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.
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| 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.
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
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
