Great Progress at the Hamza School/Free Horse-Racing in Abu Dhabi!

I had a great start to my second week teaching at the Hamza school! My students and I formed a great relationship last week, and I am excited about how we will continue to get to know each other. Already, I have learned a few Arabic words. I hope that my vocabulary and language acquisition will grow during the time that I am here because I would love to be bilingual. Thank God I was prepared for my lesson because an English advisor asked if she could visit me for an informal observation. i gave her the daily agenda that I created and was confident that she would enjoy the class. I was right! What was only supposed to be a five minute observation turned in to a whole class period of visiting and observing some of my techniques or "tools" as she called them. She was very impressed with the free write that we have been doing and understood that this strategy not only builds fluency but also helps me to bond with students by giving them feedback on their journals and interests. She also liked my pacing in the class and the fact that I use different shorter activities to keep them engaged. She completed a great observation form for me to put in my teacher's portfolio and I was so thankful for her great debriefing and constructive feedback after the class was over.

I went home with my mind set on going to the free races at the Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club after work. Not only is it free, but visitors also have the opportunity to complete race ballots in which the person that picks the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place horses wins cash prizes. I watched six races and could not guess all three for any. I got close though. In the fifth race, I correctly chose the first and second horse but but got fourth place with the horse I chose to be third. I was so close and almost got a cash prize for choosing the first and second horse correctly. My friends and I were cheering and I got really in to it after a while! It is a very exciting sport if you like statistics because you have to pay attention to stats regarding previous races of horses, their final place, which races they are good at (depending on distance), their finishing times, whether they are better on turf, their weight, etc... I got a little goofy and started yelling out the hard-to-pronounce Arabic names of the horses. The fans in the stand seemed to be more quiet and reserved. I don't know anyone in the UAE, though, so I had no shame concealing my excitement! I'm lucky to have cool friends that thought it was funny and not embarrassing. I was impressed to see the dedication of the majority Islamic audience. When it was time to pray, a good number of race fans went from the stands and on to the field to join in prayer. It was a beautiful image to even see a young child of four or five join the men in prayer.

This outing was so nice that I think it is something that I would like to do weekly. With the races being free to the public, I think it is a great way for me to get out and have a good time with friends. On the way out of the country club where the races were held, we saw more Porches, a Ferrari, the G5 Benzes, Aston Martins, and more exotic cars. There was a weird exchange between what I assumed to be an undercover police officer and a taxi driver. He pulled in to pick me and my friends up, and a man waved me off from getting the cab as if to say back away. It was not worth the argument. He approached the taxi driver and yelled at him in Arabic. He then took the man's license away from him and sped off. The driver turned his hazard lights on and left as well. That's Middle East justice for you I guess! On the way back to the hotel, I made a mistake and left my camera and phone in the taxi. It just so happened that one of my friends was still in the car and gave it back to me. I was so excited about my day that I totally forgot. If you ever have the chance to go, please visit a horse race. You won't regret it!