Doha Living and fighting the Qatar Kilos

Well my last blog was nearly 6 weeks ago now and I can't believe that I'm actually back on half term now. The term has flown and I only have 13 weeks left in Doha before the summer holidays begin (Not that I am counting!)

This blog isn't really about anything - so if its boring I apologise. But I want to share what life is like in Doha to give anyone that is reading this an idea of what it is like to live here.

The time has gone by so fast and its crazy to think that I have been here for 7 months. I often have to pinch myself to realise that this is actually my life now, for the rest of this academic year and the next at least. Living away from home is never easy and I am glad that I have Skype, FaceTime and phone calls to keep me sane. I have learned over the past 7 months who really counts, from my Family, to my friends in the UK and my 'Doha Family'. Living here gives you a whole new perspective on life and you realise that although you might spend lots of time with the people you live and work with, you don't really know them and they don't really know you. We laugh and say that living here is a bit like living at University (especially in our building.) You spend your time in everyone else apartments except your own. Or in another way, its like living in the big brother house - you know nothing that is going on in the outside world, yet you know everyone's business and they know yours. Quite the strange thing to adapt to!

Now Doha has become home, I don't react to certain things the way that I used to. Seeing a woman fully covered from head to toe in an Abaya, Burkha or other traditional dress is the norm and its the Westerners that sometimes look out of place! The Abayas that the women wear are actually very beautiful and they have many different styles and varieties that they wear. Naturally I love the ones with the Swarovski Crystals all over them that cost thousands of Riyals to buy! Wayyyy out of my price range.

The way of life here is also one that I have adapted too, however, it doesn't mean I agree with it. There is a lot of inequality here with the workers and sometimes you cringe at the way that they are spoken to by some people. Qatar is largely driven by money and they want to be the biggest and the best. It is a very up and coming place with lots of potential, but I think personally, to be successful in the coming years especially when the world cup will be here, they are going to have to become more tolerant of certain aspects of Western Culture. Being a westerner here is easy if you respect the Muslim culture and show the respect that is due. Some people find it difficult to remember that we are the ex-pats here and we have to be tolerant of the ways of life. If you know where to go, you can easily access things that you would regularly do in the Western World. I personally am enjoying doing the more finer things in life, like High Tea at the Ritz-Carlton, Brunches at 5* hotels, enjoying the sunshine 99% of the year and not having to worry about every little thing. Over this half term I have experienced the 'Sky Bar' at a local hotel down the road from where I live called La Cigale. On the 11th Floor, they have a beautiful outdoor bar and it has Panoramic views of the city. We enjoyed cocktails there the other night, it was lovely and warm with just a slight breeze and amazing views. We all agreed that it was one of the nicest nights we've had in Doha since we arrived.

I have also now become a Doha driver! After a lot of thinking and deliberating over whether or not I could cope with the stresses of driving like a Qatari, Pam and I have bitten the bullet and hired a car until the end of June. It's a lovely Metallic Blue Chevrolet Sonic, a car much bigger than my little White Fiesta at home! In Doha, a lot of the cars are white, but we opted for the bright blue one as we were reminded that a bright blue one is easy to see!! But then again, with the craziness of the Arabs and whatever other Nationalities are on the road, it doesn't matter what colour the car is, the fact of the matter is you are driving for 5 people when you are behind the wheel - yourself, the person in front, behind, to the left and to the right of you! And then you have to be aware of whatever else people are doing in other lanes! I have decided that driving on the Doha roads is like playing a live version of Mario Kart. Naturally, I'm Princess Peach! :) 

I have managed so far to go on a magical mystery tour of Doha whilst trying to find the QDC, or the Qatar Distribution Centre, affectionately known by many as the Booze Souq. It took me 1 hour and 10 minutes to get there, when it should have taken me 15. Yeh. That was interesting. By the time I got there and got out of the car, I was so stiff from being so tense and worrying that I couldn't walk properly! But I have managed to do all the crazy Doha roads, Highways and Industrial estates and survive - so go me! Our car is affectionately named 'Sonic' although currently, I don't think I have managed to reach 'Sonic' speeds!  

