I got this!

Those white baggies are camel diapers.

After a tumultuous couple months, I am finally feeling like I can handle this!

I'm getting used to the new (and often strange) protocols at work. I am getting a feel for the area and where to go for different things. I'm starting to make more than just work friends! I am far from an expert expat, but I'm realizing why people end up staying here longer than they had planned. :)

Movember

Thank goodness for family and the internet! For the last few weeks, I got hit hard with homesickness for fall, spontaneous hangouts with my siblings, my Joey Doofus Pants, the mountains and for a network of friends up for anything. Skating and running helps. Video chats with family and friends are amazing! Comfort food helps. I still miss lots of the easy Utah things, but I am finding the positives of this place and looking forward to ALL THE VISITORS!

This weekend was one of the first times I felt like I used to back in the US. I had a few fun plans with friends, but was still able to get errands and chores done - the perfect balance! Fun things of this week/weekend included:

• Beach volleyball with crazy French friends
• Meeting some camels on that beach
• Getting the gripes out with Claire at the Belgian Beer Cafe
• Eating some good Mexican food (finally found some!)
• Meeting fun friends of friends 
• Experiencing an Arab nightclub for the first time (Wow, just wow.)
• Running the most ridiculous and awful 5k ever (the Electric Run)
• More Mexican food! And beverages. 
• Hosting one of the CaiRollers (Rahma!)
• Feeling like I could actually tell her good places to go for touristy things
• Discovering German Döner can be found in Dubai



The worst 5k ever

• Temperatures are getting freaking fantastic!

Less fun things of this weekend: 

• Grading "marking" tests
• Unit planning 
• Laundry and housework
• Writing 80 different "narratives" about students
• Pathetic soreness from a 5k

In other news, I'm realizing that I need to plan my Winter Break! Where to visit?! I'm thinking Sri Lanka, Thailand or South Africa. I don't think I can go wrong. :)

Autodrome!

Short post!

Tonight was TrainDubai night at the Dubai Autodrome, where cyclists and runners and (a very few) skaters are able to ride/run/skate on the race track! I skated lots and lots. It killed me dead, but I liked it! I might have to make this my Wednesday night thing. :D

Also, sorry about my face. I skated like 10 miles, then I took the picture. Bad planning.

Dubai Mall

I've checked another thing off my list of places to go/things to see in Dubai - the biggest mall in the world - Dubai Mall!

Legitimately, I went there because of the bookstore. Some math peeps I've met mentioned that it had quite a fantastic section of mathematical reading and I have been planning to go since.

There were HUNDREDS of math books. YAAAAAS

The name of this place is Book World by Kinokuniya and it has over 2 million books in at least 6 different languages. I had way too much fun looking through math-y and physics-y books, and ended up purchasing about $175 worth of books and colored pens/pencils. So excited!!!!

After spending my budget for the whole mall trip in one go, I just spent the rest of the time wandering about and seeing the grandiose nature of the place! With an aquarium, ice-skating rink, cinema, waterfalls and three floors of stores, half of which I've never seen before (even here in Dubai!), this place was waaaay over the top!!

I didn't even go down to the main level, and I didn't do much shopping besides the bookstore (because it couldn't get better than that place!). Here are some pictures of the ridiculously extravagant Dubai Mall! (Also, the number of insanely expensive designer stores here is crazy. CRAZY!)

Yay for being a resident tourist!! :D

The Low Life and the High Life!

Just like PTCs, I'm starting good, putting the bad stuff in the middle, then ending with good again! Life here (like anywhere) is not perfect. I like to post the positives, because that's where I focus. But I think it is good to represent life as it is: high and lows all mixed up with some insanity and topped with your attitude toward things.

Some Highs:
As I posted on Facebook, tutoring here is fantastic. Rates are great! I'm charging ~$60 per hour for one student, and I'm charging ~$100/hour for two students at a time! In addition, the families that hire tutors are so well off that they have maids and drivers and all sorts of great amenities to help make my life lovely. I got an amazing dinner last night before I tutored my 2 students, and their driver picks me up and drops me off every time I tutor. It is fantastic!! I am excited to get more tutoring gigs - I can easily make more than enough to pay for my car each month and my utilities. Then my salary can go to PLAY! ...and a retirement fund....

Speaking of that retirement fund, I've got a financial planner here who is setting up an off-shore account that I'm putting in my maximum contribution toward a Roth IRA each month. Because the UAE has no income taxes, and I make <$100,000 per year, I won't have to pay ANY taxes on this saved money. How awesome is this?!??! I've never been so excited to save money before!

