Wow

Wow, is it hot!

and fabulous!

My flights were great, I even slept on the 13 hour NY to Dubai trip. My apartment isn't quite ready yet, because it's brand new and they are a bit behind schedule, but in the meantime I'm being put up in a great hotel and we went to see the apartments this morning - they are perfect! I have a huge living room with a wall of sliding doors, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, (perfect for visitors!!!!) a balcony, a great kitchen... it's perfect! There's even a pool on the roof!! There's a lot of new buildings going up all around it, so it's surrounded by dirt right now and a lot of construction, but it should be nice when it's all finished. The new school building is going up right across the road in a year or two, which will be very convenient! It's really close to the Mall of the Emirates (MOE), which has that indoor ski thing. We can also see the 7-star hotel, the Burj al Arab. We drove down to the beach and it looks fabulous for swimming.

The school is great, I have a cute little office/small-group room and will be teaching larger classes in another room. All the other teachers and staff seem really nice, and there are a lot of new teachers other than me. Our new-person coordinator, Michelle, is doing a great job showing us around and making sure we get everything taken care of. Now that I'm here I'm excited to get going with planning and meetings and teaching....

The city itself is something hard to describe. It's huge and bustling and clean and sparkly ... but dusty and hot and full of construction - trucks, cranes, workers, half-finished buildings forming an incomplete skyline... it stretches out along the coast, trapped between the water and the desert...full of places to go and see and experience - I won't have any problem keeping busy! There's a lot of things you might find anywhere - an Applebees and a Starbucks down the road from the hotel, an Ikea, Carrefour... but the surroundings make it seem so different...

It's a lot to take in all at once. At moments I try to wrap my mind around the fact that this is my life... but once I start thinking too hard it starts to feel even more surreal... so I've decided it's best to not think about it, and just live it!

More later, and pictures as soon as I'm able!