National Day

Nearing the end of 2013 with Christmas just around the corner. It doesn't feel like Christmas here (being in the 20's and all - sorry Saskatchewan folk!) When we go into the city some stores have decorations up and we even heard Christmas playing in one store! But without the cold and the snow it doesn't feel right. (Although Justin went snowboarding at the indoor ski hill in Dubai so he got a little taste of winter). We were shocked to find a Christmas tree up in the grocery store here! It is the first tree they have had up here. I think this really shows how the community is progressing in their views towards us from the Western world. They are becoming more tolerant of our views and even are kind enough to put up a tree! The nice man in the grocery store has been ordering imported foods from America with brands we recognize. It's such an exciting time when we discover new things in there (like whole wheat wraps and Prego pasta sauce!) All the little luxuries that were taken for granted back home! Makes us take delight in the small things.

National day has just passed. What an experience! I loved being part of such pride and love that they show for their country.  The UAE only became an independent country 42 years ago, 9 years after they first began to export oil. Looking at pictures of Dubai 20 years ago shows the incredible growth. They adore their president and cars get decorated with his face painted on them. They sell pins, stickers and balloons with his face. The cities light up with national colours - with lights, building sized flags and lazer beams. It is hard to describe the grandness of it all. A couple weeks ago at school I heard my students gasp as they looked out the door, saying "look look!" "miss come see!" They all ran to the door. I was intrigued wondering what incredibly exciting person was going to be in the hallway. I made my way to the door to look out and see a large heart shaped decoration hanging on the door of another class - with the Sheikh's faced right in the middle. I can only imagine the excitement if the real life Sheikh were to walk down that hallway!

National day celebrations at school were also a grand affair! Parents came in with mountains of food, cake and presents. The children wore traditional clothing. We had a whole day of special events - that included camel riding, henna painting, traditional foods and games and a lot of eating!

In other recent events, Justin and I were invited out to my student's camel farm by his father. Some of the local emirates really are thankful for us being here and want to teach us some of their local traditions and customs. He picked us up in the land rover, drove us past the streets right into the sand and kept going. It felt like a snow drift! We came up to the camel farm. It is basically a fenced in area with about 30 camels. There is also a small shack that a "camel-boy" lives in. He was an old man who stays and cares for the camels - with no electricity or modern-day luxuries - simply a wooden shack with a blanket/carpet on the floor. Aside from that sad sight, the visit was lovely. We were able to get up close to the camels, who were all very friendly, wanting to be pet. I do believe Justin even got his ear nibbled. The camel boy had just finished milking the camel and we were offered fresh camel milk (really not my thing but wanting to embrace the experience, gave it a shot). After meeting the camels, the father brought out a large carpet to lay out on the sand. He began bringing out trays of food and coffee. They served us some delicious food which was all shared and eaten with their hands. Again, wanting to embrace the experience I really wanted to join, but the thought of just finishing petting the camels deterred me... and I accepted the spoon from the bag. He served us coffee, serving Justin first and laughing that in this culture "men go first". (Another custom I am yet to embrace!) It was a strange sight for me to see a father serving the food and setting up the food - this is done by the nanny/maid or the mother. We stayed out until the sun set and had a lovely chat. I am grateful for the opportunity!

Chaos, Love and Laughter

 

 

It is difficult for us to paint a portrayal of what a day is like in our classrooms. When asked we will often say “the kids are crazy” or “the kids are wild but hilarious”. But no reply can really describe what it is like. I’ve been recording funny moments or daily happenings to give you all an idea of what a day (or 5 minutes) in the life of us is like!

Morning

“Miss, this for you” (gives me a flower). “I love for you too much miss.”
(aww)

English class

me: “What is your favourite animal and why? My favourite animal is a tiger because it is fast.”
Ali – laughing “no miss, no fast, tiger no fast. Rabbit fast, tiger no fast.”
me: “Ahmed, what is your favourite animal?”
Ahmed: “snake”
me: why?
Ahmed: “because him eat.”
me: “what does he eat?”
Ahmed? “miss amy”

(note the difference between the boys and girls in my class)

Lunch (5 minutes and  I couldn’t write fast enough!)
“Miss, Miss, Miss, Miss, Miss, Miss”

me: “My name is not miss”

