New apartment...

Per request here are pictures of my new apartment.
As I said on Facebook the inside is nice, but the rest of the building is in a sad state. Oh and I did not pick anything inside! The colors are not my choice. :)
My plan is to stay here two months, go on Christmas break to Indonesia and maybe Malaysia and then return to the UAE in very late Decemer or early January and then move into a newer building and get my long term apartment. I already have one picked out, I hope it's available when I'm ready. Several new buildings going up in the area, so there should be options for me at the time.
This place is AED 3400 per month, fully furnished studio. 

Another door opens...

Thank God when one door closed another opened shortly after! After losing my last job due to nonsense reasons I looked around for another. My local friends have been very helpful in this process. People I barely even knew at the school wanted to help me find a new job. Some people said they knew people at other schools, some knew other websites to check and I let my current recruiter know. In the end my current recruiter found me a new position right here in Dubai! So I interviewed shortly thereafter, and two days later I heard from my recruiter that my application had been “approved”. Not really sure if that meant I had the job or not I had to wait a few more days to receive an email from HR at the school. Later I got the news I’d been hoping for. I got the job, and the great compensation package. My pay and housing allowance together is double my first school, along with insurance, flights and sponsorship. So same benefits, more pay and it’s only high school this time. Can’t ask for much more! My friends have been great during this transition period too! We have hung out a lot together and had dinner together quite often.

I’m planning to get a studio apartment in the same building that I am originally in from the first school. I figured I’m not home that often, and actually hope to be home even less than I am now. So I’ll keep it cheap, and stay near my friends.

In the mean time I’ve gone to the gym nearly daily, I’m keeping up with Zumba and yoga. I love both classes here in the Middle East. It’s different than the YMCA in the States, this is a health club. Don’t get me wrong I loved the YMCA, got me started with Zumba and more generally enjoying fitness. The club though operates at a higher intensity, especially in yoga. They aren’t afraid to add advanced poses every class, that didn’t happen for me in the US. For me, in Zumba I’ve added flexibility to my class. The instructor thinks I’m a freak of nature and likes to point me out all the time or say “whoa,” although he’s a riot so I don’t care too much. I also tried Body Jam here, and it’s similar to what I remember in the States. It was tough, that class doesn’t stop for the entire hour. As a result of all this I feeling stronger, but my weight hasn’t changed.

I also participated in “Yogathon 2012” last weekend. The club had a fundraiser out on the lawn at the base of the Burj Khalifa. The event started at 4:00, but went through 7:00pm. The main part of the event was to complete 108 Sun Salutations. A Sun Salutation is a set of poses in yoga that involves the entire body building strength and flexibility. I did struggle towards the end; this is an immense amount of exercise. However, I did make it and completed the entire 108, most in attendance did not. What was great about being outside and at the Burj was every time come up from a forward bend the pose is to reach arms up and look up. Usually that means looking at the ceiling, but being outside we were able to look up at the sky and also the top of the Burj! Then about 6:15pm the Dubai fountains came on, and while we were finishing up the event we got to see and hear the wonderful fountains. These aren’t just normal waterfalls, they are huge (in terms of area) all choreographed to music, it’s a show.

One door has closed...

Well I haven’t written a lot lately, everything has changed. I was continuing to have problems at the school with the student behavior and my “HoD” head of department. The HoD had a huge problem with communication; he was not a good leader at all. He did nothing but sit in his office on the computer. Also he must have constantly forgotten I was a foreign teacher. He would give a directive in a meeting and I asked why, or tell him I why I thought we should do it differently. He never once listened to what I had to say! Now part of my problem is I’m a fairly stubborn person, when I was constantly ignored I started to fight back. I started to ignore him in meetings and I acted a bit immature and acted like I was tired and not listening to him. It came back to me as I was insubordinate. I also told him some of things were “ridiculous”, apparently he took offense to this and reported that I was trying to undermine him.

