The work week here is Sunday to Thursday, so our weekend really started on Thursday night.  My school organized a bus to take some of the teachers to Abu Dhabi (the capital) for the evening.  We went to a Picasso exhibit at the Palace Hotel, which is definetly the fanciest hotel I have ever been in.  It is huge, I think the grounds are at least 40 acreas, which are right on the beach.  Inside the hotel is all gold with hundreds of real crystal chandliers.  The exhibit was pretty nice, but I had never realized how bizarre some of Picasso’s artwork is.   After seeing the exhibit, we went to the Marina Mall for a quick dinner and a look around.  The mall was really big, but it’s basically just like a mall in the US, so it wasn’t too exciting.  (Sometime I want to go to the mall in Dubai with the indoor ski slopes.  That would be really fun!)

On Friday night, Kathryn and I had a little house warming party at our place for some of our coworkers.  Then we all went to the Rotana Hotel bar and had a few drinks and listened to the band.  (They had a few singers/dancers from Cuba or Colombia or something, which seemed a bit weird.  But they were pretty good.)  We also went to a sheesha bar (aka hookah bar) afterwards.  It was a really fun night, and it was great to get to know my co workers a bit better.

Dave had asked about the prices of things here.  It is pretty similar to the prices in the US.  There are some things that are a real bargain.  Well, obviously gas is really cheap, I think it’s $1 somthing per gallon, but I don’t drive so it doesn’t really effect me.  Also we have a big vegtable market by our house (sort of like a massive farmers market but with hawkers yelling at you trying to get you to buy from them).  My roommate and I got a ton of onions, tomatoes, green beans, okra, zucchini, garlic, nectarines, and lettuce for about $4!  (They don’t seem to understand that we don’t need 5 pounds of tomatoes etc.  Since most of the people here have really big families to feed.)

Some things are quite expensive though.  For some reason the mall’s foodcourt is about $10 for a dinner.  (It’s the same chains we have in the US serving the same food, but its like twice or three times the price.)  Also, they don’t really have hostels or budget hotels in most of the Arab countries, so it’ll be a bit more expensive when I travel around or go to Dubai or Abu Dhabi for the weekend.  (But they do have a few budget airlines, so I can fly to India, Egypt, Sri Lanka, or really anywhere on this side of the world for about $200-$300 or less.) 

The only other annoying thing about life in the UAE so far is the lack of public transportation.  None of the teachers have cars, so we have to take taxis all over the place, but there seems to be a serious lack of taxis in Al Ain.  (Some people have had to wait by the road for 45 minutes +.  And it’s about 100 degrees everyday, so that’ll get annoying fast.)  They do have buses to Abu Dhabi and Dubai, but those are really the only two places we can go directly. 

Overall, I really like it here.  And I’m very happy I came.  My first day of teaching is tomorrow, so I’ll have a better idea about what life will be like here, after I’ve met the kids.

Well, as some of you know,  I was very unhappy with my school in Korea.  I’m surprised I put up with it for 6 months, but it was definetly time to leave.  So, I was planning on just travelling, relaxing, and going home for a bit, when out of the blue I got a phone call from a recruiter in the UAE offering me a job.  (He found me, because I had posted my resume on a teaching website.)  Anyways, they wanted a teacher asap, so within 10 days of first hearing about the job, I was on an airplane headed for Dubai.

I’ve been here for 4 days now, and things are going really good.  The set up is much better than I would have imagined.  I am working as a 1st grade teacher at an International School in Al Ain, UAE.  The school is very nice and they are taking great care of us.  (Helping with my passport issues, sending cars and drivers to help us with things, organzing social events for the teachers etc.)  My teaching schedule is much less demanding than it was in Korea.  I work from 8-3, but have about 2 or 3 hours of breaks throughout the day.  Plus I have an amazing brand new apartment, and I have almost 17 weeks of paid vacation! 

I am sharing my apartment with Katherine, who is from England.  She is very nice and we are getting along really well.  As I mentioned before my apartment is massive (especially after the tiny studio I had in Seoul).  There is a big living/dining room, a decent size kitchen, 1 1/2 bathrooms, and 2 big bedrooms.  Our “apartment” bulidng, looks more like a townhouse.  It is 2 floors and is just 4 units in each building.  We have a pretty good location too, just about a 4 minute was to the mall and Carrefour (which is similar to Target or Walmart). 

I haven’t really done much sightseeing or anything yet, since I have been doing training everyday.  But I was very surprised when I arrived.  I basically live in the desert, but they have done alot of work to make it look green.  All of the roads are lined in palm trees and there are lots of flowers, trees, and grass too.  It is very clean and everything is quite modern.  (I was really surprised that it rained the second day I was here.  It was just an hour long storm, but I had heard it only rains once a year, so maybe that was it.)

Tomorrow is the start of the weekend here (the work week is Sunday to Thursday), and the school is organizing a bus to take us to Abu Dhabi (the capital of UAE) to go to a Picasso exhibit at a really nice hotel, and then a stop at one of the malls there.  Tonight, we have an event at one of the local hotels, which is trying to recruit foreigners to become members of the pool and gym.  (There are a few nice hotels in Al Ain with big outdoor swimming complexs that have the same membership thing.) Since we finish work at 3:00, I’m tempted to join one so I can lounge by the pool and workout in the afternoons. 

I haven’t met my students or had any classes yet, but I’ll update my blog and let you all know how the first day goes, on Monday.