Miss Me?

So. It's October now. I have missed two whole months of blogging.

That's right, I've turned into one of Those Bloggers - you know, the ones who start with the grandest of intentions then disappear forever?

C'est moi.

I won't tell you how many other blogs/pages/identities I have online. Okay, I will. Closest estimate is...five email addresses, 8-10 blogs, 2-4 facebook pages, only one twitter (I deleted the other one), and semi-active participation on several fora. To say I don't blog is to say I don't blog here. The lack of internet access at school has actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as those are the few hours of the day/week/whatever when I'm not online, posting, thinking, digesting.

I think I may have to cut back.

ANYWAY.....

Right. So I live in Abu Dhabi now. My facebook page/group has turned into a mudslinging free-for-all with hints of sanity popping through from time to time. I try to avoid it and have more or less given up moderating - because they're all adults, and if "just sayin'" is the persona they want to put out there, then more power to them. Or less, as the case may be.

My apartment is small, and on the 18th floor. To the left I can see (besides more construction, which is the main architectural theme of Abu Dhabi) Sheikh Zayed Mosque, which is the Grand Mosque, which really is quite grand. (No. I haven't been yet. Colour me lazy.) To my right I can see the other buildings in my construction site/complex. They are much nicer looking and larger apartments...but I think we have fewer problems in our building. Behind me is the Executive Airport (Al Bateen?) and ahead of me in the distance is some body of water - ultimately the Arabian Gulf. It's not so bad.

My friends are, to my consternation, all teachers. I live in a commune (and not the hippie kind, either) filled with teachers and families of teachers. This is the very opposite of what I hoped for, living in Abu Dhabi rather than Al Ain. On the other hand, I live in a proper city. With, y'know, stuff to do.

There's plenty to do in Al Ain, of course. Just...not city things.

My school is about 30 minutes down to road toward Dubai. It's apparently a pretty big school, and quite old. (By old, I mean about 20-25 years. They don't have actual old buildings here, unless they're national heritage sites.) It's all girls, of course, and I'm slowly coming to grips with what my job actually entails. (This changes on a daily - even hourly - basis, so progress is by the inch.) My girls are in grade 11 and vary in age from 14 to 19. They are pretty evenly split Emirati & non-Emirati. Every day they tell me my eyes are so beautiful (which is disconcerting, until I remind myself that my appearance is in every single way a completely foreign appearance...but still feels odd) and that my hair IS NOT ORANGE. That's right, they think I'm blonde.

My sister will never accept this.

The year started out with titters and whispers and "Why are you so fat?" I expected this and am not offended. I mean, it's not a secret to me that I'm rather large, so why shy away from the fact? I took a page from Jack Black's book and simply told my students I like to eat! Ice cream is delicious, y'all. Ask Ben & Jerry.

Besides my physical appearance, my students seem to like me. It's an uphill struggle, and I have more than one student who just sits there and stares at me for the hour and does nothing. On the other hand, I have a few students who are overachievers. (I have NEVER taught overachievers before and am at a loss other than to tell them to bring something to do in class while we wait for the talkers to shut up. Not that I say shut up, of course.) One class I have promised to teach a Spanish word a day, and they in turn teach me a new Arabic word a day. Better still, they teach me correct pronunciation! Sort of. And they titter and giggle and laugh outright when I actually use Arabic.


Some things, though, are the same the world over. Students are SHOCKED (shocked, I tell you!) when you overhear their complaints - especially in another language - and answer them in English. On Thursday (last day of our week - which starts on Sunday, lest you think we have it easy...which we kind of do) one of my students was complaining in Arabic to her seatmate about the work they had to do and why they couldn't do it at home.

And I answered her! 


You have never seen eyes so wide and round. It was awesome. And instantly shared across the classroom - Miss knows Arabic!

That's right, girls. Don't mess with me. As my Spanish-speaking students in Texas quickly learned (and my English-speaking students in England always resented), I know everything.

Everything.

