Our experience so far...

Yes, time for a new blog! Over the past few weeks things have all of a sudden become very busy. We went from lying in wait for something, anything to happen… and now we are overwhelmed with the amount of things we must do and try to squeeze in the things we want to do! We are into our 3^rd week of work and 2^nd week of having students – I have plenty to tell you!

When we first arrived and lied in wait for 2 ½ weeks during Ramadan in the +50 heat we truly thought we might shrivel up and die. The heat is exhausting and pretty well unbearable. Generally speaking I do enjoy the heat, I really do, but in Qatar my vital signs and bodily organs just want to take a vacation. They don’t cope very well. However the worst of it is over - it’s getting better day by day and I think we hover around +40 now. Another month and we’ll be laughing!

I have had some truly “unique” Middle Eastern experiences. Cultural experiences, if you will. One of these was being hauled off at 5am from a day of work to wait outside in a queue of hundreds of screaming women and children pushing and shoving at the government medical centre for a medical check up that I never got because I wasn’t registered as a teacher with the school and was told I would have to endure the experience all over again...I say that’s a “cultural experience” because nowhere in the western world would that have been tolerated. All I am thankful for is that Barret did not have to go through what us “women folk” went through, otherwise, I’m sure I’d be telling you this story in person!

Having said all that, I will say that I have had a wonderful experience at a private hospital on a personal level. Two weeks ago I was in a right state… I will not get into detail in order to remain dignified… but let’s just say food was not the first thing on my mind. Barret was starting to lose it and was getting very worried about me (such a good husband!) so he spoke with the principal of the school who arranged for a driver to come collect me and bring me to a private clinic. I had excellent treatment and had all my medications paid for. It was definitely reassuring after the fiasco I had experienced only days before!

So, school. Leaving Canada I was under the impression that I would be teaching grade 2. When I arrived in Doha one of the Heads of Kindergarten told me that’s what I would be teaching. However, a few days before school began the Vice Principal of the school and the Head of Primary knocked on our door, sat on our sofa, and asked if I’d like to teach PE on a full time basis. They said my resume jumped out to them… not because of any of my experience over the last two years in England, but because of my “sporty” personal life, experience teaching swimming, and camp involvement. I was slightly hesitant, but just said I would do it. And I am so glad! I have a fantastic, fun department and have a lot of freedom teaching. I get to teach swimming nearly every day of the week and can wear SHORTS and a TSHIRT to work everyday! That HAS to be the best part! Occasionally I teach a few lessons outside and boy, if I were wearing longer pants and shirts I would pass out. I am so very lucky and not taking my new position for granted. It sure is a change from last yea r though!

The students are very different from ones I have taught in the past. Most of these children are incredibly wealthy and they know it. At the primary level this is not really a problem, but the kids Barret deals with get more pocket money from their parents to spend at the shop than we do working our butts off! In my classes I have yet to meet any truly naughty children. The young ones are generally not poorly behaved but can be very high strung and their listening is not the greatest, not because they are bad, but because they are excited. However, the older the boys get the more they refuse to listen, especially to women. I was covering a class for a colleague and chubby boy said to me “Miss Amy, I am not going to play your games. I will sit here” and he refused to join. Had he been in my own class I would have dealt with it differently, however, I just told him “you are lazy. And rude”. And I walked away and left him in the corner. I don’t have time to be dealing with that! As these kids grow their respect for a)women b) foreigners dwindles day by day. They have all the money in the world and can’t justify in their minds why they need an education. Motivating these kids will be our biggest challenge. My second biggest challenge will be learning all their names! Last year I had 220 names that I learned within the first few weeks at school. This year I have about 320 and all of the names are the SAME!!!! Mohammed, Abdulla, Abdulrahman, Fatima, Al-Anoud, Lolwa, Noora… There are about 20 boys names and 20 girls names. That’s it. When I am taking attendance I sometimes I have to go through to their 3^rd name to find out who they are. Then I forget. I forget these names SO easily… it’s very strange. I can’t pronounce half of them either! The worst part is that they ALL know my name, even if I don’t teach them! They chase me down in the playground and say “hello Miss Amy!” and I just say “Hiiii…” back. It’s awful and I feel badly, but my brain is not wired for this, yet.

We’ve met some really fantastic people since we’ve been here. Jen and Aaron are a married couple that live above us and we spend a good amount of our free time with them. They are about our age and we have a lot of similar interests. Aaron is from New Zealand and teaches year 6 boys in the school. Jen from Philly and is an interior designer who is looking for work, for her sake I hope something comes through or the poor girl will lose her mind! We are very thankful to have them to relate to and to relax with. There are plenty of other people we see a lot at school and at home (since everybody lives on the compound) who we really like. A couple Canadians, a few Americans, a handful of Irish, Kiwi’s and Aussie’s and a whole truckload of South Africans!

Everyday we are learning new things about this culture and our ability to adapt to it. Patience is key in this country and it is being practiced on a daily basis in every place we go. Getting run over by an Arabic woman with her grocery cart is normal. We don’t get upset about it anymore, it just happens.

I hope this is enough of an update for now -

As always - all my love,

Amy