Catching Up!!!!!

So I've been bullied by my mother to start blogging again! I'll try to bring you up to speed on life in the desert. We've been back at school for almost 3 weeks now. I got to come back to a newly painted periwinkle library that I completely rearranged myself. I'm in love with it. I have a new student assistant. She's a 12th grader. Her name is Maryam (along with seriously about 70 other girls at the school). She's Iraqi-American......say what? Apparently those exist. She grew up in America and wants to go back to college there. She's so hilarious and outgoing. She does cover, but only her hair, not her face. She helps me skim the new books to see if they are appropriate. So far she's pulled out on that talked about bong hits and one that talked about getting a boyfriend. I really appreciate her help because I would have let that bong hit one slide, haha.

In other news, it was my boyfriend's birthday yesterday so I took him to a really nice bar at the top of the Address Hotel downtown. There was an excellent view of the fountains and the Burj Khalifa. It was gorgeous. Too bad I forgot one tiny little detail. He's terrified of heights! Anddddd girlfriend of the year award goes to me!

Since I haven't blogged in so long, I'll give you a list of random things that I have found bizarre:

1. Arab teachers are always coming up to me and telling me how beautiful I am (I know, right?) They always say I have the most gorgeous pale skin. I want to say "girl, I layed out all weekend!" They spend so much money on bleaching creams here to try to whiten their skin, it's crazy.

2. I moved out of teacher housing into my new apartment and I love it! It's in a little community that has shops and restaurants.

3. My new landlord is this hilarious/crazy Iranian guy. The first time I met him he looked at my American passport and said, "Americannnnnnnnn! Are you scared to go to Iran?" I said, "Why the hell would I want to go there?" He said, "Good question." LOL. He also sang Justin Beiber to me on the phone. Everyone in that office takes their shoes off when they enter the door....a fact I realized on my way out of the office with my shoes on. Oops.

4. I'm in charge of all the textbooks at school, including the Arabic and Islamic ones. I can't believe that I now know which Arabic book students need without even knowing the language. Also, the Islamic textbooks are called I Love Islam which I find myself saying all the time when talking about the books. Ironic, lol.

5. I learned that Islam is based on a kind of scale where in order to get into heaven, the good you do has to outweigh the bad. It's basically a point system.

Ok, that's it for now. I hope this appeases you! I promise to blog soon. Let me know if you have any questions you are curious about and I'll try to answer!!!

Field Trips, Pink Cabs, and Christmas Trees

Field Trips:   

I got selected to go on the 4th, 5th, and 6th grade field trip to the desert! We went to Dibba which is on the northern coast of the UAE. I felt like we were in the middle of nowhere/scary desert land. Anyway, we went to a camp where the girls go to climb a rock wall, archery, swimming activities, etc. I would liken it to 4-H camp...in a way. We took a night walk into the desert which was cool and might even have been scary if there weren't 55 screaming girls with us. We all slept in cabins (scary trailers) and even had a campfire! The camp team searched high and low for marshmallows to roast over the fire and finally found some. One guy told me it's hard to find them in the middle east because they are made with pork gelatin (ew). They finally found some that were made with beef gelatin (double ew). The girls were soooooo excited to roast their marshmallows. Several of them had never had one before! Can you imagine??? I asked one girl if she had ever eaten a marshmallow before and she said "Yeah. I had one last year at Dibba!" One marshmallow a year....how sad. In the U.S., we really take summer camp for granted. They don't have it here and the girls LOVED this overnight 'camping' experience. They even got to learn one of my 4-H camp songs :)

The girls getting ready to climb the rock wall!

The amazing Ms. Kathy who was trying to read her Kindle in the middle of 55 screaming girls.  She also personally tucked in every single girl. 

Check it out! Camels running right across the road. They were headed toward a dumpster that about 4 other camels were rummaging through....This was awesome.

Pink Cabs:  

 I just discovered the phenomenon that is the pink cab here in Dubai. There is 1 taxi company here (that I know of) and each car has a different colored roof. One day I saw a ton of taxis with pink tops, and what do you know, those cabs are driven by women only. When you call for a cab, you can request a pink one. I think this is awesome. For safety reasons alone, it is a great idea! The pink cabs exist purely because many Muslim women are not supposed to be alone with men who they are not related to....this includes cab drivers. 

This was our cab driver last weekend. She was a nice mix of awesome and insane.

