UAE celebrated their 40th on December 2nd. Well, actually the celebrations began way before then. Right after our November break our school and entire country began preparing for national day. At school the Arabic staff began teaching and practicing with the students what they would present the week of national day. We, the LT's, were also required to participate in the activities. The entire school was decorated with UAE flags, pictures of their sheikhs, everything UAE, and the colors black, white, red, and green. Everyday prior to national day some Arabic teachers would have their students present something about the UAE in the morning. We also had many parents go to school and cook traditional dishes for the children. On one day the children were given food and candy and had either their face painted or a henna design. The week of national day was very chaotic, disorganized, and as always we (LT's) were always the last ones to know what was going on. On one occasion I was informed that our school would be walking up and down the street minutes before we left. All I was told was "yalla now" yalla means let's go. As always I was more than ok to go with the flow and walk with the entire school on the street. On the week of national day we found out that we were being given a 3 day weekend and boy was I happy about that! The entire week felt like a party. On that Tuesday all of the students dressed up. The girls wore either traditional outfits or flag outfits and the boys wore their kandoras. All of the Arabic staff wore their abayas, as always, but had their makeup done. As for the us we were asked to dress up in either Emirati oufits or outfits representing another country. I, thanks to a wonderful coworker got to wear an Emirati dress and borrowed from an Arabic teacher a gold head piece.
I was lucky enough to have taken my mother to show her a bit of the Emirati culture and my workplace. The day was very chaotic and the students and parents were everywhere. My mother kept on asking what was going on and where were the students. She really couldn't believe the disorganization. I guess I've gotten used to it because I didn't realize it until she began pointing it out. Overall the day went great!
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| Some of my students in our classroom. |
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| Girls performing... Administration sat on the front row. |
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| Me, walking the red carpet. So happy i didn't fall on my face :) |
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| Boys performing with actual toy riffles! Only in the UAE. |
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| Some of my students. |
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Prior to national day the city, cars and homes throughout Abu Dhabi were decorated. The entire city had lit up UAE flags and 40 signs on the streets, high rise buildings were decorated with pictures of their sheikhs and lights. Cars were also decorated with UAE flags and pictures of their sheikhs. All of the lights on the homes and buildings reminded me of Christmas specially since the lights were red, green, and white. I really appreciated the patriotism of this nation and the love that they have for their sheikhs. On national day the parade of cars on the Corniche was bumper to bumper with Emiratis sitting or standing on their cars spraying everyone with silly string or foam. The whole experience was really crazy and chaotic after a couple of hours I had had enough.
