Al Ain

So we don’t have internet any more :( I am writing up my blogs and will be uploading them from Stella’s hotel or Jose’s house because our hotel is not so great. Wednesday we left our lovely hotel room at aLoft to travel to Al Ain our new home city. Al Ain is much smaller than Abu Dhabi and there is a whole lot less traffic. I am really happy in Al Ain. I like the city and I think it’s easier to get around than Abu Dhabi. Although I wish we would have had more time than just 3 days to sight see in AD. After we settle in we want to go to Abu Dhabi and get a lot more sight seeing done. And hang out with Colleen, Erica and Christine which we only got to do once. So once we got to Al Ain on Wednesday afternoon, Jose picked us up and we went to his house for a great home cooked dinner. Lu is the best! Although we hadn’t been here for too long we were craving some home food.

Thursday and Friday I had training ALL day – from 8am – 5pm. Thankfully Stella and I were placed with the same provider and same school. So I had someone to talk to at training. The trainings were a complete SHOCK to us. I came to the UAE expecting to teach in a classroom with no resources, little curriculum, no guide and no help. I was willing to work with this type of environment and I was mentally prepared to endure this type of stress because I am used to having teacher guides to follow.  After the first hour of training we realized that our provider was not doing any of the things we were expecting. They provided pacing guides, curriculum, books and all sorts of resources. This seemed totally great at first but as the training continued and the provider seemed to demand more and more of us. They want us to write full page detailed lesson plans (like in college) for our classes, 15 of them per week. They have to be written a certain way, according to their standards. This is all for my classroom of 3 and 4 year olds. My students are expected to complete worksheets and sit at their desks for 40 minute periods. Centers are not allowed – they don’t believe in centers. These instructions all came from an American person. TOTAL SHOCK!!! I couldn’t comprehend but I just listened and tried to have an open mind. Things were not what we expected or what we were told during our interview but my purpose here was to come and help so that’s what I will do, one way or another. I’m not happy about a lot of things but there are positives and negatives to everything.

We rented a car Friday night, which made life a lot easier. Taxis are not expensive but explaining where you want to go and calling a cab isn’t easy. Plus we calculated how much it would be to get to work each day paying a cab versus renting a car and the car route was cheaper. We have had a lot more fun with the car. Car = Freedom :)

The weekend went by really fast. We went to the mall on Friday and to the pool at Stella’s hotel on Saturday. Remember Saturdays are like American Sundays – that is going to take some getting used to.