Some Lows:
My school, it seems, is the private school dumping ground of low-achieving, poorly-behaved, and special-needs students. Not all students are in those categories, but many are in at least one. There are hundreds of private schools in Dubai, and this school will take any student, no matter their issues. This is not the case with any other private school here, and thus, we end up with the dregs of Dubai's rich population. When I took the job, it definitely wasn't with this knowledge! But, I am going to work hard and do my best for these years to help as many kids as I can achieve as much as they are able. Unfortunately, this makes for a LOT more work than I've ever done teaching: not only am I making extra projects and extensions for my high-achieving students, I'm making individualized remedial tasks for my low students. And all this for three different preps. Yeeesh.

Derby here is tiny! I started skating with Dubai last month, but they skate on a floor that is impossible to play derby on: it is a cushioned laminate or vinyl-type floor. This would be awesome for most sports, but you can't even coast on this floor! It is really sad, since I was hoping to skate with them. But on this floor, most stops don't take any strength since the floor stops you automatically after a few feet! Abu Dhabi's league is skating outdoor on a concrete lot, which is much better for skating, except that it is still in the upper 90's with humidity most nights! I'm going to skate with them, though, until Dubai meets in a space with a floor conducive to skating.

More Highs!
I'm getting a car!!! Well, first I'm renting for a few months, because driving here is INSANE. But then, I'm gonna buy one! This rental is going down this weekend and I am stoked to be a mobile person who doesn't have to rely on cabs/buses/trains all the time. I will still use those things on weekends (for when play-time happens), but having a car for errands and school and all that will be amazing. So excited!!

My coworkers are fantastic humans. Always willing to lend a hand (or a listening ear to my b*tch-fests, sometimes), and so fun to hang out with! It makes the previous low a much easier thing to handle when you have such good support and helpful colleagues. Christine Cress, you'd be happy to hear that we can call our monthly Happy Hour by its real name, and that the ADMIN all come to this get together! (I do miss our times at Tin Roof/Guadalahonky's though.) Hilarious and awesome times are had by all!

I have my first visitor coming in about 2 months!! Wolfgang has booked his flight and is coming to see me for some Dubai life, scuba diving and then he's off for some more exciting places! I'm excited to share some of this crazy place with him and with all the other people that schedule trips to visit. (ALL OF YOU!!!)

My derby peeps are (unsurprisingly) awesome human beings. As with most derby peeps, there is insanity in some way with everyone. And the leagues have that same spark of fun, camaraderie and irreverence that I fell in love with at WRD and I'm definitely excited to skate with them. YAY DERBY!

Running here is... interesting. The low elevation is awesome; the flatness is nice. The humidity is awful and so is the heat. The fact that I'm super out-of-shape is depressing. But! There are a lot of my coworkers that run in the Fall/Winter/Spring and I'm excited to get together for a 5k with them in November! :D Gonna work on the endurance.

Bonus: Mayo-Chup could be like the fry-sauce of this place. LOL

tl:dr - Ruth Pants is crazy and busy and figuring out life as a real big kid. Also, tutoring and visitors and cars and derby and work humans are great things. 

A month already!!

Today is my one month Dubai-versary!!

Life here is becoming the new normal, with daily surprises of both the good and bad kinds:

The floors have the wrong names. First floor is called ground. Second is first, etc. Confusing!

I went to the mall (basically I go there for everything) to get some errands done, one of which was to refill birth control. In an ultra-conservative place like this, I was expecting it to be a hassle. Walked into a pharmacy, asked how I can get birth control and they showed me the SHELF in the store where it was kept. WAT. Picked up a 3-month supply and paid a total of $23 for it. This is awesome!!

Ordered some Mexican food. It was not great. :'( I miss good Mexican food.

School is slight insanity. I've now helped write the curriculum for 9-10 grade science and 9-10 grade math. These were "finished," approximately 2.5 weeks after school started. Definitely made for some stressful lesson planning, not knowing where I was supposed to be teaching for the year! New things get thrown at us a few times a day, and most of the time I figure it out in time. Some kids are great, some kids are little buttfaces, and I've got a new math "Auntie" to help me along when I need it.

I searched out and found ingredients for homemade Mexican food, and made some burritos and homemade salsa and it tasted almost like home. My stir-fry of last week was pretty spot-on, though. And the cucumbers here are little and yummy!

