House Tour...Finally :)

As promised I have taken pictures and a video of my apartment. The pictures are from before we got completely settled so it might look a bit different than the video.

I was going to wait to do the video until everything was cleaned up and beautiful but this weekend was so crazy preparing for students that I didn't get the chance. So...please excuse the messiness :)

My massive bed...love it!

My closet (I don't have nearly enough clothes to fill it up)

See?

Bedside table and vanity mirror. I would like to turn it into a desk area as well but I'm not sure how that's going to work.

Half of my bathroom

The other half of my bathroom

The view from my window (that tint is from the glass)

Our kitchen (including the washing machine)

Our stove/microwave/refrigerator

Our entryway/dining room

With a big, comfy couch :)

Our laundry/storage room

Here's the video tour (featuring two of my housemates!)...

What I'm Learning {Teaching Edition}

-Decorating a classroom can be quite a challenge...especially without a fun assistant (*cough cough* Samantha).

-Pay attention when you’re walking in the front door. Meeting times and places may be posted on the front door. Especially, if no schedule was given for the week.

-Contact paper makes a good substitute for lamination when the laminating machine is too small for your posters.

-Making an extra portion of dinner is a great way to make lunch for the following day.

-The first week of school here is very low pressure. The class lists won’t even be finalized to the end of the first week which means I won’t be expected to do much until week 3 at the earliest.

-Being on support staff is fantastic because you don’t have a full class on the first day.

-Getting rid of extra desks should be done on day one of teacher work week instead of day four.

-Finding a theme for your classroom should be done BEFORE teacher work week instead of on day four.

-Bulletin boards are not fun for non-artsy people like me. Finding borders, background paper and accents on the other side of the world is quite interesting

-I’m so excited for the school year to start! I can’t wait to meet all the kids :)

My classroom isn’t quite finished yet and I’m one of those people who doesn’t like to publish things before they’re completely ready. However, I do have the before pictures to give you an idea. 

On that note I still haven’t completely finished my bedroom but I promise I’ll finish this weekend and post stuff next week!

My bulletin board...still decorated from last year

The view from my classroom windows. We'll probably have the shades down most of the time otherwise it'll get to hot!

My very first teacher desk :)

One bookshelf, waiting for the next one.

This, my friends, is a SMARTBoard. Jealous?

My air conditioners, the two most important items in my classroom.

THAT'S ME!

So many desks!

Lots of books...

and more books...

and more books...

and more books.

Posters for the classroom

I'm a fan of grammar

A big fan

Maybe a huge fan ;)

And now a little video tour...

It's going to be a wonderful school year!

Taste of Home {1}

I'm sure throughout this year overseas I'll get homesick every once in awhile. Today, I got to have my first taste of home, courtesy of my family :)

My brother Richie showing me his green shirt

Richie playing around with the webcam

My mom coming to say hi!

JR, Richie's twin, telling me about school (doesn't he seem thrilled?)

JR putting on his thinking face

My step-dad telling me about life back in the US 

I would LOVE LOVE LOVE (did I say it enough?) for you to be a part of my taste of home. Whether it's via email or Skype (we don't have internet in our apartment so response time/scheduling may be a bit tricky) you're welcome to contact me whenever it works for you! I love hearing about what's going on in your life :)

Lots of love,

In Action

I don't have all my pictures ready just yet. Or my video with the tour of the apartment.

Things will be a lot easier next week when I'm at the school with more internet access. However, I would love to share with you a little be about my Friday...

The weekends here are Friday and Saturday because Friday is considered the holy day...so cool right? So I got to go to fellowship this morning for the first time. The church is larger than I expected (2 services with 200-300 people at each). We got to meet many interesting people and already have a lunch invitation for next week! There isn't a Spanish speaking service like I was hoping but there is a small group led by a man and his wife who are from Argentina.

I'M. SO. EXCITED.

Hopefully, this means I will learn Arabic and not lose my Spanish at the same time *fingers crossed*.

Today, because it was a fifth Friday, it was a family friendly service. So kids of all ages led the singing, did the announcements (in which all the new people got to stand up and introduce themselves) and were the ushers. Then we heard a wonderful message on Philemon.

When was the last time you heard a good message on Philemon? I racked my brain and I'm not sure that I've every actually heard a MESSAGE (not lecture) on Philemon. It was all about putting faith into action. Keeping our eyes open to be able to put into practice the things we have learned from the Word. Paul encouraged Philemon and commended him for being a good servant but then challenged him.

Challenged him to forgive.

Challenged him to let go.

Challenged him to put into practice what he had learned from Paul.

Fitting don't you think?

I'm about to start my first week teaching in a different country. It's time to practice what I've learned.

Missing all of you,

Adjusting...The First 3 Days

I’m living in a state of shock. I’m not sure that I actually believe I’m going to live here for the next 10 months. Can you believe it?!?!?!?!

The past 4 days have been absolutely crazy. I left from home on Thursday afternoon (thank you Annie) and arrived here around 9pm local time (that would be 1pm EST). Then began the process of entering the country. We had to get off the plane, use the bathroom, get our baggage, go through passport control, go through customs (twice) and meet our driver. Surprisingly, this only took a little over an hour and a half. After we loaded up all the bags (there were 6 of us being picked up together) on the bus we started the drive to the city in which we would be staying. We had heard it would only take 90 min but we didn’t get to our apartment until nearly 2am. 

