Settling in...

It's much cooler now in the desert, as temperatures are only in the 80's during the day and 70's at night...it doesn't feel much like Thanksgiving time, even if we are going to celebrate with other expats this weekend. Many people are leaving town, and though David wanted to try to travel elsewhere, Mallori convinced him that having no money was a good reason not to leave the country. So we'll spend our 10 days without work doing local things or something less expensive than traveling to Egypt, Europe, or India...even it those places are relatively much cheaper than going their from the states.

David Celebrated National Day with his school the other day, and for the first time, he dressed in the local attire. Many people think he's Arab already, but this just made it more interesting. His Arabic is getting better, however, when more than small talk is required, people begin getting curious to where David is 'really' from.

This place is not quite feeling like 'home' yet, but we are doing what we can to make it feel so. We aren't deciding on the length of our stay until after one year of living here, but financially this place is a blessing and answer to several prayers. A recession is very evident back home, but here, more jobs open daily, buildings keep getting built, and people continue to spend money as if tomorrow isn't going to come. People don't worry about 'gas guzzlers' or leaving the A/C on when you leave. They don't even recycle here apart from grass roots initiatives to do so; People have, and very few lack. The poorest people here are here by choice...they are here because they make more money here than they do back home. That's one of the reasons why we're here...America can't afford to hire the teachers they need. People here view America as huge, rich, and powerful...but to whom much is given, much is required...Makes me wonder if we Americans have been good stewards of all we've been blessed with, or if we're beginning to see that fade away. That thought is what makes us even consider staying longer...to ensure that we don't find ourselves in a recession. However, as children of the most high God, we believe that we are provided for...moreso than the birds of the air.

Hopefully we'll be decorating our place a little more, making it as beautiful as our last place in Ohio. We've splurged for a TV, so Mal can enjoy some shows, and David can keep up with the news around the world, and our next purchase may either be a treadmill or workout machine, since our gym membership was declined...another example of discrimination here...not sure whether it's racial or class...but either way, we won't be joining the country club anytime soon. Perhaps a few photos or pieces of art will be our final touches, not to mention the much needed curtains for the living room. Eventually it'll feel more like home, so if or when we decide to stay longer, we will enjoy the place more. On that note, it would be terrific if any of you loved ones would come visit...we're 5 minutes from the AUH airport, and 1 hr. 15 min. from DXB in Dubai...holidays are a hard time for us to be away, but we miss all of you deeply and ask that you would consider it. Anywho, here's a photo of Mr. Dawood (David) with the School Counselor and another shot of he and some students.

A week ago, we went east to the Emirate of Fujeirah, located on the Gulf of Oman It was nice, quiet, and much smaller than the other cities we've been to here in UAE. The sand of the beach is a darker brown, and it's situated between the coast and a rugged range of Mountains, which we drove through to get there. Here are a few photos of the place.

We'll write more later, perhaps when our internet at home is fully functional...we love you and look forward to posts on our blogs from you!

Off roading in Sharjah

Mallori and I ventured into Sharjah last week, another emirate just north of Dubai. It too has large, stunning buildings comprising a gorgeous skyline, however, it also has its flaws. We haven't seen so much trash on beaches til now. It appears that Abu Dhabi and Dubai both are trying to maintain cleanliness to impress the large amounts of expats living there, however, Sharjah does not seem to have the same approach. We drove around 3 'lagoons' that the city is built around, to find that not many people seem to be there or at least not when we went. The other two cities we've been in are overcrowded, with traffic taking up a large part of the trip, but here it was nice. We enjoyed mexican food at a nice italian restaurant (funny, I know), walked a little on the corniche (boardwalk), then drove the rest. I happened to make a wrong turn and ended up on a road that ended into a pile of sand. Instead of backing up, I felt like being a 'man' and doing it my way, in hopes of finding a new way out. We drove around in the sand for a while, and although i'm impressed with my little toyota yaris rental, I eventually had to turn around and go back the way we came...didn't want to get stuck....It was a fun day though.

Al Bahya Kid Park

We took a field trip yesterday to a local petting zoo...somehow we consider it to be educational as the students are supposed to learn about living things and their environments. In the USA, field trips are more serious, with permission forms to be collected and transportation requests to be made...however, here, it's a last minute thing. As long as the kids bring money and show up, they can come...then again, some kids ended up going and the school paid...Collecting money from these kids was interesting too...some of them had more money in their pockets than I did...The trip cost about 2.50 in US Dollars, and for an extra 50 cents, they could ride a donkey for what turned out to be about 30 seconds. Some students enjoyed this educational adventure...others looked at it as a chance to run around in the sun, or abuse the animals that were there. All of them ended up playing more in the sand or on the playground that was nearby than they did studying the animals. The owner kindly informed me that my class was the worst group he has ever had...I could put that on my resume...perhaps it was the juice boxes they threw into the duck pond, or the candy wrappers they tried feeding to the crocodile...or maybe it was them kicking the monkeys that they were supposed to be feeding dates to. Either way, I feel that my school was well represented by these upstanding students. If only the crodile was a little bigger...

Our 'furnished' apartment

Here are some newer pics of our decorating skills. We hope to add more color as the paychecks come in, and perhaps a shower curtain...but at least it's better than before. enjoy!

Progress at Al Hubab

So far, teaching in the Middle East has been a challenging, but unforgettable experience. I spend more time, dancing around, doing charades, and repeating myself with a louder voice than ever before in the US. The word 'no' is "la" in Arabic, and I often find myself saying 'la' no matter where I am...I guess i use it so much in the classroom that it has worked its way into my own vocabulary. I often sound like i'm singing a Christmas carol, as many people have heard me say 'lalalala la, lala la la' I probably look stupid to these kids, but it's fun.