Still no car. Walking to the mall for errands or waiting in the heat for a cab is getting very sweaty and icky. Once my visa is all done, I can get a license and I can lease a car! Want that to happen.

Dating in Dubai is the worst. I have decided to not to. Just going out and goofing around and hating boys. It's gonna be great!

Went to skate with Dubai Roller Derby on Monday night! It was fun to be with derby girls again. Including me, there were 8 of us! They use different words for things than I am used to, so I felt a little like an newbie, just because I didn't know what they were talking about half the time. Also, the floor they skate on is awful. AWFUL. Squishy and sticky and you can come to a stop by just "coasting" for a few seconds.  But! I met a girl at work that has skated with Abu Dhabi's league and apparently that's the place to get better derby 'round here. Yay!

I still need to go scuba! Next week is Eid Al Adha, which gives me 2 days off of school, so I'm hoping to go to Oman for some diving then. :)

Got a 1 hour massage and a 1 hour pedicure for a grand total of............$50. Yep. I can get used to that!



I miss my Joey. SO. FREAKING. MUCH.



That's the end.



P.S. I love you all!!!!!!

Settling In

Amidst the stress of the first week of school, I am finding that I really like it here (so far!) and have so much in common with nearly all of my coworkers. Some things will be hard and some things will be easy, but I'm happy that I am finding a groove in a place so different from my own little Utah world.

There are sad things: I miss my family, I miss my friends, I miss my derby peeps and I miss my CCHS coworkers. I miss my doofus dog greeting me when I get home from an exhausting day at work.

But! I love the skyline here, I love the adventurous attitudes of the expats I meet, I love having my own place, I love teaching - no matter how different the kids can be, I love trying so many new foods, I love being so close to the ocean, and I love the support I continue to get from amazing people back home.

Caleva, whose birthday was on Monday!!

Wanna know another thing that is awesome? Everything here is open late; shops don't close until 10pm at the earliest and the city is bustling until the wee hours no matter what night of the week it is. On any given day, there is a Ladies Night special someplace around town where the wine flows freely and and is also FREE! I don't mind that one bit.

Oh, and did I tell you that the administration sponsors/endorses employee happy hours, a trip to Oman, visiting a water park, camping trips and sporadic brunches? Yeah. What a change from Utah public schools!

Math Department Selfie!

Science Department Selfie!

I've not had a chance to see much of the sights yet, but hopefully this weekend I'll get in a few necessary spots.

Battle of the Instant Coffees

Instead of being depressed by the prevalence of instant coffee, I've decided to put the ridiculous number of instant coffees in this place to the test! Every 2-3 weeks, I'm going to buy a few new varieties of instant coffee. Then, I'll do a side-by-side comparison, as well as individual cups over the course of those weeks. And then, of course, I'm going to record my opinions/findings. The best of each set will then be put into sets for the final showdown(s) and then I'm going to post a huge review of my personal decision about the best instant coffee readily available in Dubai. Boom!

SET ONE: 

L to R: Davidoff Rich Aroma, Casino Gold and Tchibo Gold. 

I took a good whiff of all of them today, and the Casino definitely smells the worst. The Tchibo smells similar to the Davidoff, though less potent. All still have that hint of chemical smell, though the Casino has it the worst!

This morning, I had the Davidoff, which was miles better than the Nescafe Red Cup that it seems like everyone drinks out here. It was very sweet naturally, which I wasn't a huge fan of, but once I added some creamer it was actually palatable!

This weekend will be my first side-by-side taste test. But tomorrow, I'll be trying out the Casino Gold (with Davidoff in tow, just in case it is as bad as it smells). 

P.S. I'm just going to keep adding to this post as I go, so as to not explode this blog with Instant Coffee and also to keep it all in one place!

P.P.S. SCIENCE! OPINION!

I will be using the Ruth Scale of Instant Coffee-ness, where 1 is the Nescafe Red Cup flavor (blech) and 10 would be a coffee that's indistinguishable from freshly brewed coffee (probably unattainable).

Reviews (Set 1):

Davidoff (Rich Aroma): Much better than Red Cup. Naturally quite sweet, not very acidic. Smooth, but still a slight chemical flavor. RSIC: 6

Casino Gold: Flavor is very similar to Red Cup, though a little more acidic and bold. Strong chemical flavor right off. Not the winner of this set. RSIC: 2

Tchibo Gold: A step above Casino, but still that strange chemical taste I have learned to associate with instant coffees. Fairly balanced flavors, though somewhat mild. RSIC: 3

This set's winner was pretty clear. The Davidoff's flavor was the closest to that of regular coffee, though it still had those strange hints in the flavor profile that give away the instant-ness of it.

