and I understand that not everyone is going to be my BFF. I have difficulty accepting that but I am so very grateful to the kind souls that just accept me.... my flaws and all.

The last week of summer vacation flew by and of course ended with the lovely diagnosis of strep throat! I am excited to be back for my second year in the middle east. It's hard to believe that this will be my 8th year of teaching. I can still remember the first day and my first year when I taught French 'a la carte'-- rushing to be at each class on time. I am thrilled to be returning to work at the same boys school as last year. This year I will be teaching first grade which is not a grade I have taught before but am very eager to be immersed in. I have more confidence and have enjoyed  meeting the new students. We are lucky to have 4 new female English teachers at our school so now there are 6 of us! Go girl power!

One idea I am really excited about trying out this year was shared on Facebook by a friend of mine in Iowa. She is homeschooling her daughter this year and asked friends and family from around the world to send a postcard from their home state/province/country to her daughter so that she can learn about various cultures and regions around the world.
So fellow bloggers, friends and those that might be reading this.......will you send a postcard to me that I can share with my class this year? If you would be willing to participate send me an e-mail and I will forward you my p.o. box info here in Abu Dhabi. I will also have the students send a postcard in return from Abu Dhabi! My email address is: skylargray@hotmail.com

Thank for reading! Shukran as they say in Arabic:)

The lesson

The lessons I've learned: There has so much that has happened in the past few months, I'm not even sure where to begin. The school year is now winding down and the students have stopped showing up to school and we still have a few more weeks to go before the hard earned summer break begins. Ok, so I know that the non teachers out there think we've got it easy with the summer break but do you spend your nights grading papers, half your weekend making resources and planning for the upcoming week? Not to mention the time spent on report cards, p/t conferences etc.,etc.,....this summer break is so duly earned and necessary and if you still don't get it, well then spend one week teaching and you'll get it soon enough!   Over the past few days, the thought that keeps running through my head is the fact that we never stop learning. Here are some very important life lessons I have learned in the past 8 months of living and working in the UAE. 1.  I certainly learned how important it is to be humble and gracious here no matter what. It's ok to be confident but it so much more valuable to be modest in all that you do. You need to be a good listener and observe carefully how things are done and go with the flow. 2.  I've also learned the importance of surrounding yourself with a few solid positive friends. I have learned that not everyone you meet is going to be your best friend. Before we arrived here, many of us had connected and chatted on Facebook and I somehow thought the group I  had arrived with in October and stayed with in the hotel with would be my close group of friends. In retrospect, I suppose it was an unrealistic notion. I have had to work hard to surround myself with positive people and learned to let go of the ones that drag me down. Friends certainly come and go but a solid few will stick by you. I also learned it's good to stay away from ranting on fb. 3. We all make mistakes and all you can do is learn from them and get over it. A perfect example would be today: I  thought I was supposed to be moving the items from  my old classroom into the new classroom, but that teacher had not finished packing up his room so I had to move everything back to my old room. I was very embarrassed and a bit confused. After a long chat with another teacher who has lived here for a few years, I felt much better. 4. Standing up for yourself:  There will come a time when this becomes necessary. It is not something that comes easy to me. I still struggle with it because I always worry about hurting people's feelings but sometimes you have to do what is right for you. 5. Never forget that you are a guest in this country. Yesterday I had to learn a tough lesson at the hair salon. I had wanted to get my hair cut AND highlights but the hair stylist told me he did not have enough time. I had a suspicion that it may have been because there was a  lady that arrived just after me insisting that she get her hair done too. I felt very frustrated but focused on the fact that I was able to save the money that I really did not need to be spending. 6. Sometimes it is best to keep a low profile, keep your mouth closed and stay busy. This lesson has helped me a great deal this year. 7. Swimming helps everything. 8. Pedicures are necessary. 9.  Driving around traffic circles will always be insane. 10. You must wave frantically to waiters and waitresses at restaurants before they bring you your bill.  Top moments at school: 1. Asking students about their breakfast and learning that they apparently really like to eat ice cream for breakfast. 2. One day, A student asked me if I had a stick to hit the students with. I had to explain to him that no, I did not. 3. Being called Mr.Maila at the beginning of the year. 4. While learning about kinetic and potential energy we had good times dancing the freeze dance in the classroom and some even on top of the tables.......that's when I hit the stop button on the cd player. 5. Scissors  are for haircuts: the first time I assigned a cut and paste activity, the boys decided to cut each others hair....the assignment quickly transformed into ' intro to scissors 101'. 6. Learning the benefits of not bringing an electric sharpener to school because students will break the pencils on purpose in their teeth just so they can use the electric sharpener. 7. Jewelry box with pencil sharpener. 8. The wheels on Ferrari go round and round. 9. When M. Started talking and A read a sentence on the board for the first time. 10. Playing around the world and watching the students get excited about math.

