Perspectives

      So, although Mark and I work at the same school, I can tell you that our experiences are quite different. Not necessarily always, but overall our time here is a bit different, mainly when it comes to school and tutoring.  The school was in a bit of shambles until more recently, but we have new executive counsel members who have been turning it around within the past few years.  It is great to be part of this improvement movement.

     It appears as if they are trying to work their way from the bottom up on this improvement plan.  I have storage closets of random resources (not necessarily all that I need and definitely need more, so won't say that's perfect), team planning and true cooperation among teachers, ease of getting new supplies for the classroom from another storage closet (laminate sheets (miss the industrial laminator machine), dry erase markers, notebooks, pencils, sticky tack, etc), professional development tends to be a bit extensive for primary teachers (when we have true sessions), and overall organization among the staff.  Obviously, no school is perfect and the primary division of our school is far from it, but compared to secondary and what Mark's experience is, it is run quite well.  Also, my students are very different than Mark's, as mine are at the age where they still respect their teacher, love learning, and are easy to please.

     For example, we had parent night this past week.  For me, we sent out letters to parents and allowed them to schedule a specific 10 minute slot to meet with me.  There was communication sent back and forth from parents and teachers.  The parent was ask to come a few minutes early and wait outside the teacher's classroom until it was their turn.  It was from 4-7 pm and I had 15 parents sign up.  So, it was fairly organized.  Our principle and assistant principle were in our building to help burn out any "fires" if anything arose and to support us.  I had 11 of my 15 parents show up, but overall it went great.  Keep in mind, I have an absolutely amazing class and unfortunately the parents of my lowest kids didn't come.  It always seems to work like that.   I needed a translator for one of my student's parents, which I was a bit nervous about, but it went well.  It made me have a whole new appreciation for his child, who is a decent reader and writer and doesn't have support at home, only because her parents can't help her because they don't know English.  Talk about good work ethic for a child and representation of her maturity.   I also didn't have one mother who was completely covered, which was nice because I sometimes feel uncomfortable when I can't see their face and I'm talking to them.  So, all in all, it was a long night, but great to meet more parents and discuss their child's progress, behavior (all positive for the parents who came), and areas to work on.  So, from my perspective this was an organized event that went well.

~ Kristin

As for Mark's parent night I'll let him tell you about it...

        Well, where should I begin?  School communicated about the conferences by giving students letters to take home to their parents, which I must say worked surprisingly well considering what others have shared with me about the night's attendance from previous years.  Whenever papers are sent home from the school, they are sent with your registration class.  Since I do not see the same class during the same lesson throughout the week, I try to wait till I have my registration class at the end of the day which is on Tues/Wednesdays.  With Parent Night, it worked out well this time so I was pleased to find little papers scattered throughout my building (B-Block) let alone throughout the campus grounds as I left school for the day.

        The night of parent's night started off really slow.  I was seated at a small table that ideally seats no more than 6 yet somehow 10 chairs were finagled around it.  I sat next to another teacher where I was then shared how the evening will pan out for the next three hours.  While hearing the lowdown for the evening, our conversation abruptly ended as my colleague had his first parent of which you could only see two brown eyes as she wore an abaya and hijab.  I found it a little odd to sit next to a colleague's parent meeting where I was easily within earshot to hear the whole thing assuming I chose to listen in.  Fortunately I did not have to twiddle my thumbs for long as my first parent sat down.  From the moment the first parent/tutor sat down, I was constantly talking for the next 2 hours and 55 minutes (not that I took notice at my watch from time to time for a split second).  I was surprised, but I did have over 30 out of 125 parents/tutors come which was better than I thought.

        When the parent or tutor (for that matter) is a muslim woman, I'm always hesitant to introduce myself with a handshake which only happened once.  It just seems different compared to what I had been used to the last four years of teaching and having parent meetings.  Overall, I met with more woman than men, and I must say the men that I did met with did not seem all that interested or thrilled to be in attendance that evening.  Most of the men that came mentioned how they were just passing through because they were home for a week after bouncing from country to country for business.  The few men who were genuinely interested were not from gulf countries which I found to be interesting.  Another interesting thing I took away was that the student's who had interested dads that came, are doing well in my classes.  I'm obviously not a dad, but I hope to be a father who is actively interested in my kids' lives both academically and non-academically.  I can understand some of the parents' frustration with their child's grades for the term, but when I hear that they (the parents), are not home much and have tutors and nannies that raise the kids I don't feel all that sorry.  I know this is not the case with all of my students, but its just an observation that I've been processing with a good number of my students.  It seems like some families are simply trying to "buy" learning for their students and are willing to throw any amount of money at the situation which leads to Kristin's perspective on tutoring.

