I stereotyped people freely, and I didn’t know how to relate, nor did I make any effort to try.

Many of you know we started our expatriate lives off teaching overseas in the United Arab Emirates. You maybe wondering the same question we find ourselves asked frequently: “How does living in China compare to living in the UAE?” Or perhaps, “How does teaching in […]

It’s fall 2012, my first trimester of teaching English to high schoolers in Abu Dhabi. I’m at an ADEC boys school in Al Ain. There are a dozen English teachers from the US, New Zealand, and England here, and they’re a supportive bunch of seasoned […]

Back in early 2015, I (Jenia here) wrote an article for Venn Magazine called “On Loving Your Neighbors.” It’s late June 2018 and the Supreme Court has just upheld what’s being oft referred to as “Trump’s Muslim ban.” It feels like a high time for […]

Imagine yourself, a qualified professional teacher who is accustomed to a certain level of, what, decorum? in the classroom. Now, imagine that you arrive at your new job, and you find that all of your expectations are…going out the window. Along with the students. But […]

As you may know, I (Shon writing) got my start teaching overseas with the Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) back in 2012. ADEC aimed to modernize the emirate of Abu Dhabi’s schools, and one way of doing that was bringing people like me to teach […]

From our very first days of living in the Middle East, we knew we absolutely had to visit Jordan sooner or later. Shon longed to go to Petra ever since he watched Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade as a child. He couldn’t believe that the […]

The ADEC (Abu Dhabi Education Council) Interview Process Many people who visit our blog are wondering what the ADEC interview process is like. For all those people, and since I’ve actually interviewed twice, I’ll share my experiences and compare them a bit. ADEC Interview One […]