I woke up on time to meet a few other teachers so we can carpool. We grabbed some water and fruit from the lobby and headed outside. It only took about five minutes before we flagged a taxi down. A typical taxi driver is from Pakistan or Bangladesh. Our driver was professional and helpful. We told him we needed to go to Al Sarooj repeatedly but he wasn't sure where we were talking about. One of the teachers said it's in the new school district which then helped him remember the location.The drive was about twenty minutes which isn't a bad commute at all. Some teachers will have to drive two hours to get to their schools. When we arrived, I noticed the parking lot was rather empty! I thought there would be lots of parents, buses and people moving around. We had to be there at 07:30 to meet with the other teachers and staff so I guess we were just early since we arrived fifteen minutes early.
Upon entering the school, a wave of excitement hit me. I was hoping to be friends with one of the emirate teachers. I really wanted to know more of their culture, religion and how they felt about the abayas.
While we walked up to the front desk in the lobby of the school, we met an american teacher who arrived in the group before ours. She was happy to see us and directed us to the teacher conference room. We were early enough to drink coffee and walk around the school.
I was so happy to get a tour of the school because it helped calm my nerves. It helped to take away my feelings of anxiety not knowing how long we'd be staying at the hotel. The schools layout and furniture was very different from the style and architecture of a school in the U.S. They were very risky in the design as well. The chairs and desks were very nice and kid friendly.
After the tour we met up with the other expat teachers to discuss the schedule for the day. I was happy to learn that we'd be leaving by 13:00. I went into my classroom around 08:00 and met my Emerati teacher Saghriah and boy oh boy was she a piece of work. I was expecting her to welcome me with open arms. Instead she was constantly and thoroughly analyzing me with her eyes in a polite way. She asked my name and pronounced it well. I asked her name and was able to get it right the third time. She was about five foot seven and walked with such class. she had very thick eye brows that were connected together. She kept messing with her sheila on her head by taking it off and placing it on her head. She reminded me of a floating graceful grim reaper. She had such an arrogant disposition. We spoke very briefly to each other. I learned that she two kids and lived only twenty minutes away from the school as well. She was transferred to this new school and had six years teaching experience. I showed her my supplies, banners and ideas for the classroom. She looked at me like why I was in such a rush. She kept saying it was just the first day. I just said okay and put my things away. I guess I had the new teacher excitement bug! While we had our small talks a few students would come in one at a time. The total number of children that came for the whole day was four out of twenty. I was so surprised by the head count. The first student to come in was Hamed with his nanny. She looked like she was from the Philippines. She was very nice nodded her head and went out to the main play area to wait until he got out. I also noticed the schools cleaning crew were from Somalia and Ethiopia. Two of the women looked at me strange like how am I teacher or maybe because I just look different. Another student Naser came in with his mother who is a teacher at the school as well. The only girl that came in was Nwal. She was the cutest girl I've ever seen. She was chubby and had such personality! She was definitely a girl with attitude. She kept waving her hands and putting her hands on her hips to speak. I could tell she would be fun to teach because she wasn't shy at all. A little boy named Salem was dropped off by his mother. He was the cutest thing ever but was a pure horror. He cried non stop!! He kicked and punched and screamed!! He spit at me, tried to kick me and slapped Saghriah. Every time we turned our heads to direct the other children he was trying to escape by opening the door and looking for his mom. When I went outside I realized the other american teachers were going through the same thing! We realized it was the first time these children were away from home. They didn't have preschools in the UAE. It was their first time being out of their comfort zones without their parents or nannies. Keeping up with Salem was such a mission! I literally walked (sorry ran) outside three times to get him back in the classroom. I then made up my mind that i'd focus on Salem alone and keep him inside. I had to stand at the door and hold it shut as it had no lock. He drained all of my happy essence away. I started to think what did I get myself into and how will I be able to last the rest of the day??
Saghriah directed me to do everything. She started to treat me like I wasn't her equal very fast. It really started to bother me I just kept saying okay because everything was in Arabic and the directors coming in would speak in Arabic so I trusted her to let me know what was going on. Even the parents and nannies looked and spoke to her like she was the only teacher.
The students had breakfast around 09:30 and brought their own food. They all had a piece of bread shaped like a mini hoagie bun filled with either chocolate or buttery spices. They had juice boxes made of nectar and more chocolates. I thought it was a bit unhealthy and unbalanced but like Saghriah said it was just the first day.
No other students came in so Saghriah let them play all day. I thought we should have gone over rules, greetings and give the students a tour of the school and our classroom but she didn't agree with me at all. I knew it was going to be a difficult journey teaching with Mrs.Saghriah.
Nonetheless, I was head strong and adamant that I was going to be positive and teach these children how to speak and write in English. I wasn't going to let one rough day spoil my goals. At the end of the day most of the parents and nannies came to the classroom to pick up their children. As soon as all the students were gone Saghriah asked me to help her clean up and immediately left barely saying good bye. I didn't care either so i gathered my suitcase of supplies and went to meet up with the other teachers. We had a short meeting with the assistant direct Mrs. Sharina she was a wonderful breath of fresh air. She was very welcoming and gave us teas, cakes and breads to try. She explained to us that we had no principal as of yet and no curriculum. She told us to use our own materials because there was no textbooks yet and they hope the ones they ordered would arrive in a month or so. I was in shock that a school would be open and running without the necessary things to make it rum smoothly. I later thought to myself a true teacher doesn't need a curriculum. I already started formulating in my head what I want to teach the students. The basic alphabets, coloring, how to hold a crayon, read stories etc. I had plenty to teach them. It didn't bother me as much when I really thought about it. I smiled while Sharina spoke because she made small girly jokes that all us women could understand. Her English was perfect. She wanted us to all work with each other and have patience with all the adversities we were facing. We were released around noon which was way earlier than we expected. I caught a taxi with the same teachers as the morning and headed home to call my family and tell them of what a day I had.
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