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.

News from Riyadh

The Kingdom.

It is not a given that this post will be published on the blog in a timely manner but it is being written around 1:30 pm on the 11th. I am writing this at the compound restaurant that has one of the most diverse menus I’ve ever run across. French, British (fish and chips), Indian, Chinese, Thai, burgers are all on the menu. I certainly hope that the food is not compromised by the vastness of the menu. I am drinking a non alcoholic beer called Holstein that tastes more like a cow than a beer. And I have to admit, this is likely one of the few times I’ve ever needed a beer.

My flight in on Emirates airline for all practical purposes was an air India, or Bangladesh, or Pakistan for that matter. I don’t quite know how they knew the gate agent was ready to begin the pre-boarding process, but 150 people qued within 20 seconds. It was the fastest mass movement of humanity I have ever seen. I was able through a stroke of luck to board the aircraft prior to 80% of them. I say it was luck……however; I was watching the first one and got the jump on the second. I am trying to be open minded and such. Many people who read this blog likely think of me as inflexible, and I agree when it comes to doing things right or wrong, correctly or half assed. I like to think of myself as highly flexible and adaptable to new situations. But the smell of that plane made me lose my appetite. I tried the fasting Ramadan thing but admitted that I did have a banana and a bottle of water. I was hungry enough to eat airline food until they closed the door of the cabin.

When I got off the airplane in Riyadh, I was reminded of how pretty the interior of the terminal was and very much reminded of how small it was when it was time to get in line for immigration. I waited in line for a solid hour and moved 6 ft. While waiting, the lines had degenerated into a sprawling mass which the immigration official qued back up. I guess being white is quite an advantage because the immigration official read my passport and sent me to a much smaller line of ‘Europeans’. I then got sent to an empty line because I was the only American and got through immigration in 2 minutes. I found a porter and all of the baggage had been unloaded so we located the bags and boxes and went to the arrival area. Every other part of my trip had been fraught with misadventure; I was quite prepared to not be met at arrival at the airport. Perhaps the most welcome sight of the last month was a sign held up by a man that said “PHILIP WORTH”. This was the company’s driver and I met the Director of the school. I paid the porter…WAAAAAAY more than I expected to. The going rate is about $5 per item. We were forced to use a taxi and the company car. I rode in the taxi with a majority of my belongings following the company car to the compound. If I thought drivers in Dubai were nuts then I obviously wasn’t giving them enough credit. The taxi driver attempted to (NASCAR TERM) bump draft the school car. This time I was determined to die with my eyes open. We made it to the compound from the airport in about 20 minutes even though it’s a 40 minute drive.

The compound looks a lot like a retirement village in Arizona except with far more .50 caliber machine guns. There were two gates to go through that a Sherman tank would have difficulty in surmounting, razor wire and guards that checked the engine bay and trunk and mirrors to look underneath. The taxi was not allowed into the second gate and the driver told me “There were many problems with this compound” I asked if taxi drivers or residents had problems and when he told me drivers, it added a level of comfort for my visit.

The house we have has two dens a formal sitting room, dining area, a kitchen with a six person table, three bedrooms and two and a half baths……I don’t know how we made do with such a small house these past four years. I was able to sneak on an unsecure connection to email Chris and post my FB status. Currently all of the network connections are secure and I can’t log on. It will take several days to get the internet up and running and it’s the weekend here. The house needs a good scrubbing and I can’t (won’t) put anything away until it has been wiped down with a bleach solution. It isn’t dirty mind you….but it isn’t CLEAN. Also…..Shelf paper must be installed in the kitchen. There is lots to buy here…brooms, mops, trashcans, toilet brushes, clothes hangers, a new sheet set, towels, etc. But it will be home in short order.

Time for me to wrap this note up. Lunch was good. Pepper steak and fries. Not what I would call a pepper steak but more like steak with a pepper sauce. It was good and only cost about $8 US, so not too bad. I hope to send this to Chris and have it posted, perhaps with some pictures.

Worth

Worth's first impressions Dubai

I am posting this for Worth as he could not access Blogger.

I landed in Dubai. There aren’t really words to describe Dubai. Everything to say would have to be done in superlatives. The airport is magnificent. The Skyline is unlike that of any other major city in the world. To be sure they have their share of world class buildings, but by in large, they have all been built with some degree of architectural interest. They have the tallest building in the world here and it is incredibly impressive.

I met my friend Nora Kruk who took me to a mall so large that there are at least 5 information booths to give directions and help- per FLOOR. There were dozens of restaurant choices but we went to an Italian place run by a friend of hers that she knew from high school. The food was delicious and conversation interesting. I believe that mall was perhaps the greatest congregation of ethnicities and nationalities of any building in the world excluding the United Nations. Guess what this store was selling?

Nora had difficulty finding me, apparently the Hotel that Chris has us booked in is in the hood. Or more accurately the old part of town. This area is where the locals stay and expats are in the other, newer part of town. The hotel I am in is quite comfortable and I had an excellent night of sleep. The room is small but well apportioned. Never before have I slept in a bed so tightly made. I actually had to work to get to the bottom of the bed. This is necessary because the temperature in my room is about 62 degrees. I can’t find the thermostat to turn it up but don’t think they ever turn it up because the A/C has to work overtime in this heat. Now being from La. I get heat. I understand heat. I’ve been to Las Vegas in July, hot but not overwhelming. I have to admit that the moment I got out of the airport, the heat hit me like a ton of bricks. You might think you understand what I mean, but you don’t (excluding Matthew). This will take some getting used to.

I need to get this posted and check out of the hotel and get to the airport. I don’t really have the time or energy to go exploring. With all of the issues I’ve had so far in getting this far I just don’t want to chance anything. So if I survive the taxi ride, I should be in the Kingdom tonight. (*)

(*) Taxi rides here scared me. I am not really sure I can drive in this part of the world. If we define driving skill by attempting to avoid accidents then they do the opposite. Apparently the closer you get to killing your passenger without doing so is the true measure of driving skill here. On my ride home the driver asked if I was tired because my eyes were closed. Nope…just couldn’t watch .

Time to go

Ladies and Gentlemen, it's time for me to leave. This decison and process has taught me a lot about myself, my relationship with Chris, and how blessed I am to have such a different and interesting group of friends.

I will go to Houston tomorrow and take a 15 hour flight to Dubai. This plays very much into what I have learned about myself..which is that I have a pretty high tolerance for waiting. All of the redundant paperwork, handling of other peoples mistakes and nagivgation to do this has been a real test and one that I would like to think that I handled with more grace than not.

I also would like to take some time here to mention my love and admiration for Chris. She has done so much in regards to packing the house, helping me get the paperwork done and been the rock on which our family is grounded. People often pick on me about how lucky I am to have her, but they are correct. I am quite honestly very luckyto have her as a best friend and wife. I hope that all of the BS that we are having to go through to get her and the kids over there soon passes quickly because I miss her when we aren't together. Chris...I love you and this is going to be a hell of an adventure.

To my friends. Thank all of you. For everything. If a person is measured by the impact they have had on others I may fall short. But if it is done by the opposite method, on the impact others have had on me; what a fantastic life I've had so far.
- To the posse, I wish more LSU roadtrips and full ice chests of fish.
- To the Rat Pack, I wish more +6's.
- To my collegues, I wish the school realises it isn't as important as you are.
This in my mind is not goodbye. Farewell is more appropriate. I hope all of us fare well.
For the moment, I am just going to check out what is on the otherside of a very distant hill.