Hello! I finished my first week of teaching..... alive-it went amazingly well. I am actually REALLY appreciated here and feel I have so much to offer the Arabic staff I am working with. They are so happy to have us here, its going to be an amazing experience. I have wonderful LT's(Licensed teachers) who also are in my building, there are 7 of us in all. We then have 12 Arabic teachers as well, 6 teaching KG1 and 6 teaching KG2, which is where I am. I have a Arabic co-teacher each day. So we teach in English and Arabic. I was not so sure about how I would like that, but I think it will work fine. I was alone with them yesterday, as one of the teachers I work with had to make the drive to Abu Dhabi for a meeting. So, it was interesting by myself, they talked to me like I knew exactly what they were saying, quite cute! I had lots of hands on things like play doh, computer games and my Aqua Doodle water mat, OMG they LOVE it. I need another brought over when my parents visit! I dont think they had ever seen one. My classroom is stocked very well. There is room for some improvement, but all in all, we have what we need. I really do love my classrooms. As of now, our school needs 5 more teachers, they will not get them, so they have split two teachers between the 6 KG1 classroom(3/4 yr olds) and then I have 2 classrooms of KG2(4/5 yr olds). I am not real happy about 2 rooms, but it will work itself out, eventually. I believe the Abu Dhabi Education Council wants teachers only in KG2, so I think eventually, I will have one room! Time will tell. We have had a slow start to the year. The kids were only there from 7:45-10 this past week and it will stay the same this next week. My work schedule is Sun-Thurs. So, I have been getting home at 12:20. Not too shabby! We have staff development 4 days per week and then free on Thursday's. I will be off on Thursday, EVERY Thursday at 11:30ish, amazing, huh? I feel very spoiled! But....I am taking it for sure! I may never move back-haha!!!

Andy got his job with MUSCO this week also. We are feeling very blessed, as everything has worked out-finally! Our house is also rented to a nice young couple from Spain. They will be expecting their first baby in February, so our rooms will work perfect for them. We are very happy this has all worked out. Andy will be traveling some, within the Middle East. And even more if they decide to keep him on long term, he will become an International traveler very soon from what I gather. They will supply him with a work truck and mobile phone. They say if he does a good job in his two month trial period, he will work up the ladder quite quickly! That is GOOD news. They told him he will have to go back to Iowa a few times per year to take care of business. I will be jealous of this as he will get to see family and we won't! But....he can bring stuff back to us. We are missing a few things like LAwry's season salt, Ranch dressing, cream soups(cr. of mushroom/celery and chicken), PORK-that he can't bring back! We can get it here, but so far, not great tasting at all, not worth the money. Rydge found his SPAM, so he is a happy boy! HE loves his SPAM!

We are still in the hotel, ending week 6. It been okay, but the boys really need their space to run, to play and to just be themself. We were told we would get our keys on Wednesday night, but its Friday and still no keys! We are bummed as we have furniture in Abu Dhabi that HAS to be moved by Sunday. We hope they come thru for us tomorrow or we will have a mess on our hands. I talked to the man in charge and he said we would have them. So, we should have our home in the next 2 days, CROSS your fingers! We have tons of stuff we bought to start out with at a super cheap price! We will have a leather black couch with matching chair, 3 Queen beds, dressers, book shelves, table with chairs, dishwasher, fridge, lazy boy, one TV, 2 TV stands, end tables, computer desk with chair, desk and chair for Rylan to study at, linen closet, towels, sheets, kitchen stuff, buffet to match dining table, vacuum, etc.... We got a great deal. We are lucky! Thanks again to our friend Shari, who has been a huge asset to us. Her friends are wonderful here in the UAE! :)

We just got back from 3 birthday parties all in one. We had THREE babies turn 1 today or this weekend. Kiptynn, Samuel and Sonya. They were so cute and treated the kids to a party complete with happy meal chicken nuggets, games and free play time at Fun City play area. It was fantastic. We are all one big family now, we have great new friends, that will last a lifetime I think! I will post some pics from the party today. Rydge will be turning 4 in a few months, we will probably do the same!

Rylan and Rydge are doing great in school, they both seem to like it. I met with both teachers on Thursday and they say they are doing great, no problems. I hope it continues! :) When Andy starts work, we have a friend here, his wife is teaching who will taking the boys to and from school. I really do not want them riding the bus, they drive crazy here and they have to leave too early. We are so lucky to have JT Penner to help us out. Again, we rely on each other here and its working good. I just wish with our schedules, we could help others more though.

I had better sign off, I might talk all afternoon. We are well, we are safe, we are happy and we are BLESSED! Thank you for following our blog.