This week, we've worked our way up to the letter H and the Number 13. These kids are understanding more and more, and though they try to sneak off to the bathroom frequently, as kids in the US do the same to get out of class, they are quick to return. I guess they see my class as fun, as i'm teaching them many of the songs kids learn in preschool or younger.

"if you're happy and you know it, clap your hands"

"the wheels on the bus"

"head and shoulders, knees and toes"

and a few more.

I still have a few screamers and criers, as this is likened unto kindergarten in the u.s. and many of these kids aren't used to doing work, yet alone being away from mama. I haven't sent home any 'homework' because one, they can't do it, and two, i hear they won't...most of the time, i guess the nannies do the work for the students...so i just give them a ton of stuff to do during the day to make up for it. So far, i've met several parents, many of which are impressed with their child's ability to speak English (though it's not much yet), some of them wondering why their child is scared of me (because i'm 4 feet taller than them), and a few come just to see what this American is doing in their town...Mothers are more involved in their child's education, and now and then I get a dad or two who come in for show, just to let the school know they are still in charge. It's quite funny seeing one of my criers change in behavior as mom or dad begin to leave...we often have to peal kids off the doorway to get them into the room, or lock them in the classroom to keep them from running home, and many live miles and miles away. I don't bother anymore...i do not need more drama in my room. If kids are screaming, I am more than happy to let them out. However, I have instated a pepsi bottle as my hall pass, for those kids who would like to leave legitimately. So far, no kid has tried to pee in it (thank God).

Today, I had my colleage from the US compliment me on my progress. He wasn't aware of my willingness to sing and get on the floor with the kids, nor did he think my students would be as far along as they are. It felt good to have another educated person tell me that I was doing a great job. However, i'm nothing special...just a caring guy, willing to look past the head coverings or body-length outfits of my students. It doesn't bother me that my job is hard...it makes me work harder. And in the end, God will be praised, because i can't do it without him anyways...he's been more patient with me than many others...so I have no problem showing a little patience and longsuffering to these little Emirates.

New Place

Hello All!!

This is Mallori, finally blogging on here. Thanks to everyone for your love and prayers during my crazy sickness the past few weeks. I'm doing much better!! Thank God. So we're in our apartment, still trying to get things settled, but it's going good thus far. It's been great having a kitchen where we can cook and prepare food, it's been the best part.

David has pretty much been taking care of everything for us, mainly because I've been under the weather, but also because he has way more patience than me when it comes to dealing with the backwardsness (if that's a word) of this city. It is so easy to get stressed out by the way things operate here. So having david deal with most of the issues with our housing and car and banking, etc., has been great. You all really have to give him kudos because he's done a GREAT job with the transition here.

What else, what else? hmmm...

I went for a massage at a philipino spa and I was in pain the entire time and for about 3 days after. Never again will I go there for anything, nails, massage, wax, nothing. It was so painful and at the time I just assumed that that particular massage was suppose to hurt during but I'd feel great afterwards. Not at all, it sucked.

I'm starting to get bored being a stay at home wife. When we were in the hotel, I didn't notice as much, but now being in our apartment, somewhat in the middle of nowhere, I think I need to keep myself occupied with a job. So hopefully in the next month or so I'll be back in school online and possibly working somewhere here. The debate is dealing with the difficulty of where I would work location wise. We live in Khalifa City which is a suburb of Abu Dhabi. Abu dhabi obviously has the most jobs, BUT I cannot and probably will never drive in this city. It's worse than NYC to me. Three people die everyday here due to car accidents. I've seen about 7 accidents so far. So keep us in prayer when it comes to driving. So, with me NOT driving, working depends on how close it is to home and the hours so David can just drive me to and from.

Well, I'm just going on and on now. Hopefully I'll have more info to share and more experiences to write about in the next few days.

Dubai!!!

We finally ventured out of our emirate into our neighbors', the more popular city of Dubai. I have been wanting to visit, because architectually, this town is a photographer's dream! Mallori 'needed' to go because she was out of her Philosophy-Purity all in one cleanser; and there just happens to be a Sephora in Dubai. Well, we get there, spent our day between two malls, which were beautiful by the way, only to learn that this Sephora does not carry what we needed...However, we enjoyed a nice dinner at the Macaroni Grill, with a terrific view of the Dubai Aquarium behind us, which basically is a 3 story fish tank full of amazing marine life. It was better this way, not having to pay 50 dirhams each to walk through it...wow, I sound cheap...However, I wasn't today. To cheer Mal up, I took her to H&M, which we love, bought her a few items, and also bought her a miniature trampoline (not at H&M, but an athletic store around the corner), which is something she wanted in order to begin her new workout routine. Random...However, this was Mallori's favorite part of our day.

My favorite part, was catching the sunset at the Burj Al Arab, one of Dubai's most popular landmarks, and the world's only 7 star hotel. No, I didn't continue the splurging and get us a room there, but we did spend time at the public beach next door. It was our first time stepping foot in the Persian Gulf, or the Arabian Gulf as it's called here. The water was perfect, a terrific ending to our long but eventful day! After having my fill of taking pictures, we spent about 30 minutes collecting sea shells to decorate our new apartment which we move into tomorrow night. The shells have a pinkish hue to them, which matches our bathroom colors...I got to choose blue for our bedroom, so it's only fair that Mal can choose pink for the Bathroom. We're excited to further decorate and make this large but beautiful apartment more like our own. It will be hard though to leave our current home though, the Beach Rotana Hotel, where we've been for almost 2 months. But I think we'll manage.

Anywho, enjoy the photos!!!

Enjoy