SET ONE WINNER: Davidoff (Rich Aroma)

Bought some Colombian Supremo and had it (drip) this (28/8) morning. I don't think I can drink all this instant all the time! But I will persevere on my quest!!

Mall of the Emirates

After Ibn Battuta Mall yesterday, and Mall of the Emirates today, I'm all mall-ed out for a bit! (Though I did get a lot of helpful housewares, and I'm sure I overlooked a lot of things.)

Mall of the Emirates was like Caesar's Palace on the strip. A classier mall than IB Mall, and also about 3 times bigger! MoE is the mall with the indoor ski slope: 

Tiny luge and little buildings.

That's the slope. Probably takes 10-20 seconds to go down.

I didn't go skiing here. Seemed like setting myself up for disappointment after only ever skiing in Utah. But I did meander around (took about 20 minutes to walk from one end to the other!), and went to a a HomeCentre (like a British Ikea) and Carrefour (a huge France-based WalMart-type shop) to get more things to make living more comfortable. Tried to find a Roku for my TV, which turned out to be impossible! Sooooo I may just wait and get a PS instead of spending $ on a crappy WD streaming device or the Apple TV. 

The center of the mall had this huge train-station-like dome with skylights and ornate tiling everywhere. Much more elegant and classy than the IB Mall's crazy domes!

My coworkers are much more used to this and kept walking, so I only had time to snap one picture!

I didn't take a picture, but the mall has these ramp-escalators, which were super cool when combined with using a cart! The carts magnetically stuck to the ramp surface, so it didn't roll down the ramp as you got conveyed up or down a level. I love science. 

Tomorrow is the first day of regular inservice meetings (time to meet ALL the coworkers, not just the new-to-CAS ones)! Also, I get my class schedule (finally) and get to meet my Science department head! 

Ibn Battuta Mall

Remember how I said malls aren't just for teenagers? That was an understatement!! There are over 15 malls in Dubai alone and the two biggest are the Mall of the Emirates and Dubai Mall. And today I'm going to the MoE.

I went to one of the "smaller" malls yesterday, and it was huge! The ornate decor reminded me a lot of the casino malls in Vegas, but much more regional to the Middle East. The people there are so diverse, it is like a people watcher's dream! I have so much to learn about the different religions out here. There were probably 10 different religious ways of dress that I saw, and I had no idea which ones were which. I'm excited to learn about so many new ways of life here!

Here are some pictures of the fancy "domes" of the Ibn Battuta Mall:

China Dome (that's a ship, yep.)

Animatronic people on a fake elephant. 

More animatronic people.

In the India Dome!

This dome was like a museum! Ibn Battuta was a famous explorer here.

Egypt Dome!

Observations/Realizations so far

• Sunday is the new Monday. (Weekends are Friday & Saturday.)

• Milk gallons (still available here, pew!) have rectangular bases, not square ones. Genius.
  
  
  
  
  

• Everything feels just a little bit sticky.

That's a Smartboard! Back to my roots

• I am one of three members of the secondary math department.

• The other member has been nicknamed "The Nutty Professor."

• Still no textbooks or curriculum map for any of my classes yet. School starts in 9 days. O_o

• Produce is sold by the kilogram (no wonder it all seemed so expensive)!

• There is no stopping the Arabic subtitles on the TV. I've tried all the things.

• Sounds like an ad, but my Venture credit card is my new favorite thing: ZERO fees for any purchases!

• I miss having adventure buddies around. Getting to know people takes time, ugh. :P

I miss this guy. SO MUCH!

• Malls aren't just for teenagers anymore - seriously! They are a main source of entertainment for everyone.

• Scuba is huge with expats. So glad I have the gear and the certification!

• Wifi isn't friends with brick walls/I need another router.

• Hang-dry seems to be the way of things.

• So much instant coffee everywhere. EEEEW.

• Take-out is super inexpensive. I got dinner for 3 dollars. THREE DOLLARS!

• My residence visa needs to be done soon, so I can get on with my life! (Car leasing, liquor license, phone contract, bank account, shipping address, etc all need it.)

Getting Situated - Discovery Gardens

Dubai - First Full Day

I was awake starting at about 4 AM today. Unfortunately, I got a giant migraine headache at about 5, so I was pretty miserable until 9 ish when the Tylenol kicked in. But, it was Tylenol PM, so I passed out until 4 PM. Ooops!

