Destination: Doha

It rained today. I realize that might not sound thrilling, but this is the first rain I have seen since I arrived in this country (on August 24th). It was very exciting. While it was raining at school, I felt like a kid in elementary school hoping for a snow day. When I came home, I spent some quality alone time standing in the rain on my balcony, watching the thunderclouds roll by and the occasional flash of lightning. Bliss.

This weekend, on Saturday, was “Sports Day” at school. I had to be there at 8:30 in the morning to play organized game/sporting activities with my class. Only about 13 or 14 showed up, but it was a great time. By the end I was extremely sweaty. It was the perfect opportunity to get some excellent photos of the little fools. Once I can ever get some pictures uploaded I’ll get those online.

Every day the kids are understanding more and more. We had a great conversation today about rain, since that is a pretty rare experience. We also talked about which character everyone wanted to be. A few wanted to be Spiderman, Superman, and Batman, and a few more who wanted to be Hello Kitty and Dora the Explorer. A lot of the little boys wanted to be Dora. That made me and my liberal arts education very, very happy.

Not too much in the way of news. I finally got my residence visa so I’m no longer working illegally! Oh and I played tennis last night. The good mood from that usually lasts a few days. I also ate dinner at Habeeb’s last night, my favorite spot for food just down the street from my apartment. For those of you who are familiar with my study abroad in Paris, Habeeb’s is the new “Panini Man.”

I have next week off for Eid! More later.

My sincerest apologies for those who actually read this…

My computer died and has just returned to my possession with a new hard drive, safe and sound. I had most things backed up, but lost some of my photos from Eastern Europe (Margaux I’ll be needing to make copies of yours) and some other recent documents about grad school and such that can be replaced rather easily. The computer shop I went to has upgraded me to Windows 7, which appears to be working well thus far (fingers crossed).

Now that I’m back, I don’t know how to go and update about everything since October 10th. I’ll start by wishing everyone a happy Halloween! I celebrated by eating copious amounts of candy.

This past week has been the best in Doha. Unfortunately, there were two events happening simultaneously that I needed a time-turner for (excuse the Harry Potter reference). One was the Doha Tribeca film festival, and the other was the Sony-Ericsson Women’s tennis tournament. I went to the tennis on three separate occasions, and tonight was the final between Clijsters and Wozniacki. Clijsters won in three sets and it was an incredible experience. I am looking forward to the men’s event, which will be in early January.

I’ll be updating more often now.

Well, let me begin by apologizing for being particularly lax at updating the blog. I haven’t had easy internet access for a couple of weeks, but things are currently looking up in that department.

Anyway, I just had my first day of Week 4 of teaching. I’ve had all kinds of adventures since my last post:

• One of my children pooped his pants.
• I’ve been sick and already missed a day of school.
• At one point, my blood pressure was so elevated (and my AC unit wasn’t working), that I had a massive nosebleed in the middle of class, while wearing a white shirt
• When I lead PE class, the favorite activity is “Chase the teacher.”
• Outside of school, I went camping in the desert.

My children are already being given oral examinations in the hallway once a week. A little early to start testing? I’d say so, but it isn’t my decision. The ones who understand English are doing pretty well at identifying letters, numbers, shapes, and colors (side note: I actually just typed “colours” the first time. The Irish are definitely rubbing off on me). Some of them are still clueless.

My favorite part of this is seeing that they DO actually learn from me. Three weeks ago, there were just children running around screaming and crying. Not to say that plenty of that still isn’t happening, but now those activities are punctuating a slightly more normalized atmosphere in which I bring children up to the board to point to the letters or numbers of shapes. Some of them can even attempt to say my name now. Occasionally the class erupts in chaos that ends with a bunch of 3 year olds charging up to the front of the room to give me a hug… and although disruptive, this never fails to make me feel really good, because there is a tangible positive vibe in the classroom (at least on days like today) and even the more troubled children or those who have yet to settle in are even starting to progress as the other children set the example.

