Thursday, December 5, 2013

Wait .. it's December already?!

Good God. As much as I dislike the phrase, "Time flies," I feel that I must attract some attention to it as summer in the middle-eastern desert has flowed seamlessly into fall and fall has clumsily tripped into winter. I didn't even realize it was officially 'winter' until today when I asked my students what causes the changes in seasons during our science lesson. I looked at my whiteboard and saw I still had the current season listed as fall and quickly corrected it. I use these seasonal names loosely because the weather here hasn't changed much. Temperatures are still in the 80's and if you stand outside under the sun for too long in a long shirt and long sleeves, you'll feel a little glistening action fire up. It feels warmer than I remember Phoenix being this time of year.

...I hate when people discuss the weather. And I have so much else to share. Moving on ...

My last post was centered on my homesickness and other emotions. Although I always miss my friends and family at home, my emotions have be checked and I've not had another wave pass over me since earlier this month. I've been keeping in better contact with my family (the 11-hour difference is hard to deal with, but we have found pockets that work for us ... and thank god for texts) and relying more on my local relationships and friendships. I went out a few weekends ago with a friend and just walked along the Corniche (the beach/boardwalk) and we wound our way in and around the city. It felt good to finally be to the point where I can explore and continue to enjoy this place that is my home.

I celebrated Halloween here by dressing the part. As per usual, I left my costume until last minute, so thank goodness for my friends Kay and Asma who helped me throw together a costume they called "Arabian Jasmine." Asma did some henna on my stomach, added fake lashes to my eyes and dripped a gold chain around my hair. Went to an Irish party first with my friend, then out to a bar, where I will just say that I probably had too much to drink and leave it at that. Lol.

Yvonne, Eimear, tornado and I at Irish house party downtown.

The next night, we had a Jay-Z concert to go to on Yas Island. A whole group of us went and met up at the Aloft Hotel to have dinner and drinks first. I was excited to see Jay because he was a little piece of home (this was my homesick weekend). The concert was outside, no seats, standing room only. There were no opening acts (weird), Jay came on stage around 10 and everyone went crazy. I found it amusing how many locals were showing him love. The crowd was an equal mix of expats and Emiratis. This was Jay-Z's first middle-eastern concert, he brought Timbaland with him and played a fusion of new and old songs, blowing a speaker in the process.

Rochelle and I @ Jay-Z concert at Du Arena
My sister is in the middle of planning her August wedding and has been dress shopping since my parents arrived in Arizona. I got to go once with her before I left and we found several dresses that looked stunning on her, but she hadn't pulled the trigger on any yet. I skyped with her and my parents one day when they were at a boutique and got to watch the process. One of the dresses I saw her try on for the first time ended up being the one she chose. I'm so grateful I got to be a part of that important day! I have a picture of the dress, but I won't post it. Y'all will have to wait until Aug. 16, 2014. Abbey and Bray just got their engagement pictures taken (got a sneak peak and they are so sweet) and things seem to be moving along smoothly. Abbey agreed to do her bachelorette party in Wisconsin in July while I'm there for my friend Dana's wedding, so I'm so glad to be a part of that!! I'm missing so many elements of helping her plan, this is one big event that I won't have to miss. :)

The middle part of November was filled with lesson plans, National Day preparations, and winter holiday planning. I bought a Christmas tree for my flat and have had the lights on every evening to add some festive spirit to my evenings when I spend them at home. All the stores and malls have tons of Christmas decorations up, which I find super comforting, especially this time of year. A friend helped me set her up, and I know she looks a little Charlie Brownish, but she'll do :)