(Zayed swinging between 2 desks)
“Miss. Amy, Miss. Amy, Miss. Amy, Miss. Amy”
me: “Yes?”
“How many minutes?”
me: “4”
“No miss, 5 minutes, 5 minutes”
(2 boys dancing in the corner; girl crawling on the desks)
“Miss, miss, miss, miss”
me: “mmhmm?”
“He say for me bad word.”
“miss, me go toilet.”
me “Fares, don’t say bad words, yes go to toilet”
“Miss, miss, MISS, MISS AMY!!”
me: “yes?”
“look, look, look miss” (eating noodles by the handful)
“miss, MISS, MISS, MISS AMY!!!! Salem take food”
(student picking through garbage looking for stickers that were thrown out)
“miss, me go home?”
me: “no, you just had lunch.”
“miss, miss, miss, MISS, MISS, MISS AMY, AMY, AMY, AMY!”
“miss, he say bad word for me.”
Me: “what did he say?”
“he say for me, I am his brother.”
Me: “That is not a bad word.”

Later in english

(amidst the loud chaos of my classroom all of a sudden it goes dead silent)
“eeeeeeeeew”
(whisper, whisper, whisper)
me: “What?”
(Rashed points to the screen – picture of a pig has come up in their phonics game for the letter i)
me: “click next, we don’t do that one at school”
Rashed (clicks next)whispers: “yuck, yuck, yuck”
(insert 26 disgusted, shocked little faces)

(FYI – pigs are “haram” in this culture – against their religion – look it up! My kids still are outraged that the alphabet book they got from the library has no letter P page in it)

Mid-day email from our principal

“Dear All,
 We have just been informed….yes…right now….that TOMORROW at NOON, we must have a FLAG DAY ceremony as it’s Flag Day in the UAE tomorrow. This is a notice received from the government so we want to make it nice, even though we only have short notice.”
(just another day in the UAE – if you thought I was laid back before, wait until I get back – deadline? What deadline? 2 days notice to have report cards done? No worries!)

 Science

“miss, miss, MISS, MISS AMY!”
me: “yes?”
“miss, umm you know Fares?”
me: “yes, I know Fares”
“he cut hair for her”  (they mix up their pronouns – Fares is a boy)
me: “what do you mean?”
“he cut hair for her. like this” (shows me cutting hair with hands)
me: “Fares, did you cut your hair?”
Fares: “no, no, not for me, me no do it” (with cut hair stuck to his lip)
Me: “Fares, go wash the hair out of your mouth. And give me your scissors”

Journal Writing

Me: “What are some things that move?”
“a truck”
“a car”
“a train”
“a bicycle”
Haind: “a banana”

Later in Social

Me: “How does your picture show you being kind to your friend?”
Ateej:“Him fall down. Him cry. Me go and say you no cry”
Danh:“Him eat ice cream and I eat ice cream”
Moza: “He say I don’t know and I go and I help him in him book”
Haind: “Banana”
 (I think this is her favourite word)

End of the Day

Another day down (including 4 preps) and I am exhausted. These kids are consuming of all of my energy. Leaning on the door as they are leaving for the day, wishing they would just be gone already so I can sit down and have a moment of peace and Rashed turns around and blows me a kiss, Sawada grabs my hand and kisses it and Maitha grabs my face- pulls it to hers and kisses my cheek while telling me she loves me. In that moment it is all worth it. Beyond the chaos and craziness these kids are full of enthusiasm and love. And then Salem karate chops my hand and runs out the door…

 

Culture Shock

Since my last post life has been a whirlwind - between school, sightseeing, socializing and trying to squeeze in date nights with my main man!

The first day of school was a shock to my system. I went in armed with all of my plans and ideas, smiling and bright-eyed. Fast forward to 4:00pm and you would find me sitting on the bus home, exhausted, frazzled and silent - with no words left to say. Everything I thought I knew about classroom management and about lesson planning got thrown out of that bus window on the ride home that day. The students here are full of energy and are lacking proper parenting with healthy meals and bedtimes. Combine that with the fact they don't understand half of what you are saying to them and it makes for a very difficult transition. Saying that, after week 1 with many trial and errors I got things figured out! Simple things like talking in short sentences, using a lot of actions and pictures while speaking and using a lot of movement and fast paced lessons have made for great days with my new students. We are going into week 5 of teaching next week and my student have won over my heart completely. They have learnt that I don't respond to "miss, miss, miss" even when they say it 30 times and I have learnt that they love to dance to the "hokey pokey". They have learnt that it's not okay to stand on chairs or run across the classroom and I have learnt that they think it's hilarious when I try to speak Arabic. They have learnt that my favourite colour is green and I have learnt that I now have a class full of kids whose favourite colour is now green. They have learnt that I was sad to say goodbye to my family in Canada and I have learnt that they too have said goodbye to many fathers who they don't often see. They have learnt that in English we write from left to right and I have learnt that in Arabic they write from right to left. They have learnt that they should bring fruit and vegetable to school for snack time and I have learnt that when I bring an apple in for snack time, they will all have apples for snack the next day.