That’s not to say that this hasn’t been rough. By the end of most days I’m in a rather foul mood, although today was a particularly good day. But as I continue to be more comfortable teaching and my little kids continue to learn and grow, I can’t help but feel closer to them and care genuinely about their well-being. So that’s definitely something.

Well, I have officially finished my first week of teaching. Barring the incidents relating to children peeing themselves in class or vomiting, I’d say it was generally a success. Most have learned the word for “teacher,” which is what they call me because “Alexandra” or “Miss Alex” seem to be a bit too difficult at this stage.

I’m looking forward to relaxing over the weekend before I begin the process all over again. I’m still waiting on six students that did not show up to school this week, so I’m a little nervous that the crying fits will begin again. I just need to mentally prepare myself to deal with it.

I really like the kids already, they are extremely adorable. Even the ones who misbehave, because it’s so wonderful to get to know each of them and their individual personalities. One little girl told me at the end of school yesterday, “I like you, teacher.” That made me feel incredible.

I’m looking forward to Saturday when a fellow teacher and I are making dinner for our assistant teachers. My assistant’s name is Jenny. It will be great to get to know her better outside of school since we will be working together so closely all year.

That’s all for now, but you will be hearing from me again soon.

First Day.

Well, it’s over! and I survived!

Only 20 of the 28 came today. But that was plenty. Some of the other classes were full of screamers. I had some that cried right after their mothers dropped them off, but for the most part they were pretty good. One girl cried so hard that she threw up though, which was a little rough. and I had one kid pee his pants. Other than that, no major incidents, although don’t get me wrong, it was definitely chaotic. This is exhausting. Mom, I can finally say that I know how you feel. Especially because a lot of the children can’t even really communicate with me and this is their first time ever hearing English. But they figure out what to do and say pretty quickly to get my attention.

I had one little girl who likes to break the rules and hit me and the assistant, and one little guy who is insane and climbs all over the place and won’t stay in his seat. But I think they seem to respond pretty well to being put in “time out,” and hopefully they will get used to class rules after awhile.

One of the teachers literally had 24 out of 26 screaming the entire day, she had a lot of extra help but they couldn’t get the kids to calm down. It was apparently pretty rough. They say there is always one class like that here. Some of the kids are extremely spoiled and have drivers to pick them up. (I take the bus home.) A full day is a really long time for 3-year-old kids. Personally, I think it’s too long. There isn’t even a scheduled nap-time, and they get pretty cranky by the end. I had a lot of them tell me they wanted to go home way before it was actually time.

Now that I know them by name and know who’s lunchbox is who’s, etc, I think tomorrow will be a lot easier. We started learning the letter “a,” today, the color red, and the number “1.” Tomorrow I should have a little more control and begin teaching with actual worksheets and stuff. We shall see.

Off do to afternoon tea with the other teachers, more from me soon!

I start teaching tomorrow.

I’ll let you know what happens.

A few things:

1. I had my first beach experience in Doha. Went with some friends to the “Oasis” beach club. It sounds fancy, but it is a fraction of the price of the fancy five-star hotel beaches. I think it is a place we will be frequenting on the weekends. Swimming in the Persian Gulf for the first time was exciting, I’m always looking to try out a new body of water. It was quite warm and very shallow… not ideal for swimming but definitely worth a dip since the heat can be unbearable. My factor-85 sunscreen prevented me from getting sunburn, and I even managed to pull off a bit of a tan.
2. Ramadan is over. I have two days off from school for Eid al-Fitr, which I have been using to get myself settled and in order. As part of the holiday I have managed to go out with some friends for Indian food, hit the beach (as mentioned above), and take my first walking trip to the Lulu supermarket, which was quite the experience in the heat, especially while carrying two bags of groceries.
3. It’s killing me that I can’t watch the Djokovic-Nadal US Open final, but I can listen to the radio online. The “watch live” option “is not available in your area.” The highlights will have to suffice. I’ll make up for it by going to the WTA event here in Jan.
4. I’m back to work tomorrow, finishing up getting my classroom together. My students won’t actually be in school until next Sunday, which is when I will finally feel like a real teacher. From what I hear, they cry through most of the first week, so it will be a pretty demanding trial on my patience.

More later.