Dish Jenga

I like to call this dish janga

Ben and I are pretty good about doing the dishes almost right away. Side note: There don't seam to be any dishwashers in the UAE, I guess thats because everyone has a nanny or maid. But sometimes after a big meal or us both being lazy there are a lot of dishes in the sink. Sometimes I will wash and Ben dry or vise versa but other times not. And this is when it gets interesting! I like to call it Dish Jenga. How many dishes can I pile on the drying rack without it falling down. Now I haven't had any catastrophes yet, but I am waiting for the day that everything falls and all our quality Ikea dishes shatter in a million pieces on our tile floor.

But they day has yet to come and here we are with all the dishes in the sink drying nicely on our quality ikea drying rack.

Happy Friday everyone!

PE Rocks!

Since there are 2 schools at 1 campus I have been sharing an office with these characters....

Left to right: Stella, Nick (Johnny on top), ME, Jen, and Helen in the back

Introducing the PE staff of GEMS Abu Dhabi

Stella: Stella from Romania and has been here for about 6 years. She has an accent that puts fear into children but joy in their hearts. Her uncle is Arnold Schwarzenegger (kidding but hey she could kick your butt as fast as he could). She is the movement and music teacher at the new campus and loves dancing around with her 3 and 4 year olds to the song "Hey give me 5". She is a straight shooter and will tell you like it is. She was also a gymnast in a past life, we are waiting to see her tumbling skills!

Nick: Nick joins us from Thailand but is originally from the UK. His little friend on top is his 4 year old son Johnny. He had another 2 year old son (I don't believe him though, because we have never seen him) and a Wife (Emma) who is the English Language teacher. He will also be at the new campus running PE and organizing all the sports teams. He also has some sweet moves on the dance floor, as he showed off today to his KG2 class to the beats of "I got a feeling" by the Black Eyed Peas.

Johnny: Don't let those 3 inch eye lashes full you this kid will make you play hide and seek for hours! Johnny comes to school everyday to Ms. Sarah's class. He greets us in the morning sometimes slump over his Daddy's shoulder or runs in and says "chase me your a monster!". After a long day of school, when you think a 4 year old would be tired, he comes back to the gym, screaming "chase me your a monster!". Johnny really brings a new dynamic to the team.

Me: You better know who I am by now.

Jen: Jen is back and better then ever! Last year Jen and I shared the office on Najda street and it was cozy then. Now with three extra people, well lets just say its more then coozy! Jen will continue teaching PE on the Najda campus. I am sure she will continue teaching her kids sweet soccer moves and equally sweet dance moves. I do have to say we have a crazy dancing PE staff! When Jen isn't teaching you can find her kicking butt and taking names at boot camp and running half marathons all over the world!

Helen: Helen also joins us from the UK, and will be teaching PE at the new school. She is a basketball player at heart and busts out a few dance movies here and there, I think she is eager to get in the body sox (coming soon to a blog near you, the body sox). When Helen isn't making field goals on the basketball court she can be found watching coronation street on her Ipad because she doesn't have real tv yet because she doesn't have her visa.

So now that you know who all these people are I can get back to the post...

With back to school night just around the corner we figured we would have a little fun with the PE profile picture. The above picture was not our first attempt by any means! We all thought it would be fun if we did a "jump" picture. Except no one was around to take the picture, so we said "pshh we got this stack of mats and a self timer" DONE!

So there we were all ready to take our "jump" picture after the 10 second timer....

So yes as you can see we didn't get it right the first time around. I mean I look like I am about to have an accident on the gym floor.

Take 2:

GREAT! Oh wait, who is that still on the floor! Ugh Helen! Weakest link.

So this went on for...oh...about 10 mins. Until we gave up and took the very posed picture you see at the top.

Since blogger is uploading my pictures at a rate of about 1 picture every 10 mins I will not upload anymore tonight. But stay tuned for some awesome actions shots and learning about our little PE team.

We are BACK!

My basil plant! Don't mind the dirty window

Over the summer my mom and I went to a tupperwear party (yes they still have them!) and I bought this little handy contraption and brought it back with me. You put your herb of choice into it and the water bottle on the side keeps it all watered so nicely. This way I can totally forget about it (okay maybe not totally) until I need some basil, yum! I will keep you updated on how it is working.

