My first week at my new school was pretty uneventful. It was filled with a lot of meetings and a ton of information. Most of which I have already forgotten!
A bit of information about ENS. There are 4 campuses; KG (which is made up of KG1 and KG2), primary (grades 1-5), boys school (grade 5-12 boys; I know there's an overlap between primary and boys/girls schools I'll explain later), and the girls school (grade 5-12 girls). The primary school is made up of students in grades 1-5, but the grade 5s are single gender so their classrooms are in the boys/girls school. It is a huge campus and if it weren't for the bus transportation I would have gotten lost trying to find the primary school (eventually I did when I got my car). ENS provides bus transportation, which is great, but I had to get a car. The driver was not a good driver and it was so hot; I don’t think the AC was working properly.
During this first week, I got to meet a lot of new people. Many of whom I won’t see again when school starts since they are working at a different campus. So far the staff seems really nice. There is one other new 4th grade teacher and she and I spent the week together. She seems nice and we’ll make it through this year together! She lives in the Sharjah bank apartments (which is only like 5 minutes from where I live). There were 5 other new primary teachers (2 Arabic, one grade 5, one grade 2, and one grade 1). They seem nice enough and we spent time chatting and getting to know each other. I know once the rest of the staff arrives (Aug. 26th) things will change, but right now it’s nice to just be a small group.
In addition to meeting people at work I got to know Deborah (she will be teaching at the girls’ school). She lives upstairs with her daughter Sophia. We went to the mall a few times together, had dinner, and rode to school together once I got my car. She’s really nice and it’s been good to just be the 2 of us in the complex! That will change as more people come back from their vacation.
I also got sick this weekL I think it was a cold that was aggravated by the fact that the AC in the bedroom blows directly on me. I had a sore throat for a few days and then a terrible dry hacking cough for about 1 ½ weeks. Not good. The worst day was Tuesday. Brian, the principal, looked at me and asked if everything was ok. Things were not ok. I was sick. I felt like I was going to throw up and my throat hurt and I couldn’t have a cough drop due to the fact it was Ramadan. I made it through the day thankful for the short hours (9-2) and the fact that Eid was coming up so I would have 3 days off. I just had to make it through the rest of the week.
I ended up getting my car on Tuesday. I was so sick Tuesday morning due to the ride on the bus that I had to take matters into my own hands. I had emailed Fast Cars and told them that I was going to come on Wednesday, but I went a day early. I ended up getting a Hyundai Elantra. It’s a nice car; bigger than the car I had last year and it’s cheaper!
We got the news on Thursday that we would be off until Wednesday for Eid! A 5 day weekendJ
No comments:
Post a Comment