UAE National Day

Today my school celebrated the United Arab Emirates 41st National Day. Of the closest thing to that in the US is July 4th. I was reminded while talking to people today, the UAE didn't fight for independence, they are celebrating forming a union. At any rate it was a great day of experiencing UAE culture in action. I learned a lot today, at least in cultural sense. I had a chance to taste several different local foods, and see several different cultural traditions in practice.
Funny thing also, some of my students were caught alone on the park benches around campus and were totally different humans when they were alone. I talked to one for at least 30 minutes. Talked about culture and comparisons to the US. He also asked me, the one with lots of experience being single, for dating advice. He told me he was interested in his cousin. That was time for me to explain the meaning of the English word "taboo." Which at first was hard to explain, but I tried to liken it to Muslims eating Pork. No written law, but it's strictly forbidden.
Hard for me to believe that this sand box has only been a country for 41 years! I come from a place where our independence is so old that it's just understood. These people honor their leaders and believe they created everything that is the UAE. The student I mentioned above explained to me that they have the following hierarchy of honor: Allah - Muslim God of course, Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan - President and ruler of Abu Duabi (capital), Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum - Vice President and ruler of Dubai (largest city), and then his parents, lastly other authority such as teachers. That was really eye opening to me. I explained while we generally respect our President we do not worship him (well most of us anyway). Great exchange, I've been wanting that for a long time. Straight from the mouth of a 15 year young Muslim boy.

The pictures will explain a lot of what I saw today as well:

In addition to all the fun at school the entire city is covered in red, green, white and black. One can not travel any where in the city and not see the national colors. My apartment complex area is covered in lights on the way in and out. Most of the palms are adorned in Christmas type lights. There flags everywhere. It's amazing how much this country clings to their identity.

Oh and I get a four day weekend out of the deal! :)

Three weeks in to the new school, and the end of term 1

Well I’m now in the middle of my third week here at IAT. It’s been a challenge to say the very least.

Firstly, the school itself and most of the staff are excellent to work with. The facility is very nice, clean and well maintained. The outdoor court yard is very clean and well landscaped. Which is impressive here in the desert to see so much green. There are many trees, shrubs, grass and flowers all over the campus. Inside the rooms are spacious and the furniture is in fairly good repair. Technology is pretty much current and people around here know how to use it well.

Also over the first and second week here on campus the PRO has made sure that my visa, and all required documentation have been handled. I have my visa, my health insure card, my local ID should arrive very soon and they helped facilitate me getting a local bank account. In fact, I just got paid for November already (a few days early). Then just today my debit card was delivered to the school so I can access my money in my account. I’m just about completely legal in this country, just need my Emirates ID and a driver’s license and I’ll have everything.

My living situation has been fair. I’m in an apartment that I had to find since I had to leave the old one due to my first school being difficult. This apartment is furnished, but it’s not that well taken care of so it looks pretty bad on the outside. In fact, this morning I was thinking to myself that I need to get out of here ASAP because I don’t want to live in the ghetto. I have planned to leave this apartment once this most recent month of rent runs out. That will be about 18-Dec. I’ve already started looking for a new apartment near my new school and yet close to the expressway. There are several available, so I have to make a choice. I’d like to have that sorted before I go on vacation for Christmas.

I’m planning on leaving for Christmas on or around 16-Dec. My most recent idea was to fly to Indonesia, Jakarta to be exact. I’ve been in contact with a local hostel owner about making arrangements to arrive there and spend about two weeks exploring the Asian country. I will of course bring my GPS and grab at least one geocache there. I want to immerse myself in the culture, by checking out museums and as much food as possible. Looking around online, everything is very cheap in Jakarta. Due to the value of their currency, the exchange rate is ridiculous. For example my hostel (accommodation) will cost about 1.5million of their money which is about $150, which is for two weeks!