Living over here and having to get taxi's because you are unable to walk anywhere because of the heat as naturally lead to me (and quite a few of the ex pats here) to gain a certain amount of weight that I would rather be without. It is very easy to put on weight here because of the junk food culture and the the fact that nearly every fast food place and restaurant delivers. Yep. You're right, McDonald's, KFC, Apple-bee's, Chilli's, Pizza Hut.. They all deliver. So if you can't be bothered cooking you just go, ahh.. who can I phone and within half an hour to 40 mins you have it. Not good. So the weight that people gain within their first year or so here is now known as the Qatar Kilos or the Doha Dough. Now we are all about to go back for the summer and everyone wants a tan to show off when they get home, the diets are starting to come out! In my building a group of us have started our very own 'Fat Club' with weigh in once a week. I think the members will agree with me that I think that although we start out as extremely motivated, it quickly goes down hill and the weight we lose goes back on! Its too easy not to be good! The problem for most of us is that we don't do any exercise, so need to be a bit more active to burn off the dough. We have taken to walking the Corniche to feel like we are being a bit healthy, but in all fairness the Corniche is actually a nice place to go! Its extremely picturesque and you can get some beautiful night time shots of the city! 

So, living in Doha isn't all that bad! :) I know this blog hasn't been all that and I know I haven't gone on and on about school (for a change) but I hope you have enjoyed reading it! x 

2013, School and Sri Lanka Fwends!

This is going to be a very long blog update so I apologise now! :-) Persevere if you can! x

Well, keeping this blog updated hasn't really gone to plan! Time just goes so fast in this place, before you know it 6 weeks has passed by and I am like... OMG, where has that time gone! Last time I updated I had been back at school a week and now we're into the second half of our term and there's only 4 weeks left till the Easter break! I can't actually believe it!
So, what have I been up to so far in 2013! Its turning out to be quite a fun year so far! Had lots of new experiences and am still really enjoying being in the Sandpit! However, being here is not great for my waist line! All we seem to do here is eat... It takes a lot of self control and at the moment I'm failing miserably in that department! But I'm happy, and that's all that matters right?!

School is amazing at the moment and reflecting back to September when I first got here, its a totally different ball game now! My class are amazing and everyday is hilarious. I am getting so much more from them now, that it is just brilliant and I remember being told by a couple of very wise people at the start of the year "It gets better". I never believed them but God, I do now. Working in an International School and with children with EAL has its challenges, but if you have the passion and are willing to persevere with things, it can be great. I'm lucky that I no longer dread getting out of bed to go to school any more because the children are just fabulous and I enjoy spending time with them.
Most recently, we had our sports day. We have been practising for weeks with the children, the Relay Race, the Sack Race, The Egg and Spoon Race, just to name a few. And on Tuesday last week (Feb 26th) it was time to put all that practise into the real thing. The children had to wear a coloured T-Shirt to represent the house colours and I nagged and nagged the parents all week on the run up to it and before half term to make sure that the children came in the right one! Now I don't know if I just have a good class or what, but my class was the only class where EVERY child had the correct coloured T-Shirt on AND all dressed in their PE Kit! I was thrilled!! Maybe nagging does get you somewhere! The children were all fabulous and I wish I could put some pics on here to show how wonderful they all looked and how much they enjoyed the sports day. Lots of pictures with their game faces on! So funny!! They get so competitive, but in a good way. They still supported their friends really well!

