sorry for the slacking...

Hi Everyone!

Well things are going pretty well here. In the last month, school has progressed pretty well. The first month was really hard because it was the month of Ramadan. Because we are teaching the older students, they were all fasting and they weren't allowed anything to eat or drink all day. That also meant that neither could we. The only upswing to the hectic schedule was that we started at 8:00 and finished at 1:00. Now we are on the traditional schedule 7:30-2:30...

They have adapted pretty well to Western discipline and routines, though Chris might tell you the opposite. They have a completely different mentality to education than we do and its importance. Most of the Emirate children will not go to a university or work, and this makes teaching them a bit challenging. The motivation is very low, unless their parent encourage education and support us back home, but teachers and parents have a non-existent relationship in this country...

We will have to post pictures of our classrooms later, but we will post some of our life around here. We had a week off after Ramadan for Eid, and it was fantastic. Chris and I did a little exploring of Al Ain, Dubai, and Oman (courtesy of our new friend Graeme). In Oman, the country whose border is literally a 6 minute drive, the landscape is completely different. The UAE is basically flat desert, with the exception of the unnatural landscaping that they love to do. However, Oman is mountainous. It is barren, mysterious, and indescribably beautiful. Graeme took us through a very rough, gravel, rocky road to a Wadi somewhere in one of the mountains. Wadi's are dried up riverbeds where the underground water creates a small spring. We went along a very narrow cement canal path to get to the Wadi, and then we swam in just beautifully fresh water. It was wonderful!

We have been getting used to the lifestyle here. Things are done at their own pace, and it is always followed by the phrase insh'allah (God willing). This is the ultimate excuse, and if something doesn't happen, well it wasn't God's will haha. We have adjusted and even have begun to use this phrase quite a bit. We have a washer here in our apartment, but there isn't really a need for a dryer (though it would be nice). We usually take it up to the roof, and our clothes will have dried in less than an hour. It's amazing how dry the air is here. We have found a fruit and vegetable market that we love. We can go there and get 90% of our fruits and veggies for the entire week for less than $6.00 (oh, and most of it is locally grown)! Most of the food here (except for our imported goods) have 0, let me repeat that, 0 preservatives and additives. I never really bought into the whole organic concept back home, but I think you can really tell the difference. Things taste better and we feel a whole lot healthier. The only downside to this, though, is that we make multiple trips to the store a week because food expires rather quickly...

Chris and I also bought a car. When we arrived, we thought we wouldn't need one, but after living here about 3 weeks, we decided it wasn't an option. The taxis were sometimes hard to come by, and when we did ride in one, we mostly feared for our safety. They rarely had seatbelts, they drive like banchees, and well, they smelled. The last taxi ride that we took, the driver actually told Chris to buckle up, and it's a good thing he could (no seatbelt in the back for me). We had one crazy ride back from the licensing bureau to our home... Needless to say, we are happy to be writing this blog right now.

Well I think that's enough ranting for today. Though Chris isn't the writer in this partnership, he sends his love and will post something soon! Love to you all. We will write soon...

insh'allah.