The first time I went to IKEA in Riyadh, I went with a group of new teachers in a big bus. I didn't feel good, I felt rushed and Travis couldn't come because he was working. However, we were home within 3 hours or so (including travel time). On top of that, we didn't run into any prayer time issues. Because of that, I think I won that round and IKEA lost.
Our trip this weekend was not so successful. I have never been a huge fan of IKEA because it is always so crazy. Shanghai was especially crazy. I have to say, though, Riyadh IKEA takes the cake. Oh.my.goodness. It was a disaster. Let me tell you how it all started...
Krystle and Zach also wanted to go shopping. They drove in their car, we followed in ours. Luckily, Zach figured out how to get there ahead of time. We got there in roughly 30 minutes. I felt optimistic and happy. I was so relieved that we had made it there in one piece, safely. As we were driving, there were two VERY seriously car accidents. These accidents had clearly happened a while ago, but had not been cleared. The first car was upside and quite smashed up. I guess he wanted to go too fast on a curved exit ramp. It didn't turn out well for him. As for the other car accident, I wouldn't really call it a car anymore. There was not much of it left that was in the shape of a car. So, with that said, just arriving at the store was fantastic.
Shopping was fine. They didn't have everything we wanted and needed, but there were plenty of things to buy. I had a long list and knew we didn't have a long time. We got to the store around 9:20 and prayer wasn't until almost noon. We figured if we were in line by 11:30, we could make it. That gave us 2 hours of shopping. It is amazing how quickly that time goes by. Before we knew it, it was 11:05. Travis and I decided to head in the direction of the check outs. Thank goodness that we did. This line was the longest line in a store I have ever seen, no exaggeration. We got in it and I quickly texted Krystle and told them to hurry and get in line too. Our lines were creeping along very slowly. It wasn't long until we decided we were not going to make it before prayer time. As noon got closer and closer, we were right up to the register. We were certain that they would stop selling right before me and Travis or right after us and before Krystle and Zach. When our turn was up, we threw our things up on the belt as quickly as possible. The cashier checked us out and then stopped. Travis explained that our friends were behind us and asked if he would just do their check out as well. The guy looked at the amount they had, as the call to prayer came over the speaker, and said no. Ugh. We now had to wait an additional 30 minutes for prayer to end. Yes, we just sat there waiting, along with everyone else in line. It was so strange. I guess we had to go through it at least once. I hope, never again. After standing in line for an hour, checking out and then waiting another 30 minutes for our friends to check out, I never want to go to IKEA again. I have also decided that IKEA Riyadh is much harder to shop at than IKEA Shanghai.
Finally, we drove home. We kind of got a little lost-ish and ended up at the airport. We went through it and drove to our homes, which are only about a 10 minute drive from there. The entire trip was about 5 hours and 15 minutes. What a great Saturday! That was then followed by 3 hours of working to get ready for the week. :(
As for everything else, we are doing great. Work is very busy and hard for me right now, but I know it will get easier as time goes on. I don't like the unknown and it's hard being a new teacher again. I am really enjoying all the awesome people and we are having a lot of fun. Friday night we went to a school party at the US Embassy. That was a lot fun, great food and dancing! Oh, and we also booked our October Holiday to Ethiopia! We are headed to our fourth continent. Our friends Tracy and Ian invited us to join them. It should be a great experience. That will happen at the beginning of October.
That's all for now. Talk to you all soon!
C
Monday, September 8, 2014
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
The kids come to AIS-R!
Today was finally the first day with students! It is 6:45 and I am just now sitting down at home. To say it was a busy and chaotic day, is an absolute understatement. Today was, by far, the craziest first day of school I have ever been a part of! And I wasn't the only one feeling that way. I think there were a number of reasons why it was so nuts...