That aside from the kids being out of control was making it a very hard place to work. I really never felt like I was reaching the kids at all. They spent most of each period talking and doing nothing. I had brought this to the principal more than once, my head of department and the supervisor. Their solution each time was to come in and yell at the students. The key is they all speak Arabic! I of course do not, so the kids run right over me and don’t even care that they are doing this.

Fast forward to Monday, October 1^st. I was asked to come down to the principal’s office and he says to come in and close the door. It’s never good when they close the door. He proceeded to tell me that he likes me and I’m his friend, even though his (pretty good) English as a second language I could tell there was bad news coming. He proceeded to tell me about the alleged concerns brought to him by the HoD, the discipline problems and supposed parent calls. So we spent 90 minutes going through everything mentioned and I explained myself on each point. About 60 minutes in he muttered the words I knew were coming, “I don’t think it’s working out here”. After I told him I wouldn’t accept this and we talked another 30 minutes or so. After that he said he would reconsider. Another teacher got sick, and he had other issues to deal with so he asked me to go back upstairs but not into my classroom. He just believed everything he had heard from parents and this HoD, no investigation ever happened! That’s just wrong, no warning no second chance. This was the first time he called me down!

 While I was just sitting there missing my first class I was thinking of ways I could provide proof to my claims. I decided I was going to sit in on a colleague’s class and observe what happen there. This teacher was teaching grade 5, only one year different than what I have. I observed the same way I did in the US, I wrote down everything single thing he said and I observed happened in the class. His class was out of control, worse than mine! More than half the words he spoke were somehow related to classroom management. If fact, the most common thing he said “too much noise”. While I was sitting there I was getting a head ache from the chaos and noise. The teacher looked at me in disbelief that they were so crazy, three times during the period. After that class the supervisor saw me in the hallway, and said you have class now. I told him the principal told me not to go into class. He had sent a new teacher (poor guy) into my class with no lesson plan and asked him to cover it. At the same time, another class was vacant and the supervisor asked me again to cover this class. I said again I’m not supposed to go into the classroom. I told him if you give me permission I’ll go into my own class and send the sub back here. He agreed so I went into the zoo and tried to teach my lesson to my class. It was impossible, they are out of control. After that I went to my last period of the day and actually had a decent lesson with them (seventh grade). I left quietly at the end of the day.

I came back the next day feeling like I was on edge, what would the principal decide? I taught my first lesson, the next and the next. Didn’t hear anything so I went on and taught the rest of the day. It was too good to be true. At 2:00pm – 20 minutes before the end of the day – I was called down to HR. The secretary gave me letter that said my probationary period had to come to an end and that today was my last day. It also said I had 48 hours to get out of the apartment. I was given a sign out sheet to take to all the different departments throughout the school to be sure I didn’t owe the school anything in any department. While walking around with my “scarlet letter” I had a chance to talk to a lot of people. Every one of them was very surprised at what the school had just done to me. The only person ok with this was the principal. A lot of people where very upset that they had let me go. Just like any other work place I had started to develop working relationships with these people, so it was sad to go. One person in my office told me he knew the HoD at a school two buildings down from ours, and then the librarian told me she knew people at the school right next door. Later on I received emails and text messages of different places to look for work. Several people at work wanted to help me, so nice that people actually care even though they are in a tough working environment.

The next few days after this, my first two out of work, I spent a lot of time on the Internet looking for another job. I also spoke with the recruiter of other teachers at my school that is looking to help their teachers with the problems they have had at the school. He has begun the process of filing a case with the Dubai government to have the school investigated for all the things they have done to wrong us. I was asked to given description of everything that happened to me:

(school) experiences

In July I had several email exchanges with (the principal) to figure out what my accommodation would be. The best response was “you’ll find it adequate”. When arriving we were placed in a hotel near the airport. Nice place, however a week later we found out other teachers were at a nicer hotel enjoying free breakfast and Internet. We requested to move there, and they agreed. After about two and half weeks we received a letter that we must leave the hotel from (the principal). They had shown us a few apartments. We agreed on one and moved in the next night after work. That same night our furniture arrived. We didn’t get to bed until about midnight. The next few days we asked about furnishings (basics like plates, bowls and such), we were told to go to Ikea and pick up the things we needed. Then bring the receipt to be refunded the cost of the items. When we returned with the receipt the school tried to tell us we spent too much money and that they were not pay more than AED 300. After several teachers caused a stink they next said AED 500 each, this was the first time they said each. Meaning that for example when my roommate and I spent AED 1300 on house hold items, together we would receive AED 1000, which is acceptable, we’d only have eat AED 300.