And that which I do not know, I can surmise, guess, learn, or assume. Therefore, it's a rare day that my students get away with anything that I am not aware of. Sure, the little treasures get away with things every day. But usually those are just battles I am too tired to fight. Though if I hear "Sorry, Miss" one more time, I might actually scoop out my eyeballs with the broken end of a pencil and hang them from the white board.



But I think this is more than enough of an update for the past 2 months. I've left out loads, added some details that are utterly useless to the majority, and no doubt offended someone somewhere about something. Well, so it goes. Happy reading, friends. Now send me comments so I'm inspired to post more often!




photos from the following: blog4students.wordpress.com & northjersey.com

Frivolity

In the stress and the drama and the sheer volume of work to do in order to pack one's bags and move to the other side of the world, we often forget to relax.

Well, I say "we." I don't mean we at all. Relaxed is my preferred mode of existence. I say we, but I mean "they" - people, others. My fellow teachers. The people with whom I am making this adventure, for better or worse. I will be perfectly honest here and say that this is my number one fear: that everyone will find out exactly how flighty and trivial I really am all my fellow teachers take their jobs Very Seriously.

Because I don't.

Now, before you dismiss me as one of Them, those fly-by-night, doing-it-for-the-money, doesn't-care-about-the-kids TEFLers who are secretly still on spring break... Actually, dismiss me as such if you like. I'm not entirely fly-by-night, the money absolutely plays a part in my decision to move to Abu Dhabi, and I do care about the kids--but it is not my purpose on earth to save them.

Teaching English is my job. Did you catch that? My job. It is not who I am, it's what I do in order to earn money so I can carry on living in some comfort. It is not my raison d'être. I am not a save-the-world type. I'm a see-the-world type.


Not that I don't do my job. I do. And I mainly enjoy it. And I like to think I'm pretty good at it (once I know what's going on). It's just not my sole purpose in life.  And I'm not going to save the world, or the children, or the whales. I'm just going to teach English, and probably some related things, quite by accident. If I'm lucky, I'll teach independent thought.


And those kids will be awesome. And/or terrible. And my administration will be awesome. And/or terrible. And no doubt I'll learn oodles. I always learn oodles. Like where all the coffee shops are in a 5 mile radius. How to get lost, and then found, and then lost again. Enough of the local language to get by or at least get started. New concepts of fashion. Where to go to watch the water. Pop music. And everything else!


But whilst all this Very Important teaching and learning and career advancing is going on, I refuse to let it suck me down into the vortex. I expect to thoroughly enjoy my life, wherever it takes me. And this, I know from experience (after being the only person in a group working overseas to actually insist on taking a day off to go shopping), is perceived as being flighty and empty-headed. Saying that my favourite colour is glitter or spending unhealthy amounts of money on pretty underpinnings or tweeting through the September issue of Vogue or going out for a latte when I should be saving money for something else...these are all dismissed as the activities of a woman who needs to get serious. Whereas I feel these are the actions of a person who has decided to enjoy her life, every bit. And if that means I buy flowers instead of bread, drink wine while marking papers, go swimming while fat, laugh out loud while reading, well...


Then I guess that's what I am.


Frivolous.








There. Now you know. Judge me as you like. 


(I just hope that there are a few of you out there who also prefer to enjoy the ride...while wearing sparkly shoes...)

Tired.

It's not that I don't have anything to report about my journey to the UAE - I do. (Nothing concrete, though. Just places along the psychological path.) It's just that I'm so darned tired. Particularly right now, but also in general. Maintaining and overseeing (and kind of resenting that I "have to" oversee) a group of nearly 100 teachers on facebook, working nights, sleeping during my few short hours of alone-time...I'm just tired. And I don't feel like sharing all my thoughts and plans and so on. 

Then I think...if I'm this worn out now, what will next year be like? Ha. More alone-time, as I shan't be living avec ma soeur and my niece. Is it wrong that I look forward to moving halfway around the world just so that I'll have room to think again?