Thursday, October 21, 2010

Cooling Down

I think we are all hopefully that it might be cooling down here in Abu Dhabi. Although some days I (Tanya) walk to school and it feels great, low humidity not too hot nice breeze. But then I start teaching and I leave my air conditioned room and it has become Hot and Humid and all those awful things we hate here. Last Friday I had a swim lesson and a cloud covered the sky, it was amazing, it cooled me off and even almost gave me a chill!

Things have been going well here! My kids make me laugh everyday. This week I had a KG2 class that were very naughty in my class so they came back with sorry notes on post its. That same day I was taking a usually naughty KG1 class into the big gym for the first time (big deal) and they were excellent! I was so excited for them, the teacher, and the teacher assistant. It has been a long time coming for them.

Today was picture day. The other PE teacher Jen and I decided it would be funny if we dressed up. Our usual attire consists of workout shorts and a colored shirt or tshirt. So we blew everyones mind a dressed up. I had my pre k kids today and one of my favorite kids comes up to me and puts his hand on my shirt and says, in a very funny accent, "Ms. Tanya I do not like your shirt, I like your other shirt better". The teacher assistants and I just start cracking up, while everyone else said I looked great, good old Noor did not like my outfit and wanted me to wear the same thing I do every day. Your wish is my command Noor, I will be in my shorts and tshirts next week. No fear!

Ben and some friends left tonight to go fishing! So expect another great post of fishing, I am expecting some great fish in my freezer!!!!

Miss you all!

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

No drug smuggling

While Ben and I were cursing around in the trooper (actually we were just going to have dinner at my apartment) we were listening to the radio. They were talking about a man who was arrested for smuggling 400,000 dirhams ($111,111). And this wasn't cocaine or marijuana it was pills. It said that the man was having trouble in his family so he needed the quick cash.

He was sentenced to life in prison! With the possibility of execution if the drugs were really bad.

Yeah we don't do bad things here for that reason. I mean we would never smuggle drugs either, we watch too many episodes of banged up abroad to know thats a bad idea.

So if you ever want to come and visit us which we would love. You all better be on your best behavior!

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Taxi Rides

Ahh the taxi ride. You never know what you are walking into when you flag down that taxi going well above the speed limit. There are many different types of taxi drivers you could run into. Here are a few:

"I just moved here" taxi driver: You get into the cab tell him where to go and he says "ugh" I just moved to Abu Dhabi, I am still new. Great, let me lead you to where I need to be. Sometimes you might strike up a conversation with the man and ask where he is from why did he move here and the like. This ride will really keep you on your toes because you actually have to pay attention. Sometimes I just like to read a book going to my destination.

"I don't speak English": This driver knows where he is going but knows very little English. You might try and strike up a conversation but it is not worth it because his English is so bad and well you don't know Hindi now do you?

"Please slow down...": In the taxi's they have a screen that tells you how much you owe, has a picture of the driver and his name and other information I ignore. But when the taxi driver is going too fast, a red square will pop up and it will tell the taxi driver to slow down that he is going to fast. Now MOST taxi drivers ignore this and just continue to speed along at high speeds while you grip the door and wonder why you ever got into this taxi anyway.

The chatty taxi driver: There are some taxi drivers who love talking to you. They will ask all sorts of questions to you and give you information about themselves. This leads me into my taxi adventure the other day...

Wednesday I finally got my quilt and picture frame from a women who was visiting Dubai. I was so excited to finally have a blanket on my bed. I also received a feather mattress pad for my bed. Another teacher moved here with it but it doesn't fit on her bed now so she was going to throw it away but instead gave it to me. It was SO large that I couldn't walk the 10 min walk home but had to take a taxi. Which seams so silly because the school is so close to my apartment but the mattress pad was as big as me. So I get a cab and I had a very chatty taxi driver. Who asked me all about my life. I don't mind talking to the taxi drivers if they know English, its actually a lot of fun at times. But this guy took the cake, he asked me if I had children and I laughed and sad NO. He said "oh you must have children soon when you are young and strong so the baby is strong. If you wait too long the baby will be frail" okay well thank you taxi man I will think about it. Then he started telling me all about his children, who he started having at 17, and why he moved to Abu Dhabi. He was originally from Singapore and had to leave because he had "many problems". I couldn't really hear him and I was getting anxious for this taxi ride to be over but he said something about taxes and how if he stayed he would go to jail. HA.

Oh taxi drivers thank you for giving me such great advice on life and getting me safely to my destination.