Finally, some rest

I am very sorry it has been so long since I posted. I've been very busy with the beginning of school. We have had five days of orientation. The first two days were just the new hires and the entire staff for the last there.
Start of school and our arrival is coinciding with Ramadan.

Ramadan is the month where Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset, neither eating nor drinking all day. Trust me when I tell you that in this heat it is indeed a test of your faith to make this sacrifice. Because it is Ramadan and so hot here, only a very few shops open during the day and then from only Noon to 4 pm. At 9 pm, after the breaking of the fast with others, is when shops, malls, and supermarkets open and people are generally out until 2:00 to 3:00 am.

This makes getting work done for the start of school difficult at best. I am now teaching 4 history classes. That is, subject and journalism. Thanks to Kathleen Richard for the loaner book and teachers resources. It looks like this is the book we will use. On Saturday (our Monday) I will go to the class and get it decorated so that the room is set up and ready to go. I will bring home the curriculum and start going through it and writing lesson plans for the year.



I am the first full time male teacher of females in the history of this country. This is a very big deal and one that excites and scares me. I really should have no problems discipline wise; I just want to make sure that I can slow down to make sure we cover the material well. English is not their first language which will make my teaching style quite challenging to communicate my expectations in a manner in which they can understand and succeed. It should be noted that many of the students I teach are in the elite of this country. If I thought UHS was power grubby and people there thought they were important, and then we were wrong. So I have to make sure that I gain the trust of these parents. I've taught well over 800 girls in the past 16 years including a few who had the name Princess. Now that will be the title of the girls I am teaching. No matter, they will have to work to succeed and I won't let them slide. Don't expect pictures of my students. They are not allowed for any reason due to security issues.

I did have an uncomfortable moment when I walked into the PA (principal assistants) office. She and another Saudi woman were talking with their head uncovered. The PA wears a scarf over her head and you can see her face but the other woman wore the hijab which hides her face except for her glasses. When I walked in and we spotted each other I backed out of the room faster than Udo Bolt and they had their heads covered in even less time. I have to admit that really bothered me. I so very much respect their culture and do not want to offend them in any manner. I took it quite hard as a matter of fact. I had to go outside and regain my composure. When the lady wearing the full hijab saw me she asked if I were alright. Apparently she took it less badly than I did.

My new boss is named Kathy. This is also her first year at the school. She is a middle easterner and totally my kind of boss. Suffice it to say after listening and talking to her I would run through a brick wall for her. I asked to have a meeting and we sat and talked and I asked lots of questions that she didn't have the answer to. We chatted about Emma and Alex, making sure they would continue to be up to speed. She and I are going to figure a lot of this out together. I think she like some of my questions regarding curriculum and I believe she already trusts that I am a capable teacher. Let's just hope capable in this environment.

Allow me to give an example of how cool I think Kathy is. For years, I have always thought the start of school had a lot of activities that were full of crap. This year that WAS an activity. All of the new hires had to go to the hospital and have our medicals done again, for what reason I don't know. One of the things we needed to do was provide a stool sample. We ran into Kathy at the clinic and she was taking her cup home. When we got back to school she asked if we were able to give a sample and we all had, she said, "I hate every one of you!" If my principal can discuss her inability to have a bowel movement on command with a sense of humor, they I can run through that brick wall. However, the funniest part of this is when we gave samples we had to go to X-ray for a chest film. All of us were waiting in X-ray when Ryan, a 39 year old Singaporean teacher walked in sweating as if he had just outrun a bear! He asked if we had as much trouble as he did and we were laughing our asses off. He was genuinely covered in sweat. For the record...In and out in with pee and stool in 3 minutes!!

As far as Chris and the kids getting here.......well, there are issues. I have to get my Incama which is my residency card to open a bank account or get a car or for that matter exist. All of this coming week is a holiday called Eid. Our human resources director is quite sure that the card will be ready the day we start school, at the end of Eid. Others aren't so sure. The process could take as long as 3 weeks. After receiving that Incama, I can then go and apply for Chris and the Kids to get here which we can fax to Chris, other documents have to sent to her as well but not faxed. Once she has all documents she can apply with the Saudi embassy in DC and after receiving approval make ticket plans and be on the way.

There is a possibility that school will be delayed till Oct. 1 due to H1N1. But that is for another post.