Love 2 Laugh

I love to laugh which is perhaps why I teach 7th grade. Everyday, when I think of all of the little mundane administrative tasks that I have to deal with one of my students will shout out the funniest comment like...
"Ms. Caskey, why do you recycle paper so much?" I replied "Well, I am a tree hugging environmentalist" Ha! "Ms. Caskey are John & Kate going to break up?" Or when I have the most serious frown upon my face, I look up at my audience (class) and just crack up which than makes them laugh. One time a student had turned the spandex fabric green book cover over his entire head/face and put his glasses over it, the whole class broke down laughing so hard we almost cried (you also just have to know this student to perhaps laugh as hard as we did)...the future of America! Needless to say, in a very stressful, long drawn out end of the school year, I have been putting forth the greatest effort not to take myself so darn seriously and just laugh!

I hope y'all are enjoying this blog so far? I even emailed the URL to my Grandma and she read it. She followed up with an email saying how cool the blog was! When I told my co-workers about my blog today one proclaimed that she is too old. As I tried explaining that all she has to do is type in the URL I could not help but think that if I got Grandma to do, anyone can do it ;-)

What I know so far!

People keep asking me the same set of questions when I attend parties or when I'm catching up with people so I thought that I'd post a few bits of information on my blog and try to write on here more often.

Who: Me
What: Going to teach High School World History for 2 years
Where: Dubai, United Arab Emirates
When: I leave Houston, TX for Seattle after the 4th of July and I leave Seattle for Dubai, August 14th
Why: Experience the Middle East and expand my career as a teacher

I've been getting a lot of the same reactions when I inform others of my move to Dubai...

"Wow, I've heard that place is amazing", "Where is Dubai again?" and "The richest people in the world live there" a lot of responses re: gold, the Burj Al Arab (the building that resembles a sail boat).


I am unsure regarding what life will be like in Dubai but I do know this...

Housing: I will live in an apartment my school sets me up with. Other faculty members live in the same building but I will have my own apartment. I get a certain amount of dirham (UAE currency) to furnish the apartment.

Transportation: I will have to catch rides to school with other teachers until I can lease or purchase my own car. This is one bummer about the two years abroad: moving from one non-pedestrian friendly city to another.

School: I will be teaching at an all girls school Al Mizhar American Academy for Girls (www.aag.ae) which is part of a group of schools called Taaleem (Education in arabic). I will be in the high school section of the school.

Once I learn more I will let you know but this is what I know so far! I am so excited and nervous about moving away from Houston where I feel so established and connected. I am really attached to my friends here so I really hope everyone being more connected via iPhones, laptops, webcams, etc. helps.