The kids love to please and they work really hard - maybe harder than grade 1's should have to! They are learning in both Arabic and English. I have had to find ways to channel their energy into fun learning activities and I have had to set extremely high behaviour standards for them but things are all working out. They are absolutely adorable and they make me laugh everyday. The girls kiss me on the cheek and they love to tell me they "love me times a million". The 3-4 preps I was so happy to see on my schedule are there for a reason - this job is difficult! And while it's great to have a team of grade 1 teachers who all share in the planning, if it weren't for that combined with our preps, we would be exhausted! The school has really high expectations of the teachers (understandable when parents are paying 20,000 a year in tuition!). We have team leader observations, subject specialist observations and random principal visits (that are never scheduled ha). Our school is in the process of being accredited so that adds to the expectations and puts everyone a little on edge. We also had an open house one evening last week. There was a separate time for mothers and fathers since a lot of the females wear full albayas when they are in front of men. It was definitely slightly intimidating when a group of females walk into your classroom and all you see is black. Once in the classroom the moms will take the albaya off of their face so I can see them. They are always beautiful and very well put-together. That is a preconception that I was completely wrong about! I imagined them to be plain, quiet and reserved. They are anything but! They love to joke and tease and they have big personalities. They are very loud and opinionated and their conversations often sound like they are in an argument.Under their albayas they are often wearing glitter, glam and beads. Their shoes are no doubt designer heels. They purses are often Prada and Gucci and I will bet they aren't knockoffs! They are full of makeup and perfume and they love to talk about fashion. They are also extremely welcoming and giving.

While in a ladies only salon (a lot of places are ladies only - ladies have separate lines at the grocery store, separate ATM machines etc - which is wonderful for not having to wait in line!) we met an Emirati woman who was getting married the next day. While her English was minimal and we had a hard time conversing she was friendly and wanted us girls to come to her wedding the next day. We got all dolled up and borrowed some fancy dresses from a friend. When I say we showed up underdressed that is an understatement! The women were in full-out gowns. I felt like I was at the Oscars. The wedding was females only so they were not wearing albayas. They had diamonds and hair that was professionally done. They had servants walking around spraying everyone with perfume. The hall was unlike anything I have ever seen. It was fancier than the nicest club I entered in Vegas. Everything was gold or diamonds. We were waited on all night with at least a 10 course meal. We were served tea and coffee (as Muslims do not drink alcohol). At five minutes to 10pm there was a buzz that the bride was coming soon. All of the women covered up with their black albayas. It felt like we were the only 5 uncovered in a sea of black. The bride walked in, escorted by a group of men from her family. They danced up the aisle and Arabic music was playing. The bride, Shamsah, was dressed in an exquisite, diamond studded gown with 4 women walking behind her carrying her train. She walked up the red carpet and onto the stage where she posed for picture after picture (none of which she smiled for). At midnight the groom arrived with a group of men. They came in throwing handfuls of money as they walked up the aisle. Onstage he sat on the couch beside Shamsah without looking at or touching her. They were greeted and kissed by many family members, pictures were taken and they walked off the stage and out the doors (while the men continued to throw handfuls of money). It was a rare and eye opening experience. While it is very different than our marriage ceremonies at home, it was beautiful in it's own way - I am learning that the traditions of the people here are fascinating and they reflect the loyalty and honor that they have for their family members and for their god.

Aside from school, salons and weddings I have been spending my time making memories and having fun with some wonderful people that we have met since being here. We play sports after school - volleyball and ultimate Frisbee are played weekly. The competition is always fierce - so fierce that I injured my thumb and have been unable to play for the past week! I do yoga and have painting get-togethers with some girls who are interested in that as well. We have been to Abu Dhabi and Dubai to go out on the town. The people we have met have been my favourite thing about our trip so far. They are open-minded, outgoing and fun-loving people! While it's either that or the shopping, buildings and nightlife in Dubai - it's a close competition!