~Mark

        We have quite different perspectives as the male and female roles / social rules are quite different here.  Mark already shared one previous experience as to why he lost his tutoring job, because he saw the mom for a brief second and she was not covered (wearing clothes, but hair was not covered).  Women should only be fully seen by their husband or family, otherwise they are covered when they are in public.  This week, Mark picked up a new student and with that was able to help me to pick up more tutoring with a couple of the siblings.  We went yesterday for the first time.  I am temporary tutoring their Year 1 (kindergartener) who is trying to pass the admission test for our school.  He has already failed it once, but they are trying again.  So, I went yesterday to tutor this young boy and Mark and I pull up to their house, which consists of several buildings.  Some of the buildings are for different family members and one is a men's meeting building.  The boy pointed in the direction of the main house for me to go to, while him and Mark went somewhere else.

      I walked up to the front door and was greeted at the front door by the mother.  This was my first time in the main house of a Qatari, as my other student I tutor just has me tutor in the men's meeting room (separate building).  It was very nice, but only saw the very front of the house.  The mother had sent up a work station for us to work at, while she stayed and helped to translate when needed and make sure her son was following directions during our tutoring session.  It was an interesting hour, as this boy doesn't know his alphabet or numbers.  Luckily, I was able to use some of the strategies that I learned at Creekside working in their Special Education Department to help this child and felt like we made progress.  The progress was minimal, but plan on working with him for 2 days a week.  His English is extremely poor and we had a hard time communicating, but he definitely knew what "high five" and jumping meant, as we did a lot of both together. :) I'm sure it will be an interesting experience with this boy, but look forward to helping him improve in his English. I also can't complain about the extra money that we can earn with the additional tutoring jobs.

~Kristin

      I'm grateful for the opportunity to tutor again.  I need to be more careful that I don't squander this opportunity like I haphazardly did with the previous one :).  Needless to say, I'm certainly more hesitant in where I walk around the compound of houses/villas.  Luckily, the two times that I've tutored my Year 7 (6th grade) student, he has come to school with his driver to pick me up to then lead me into our tutoring venue.

      My tutoring takes place in what I have learned (almost put learnt, British English is getting to me) is the male lounge area when family/friend gatherings happen.  You walk in and it is pretty ornate with chandeliers, wall-to-wall with couches and a few tables which are littered with chocolates, candies and biscuits.   I have consumed my fair share of these treats in my mind as they have been covered and/or are in packaging.  Perhaps one of these days I'll get to see what my tastebuds think of these items.

      The student and I get along real well as he finds my tactics silly, fun and helpful at the same time.  I'm thankful for my teaching experience and vast array of previous one-on-one tutoring experiences back in USA as they are helping me now.  Yet, tutoring students over here, so far has been incredibly challenging as they are lower than any students I have worked with in tutoring (and teaching in class thinking of my students) before.  Despite the challenges, it is rewarding at the same time, as I seek to instill confidence along with learning how to find the mean, median, mode, divide fractions, etc.  So we'll see how this experience goes and how far its course will run assuming I don't screw this one up :).

~Mark

Winter Holiday Travel Adventures

      When Mark and I first took the job in Doha, we sat down and created a "Dream Travel List".  The opportunity to travel was one of the main reasons why we began teaching abroad, in addition to the growth and adventures this opportunity would bring.  While discussing where we wanted to go, Mark suggested Israel and I immediately said I thought it would be neat to be in Bethlehem on Christmas.  I feel very grateful to look back at that conversation of dreaming about our travels, as we were able to make that dream a reality.  