This blog is a little upside down, but now I'm going to go back to my Half Term holiday! Quite a spontaneous holiday happened during this time, and I went to Sri Lanka with my 'fwends' Kathryn, Lisa and Laura. We had the most fabulous time and here goes what happened to us while we were there.....
We left the Sandpit on Thursday 14th February (Valentines Day and I didn't get any Valentines, SOB! Lol...) and boarded the aeroplane, ready for our adventure. I should add at this point that I BACKPACKED, this holiday. Anyone who knows me, knows that I suitcase, not backpack. But it wasnt too bad ;-). The flight got off to a bit of a bad start. As soon as we were literally off the runway, the pilot banked the aeroplane to the right and gave me the shock of my life. Now, I'm a good flyer and things like that don't really bother me and neither does turbulence... but oh, my, word. It just got worse. The plane was dropping and shaking like a tin can at some points and I was really freaking out, but trying to stay calm as Kathryn was freaking out too. No point us both freaking out! Anyway, coming into land in Colombo we circled the Island a number of times and came down into the decent to land. On our screens it read "2 minutes to Colombo" down we went then all of a sudden we pulled up again, everyone was like, huh?! Then on the screen it read 32 minutes to Thiruvananthapurum. We were all looking at each other confused and the confusion turned to shock when we realised we were off to India! So that was an interesting diversion! What made it worse was the fact that the pilot didn't tell us a thing until we got to India and landed and uttered the words "I think I need to be honest with you....!" Well if that didn't freak us the hell out I don't know what would of! Apparently, there was a huge storm in Colombo and although we tried the decent a number of times, we didn't have enough fuel to try for another one, so had to divert to India. So, we then sat on the plane for 2 and a half hours, with no water or anything (they didn't even offer us a drink!) absolutely exhausted by the fact that we all hadn't slept since the Wednesday night and had done a full day at school on the Thursday! Nightmare! Then, all of a sudden, the captain said, cabin crew prepare for take off and off we went for another attempt at landing in Sri Lanka! Fortunately, this time the storm had cleared and we had a smooth landing into Colombo airport. Phew!

Laura and Kathryn trying to Shell Rice

The Airport in India

Sri Lanka Fwends!

After doing what you do at an airport when you arrive, we went through and found our driver. His name was Udaya and he was VERY lively and pleased to see us, considering we were 3, nearly 4 hours late. Whoops! We all piled into the car and set off on the 3 and a half hour journey to Kandy, which was to be our first stop. However, our first stop was food! Udaya took us to this little cafe bakery place which was really nice actually. We all had a pastry thing which was spicy but nice! Laura, showing how tired we all where, left her purse on the table in the cafe and we were all like! OMG! That could have been a VERY interesting start to the holiday.
Off we went again and we stopped at a Rice Paddy so we could try some rice. It was very hard to shell the rice - I hope that a machine is used to do that and its not done all by hand! The journey to Kandy at first was none eventful.. but little did we know it was about to be come VERY eventful. Udaya overtook a bus and as a result was pulled over by the police. He became extremely fretful and got out of the car and went to speak to them. He was fined, and had his license taken until he had paid the fine. We then had to turn around and head up to the police station. He left us in the car, with no A/C on cooking (it was 30 something degrees easily!) When he had paid the fine, we went back to the police officer, only he wasnt there! Udaya was freaking the hell out at this point. So off we went to the police station again so we could find out where the officer was! Turns out he was just a bit further down the road and we eventually found him, got the license back and off we went. By this point we were all absolutely shattered and I'd lost count of the number of hours I'd been awake for.
Udaya could see that we were tired but powered on through, taking us off the beaten track and off to see some Elephants! This was awesome, however the chains and ropes around the Elephants necks where not. We had a ride on the elephants, Kathryn and Laura on one and Me and Lisa on another. Lisa was terrified, but she powered through and got all the way round without getting off! Go Lisa! It was a lot of fun on the Elephant, however it didn't half hurt your thighs! Ouch! They were very sore afterwards!

After being on the Elephant, we were all desparate for the toilet and the only way I can describe the toilet was like the 'dunny' in "I'm a celebrity" Actually, I think that may have been cleaner than the thing we had to pee in. Not pleasant. We got back into the car and off we went to a Spice Garden. This would have been really interesting, if we hadnt all be deliarious with lack of sleep by this point. So so tired. After a 20 minute stop, Udaya had to admit defeat with us all and take us to the hotel. Our hotel, it turns out, was at the top of a mountain. It was AMAZING. Such beautiful views and the hotel itself was very villa like. We were so pleased to get there, unpack, have a shower and just chill. After being on the road for god knows how many hours, sitting on a comfortable chair was just bliss. After having some dinner and chilling out, we finally went to bed! Saturday was our Tuk Tuk day! We spent the day driving round Kandy in a Tuk Tuk! We soon found out that the driving in Sri Lanka is as bad as it is in Doha! Our first stop on Saturday was the botanical gardens just outside Kandy. Botanical Gardens wouldn't really be our thing if I am honest, but after living in the desert for 6 months, any type of greenery is just amazing! It was actually really nice to walk around the trees and see real grass and we actually found out that there are 26 types of grass!! (Yes I know a pointless fact!)

