I finally received the illusive text from Rebecca saying she had arrived. I quickly went down to meet her and realized that she had come with lots of other teachers. They did not have the hassle of checking in like we did the day before. I went to check out her room since she is located on the other side of the hotel. Her room is night and day from mine! She is definitely on the renovated side, brand new everything as where my room has an interesting smell and the bathroom is questionable.
We decided to walk outside by the pool and down to the Arabian Sea so she could put her feet in and feel like she was at home(she is from Florida). I put my feet in as well and was shocked at how warm it was! I have never put my feet in warm water, the West Coast just doesn't have such a thing. We had dinner at the pub in our hotel, it was ok food, we pretty much had no choice in where we were eating since there isn't anything within walking distance. I retired to my room where my nightly routine of watching FRIENDS before I sleep was rudely disrupted by the fire alarm going off. I didn't hear anyone yelling so I figured I was ok, and then it went off again! So I finally fell asleep and was rudely woken by some drunk men on my floor being ridiculously LOUD! Oh, and by the way this was at 2:30 AM! Apparently there are a bunch of British railroad workers staying here because they are building a railroad for this region, so they like to hang out in the pub and drink until it closes and then come back to their room.
My alarm eventually went off (both of them) and I started to get ready for my first day of school. I was told by my HoF (head of faculty) that I could just observe today until she returned tomorrow and then she would go over things with me. She had arranged for two other teachers to pick my up from my hotel since it is only 11 mins away from the school. I decided to video chat with my parents before I went to the lobby. They had returned form California that evening and I knew that they had picked up the dogs, Moe and Gretchen. So I was elated that the even answered when I called and I immediately asked to see my Moe. I started to get tears in my eyes when I saw him and his ears went up when I said his name. I miss him so much! I had a quick conversation with my parents and then headed down to the lobby. I was greeted by another teacher in the lobby who asked me what school I was teaching at, turns out we were teaching at the same school! We waited for the other teachers to arrive and since she had a car, we followed them to the school. I honestly couldn't tell you what my school looks like, I remember colorful dots on the outside walls and walking through a gate. Inside the school, there are decorations that totally depict the region we are in. There are camels and sand dunes and different things like that on the walls. I had to manually sign in because I do not have my fingerprints completed for the school yet. You have to scan your fingerprints in and out of school each day! I was taken to the English teacher lounge where I met a few of my colleagues. I found out we just leave our stuff in that room and hang out there until 8 when they ring the bell for assembly. During assembly I was able to see my class and meet my Arabic co-teacher for the first time. The assembly was done completely in Arabic where I am assuming they said some sort of pledge and also sang their national anthem. The uniforms the students wear are absolutely adorable! The girls are dressed in pink striped blouses and solid pink pants, the boys are in blue striped shirts with blue solid pants. After assembly we came to the classroom, the walls are orange and green. There are signs all over the wall in Arabic and English. My Arabic co-teacher showed me the schedule for the day which never changes, the only thing that changes are the specialists, but the time is consistent. I tried to explain to her that I was just going to watch, but she didn't quite understand so when she asked me about teaching English I said no and she just did more Arabic stuff with the kids.
I was invited by my co-teacher to join the circle and introduce myself so they all practiced saying my name which was adorable! They went around the circle and told me their names (It's going to take me awhile to get their names down, I have several double names). The day went by pretty quickly, I took them to playground where they have some of those hoppy bouncy balls, big plastic play houses and those push fisher price cars. I watched them go crazy as most kids do when they have recess. They kept saying "teacher, teacher!" if someones foot was run over or if one of them started to cry. I defiantly felt the language barrier with them when I couldn't even help them when they were hurt. This one tiny boy in my class took the hoppy bouncy ball thing and kicked it toward me to which I kicked it back to him. His face lit up! We kicked it back and forth for about 10 minutes until the rest of the boys realized what I was doing and came running. So I did what I have done with the Kindergartners at my old school and kicked it high up into the air and they ran after it! The first one to get it brought it to me and I did it again. They started to fight over who was going to bring it to me to which I had to peel some of them off of each other and the ball. They started to get the hang of it though. The bell rang which meant recess was over and they grabbed their backpacks and lined up to go to the bus. I brought the rear of the line as my Arabic Co-teacher lead the way outside (holy hot outside!). The kids went to the appropriate bus and I headed back inside. I went back to my classroom where my co-teacher showed me the alphabet (which isn't complete). She showed me the tiny space where I can hang English stuff up on the wall. She is a very kind woman, but I feel like a guest in HER classroom. I will come back to why I felt like that a bit later. We had professional development after school today which I wasn't aware of since I have no schedule at all. This means we stay until 2. We went into the meeting room (it was absolutely freezing in there!) where the Arabic/English translating teacher told us that we needed to pick a committee and then told us we could go because the rest was for the Arabic teachers. However, we weren't allowed to leave the school until 2.
On the way back to the hotel, I was talking with Nina the teacher that gave me a ride to school and she told me that she had to realize that she was a guest in her co-teacher's classroom. A light bulb went off in my head, I AM a guest in her classroom, that is why I have very little space to display things. We really aren't "co-teaching", rather she teaches about the Islamic faith and teaches them Arabic and I come in and teach them English and Math and twice a week Science. I get it now! I had this picture in my mind of having my OWN classroom, but that isn't the case in the KG level.
When we got back to the hotel, I had dinner with Nina and we just talked about school and life in general, Rebecca came and met us for a few minutes and then went to have a Skype date with her mom.
Tomorrow I get to meet my HoF and she will explain things a little more. I did however receive a text from my bank here (that's how they communicate here, so cool/strange) telling me that I have my furniture allowance. This means I get to go shopping this weekend and hopefully be in my own place next week! Enjoy the pics!
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| they are planting palm trees at my hotel |
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| Talked to Moe this morning before school :) |
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