    We spent about a week in Israel traveling to some of the holiest sites in the world, walking where JC walked, lived, and taught.  It was truly an amazing and unforgettable experience and I'm so glad we had the opportunity to go.  This past year we continued to be blessed with the opportunities He provided for us and am grateful for this experience.  Below we will try to give you a snap shot into our trip with pictures and explanations.

Day 1:  We arrived and got to our Hostel.  This was our first experience staying in a Hostel and we learned that when we travel again for longer periods of time, we will be sure to switch it up between hostel and hotel. Although it was extremely cheap to stay there, the luxury of our own room and bathroom is priceless at times.  After we checked in and unloaded our bags, we went exploring Old Jerusalem. Our Hostel was located in Old Jerusalem in the Muslim Quarter.  Old Jerusalem was very different than I imagined.  It was enclosed with walls and the inside was a maze with shops everywhere.  We walked around and saw some of the amazing sites, but didn't spend a lot of time at each as we were taking a tour of the Old and New City the following day.

In front of the door to our hostel.  To the right is a guarded Muslim entrance to the Dome of the Rock.  There were guards there most of the day in full uniform with automatic rifles. Lets just say we were never allowed in that entrance, although it was just feet from our door.

Inside Old Jerusalem

I loved all of the small doorway entrances in the Old City.

More pictures of the Old City to get an idea of how it looked like a maze.

Mark and I in front of the Wailing Wall (Western Wall) - only part of the original temple still standing. 

Birthday dinner outside fully bundled (not used to the cooler temps of 50s and 60s), but it was delicious and had good company. :)

Hostel Night 1:  I was awoken in the middle of the night by a woman having night terrors.  She started yelling in Chinese and then was quiet for a bit and then would begin yelling in Chinese again.  It was quite terrifying to wake up to, but just added to the experience of hostel living. Of course Mark slept right through this.

Day 2: Old & New City Tour

This was by far our favorite tour of the three we went on. We had an awesome tour guide, Sylvia, and a great group.  Plus, it was well organized and extremely informative.

Going up the Mount of Olives

View from the top of Mount Olives - cemeteries below for the three main religions for this area, Jewish, Muslim, and Christian.

The Olive Tree represents where they think the last supper happened.

The Wailing Wall and Dome of the Rock behind us--We were able to go and pray and put in a prayer at the Wailing Wall and I was truly moved thinking about this is where JC taught.  It was such a great experience as we were able to truly reflect on where we were and the significance of the site.

We walked most of the stations of the cross - somewhat hard to truly picture as were were waling through the Old City with tons of people and shops on both sides.  It helped me get a better idea of how long his journey was and have me an idea of the distance between different sites.

Holy Sepulchre Church- Where JC was crucified and buried - they have built a church over the holy sites, which is what they did with most holy sites in this area.

Day 3: Holocaust Museum

Mark and I spent the afternoon touring the Holocaust Museum.  We didn't take any pictures inside as that was not allowed, and also wouldn't seem appropriate.  The museum was filled with artifacts, written information, and video testimonies.  It was very well done to represent the events.  Although it was depressing to go through, we both truly appreciated the information displayed throughout the museum.

Hostel Night Experience: Unfortunately, there was a loud snorer who was sleeping in the bunk below me.  I was awoken multiple times throughout the night with someone hitting on our bunk to try to quiet the snorer.  I later found out it was Mark hitting my bed... Needless, to say I didn't get much sleep with the snoring and the banging of my bed and we had a very early day for our tour.

Day 4: Nazareth and Galilee Tour

Overall, we enjoyed the different sites we went on during the tour, but didn't like how much time we spent in the bus.  We were gone for a little over 12 hours and spent about 7-8 hours in the bus.  The sites were great, but we didn't like the tour guide as much as the first one we had, who we absolutely adored.  Below are some pictures of the different places we visited.  The signs will hopefully help explain where we are in each picture.

Joseph's dwelling

Village of Nazareth behind us

Sea of Galilee- - Where JC walked on water and near where he fed 5,000

Shortly after we took this picture we went and watched someone get baptized in the Jordan River.

Day 5: Our own explorations

We toured around the Old City ourselves and enjoyed a hike up the Mount of Olives.