J-Rock in the UAE

Well after some harassment I am making my writing debut on the blog tonight. My skin is tingling with excitement. Well since Amy's last post not much has changed... Just kidding!!! We are just starting our third week of teaching with the lovely darling students. This is a good place to start, the students since well were here to teach them. My first day I was in awe of the whole atmosphere at the school. They are hourly putting a smile on my face with their behaviour and language. They have a real tough time keeping their hands to themselves. The students love the word Mista... Mista, Mista, Mista, can I goto the bathroom I have heard about 75 times a day since arriving. I have since put in place two bathroom rules to lessen that question and the amount of water being guzzled in the room has gone down slightly. The students are very eager learners and anytime they know the answer they are very excited to show it. I have had a number of students simply run up to me at the board and tell me the answer like its only me and them in the room. Most of kids come from rich Emirati families that have ten plus people living in the home. Some fathers have more than one wife and with that a large amount of children. The kids have nanny’s and drivers that pick them up from school which is different for sure. I don’t think any of my friends had a nanny growing up.  

Alright enough of the work talk. After schools we have been playing some volleyball with some of the teachers on staff. There are three nice gyms on the campus with everything you need for sports. I have decided I am going to make an effort to be on the opposite team of Amy. She is territorial about her volleyball playing space. She is constantly telling me to move out of the way. The games though have been great they are pretty competitive and I think my skills are at about 3.9 out of 10 now that I have three weeks of game time under my belt. We have also had three weeks to also bond with some of the staff which has been really fun. The first Thursday we spent together at the 12 villas. Which is a compound made up of 12 big villas that house some of the teachers we work with. We had a fun night at Dan’s a fellow teacher at the school and leader of the grade one team Amy is on. He is from the U.S., the Philadelphia area. The girls talked and socialized. The boys played play station as our means of socializing. The first game played was the London Olympics ooooooo was I awful in all aspects of that game. I did not represent Canada well. Afterwards we played some 7 player nhl and that was alot more fun. Jason my roommate, Dan and I destroyed 9-0 and had alot of laughs along the way. It reminded me of how I used to destroy my brother and dad at NHL when I was little.

The following weekend we went to Dan’s again on Thursday. Where we talked about the 93 World Series and relived Joe Carter’s big home run that won the Blue Jays the Championship. Dan and Jason were also trying to one up another on the Jack Daniels train during the night. The next morning did not go well for Jason he spent it throwing up and did not make the trip with us to Abu Dhabi. There were six of us that took a shared taxi, which is a minivan taxi to Abu Dhabi. It only cost us 25 dirham’s each for an hour and a half taxi ride which works out to $7.00 Canadian.  We stayed at a nice hotel called the Beach Rotana resort. It had a huge pool and I was able to show off my sweet new yellow shorts I had to buy since I left mine back in Madinat Zayed... I also got to try out my new swimming goggles as I was diving for dirhams in the pool. The dirham is the dollar coin here in the U.A.E. it is silver and has a picture of genie lamp on it.  Afterwards I played some squash with the boys and managed to score a whopping one point in like three games. The hotel was so nice it had three squash courts and a nice big gym I used to get my pump on at.  Vinnie a co-worker of ours from the U.K. organized a nice supper with unlimited buffet and booze combined into one deal for the group. I just ate and ate until I couldn’t anymore. My favorite food was the beef strips. Eventually we ended up going leaving the hotel/restaurant to the Hilton Hotel and they had three bars in one for some entertainment. The entertainment being find Dan a lady friend. Afterwards we went to another bar with a sweet cover band that played some sweet Guns and Roses. There was able to show off my sick dance moves. One major difference is that people can smoke inside the bar. My clothes were discussing by the end of the night as they smelt like cigarettes. Drinks are expensive too I bought Amy a vodka cran for around 46 Dirham’s which is about $13.00 Canadian.  After returning to the hotel the hamburglar ordered a million dollar burger from room service and didn’t even eat the whole thing. Amy has yet to pay me back for that or the million dollar room service water. We ended up catching a ride back to MZ with Vin master flash and hit up the caffoure grocery it is like the king of grocery here compared to what we have. In the store we found beef, lamb brain and heart!!!!! There isn’t beef anywhere in this place just chicken and like random birds.

