Just finished my first two days of school! Okay, I have a cushy job (I think). You decide:
My day starts at 7:30 AM, the students come in at 8:00. I have a break from 9:30 - 10:00. The students leave at 12:00 noon. On Sunday and Tuesday I leave at 2:00 because of Professional Development meetings. On Monday and Wednesday I leave at 1:00. On Thursday I leave at 12:30. Off on Friday and Saturday. And I have an Arabic co-teacher! I love this!
I have a KG1 class which means I have the 3-4 year olds. Yesterday I had 8 kids (only 2 boys). Today I had 12 kids (4 boys). Yesterday I had one cryer. Today she wasn't crying, but 3 of the 4 new ones cried almost the entire time. Two came in with nannies and were having a hard time leaving the nannies. I know that eventually they will calm down and I can start teaching. Right now they are getting everything in Arabic with me trying to figure out what's going on through context clues. I should really start trying to teach during the third week. Oh, I get to loop up with this class, so I have them for two years!
We were told that we would have to move out of the hotel on Saturday. I was supposed to be told at some point when I was going to be moved so I went to Ghayathi to clean my apartment. My furniture was supposed to be delivered on Saturday, so I waited from 3-5:30 PM only to find out that they had loaded it on a truck and sent it somewhere else. They wanted to deliver it Sunday morning, but I told them that I had to work and could receive them on 3:00 on Monday. We drove back to the Mirfa Hotel, getting there around 7:30. When we get to the hotel, there is a guy there ready to move me to Ghayathi! After some calls we found out that no, he was to move 7 of us to another hotel in Madinet Zayed - the Tilal Liwa Hotel. So had to run upstairs and pack our bags. We took off about 9-9:30 PM, so got to bed around midnight. Had to get up at 4:30 AM in order to leave about 6:00 AM to get to work on time.
So yesterday (Monday) I waited again. I called and was told that they would be there in 15 minutes (after again waiting since 3:00 and this was at 4:00). At 5:30 they finally come. I was shocked to find out that EVERYTHING (except for the couch) was in boxes and had to be put together. We (Sarah, Lori, and I) had just had our first day of school. Lori and I literally walked in and found out on the first day what age level we had and where our rooms were. Hadn't been given a pacing guide until yesterday. So, we had to get back to the hotel which is an hour and a half away to do lesson plans and to just plan what we were going to do. I just left the workers there and asked that they call me when they were leaving. The door automatically locks when you close it. There wasn't much in the apartment other than what they were bringing in, so I wasn't really worried about doing that. They called me at 10:30 PM! There was no way that after the night before getting in bed so late and having to get up so early in the morning that I would have been able to do that again! After work today I went back to the apartment. Almost everything is put together and installed. The man did tell me that he would have to come back, but didn't say when. I can move in on Thursday with it the way that it is. It all doesn't look so bad. My vision is coming true!
The Tilal Liwa Hotel is by a camel race track, so we see the camels working out on our way to work every morning and on our way home in the evening. Quite exciting to see! Would love to post pictures on here, but for some reason they aren't loading properly. Will try to post on my Facebook page.
The next item on my list is to get a post office box!
My day starts at 7:30 AM, the students come in at 8:00. I have a break from 9:30 - 10:00. The students leave at 12:00 noon. On Sunday and Tuesday I leave at 2:00 because of Professional Development meetings. On Monday and Wednesday I leave at 1:00. On Thursday I leave at 12:30. Off on Friday and Saturday. And I have an Arabic co-teacher! I love this!
I have a KG1 class which means I have the 3-4 year olds. Yesterday I had 8 kids (only 2 boys). Today I had 12 kids (4 boys). Yesterday I had one cryer. Today she wasn't crying, but 3 of the 4 new ones cried almost the entire time. Two came in with nannies and were having a hard time leaving the nannies. I know that eventually they will calm down and I can start teaching. Right now they are getting everything in Arabic with me trying to figure out what's going on through context clues. I should really start trying to teach during the third week. Oh, I get to loop up with this class, so I have them for two years!
We were told that we would have to move out of the hotel on Saturday. I was supposed to be told at some point when I was going to be moved so I went to Ghayathi to clean my apartment. My furniture was supposed to be delivered on Saturday, so I waited from 3-5:30 PM only to find out that they had loaded it on a truck and sent it somewhere else. They wanted to deliver it Sunday morning, but I told them that I had to work and could receive them on 3:00 on Monday. We drove back to the Mirfa Hotel, getting there around 7:30. When we get to the hotel, there is a guy there ready to move me to Ghayathi! After some calls we found out that no, he was to move 7 of us to another hotel in Madinet Zayed - the Tilal Liwa Hotel. So had to run upstairs and pack our bags. We took off about 9-9:30 PM, so got to bed around midnight. Had to get up at 4:30 AM in order to leave about 6:00 AM to get to work on time.
So yesterday (Monday) I waited again. I called and was told that they would be there in 15 minutes (after again waiting since 3:00 and this was at 4:00). At 5:30 they finally come. I was shocked to find out that EVERYTHING (except for the couch) was in boxes and had to be put together. We (Sarah, Lori, and I) had just had our first day of school. Lori and I literally walked in and found out on the first day what age level we had and where our rooms were. Hadn't been given a pacing guide until yesterday. So, we had to get back to the hotel which is an hour and a half away to do lesson plans and to just plan what we were going to do. I just left the workers there and asked that they call me when they were leaving. The door automatically locks when you close it. There wasn't much in the apartment other than what they were bringing in, so I wasn't really worried about doing that. They called me at 10:30 PM! There was no way that after the night before getting in bed so late and having to get up so early in the morning that I would have been able to do that again! After work today I went back to the apartment. Almost everything is put together and installed. The man did tell me that he would have to come back, but didn't say when. I can move in on Thursday with it the way that it is. It all doesn't look so bad. My vision is coming true!
The Tilal Liwa Hotel is by a camel race track, so we see the camels working out on our way to work every morning and on our way home in the evening. Quite exciting to see! Would love to post pictures on here, but for some reason they aren't loading properly. Will try to post on my Facebook page.
The next item on my list is to get a post office box!
Oh, that break that I have! NO STUDENTS!!! A volunteer comes in to help them with their snack/lunch and amuses them until we come back.
ReplyDeleteWhew...you've been busy. Are you all settled into your apartment?
ReplyDeleteI am now, about as settled as I can get before that first paycheck! How are you doing?
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