Christmas Trees:

Well, it's Christmas time in Dubai! I really can't believe how many Christmas decorations I see at the mall. They tell me that starting in December, there are Christmas decorations EVERYWHERE. Yup, even in the Muslim world, you can buy a Christmas tree....which is exactly what I did this evening, along with the world's tackiest ornaments. If you want to meet some Americans, just go to the Christmas tree aisle at your local grocery store. We are everywhere.

WOAH

Istanbul was Constantinople.....I just got that.

We had a 10 day break from school and myself and 2 friends went to Istanbul. Not to sound cliche, but it was amazing! I will post a few pictures here. I'm adding all of the pictures to my Shutterfly account where you can checkout the rest (roughly 400) at your leisure. I'll make a new post with the link when I get them all on there. 

I'm so thankful that I get to travel like this. It's so crazy that I went on a trip to Turkey in the middle of the school year. It was a nice escape from the heat. Oh, and they have trees there. I missed those guys. 

The city of Istanbul is separated by the Bosphorous. Half of it is on the European continent and the other is on the Asian continent. That's pretty impressive when you think about it. We crossed the only bridge in the world that connects two continents separated by water. Not too many people can say they did that! There are stunning mosques everywhere. The oldest one, the Aya Sophia, was first built in the year 300 as a church and was later converted to a mosque. We went to some palaces...one of which had a 4.5 ton crystal chandelier! We also got to tour the Harem sections of one palaces.

Let's get a little education on Harems (ha). Harems are groups of women including, but not limited to wives, mistresses, daughters, concubines, etc., Most Harems today contain only wives and children.  There is one right by our school. There are 4 houses in a row, each containing a wife and her children. All houses are equal, in accordance with the Koran. Anywayssssss, In Islam, the word Haram means forbidden. Some of the Haram things are pork and alcohol. The word Harem comes from the word Haram, meaning that a man's Harem (or group of women, whatever you want to call it) is forbidden or Haram for another man to touch. Confusing, I know.

Soooooo, whole entire areas of palaces in Istanbul were housed by the women in the Harem. These areas were guarded and serviced by Eunuchs....castrated men. Wow, look how much we've learned! 

Ok, here's a few pictures.

Blue Mosque (The tiles inside the Mosque are blue. Those blue tiles are all over the city, in palaces, in mosques, etc.

Basilica Cistern: The largest of 100s in Turkey, built to capture and store water for the city.

Medusa Head in the Cistern

You're looking at the coffins containing the Sultans! Incredible! You can see the signature Ottoman blue tiles in the background.

Inside the Aya Sophya. Pictures do not do this place justice. This place is unbelievable. The plaque is one of 4 containing the 4 pillars of Islam. They were added much, much later.

Aya Sophya (Eastern Orthodox Cathedral from 360 to 1463,  Converted into a Mosque in 1463 and remained a mosque until it was turned into a museum in 1931.)

Aya Sophya at night. The towers or 'minarets' were added when it became a mosque. Most mosques have 4 of these to represent the 4 pillars of Islam. The Blue Mosque has 6, due to the architect's mistake. After the blue mosque was built, minarets were added to various mosques so it would not be the only one with 6 of them. I think that's the story anyway, haha.

Inside the Blue Mosque. You have to remove your shoes!

Hallelujah, we found canned pumpkin!

It's amazing the things you miss when you aren't in your native country. For instance, I (along with my friend Laura) were ecstatic when we found canned pumpkin here. I can't find pumpkin pie spice or a normal sized cake pan, but let me tell you, that pumpkin made my day. There are a few real pumpkins at the store, but they are expensive! I love seasons, and well, there is only one here and it's called HOT! Actually it's starting to be really nice here. The mornings and evenings are in the 80s and there's a nice breeze for a change. Lovely. I've been using the rooftop pool more...which is awesome.

It may be 399882 degrees in the summer, but dang the fall is nice!!

Anyway, my friends Todd and Laura graciously hosted a Halloween party and let me tell you. Laura doesn't play around.

Laura and I

I thought he was Indiana Jones. Apparently he's an Indian Johnny Cash

AAM Ladies in their best Halloween gear

I am starting to see Christmas candy in at the store, and apparently Ikea has its Christmas decorations out. I've heard that the malls decorate for Christmas also. This is obviously bizarre in a Muslim country and don't worry, I'll be sure to take pictures.

Another random thought....The nail salons have to be completely covered from the outside in case men walk by. There are bare legs in there for heaven's sake. I'm adding a picture of the one I usually go to.

No one is looking in there!

