(electronica music)
- Good morning, everyone.
My name is Katie.
I'll be taking over the Instagram story today,
teaching you a little bit about my life here
in Ras al-Khaimah, UAE and also answering any questions
that you might have.
Today we have the day off of school in honor of Eid,
the celebration that comes at the end of Ramadan,
so I actually have the day off and I'll be able
to show you a little bit about RAK,
but I'm actually going to Abu Dhabi today,
so I'll get to show you some of there, too.
Ramadan began this year on May 17th,
and it's either over today or tomorrow.
Because Islamic holidays depend on the moon,
it's not clear until today at sunset.
Because Islamic holidays do depend on the moon,
it can be a little bit frustrating
because you don't find out what day you get off
from school until the day before.
But it's a great surprise when you
find out that you have Thursday off.
A little bit about working here.
My work week runs Sunday to Thursday,
usually from 7:30 A.M. to 3:30 P.M.
During Ramadan you have shorter working hours,
so we're actually at work from 8:45 to 2:00.
I teach at an international IB school,
which means that I teach everything through in-unit.
I teach English through all my subjects,
because my students are all English Language Learners.
At IB schools you're required to learn a second language,
so for most of our students that's English,
because they come from an Arabic background,
but some students are also at school learning Arabic
as a second language.
I've been here for two years.
I teach at a school called Emirates National School.
It's a private school, and I've been teaching Grade 5 boys.
Next year I'll actually be moving to a Grade 4 classroom,
which I'm excited about.
A perk about working in the UAE is that you get a
round trip flight home each summer,
which is really nice because I get to go home
to Chicago for about a month, and then I can come back,
do some more adventuring before the next school year starts.
In terms of my ITA certification,
I took the in-person class in Chicago.
I decided to do it this way just because
I lived in Chicago anyways,
and I had already quit my job so I figured, why not?
I get a lot of questions about how to get a job in the UAE
and the qualifications to work here.
An ITA certification is actually not enough.
You also will need to have a teaching certificate
and a degree of some sort.
If you are interested in working in the UAE,
I would just suggest you follow some job boards.
SeekTeachers or Teachaway are great options.
I got my job through CRSexplore.
You'll have to sign a two or a three year contract
to accept a position in the UAE.
You won't find anything less than that
just due to the visa process and their desire
to slow down teacher turnover rates.
Right now I'll be getting ready to head down to Abu Dhabi.
Since I have the day off from work I get
to go down a little bit earlier.
I am here if you have any questions.
I'll show you a little bit around the neighborhood
and hopefully I'll be able to show you
some really cool things in Abu Dhabi, as well.
I'm hoping we'll get a sighting
of the Grand Mosque, at least.
If you want me to show you anything in particular,
please just let me know.
I'll try to find a camel today.
It is already really hot today, and I am fasting,
so I don't drink any water or...
anything today,
so most of my day will be inside until after sunset,
which is about 7:00 P.M. but I can venture out
for a quick picture.
Another perk of working in the UAE is you get free housing.
So this is my fully furnished house
that I do not have to pay for.
I have two bathrooms, I have a really big living room,
and a giant bedroom.
(quiet electronica music)
(louder electronic music)
(Arabic music)
Here we have sand dunes,
and over here a nice little forested area.
(electronica music)
Well, I am safely in Abu Dhabi.
We are just wasting some time, shopping,
waiting for Iftar at 7:00 so that we can eat and drink
and start our evening of fun.
I mentioned earlier that I work at an IB school.
IB stands for International Baccalaureate,
and it's a type of school where everything is taught
with an in-unit inquiry and
all subjects are transdisciplinary.
So essentially every six weeks I teach my students
a different theme and within that theme I teach them
science, social studies, math, English, reading concepts,
grammar concepts, and I just try to make them relevant
to the theme I'm teaching.
A few people also asked about cost of living in the UAE,
and in terms of cost of living it's really
what you make of it.
You're able to live very cheap in terms of your salary,
but you can also live a very lavish,
luxurious lifestyle here.
So if your ultimate goal is to save money,
that's definitely possible here, you just won't be able
to do all the brunches every weekend
or stay in a hotel every night, but that's okay,
it's definitely a great lifestyle regardless.
So we are currently in the car headed to Iftar.
Iftar is the meal you eat during Ramadan to break your fast,
so it's almost like a Thanksgiving dinner every night for
30 days, just because there's a sense of...
Today for Iftar we are having hot pots.
- [Woman] So who left it in?
- [Katie] And...
This is it.
Not quite time to eat yet though, couple more minutes.
We just got word that today is officially the last day
of Ramadan, which means it's also the beginning of Eid.
Eid is the celebration that comes after Ramadan,
basically as a celebration for fasting for 30 days.
For the rest of the night we're just going to
hang around the hotel, play some games,
and just be together while we are not at work,
and it's going to be an excellent start
of this Eid celebration.
I'm going to sign off for the night.
Hopefully you saw some fun things around the UAE
and got to know a little bit about teaching here.
If you have any questions or if you'd like to follow
in my adventures feel free to follow my Instagram account.
(electronica music)