So Ben and I are back in Abu Dhabi. Ben got here a few weeks before I did and I was delayed 5 days because of Hurricane Irene. But I got here, kicked jet lags butt, and here I am on my first day back with kids at school!

Last week we found out that the new campus would not be ready, not much of a shocker around here. Things in Abu Dhabi never happen the way they say they are, we take it all in stride. So what that means for us is that both schools are on one little campus. Now I wasn't going to go out to the new campus I was staying at the old one so it's been a bit of adjustment. So all 500 kids and 70 staff are on one fun filled campus! It's tight but we managed today pretty well. Last year I had a small gym that had foam under it and carpet. At the moment that room is storage for all of the things that can't go out to the new campus. And with lots of classes in the gym I have started going to each class and doing my lessons.

Today was interesting to say the least. I remember how tired it felt after doing the 3 year olds last year but you always hope for better! Well it didn't go horribly but they are only 3 and for that I think they did fine and I know they will get better and better as the year goes on! Today we talked about what the bell means (freeze) and we danced, ran, jumped, and swam around the room. As Ms. Tanya tried to learn all the names and who is Mohammed and who is Muhammed. Love different spellings.

Ben is doing well, he is riding his bike here and there and it hitting the weights in the weight room. No ironman this year but I think he will do some of the smaller triathlons in January and March. He has started his swim lessons and I will have to soon as well! He also plans on coaching the elementary swim team again this year, try outs start next week.

Nothing to crazy going on at the moment. Just trying to find that routine again and get back in it.

I know I said it last year as well, but I am going to try and do a better job of keeping this up to date ;)

Our Wedding in Abu Dhabi

When we got engaged in December, Ben and I both didn't want to wait very long to get married, but living here and with the busy summer we knew that wasn't feasible to have it this summer. Although I think if I let my mom plan the whole thing she would ;) love you mom

Being over here is much different then the states. Ben and I both have our own apartments and are expected to live in them because it is against the law to live with the opposite sex if you are not married. Ben and I were both living in our own apartments but after we got engaged we were ready to be together and live together. We love each other very much and didn't want to wait any longer.

There have been a few teachers from Ben's school who have gotten married here and then have a wedding at home later. We decided that we would talk to Pastor Joe (the pastor at the Evangelical Church here) and see what it was all about. Talking to him and then talking to our parents we decided that we wanted to get married here so that we could start our life together.

We invited our teacher friends and had the sermon on the beach on a Tuesday afternoon, April 26th. Afterward we headed to a restaurant bar to have dinner and celebrate. It was a very nice event and we were blessed with how many of our friends and co workers came out to support us.

We were so fortunate we could do it here but we did miss all of you here. We are still planning on getting married in the states next summer, June 14th 2012 so mark it in your calenders because the next wedding is going to be bigger and better!

We have a wonderful friend who took some great pictures and I put together a little movie. I also had some video but couldn't figure out how to import it. Once I figure that out I will also share it with you.

We love you all and really can't wait to get home for the summer. We are really missing home these days!

We are going on a picnic

As many of you know Ben is a laid back kind of guy. It takes a lot for him to get upset and with most things he lets it roll off his back pretty easy.

Well a couple weeks ago Ben got this in the mail: Thank you Nancy

When Ben plays this game he turns into someone I don't know. I don't mind that he plays video games, really I don't care. But when he plays this game he gets angry (mind you he plays against the computer). He gets so angry he does this...

And most recently this...

When Ben plays this certain video game and gets upset he takes it out on our coffee table. Now the table is from Ikea and of course you get what you pay for. It's probably good the table isn't any nicer because Ben might actually hurt his hand! So to help hide Ben's anger problem while playing his baseball game we got a table cloth...

So now Ben can bang away in anger when he looses against the computer on his game and no one will ever know. I just looks like we are going on a picnic everyday. Ohh one day we will get this house decoration right.

Tanya's Spring break in Goa India!