Enjoying a mid morning treat~

Garden Gethsemane - where JC was captured before his crucifixtion

After our hike up Mount of Olives...it was quite a hike, but totally worth it! Enjoying a nice glass of wine and the pretty view.

Singing Christmas Carols on Christmas Eve - - quite a neat experience to sing with people from all over the world and in different languages.

Day 6: Christmas Day - Bethlehem and Jericho Tour

The beginning of this tour started off great.  We visited a site where Mary took JC, Shepard's Field, and the birthplace of JC.  While we were at Shepard's Field, we read the scripture that talked about when they were informed about JC's birth.  It was pretty powerful to read at the location where it happened and was glad that our tour guide recommended it.  Our tour guide was also a follower, so we had a good perspective of this area.

   

After Shepard's Field we went into the city of Bethlehem and visited the site where JC was born.  It was amazing be there on His birthday, but it was quite crowded as you can see from the pictures.  We went in to the church that is built ontop of the site he was buried and began to wait in line to see the actual spot he was born, but it would've taken us quite a long time to wait and see it.  So, we decided to only have a few people from our group go, as that way the could go through the exit door.  It was supposed to only take 30-40 minutes, but 2.5 hours later, they came out.  I can only imagine how long it would've taken if we would've all waiting in the long line together.  While we waited we were able to go to party of a nearby Christmas Service, which was nice.  

With the long wait, we were late to our Jericho tour and got a very late start to that.  So the tour was a bit rushed.  We also missed lunch and the combination of being starving and the swerving roads did not set well with me.  I got car sick on the way, but it was luckily at a stop to view Temptation Mountain, and there was a trash can.  

We went on a short tour and also enjoyed a Falafel sandwich.  

This is the site where JC was tempted on the mountain.

Day 7: Dome of the Rock and Travel to Oman

The Dome of the Rock is owned by the Muslims, so it is only open to the public certain days of the week and certain hours.  Mark and I got up early to get in line to visit the Dome of the Rock.  This is where Abraham was going to sacrifice his son Isaac.  Unfortunately, we were not able to go inside the Dome, but were able to walk the grounds around it.  It is such a beautiful building.

After the Dome of the Rock we departed for the airport to begin our travels to Muscat, Oman.  

Days 8-11: Muscat, Oman

After nearly missing our flight in Dubai to Muscat, because we both fell asleep, we finally arrived to Muscat early Friday morning.  Overall, Muscat was just okay.  It reminded us a lot of the neighborhood we live in now, but enjoyed having the beach within walking distance.  We enjoyed the lounge chairs of the 5-star hotel that was a few minutes away, rented a car one day (quite a pain with contradicting maps/internet directions), visit a fort, their souq, and enjoyed eating their cheap food with fun different juices (big in the Middle East).

We love flying Royal Jordanian - - they give you a free meal (tastes good), even if your flight is less than 3 hours and a complimentary drink! 

Muscat, Oman

We stepped it up a bit this time and actually had our own room.

The food was so cheap - this meal was $9 for the two of us, with juice drinks

Enjoying the 5-star hotel chairs ;)

We loved this guy- he was right across from where we stayed.  His naan (bread) was delicious! We went several times while we were there. It was cool to see him make the bread and cook in near the fire.

Sunset on our roof :)

Palace behind me

Juice hopping--this was more like a dessert than anything. 

Coconut drink = never have again, it was gross!

Our travels went very smoothly and we were grateful, considering we took a total of 8 flights.  We did experience something quite traumatic while were in Dubai on our way home to Doha.  As we were sitting in our chairs we heard a loud smack and a woman started screaming.  We stood and turned around and saw a man beating a woman with a cane.  I have never witnessed something like this and was very shaken up.  Luckily the guards came and took him away, he definitely didn't fly out that night and they took the woman to get checked out and hear her story.  We have no idea what it was about, as they spoke in a different language, but it was quite scary.  

Getting off the plane back in Doha this time was drastically different for many reasons than when we first came in December.  One difference is I could actually breathe when I came off the plane, and wasn't suffocated by the heat/humidity.  It was nice this time getting off in cooler temperatures and it feeling more like home.  Although, we had a great time on our trip, it was good to be home.

Kristin