Wintertime in my hometown

The winter has arrived in the UAE, and it has also arrived in my hometown in the USA.  They got about 60 cm of snow in one week.  Can you believe it?  The temperature is about zero degrees!  It usually gets very cold in my hometown, even colder than zero degrees.  They usually get a lot of snow, but it's a bit unusual to get so much all during one week.  Last winter they didn't get very much snow.  I talked to my dad yesterday and he told me that all of my nieces and nephews built a big snow fort out in the yard.  You can see it on the right side of the picture above.

Would you like to live someplace with so much snow?  It looks like a lot of fun, but really it is a lot of hard work.  First of all, you have to clear the snow away from your house so your family and your visitors can enter easily.  Some people use a machine called a "snow blower" to do this (see the picture above and below), but other people just use a snow shovel.  This uses a lot of muscle!  Also, it is more difficult to move around from place to place.  Cars have a lot of problems in the wintertime and the roads are not very safe.  Moreover, it is very expensive to heat your house in the winter to make it a comfortable temperature inside.  In the picture to the right you can see my brother. He is standing below an icicle which is hanging off of our house.

But still, I agree that it is beautiful!  

How I Learned to Smoke

Warning! This is a true story!

When I was 7 years old, I visited my Aunt at her house in Chicago. I went with my family. One day, I saw my Aunt smoking a cigarette. I was very interested in this, because nobody in my family smoked. I think maybe it was the first time that I saw someone smoking.

My Aunt said to me "Do you want to try?". I felt very excited. Of course I wanted to try!

She gave me the cigarette, but I didn't know what to do. I put it in my mouth and I blew into it. She said "No, don't blow air into it, you silly girl! You must inhale and make the air go into your mouth."

So I did what she said. I inhaled, but I only did it very lightly, and I only took a tiny bit of smoke into my mouth. She said "No, you must inhale harder". So I inhaled a little bit harder. She said "Well, that is a good start, but really, you must inhale as hard as you can." I wanted her to feel proud of me, so I put the cigarette in my mouth and I inhaled as hard as I could. The smoke went flying into my lungs and I thought I was going to die! I coughed and choked, my face turned purple, and tears ran down my cheeks. It was terrible!

My Aunt started to laugh and she said "I hope you learned that cigarettes are disgusting, and they make you feel like you are going to die!".

I learned my lesson, and I never smoked again!

Jazz Concert

On Sunday, November 4th, I went to a Jazz concert with my husband. The concert was at the American University of Sharjah. It was in the auditorium there, and there was a large audience. I was really excited to see this performance. There were 4 famous jazz musicians from the USA. They were really excellent. We listened to the music and tapped our feet to the rhythm. During the interval we took a short walk around the campus. The weather was lovely.

This picture is from the concert. Isn't the lady's costume interesting?

Birthday Party

Last weekend I went to a birthday party. My friend's twin sons had their 5th birthday. There were a lot of children there, and also quite a few adults. It was a lot of fun, and I really enjoyed myself. We had a barbecue with hamburgers and hot dogs, and then played some games. The kids played games with water outside because the weather was a little hot. They also broke a pinata. Do you know what a pinata is?

I baked this cake for my little friends, and also decorated it. It is an "under the sea" cake. It was fun to make, and it was delicious to eat!

I usually bake a birthday cake for them every year. You can see another cake I baked for them if you look on the very first post I put on this blog. Now the boys are older and bigger! http://eileen6131.blogspot.com/2006/02/my-first-blog.html

Some Great News!

A few weeks ago, before the Eid holiday, I told my students some wonderful news. I am pregnant, and the baby is due on February 22nd. My husband and I are very excited and we can't wait to meet our baby. This is our first child, so it is a new experience for us. We don't know if it will be a boy or a girl. We will wait and have a nice surprise.

We are trying to decide names for the baby. Do you have any ideas?

This picture comes from an ultrasound scan that the doctor did on October 22nd. Isn't it cool?

About Section 03

Section 03 is my afternoon section. This section is my first class of the day. There are 21 students in the class, so the classroom is usually very full. There are some students in the class that aren't very serious, but I hope that they will become more serious as the semester continues. Nobody in this section has a job, so I hope that they will dedicate a lot of their time to improving their English. They are a friendly group of guys, and I think we will enjoy this semester.

This is an image of a few of the students in Section 03.

About Section 04

Section 04 is my evening section. I often see them at the end of the day from 6-8 PM (except during Ramadan). Many of the students in this section are working, so they seem to be more serious and hardworking. They work in a lot of different places, like the DEWA, the airport, banks, etc. Their time is valuable, so they usually focus more while they are in class, so they don't have to do homework when they get home.