First, I am new to AIS-R. You forget what it feels like to be the 'new' teacher. When I taught in Southfield, I was there for 5 years, but had done my student teaching for a year there and also did some subbing in between my student teaching and when I was actually hired. I look at that as 7 years with Southfield. I knew how things worked, even if I was in three different schools during that time. I was familiar with the district and everything that went along with school. The last four years were spent in Shanghai, three of which were in grade 2. I felt really comfortable there. I knew SCIS. I knew how to get supplies, how to print, copy, find things, who to email, who was in charge of things, how things worked at the beginning and end of the school days. I had systems in place in my classrooms. Baskets that I used to organize stuff. I had accumulated so many helpful, useful things. When we left, I didn't think I left important things behind. If I could go back...I would have brought more with me! Now that I am new again, I feel a bit lost. As I have said before, I am VERY supported, but when you are new, it's hard. At SCIS students take the bus to school. They come straight to your room and the day begins. At AIS-R, many parents came with the students. I wanted to talk to them all and get to know them a little, but it was just too busy to do that. These students also brought with them huge bags of supplies. At SCIS, all the supplies were provided. I knew that these supplies would come, but I had no idea how much was coming. I was warned, but I just could not have imagined the bags that were brought in! All of this set up a very chaotic start to the day. Looking back, it wasn't a big deal. In the moment, I was stressed! One other thing caught me off guard as well. I went to shake hands with a father who was Muslim, as I did with so many other parents that morning. He told me he couldn't. I was so thrown off by the chaos that I forgot that some conservative Muslim men do not touch non-relative women. Both he and his wife were very polite and understanding and told me not to worry that I had put my hand out to greet him. They explained that not everybody is the same. The wife said some Muslims will shake hands, but they do not. They were both very nice about it all, but I was a bit embarrassed at the time. More on the first day in a bit...
Second, the campus is new. Basically, we were extremely organized and ready for it all. But of course, some of those things just didn't quite work. The end of the day dismissal was probably the hardest for me. I was so worried about losing a child, it was stressful. Again, in the end, it all worked out.
Third, everyone is new! I mean that everyone is new because the campus is new. If you go to work at a school that is already operating, someone knows exactly what to do for just about everything. Today, all the teachers and admin were figuring things out together.
The combination of all of that created a bit of a stressful and crazy day for all! Everyone I talked to said that the day was just nuts and we were all exhausted by the time 2:45 rolled around!
Anyways, here is a recap of my crazy day!
It started with the students and supplies being dropped off. Shortly after that, we went for a campus tour. I will try to take some pictures to show you the massive size our campus is, for now, you will just have to imagine. We walked around for about 10 minutes finding different important parts of the elementary buildings. As we were walking, one student's nose began to bleed. I was ready to send him to the nurse and get it taken care of. Then I realized that I don't know where the nurse is located. Epic fail on my part. I am sure I learned at some point, but I couldn't remember. I took the class back to the room and we got him a tissue. Luckily, it wasn't a bad bleed. While in the room, almost all of the students had to use the restroom. Not a big deal you think. It is now. We only have one stall in our classroom. No joke, it took a good 10 minutes for everyone to go that needed to go. Finally, we went back out to finish the tour. I would say the whole thing took at least 30-45 minutes. It took FOREVER! We also had to have indoor recess because the play areas are not quite done yet. That was a bit hard on the kids. Teachers had to also eat lunch with the students so they could learn how it would all work. I had about 10 bites of my salad, which was more than most teachers, and then it was time to go. Grade 2 had a fun activity planned for the kids in the afternoon. They rotated through classrooms and learned about our school theme this year, 'true to yellow and blue.' It took longer than expected and we couldn't finish. Then packing up was rushed and crazy and then we quickly went to PE at the end of the day. Finally, after PE ended, I met up with the kids to help get them to buses, nannies, drivers, moms, dads and compounds. It was nothing that I had expected!!! In the end, it all worked out, but WOW am I tired! I stayed at work until after 6 to get more organized and be ready for tomorrow. I can't wait to sleep and I am not even sure I have the energy to eat dinner!
So that was it. Day 1 at AIS-R with the students. It flew by. My students are absolutely adorable and I am really looking forward to teaching them.
Oh, and of course my fitbit battery was low!!!! I am sure I racked up 10,000 steps today, but I will never know because it didn't record them. Boo!!! :(
That's all for now. Sorry for the grammar/spelling/confusing parts. I wrote this fast!!!
