bettina without borders

Written on December 26, 2013

So why apply to teach in Abu Dhabi?  I’d be lying if I said the tax-free money didn’t tempt me.  It’s a pretty sweet financial deal.  It’s also a perfect place to travel from, and with all of their vacation days (and that paycheck) I’d have time and money to see parts of the world I’d never be able to see on my American salary.

 BUT, I have to live and teach there, while my family goes on with their lives here.  It’s a two-year contract, so I better make sure my reasons for wanting to go are deeper than money and travel.  I’ve read the horror stories.  I could end up in a crappy apartment  infested with roaches while teaching in a school where I’m resented by the local staff, administration and students (which truly would be the worst, well I guess there’s always worse, but let’s not go there). I could have a nervous breakdown in my rented Peugot because I’m stuck in the inner circle of the roundabout from hell, while everyone else zips around me at 100 miles per hour (I’ve heard driving there is insane).  I could go postal on the Internet guy whose a week late arriving at my apartment only to tell me he’ll need to get another guy to come out who will also not know what to do (see expat teachers I HAVE been reading your blogs).  There’s a lot that could and will go wrong, so what makes this still appealing?

•  I’m in awe of their government’s dedication to educational reform.  What they’re trying to do is truly amazing.  It’s beyond expensive, and I’m sure to many it seems like a billionaire’s pipe dream that will never come true.  On paper it does what so many of us in the U.S.claim to be doing, plus it financially rewards its teachers for attempting to do it (well its foreign ones; I honestly don’t know what native teachers make).  Now don’t get me wrong, I’m totally aware that what’s on paper and what happens in reality are two different things, but by golly (how’s that for using more g-rated language) it IS on paper, with paper backed by gold (I guess I should say oil).  They mean business with this.
• I’ve always been a ‘new’ project starter.  Every job I have ever had has lead me into leading/launching something new — in many cases something I proposed (which isn’t the case here, but I’m totally cool with being one of the spokes in someone else’s wheel).  How incredibly cool would it be to be part of something as big as education reform in a country so completely different from my own?  Would I be able to bring any of this back to my own corner of the world? 
• UAE’s history:  This country is younger than I am!  I’m fascinated by what I’m learning about it, but because I’m a newbie to its history/culture I won’t embarrass myself by writing about what I think I know.  I do know its people are incredibly patriotic, and that by all means regardless of whether or not I get the job, I have to experience National Day at least once in my life.
• If I’m going to grow and try something new it should be in a Muslim country.  While I’m fairly certain the only bad girls of the burka I’m going to find are the expat ones, I’d like to learn more about the women behind the perceived masks.  I’d like to see how they see the world, and, well, learn from it.  It’s time for me to take my westerner’s veil off and experience life from the other side of the world.
• Last but certainly not least, I’ve read that 85 to 90 percent of the population is expat.  When the non-homeness of it all gets to me (and it will — how could being so far away from everything I know and love not be a sore spot?) there will be others to turn to for help.  There will be people there who get me and my retarded ways, and I there’s.  Plus, on the really tough days, I could put my expat liquor license to use and buy a bottle of wine to enjoy in my apartment with the spray nozzle thingy next to the toilet (something every expat blog has pictures of, and I hope to one day show off my own sassy sprayer).

 Another plus to all of this is my family totally supports me.  They know I’m not abandoning them, nor they me (um, they might actually like the idea of Mom being so far away for a while).  We’re already dreaming about their visits and trips we could all take together — now mind you I haven’t even had the in-person interview yet, so it’s all just fun-time daydreaming for now.

 And, on that note, I need to get back to the reality of my today.  There’s a stack of documentary scripts I need to read and assess for my very stressed, American students who’ll be graduating into their real worlds in just a few, fast-moving months.  Oh how I’ll love and miss those little buggers as well.

Anyone who knows me knows that I love to travel, love to laugh (loudly), love to learn and love to, well, talk about unmentionables.  It’s no big surprise that I’m stalking international teaching job sites, blogs, you name it.  If you teach overseas and blog about it, chances are I’ve stayed up past my bedtime reading about your life — and I thank you for that.

What no one in a gazillion years would suspect is that I’d apply for a job in the middle east.  I’m not what comes to mind when you think of the women underneath their abayas.  I love pork, alcohol and raunchy folk (god bless you all).

BUT, here’s the thing I also am genuinely tolerant, respectful and curious about other people’s cultures. I don’t want to “save” anyone, just share with and learn from them.  I love who and what I am, and part of what is good about me is I never stop loving and learning from who and what others are.  I thrive on the chaos of making the unknown known.

Soooo, here we go, after years of checking out expat teacher blogs and recruiting agencies, I hit send on a TeachAway application.  A week later I was interviewing via the phone with someone in Toronto, and now I’m on a short list (not bus), being considered for a teaching position somewhere in Abu Dhabi, including its outskirts.  So, yep this time next year I could be staring at the waters that lead to Iran, or watching camels race across sand blown in from Saudi Arabia.  How poetically insane is that?

I honestly don’t know where any of this will lead, but I do know just applying for the job has already set the wheels of change into motion.  Even if I don’t get the job, there’s no turning back now.  I’m officially moving into the next phase of my life, whatever that may be, and I’m embracing every moment of my now as I can.

It’s the day before Christmas Eve, and I’m spending it with my daughter (whom I love beyond words.  Seriously folk I made this person, who is an amazingly, complex, wonderful soul — and then I made two more versions, with penises.  I’m going off on a tangent now, so back to my abu application). I would’ve loved today even if I didn’t apply for that job, but now it means more.  Yesterday I baked cookies while my sons watched football, and my heart warmed every time I heard them yell over a play.  Later while watching a movie, I didn’t get annoyed at their bitching at each other because I also noticed Kyle leaning against Aaron.  They’re almost men now, but they’re still boys with each other, which they always will be.  I’m rambling off onto thoughts about my children while trying to conclude this post, but that’s okay because it is all connected.  My life, my choices impacts their lives, their choices (oh good God now I have to think about how my own mother’s path intertwined with mine, but let’s save that for another day).

And this is why applying to go overseas now is a good thing — where I go isn’t as important as the fact that I do try to go.  It’s something I have always wanted to do, but I’ve put it on hold for the right reasons (and I’m sooo glad I did; I may have ‘made’ my kids, but they’ve molded me into something better than I was before them).

I need to give them the space they need to discover their paths forward while I continue to find mine.  It’s a wonderful gift to show that our dreams don’t die, and that, yes, we keep moving forward, even when our bodies age (oh cellulite how I loathe thee), because a good life does not stand still in traffic; it manages to continually roll to where ever it needs to go (even if it doesn’t quite know where that is).

And now for whatever reason I’m off onto another tangent.  That silly little song I used to sing with my kids (completely forgot about it until now):

 and the wheels on the bus go round and round

round and round

round and round

all throughout the town.

And the people on the bus go up and down…

 So, yeah, our wheels are turning and we’re moving forward.  Holy hell that’s exciting and scary and amazing, and oh wow how truly lucky and blessed am I?  Or, is it just insanity?

Well how creepy is that?  A big ole picture of teacherly me staring at you.  But, it’s all I have for now, and embarrasingly it’s the one I attached to my TeachAway application (my roots are showing and why are my  hanger straps out in full view?).  I’m so calm looking sitting at my desk — um, soooo not the way most of the day is spent!  Anyway, since I’m officially obssessed with my Abu Dhabi application, I’ve decided to start up a blog on it.  !