There Has Never Been a Sadness That Can't be Cured by Breakfast Food

I had all sorts of fun adventures while home in Utah, but one of the highlights was the amazing breakfast museum. I don't know why I didn't think of creating a museum dedicated to the best thing in the world, but I am glad someone thought of it.

In a New York State of Mind

I extended a layover in New York to stay for a couple days because I've never been. The trip was quite the tease. I felt like I was there just long enough to be desperate to go back for more.

I said my goodbyes to Dubai and then spent the next 26 hours on airplanes and in airports.

I finally made it to New York and without even showering (I know, ew, but I had to make the most of my time!) or sleeping, I jumped on a double-decker tour bus and started making my way around the city.  I saw lots of great things and tried really hard not to sleep.

Lol at this roooough picture of me. You can see the hours of travel etched into my face.

I finally got a shower and a nap and then met up with an old friend who happened to be in New York. We did a bit of nighttime exploring via the Subway and eating and lots of catching up.

The next morning I ate the most delicious waffle in the loveliest little park before wandering the streets and exploring Grand Central Station and the Rockefeller Center.

Next on the agenda was a quick stroll around Central Park. I feel like I could have spent the entire trip here.

I saw my first Broadway show and this closet musical theater fan was absolutely in heaven.

I stumbled onto a street fair and had to get a gyro. It was such a good life decision.

Next up was some nachos with an amazing city view. I would have loved to come back at night to see the sparkly night buildings.

I saw Book of Mormon as well because when in New York, cram in two shows.

Then I was up bright and early the next morning for the flight back home. It was only 5 hours which felt like a dream after the journey from the other side of the world.

And now I am hooooome!

Patriotic

I cannot believe I was out of the United States for my second favorite holiday: Independence Day. I love everything about the day: the heat, the parades, the fireworks, the BBQs, the family time. I also love the cheesy patriotic-ness of it all. I love the feeling of comraderie and friendship among friends and strangers as we belt out the songs "I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free".  Maybe you can tell that I am feeling weirdly patriotic this year. I always love the holiday, but this experience of living in a different country has shown me more explicitly how blessed I am to be born in the United States of America. 

One of the major things that I have learned while I have been in the Middle East is that the USA is not the only great country. There are so many other great, happy countries where people are free to live the lives they want to live. They are blessed to be born where they were born. They are happy and healthy and able to live fulfilling lives.

The other major thing I have learned while living out here is that there are many not-so-great countries where people are not happy.  There are countries where people live in a constant state of war, countries where certain groups of people are oppressed and abused, and countries where humans are not allowed to live in the ways that they want to live. They are not happy, they are not healthy, and they are forced to live a life  that is out of their control. 

The most striking thing to me is that the people who are blessed and born into happy and safe countries are just regular humans.  They are just like the people who are born into unstable or oppressive countries. I did nothing to deserve the life that I was born into. I am no better than my co-worker who is getting paid a lower salary than me but doing the exact same job, or my taxi driver who wanted to be a teacher but did not have a way to go to university, or the laborer who had to leave his family behind to move to another country where he is working long hours in the heat to build me a luxury high rise apartment building. The only difference between me and these people is where we were born. 

I am going to stop this post here. My brain spirals from here into all sorts of emotionally-charged topics like racism, immigration, refugees, charity. Honestly I am not a good enough writer to portray my thoughts and my heavy heart can't take people meanly disagreeing. 

So instead I'll end the heaviness of this post with a picture of how Independence Day was celebrated in Dubai. Have you ever seen anything more American?!

5 Ways Students in Dubai are Different than Students in the USA

Now that I have completed one full school year in Dubai I thought I would write a bit about the difference between students in American and students in Dubai.

1. My students in Dubai are rich.
At some of the schools that I taught at in America I had to worry if my students had enough money to bring a $0.60 notebook to school for math class. I wasn't teaching in a particularly poor area, just a very middle class type school with a large range of students with all sorts of socioeconomic statuses.  Here, all of my students are rich, and I don't just mean they have a nice house. I mean they have luxury villas on the Palm, nannies, maids, cooks, drivers, and private tutors. All of them. It is a completely normal thing to say "Miss, I don't have my homework today, my nanny forgot to put it in my bag after I finished working on it with my tutor. I will call my driver and have him bring it." They get Porsches for their birthday even though they can't drive, they have pet monkeys, and they go on family vacations to their private islands.

2. My students in Dubai like math (and their parents do too).
On the first day of school I asked all my students what their favorite subject was and about half of them said math. I just thought they were trying to butter me up, but it was actually true. Their parents came to parent-teacher meetings and went on about how they want to do whatever they can to support their child in math because it is the most important subject and they know that they need to be successful in math to succeed in life. Whaaaat. Thank you, but whaaaaat. It was a refreshing and weird attitude. 

3. My students in Dubai work hard.

School is the very most important thing in these students' lives. They work hard in school and outside of it. I assign homework weekly and not only do they complete it, they complete it without receiving any marks for it or it counting on their grade in any way. Also their parents regularly ask me to assign more homework. 

4. My students in Dubai are polite.

My students here call me “Miss” and they say it a lot. For example, if I call on a student they will say “Yes Miss, the answer is 2 Miss because Miss if you subtract 4 from both sides Miss you get 2.” Even students that aren’t my own are polite to me. The students here don’t get in trouble that often, but when they do they apologize and are respectful. It’s a nice change from the occasional eff-you’s I got back home. 

5. My students in Dubai are International.
I’ve got students from every country that I can think of. Back home it was exciting if a student was from another state, but here I’ve got students from Egypt, England, Saudi, Iran, India, England, Lebanon, Sweden, Australia...the list goes on and on. I’ve even got a few from America. 

Now don't ask which students are my favorite! I love all my students equally, of course. 

The Zoo!

I went on an adventure to the Al Ain Zoo and I loved it. Here are some good moments. 

Bae-irut

I had a quick weekend getaway in Beirut. What a strange life that I can just pop over to Lebanon for a weekend. When will this feel normal? It was a quick trip with really only one full day, but we made the most of it.

The first stop was a trip to Baalbek, centuries old ruins.  It was absolutely incredible and my favorite part of the trip. I don't know anything else about the ruins because our tour guide was useless and only wanted to get his son married off.

Next stop was the Baatara Gorge Waterfall which was lovely.

We had lunch in Byblos, a lovely, old, and touristy city.

Last stop was to the statue of Our Lady of Lebanon, a statue of Mary on the top of mountain. (Lebanon is half Christian and half Muslim. It was cool to see churches and mosques mixed equally throughout the country.) We took a cable car ride to the top of the mountain and the views were unbelivable.

We heard a lot of good things about the nightlife in Lebanon. We started out the night with some fun spots. 

Eventually we made our way to the famous B018, which is an underground bunker turned into a nightclub. It was hilariously underwhelming.  Let me show you the pictures from the internet:

It was not that. It was more like 20 people standing around in a dark room.

  We had to go back in the light of day to find a lost bag and it really just looked like a bunker. 

That was it, short and sweet. I already can't wait to go back for more manakish.