TESOL Arabia weekend

Had a great weekend in Dubai with friends from work.  We went up for the TESOL conference and job fair but also for the socializing, eating and shopping. 

The first night we ate at the hotel restuarant....excellent food and we got a great discount because one of our group got locked in a malfunctioning bathroom. 

Sharon, Liz, me and Stacy

The next day I attended a few speakers at the conference.  It was pretty much a waste of time as the prsesenters were unprofessionable and hopelessly outdated in their topics.  I heard the same thing from other attendees all day.  Apparently this is normal for this TESOL Arabia because of the pressure put upon teachers to present regardless of whether they have time or interest.   I did get a good grammar book at the book fair so it wasn't a complete waste of time and we ate at the revolving restaurant at the top of the hotel while enjoying the views of Dubai.

Another reason I attended was to see how the job fair works for next year when I'm looking for a job.  It's very bizzare.  The institutions that are hiring put up their job postings and applicants hand their 'paper' resumes to a collection desk.  Then applicants wait to see if institutes want to interview them and what time their interviews are.  There is no communication between the institue and applicant while this is being done so you just have to wait and be available the whole weekend.   I'm not looking forward to doing it next year but I guess it will be a learning experience.

On our last night, we went to a sheesha bar on the Dubai Creek and relaxed outdoors with the lights of the city twinkling accross the water. 

Rick, me, Jackie, Stacy, Tanya (Sharon is taking the photo)

Here is me with the sheesha pipes...you can smoke all kinds of flavored tobacco like apple, mint, strawberry and peach.