While this has been a quite the experience up in the North, I have decided that one year here is enough and I'm going to move on to a new adventure. It occurred to me recently that since I am an Ontario educated teacher (who tend to be desired in other countries to teach English) and I have experience adjusting to a very different situation than what I am used to, I could really go anywhere!
Soooo....drum roll!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm moving to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates in the Middle East in August 2011.
Here are some maps below that show where the UAE is in the Middle East and where Abu Dhabi is in the UAE:
Now, before you go all crazy and think I've gone off the deep end, here are some facts about the United Arab Emirates and Abu Dhabi.
-The population in A.D. in 2010 was 896,751 so...pretty big
-The average temperature is 35 degrees Celsius and it can get up to about 50 degrees in the summer. The lowest average temperature in the winter is 18 degrees..not too shabby!
-80% of the population in Abu Dhabi are ex-patriots which are people from places other than the UAE (mostly North America, Europe and Australia)
-The dominant religion of Abu Dhabi is Islam (meaning people there are often Muslim) and the mother tongue is Arabic. However, most people do speak English.
-Women in UAE do not have to wear a burqa, though some choose too.
I got the job through a company based out of Toronto called Teach Away Inc. They were chosen by the Emirate government to recruit teachers across North America. They are undergoing a huge educational overhaul in the UAE right now. Up until two years ago it was a teacher based educational system, meaning teachers spoke, students listened and memorized. Now they are moving toward a student-based learning system, wherein the teacher adapts to accommodates the student's needs. This is how Ontario teachers have been educated, so they are bringing us over to help institute the change.
Here is a list of awesome things about this new adventure I will embark on:
-Beaches and CONSTANT swimming weather
-Camel beauty contests (seriously....http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/08/camel-contest/teague-text.html)
-Free housing and flights to move there
-Paid summers off
-TAX FREE salary. Yep, that's right.
-39 cent cans of pop
-Chicken Big Mac...
-Close proximity to Dubai which totes all sorts of awesomeness like an indoor ski park (even though I don't like to ski...still cool) and the tallest building in the world.
-Swimming pools and water parks at every turn
The list could go on, but I will stop there. I know there might be some questions so feel free to post them in the comments and I will try to answer them.
One sad part about this whole thing is that I will probably have to re-home Muffin. They are not too keen on teachers bringing dogs into the UAE as they are not very common there. Muffin is also used to the cold climate and is in fact, even kind of made for it, with her thick fur. It wouldn't really be fair to her to bring her for this reason. It was a really tough decision for me to make, but a big move like this requires sacrifices. That being said, (and this is sad to even type) if anyone has been thinking of getting a dog, she will need a new home around the middle of August. She is one awesome little puppy I can say that much. I'll stop there before I get too sad but feel free to message me if interested.
I probably SHOULD have kept this quiet until the new contracts come out in Webequie in a few months, but I was just too excited. It's also great to now know that I can relax because I have a job waiting for me for next September. Oh also, it's a two year contract but I will be able to come home for the summer and maybe at christmas if I book in advance :)
Let me demonstrate my feeling of triumph with this sample photo:
Con(sniff)gratulations honey!
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