India and Dubai

I had the opportunity to spend a couple of weeks in India during August. I led US taxation trainings for a class of about 30 newly hired Deloitte Tax recruits fresh out of college. It was a lot of fun (although I did miss Danielle a ton). While I was gone, Danielle and I discovered how useful Skype can be. With the twelve and a half hour time difference, we would often set up Skype and have video calls while Danielle was eating breakfast and I was eating dinner. It actually almost felt like we were sitting across the table from one another while we ate (except we couldn't play footsie...bummer). So here are a few pictures from my trip:

In the Charminar Marketplace in the "old city" of central Hyderabad. One of the guys I was with was trying to find turbans (as souvenirs) for his little boys. He found them easily in this predominately Muslim part of town.

Here is the class I taught. They were mostly MBAs from some of the best universities in India. They were so much fun to teach. We teased each other and played practical jokes and just had a jolly good time together.

Inside the walls of Golconda Fort, a palace/fortification that was in its heyday sometime in the 15th century. It's fun to walk around and imagine what the place was like back then.

A cool looking archway on the hike up to the top of Golconda fort.

In addition to spending a couple of weeks in India, I got to spend a couple of days in Dubai, U.A.E. Dubai is famous for all of its modern engineering marvels, including several man-made islands in the shape of palm trees, an indoor ski resort and the tallest building in the world. It was a great place to visit and like no other place I've ever been.

The Persian Gulf looked like glass when I went for a morning swim at my hotel (in the shadow of the Burj Al Arab, the world's only 7-star hotel).

After swimming in the 90 degree water of the gulf, I decided it was time to cool off . . . so I went snow skiing at the Ski Dubai indoor ski resort. All equipment and clothing is provided with the lift ticket and the snow wasn't half bad. I had a smile from ear to ear the whole time (except in this picture) and just kept chuckling because I knew it was 110 degrees outside.

In front of my hotel, the Mina A-Salam. My hotel was connected to several other beautiful properties via the waterway behind me and you could ride water taxis to get wherever you needed to go.

This is the view looking up from the first floor of the Burj Al Arab. It is incredibly ornate and gaudy inside, but was actually smaller than I had anticipated.

We had high tea on the 27th floor of the Burj Al Arab in the Skyview Lounge. It was quite pricey, but was excellent. And it had an amazing view of the Palm Jumeirah and The World (two of the famous man-made islands). The service was incredible, but it'd better be incredible to substantiate a 7-star rating.

In front of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. It is officially 2,717 feet tall; Taller than anything else ever made by man (or woman) by a margin of almost 1,000 feet.

On the outdoor observation deck in the Burj Khalifa at a height of about 1,500 feet. I think it was probably all in my mind, but I kept feeling the building swaying back and forth.

This was the view from the balcony of my hotel room. It was an incredible stop in Dubai. But as always...the best part of the trip was having Danielle back in my arms when I arrived at home.

First Day of 5th Grade!

So, no, I am not having to repeat the Fifth Grade (although, my teachers might have held me back had I been any worse in Spelling and Math) ....But I did start my student teaching in 5th grade!

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August 23rd came really fast after spending the previous week setting up the classroom with my teacher trainer/master teacher (Stacy). Getting posters up on the walls, organizing desks into groups and sorting through textbooks and planning for the first days of school! Then I was off to Farmington to hang out with Kelly and the girls for a weekend before the first day of school all over again!

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Since Matt was in India at the time, he insisted that I take the traditional "First Day of School" pictures myself. Well, I ended up having my dad take them at the end of the day instead of the beginning but it's all the same in the end anyway, right?

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Super excited to have an 'official' teacher badge with my picture on it and everything!

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And so school begins. The first week and a half have gone really well! By the second day, I had picked up the math that we do every morning! (Well how about that!) I plan and pick problems for 'Board Math' and prep the white board that is set aside just for this task and then teach it the following morning. It is a new idea/program that Stacy was trained in during the summer and she passed on the information to me and so now I have my first little, scheduled teaching time every day and we are not even that far into the school year! I LOVE it! And it doesn't hurt that I think that Board Math is amazing and I wish that my elementary school teachers had used it with me!

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What is Board Math you ask? If you really want to know then keep reading! (can you tell that I am excited about this and want to share it with everyone?!) Basically it is a review and preview of all the 5th grade math concepts that our students will be learning throughout the year. We touch on all of the different subject areas from algebra to geometry and word problems all in a 15 minute period every morning. It makes math seem less scary when the teacher (me:) walks through the problems one at a time, step-by-step. As the week goes on, the students begin to answer some of the questions on their own and by Friday, they love math and feel that they are experts at it! A great confidence builder for all students.

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So there you have it. From the first day to the first week and a half. I will probably rant more about the awesome tactics and programs that we use later on and I am sorry, but it is nice to tell them to anyone who will listen:)