Why I teach.

Why did I become a teacher?

It’s quite a simple answer really: my third grade teacher, Mrs. Oram , my 5^th  grade teacher Madame Beaupre, my 9^th grade Math teacher Mr. Bauer and my 11^th Grade teacher Mrs. Leventhal. These teachers believed in me, a quiet, nervous, young girl who had yet to believe in herself. They motivated and inspired me to love learning and want to teach others.

There are some days I come home and wonder why on earth I ever decided to enter this profession? And then there are the days when you see a glimmer of growth in a few students that you had just begun to give up on and it provides fuel for you to keep going. Today I had one of those days and it reminded me why I teach.

 Kinetic and Potential Energy Science Lesson: Bowling! Strike!

 Holding a Falcon at the Heritage village at our School.

 Canada Pavilion

 Our Principal's monkey

Digging in at the Jordanian pavilion! This is how we eat at school.

I had been struggling with two particular students over the past 4 months and not seen significant growth in either of their academic abilities. I was constantly struggling with their behavior on a daily basis and was sending home notes to the parents regarding the constant disruptions and fights they were causing in the classroom. Gradually, things began to change when I started to focus on their positive behavior, and praise them every single time they did something good (even something simple as raising their hand to answer a question) I made time to work one-to-one with them and saw something that I never had seen before: They wanted to learn to read but were embarrassed about making mistakes. I decided to try ‘popcorn reading’ with them and discovered how much they enjoyed it because it meant we were reading together in a less intimidating way. I saw a shy smile on both their faces and saw the pride that they had in themselves when they realized they were actually reading.  At the last parent teacher conference, I had to stand my ground with their parents, defending their poor grades in a country where straight A’s are normally issued to satisfy the parents whether their child has earned them or not. The same parents appeared during teaching hours on multiple occasions trying to debate the grades of their children. I refused to budge. Today and yesterday I had a visit from these same parents and was nervous to find out what I was in store for. I was pleasantly surprised to hear “My son is happy. He likes your class and English. His comes home every day and can tell the time.” I broke out into a huge smile and nearly fainted. Literally. At the risk of sounding cheesy, it was truly music to my ears! It was a moment I just wanted to freeze and hold onto forever. It is moments like these that remind me why I teach. In a profession that is constantly changing, undervalued, competitive, exhausting, full of political B.S., and cattiness, sometimes it is best to focus on the students, forget the rest and then real teaching begins to take place and learning occurs. This is one of the many reasons I teach.

Goodnight moon

I really should be asleep but I'm not. I have been so tired lately from taking an online course and working I don't have much time to just relax. I also have felt a lot of grumpiness lately and then while reading a chapter on acculturation for my online course I discovered that I am in fact in the process of going through the third stage of acculturation which explains a lot of the symptoms I am experiencing. It was quite a relief to read that.  I am also finally learning to stand up for myself and make healthy decisions for myself but it seems to blow up in my face every time I do so. I don't know why but I gotta just keep walking. So anyway this blog will not make much sense but I just had to share a few things I learned this week.

1. Boys don't like the color red because it reminds them of sheep blood! Who knew? Now I do.

2. Getting whacked with a sandal hurts.

3. Boys don't like pink but if they want to borrow a pencil from me now they will have to borrow a barbie one.  Otherwise I will never see my pencil again.

4. I finally got my confidence in teaching back and am seeing progress in my students.

5. The boys enjoy teaching me a word a day in Arabic, it's quite fun! I think they are more willing to take risks when they see their teacher take one.


Now I must rest as it is back to work in 8 hours. Goodnight world, goodnight moon and goodnight I-pad(it's a book now!).

I am humbled

I am humbled. Teachers love to complain, that's just how it is but we really should walk in another person's shoes for a day and then maybe just maybe we would shut our traps up once in a while.
 In AD, we usually don't stay late after school unless there is PD or a staff meeting. Today I decided to stay late to organize some files and put up my bulletin board. I was kind of tired after a very busy day, but stuff needed to get done. When I asked my grade head how late I could stay, he explained that I could stay as late as I wanted because the  non teaching staff lived at school. I think my mouth fell open at that point. I was and still am in shock that some staff LIVE at school. 
 We have an amazing hardworking staff that cleans and keeps the school running in addition to a few tea and coffee guys who basically are like the secretaries/administrative assistants at school. They should be called the superheroes because that is what they really are. I have really enjoyed getting to know one in particular who has a heart if gold. Every day when I arrive, I make sure to say good morning to him and he always has a smile on his face. He is from India. He is usually busy making tea when I arrive so I don't linger very long to talk, as I know he has many tasks to do. He also makes the photocopies and we have had many interesting conversations since I spend a lot of time making copies in the copy room. Yes he has a name but I don't feel comfortable posting everyone's names online so we'll just call him Superman. 
Today he became more than just superman, he became my friend. As I walked back up to my classroom after bus duty, I bumped into him and said that I was staying late. His eyes popped wide open and he asked me if I wanted tea or coffee. It is very rude to decline so I said coffee. I really wasn't looking forward to the strong Arabic coffee, but to my surprise he brought this awesome mocha coffee and we sat down in the classroom to sip the coffee. As we sipped, I explained why I was staying late and he kindly offered to help me. I tried to insist that I was fine but after awhile I gave in and he helped me put up my bulletin board. I was truly thankful. Something I am learning to do, is accept help when it is offered (definitely not something that comes naturally to me).
As I was leaving, I ended up giving him a lift to the ATM because he was getting paid that day and had lost his ATM card. Sadly the superheroes at our school only make 500 Dhs a month. When converted to US dollars, that is a little under 150$. All in all, I admire their strength and let me just say I have never seen them take a sick day. I guess Superman was very thankful because his cousin made me a strawberry smoothie from his restaurant Abu Shaiboob (yes that's it's real name). 