The other night I heard this cat meowing outside and didn’t really think anything of it. Then I heard it again and mentioned it to Amy. She opened her window and here was this cat meowing at us saying feed me. So now we have been feeding this cat that lives in a metal box behind both our villas for a few days now. I want to name it Jasmine from Aladdin. Tonight I bought food for it and we went out back to feed it and bam. There was a kitten. I forgot to mention how these cats look like they haven’t eaten for weeks. There seems to be a number of homeless cats around. I feel pretty sorry for the both of them hopefully we can feed them back to health. Amy has been trying to pet them but no luck so far. We also went to the mall tonight and that place was busy. Kids and adults alike like to hangout at the mall at night. It was weird to see groups of little kids hanging out together at the mall at like 9. But that’s how things go around here the boys play all night unsupervised looks like fun. Anyways I am done for now. The experience has been full of highs and lows for me but Amy has kept me on a good path much love to her, peace.

 

Is this real life?

September 1, 2013 - backdated due to the "insha'Allah" attitude of the Arabs which has resulted in a waiting game to get the internet!

Leaving Abu Dhabi to drive to Madinat Zayed we made our treck at the Tilal Liwa hotel. This journey consisted of a 2 hour bus ride to MZ – in a semi air-conditioned “bus” , followed by a 10km drive (which consisted of 21 painful speed bumps – to slow drivers down due to camels of course) out of the city to a hotel in the middle of the desert. Nothing surrounded us besides sand and camels! It felt like we were in a castle. We stayed here a couple of nights while they finished getting our housing ready.

We arrived for our first day of school (there’s 17 of us newbies) and were greeted by a round of applause in front of the auditorium – wasn’t expecting that entrance! Very embarrassing for this girl. I was shocked to see the number of staff at the school – 150 of us in total! The staff have all been extremely welcoming, friendly and have tried to include us in their activities. We stayed to play volleyball after school with some staff members – some took the game a little more serious than others haha. It was a great way to make some friends. Getting settled in to the school I am constantly taken by surprise (in a good way-I think!) To start off, not only am I teaching a single grade class, there are EIGHT of us grade 1 teachers! Teachers work together to do the planning AND the craziest part – the planning is already done and put up online by the other teachers! I can’t wrap my head around this. Second surprise – I only teach 4 subjects, leaving me with 17 preps every week! One day I get a 3 hour chunk as a prep. Third surprise – we each have our own teaching assistant (mostly Pilipino women) to help us with anything we need. My TA already had my class decorated for me and asked for a checklist of jobs to do for this week. I will never have to hang anything up myself! Fourth surprise – all of the staff hired to help out! There are numerous discipline masters to take care of major behaviour problems in each area of the school, a photocopy person to do all of your copying, science lab assistants to set up and clean up all of your experiments, security guards posted at every bathroom to monitor bathroom behaviour and keep the kids safe, subject specialists to help with every subject area I will be teaching, maintenance staff to hang thing up in our classrooms, a “coffee” girl etc etc etc!

Moving into our new housing has also felt like a dream. We live in a newly built villa complex. Lindsay and I are in 1 and next door is Justin and Jason. We have our own rooftop overlooking the desert; we each have our own massive bedroom and our own bathroom. The kitchen and dining room are much too large for 2 people. I have a feeling this is the nicest house I will ever live in so I am soaking up every moment! Our villa complex has a watchman who lives in a little villa at the gate – he takes care of anything we need. He comes around to turn on our outside lights at night and turns them off in the morning for us. I kind of feel like I am a fraud living this extravagant life at any moment someone is going to point out that I’m just a poor teacher from small town Saskatchewan!

The sunrise

The Heat Wave

All of you that know me well know I'm a girl that loves the heat. I could spend my days in the sun, on a beach, and die a happy girl. But this is heat to a whole new level. Walking out of the airport it felt as if a heavy blanket of still air was wrapping around you. Instant clammy skin and damp hair. This is not an enjoyable heat! The drastic difference between the cold air conditioned buildings and the heat outside causes my sunglasses to fog up instantly. So on day 1 we were off to cool off and have a refreshing dip in the Arabic Sea - never expecting the water to be so warm it felt like you were taking a warm bath! We quickly found a shaded palm which made the temperature almost bearable. Once used to it, it wasn't so bad - can't complain when you're walking on silky soft sand that almost melts under your toes, surrounded by turquoise water and a 5 start resort in the background.

