For a country free of pork products, they sure take their swine flu seriously...

Well the good news just keep getting better. We were supposed to finally start teaching on September 27th, but school is canceled for another week! Nation wide in Qatar schools have been canceled due to the H1N1 until October 4th. The school is still torturing us by requiring meetings all week from 8-3pm. Let's just hope school does not get further delayed like it is in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

To add to the craziness of this country, all 5 of us Americans had to go to the Medical Center to get our tests done. This was a yet another very disorganized place that was also very disgusting. The worst part was the wads of cotton balls all over the floor that were ripped off by people who just got their blood drawn. GROSS!


This is a picture of my roommate, Summer, at the waiting area with all the cotton balls!

Despite all of this there is some good news: the pool at our villa finally is full of water! We LOVE THAT!


(I have to give props to Ryan Simonet for the line in the title!! He rocks!)

A blast from the past!

Egypt was a wonderful trip! I am honored to have seen the sites and to now be able to teach my students all about Egyptian history!

My trip started by touring around Beirut in Lebanon during my 6 hour lay-over. It was SO beautiful on the coastline, full of nice people, and great food! I absolutely want to go back!



Later that night I landed in Cairo, Egypt, where I was picked up by my relative Mohamed. He and his wife, Mona, live in an apartment down town Cairo. We had a delicious meal and enjoyed catching up! The one thing I have learned about Egyptians is that they like to feed you!! In fact once a meal is over, they will just fill your plate with more food even though everyone is done eating!

The next day I took a 2 hour tour around the Great Pyramids and Sphinx all on camel back!! That was probably one of my highlights of the whole trip! My camel, called Moses, would sit down, let me hop on, and then in the slow process Moses would get his long legs to stand up. First the back, which made me and the driver lean way forward, and then his front legs. I certainly had to hold on tight! Other than that, the camel was a great way to get around the desert lands and take photos.




There are a total of 3 pyramids: 3 great pyramids and 3 small ones of Queens/children. I was shocked by the number of graves scattered around the area that are for the thousands of workers who died honorably building the pyramids. Mohamed and I left and did more touristy stuff like seeing King Tut's tomb and the mummies in the Cairo Museum. That experience was simply amazing! There were millions and millions of artifacts from over 5,000 years ago that were in mint condition! The Egyptians created such beautiful things with tremendous detail.



I finished my all too-short-of-a trip by relaxing at the North Shore just a few kilometers west of Alexandria. The blue of the Mediterranean Sea was breath taking! Everywhere I looked I felt like I was in a postcard! The Ramadan holiday ended by celebrating the feast of Eid. Traditionally cookies/biscuits are shared. They are powder sugar covered cahk. Yummy, but full of butter! I enjoyed my time with family and friends! I especially enjoyed the young kids ages 1 to 4 at the family cottage at the Med Sea! I wish I new more Arabic, but at the same time it is amazing how anyone can communicate with kids despite the language barrier.

A slow start

Sept 12-13th was our Open House which went as well as it could go! It was interesting meeting the parents! Some came in fully robed, some with just the head scarves, and others with just their eyes showing! Not going to lie, being the presence of the fully dressed Qatari men is a bit intimidating (especially when they wear sun glasses!!) Anyhow, others came dressed in normal clothes, yet covering their elbows and knees. One thing I picked up on is that these parents are pretty demanding! They are wealthy and used to getting whatever they want. So some of the mom's came in with their maids and had the maids carry everything etc... wow I hope the kids don't expect ME to be their maid, because that won't be happening! :) It seems as though the 4th and 5th graders will be at a lower reading level than I am used to working with. I will have to grow into closing the communication gap...

School will not begin until Sunday, September 27th. Our school week is from Sunday to Thursday. We are just finishing the Ramadan holiday, which is where the Muslims fast and celebrate the end of their fast on Eid. Eid is celebrated on Sept 20th. I am lucky enough to be celebrating the holiday with some family in Cairo! I will spend a few days seeing the pyramids in Cairo and then take a few relaxing days on the Mediterranean Sea in Alexandria! In addition, I am getting some real-life resources to teach my 4th and 5th grader Social Studies class all about Egypt and its history! Sounds like great planning to me!

A few terms I am trying to get used to:
Sheila
(Slang) The covering worn by women over their head. Also known as hijab or khemaar.

Thobe
Originally a word for the long flowing dress that Qatari women wear; now a days normally used for men's dress.

Abbayah (Abaya)
(Formerly called Aldaffah): a one piece cloak which covers the women from the top of their head to their toes.


I hope you all had a HAPPY HALF-Way to St. Patrick's Day!! Stay posted for pictures of my travels!

Cheers!

First Days in Doha

Well let's just say I feel more than 8 hours away from the USA. The international school is quite different in how things are run. At times this can be quite frustrating, but I am confident things will come together! My little classroom is starting to come together. We have an open house on Sunday Sept 13 but then the kids do not start until Sunday Sept 27th. There is certainly more planning and organizing to do. I must say I have LOVED setting up the bulletin boards that have the background on them already! (other teachers, you would understand my joy!)

The Al-Hekma International School that I am at has a website:
http://www.alhekma.com/qatar/qatar.asp

I still need a few more details, but I am a homeroom teacher for grade 5 (it is not called 5th grade, but Grade 5). I will be teaching Social Studies and Literature to Grades 4 and 5, and then Math to Grade 2. We are all still waiting on details about the curriculum we will be teaching. Meetings have been grueling and supplies always seem to be "in the next shipment". Dispite those factors, school will be school and when the students come, things will fall into place! Here are a few photos of my classroom:

Talk about being back to school... The 4 other American teachers and I got in "trouble" and "sent to the principal's office" the other day! We were chewing gum and sipping on water in the school! That is a huge no-no and disrespectful during the Muslim fast of Ramadan. Muslims are not able to eat, or drink (and apparently not chew gum) from sun-up to sun-down. That means that we are not able to do those things in public from 5:00am until 6:00pm. I have to give the Muslims a LOT of respect for sticking to the fast for over a month!

Another funny story we got in trouble for was at the Villagio Shopping mall on Thursday evening. A security guard approached one of my roommates about not adhering to the dress code of the mall. Apparently she had on a skirt that was just above the knee and was too short. The people get very strict around here during Ramadan. The guard asked for her ID and could have fined her a fee. The situation was explained and we left the mall. Lesson Learned!! Check your knees before going in public!

Actually Arrived in Qatar!

It is hard to believe that the adventure is now a reality! After 24 hours of traveling the 4 of us American teachers arrived in Doha, Qatar! All together our luggage weighed over 500 lbs! We are able to see the beautiful night skyline, arrived at our villa, and were stifled by the heat! When we landed at 9pm, it was still 97 degrees outside.

As the 4 of us got a tour of our beautiful villa, we felt as though we were on a reality show since our new life style seemed so hard to believe!

Here are a few photos of our villa in Al Qutaifiya area. We have 2 kitchens, 3 living rooms, 10 bedrooms, 7 bathrooms, and 3 dining rooms. Out back is a private pool for us to enjoy in the hot weather. To get around we have a driver or we call a taxi. But for the most part we have stayed indoors where the A/C keeps us comfortable. Once everyone arrives there will be 9 teachers living in the villa.






Tomorrow we start our orientation at Al-Hekma International School. We will continue to learn about our new habitat.