Lastly, I need to explain the first sentence. The school, really my lead teacher, gave me one class to start me off here at IAT. With the premise that I would take on three more after the Christmas break. The idea being that I will have plenty of time to acclimate to the climate of the school so to speak. I’ve come to find out through other teachers here at the school that this class has a history of misbehavior and trouble with motivation. The last two weeks with these students has been pretty rough. Those students who are interested in learning are doing great and writing everything down. Of course those that are not are not. I’m getting a lot of flak from the staff due to the chaos ensuing in my class. The students are loud and disruptive. I’ve tried many different techniques to bring them in to my class, and help them focus but I’m having a hard time finding something that will work. My lead teacher is trying to guide me, but everything he has told me isn’t working as well as he’d hoped. My frustration level is growing. I’m not ready to give up yet, but something needs to change. I’m going to give term 2 a chance. As I’ve already been reminded by the principal, I’m still in my probationary period. So I’m free to part ways if I feel it isn’t going to work out at this school. I don’t want to think about that much though, because I want it to work out. I want it work out well! In term 2 I will have three more classes. Another 10^th grade, and two 11^th grade classes. I really sincerely hope that things change for the better in term 2. If, it’s not any better by my birthday (at the latest), I’ll have to say to the school and myself that I gave it my best effort but it didn’t work out. Again I really hope it doesn’t reach this point. I want to stay at this school and in Dubai for a long long time.

My new job is awesome!

My new job with the Institute of Applied Technology started today. I’ve only been here one day, and it’s already a polar opposite of my first school.

In the beginning I was concerned because my interview was pretty quick, and I stumbled on a few math questions, namely two upper level calculus questions. None the less I waited for my recruiter’s response to the interview, I only waited one day and got an email stating that my application was approved! Not sure entirely what that meant, but it sounded very positive. So during the next few days I got an offer email (not a contract), the pay is nearly double my first school and same benefits. So I gladly told the recruiter I accept! She told me to send an email to that affect since I really didn’t have anything to sign. Then communication with the school and the HR department went dead! I didn’t hear anything for two weeks! That was not good I thought. So I emailed HR again and was told that the approval process would take an “undefined” amount of time to complete. That was not something I wanted to hear, but at this point it was the only job offer on the table, so I waited. I was asked to go to the Dubai Police HQ and get a background check, because I’m now considered a local hire. So I did that quickly, and had it scanned and emailed it off. Got an email confirming receipt of my form. Waited another week (about a month now since the interview), I emailed the recruiter stating the very real fact that I can’t afford to live here in Dubai without a job. She must have emailed the HR department because my contract came the very next day, along with a start date! Very good news, now it’s much more real! Read that massive nine page document signed it, scanned it and emailed it off. The next day I received another email stating they had received my signed contract. The next day I got a 39 page document answering every possible question I could ask from hiring a maid, to driving in the UAE to the dress code here at school. Very comprehensive!

So then I waited a few more days for my start day to arrive.

It’s finally here November 11^th!

So during my first day I met a ton of people, apparently the HR lady here at the school had emailed the entire staff that I was coming. So many of these people that I met already knew I was coming and welcomed me with open arms, so to speak. At least four people today have told me to let them know personally if I need anything or if they can help me with anything. That is wonderful! I also filled out visa paperwork, and many other documents applicable to my employment here at IAT (policies, internet rules, ID card info and such). The math department chair (or lead teacher as they are called here), welcomed me and told me that I’m teaching 10^th and 11^th grade math. Both classes are working out of an Algebra 2 book. That means these classes are paced ahead of similar classes in the US. This is opposite of my first school. In fact, the grade 11 material I need to teach I haven’t worked with since college! The lead teacher told me that this week (a short week to due to the Islamic New Year); I will focus on getting everything settled and getting ready to go. Next week I will have my own classes and be ready to go to work for real. He gave me the textbook CD (they don’t use much paper here at all), and I had a chance to check out what I’m teaching all the way up to Christmas (winter) break. So basically I teach for three weeks and then Christmas break for three weeks! Then I come back in January as if everything is new again, new semester at least.

I swear if this school runs this well all the time, I’m going to really love it here. Just hope the students are receptive to a new teacher starting in November.