That smoothie sure made my day; so did the coffee and the friendship.

Interesting moments at school today  Sunday January 29th:

1. While playing Dr.Jean's 'rules rap' the kids started to bust some rap/ gangster style moves and dance. It was pretty hilarious to see these 7 year old boys dancing in their kandoras. They know how to get down!!!!!

2. I got whipped with a hutra while breaking up the worst fight ever. Luckily the boys shook hands in the end. Truce I guess?

3. Best morning class ever led to the worst afternoon class of all time.

4. I still want to go back to work tomorrow:)

Interesting moments from Thursday Jan. 26th
1. During the second year of teaching one of my students asked if I slept on my desk....oh my. This year one of my students told me I looked tired and asked me if I slept on the rug in our classroom!

2. A student decided to draw a goatee and mustache on the boy sitting next to him with marker. Long story short, the principal visited our class.

back to blogging

Happy 2012! It’s been a while since I’ve blogged and I’ve got no excuse except to say that I’ve been busy! So much time has passed since my last post, I’m not really sure where to begin. Christmas was fun; I went back to be with Sal and his family who welcomed me graciously into their home and it was fun to see family and friends from my old teaching job and church. A lot of people asked me how Dubai was or Saudi Arabia and I had not even been to those places!  On a more somber note, my Grandma Kay passed away during the holidays and I miss her dearly. She was such a special, kind, and STRONG woman that I will never forget. She was a teacher, a soloist and a fashionista who enjoyed life. We shared a special obsession with butter tarts, and sour cream glazed donuts that no one can really understand. She is also the only person who really complemented me on my driving skills when I had my learners permit and after my parents couldn’t drive with me anymore after a few major fights. One fond memory for me is when she accompanied me to visit Trent University when I was visiting Universities and trying to decide where to apply. My parents had just relocated to NJ and I was a shy, overwhelmed, lost 18 year old who had no clue what to do with my life. My Grandma was there for me during those tough few years and I think I was there for her. During the visit to Trent, the tour guide was very sweet and actually asked my grandma what she planned to major in! She laughed her infamous hearty laugh and said that she wasn’t applying but I knew she was truly flattered by the question.

So now I’m back in Abu Dhabi and loving my life here. I have thrown myself into joining clubs and enjoy dragon boat racing, book clubs and am hoping to take a few cooking classes and my favorite new organic restaurant ‘Jones The Grocer’. I also am truly thankful for the friends I have made here. I spend a lot of time with 2 lovely ladies who are so funny, down to earth, generous, honest, great listeners, and most of all genuine friends. Having a great support network here is vital so it has made life wonderful.

School is going well. It has its good days and its bad days. I lost my voice a week ago from over using it in the classroom and the doctor has told me I need to keep my voice at the same level. I have a hard time with that when I witness another child punch, spit or slap another in the hallway or the classroom. What am I supposed to do? Whisper to them! Ha! As if that would work!!!! The boys really respond well to the reward system I have set up in the classroom. They have to focus and be quiet with their eyes looking at me in order to achieve points for their group. If they achieve enough points then they can use the points to play 10 minutes of basketball at the end of the day.

Today I had my first haircut in Abu Dhabi and it was a really cool experience. I went to the salon that my friend Lindsay went to and had my hair cut and styled by this nice fellow from Syria. He cut hair with FLARE! I mean the way he used the scissors, hair brush and the blowdryer was truly an art form! At one point he was flipping the hair dryer around …..tres cool!

So now its getting late and the school week starts again tomorrow. On the agenda for this week is educating the boys about brushing their teeth. The school nurse asked us to practice singing a song and present during the assembly. It should be fun! We will also learn about fractions and continue practicing the rules and routines of the classroom.