First Day of Work/Free Wyclef Concert!

I split a cab with two other teachers to the town of Bani Yas (about 25 mins drive from Abu Dhabi) to report to my school. The total cab ride was 75 dirhams one-way (about $20 US) so I only had to fork up $7 for my third of the costs. We had a little difficulty finding my school but a polite bus driver gave the cab driver the confusing directions. The town of Bani Yas seemed to be somewhat run-down, but the school looked nice from the outside when we arrived. I got there a little early so the principal wasn't in the office. The first person I ran in to might be one of the craziest people I've ever met. His name is Hector and he ended up being the head of faculty of the English/Literature department, with which I will be working. He informed me to follow him to assembly, a time for teachers/faculty/students to greet each other. Because of the Eid holiday, few students came to school. I was introduced to other faculty (all men) and every one greeted with so much professionalism and warmth. Indeed, this is the way of the Middle East. An observant person, I watched closely how Mr. Hector greeted and was greeted by others. Every one seemed so excited to see him as if they hadn't seen each other in ages. Some gave him a prolonged handshake (lasting a minute or more), some gave the traditional Islamic hug (greeting with hands and then kissing the cheek three times of the person they were greeting), or even a full two-armed hug. All of this struck as peculiar because I have never witnessed such endearment. Some men even touched noses as if they were going to kiss each other's lips. I learned later that this was the traditional Emirati greeting between natives.

After assembly, Mr. Hector gave me an informal tour of the school and my office workspace. Mr. Hector began to give me the ropes and make me a part of the family. He has a light-hearted personality and is very down to Earth so I am confident that it is going to be a good fit I was informed that I will be taking the place of a teacher that will be out for a few weeks due to a medical situation. The students are currently working on some end of term projects so it will most likely be a fairly easy transition form me. We were invited by the principal for a traditional Arabic breakfast in the teacher meeting area. I was overwhelmed with the various foods to be eaten by hand and without a plate over three long tables. There was humus, falafel, goat, pita bread, vegetables, and much more. This form of eating forces people to commune together. It seemed somewhat unclean to me at first to watch a man tear away from the goat with his bare hands. I continued to tell myself that this a different culture and after doing so, I was not thrown off at all. I "dug in" like everyone else.

After work, I went out with the teachers in the English department for expressos. The teachers were a diverse group from Algeria, Arizona, Texas by way of Vietnam, and Columbia. Later on that evening, I met with Hector and we went to the Corniche (beach of Abu Dhabi) for the first day of "Beats on the Beach" with Dj Bliss and the feature act of the night, Wyclef! He performed classics from The Fugees like "Fugee La" and "Ready or Not". He also did joints from "The Carnival" album like "Gone 'Til November" and some other hits like "911". He refused security's request and jumped in to the crowd claiming that he knew martial arts in case someone tried him. He also brought break dancers on stage and even took a shot at doing some b-boy moves himself. His charisma shined on stage with no help from a rap crew, just him and his deejay. After an hour plus of vibing with the crowd, he had to end the show. He said that he would not come again and take the country's money if they did not allow him to do a four hour show! Now, that's a performer! I couldn't believe that all of this was free! It gets better because J.Cole is free tomorrow!

Here is a picture of my high school!