Wednesday, August 26

Wednesdays are going to be rough. I have two 6th grade classes followed by an advisory class followed by another 6th grade class and then with the 5 min hall change I have to skedaddle outside across campus to the front of the school where there is a HS computer lab. This class ends at 12:45pm and this is when I collapse from fatigue. No breaks at all but then I do have last period free. I am sure once classes are in a groove it won’t be as demanding as it was yesterday reviewing all the classroom rules and policies to the students. At least in HS the majority of students had their usernames and passwords and five new students are waiting for theirs but I hated to see them sit there and wait. I wanted to show a video but the QuickTime player didn’t respond. I need to go over there before school and get that to work.

I started reading the letters students have written to me and I am impressed with their writing skills and who they are. Some are very focused and have goals like joining the volleyball team or wanting to be on the junior national honor society or others wanting to be doctors or astronomers. Every now and then I think back to my time in 6th grade and I recall sitting in Ms Hyde’s math and science class / home room. We listened to the teacher and wanted to please. Silly things held our interest; the same still applies. We held a combination lock contest with all the 6th graders and they stood in the hallway backs against the wall, locks on the floor and on the count on 3 they all swooped down and started twisting and turning with lightening speed to hear the “click” when they tugged on the lock. It was unbridled enthusiasm with kids jumping up and down with glee yelling “I am first, I am first” when they were clearly in the second pack rounding the corner to the finish.

There were winners for the fastest student, the fastest advisory class and the fastest boy and girl. Next we want to hold the most organized locker contest.
With it being Wed, the last day of the work week, and Ramadan I made plans with Areej to spend the evening with them at a mall. First it was going to be the Mall of Arabia which I was excited about because it is touted as the largest mall in the ME and with all the ones in Dubai and Doha it must be big. But I have learned here big might just mean a big shell with few stores opened but a thriving food court. Instead, due to her husband being on the job overseeing a construction job at the Red Sea Mall, we headed over there. It is a nice and big mall too with most of the stores open and this time they had the Khan Al Khalil souq part open and that was nice. By the signage another bazaar type area is to open “soon” and that is for the Anadulsia area. As the night grew on the mall became more festive with groups dancing and singing and drumming and twirling and passing out zamzam water. We finished about 2:30am and took a drive along the cornice on the way back so Nick could see the Red Sea for the first time.