Saturday 13, 2008
Day one (Friday 12th): unpacking, visiting with Michele and Wendy and Georges, a quick swim in hot tub temp water at the pool, sweating, walking to store, visiting with Hany.
Day two: school, three classes, nice students, cleaning apt with Lita (120SAR), shopping for CD player, printer, clock, USB cable. Take bus to school but will mostly likely take a taxi after the break to get more done. The staff is wonderful at school; a very diverse set people. Waiting to hear about arrival of my boxes, I was told it should be tomorrow on the 14th.
Sun 14
What is it like to be back in Saudi? Crazy. The school bus for the teachers departs at 8am and arrives at school around 8:20. This morning I have first period free and prepare by getting supplies, cleaning the room, seeing what is in the cabinets, go back to office to ask for more supplies, log in to check school emails and announcements. My first class starts at 9:30 and lasts 30 min but with the students taking their time getting out their supplies class is almost over before we start. The little ones are cute but are slow as molasses. Next class study hall, they are good. Next class is a double period with six graders going over a quiz and starting another section. At the end of this class I am told to go to the hospital to get medical done and to have lesson plans ready for the last two classes of the day. I scribble notes while my name is being summoned over the PA system twice; it takes time to walk to the other end of the campus where the main office is.
Four of us newly arrived new hires go to the hospital and wait for paper work in between getting blood drawn and chest x-rays. We get back to school for the last class. I have algebra and the room is hot, I am hot, the kids are talking, a kid wants a pass to test out of this class, another kid comes to the door wanting my permission for him to attend another math class. A few students are chatters and social butterflies and don’t want to sit and be patient. I can sense I am fighting with them and that is not a good start. We take a breather do examples and it is better. The bell rings and it is 2pm. I am hungry. Need to eat. I have another 3 hours at school to crawl out of the hole. I fight with the new version of Excel as I try make spreadsheets and charts. I am losing precious time. I get a message progress reports are due in two days by 2pm by everyone, no exception. What can I say about my students? What do I give them as grades? What software program do I use and how do I use it? Needless to say, I feel overwhelmed; too much to do in too little time. The upcoming break will be the breathing room I need to get organized. But, I am happy to be here, working, socializing, swimming, and getting to know the students.
Mon 15th
The schedule takes some time getting use to. It is a 7 day rotating schedule so each week is different. I feel like a 6th grader not knowing what class is next. At least I stay in my classroom and the students come to me. My right hand is getting fatigued with correcting papers and using a mouse again. I realized I haven’t used my right hand for work like this since May when I ended my studies.
Tuesday 16th
The rotating schedule is confusing and even though I have four 6th grade math classes to teach each class is at a different place in the book. Some days I will go two days without seeing a class. A seasoned teacher says it is best to plan in 7 day blocks rather than 5 day blocks because after seven days all the classes will have been in class the same amount of time. I am learning. Right hand is getting worse.
Wed 17th
My right thumb no longer can grasp things. The base of the thumb aches. Spreading my hand apart is painful. Is this carpal tunnel? How will I ever be able to play tennis with Michele and I can’t hold the racket? I am very worried. I don’t want this to lead to surgery. Luckily I brought over a book on posture and it has a section about over use. I read the exercises they recommend and give them a try. The workspace at my desk is not ideal at all for using the computer.
I make it through the day with lunch duty too. I hunt and peck out keys to respond to emails. After a two hour tai chi and qi gong class I feel less tense and have self massage techniques to practice. The teacher is wonderful, the classes are offered in the compound next to school, and it is a bargain at $5.33 for an hour class. A small group of us attend the Sunday and Wednesday night classes.
We end the evening at Teyana, a tea house restaurant by our compound and stop by the Belgium chocolate store on the walk back.
Thr 18th
Four hours at school and then the rest of the day with my friend Edwin having a late lunch (3:30pm), resting, shopping at the souq to get things for the apt (lots of sweating and walking around the shops), dinner at midnight, coffee at 1am (it is Ramadan so everything happens later) and home by 2am.
Fri 19th
A day home to do school work, food shopping on the compound (it is about a 15 minute walk to the store), and relaxing. Hand is feeling better with giving it a rest and doing the exercises.
Sat 20th
Heard boxes are at the cargo section of the airport and I can go with Ralph, another teacher claiming his load, tomorrow at 9am. Ugh, more time away from the students – not good. I am trying to give pop quizzes, grade their shopping bag project, collect homework and get them ready for a test when they return after break. I feel like we are not making any progress. Some students have not even started to attend school yet. Families are returning after the Eid break when classes resume Oct 4th. I feel the first 5 weeks of school are lost.
The Advisory period, like a homeroom, have been getting together a team name, making a banner, and creating a skit to perform today. They are still a little rough but I assume the other classes are too. The middle school assembly has 15 teams to watch and judge. My team thanks to Hyunju has a great banner. She is an amazing artist and student considering this is her second year at school and last year she had to learn English. She is a hard worker and doing well.
I leave detailed lesson plans for the next day.
Sunday 21
9am the man taking us to the airport is no where to be seen. He is not answering the phone. I assume he is still sleeping. I go back to class asking to be called when he is ready. I am in class for 30 min and get called. Back at the office Ralph and I wait and wait. The man appears and starts asking about invoices and such. Ralph does not have a piece of paper the man thinks will be needed. This all could have been handled yesterday instead of waiting until we are about to leave. We leave hoping for the best. From 11am to 1:30pm Ralph and I tag along the man as he goes from window to window at the cargo area. It is like a big wind tunnel and it is hot and sticky. Poor Ralph is slowly melting in his shirt and tie. It is Ramadan so no drinking water in public. I can feel a wave of sweat running down my back and legs. It is loud and noisy as we watch pallets of boxes getting shuffled around. We wait more. A man with a hand cart comes out from the warehouse with my boxes – all ten of them too. I am relieved. Ralph has 84 boxes that came from Caraccus. A man in a fork lift comes over and asks if Ralph is waiting for 3 boxes. We say no, not 3 boxes but 84. Little did we know the man meant 3 crates. We lost time because of this. Now it is prayer time and everything stops. I go upstairs to find refuge in a hall way where there is a chair and AC. Good thing I went to the bathroom before coming here because I don’t think this place has a restroom for a woman. This is a man’s world here in cargo land.
Finally, Ralph, me and the man from school are standing by Ralph’s crates after the school man goes to a few more windows. Now, how to get the crates back to school? Trucks are hired and the crates are lifted on. 1:30 we are driving back to school but it is the worst possible time, school will be letting out when we get there. Traffic at school is a night mare with all the cars and compound buses picking up students. All of our energy has been sapped out of us and we are hanging on by a thread, especially the school guy. Glad this part is over.
