My man is in town, and we’ve been having a great time.  We’ve done so much that it’s hard to tell you all about it.  So, I will blast you with photos because, well, that’s what it’s all about. Here’s an outline to help you out.

Dubai —  I had to work his first two days here, so we hung out at my place, but on his third day we headed for the big city. Jumeirah beach photo station

 Sangria by the pool

 Spent a good chunk of a day discussing philosophy and world politics with our South African bartender in an “American” bar

.   My big man meets the burj Sandmen! the Dubai fountains before they perform  View from the tallest building in the world  Santa at the ski area in Emirates Mall

um, this window display makes me wonder what’s above not below my bed!

Christmas:  We went to the pork store and bought Westphalian ham, french ham and, you know, yummy pork products for our Christmas eve buffet.  Shannan and Lisa came over, and after getting bored with watching the fire crackle on the t.v. screen we watched Trains, Planes and Automobiles (Does “those aint pillows” ever get old?).  Next day, we went to watch my carpool buddy’s husband compete in an international equestrian show (where I didn’t take a single photo — what was I thinking?!).  Both days were lots of fun — best way to spend my first Christmas away from home

. photos taken by Lisa or Shannon, Joe took the last one

see those paintings on the wall … they’re finally hung thanks to Joe!  He bought me a drill, so I can make holes in these concrete walls — yee haw!  More art to be bought and hung.

The wild west and camel fest:  The western region of Abu Dhabi is rural, and more conservative than Dubai and Abu Dhabi.  It’s more remote location borders Saudi Arabia.  Every year about this time in Madinat Zayed is the Al Dhafrah Camel Festival, which celebrates Bedouin heritage, but is mostly known for its camel beauty contest, which holds lucrative prizes for the winners.  We booked a room for one night at the Mirfa hotel on the coast, but ended up spending two nights there because we had way more fun than anticipated.  You just never know who you will bump into in the middle of the desert, but from our experience it’s all good

. Our guide is also a freshmen at ASU.  His family’s camels came in second place last year, and he’s home on break.  In a few days he’ll be back in Arizona studying chemical engineering.  To my kids and former students, say hi to him if you run into each other on campus!

This man’s beauties were feisty, but they seemed to love him.  watch this, she doesn’t suspect a thing… camel kiss!  I floss!

 hahaha the camel is like what is your problem?We got to sit on thrones and drink Arabic coffee while waiting for our personal tour guide.  How cool is that?

Our rooms weren’t ready yet, so we went into the hotel pub for lunch.  Um, we didn’t leave until many hours later, but we did make new friends with a Finn and a Scott.  I believe a man from Poland took this photo for us.

 Jenga and pool games!   Camel bling at the souk. Sunrise photos taken by Lisa. Um, I was still sleeping

Absolutely love the tranquility of this beach.  I’ll be back when I need time to just chill and breathe.

My man taking a moment to contemplate all the food we just consumed at a brunch buffet at the Liwa hotel, which is stunning (sorry didn’t take much photos there). Our time together has been wonderful.  We have just a few more days together, and then it’s back to him working on one continent and me another, but we’ll meet again somewhere else on this planet come July.  Good news is he’s totally cool with making the big move after he retires next year.  I see many, many wonderful travels in our future! Before then, though, we have some more sightseeing to do here.  We’re not going to Dubai for New Years.  Instead, we opted to join friends on a desert safari/camping trip.  I’m sure a good time will be had by all. Click here if you want to see more photos…