Arriving in Abu Dhabi with our 2 Canadian friends we were feeling anxious and unsure about what to do. Three of us were immediately directed to a gate titled "eye-scan". An Arabic man pointed to a chair, aimed a green dot at my forehead and then pointed to the door (all the while talking on his cell phone). Justin, being the only one without his working visa was pacing back and forth in the immigration line, unsure of where to go or what to do - surely looking nervous and suspicious (not a great way to enter immigration)! Luckily, despite all of this, we were quickly sent through immigration. Feeling confident and happy to be through we started to walk through the arrival gate - where my large mound of suitcases (were 4 suitcases really necessary?!) knocked into a large metal garbage, sending the lid flying and the garbage teetering over to make a large crash. I looked up to see a small group of about 50 chauffeurs, standing and waiting with arrival signs - way to make an entrance. I'd also like to mention that during this moment of colossal embarrassment Justin had quickly continued on his journey a mile ahead of me!

Arriving at our hotel left me quickly forgetting the embarrassing moment at the airport. The word extravagant doesn't do justice to the buildings here - especially our hotel. A lady playing a harp in the lobby, marble floors with colourful and elegant decor. More surprising however was the lobby bar, with women dressed in strappy dresses drinking fancy cocktails and groups of Muslim men and women lounging with smokes in their hands. Even more surprising was the poolside bar, blasting top 40 hits and the lady tanning in her g-string bikini. This does not feel like the Abu Dhabi I had pictured in my head! While there are still many women wearing full burqas, covering everything but their eyes and there are some women wearing burqas with their faces showing - I don't feel as foreign here as I thought I would. It is a mix of many cultures and many people. None of which have made me feel uncomfortable or out of place.

Coming here as a female I was expecting to be treated differently than in Canada. And I have been -  but not how I predicted! I have been treated with more respect and chivalry than I would expect from the men at home. At our first restaurant the waiter stated that all of the women around the table would be served first, prior to the men. This later reversed when he brought the bills and handed them to all of the men - joking that "now it is the man's turn to go first" :) Later on while sitting on the marble floor of the school lobby (trying to cool off on the marble) as we waited to meet with HR a couple of men walked out of their offices. Appalled that we were sitting on the floor they kindly offered to bring us chairs. Despite our refusals, they quickly rolled in some chairs for us - to which Justin quickly jumped up to claim one. The man stopped him, stated "no - women first here". Ahhhhhh - I could get used to this!

It is now 7am in the morning, a mild 30 degrees (soon to be 42) and I am sweating profusely on my balcony. Jet lag is still kicking in and this girl was up at 4am - not fun. Although, I would say this is the first time in my history that I can recall watching the sunrise. And the view of the sun rising over the Arabian Sea makes me wonder why I haven't moved here sooner!

"She couldn't wait to get going but wasn't quite ready to leave..."

This time next week and I could be writing my first post from Madinat Zayed! For those of you who are unsure, Madinat Zayed is a city in the United Arab Emirates. It is 1.5 hours inland from the coast of Abu Dhabi, in the middle of the desert! It is in the Middle East and is a Muslim country - where the language is Arabic, the religion is Islam and the woman wear abayas (which covers the whole body except the face, feet, and hands)!

Feeling sad and emotional about leaving(poor Justin has to deal with an even more emotional Amy) but am so anxious to start this new chapter in my life. I can feel in my heart that I am on the right path in my life - this is one step in my journey and I can't wait to see where this life will lead us in the next few years.

"So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, which may appear to give one piece of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences and hence there is no greater joy that to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day, to have a new and different sun."

One may call it a fear of growing up, a restlessness or even a lack of responsibility - but I call it a search for a richer and deeper life. I want to see the world, I want to experience new cultures, I want to meet new and interesting people that can enrich my life with their thoughts and views, I want to live a life outside of my comfort zone -  a life that encourages risk taking, I want to try new foods, I want to learn new things, I want to make the most out of every day that I am living. My soul is not content with living the life that is expected from so many of us my age - so I am okay with my uncertain future and my big leap of faith because I know that the rewards will far outweigh any struggles.

In saying that, not everything is uncertain. I am so happy to have my main man as my partner in crime as we start this adventure together. Stay tuned for news on our arrival in Abu Dhabi as I will be posting as much as I can about life in the Middle East - the people, the food and of course, the schooling!