Sandance

I have to say that one of the best.....if not THE best thing about living in Dubai, is the fact that my social calendar (everyone's social calendar) is always full. All anyone ever talks about is what brunch they are going to on the weekend, where they are traveling over break, or where they are eating dinner that night. There is just TOO MUCH to do here. It's insane. This past weekend I went to Sandance, which is a music festival on the beach at the Atlantis resort on the Palm island...you know, the PALM! It was amazing. The Fray was the headliner. Anyway, I still think it is bizzare that I am a caucasian, American woman, living in a Middle Eastern country, and I still have so much freedom and flexibility in my life. I can basically do whatever I want....which is not how us Americans view life in the Middle East. Sandance was a great experience, I got to see the Atlantis and meet more random people.....everyone's favorite past time in this town.

Random Things...

I wanted to do one post about all of the random things in Dubai that don't really deserve their own post....so here goes.


Malls: I live in Al Warqaa 1....a suburb of Dubai. Basically, I live out in the desert...no grass...no trees...just sand, mosques, and malls. The malls here are MASSIVE. The Dubai mall actually has golf cart taxis inside for people to take around the mall. It also has a skating rink, aquarium, and entire souk, and every store you've ever heard of. It just got a Cheesecake Factory! I've been to Dubai mall once, and literally the only thing I bought there was milk, haha, no kidding. Every mall has a supermarket, bank, pharmacies, really everything is located in the malls. It's one stop shopping at its best.

Aquarium at Dubai Mall

Inside Dubai Mall

Ice Rink in Dubai Mall

Lots of grocery stores have pork shops for us expats like myself. Notice that the sign says "Not for Muslims."

Driving: I rent a car and split it with another teacher. Driving is pretty ridiculous here. You have to do a million u turns to get anywhere and there are millions of roundabouts. I can get to school on the highway....but I can't get home the same way. It's insane. I once exited the mall at the wrong place and had to drive about 15 minutes to another mall to turn around. That's just the way things are. There are speed cameras everywhere and you are supposed to go online, see what tickets you have, and pay. So far I've been afraid to check.

Food: Whatever you want, it's here. Dubai is such a multicultural place, that everyone's needs are pretty much being met. However, there are many American items that you can't find in the grocery stores.

Weather: There is none. I miss fall. It's still 100 degrees here, but it is a lottttt cooler at night now with very little humidity. When I say a lot cooler, I mean it's probably 85 degrees, which feels awesome!

Coffee Shops: Coffee shops are huge here. In Mirdif City Center, the mall by my apartment, there is Starbucks, Caribou, Costa, some English coffee shop, and a couple others that I don't know the names of. The local men especially like to sit and drink and talk for hours at these places. The sad thing is that most of the coffee shops don't open before 9 or 10 am. Can you imagine if Starbucks wasn't open for people to go to before work in the US? It would be sheer pandemonium. There's a Dunkin Donuts on my way to work, but the freaking place doesn't open until 10. Tragic.


Sorry for the rambling about random things. I'll try to do better next time :)

Dubai Brunch.....Genius Concept

Ever since I arrived in Dubai, people have been telling me that I had to go to a brunch. I thought, awesome, I freaking love brunch! Little did I know that a Dubai brunch is practically a whole day event. Almost all of the hotels have brunches on Fridays. (Keep in mind that we work Sunday to Thursday here. (Awesome on Thursday.....not so awesome on Sunday :) ) Anyway, you have to prepay, reserve a table, and brunches can range anywhere from $50 to $200 and up. I did a $50 one, which was really delicious, and the engagement celebration for a teacher I work with.

Basically, girls are dressed to impress. We're talking going outtttt dresses, heels, etc. This is probably a good idea since most people go to Brunch at noon and stay out all night and well into the next morning. I'm not there yet, but I have no question about my abilities....

I added some pictures of the brunch and can only describe it as a freaking crazy night club with amazing food, all you can eat...and drink.....during daylight hours. It's a weird concept, but I dig it. I imagine it being somewhat similar to a UVA tailgate, hahaha.

People literally do this every weekend. I met a Marine who stopped me in my tracks, yelled "American!!!" (we aren't that rare here, but there are heckkkk of a lot more Brits around) and proceeded to tell me how he did this every single weekend...God bless America. I would liken it to going to a different fancy wedding reception every weekend, in your sexiest outfit, of course. F*U*N!

Here's to my first Dubai brunch....and many more to come!!

Double Decker (Pub, Bar, whatever) We were on the balcony.

Buffet in a Bar....Awesome

Outside View

I spotted a kilt!