My First Emirati Wedding: A Night To Remember

    There have been a few experiences since I have been living in the UAE that have blown my mind. You may remember when I went to a student's house last year, that was one of them. Last night was the other. I went to my first Emirati wedding and met me tell you my socks were blown off.

    I was invited by a coworker to her neice's wedding. The wedding took place last Wednesday night. I know that it seems strange to have a wedding on a Wednesday night since we still had work the next day, but hey when in Rome...

    I bought this dress at the mall and it was only 100$ Canadian. I love the color, it also had beads and crystals and I thought it looked super festive and very Emirati-esque.   The wedding took place at a wedding hall and when I walked it I had to pick my jaw up of the floor.  Picture a huge hall, decorated lavishly in white and silver. There were chandeliers and long tables elaborately decorated with beautiful china and romantic center pieces with beautiful pink and white roses. On the tables there were abundant fruit platters, tabouleh, hummus and pita bread. Woman walked around with huge trays of chocolates and dates. We were offered freshly squeezed juices made from mangoes and strawberries. Tea and coffee were also available, as well as water and soft drinks. 

   Before I continue, let me say a few things. You may notice the lack of pictures, that is because none are allowed. There are also no men. Many of the women in attendance were still fully covered, but many of them were dressed very beautifully in long gowns that hugged their curvaceous coca-cola shaped bodies. Now I see what they are wearing under those abayas, woooo too sexy.   The plunging necklines were laced with exquisite gold necklaces encrusted with precious jewels of all colors. I felt like I was at the Oscars. There was a stage with a catwalk in the middle of the room. A beautiful white grand piano on the stage. 

    The food was the served, rice with goat, kabobs made of lamb and beef. Curries, pasta and more warm bread. I was so stuffed and the food just kept coming.   

    The dj turned up the music and ladies began to dance on the catwalk. My coworker pulled me by the arm and said, 'you must dance!'. I am not one to decline a chance to show my moves, so I got up on the catwalk and just copied what everyone else was doing, they loved it! 

   I was told that they loved my dancing so much, that I will be invited to another wedding in the future. 

   Finally, the bride arrived. She was dressed like a North American bride with a beautiful, full white gown. The dress was right on the top with a full ball gown skirt. The sleeves were long and sheer.  Her veil was sheer and extremely long. Her make-up was flawless and she had a young lady fix her dress and her veil as she walked and took pictures.

    She carried a bouquet of roses as someone threw fresh rose petals as she walked toward the stage. Ululations (long, wavering,high pitched vocal sound resembling a howl with trilling qualities) could be heard from all the women in the room. This is very common at weddings in Arab countries.  The bride walked along the catwalk and was adored by all. By this time it was around 11 pm and time to go home. We had one more dance and then we were off.

    I had such an amazing time and I really hope I get invited to another one. 

I'm Still Here!

     First I must apologise that I have been in abstencia for so long. Life has been so busy that I haven't had a chance to write.  My friend was here from home, so between showing her around, starting school and starting grad school. There has only been time to sleep. 

     My good friend A came to visit from Montreal for eight days. We had the time of our lives.

    First went went to the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. The Burj Khalifa is the tallest building in the world. The observer story deck is in the 124th floor. Here is the stunning view. 

Selfies from the top are always a must.

     We then went on a desert safari. Many of you may be familiar with Groupons, well they have them for Abu Dhabi and Dubai. There is also a similar site called Cobone. I bought my friend and I tickets to the desert safari throught this website. The safari was about 55$ for the both of us and we got picked up at a nearby metro station in Dubai. We drive about an hour into the desert and then we went dune bashing. This is when you take a 4x4 all terrain vehicle and drive all crazy on the sand dunes. Picture a car driving all crazy up and down the sand dunes in the desert. So much fun! 

   We then got to take a few pictures with a camel as we sat in him. 

   There was also a belly dance show and a buffet dinner. 

       They next day was my big UAE birthday brunch. I celebrated at the Saffron resaurant at the Atlantis hotel in Dubai.

Saturday we went to the Mall Of The Emirates. We did some shopping and then headed back to Al Ain.

  

     Sunday, was my first day at school. I now teacher the same girls I did last year but they are now in grade 7. The funny thing is I thought that they would change up the classes. Mix up the girls a bit. No, no, all the students  are in the EXACT SAME CLASSES as last year. So that means the behaviour problems I had with certain individuals or certain combinations of individuals are still there. One thing that has improved is my relationship with my co workers. Last year, no one talked to me in my department. I swear if I was lying dead on the ground they would have walked over my body. I guess there is a one year initiation because everyone is much nicer to me this year. They actually talk to me and ask me questions. Huge improvement from last year, huge.

   The first day was pandemonium. We had no schedules and most Arabic teachers did not know what they were teaching. 

    

     I have to give a shout out to Heidi, who just moved to Al Ain. I met her last night at a welcome event and she recognised me right away. She told me how much she loved the blog and she actually made me feel so bad that I haven't written in awhile so this post is thanks to her! Thank you for reading and good luck ok your adventure! 

     

Interesting. Very Interesting.

     Ever since I arrived in the UAE I wondered how people recognized the women that were completely covered.  Abaya from head to toe and faces completely covered except for their eyes.   How did kids recognize their mom when all they could see were her eyes?  I in visioned a little kid running up to the wrong person after school and feeling super embarrassed.

     Well yesterday I had an epiphany and I got my answer. I was in Carrefour (which is like Walmart) and I saw a woman pushing a stroller. She was covered from head to toe.  All you could see were her eyes.  Although she was dressed like 70% of the women in the store something about her seemed surprisingly familiar.  We caught eyes and I smiled and she waved.  They I knew how I knew her, she was a teacher at my school.  Since we are an all girl school she does not cover her face while she is in the building, yet when she drives and is outside, she does.  I guess I now know how kids know who their mom is when they are out, they just do.

