Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

So, on Saturaday (10/31) I got a call from a friend asking if I was interested in going to see some Formula 1 racing. Abu Dhabi just finished buiding an amazing track and this past weekend have been hosting all kinds of festivities and concerts. The tickets we got for free ended up allowing us to see the qualifying race at the new track as well as take in a concert by the Kings of Leon. Aersmith and Beyonce also performed this weekend at the concert. It was pretty cool. I honestly had no idea how loud formula 1 cars were. There is no way I would have been able to sit through the race without ear plugs. The track is amazing as you can see from the pictures. It was built on a man made island and actually has spots to dock very very large yachts right on the track. We luckily got tickets for free, but the tickets for the event were selling for around $400. I ended up going with some friends who also teach in the elementary school. Heather is closest and Laura is behind.

ACS Fall Festival

The fall festival is basically one big Halloween party for the k-5 kids. It is completely put on by the PTA, who do a really good job with it.

Halloween Party

Above are some pics of a halloween party a bunch of the ACS teachers attended. It was a pretty fun time. A few friends in the picture include Paul "Mr. Clean", Jessie (baby), Lisa (Paul's wife) was the cleaning lady, and Laura was Sandy from the movie Grease. Brad went as Napoleon Dynamite, and played the character very well:) I went as the 1967 World Champion Ping-Pong player (pretty lame, I know).

The Apartment

This is the apartment I live in, my apartment is actually in the top left window. The apartment has seven apartments in it all belonging to ACS teachers and their spouses.

The other side of Emirates Palace

This is the other side of Emirates Palace, you will notice that it is quite large and has many acres to it. The picture with the beach front is all part of Emirates Palace, so if you stay there, you have the entire beach to yourself. I rarely see anyone out on the beach. The amount of beach the Palace has goes for probably 2 miles. Just behind the beach is a huge park for people that are staying at the palace to walk around.

More of Abu Dhabi

Thes are a few shots of the main beach front of the city. Behind the picture with the large yachts, is the Marina Mall, one of the many malls within the city. The large space type needle is actually a restaurant. I'm guessing it has a pretty good view.

Climbing Around

I did a rock climbing unit with my 3rd - 5th graders and took some pics of some of the classes. The students really seemed to enjoy the unit and had no idea you could do so many different activities on the rock wall without even getting into a harness. I also put a picture up of the board outside my gym. See mom, I am somewhat crafty.

I'm Back, sorry for the 2 month delay:)

I apologize for not updating this in the last 2 months, the heat is finally starting to decrease and beginning to be nice enough to get out and get some shots. I also have been fairly busy and have not gotten around to it. The pictures in this post are around the downtown area of abu dhabi. The different beach shots were taken at various clubs in abu dhabi that we checked out during our orientation. The clubs were nice as well as very expensive.

The above shots are all of the Corniche, which is very beatiful. The main beaches are right along the Corniche and the blue tile walk/bike way goes for a few miles. The water is a very pretty and
has a very light aqua blue color to it.

The two shots above, do not do this place justice at all. They are of the Emirates Palace, which is one of only two 7 star hotels in the world. The place looks like it is out of some fantasy movie. I will get some more pics of it to show you all.

American Community School of Abu Dhabi

Here is basically the area of the school that I work at. ACS has a seperate building for the P.E. department, which is nice, this area consists of one large gym, and a small gym that has the rock wall in it. My office is in the small gym and that is where I will have a majority of my elementary P.E. classes, except when the heat subsides and we can go outside. We also have a six lane swimming pool. I will actually be coaching elementary swimming this fall. I will spend the entire fourth quarter in the pool teaching swim lessons to the students. We also have two large fields, one is grass, and the other is synthetic turf (this is the one pictured). The elementary school students have a couple of different playground areas on campus, the one pictured is the larger of the two and is between the P.E. building (on the right) and the elementary classrooms. Right now the school is under a lot of construction, so everything is very dusty and looks pretty dirty on the fields, but supposedly the construction workers will have everything done by the start of school on August 17th. I hope you are all doing well. Take Care:)