Guess I Should Screen ALL Of The Videos I Show My Class

My class did a little performance two mornings ago. I'm pretty sure we were expected to rap, and I'm pretty sure that's racist - kidding! Rapping would've been much too easy with the short notice I decided to put the thing together on. My class' talents are many, so we'll give 'em something different from the menu each time our assembly cycle comes around. And when we DO decide to rap, which will probably be when we are hosting in March - watch out! I definitely got some emcees in my class and I can't wait to get my DJ Khaled on in the multi-purpose room. As for this past performance, we demonstrated the different genres we read during the school day (e.g. one kid would shout "romance" and the kids behind would clutch their hearts; the next would shout "cooking books" and the others would pretend to stir an imaginary pot), and the different exercises we are doing in class (we showed off the "2 Minute Drill" I got from the Men's Health" website - 8 different exercises done for 15 seconds each. Great way to jump start yourself in the morning, btw). Went pretty smoothly, thank goodness; you know I got my Joe Jackson on during rehearsals. I'm still surprised by how these kids are able to conduct all of their studies in English (to varying degrees), but then again, early on IS the best time to acquire language. The kids are NOT allowed to speak Arabic in school, but of course, they laugh in Arabic about how futile it is to try to keep them from doing so. I usually let them rock unless I think they're trying to get smart with me in Arabic. Then I just ask a snitch kid what was said. That usually takes care of that. My kids are SO similar to how my kids were at home, but one glaring difference is that I don't really have a kid who doesn't seem eager to learn here. Their eyes light up when they know something and even the bad kids try pretty hard to come through with a good representation of what s/he knows. Back home, that was also true for a majority of kids, and I truly believe that every kid has a passion to learn SOMETHING, but I surely had kids who seemed jaded and uninterested by nine years old. That was always bothersome.

Part of growing up, no?

We don't have lunch, we have break. One at 9:55-10:15 and another at 11:50-12:10. These can get pretty nuts. We have this huge open grass area with nothing but 4 football nets (I'm getting in the habit of calling soccer by its "real" name). But the kids aren't allowed to use any type of balls or recreation equipment because last year a few kids got hit in the face. Isn't that just part of playing? People throw balls around and sometimes people get hit. Sometimes it may even be on purpose. Just kinda how things are in this world. The best sports involve running after, throwing, hitting and kicking balls. You gotta adapt. So anyway, we all have a day when we do indoor and outdoor break duty. The thing about this is, the kids are pretty much limited to two things when they don't have equipment, and I'm sure you know what they are: running and fighting. Many fight while running. And the adults are supposed to make sure they aren't getting into any squabbles. Which is very difficult. Apparently, tribes still clash here and it spills over into school. Kids love to wrestle in the yard but a few turn into real fights and older siblings end up being recruited, as well as family members once school is out. Next thing you know, the threat of a badly-refereed lumberjack match becomes imminent. I haven't seen, only heard about, things being taken this far, but I DO see roving gangs of kids stalking around during break, looking for excitement. Since that kinda action's been my specialty for as long as I've been an educator, I get right in the thick of things and disperse the little rumbles before they happen, if possible. And since some of the time I'm just trying to avoid the heat in a shaded area, out of the site of the principal (not an easy task in the neon vests we're required to wear during duty), it's not always possible. I did spend one indoor break teaching kids the Running Man, which was pretty damn cool.

There definitely are black Qataris, black like me Qataris. I don't know the history of the place as well as I'd like to, but as far as the social intricacies go, I don't know if its better to experience them (that could get sticky; I already see the difference in how I'm treated when they think I'm African, as opposed to when they find out I'm American - that's for another blog I don't know if I'm up to writing), or have them told to me by someone else. There's a girl in my class who easily would look like a black or dark Dominican girl back home, but she's Qatari, and I wonder if she, or my Sudanese students self-identify as black. My Sudanese (black) kid told me that I look Muslim. But a white Qatari kid said, "Ehhh, I don't think so." Different perspectives.

I previously thought that the teach abroad crowd was full of young, inexperienced, single white girls. We got those. But the majority are actually wordly, older people, many of them couples, of all nationalities.

My school is going through a lot of the growing pains of transformation. I predict much turnover and turmoil, and although I'm secure in my position, contributions and choices, it's disappointing to continue to see certain behaviours continuously repeated in different environments when particular structures are put into place. I know that sounds kinda vague. Let me put it this way - ineffective leadership managing naive and timid employees expected to execute "best practices" that aren't implemented correctly are problems that can/do occur ANYWHERE, and the result is always a clusterfuck of some sort. I'm sure that I'm supposed to be learning something new from this, this time around. This blog will help me find out what that is.

Met an Eritrean driver, nicknamed Fire, today. Said he loves Americans because they are fair, unlike Muslims who treat him (a Muslim also) badly because he's black. Showed us a lot of love for being black. He was tickled at hearing us speak, and said he loves listening to Americans speak. He kept on saying "WHAT'S UP!" He told us the story all of the nationalities tell us - he came here to try to make some bread. He ain't making much but it beats his option back home. Told us that home is a dictatorship, run by a good friend of Gaddafi. Asked us about Obama and you know that was the cheery part of the conversation, haha. Like a lot of the people I come across, he said he'd love to go to the US. I didn't realize how much the US is still looked at as the land of opportunity until I came here. It is, and my story is testament, without a doubt. But I'm from where the streets are also filled with people who came here only to be faced with the fact that they unknowingly chose the slightly lesser of two evils. Told my Indian barber today that I like Qatar better because its way safer. Too much shooting and fighting back home. He's the first person who seemed to instantly feel what I said. Maybe he can relate. He's the only person I met who comes from a country larger than mine. Maybe he can understand. Maybe those are things places like that have in common.

If you mind getting woken up by a 4:18am prayer call each morning, don't move to Doha.

The looks I gave this DISGUSTING dude in the spa locker room for hocking up loogie after loogie were SO dirty, he probably felt very comfortable receiving them.

The exact look I had, Bill.

Tomorrow is Sunday, meaning I teach with NO breaks. Pray for me. I'll put on "Bill Nye the Science Guy" (did I previously tell y'all the story about me showing "Bill Nye the Science Guy" and a little black girl was singing a science-type remix of a Janet Jackson song, and was dressed like Janet was in the original video, in a bra top kinda thing, and I didn't see it coming and it was on for like a minute before I did, and I had some kids turning their heads like they saw Satan, and I couldn't turn it off by then because it would've made it into a much bigger deal, and I couldn't believe it was on the school's hard drive and no one had screened it, and I'm not taking the blame if kids tell and parents complain? Yeah, if I didn't tell you about already - that happened) for a coupla lessons and see if I can't survive the day. Y'all be good, and of course, if you're feeling the blog, share it and tell a friend! Peace!