Another thing on the housing, the contract only states that accommodation would be provided. We got here and we were told our budget was AED 20000 each. This number was not in our contract, after looking around the area it was decided that two teachers would live together to pool their housing to AED 40000 and get a larger two bed room. Another teacher with experience in the Middle East system knew ahead of time to have this number written into the contract. Housing in Dubai is expensive; this is something we should have been told ahead of time.

After getting all this under control we were faced with (the school) itself. The school from all appearances looks like a great school. However, it didn’t take more than one week to learn the horrible truth about (the school). The school is run by parents and students. The administration has little control over the school itself. The first problem was painfully obvious; the students are out of control. There is no discipline system really in place. The administration will tell you there is and even show a “discipline sheet”, but nothing is ever enforced and the students run over the teachers. Especially the teachers that don’t speak Arabic. We were brought into the school because we are native English speakers, but once here that detail is quickly forgotten. The students will respond to Arabic speaking teachers, but not English speaking. The argument was made that my classroom management was lacking. When I tried to get control of the class the students would gang up on me and talk even louder. Several of them even called me names and swore at me in Arabic (I know this because the few good students would tell me later on, in English). After asking several times for help with control, the only real answer I ever got was to play games with the students. I tried this, but they cannot even be controlled long enough to explain the directions. The “supervisor” would walk in and yell at them in Arabic and they would respond, but soon as he left they would get crazy again. When an admin would sit in the room the kids would settle down and listen and I had a good class, but that’s the only time.

In addition, the “HoD” or head of department was a horrible communicator. His directives were very condescending and unclear. When I would call him out on this, he would get frustrated and mutter something to the effect that we aren’t in the US. I tried to explain to him that I’m not used the system here and it’s not the way we do it in the US.  He always wanted to tell me we are not in the US, as if I didn’t know when I flew 8000 miles to get here! Without his prior instruction I proceed to complete tasks in the same way I did in the US. It wasn’t till after words that I was told that I was doing things wrong. When I asked why or questioned his directions he got mad. While I know he is the department chair, we should all be professional enough to listen to each other. We all have good ideas that are worth at least hearing. So after a few exchanges like this the animosity between us started to grow. At a certain point I started to ignore him in meetings, because I didn’t want another conflict.

Another issue was the school wanting to hold my passport while I worked there. I felt this was intrusion in my ability to leave the country when I wanted. I felt trapped in this school. They held my only official form of ID in this country. After explaining that my passport is property of the US government they didn’t seem fazed and continued to hold it until I directly requested it and they finally gave it to me.

Fast forward to October 1, 2012. (the principal) called me down for meeting and after a hour and half meeting basically tried to lay the out the reasons he wanted to let me go from the school. [His two basic reasons were: continued disrespect for the HoD, and an allegation that I said “Christianity is better than Islam”.] This is just crazy, the HoD and I have had problems, but not disrespect. As for the comment that is nonsense, I wouldn’t say that in the US let alone the land of Islam that is the Middle East.  Up till now I have spoken to (the principal), but at my request. This is the first time I’m hearing from him on his own accord. I find this very unprofessional that I wasn’t even given a chance to hear his grievances and correct the behavior he didn’t like. The school never investigated any of the allegations either; they just believed what the students and parents said. After trying to argue my point, he said he would reconsider and get back to me. He had other issues come up and asked me to return to the office upstairs but not into my classroom. So I sat there for one period. After that I decided that I needed evidence that I wasn’t alone so I asked a co-worker to observe his class (English speaking math teacher). His class was a complete lost. I documented every word he said, and watched his grade 5 math class. The students were out of control and very loud. He would shout multiple times and they would stop for a few seconds. Only to start up again sometimes even louder. During the class this teacher looked at me and shook his head. His students were out of control, we do not share any of these students since I have grade 6 and grade 7. I left quietly at the end of the day and told everyone I know of what they (the admin) did to me. I also told them about my experience in another classroom in my hallway. That night was very hard, because I take my job as teacher very personally and seriously. I didn’t sleep well at all.