Once I was awake this afternoon, I walked to a grocery store in the humid 107F weather. HOT. Most things were easy to find, just a very different set of options than I'm used to! There is a whole aisle of bagged beans and rice varieties, many types I've never seen before. Found a beverage I'd loved in Samoa - Mirinda Orange soda - yum! When I'd finished buying everything, they asked if I wanted it delivered to my apartment. I tentatively wrote down my address, and left my groceries behind to get some take-out food before heading home.

Went to The Green Chillies restaurant (lots of good misspellings here), and ordered a Greek salad, some Chicken Korma curry and something called Vegetable Hakka. It took longer than I expected, but I was feeling antsy about the delivery (since I'd forgotten what my phone number was), so it may have been a normal wait. Got my food and walked the few minutes back home. Ate some food (the Hakka noodles were yummy), and about 15 minutes later, the shop boy came to my door with bags in hand. I could get used to this!!

Things I didn't find at this little grocery store:
Lettuce - A couple bunches of wilted spinach doesn't count.
Tampons - They only had pads. WHAT.
Chili - I know, it's pretty regional, but I love canned chili.
Popsicles - With the temps as they are, I'd expect there to be some!
Tortillas/chips - Again, regional to the Americas. Oh well!
Real cheese - Nearly all the cheese is processed icky stuff. YIKES.

That's pretty much my whole day. Gotta love jet lag! Tomorrow is my first day of "work," though it is just an orientation day at the school. Since the work-week here is Sunday-Thursday, I'll have Friday/Saturday to get more house supplies, and then more meetings all of next week. Whew!

Knitting Pattern: Thrummed Spiral Hat

Thrummed Spiral Hat:

Materials:
US size 6 - 16" circular needles
US size 6 dpns.
150-200 yds of worsted weight yarn (I used Patons Classic Wool Worsted.)
1-2 oz unspun roving (I used KnitPicks Wool of the Andes Roving.)
Tapestry needle (for weaving in ends)

Instructions:

CO 100 sts on 16" needles.

Work in K2P2 Ribbing for 5 inches (folded brim) or 2 inches (flat brim).

Follow the pattern below for the thrummed portion of the hat, about 5.5 inches, depending on your head size:
Rounds 1-3: knit all sts
Round 4: Thrum Rounds as listed below

Thrum rounds are worked in a k9, thrum 1 pattern that shifts around the hat by 3 stitches each time it is done.
Thrum Round 1: *k9, T1* repeat until the end of round.
Thrum Round 2: k2, T1, *k9, T1* repeat until last 7 sts, k7.
Thrum Round 3: k5 T1, *k9, T1* repeat until last 4 sts, k4.
Thrum Round 4: k8 T1, *k9, T1* repeat until last 1 sts, k1.
Thrum Round 5: k1, T1, *k9, T1* repeat until last 8 sts, k8.
Thrum Round 6: k4, T1, *k9, T1* repeat until last 5 sts, k5.
Thrum Round 7: k7, T1, *k9, T1* repeat until last 2 sts. k2.
Thrum Round 8: T1, *k9, T1* repeat until last 9 sts, k9.
Thrum Round 9: k3, T1, *k9, T1* repeat until last 6 sts, k6.
Thrum Round 10: k6 T1, *k9 T1* repeat until last 3 sts, k3.
Thrum Round 11: Same as Round 1
Thrum Round 12: Same as Round 2
Etc.

This thrum pattern will form a spiral of thrums around the hat.
If you are unfamiliar with thrumming, this is a good tutorial for thrum making. I used a fairly small thrum each time, to keep the hat from becoming too poofy.

Decrease rounds:
Continue with the 4-round thrumming pattern, but introduce the following decrease pattern as you go. Switch to dpns as necessary.
Round 1: *ssk, k8* repeat (90 sts)
Round 2 - 12 (all even rounds) - either knit all or do the next thrum round
Round 3: *ssk, k7* repeat (80 sts)
Round 5: *ssk, k6* repeat (70 sts)
Round 7: *ssk, k5* repeat (60 sts)
Round 9: *ssk, k4* repeat (50 sts)
Round 11: *ssk, k3* repeat (40 sts)
Begin decreasing every round.
Round 13: *ssk, k2* repeat (30 sts)
Round 14: *ssk, k1* repeat (20 sts)
Round 15: *ssk* repeat (10 sts)

Break yarn and thread through remaining sts. Pull tight and weave in ends.

If you have any questions, please email, send me a message or leave a comment! Thanks!