We were completely shocked when we entered the apartment. IT’S HUGE!!!!! There are four bedrooms, four bathroom, a kitchen, a entry way which serves as our dining room (sort of) and a huge living room. After we picked rooms and put our suitcases away we discovered there was no running water. After nearly 24 hours in transit this wasn’t exactly pleasant news. In addition, we were stranded in a new city with no phone or internet. We had no way of contacting anyone to let them know. So we laughed about the whole situation and resolved to figure it out the next day. 

So Saturday, we were picked up by the school bus with the principal and taken to the mall (a 4 min walk from our apartment but it seems like over twice that in the heat). We got cell phones and were able to pick up some basic needs. I have to say after a summer in a small town in Oman the Carrefour (kind of like a Walmart) here was a bit of culture shock. There were actually American products in the store and I was able to buy things like peanut butter and a reed diffuser. It still has all of my favorite Arabian products like dates and mangoes :) The afternoon was spent relaxing, waiting for the water repairman. He came that evening and an hour later we had running water!!!!!! I never thought I would be so thankful to the Father for water :) Then we trekked back up to Carrefour with our list to get more stuff only to realize there was no way we could make it back to the apartment with everything. We took the 15 second drive in a taxi back home.

Sunday was our first day of orientation and it was great to finally have all the brand new people in one room together! We got to talk about the history of the school and then share our stories of how the Father brought us all here. It was absolutely amazing. The Father is working in such amazing ways to transform this region. After a delicious lunch we got our very first tour of the school! The family that owns the school took us all over the campus. We got to see the classrooms, the library, the gym, the swimming pool, the playground and all the offices/work rooms. I didn’t get pictures because I forgot my camera :( But I promise I’ll take some the next time I go! After this we went back to the apartment and got ready for another trip to Carrefour (I’ve been there every single day since I’ve arrived). Any spare time has been spent unpacking and hanging out with my housemates. I’m with three amazing young women and I can’t wait to get to know them even better! 

Today was another day of orientation. We learned more about what the school will be like and what will be expected of us. Then we got to hear more stories (our team is quite large) and spend time together. I finally finished unpacking this afternoon and hung out more with my housemates. The heat really drains energy from you and the afternoons are needed for rest and recuperation. 

I found out today some exciting news about the upcoming year...

-I will have my very own classroom!!!!! Originally, I thought because I was in a support/resource room type role that I would be sharing a classroom or rotate into other classrooms. However, yesterday after our tour the principal informed me I would have my own classroom to do whatever I wanted

-I don’t have a classroom decorating budget. We were told today that we would make a list of everything we want and the school will get it for us, within reason of course ;)

-I’ll be working with 3rd-5th graders! This is brand new for me but this age seems like an amazing group to be teaching. Apparently, their last teacher wasn’t very effective and the kids are eager for a teacher that genuinely cares about them.

-I find out which classroom in the school is mine tomorrow. I’ll definitely be posting pics of the decorating process when I get started.

I don’t have too many pics on my computer because I haven’t been able to sync them from my camera yet but as soon as I do I’ll post a tour of the apartment and the school!

Here are some pictures I never got the chance to post...

Goodbye breakfast with Annie!

My last American baseball game

My packed suitcases

My countdown to leave has been replaced with a countdown until the first day of school...September 9th!

Arrived

I'm here!

Back in the desert and back with people I love.

It has been quite a whirlwind and I'm not even sure what I can say.

But I'm safe and incredibly excited. I'll be posting pictures of my apartment (it's huge!) as soon as we get internet in the apartment (it could take up to a couple weeks).

Stay tuned...

in which ameera leaves & annie takes over.

this is a spontaneous guest post by annie! by which i (annie) mean, i am taking over ameera's blog. (she doesn't see it that way. and ps, who else is concerned by my speaking of myself in the third person in that first sentence?)

ANYWAY.

ameera is leaving for the uae today.

TODAY, Y'ALL.

ameera's passion for the middle east has impacted me greatly, most notably by her absence last summer while she was interning in oman, and most recently by a conversation she and i were having with L and her husband A at church last sunday.

let me just tell you about that last instance for a hot second.

L and A and ameera and i are all standing in one of the church hallways talking about the uae when all of a sudden, i remember, as L and A are mentioning, they grew up in dubai. and then the three of them proceed to have a conversation about arabic and the middle east, during which i am hopelessly lost and dazed and confused, a feeling to which i am not used, people; a feeling to which i am NOT. USED.

(awkward syntax much? kind of like the awkward feeling i had. <-- all of this is also awkward.)

to read things that are not awkward, you should head to samantha's blog to read more about what ameera will be doing in the uae.

in the meantime, ameera and me? we're taking a drive to the airport to kick off the beginning of ameera's million and a half hours of travel.

i'm still trying to figure out who roped me into enabling ameera to LEAVE ME.

after all, ameera and i have been good friends for about five years now. doesn't that friendship mean anything to her?!

i'll tell you something (i mean, i've told you a lot of somethings, but this is the last of them): our friendship sure means something - a lot of somethings, and less rambly in nature than the former somethings - to me. and that's why i can tell you, as ameera leaves for the uae today (TODAY, Y'ALL), i have never, ever been prouder of her, nor more blessed to call her friend.