The quietest Bus Ride Sunday is the first day returning to our schools after a quiet "Persian Gulf" resort weekend. I will skip all classroom details for now to report its greatest effect, no teacher talking for hours after school! Not one sound! Come on now, that is a rare event; the hundreds of teachers I had met stateside and UAE always have something to say. The educational council hires a travel agency to coordinate the housing and transport for teachers...

Least Favorite Moment At 9PM we were being driven in a newly equipped minivan from Abu Dhabi to Western region in Ruwais. The education council wanted the teachers to be placed commuting distance to their school sites, Al Ain or Al Gharbia. I, the stateside foreigner, had been chugging water in response to arid desert climate, in response forces me to be on the lookout for bathrooms every known destination. SO, as we were travelling for hours and hours, I ne...

This pic is true to life showing the highway from Abu Dhabi to Al Ain or Al Sila, curbs, sand and asphalt in all directions. Image driving this road for hours between cities while encountering constant traffic with cars and trucks? Another cultural moment, I had to pay to get my license translated (70 AED) into Arabic from a professional translater before I can get an UAE drivers license, in the near future.

Now in the Western region on the way to Al Sila, in the next day or two, on my way to my new school! There are many new cultural moments I had encountered, first with trees rooted in sand, not seen in the states ( maybe florida but not over long distances!), second, only one flower has a pleasant aroma, other flowers seen have no fragrance, first hand experience. Third, the Rotana and Danat hotels look like enlarged glamorous hollywood sets with marble, glass, tr...

Now in the Western region on the way to Al Sila, in the next day or two, on my way to my new school! There are many new cultural moments I had encountered, first with trees rooted in sand, not seen in the states ( maybe florida but not over long distances!), second, only one flower has a pleasant aroma, other flowers seen have no fragrance, first hand experience. Third, the Rotana and Danat hotels look like enlarged glamorous hollywood sets with marble, glass, tr...