I would have updated the blog a little earlier about my trip to India but this week at school was crazy. We not only had report cards to write for the students but we were also responsible for ordering. Since we are opening up a new school next year Jen (the other PE teacher) and I were responsible for ordering for that new school. A large undertaking and very stressful. So it was a little crazy this week.

Then every night when I got home Ben of course had already made dinner for me since he was off this week....NOT. haha just kidding he did make dinner a couple times this week. He also went food shopping before I got home and bought me raspberries. Which he knows I love but we never buy because they are expensive. But he did it anyway, he is pretty great.

India was good. I went to practice yoga with this man name Rolf and his wife Marci. People come and practice with him for sometimes 3 months at a time. Almost everyone there is practicing for more then a week. So when I was there the first couple of days they kept asking me how long I was there and I said "just a week" and they walked away. Haha, I obviously not serious enough about my yoga...no no of course not but, I think they didn't want to go too in depth since I was leaving in only a few days. The yoga was good, I saw some really neat things, and I am glad I went

Sunset the first night

Now the beach was the main highlight. I spent all day there. I had planned on maybe getting a scooter and exploring. But the taxi ride from the airport to my guest house I decided that would not be a good idea. People drive very differently there and I didn't feel comfortable. And my sense of direction is horrible, I would have gotten lost.

Nice Waves

So my days were filled with the beach and sunsets. I had some great food at this shack on the beach called Pete's and also some traditional Indian food at a restaurant with a guy who was also practicing yoga.

My taxi ride to the airport was funny. The driver was a real character. I told him I lived in Abu Dhabi and he told me he used to drive taxi there and also Dubai, Oman, Suadi, all over the Gulf. He then told me he used to drive for Sadam Hussan. Now I am a little sceptically but he told me oh yes he did and he had many nice cars, even American cars such as a Buick. Many cars he had, my India Taxi driver told me. Ha he made me chuckle a few times on the hour ride to the airport.

I had a long flight back but finally made it, safely, back to Abu Dhabi. It was nice to be back to my own soft bed and air conditioning. It was hot there and there was no AC anywhere, only the airports.

Now that both Ben and I have had our spring breaks we are pushing through till summer. We are excited to come home for Ben to do his Ironman, to travel to Utah, planning our wedding, and going to some baseball games. And most importantly seeing all our friends and family!

It's been a while

So, so sorry for not writing in a long time! We have been really busy since we got back from Christmas vacation.

Ben is training, training, and doing more training for his Ironman in June. He completed a Olympic Tri in January and did pretty well. He had some trouble with his goggles during the swim and wasn't completely happy with the swim, but felt good on the bike and with the run. His next race will be in March and he rides his bike about 6 hours in one shot on Friday or Saturdays to get ready for it. Ben has also started softball this week. So he will be busy with practice for that after school for the next 8 weeks or so. ACS had their field day and for the first time in about 5 years there was no sand storm! It was actually a beautiful day, not too hot and sunny. He said it went off without a hitch!

I have started doing 3 gymnastics classes at my school on Friday mornings for 3 year olds, 5-8 year olds, and 10 and up. It has been a lot of fun and a great way to make some extra money (but don't tell my principal that! I am doing it only for the love of the sport ;) ), plus Ben is off on his bike all the time I needed to keep myself occupied. I also had a field day at my school. Since we don't have a huge field we had to do 3 sessions of kids. It was a long day but the kids had a blast and we had no issues! No sand storm and some of the kids were even cold when we were doing the sponge relays. I know its nothing like what you all are experiencing with all the snow! I hope spring comes soon and melts all the snow away. I know in PA it already is melting.

Some people have asked us about the wedding plans. Well, there isn't too much that we can do over here. We do know it will be at the church I grew up in, Pt. Pleasant Baptist Church and the reception will be at our fire house. My mom is apart of the ladies auxiliary there and is getting a great deal on the space. Too bad there is no fire pole :). I have looked at a lots of dresses online and found one I really like and can't wait to get back to the states to try it on. Besides that we haven't done too much. We will have a very busy summer of planning!

I hope all are doing well and I will try and make some more time for the blog! Love and miss you all!