This will be the first year I have not celebrated Christmas with my family. I will be somewhere in southeast Asia instead.
On November 21, it rained. I remember this date because rain in this city is unheard of. The evening before I noticed clouds in the sky off my balcony (also a rarity here, just like Phoenix) and sure enough on Thursday it was raining on our drive into school. When we got to school, we were so amped up with the excitement that school would possibly be canceled that we could barely concentrate. There was no morning assembly due to the rain (we normally hold tabor outside in the courtyard), and my girls were dancing around me asking if I had seen the rain (drops were falling from the sky all around us, but no I hadn't lol). "Miss! The rain! You like?" "Miss, no school? We go home?" "Miss, look!" (jumps in puddle, splashes everyone in a 2 meter radius.) The girls were as jittery as I was and even though I raised my shades all the way up so they could watch the weather our room was much darker than normal. We got through two periods and then the day got chaotic. There were Arabic announcements every five minutes: "Miss, she say buses come. We go home." "Miss, we get bags?" "Miss, we go now?" "Miss, it's RAINING!" "Miss, do you have rain in America?" The girls left school early and teachers got to leave by noon, jump-starting our weekend in the best way possible!

The next week was filled with 42nd annual National Day celebrations. National Day is the anniversary of the UAE's existence as a country and was officially celebrated on Dec. 2 this year. When I found this out, I was like, but where was everybody 43 years ago?
They were in the desert living in stone huts? Damn.
There was no Dubai or Abu Dhabi as we now know these cities. Can you even believe that?
At school, the history was celebrated through traditional performances, dances, songs, food and traditions. We had two days of festivities as school where the girls danced in cultural costumes (they did this hair flip move, which is my favorite part of the traditional dance here) for everyone, the Arabic teachers brought in local homemade food, mothers came in and sat on carpets in the courtyard and made henna, a falcon (a traditional bird for the UAE) was brought in for girls to take pictures with), and girls got dressed in traditional clothing, including the gold burqa shown below. The young girls were excited to wear the clothing and the gold burqa - seems to be viewed as a rite of passage.


The girls entertained a packed gym of teachers, mothers, aunts, sisters and friends for the entire morning. Before we knew it, the early-release bell had rung and the girls in their lipstick, eye liner, gold head pieces, and fancy costumes were all a blur of red, white, black and green running toward the buses. 
Some EMT's: American, Irish and Canadian.

I booked my ticket for my winter holiday with a friend today! We are flying into Bangkok on Dec. 15, back to Abu Dhabi on Jan. 3 and will traipse through Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia for the three weeks between. We'll be spending Christmas, New Year's Eve and my 30th birthday in southeast Asia. This.is.why.I.came.here! Trip number two is about to go down!

Thanksgiving crept up quickly - we were conveniently given the day off school due to Dubai winning the bid for the 2020 Expo. I hosted dinner for a few friends and ordered a ready-made turkey from the Holiday Inn and my guests brought so much food! My friend Kevin from Ireland came to experience his first Thanksgiving. Everyone asked me if I got homesick on this day. I purposely avoided thinking about what was going on at home (my grandmother, aunt and uncle, and cousins flew into Arizona from WI and WA to be with my parents, sister, Bray and his parents for dinner), so I could enjoy my new Thanksgiving tradition. We had a blast, ate, drank, changed into sweatpants, watched Planes, Trains and Automobiles, smoked shisha, played beer pong and talked long into the evening. On my way to bed, I skyped with my family as they were all sitting down to eat, so got to see everyone and wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving.


Then, there was Duabi. Last weekend. The day after Thanksgiving, two friends and I hopped in a car and drove the hour and 15 minutes to the flashiest city in the middle east.


We spent the weekend cruising the city during the day and partying at night. Didn't get in til 5 in the morning. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves, but I love this city and will be back soon!


Bar Baristi (a beach club near the marina) celebrating Derek's birthday.
Burj Khalifa!
60th floor overlooking the city's coast.

Danielle, Joy and Haneefa at Club 360.

Burj al Arab, leaving club 360.
Now that we're all caught up, I'm going to bed. Cheers to the weekend. Five more teaching days left until winter hols and Asia!!!!




Revive yo self, girl.

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