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