The First Week!

Hello everyone! I have completed my first week of school and it was great! The school is slowly coming together on the inside. Materials are making there way in by the dozens day by day. Murals are being finished at night and last minute fixes are being done. All the classrooms are good to go leading to us still opening. My classroom is still in need of posters and such on the walls and I hope to gather these this weekend. I am also hoping to gain a rug of some sort for the front of the classroom. I am told if you bring it up to the class they tend to go home and tell mommy and daddy and then appear with what you are in need of haha! Maybe I will give it a shot…I don’t know!

I have a class of 20 students and am promised it will not get any bigger…yay for me! They are all amazing and much more English fluent than I expected. I have 5B as my homeroom and am an English/Social Studies Specialist while Math, Art, P.E., Science, Islamic/French, Arabic and Arabic Social Studies specialists teach my kids during those periods. I jump back and forth between my class 5B and 5D for English and Social Studies. All in all I have a great group. They all speak at least 3 languages and have traveled the world in their own aspects. For the majority of them, they are Emirati’ (born and raised in the U.A.E), but there are a few either from American (but are Emirati), Indian and Canadian.

I have an even split between boys and girls and it is obvious what personalities are strong and weak already. I am excited to get to know each and every one of them on a much more relational level. I am already getting questioned about Justin Bieber because of my first name and the girls love Miley Sirus, while the boys love soccer and wrestling. We have already implemented our hand signals and rules/procedures. They learn fast and are eager to learn and be here. They know they are in a private school and are excited to be where they are. They also now know after listening to me, that we are not their nannies, drivers or maids and not to expect us to pick up after them. These are very privileged children but know nothing different, so they are not to blame. They are willing to change and desire to be more educated/advanced all around. Teaching is so amazingly rewarding and am thankful to have found a profession I love.

Each one of them has strong aspirations for their lives and have desires to be someone, someone who makes a difference. Many want to be doctors, soccer players, engineers and swimmers. Some want to be lawyers. One wants to be a teacher and one, Hissa, well she wants to be an actress in Hollywood and it is obvious after only two days that she would be a good one . Abdullah and Kareem love school and love coming to school to learn. I could go on and on but wont. They are all wonderful.

My classroom will soon be decorated and I am excited for that to be done and call it my own. I have gotten notice that I should have my apartment keys by Sunday or Monday. Then they will start the process for my furniture allowance. I will then start doing the minimal decorating I can to survive until Cassie gets here in December!!! Her womanly/lady-like touches will be much needed and appreciated . I can’t wait to see her and spend those 2 weeks with her. It is only about 88-90 days away . Seeing her will make this process so much easier! She will get to see me teach and take a look at the beautiful school/city where she hopefully will be teaching in next year as well.

By next year, this school will be complete with so much more. Being apart of this building process have been so incredibly straining, stressful and busy, but have been so educational and informative for the rest of my teaching career. It takes so so very much to build/put a school together for opening day! I am glad to be apart of a building year, for it is my building year as well. I am eager to learn, to teach and to relate. The Lord has a plan for me and day-by-day he opens new doors, doors that I want to run through. The opportunities are endless and I/you seek Him, He will make them clear!

I wake up at 5:30am, hit the breakfast buffet at 6:05am and hop on the shuttle bus at 6:35am. Arriving at the school five till seven a.m. gives me 50 mins to prepare anything needed before I am due in the playground center area to pick up my kids at 7:45am. Class lasts until 2:30pm when we then bring them back down to the reception area where they are either picked up by parents or busses. Because of our staff shuttle busses coming at 4pm on the dot, I only have an hour and fifteen mins to prepare for tomorrow. I would like to stay longer but need to catch that shuttle. I take advantage of my free periods and get most of my work done then. If need be I can always come back in a cab with others this weekend to prepare for next week. Once we get full speed in the curriculum I will be forced to stay longer or spend more time on things at home, until then I will enjoy the flexible workload .

There is 24-hour security guards on duty at all 3 campuses and cleaning people walking the halls, playground and cafeteria constantly to keep the entire school clean at all times. It is a very large campus with a few mistakes as far as placement of bathrooms and sizes of other rooms, but it is this oil companies (ADNOC) first time building a school, so it is understood. They will fix their mistakes in a hurry! When it is complete we will have a beautiful campus full of educators eager to make a difference. I am glad to be apart of them.

Here are a few pictures of the beginning but I will post more when I finish decorating and can take a class picture for you as well.

Keep the prayers at large and know how thankful I am for them. I hope the states are treating everyone good and the cold/rain is not too close : ( . I will share some of the warmth! I am getting used to the humidity and love the constant warmth. The weekend is here and I am so happy for it! I look forward to talking with both family and my lady this weekend to update them on what is going on. Being a teacher is tiring and hard work! Sleep is my best friend over here and I don’t get enough of it! Bye for now! A&F