Reporting to Work Tomorrow!

I am a little envious of the teachers that will be placed in Al Ain (about an hour and a half from Abu Dhabi) and Al Gharbiyah (about three hours from Abu Dhabi) because they will not have to report to work until about another week and a half to two weeks. This is due to the fact that they have to be transported to these respective cities and be set up with housing before they can be expected to begin. The teachers that are in Abu Dhabi are already here so we will be expected to report tomorrow! The good news is that we will likely not be expected to begin teaching as soon as we report because we will still have to be oriented with regards to which grade level we will be teaching. I was placed in Cycle 3, meaning I will teach either 10th, 11th, or 12th grade Literature/Language Arts. I am placed in the Hamza Bin Abdel Muttalib School which is in the town of Bani Yas right outside of Abu Dhabi. This is approximately 25 miles from the hotel where I am staying. We will be in the hotel/apartment until they give us the keys to our permanent housing. The cab ride to my school can cost up to 100 dirham ($30) each way so a couple of teachers stationed in the same town will ride with me to help cut the costs. I eventually will have to rent a car if I cannot meet a teacher tomorrow that will allow me to carpool with them.

A lot of questions are running through my head about reporting to my school tomorrow. Will the students be able to speak much English? How will their behavior/discipline compare to my students in Atlanta? Will their needs be similar? Will there be a major language barrier? What will I teach if they throw me in a class as soon as I get there? Will I go through some sort of training or orientation? What will the principal or head of faculty be like? Will I make a good first impression? The good news is that there may only be a handful of students there because the students got the whole week off last year due to the Eid holiday. This will hopefully make my transition a lot better. Another teacher gave us introductory Arabic phrases to help us relate with the students. If I am put in the classroom, I will probably do an activity called "Two Truths and a Lie" (I think I will change the wording from lie to joke though so as not to imply that I am encouraging students to be facetious.) This is a good icebreaker activity that my students in Atlanta like. It allows the teachers and students to get to know one another by guessing which of three statements about them are untrue. While somewhat anxious, I am confident that God will not put me in a situation that I cannot handle. He brought me halfway around the world for this experience and I will make the best of it!

Just to give you a feel for how money stretches, I bought two, five-packs of Ramen noodles, two sodas, two Snickers, two fruit juices, a water, and two ice cream sandwiches for $7.90 (US). I know it's not the healthiest of items but, hey! My point is not what I'm getting but how much I got it for! We are supposed to get our pay advance on this Thursday. I have faith that it will come but if it doesn't, I am prepared to rough it out for another one to two weeks.