C
First, I am new to AIS-R. You forget what it feels like to be the 'new' teacher. When I taught in Southfield, I was there for 5 years, but had done my student teaching for a year there and also did some subbing in between my student teaching and when I was actually hired. I look at that as 7 years with Southfield. I knew how things worked, even if I was in three different schools during that time. I was familiar with the district and everything that went along with school. The last four years were spent in Shanghai, three of which were in grade 2. I felt really comfortable there. I knew SCIS. I knew how to get supplies, how to print, copy, find things, who to email, who was in charge of things, how things worked at the beginning and end of the school days. I had systems in place in my classrooms. Baskets that I used to organize stuff. I had accumulated so many helpful, useful things. When we left, I didn't think I left important things behind. If I could go back...I would have brought more with me! Now that I am new again, I feel a bit lost. As I have said before, I am VERY supported, but when you are new, it's hard. At SCIS students take the bus to school. They come straight to your room and the day begins. At AIS-R, many parents came with the students. I wanted to talk to them all and get to know them a little, but it was just too busy to do that. These students also brought with them huge bags of supplies. At SCIS, all the supplies were provided. I knew that these supplies would come, but I had no idea how much was coming. I was warned, but I just could not have imagined the bags that were brought in! All of this set up a very chaotic start to the day. Looking back, it wasn't a big deal. In the moment, I was stressed! One other thing caught me off guard as well. I went to shake hands with a father who was Muslim, as I did with so many other parents that morning. He told me he couldn't. I was so thrown off by the chaos that I forgot that some conservative Muslim men do not touch non-relative women. Both he and his wife were very polite and understanding and told me not to worry that I had put my hand out to greet him. They explained that not everybody is the same. The wife said some Muslims will shake hands, but they do not. They were both very nice about it all, but I was a bit embarrassed at the time. More on the first day in a bit...
Second, the campus is new. Basically, we were extremely organized and ready for it all. But of course, some of those things just didn't quite work. The end of the day dismissal was probably the hardest for me. I was so worried about losing a child, it was stressful. Again, in the end, it all worked out.
Third, everyone is new! I mean that everyone is new because the campus is new. If you go to work at a school that is already operating, someone knows exactly what to do for just about everything. Today, all the teachers and admin were figuring things out together.
The combination of all of that created a bit of a stressful and crazy day for all! Everyone I talked to said that the day was just nuts and we were all exhausted by the time 2:45 rolled around!
Anyways, here is a recap of my crazy day!
It started with the students and supplies being dropped off. Shortly after that, we went for a campus tour. I will try to take some pictures to show you the massive size our campus is, for now, you will just have to imagine. We walked around for about 10 minutes finding different important parts of the elementary buildings. As we were walking, one student's nose began to bleed. I was ready to send him to the nurse and get it taken care of. Then I realized that I don't know where the nurse is located. Epic fail on my part. I am sure I learned at some point, but I couldn't remember. I took the class back to the room and we got him a tissue. Luckily, it wasn't a bad bleed. While in the room, almost all of the students had to use the restroom. Not a big deal you think. It is now. We only have one stall in our classroom. No joke, it took a good 10 minutes for everyone to go that needed to go. Finally, we went back out to finish the tour. I would say the whole thing took at least 30-45 minutes. It took FOREVER! We also had to have indoor recess because the play areas are not quite done yet. That was a bit hard on the kids. Teachers had to also eat lunch with the students so they could learn how it would all work. I had about 10 bites of my salad, which was more than most teachers, and then it was time to go. Grade 2 had a fun activity planned for the kids in the afternoon. They rotated through classrooms and learned about our school theme this year, 'true to yellow and blue.' It took longer than expected and we couldn't finish. Then packing up was rushed and crazy and then we quickly went to PE at the end of the day. Finally, after PE ended, I met up with the kids to help get them to buses, nannies, drivers, moms, dads and compounds. It was nothing that I had expected!!! In the end, it all worked out, but WOW am I tired! I stayed at work until after 6 to get more organized and be ready for tomorrow. I can't wait to sleep and I am not even sure I have the energy to eat dinner!
So that was it. Day 1 at AIS-R with the students. It flew by. My students are absolutely adorable and I am really looking forward to teaching them.
Oh, and of course my fitbit battery was low!!!! I am sure I racked up 10,000 steps today, but I will never know because it didn't record them. Boo!!! :(
That's all for now. Sorry for the grammar/spelling/confusing parts. I wrote this fast!!!
C
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