Email Update 5

The students arrived for their first day on Sunday. They are all so tiny and cute in their little white dishtash's and brand new backpacks. Everyday they hold an assembly which they call "Radio Broadcast" to make announcements, sing the national anthem, say a prayer and do some exercise. It was fun watching the new first graders learn how to line up with their class in order to participate. Everyone has there own area where they stand in lines and perform their lines (of the song or anthem). Then all the students and teachers were off to class. Throughout the week we have found that many of the teachers here do attend their classes. We were warned in training that many of them would not attend class, so it is good to see that these teachers are dedicated and ready to teach. I spent the week wandering around and meeting with teachers on their planning periods. Yesterday (Wednesday) I was able to grab all of my math teachers in one room and talk with them. I laid out a plan for them so that they know what to teach for the students to be ready for the term exams in January. There is a lot of concern about teaching in English because several of the teachers barely know English much less trying to teach students that know even little English. We are ready to jump some hurdles here. I am going to let them teach for the first week and observe how they approach the subject, then meet with them again and try to help them out.

Besides school Levi and I have just been lounging. My mom left on Monday night, so it has been a little different for the last few days but we are enjoying the solitude. Mom made it home safe and now is readjusting to the time difference again :) Yesterday we finally got satellite cable installed. It has really been a trip trying to get people out to us to install stuff. The cable pretty much contains Arabic channels but we have managed to latch onto a few English ones that are British news and movie channels. No sign of when the internet will be installed, but we are waiting on that for now anyway.

Ramadan started on Monday. The school was gracious enough to understand that we do not observe Ramadan but has asked that we keep our office doors shut if we need to eat or drink so that parents walking by are not offended. Levi and I have been planning ahead for our meals because there are no restaurants open during the day (except at some hotels), but at night the city comes alive and stores are open until 1 or 2 AM. It seems the city sleeps less during Ramadan, but eats more because they stuff their faces all night with dates and other sweet treats. Many people were saying they gain weight during this time because of all the treats! It sounds like Thanksgiving/Christmas time for all of us Americans :)