"And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years." -Abraham Lincoln

My Classroom

Life is good! The kids have come to school and i'm loving it! These past two weeks have been easy because kindergarteners only come to school 8-10 the first two weeks, but it's been great spending time with the little ones (even if we can't understand eachother!). This week we have been planning to actually start teaching on Sunday and I'm REALLY looking forward too it! This week they learned how to say "September" in English and are really improving on their days of the week and counting in English. It's the little things like that that make a teacher happy!

The Unibomber after a slight rear ended

   Got into my first overseas fender bender! I got rear ended while waiting to merge onto a Rotary....everything went very smoothly and could have been SO much worse but the unibomber is no more and I now have a white Chevy Aveo that I like much better (everything happens for a reason right??)
   SOOOO many exciting things coming up! Spending this weekend in Abu Dhabi for the first time since I've moved to Al Ain and I can't see it being anything but amazing. The following weekend I will be staying with Kirsten in Dubai for one night then staying at the Palms Atlantis in Dubai for the DXB Beach Festival. October 20th we are spending a weekend in Oman doing the "Beach & Wadi Tour" http://sunsandtour.com/HolidayInOmanMountainCrossingOmanWadi2DayTours.htm
THEN November 4th-12th I will be in IRELAND with Colleen for the week!! I have always felt like a fortunate person, but feel more for fortunate than ever right now.
   Did have a moment of home sickness last week, though, when we had a little scare with Liam. He is home and good now, but not being home during that time really hit me. Thank goodness for Skype! Seeing him on there and smiling made me feel a million times better :-)
   Well that is all for now! Enjoy your weekend all (my weekend starts tomorrow)!!!

    <3 Love and miss you all!

Oh and check out this panoramic view my friend, Jason, did of the desert safari we all went on last month http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=7dfdc43a-e03c-49cc-81c5-bf1b93b8e8ce

My Al Ain Apartment

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onQ4vZjWR4A

Heading further east



The Unibomber

Made it to Al Ain! Colleen drove me here on Monday and the first week has been pretty uneventful, just getting the apartment set up and doing school things. All my furniture and appliances came yesterday and I love it all! I also decided to rent a car while here since I am not in the city anymore. The photo is the one I have temporarily and it is called the unibomber. It's very snazzy and you should all be jealous of how good I look while driving it ;-) A video of the apartment will be coming soon too. Though I miss AD and all the people in it, I am starting to form a pretty great group here in AA too and I think we're going to have a lot of fun together! Our life here is funny and random and I often find myself saying, "only in Abu Dhabi..." those of you living here know EXACTLY what I mean by that haha. I feel very comfortable here in the UAE and have a very good feeling about the next two years. Already starting planning my first vacation! At beginning of November Colleen and I will be meeting my Aunt Diane in Ireland!
       School starts Sunday!!! Aaah! I can't wait to meet all my little ones! My co-teacher seems very nice, but it will be a challenge with the language barrier and finding a way for us to teach side by side when many of the local teachers seem to prefer to teach seprately. Luckily, I have a great "veteran" teacher support system that includes Colleen and the second year LTs at my school. That's all for now! Will share more if/when I survive the first day of school :-)



"Every new beginning comes from some other beginnings end..."

Tamra, myself, Mackenzie, and Melissa at the
pool...appartenly I never learned how to smile underwater

Well the vacation is over and the craziness of September is about to begin! This past week has been tons of fun and a GREAT way to finish off this little vacation we've had during the month of August. Tomorrow I will be finally moving to Al Ain with the help of Colleen and going into MY school (i love saying that :-)) for the very first time to meet my principal. I won't have any furniture until Thursday and no appliances until Saturday but I'll make do! I have butterflies thinking about tomorrow...even though i'm not actually working i'm just going to see my school. I will have only Wednesday to set up then the little ones start on Sunday. Kindergarten here I come! Should be an interesting, exciting, stressful, fun, crazy year and I could not be more excited. Wish me luck! I am sad to leave the little home I have made at the Intercontinental Hotel these past three weeks (but it feels like i've been here forever) and all the people who helped make it feel like home, but am ready for this new beginning to get started :-)

  <3 Love and miss you all!