There were wild monkeys and fruit bats and all kinds of things in the botanical gardens and it was just so green! We walked around and just enjoyed being in a place that kind of felt like home.

After the botanical gardens, we went by Tuk Tuk to the temple of the tooth, which is in the centre of Kandy city. We went and had a wonder around the temple, got some flowers and made our offering to Buddha. We had to give our shoes in and then had to pay to get them back! After that we went for a walk around the lake and then went and found some food. The funniest bit of the food hunt was that we were in a foreign country and still managed to find a Pizza Hut where we ended up eating as it was too hot to walk around anymore! For the Pizza and drinks we only paid £4 each! It was sooo cheap! We were well impressed! Our driver picked us up at 5pm and we went to watch a Kandyan Dance show. When he came, he only had one Tuk Tuk and wanted us all to fit into it and sit on each others knees! We were like, no way! So he got another Tuk Tuk for us. 

After the Dance, we went back to our hotel via an off licence! We needed some wine! Heading back up the mountain turned into a very funny experience. Laura and I were in the Tuk Tuk and it made it most of the way up the hill, but then couldnt get any further! Cue the hysterical laughter and the questions... OMG are we too heavy for the Tuk Tuk?! Turns out, there was something in the fuel line of the Tuk Tuk, so it kept stalling, so it wasnt us! We eventually got up the hill in the other Tuk Tuk that came down to rescue us! Hilarious times!

Sunday was another jam packed day. We went to a Tea Factory and to the Pinnewala Elephant Orphanage. Now I'm not really a tea drinker, but I had a good go! I even bought some Green Tea  The tea factory was interesting; they work really hard in the factories... Its a good job that they have the machines to help them now! After that we drove to the Elephant Orphanage and went to see the Elephants. It was awesome. The baby elephants were just so cute! In the afternoons, the elephants go in the heard and go down to the river to bathe. Our driver had arranged a prime spot for us in a restaurant on the river and we sat, by the river, having our lunch, watching the Elephants play. It was so surreal! After the fun with the elephants, we went on a drive back to our hotel and through the towns and villages. Laura and Lisa wanted to buy some sarongs and stuff for the beach and the driver said he knew somewhere! So off we went. We ended up in this amazing shop where they let us try on Saris! We had loads of fun dressing up. I really wanted to buy one, but they were expensive considering its just 6 metres of material!! I wouldn't have fitted it into my backpack anyway!!

The next day was Monday and we were moving on to our next place, which was Hikkaduwa, on the South West coast of Sri Lanka. We had all decided that the last few days of our holiday wereys were going to be spent on a beach, which was just what we needed when we’d all had a busy half term at school! The driver from Hikkaduwa had driven all the way up to get us and then had to drive all the way back. In total, his journey took near on 10 hours! It was an absolute mission! But when we arrived, it was well worth it!

We stayed right on the beach at a place called the International Beach Hotel. Our room was less than 100 metres from the beach and it was just amazing. It was sooo hot there too! The Hotel had its own bar as well called “The Drunken Monkey” which was cool. They did awesome food and drinks and they were really cheap. We also found a really nice restuarant that we ate at twice "Mamas" which was just a little but further down from our hotel. Well, a lot further actually, we had to get a Tuk Tuk down there and back! 

Nothing exciting happened when we were down in Hikkaduwa; it was literally a 4 day beach holiday. It was awesome, just sitting on the beach, cocktail in hand and iPod on. Bliss! 

We were actually quite sad when we had to leave to go home, we'd all had such a fabulous time and enjoyed the sun and each others company. Lots of fun.

So thats it. You're up to date with my life and my blog! Its a long update is this one and if you have got this far down thanks for persevering! Hopefully I'll able to update with something this interesting next time! Much Love! x x x

Back in the Sandpit!

Wow, it really has been a long time since I updated this blog!! I have all the best intentions, as anyone who knows me will know, but I get distracted really easily... Oooo food!! :)

Anyway! The last time I updated was back in October and I was just about to start my half term holiday! I've had a whole term in school since then as well as the Christmas break! So I'll start with last term at school shall I?!