Henna hands (belonging to Lisa) and feet (mine) all glamored up for a wedding. There’s so much of my life here that I will never be able to show you, but I guess that goes for life anywhere really.  We can only give glimpses.  You already know I can’t show you pictures of women uncovered, which makes today’s entry a tough one for photos — although I’ll show you food. Emirate weddings are celebrated separately.  Men whoop it up in one room while the women do their thing in another one.  It’s a weird concept for westerners, but it works here.  This is the second wedding I’ve been invited to simply because of where I work, but I felt like I had to go to this one.  The bride and I have never met, but she is well loved by the other teachers.  I’m told she’s witty and sweet and just the most-deserving woman, but that’s not why I went. I went because a group of local teachers came to us earlier in the week to let us know how horrified they were about the murder that took place a few weeks ago.  “This is not us,” they said.  “It is against God.”  And, best of all, the heart felt “we are mothers too …. you are our sisters.”  They also reminded us of the wedding, and that it was on a Friday night, so we could stay up late and not have to worry about work the next day.  “Bring your friends, come have fun.” So, I did.  I wanted to experience a local wedding, and I wanted to show my Emirate sisters that, yes, I do want to bond and have fun with them.  I don’t know how much bonding we did, but again I am grateful to have been invited to be a part of their lives.  I was also so proud and touched when the math teacher I share students with grabbed my hand and pulled me across the room to meet her family.  I might actually speak more Arabic than she does English, but through facial expressions and body language we warn one another when a class is being good or bad — especially the one group that loves to test us.  We really like each other even though we don’t know much about each other.  Now, I’ve met two of her daughters, a sister, and her son’s wife.  I’ll be sure to bring photos of my kids to show to her next week.  Why can’t it be this easy to connect worlds and families all of the time? Now as for the wedding I’ve discovered it’s not quite the same without the sparkly drinks, but there were cans of soda — so bubblies were there.  The women are stunning in their dresses, and it was shocking to see so much of their skin.  Those who decided to remain in their abayas did so in classy, beaded ones.  Servers came around and offered expensive perfumes, oud (perfumed smoke), chocolates (OMG I must be part emirate because they love chocolate and nuts as much as I do), an assortment of teas, food, you name it. just one of the platters of chocolate that came around  Lukaimat, my favorite!  They’re served warm. I ate way more than 3. i think this is lamb, not my favorite.  I stuffed myself with chocolates, lukaimat, hummus and salads, so it was totally true when I responded to “why you no eat?” with “I am full from all the chocolate.”  The bride’s sister laughed and whispered back to me, “I like the chocolate too much too.” a tapioca tea.  I liked it, and, of course, more chocolates! jello, or as my British coworker calls it “jelly.”  This one baffled us because who serves jello at a wedding?  The only reason I can guess as to why this was served is because the bride went with a beautiful red and gold dress, so maybe it was meant to match her dress.  Oh well, I ate it.  tastes just like strawberry jello. Sorry I didn’t think to take pictures of the perfume and oud, which is a shame because they are in beautiful containers. So, basically, you eat and drink until the bride arrives.  When she does they lower the lights, play music and put a spotlight on her as she slowly walks down the aisle toward a golden throne for two.  Her dress and hair was absolutely gorgeous. I totally nabbed this off the Internet, but the lady in red is wearing something similar to what our bride wore.  Picture taken from  http://www.arabiangazette.com/big-fat-global-wedding-industry/ The bride was so nervous.  My heart just bled for her, but she made it down the aisle, got hugged and kissed by I’m assuming the groom’s mother, swarmed by kids running after her, and cheered by her friends.  Later on abayas were swooped back on and her husband was brought down the aisle by I’m assuming his sisters.  He was so friendly and confident, just waving at all of us like a celebrity.  We liked watching him joke with his bride, and it looks like her nerves disappeared.  Friends and family walked up to wish them luck, the cake was cut, and that was about it. It’s different, but at the end of the day a wedding is a wedding.  We all want the new couple to be blessed with lots of love and happiness.  It looks like this one is off to a good start, so I’m glad I got to see it. And me today kicking up my feet (and yeah showing off the lovely henna), writing you this while my curtains dance in the breeze, and loving the fact that I have free time to share all of this with you.  Hope you guys have a great weekend!

The thing about inspections, evaluations, all that formal stuff that drives teachers insane is that, for the most part, I don’t think they do much in the way of improving what we do —- and they certainly don’t gauge learning in its proper perspective (although the threat of it does motivate us to do the stuff we hate, which sometimes works —- so there’s your plus).  I literally blew two weekends and countless nights researching, writing resources, over preparing and basically killing myself over being ready for the big outsider evaluation this week.  My school has been freaking out over this for the past three weeks —- to the point where my lesson plans were actually read by an administrator.  I’m new, which is why this happened, and I’m actually (now) glad she did because she gave me valuable feedback, which helped me get a better grip on what I’m supposed to do.

However, to put it mildly, I have been stressed the fuck out —- to the point of imploding.  And, then, I got evaluated in my worst class, later in the day —- anyone who teaches here knows late in the day is pretty much a curse.  Heck anyone who teaches anywhere in the world knows the later classes are the hardest  (student and teacher brains are mush by then)—- everyone except evaluators who think perfection is where it’s at 24/7.  It was also during my second lesson with these girls —- the first one didn’t go so well, so I decided we were going to go at it again because they needed to get this.

The class before mine ended late, so I was behind schedule when the inspector walked in.  But, you see something magical happened.  The kids shut up and worked —- because an evaluator was in there —- and somewhere along their faking it they discovered that holy shit they’re learning something.  I got so into our little learning groove that I forgot all about the white British lady hovering over my kids and writing everything down.  Um, I may have even blown her off in the end when she turned to say something to me, and I cut her off with a “thank you for coming in today” and then went back to my closing thoughts with the kids.  Now, I’m pretty sure I didn’t earn high marks —- or whatever it is they call the whole evaluation thing —- but I left happy.

I had that class first and last periods today, and I just knew they’d be bouncing off the walls.  They were a little, but they settled down quicker than they ever did before —- and this time it was just us.  I got the morning lesson going, and it flowed smoothly.  Then I broke a major rule.  I let the rest of the class work on their own —- knowing most of them would goof off —- while I sat with my worst table.  The lowest girl, who never, ever does anything actually spoke to me in English during the starter, so I figured it was now or never to hook that child.  I sat and listened to every one of these girls read a paragraph out loud, which is really difficult for them since they don’t understand most of what I say or give them.  I coached at first, but then I stopped and the other girls pitched in to help whomever was struggling —- that’s a big ole Eureka! in teacher land.  Here’s the kicker they were crazy loud when I walked in 9th period, BUT it only took me three times to repeat  “my hand is up” and their little butts were in their chairs ready to go, and we had an even better lesson.  I shit you not I almost cried.

Now, by evaluation standards I probably sucked.  And, my classes in between didn’t go all that great (the kids are just done with the stress of outsiders inspecting their campus and all the rules that go with it), BUT I flipping reached the unreachables and for THAT I am grateful.

I’m sure it’ll all go crazy again next week, but the whole point of my posting today is that I may still suck, but I’m happy because I actually did some real teacherly things this week.   I am such a nut job that THIS is what gives me joy.  I have two more days of inspection hell to survive, and I don’t give a flying assessment what the inspectors have to say because we may not be any where near our targets, but my girls are learning.  So pooh on them and their clipboards.  Okay maybe I’m being a little harsh — maybe the whole inspection thing did help me, but shhhh I need to be mad at them for all the stress that drove me over the edge to a place not so dire after all.