This is a photo of two of my students in section 04.

I'm back!

Wow, what a relaxing summer! After two months in America, I feel really refreshed. My husband and I spent a month camping in the states of Montana and Washington. We did lots of hiking, kayaking, and just breathing the fresh air! We slept in a tent, hiked in some amazing scenery, and ate lots of great food. Take a look at the pictures to see!

This was a typical camping spot. Lovely!

We hiked to Grinnell Glacier. Amazing!
We picked these berries near our campsite. Delicious!


Welcome back, and I hope you all had a great summer too!

Academic Year 2006-2007 Comes to an End

It's hard to believe it. Another year has finished. Nine months ago all my students were sitting in my class for the first time, and last week they sat in my classroom for the last time. This year has been pretty hectic for everybody, both students and teachers. All my students had to learn so many new IT skills, and at the same time improve their English , as well as their understanding of the workplace. Sometimes the weeks really flew by, but sometimes the hours were very slooooooooooooooooow.

All in all, it was a successful year. I saw so many of my student improve a lot, and I always enjoy seeing that! I hope they all continue to develop their skills and attitudes!

This summer I will be in America. My husband and I are going to do a big road trip across America, and visit a lot of places. Here is a photo I took the last time we were there. Have you ever been to this city?

I will try to update my blog a few times over the summer if you would like to read about my holiday. Have a super summer!

Strange but True

It was 3am when I woke to see a strange bright light shining outside my window. It took me a moment to understand what was happening. I walked to the window and lifted the curtain to look outside. I was completely shocked to see a strange glowing alien creature in the tree outside my window. I rubbed my eyes to make sure I wasn't dreaming. The alien had bright red shiny eyes that flickered like ambulance lights. It looked straight into my eyes and I felt very strange. You won't believe it, but the alien hypnotized me!

When I woke up the next morning, I remembered everything. My husband told me not to worry, and he said that he was sure it was a dream. But I am not so sure!

So now I am warning my students that if I do anything strange, it's the alien controlling me!

Week 16 - My Time Away from my Students

I thought that Week 16 would be a little bit relaxing. My students are finishing up a week at job shadowing, and I am just finishing the millions of tasks I had to do while they were away. I thought it would be an easy week, but I have been really busy!

There are lots of reasons that I was busy. First of all, I had to keep track of all the students while they were job shadowing. I recieved daily task reports from most of the students, but I also had to call the students who didn't send me any reports. I also read and commented on student blogs. I was really happy to read so many interesting stories of what has happened over the last week. Another reason I was so busy is that I marked a lot of e-task binders. That was really time consuming! I was also busy because all the GBIT teachers had daily training sessions to learn some new IT skills so that we can create WebCT Vista materials for next year's students.

So if you guys think I was on holiday this week, think again! Now I have to start planning our next two weeks of class. Did you guys realize that there are only 10 days of class left? I can't believe it!

Job Shadowing Next Week

Next week all of my students are going on job shadowing as part of their Business - IT Year One programme. They will be working in various locations - mostly in Sharjah, Dubai and Ajman. Each student will go with someone they know (a relative or friend) to the workplace, and observe what happens there. Some students are going to work in the private sector, and some are going to work in the public sector. I am very interested to find out how their experiences go. Students usually learn quite a bit during this week, so I am very excited to read about it on their blogs.

Good luck guys!

Mosaic 2007

Mosaic 2007 has closed after many weeks of hard work and preparation by students and staff here at SMC, and of course SWC too. A lot of the students put in extra work to make it a really great event. Of course lots of VIPs came to the opening ceremony, so that helped to make the week extra special. I was happy that our game was popular, and that our student workers really got into the game, or perhaps was it the customer relations that they enjoyed so much? Anyway, everyone loved our rubber chickens, so that was a funny part of the week. Maybe we should rename Mosaic 2007 as "Mosaic 2007: The Year of the Rubber Chicken".

Thanks for your work, guys!

Did anybody take any photos of our Explore the World exhibition? If so, could you please email them to me? Thanks!

Risk!

I used to have a hobby, although I have not done it in a while. My husband taught me how to rockclimb, and I really enjoy it. You have to be very fit - that's why I haven't done it in a while.

A lot of people think that rock climbing is risky, but really it isn't if you follow the rules and you don't try to do things that are too difficult for your level. Also, you absolutely have to have the correct equipment. You have to wear a helmet and a good quality harness. Also, you have to have good ropes, and you have to take care of your ropes and keep them in good condition.