I ended the first half term on a high, being glad that I had survived 7 weeks with the children, not quit and the children were showing signs of really settling and actually liking me!! It was so difficult as I have said before, to adapt to a class where 95% of the children all spoke English as a second language and had little or no spoken English or little or no understanding of English. But by the end of the first half term we were getting there. Throughout the second half of term one was when we really saw the change in the children. They were no longer looking at me as if I had 4 heads and I was talking gibberish to them!! They were actually understanding!! Huggge breakthrough for me!
I was also able to do more productive things with the children, getting them to start writing numbers and letters and when I had my first piece of emergent writing I nearly cried!! I was like.. ARGH!! How fantastic!!
We had a lot of sickness in the Foundation Stage over the second half of the term and I was puked on and snotted on more times than I care to remember. (The joys of being a Foundation Stage Teacher!!) But we soldiered on and got there in the end. Before we knew it, it was getting toward the end of term and we had our Parent/Teacher meetings looming, Learning Journeys to get done and Reports to write! It comes around so quick and I was like.. ARGH! But we managed to get it all done and my parent/teacher meetings went so well. It was lovely to talk to the parents and let them know how the children were doing. There were a number of Parents who didn't come, so I lost my 100% record from when I used to be at my last school and all the Parents used to come!! Gutted!! :)
At the end of the term, we had a party to celebrate Qatar National Day. The children all came to school in their National Dress and looked absolutely amazing! Seeing the littlest children in the school wearing Thobes and traditional saris and things was just so sweet! Id like to put pics up but with child protection and all that its too risky :(

So the term ended and before I knew it I was back in Doha airport and back off to England! I was so excited but not looking forward to leaving the sunshine and going back to the cold and wet that was England. When we landed I had to laugh, as the weather was exactly the same as it was when I left. Great start!! However, when I got out of the airport, it wasnt as cold as I actually thought it would be, so I didn't need the fleece that Mum had brought with her!
My 15 days in England went by so fast and after New Year, the reality of going back in 3 days was upon us! But the thing is, I was, by that point, looking forward to going back to Doha and the Sunshine. So, back to Doha I flew! The flight and everything was fine, but the waiting at Doha airport to get through immigration was just a nightmare! An HOUR we stood in the queue. The bloke who was letting people through had the worst case of 'Small Man Syndrome" ever and decided that he didnt like the look of us and let everyone else into a different queue apart from us. Unimpressed. Eventually got back into the apartment at 4.30am. PJs on and straight to bed!
Michelle arrived just after 8.30am but I was well away so didn't hear her arrive back! Was so nice to see her!

The first few days back were spent getting rid of jet lag, shopping for food as there was not a thing in the apartment to eat and going to the ATP Tennis! This was a fab night but we were shattered and freezing as we were up in the Gods! I'd been given a VIP ticket to sit in a box at court level by one of my parents at school, but as it was, I didn't fancy sitting on my own - so Michelle and I bought normal tickets. The final was between Nikolay Davydenko and Richard Gasket. It was a good match - Gasket was the winner in the end! My first taste of live tennis... and I liked it!! Looking at going to the WTA matches in February. Should be fun!!

The first week back has now passed by in a blur and its now the weekend. We've had lots of fun this weekend, out on Thursday night, Movies and Shopping Friday and now its Saturday and I'm being productive doing school work and updating the blog of course!!

I've decided that I will try and make a concious effort to update this blog at least once a month - but the thing is I don't want to bore everyone with school talk!!

Anyway I think I've prattled on enough so that's it!! Finally updated the blog! YAY!! Much Love x 

Doha times and Sunshine!

Well, its been quite a while it seems since my last blog post! We are now getting to the end of the first half term, and I have to admit, its been quite a long half term! Eid is being anticipated by everyone and we got the news today that we will be breaking up a day earlier than planned! Whoop! Can't complain about that!!

My last blog post was, I think on reflection, quite 'heavy' however I do think that I needed to tell everyone how much of a bad time I was having. I'm glad to report that it is still getting better, the children are becoming more of a joy each day and I no longer have that 'dread' feeling in my stomach when I am on the bus each morning. The children are characters and as well as me teaching them English, they are teaching me Arabic!! I don't know enough (yet) to be able to understand them when they talk at me in full Arabic sentences, but I can pick up a few words! One of the children said to me the other day 'Najla mafi halas' Which means 'Najla hasn’t finished' and I responded correctly (In English of course) My TA was like 'Wow you know it!!' So funny!!