The next morning I walked in the school as if nothing had happened and proceeded to complete my day as I always have before. During a break I asked to speak to the HoD about our problems over the last several weeks. We spoke for at least 40 minutes about everything that has happened. We spoke about cultural differences and words that were used have different meanings in different cultures. At the end I felt we had made progress.

I completed my day even having one good lesson finally. The kids were under control for at least 35 minutes for the first time. However around 2:00 pm that day (Oct. 2) I was told I needed to go to the HR office. I arrived and was given a letter that basically said I was not to work there any more after October 2^nd. The letter also requested that I leave the apartment in 48 hours. I told the assistant principal that wasn’t possible because I’m a foreign country and can’t just pick up and leave.

Today is Oct. 4^th and I have done nothing but seek assistance in finding a new job her in Dubai. I really don’t want to leave Dubai. I have contacted several recruiters in the process of seeking assistance.

He encouraged me to update my profile on their website; turns out I had already completed a profile last summer. So I updated it, and added local contact information. This was after a long phone call from him, from the UK. So after I finished all that he mentioned there was an opening in Kuwait that was a proper American School. I told him I really wanted to stay in Dubai if possible. (Just today 10/6, I had a chance to look at the school’s website and it appears to be a real school – at least it has 100 classrooms. Schools don’t get that big without being good!) I also emailed my recruiter to see what he taught or could do for me. He said that his office had contacted the school and they gave them a different version of events (naturally) that occurred leading to my termination. Later he mentioned it would make my application a lot better if I could get a letter from the schools stating my separation was amicable. So I emailed the one administrator asking she would write this letter for me. She and I always got a long, so I was hoping I could get her to write the letter. A day later, my recruiter emailed me about another job here in Dubai. The compensation package is amazing, much better than this school. The pay is more monthly, and the housing allowance is very generous. I won’t share those numbers here, but I suppose if you email me I can share.

One bad part of this is my living arrangements. The letter said I had 48 hours to get out of the apartment. After I told the assistant principal that I’m in a foreign country and cannot possibly move out of my apartment in 48 hours she asked when I could be out. I told her I don’t know how long it will take. She said Saturday? I said at least, but I don’t know. She mentioned that she had another teacher that needed to move in. Well during this whole ordeal two other foreign teachers disappeared from everyone’s radar. They were occupying another apartment together. Well those us left over were concerned and asked the security people at the apartment building to let us in and check out their apartment. We walked in and noticed they had cleaned the place out. They were gone; they had left the school and Dubai! I knew they were both very unhappy about the school and craziness of the kids. Here in the UAE apartments are rented annually, so the school has rented three two-bedroom apartments for foreign teachers and only two remain employed at the school. They happily together in one apartment, the second apartment is vacant and I’m alone in the third apartment. So there really is no reason for me to leave unless the school just wants to be mean. I’m not costing the school any money by staying here because they already paid for the apartments. I do have a backup plan in case the school does exercise their right to get me out. The girls that are still employed by the school offered to let me stay with them in their living room if I need to. That would be hard for me; I don’t like being a burden on people, even though I would just take up a small part of their huge living room. They joked that I’d have to clean while I was at home. The funny thing is I probably would out of boredom and me being OCD. Soon as they get Internet I’d have no reason to leave accept the gym.

So as of Oct 6, I sit here in my bedroom not knowing what’s going to happen next. I have prayed more than ever before. Financially I’ll be ok for a few months. My biggest expense is my rental car; if I give that up I could probably make it six months if I had to. So I’m going to hit the job market hard, and in the meantime just enjoy my stay in Dubai and constantly go to the gym. I still have these last six or so stubborn pounds that need to go!