Year Two: Bring It On

      Last Tuesday I arrived back in the UAE.  I have mixed feelings about being back, but all in all I am happy.  I am thankful to no longer be living out of a suitcase and I love having my own space again. Nevertheless, the jetlag is killing me.  I am worried that I will never have normal sleep pattern again.  For example, yesterday I went to sleep from 3:30 pm-9:30 pm and then I was up until midnight and went back to sleep until 2 am and I have been up ever since (it is now 8 am).  Many of the other teachers are in the same boat. I hope it gets better soon because I am starting to feel sick from the lack of sleep.

     I have been keeping things low key since I have been back. I did go out and do some kareoke last Friday in Al Ain and I got to meet some if the new teachers. My low key status has also been due to the fact that I have no car. I should be getting one later today and that will give me more freedom to get around. I rent my car because I know that the rental company will take care of me if I get in an accident and the way people drive around here I am more comfortable with that.

    I am excited that I have a friend from home coming this week for 8 days.   I am slowly packing away my luggage and cleaning my place in preparation for her arrival.  I have booked us a visit to the Burj Khalifah (the tallest building in the world) as well as a desert safari.

   We started school yesterday and we are here for the week with no students.  Everyone was happy to see everyone and all the teachers were really nice and welcoming, maybe this year will be a better year than last in terms of my relationships with my coworkers, I guess that only time will tell. I will be moving up to Grade 7 with my students from last year.  I am happy about this because I will be teaching students that I already know. The down side to this is that it is a completely new Science curriculum for Grade 7, so I will be creating all the work from scratch. We re supposed to get a textbook but that may only come in December.  We got a new Math teacher and she is really nice, we are just waiting for the new English and Science teachers.

     Hope all the new and returning teachers have a wonderful year! 

Meeting Celebs At The Airport and Surprised in the Plane

     I was at the airport waiting for my plane to head back to the UAE when a dreadlocked man walked by playing some reggae. I looked closely at him and knew that he looked familiar. It was Luciano! I was 95% sure it was him because he was in Montreal for the Montreal Reggae Festival this past weekend. 

     I walked up to him and asked if he was Luciano. He said yes and I asked for a picture. He told me he was going to Europe to meet his band for the European leg of their tour.  I told him I was on my way to Dubai. He gave me his contact info  and I told him that I would ask around and see if I could get him to perform their.  He was super sweet.

    On the plane I got another surprise. In the Movie category there was a Canadian Movie section. One of my ex-students is an amazing actress and her movie was on the list so I watched it. "Rhymes for Young Ghouls" is a movie about how one Aboriginal teenager uses the ghosts of her mother and brother to help her fight the Indian Agent on the reservation.  I taught Kawannahere Jacobs in grade 9. She is extremely talented and I was so happy to have watched her in this movie. I know that she has been nominated for a few awards for this role. She is definitely a star on the rise. 

Back in the UAE! Cannot wait to see what this year bring. 

Summer Vacation Part Deux

     I leave to head back to the UAE tomorrow. Bitter sweet.  I cannot believe a whole month has passed already. I am happy to say that I have seen most of the people I wanted to see. I must admit, I realized how many people I actually know because I was out to eat almost every day. Straight up detox when I go back.   But I will talk more about this after. First I would love to tell you more about my summer vacay. 

    I went to Toronto to visit my good friend from University, as well as see some of my other friends who live there.   We decided to go to the Taste of Toronto food festival.

   There were so many yummy things. My favorite was the lobster poutine.

My friend's sister had a baby while I was in the UAE. I got to meet him for the first time. He is sooooo cute!

   A few weeks ago I went to NYC with my mother. We had a great time. 

We took a hop-on-hop-off bus through Brooklyn and went to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. It was beautiful, they had a Japanese garden with a pond. 

    We then went to see If/Then on Broadway. Idina Menzel was the star and it was fantastic.

All in all I had a wonderful vacation. 

I am happy to head back to the UAE because I miss having my own space, but I will miss all my friends and family. 

In less than two weeks one of my friends will be coming to visit and I cannot wait to show her around. 

I am also starting grad school so that is extremely exciting. 

Thank you to all the new readers! 

If you have any questions, feel free to ask. 

Have a great week! 

Summer Vacation Part 1

    Hello readers! I know that I have been MIA, I apologise for that but I have been enjoying my summer vacation at home. 

I would like to welcome all the new teachers to the UAE, enjoy this time, try new things, make new friends because soon school will start and that is not going to be so fun. If you have any questions or if you have been placed in Al Ain leave me a comment and we will be in touch. 

    This summer is almost over (one week left) and I must say that I have had a great summer.

   I got to see teachers from my old school and catch up with them. Some of you may remember that the high school that I attended as well as taught at for 7 years closed last June. Thankfully most of my teacher friends have found work. Our school sadly went bankrupt (it was an all girl private school) and has now been bought by another French private elementary school and will open in 2015.

     I also went back to hot yoga and Zumba.  Both are forms or exercise that I love. 

Outdoor Zumba!

    The other thing I missed about Montreal was all the wonderful breakfast spots. My absolute favourite breakfast (besides bake and salt fish but I will talk about that later) is a bagel with cream cheese, smoked salmon, red onions, tomato and capers. De-effing- licious!

  I have never been a huge pork fan but I did miss ribs. I had some with sweet potato fries from Baton Rouge one of my favorite restaurants.

 

Part 2 will talk about my weekend in Toronto. 

Take care.