Extremes

I’m now fairly well settled in to my new home for the year in Central Asia. It needs a spot sheetrocked and a fresh coat of paint, but my room is quite cozy, complete with a crimson colored Persian rug. The weather’s been great here since I arrived, so I just leave my windows open and it stays quite comfortable. My three housemates are really nice, and our dining room/living room is quite elegant with crimson furniture and matching rugs. This afternoon I saw my classroom, and I love it! Small-ish (but bigger than the one I had in China), and sunny, with nice cupboards for storing math manipulatives and science supplies. But enough about my new digs. I’ve got to tell you about the journey here and what I’ve experienced so far.

All the new staff met in Dubai for a few days for some orientation. We live in very specific circumstances, and there is a lot to learn. It was great to spend time with each other and some of the administrative staff. And they treated us to some great experiences in Dubai!

Dubai is a land of superlatives. We saw the world’s tallest building, which was the backdrop for what I’m assuming is the world’s most amazing water fountain show (we ate dinner at a balcony at TGIFriday’s that overlooks the show). Then, one of my fellow new teachers who has family in Dubai took some of us gals shopping for abayas in an old district of the city called the City of Gold, and on the way to it, we walked right by the world’s tallest man! Then there’s the heat. It’s been two years since I lived in subtropical southern China, so I’m not sure which place was hotter and more humid, but Dubai was certainly in the running for being the hottest place I’ve ever been. And of course, there are the shopping malls. We went to two of them. Dubai Mall has a huge artificial waterfall with statues of divers all over it, as well as a huge aquarium complete with a shark. That may have been my first time seeing a shark, unless I blocked that memory from the Newport Aquarium.

Then we flew to the high desert in Central Asia. It had (miraculously) rained the night before and a bit that evening as well, so the dust wasn’t as bad as it is normally, or so I’ve been told. Dust is everywhere. The dustboogers it creates are nearly as big as the buildings in Dubai. But it has been much, much, cooler than Dubai, not to mention less humid. Today is my third day here, and it’s been

Tallest building in the world

very nice out. I’d say in the 70s and 80s. Which is a blessing since us females have to layer and cover. It’ll probably get hot just in time for me to start teaching. Oh, well. I’m happy as long as I don’t see any live versions of the dead scorpion one of the other teachers found the other day (and kept to show off and give us all nightmares, of course!)

Most of my time has been spent on the campus, setting up the house I share with three other teachers and getting to know my other coworkers. Our teaching staff is awesome! I’ve met some of the local national staff as well, and they seem very nice and very fun. Our cook is awesome. He’s made some Western food and some local food, and it’s all been very good so far. The maid for my house is very nice as well, although she doesn’t know much English so I haven’t spoken with her personally, just through one of my roommates that knows some of the local language. Today a couple of the teaching staff gave us an overview of important words to know in it, so that will help. Our drivers are very entertaining and kind. One of them missed his lunch today to drive some of us to a grocery store, so we got him a kebab on the way back.

At the store, a young lady behind me in line spoke English fluently, and I chatted with her a bit. She is studying architecture in Europe, and was excited to hear that I’m a math teacher since she uses math in her studies. Then she told me that she liked how we dressed (us gals wore our abayas today to shop) because we dressed like them. I thanked her. She wished me luck for teaching, and I returned the sentiment for her studies. It was a brief encounter, but made an impression on me. I hope she is very successful in her career.

I’ve been waking up at 4:30 a.m. since I got here, because it gets dark early and gets light early (and jet lag probably has something to do with it as well, although I’d gotten used to the time in Dubai and it’s not much time difference here). Each morning I lay in bed for a while, but then I turn off my fan and listen to the sounds of the morning. Voices of people chatting. Birds chirp and stray cats cry. Then there’s the ice cream cart, which comes around periodically throughout the day starting around 6:30 a.m. with the Happy Birthday song playing. I’ve been told that sound will get old really fast, but I haven’t lived anywhere with an ice cream truck for years, so it’s fun for now.

Today is Thursday, which is this part of the world’s Saturday. We did have a meeting today since all the staff has arrived by now. But tomorrow is Sunday and we can sleep in. Well, maybe I’ll sleep till 5:00 or even 6:00 a.m. this time… Goodnight, world!