Rock climbing can be really challenging, and a lot of fun. You can wear special shoes that help you to climb the rock more easily. If you rock climb, you can see a lot of beautiful things from up high. You don't have to be brave, but it's good if you are willing to do some scary things!

The picture above is me! It was taken in South Africa about 3 years ago.

Snow storm!

When I was a little girl (long long ago!), we used to get a lot of snow in my hometown. When it snowed too much, school was cancelled and all the kids stayed home from school. This used to happen 2 or 3 times per year. When it happened, we used to play in the snow all day long. It was awesome.

Nowadays, it isn't so common to get big snow storms. I think the weather is changing. Maybe it's global warming?

Last week, my parents got a huge snow storm. While it was snowing, my dad took a photo of my brother. You can see it above. In the photo, he is "snowblowing" - using a special machine to blow the snow off of our neighbour's driveway. You can see that the snow is up to his elbows - and my brother is very tall so that is a lot of snow.

Below you can see a picture that my dad took of their suburbans. I used to hate scraping the ice and snow off of windshields during the winter. That was the worst part of going to work in the morning. It was too cold!

These pictures make me feel a little bit homesick! I would love to see that snow and hear it falling. Wouldn't you?

African Wildlife

Many of you asked for more photos from my trip. Well, here you go! Lots of people go to Africa to go on safari - to see wild animals. Well, I didn't go on safari, but I did see some animals. Do you have any idea what this is?

It's a dassie. It's a cute little animal, and you won't believe it, but its closest relative is the elephant! Honestly! This little guy climbed in our car. Actually, our friends were treating him like a pet, so he was very calm and friendly - he even sat in my lap. It is just adorable, don't you think so?

The best thing that happened during our mid-year break

My husband and I went to South Africa for the mid-year break and we did and saw a lot of fantastic things. I can't describe them all. One of the coolest things I did was that I learned to ride a motorcycle! Can you believe it? You all know that I am often a passenger on my husband's motorbike, but I couldn't drive one before. I didn't really know how they work. But while we were visiting my husband's relatives, we borrowed off -road motorycles from two of the younger boys. The bikes were smaller than my husband's bike, so I felt less nervous to learn on them. They're closer to the ground, so if you fall, you won't hurt yourself so bad (or that's what I guess)!

Of course I wore protective gear - boots, helmet, gloves and elbow pads. I started off on a very small bike - a 175cc bike. Then I moved up to a 230, which was more adult size. It was awesome! It actually wasn't so difficult at all, and before you know it I was able to switch gears, drive around an obstacle course and up and down hills (they live right next to some really big sugar cane fields). I had a real sense of accomplishment when I finished the day.

Some Good News and Some Bad News

The good news is that 13 students along with Mrs. Narges and Mr. Mahmoud will be visiting Iran to see so many interesting and beautiful places that are important to the culture and history of Iran. They will leave tomorrow. The bad news is that I can't go with them! Unfortunately, there wasn't enough time to get my visa approved, so I won't be able to join them on this marvelous trip. Oh well! I am disappointed about that, but at the same time I am so excited about all that they will see, hear, and taste! I want to hear all kinds of stories and details, and see lots of pictures when they return. If you are going on this trip (or any other trip!)- please please please send me a postcard! My address is Eileen Mackey PO Box 7946 Sharjah, UAE

Have fun guys!

Bowling!

On Wednesday, January 10th, Sections 1 and 2 went bowling with Mrs. Narges and me. We had a blast! We went to the Dubai Bowling Centre, which is located near Mamzar park in Dubai. Most of us went bowling, but some of the students preferred to play billiards. I am a terrible billiards player, so I chose to go bowling. The amazing thing was, I played my best game ever! I had a score of 143. For me, that is a really good score! I think Mohamed Neyaz took a photo of the score board. Mohammed, can you send that pic to me if you still have it? I want to post it. Anyway, it was a really fun day out. Don't we all look happy in this picture?

Happy New Year 2007!

It's hard to believe that another year has passed. 2007. I wonder what it will be like? There are lots of wishes that I have for the coming year.

I hope that all of my students work hard to succeed in their personal, work and school lives. They can all develop in so many ways, I hope that they choose the right direction to move in!

I hope that the world will find more peace in 2007. 2006 was not a great year for peace. I hope world leaders make wise decisions in 2007. There are so many people all over our world who are living lives filled with anger, desperation, and sadness. I hope that these people find peace in their lives.

I hope that we all have our priorities in the right place this year, and that we truly make decisions based on what is most important to us - family, health, and a better world.

I guess these are big dreams for 2007. But what can we do to make them come true? Just remember, every choice you make has a thousand results!