Love and Hugs from Abu Dhabi,
Abby

Play area, conference room, hallway, some of my kids(I dont think they have ever seen an aqua doodle mat!), and then our entry to the school. It is so pretty. It's all woman too! :)

Hey hey! Here we go again....more pics!!!! I love my new school!

Hallways, they are all painted so bright and colorful. This is just one picture. The other two..my classroom! It's lovely! :) More to come!

My School. I could not ask for a better school, staff of Arabic teachers, Licensed Teachers with ADEC or a nicer Principal. I am so happy! This school is State of the Art! I will have 11 girls and 5 boys to start. I will have a co teacher in Arabic, she is very sweet and opened her classroom to me...she wants me there! I have everything at my fingertips, and if I need anything, I am just suppose to ask and I shall receive! This is the cherry on top...well after the housing comes thru...then I will be really HAPPY. Thanks for following!

Abby

Abby

Rydge and Rylan's First Day of School at Global English Speaking School. They both seemed to like it and Rydge thought his teacher talked funny, she is from India! I think it went okay!

Top is PE uniform and bottom is regular uniform. PE will be worn on one day per week in place of regular uniform. We have to buy some comfy school shoes this weekend, black in color. So cute! He loves them too, so that we like! :) Happy boy=happy mum!

Rylan's school uniforms. He will start school Tuesday and so will Rydge. We think this is the best way to have some routine. All of us in school-LOL! Rydge is so excited and Rylan got to run around today when we were there paying and registering for Rydge. They told me they would keep Ry busy with constant activities. They said they dont hit, so thank God for that and they would really try hard to keep his hands busy. So, lets hope they hold to their promise! :) We want this to be a positive experience for Rylan. If it doesn't work, there are handfuls of other schools, just WAY more expensive. It is quite expensive here for private schooling. But, Ry is not a homeschooling type of kid! So, we have to roll with it. Will take Rydge's pics when we get his uniform tomorrow. Rylan only has one day of PE here in the UAE, so that is disturbing since he had 5 days per week in the states! He has a cute little uniform for that also!

Hey! We went by Rylan's school today to show Andy and Rydge. Here is a pic of Ry in front of it! Also a picture of a typical Emirate home, they are mansions, and this is just one of many of their homes, they will have several. These are set in the middle of city blocks or in the country. They are gorgeous! Also, the bus Rylan will be riding is simliar to this.

Rylan will start school Tuesday and i will on Wednesday. I have meetings Monday and Tuesday and then it all begins on Wednesday. It will be fine, I am excited, especially since I know my school is well equipped! Will update again soon.

Abby

Play area outside, classrooms and supplies and then the school!

My School.......Um Gafa Kindergarten

It looks to be very nice, the guard even took me inside, how sweet. When we went in, there were two ladies apprehensive to let us see the rooms, then a man came out and said go go go, its okay, take pictures...so we did! I looked at three rooms, there were many more, all alike. I then went to see the play area, it was very nice too. There looked to be a shaded area off the classroom as well, so maybe som ewater play goin gon out there or painting, not sure, but it will be FUN! I was very impressed and now I feel so much better. I am now excited to really start this new adventure.

Thanks to my friend Leah for braving the trek out there. I think it is going to be about a 30 min drive, once we figure it out!

Random pool picture, Rydge, Rylan and ME! The pool here is very nice for the kids. We still have not word on housing, so we are getting comfy in hotel. More later!

Hi there. We are in Al Ain now. We are at another hotel, the Intercontinental here. It's not five star like Abu dhabi, but the pool and playground make up for it! The kids love it. We are still optimistic that our furniture allowance, visa, flat keys and advance will be here early this week. Our first work day is tomorrow, so hopefully things move along this week. It's been quite slow, but we were suppose to prepare ourselves for this. I have done quite well considering my personality, but I am getting to the end of my rope! The kids just want a home, they are confused, so hopefully by this time next week, I am posting our NEW flat and all that we bought to put in it. We are very excited to start this journey. I am posting some pics of the pool here and our trip to the zoo, mainly pics of the kiddos but hey, they are the most important thing. We love our kids and they are doing well, they just miss there room to run. The zoo had tons of space last night, so they loved it! It was hot, but manageable. It is still about 95plus in the evening, but a dry heat. I am actually having to put hair oil in my hair, too funny huh. I plan to go take a look at Ry's school tomorrow, hope that goes well. Anyway, it is bedtime and we need to get there early tonight, we stayed up past 1AM last night and we paid for it today! Take care, we are good. Love from Abu Dhabi!

Abby and boys!