Sean Banville's Blog

Life in Ras Al Khaimah, UAE

Camels crossing

This post picks up from where I left off in posts two, three and four. They were the story of how I lost my life savings on a bright idea called BreakingNewsEnglish.com, the horror of a dream vanishing, and saying sayonara to my home in Japan and salam-alaykum to the UAE.

So, here goes part four of the BreakingNewsEnglish-and-beyond story.

My wife, children (aged 4 and 2) and I arrived in Dubai Airport at midnight in January 2006. All we owned in the world was what was on the baggage trolley – four suitcases and carry-on luggage. We looked for the man with the piece of paper with my name on it amid the hundreds of other people from every corner of the globe looking for men with the piece of paper with their name on it. We found him. He took us to a minibus and left Dubai and drove into the eerily dark desert.

Our destination was Ras Al Khaimah – a small city on the Arabian Sea 90 minutes north of Dubai. The man was the driver of my new workplace. He drove us to a nice hotel. The college put us up there for five days while we oriented to our new city and bought some supplies ready to move into our college-provided villa.

After breakfast the next morning, the lovely college HR officer met us. She gave me money to see us through our first week, and a furniture allowance to set up our home. We were amazed at how much was in the envelope. She then took us to open up a bank account and get connected with mobile phones and the Internet. We felt we were now safe.

Our huge villa had a swimming pool with an equally huge car-port roof – year-round swimming. Our kitchen was big enough for our three second-hand dining room tables (one for breakfast, one for the kids’ artistic adventures, and one for entertaining).  It felt like we were living in a palace – the large chandeliers hanging from our reception room and living room added to the sense of palacialitiness (don’t go looking that word up).

We lived a stone’s throw from the Arabian Sea, a 10-minute drive to the most special, spectacular desert and 20 minutes from the unforgettable Hajar Mountains. We went camping in the desert, took dhow rides to see pods of dolphins swim alongside us, four-wheel-drove in the mountains and dry river beds, frequently visited Dubai to have our senses assaulted, ate delicious Indian and Pakistani food several times a week, ate delicious Lebanese food several times a week, ate more delicious Indian and Pakistani food, and much more.

Hajar Mountains

I still really missed Japan.

Work was a huge challenge that totally changed me as a teacher. I did so much. I became team leader of my department; I wrote exams; I was responsible for organizing, administering and invigilating exams for 170 students; I presented at a conference for the first time; I joined committees, I helped organize a conference; I learnt all about course management systems; and best of all, I learnt absolutely loads about educational technology and totally loved it.

My colleagues were inspiring. I had never worked with so many highly qualified, experienced and dedicated teachers. The college director once visited my class and told the students they were lucky to have the best teachers in the world teaching them. I believed him.

But (1) … all this newness and learning and challenge nearly meant the end of my site BreakingNewsEnglish.com. I felt I couldn’t keep it going and decided to break free from it. For three months in 2006, I cast it aside. It had been a worthwhile and interesting adventure.

But (2) … during my summer break I missed it and started making lessons again. I couldn’t just let it go. But I did for a second time half-way through my second semester .  I knew this time it would be for good.

But (3) … then I got a mail from nowhere. A teacher in Slovakia sent me a mail. He told me he would write the lessons for me, which he did for several months in late 2006. His efforts spurred me for a third time to write again for my site and I haven’t stopped since then. He enjoyed helping me so much he set up his own site, NewsFlashEnglish.com.

We spent two years in Ras Al Khaimah before deciding to move on. We weren’t happy with the quality of our children’s education. I asked for and got a transfer to the capital, Abu Dhabi. I told my college director that I’d learnt more in two years at the college than I had in the previous 13 years of my career.

Camel train

I had also paid off the sizeable negative equity on my house in Japan and things looked a lot rosier than they had for years. The move to the UAE was a good one.

We arrived in the big city in January 2008. My time in Abu Dhabi has seen my teaching, learning, interest in online materials, and ambitions take on higher heights, and this will be the subject of my next post.