I had been toying with the idea of going to teach in the UAE since about 2010. It took me a long time to around to making this move become a reality because my PGCE, teaching qualification, took so long. I really am the queen of procrastination! Only I could start a two year qualification and complete it four years later! As I have said previously, there were a couple of false starts where I enrolled and then completed one assignment, or none, and then didn't bother to life a finger until the following year when I re-enrolled. I also managed to take a semester or three off sporadically.
At the end of 2013 I finally completed my PGCE and in the January of 2014 I fiercely pursued a job in the UAE. Teaching overseas was something that I wanted to since I left New Zealand in 2009, but it wasn't until my bosses deception and unfairness caught up with me in January of 2014 that I made up my mind. I was going!
After months of waiting, not so patiently, I was finally offered a job in July for a school in Abu Dhabi. I jumped at the opportunity as I have visited the Middle East to see my best friend on occasions and had long decided that if I could find employment in Abu Dhabi, as opposed to Dubai, that I would take it. I signed the contract and two months later, a month after I was supposed to start, I finally left!
I opted for a quick goodbye to my folks at the airport before I ran off start my new life. Truthfully I hate goodbyes, I really am a big softy at heart, and I would have much preferred to have had a friend take me and literally drop me off with lightning speed that would make Speedy Gonzales proud. I knew that my parents would want to be the one's to hold my hand one last time before bidding me adieu. It's funny that even my best efforts to put my parents on the sidelines from an early age never deterred them from wanting to coddle me for as long as possible. For people that don't show or discuss much emotion they really have turned out to be a soppy bunch! After checking my luggage and saying goodbye to the parental's as quickly as ripping of a band-aid I went to meet some of the people that I would later call friends and who were flying out with me as they, too, were heading for the land of sand.
As it turned out, nine of us were flying out to teach at the same school in Abu Dhabi. Our tickets had been purchased for us by the school,which is standard practice in the UAE, but we did not sit near each other. This did not lend itself to bonding or getting to know each other during the eight hour night flight. This inconvenience did not, however, deter us from bonding quickly once we arrived.
Etihad is a good airline and I enjoyed flying with them. I did not, however, enjoy the slightly smaller airplane with a row of two seats on each side of the three seat middle row. I have been extremely lucky in the past, managing to get three and sometimes even four seats to myself when flying. Obviously the flights have not been that full. Unfortunately for me, this was not the case on this occasion. In addition to the plane being so full it was a sardine can, I had the luck of sitting next to a bloke who was built like a brick shit house! I am talking full on heavy beard and thighs so big some trees would find themselves blushing at their own inadequacy. He was a mammoth of a man that couldn't have been too comfortable in his puny-in-comparison seat. Needless to say, it was a squished and awkward flight for me.
Eight hours later and zero hours of sleep on the plane, we touched down in Abu Dhabi to my relief. I couldn't wait to get off that plane and regain some of my personal space. Once I left the air-conditioning of the plane, I soon regretted being so eager to leave my cramped seat.The humidity was like running into a brick wall at full speed. It engulfs you immediately. Arriving at the airport was a complete shock to me, not only due to the humidity, because I had landed in Dubai before and was now comparing my experiences. The Abu Dhabi airport is very "third-world" and "primitive". We were shuttled to the airport building from where we had landed on the tarmac. Upon arriving inside the building, I actually expected to see ceiling fans! Thank God there were no ceiling fans and my skin relished in the coolness of the air-conditioned building!We were met by the principal of the school and after arse-ing around, ready to collapse from exhaustion, we finally made our way from the airport to where I would call home for the next two months.
After a day and a half of no sleep, a quick snack of processed cheese, and a run around trying to find a room that was suitable for a humans habitat, there was just enough time to shower and change before we had to leave to attend a meeting at school. Looking back on events now, fuck you hindsight, I should've seen the signs then! The meeting took place in the schools auditorium. Sitting directly behind me was my new H.O.D. When she spoke, to know one in particular, loud enough for us to all hear, that we should get on the first plane back to South Africa, I should have done just that!
At the end of 2013 I finally completed my PGCE and in the January of 2014 I fiercely pursued a job in the UAE. Teaching overseas was something that I wanted to since I left New Zealand in 2009, but it wasn't until my bosses deception and unfairness caught up with me in January of 2014 that I made up my mind. I was going!
After months of waiting, not so patiently, I was finally offered a job in July for a school in Abu Dhabi. I jumped at the opportunity as I have visited the Middle East to see my best friend on occasions and had long decided that if I could find employment in Abu Dhabi, as opposed to Dubai, that I would take it. I signed the contract and two months later, a month after I was supposed to start, I finally left!
I opted for a quick goodbye to my folks at the airport before I ran off start my new life. Truthfully I hate goodbyes, I really am a big softy at heart, and I would have much preferred to have had a friend take me and literally drop me off with lightning speed that would make Speedy Gonzales proud. I knew that my parents would want to be the one's to hold my hand one last time before bidding me adieu. It's funny that even my best efforts to put my parents on the sidelines from an early age never deterred them from wanting to coddle me for as long as possible. For people that don't show or discuss much emotion they really have turned out to be a soppy bunch! After checking my luggage and saying goodbye to the parental's as quickly as ripping of a band-aid I went to meet some of the people that I would later call friends and who were flying out with me as they, too, were heading for the land of sand.
As it turned out, nine of us were flying out to teach at the same school in Abu Dhabi. Our tickets had been purchased for us by the school,which is standard practice in the UAE, but we did not sit near each other. This did not lend itself to bonding or getting to know each other during the eight hour night flight. This inconvenience did not, however, deter us from bonding quickly once we arrived.
Etihad is a good airline and I enjoyed flying with them. I did not, however, enjoy the slightly smaller airplane with a row of two seats on each side of the three seat middle row. I have been extremely lucky in the past, managing to get three and sometimes even four seats to myself when flying. Obviously the flights have not been that full. Unfortunately for me, this was not the case on this occasion. In addition to the plane being so full it was a sardine can, I had the luck of sitting next to a bloke who was built like a brick shit house! I am talking full on heavy beard and thighs so big some trees would find themselves blushing at their own inadequacy. He was a mammoth of a man that couldn't have been too comfortable in his puny-in-comparison seat. Needless to say, it was a squished and awkward flight for me.
Eight hours later and zero hours of sleep on the plane, we touched down in Abu Dhabi to my relief. I couldn't wait to get off that plane and regain some of my personal space. Once I left the air-conditioning of the plane, I soon regretted being so eager to leave my cramped seat.The humidity was like running into a brick wall at full speed. It engulfs you immediately. Arriving at the airport was a complete shock to me, not only due to the humidity, because I had landed in Dubai before and was now comparing my experiences. The Abu Dhabi airport is very "third-world" and "primitive". We were shuttled to the airport building from where we had landed on the tarmac. Upon arriving inside the building, I actually expected to see ceiling fans! Thank God there were no ceiling fans and my skin relished in the coolness of the air-conditioned building!We were met by the principal of the school and after arse-ing around, ready to collapse from exhaustion, we finally made our way from the airport to where I would call home for the next two months.
After a day and a half of no sleep, a quick snack of processed cheese, and a run around trying to find a room that was suitable for a humans habitat, there was just enough time to shower and change before we had to leave to attend a meeting at school. Looking back on events now, fuck you hindsight, I should've seen the signs then! The meeting took place in the schools auditorium. Sitting directly behind me was my new H.O.D. When she spoke, to know one in particular, loud enough for us to all hear, that we should get on the first plane back to South Africa, I should have done just that!
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