Happy New Year

Happy New Year dear family and friends. The girls and I celebrated New Year's eve at Gary's home. It was a quiet evening watching "Hairspray", eating homemade American comfort food (made by yours truly), and just talking about every subject that comes to mind as we usually do. I am very happy that for once I didn't have to hear gunshots going off to celebrate the arrival of a new year. With the exception of one party we heard while leaving Gary's for home tonight, there weren't any obvious signs there had been a change in the calendar. I didn't hear or see any fireworks. In fact, there was more hoopla surrounding National Day than today. New Year's is celebrated but most likely is much grander in Abu Dhabi or Dubai.

As with the start of another year, I have my resolutions. The scenery has changed but the resolutions remain the same: eat better, exercise more, lose eight to ten pounds, practice patience with M&I, help M&I more with their school work, attend more to their spiritual education as well as my own spiritual development, manage my money better and save more. Same old, same old. However, not only is this a new year but I return to work in a day and will now begin the second half of the school term. (It's funny but in the stores, there are these big displays, "Back to School" with school supplies just like it was in September. The girls and I marvel at this because to us it's not "back to school"; it's just back from Christmas break.)

Besides my academic objectives which are more defined now, I want to keep some of the peaceful and relaxing attitude I've had during this vacation. Usually when I return to work, I take on a fretful mindset. One in which I'm never at peace because I always feel that I'm falling short somewhere: with my students, with my teaching, in my homelife, in my spiritual life. I want to change that. Maybe not on a grand scale because change like that is hard to do, at least for me. But in little ways, day by day. For example, instead of rushing home to begin the evening routine, a visit to one of the city's oases and meandering down its paths would help me unwind from my day in a peaceful setting and that would help set the tone for my evening. I have other ideas but I don't want this to become a mission because then it will feel like something I "should" do which is burdensome. I just want to enjoy my days and not feel this internal pressure I put on myself while I am working. So there is a true new resolution: to feel at peace whether I'm working or on vacation.

And I hope for you, whatever your resolutions or goals, that, this year, you find yourself a bit closer to achieving them than you were last year. Again, Happy New Year!

Baptism

Well, this isn't what I was asking for in terms of motivation. Today I was baptized. Yup! I had my first traffic accident. I was informed that the saying goes that sooner or later a driver is bound to have one here. I was hoping for never but you can't have everything. Fortunately, it wasn't very serious. I was rear-ended and if I had to be in an accident with someone, the gentleman who hit me was very kind.

Here when leaving a parking lot or merging into traffic, there's a lane which everyone drives the length before merging with oncoming traffic. In the States we don't use that unless we have to. Instead we wait until we can merge with the traffic. Well I was about to merge when I realized that the cab I was going to pull in front of was coming at a faster rate than I had previously thought. So I stopped but the gentleman behind me thought I was still moving forward and BAM! Gratefully, it wasn't very hard and we were all wearing seatbelts (besides the girls, I had a fellow teacher as a passenger). There was damage to my rental and a bit to the front grill of his VW.

If in an accident you must wait until the traffic officer arrives to assess who is at fault. This is the main reason I waited to get my UAE license before I rented a car. Some teachers had said cars could be rented with an international license but once you have UAE residency, which I do, that is no longer valid. If you are in an accident and don't have UAE license as a resident, it doesn't matter if the other person is at fault. You have to pay and it could be costly.

We had to wait about 30 minutes before the officer showed up. In that time, the gentleman asked if everyone in the car was okay. I assured him we were. He explained why he hit me. I told him that I understood. We agreed that since everyone was okay, then thank God, that's all that mattered. Once the officer showed up the conversation was totally in Arabic and they told me to wait in my car. Quietly sitting there I resigned myself to the fact that I'd probably be charged with the accident because I probably should have kept moving down that lane. The officer came to my window, gave me a paper and told me to take it to the car rental office. He then walked away. I sat there reading it but it was mostly in Arabic. That's when the other man came to my window to ask if I understood. I told him, "No." He proceeded to tell me that he had been charged with the accident and that his insurance would pay for the damage. That all I had to do was take that paper to the car rental agency and it would be okay. I thanked him and we shook hands. Like I said if I had to be in an accident, he was a good candidate. I'll pray for less drama tomorrow.

Trying to Find my Motivation

I haven't been blogging for some time now because I've become rather conscious that the minutae of my life is not really that interesting to others really except me. My friend, Gary, said it aptly when he described how living abroad is viewed. Yes, it's different and interesting and involves a host of varying attitudes for adjustment. But, once you are settled into a certain rhythm then it's pretty similar to life back home. Meaning that in spite of a uniquely different environment, I'm still doing the same stuff I'd be doing if I were back in the States: working, grocery shopping, doing laundry, taking care of my children, arguing with my children, entertaining my children (though this is ramped up big time because they are still creating a new support system of friends), and just doing the little things that have to be done to function as a human being on this planet. My locale makes it all seem romantic but when I begin to think about sharing it with others, it just seems mundane.

Unlike some others here I haven't done much international traveling yet so I don't have that to share right now. Plus, I've always been a person who lives very much inside her head and tend to spend much time there even here. When I think of sharing what goes through my head, I just can't. My thoughts are too private and honestly, for good writing, you just have to let go and put it all out there. That's not in my nature. So as I sift through what I'm willing to share, it really isn't all that interesting . . . at least from my pov.

Maybe instead of viewing a blog as an open journal, I'll just try and share some of the unique experiences and people I encounter. That won't seem like so much navel gazing. :)

National Day Revisited

Emirate's National Anthem

We listen to this every morning and until I looked it up for my party, I didn't know what the girls were saying. There is also their pledge which has a call and response pattern. I've looked for that but have not had any luck so far.

Live my country, the unity of our Emirates lives
You have lived for a nation
Whose religion is Islam and guide is the Quran
I made you stronger in God's name oh homeland
My country, My country, My country, My country
God has protected you from the evils of the time
We have sworn to build and work
Work sincerely, work sincerely
As long as we live, we'll be sincere sincere
The safety has lasted and the flag has lived oh our Emirates
The symbol of Arabism
We all sacrifice for you, we supply you with our blood
We sacrifice for you with our souls oh homeland

I've uploaded a slide show for my next post which will show the days events. (Instead I'll just email link to those who'd like to see it. Still can't have it out for general consumption because school children are in it. Send me a message via fb and I'll forward it to you.)

Change is Good

I moved to this blog site because I am able to publish pictures (and hopefully, videos). As this link is sent via email instead of being posted on facebook, I can share pictures of school privately instead of with the whole world