I'm going to have to try and remember not to say random Arabic words when I am at home; otherwise I'm going to get a few weird looks!!

Anyway, enough about School!! Being in Doha isn't all about work you know!! Doha is a really up and coming country and there are quite a few things to do!

The main attractions that I have done so far in Doha are the Malls, City Centre, Landmark and Villagio, The Corniche, The Souq Waqif and The Hotels. The lifestyle here is really good, as long as you embrace it and are willing to travel around. The taxi's here are really cheap, we live about 15mins from the City Centre and a taxi costs on average QR15, or £3. When there are 4 of you sharing a cab, its buttons!! But still, we try and barter with the taxi drivers as sometimes they won't put the meter on. Also here, there are a lot of men who offer you a lift in their car, nothing sordid like - they're just trying to make a bit of extra cash. It’s good to also have a 'Driver' someone that you can call to come and pick you up who is reliable. That way, if you are ever caught somewhere and can't get a cab, you just call him. I have thought about getting a car to drive, however, the way that they drive in Qatar is quite horrendous – I feel like I’m putting my life in my hands each time I get into a car!! I’ve actually lost count of the amount of accidents that I have seen on the roads here – they drive right up the back of one another and don’t think twice of cutting you off. Also they’re quite backwards here driving on the other side of the road… so I think I’ll give that one a miss!!

Entrance to the City Centre Mall

One of the main things to do of a weekend is Brunch. You pay a set price and eat and drink as much as you like. Brunches can be Alcoholic or Non-Alcoholic and the food is just amazing! I have only been to one brunch so far, and the one that we went to was a Non-Alcoholic Brunch. Not that I’m complaining, I’d had quite the night the night before!!! We went to a hotel called the Grand Wyndham Hotel, which is like; 10 minutes walk from our Apartment Block. It’s lovely inside – but what do you expect from a 4* hotel!! As you can see… it was the desserts that I enjoyed the most!!

 Another place to visit is the Corniche. The Corniche runs right the way along the edge of Doha, from the Souq to the City. It’s a really lovely walk and a great spot for taking photos. There are lots of things to do along the Corniche, like Dow Boat trips, restaurants and even an outside gym!! It’s a runners haven, but when you only do walking like I do, dodging the runners is quite the experience!! We went for a walk along the Corniche one night when we had all had a bit of a bad start to the week and needed something to do to cheer us up! We also ended up going for a walk around the park. Is a lovely place the park, even at night it’s filled with families and people just enjoying the cooler temperatures. For us, it was nice to actually feel the grass between our toes, instead of the usual sand… only it turned out to be fake grass!!

The City from the Corniche at Night

Obviously, being here in Doha has its perks with the weather too, as it is nearly always sunny. So heading to a pool or a beach is obviously the thing to do. At the moment, it’s still a bit hot to be going and sitting on a beach or by a pool as all you do is sweat and that’s not pleasant! I'm pleased to say though; I have managed it twice and am managing to pick up a bit of a tan!! I have spent the day at the Marriott Renaissance in the City – which is quite the surreal experience as you are on the 7^th Floor of the hotel, outside, surrounded by high rise buildings!! And have spent the day at the Oasis Beach Club, which is a cheap and cheerful place to go and spend the day with friends and swim in the sea, chill on the beach and enjoy the sunshine!! The beaches here are all private, so you can’t just head to the beach – you have to go to one of the big hotels or to the Oasis.

I’m hoping that when half term comes next week – we can go somewhere each day and enjoy the sunshine a little bit more!! 

The First Three Weeks..

My last posting left you all waiting for news of my class as my classroom was set up ready for the children to start on the Sunday.
I started to write this blog at the end of the first week, however, I was finding it rather difficult to find positive things to write as I really struggled. It is now the end of the third week with the children and while the journey to now has been as far from rosy as you may expect it to have been, it is getting better. So, starting from the beginning of the first week, it had been decided that the children would come in through a staggered intake. So, in theory, the first 6 children on the register would come into school on the Sunday which was the first day at school, then the next 6 children and so on until I had all of the children in my class in on the Thursday. However, I was told to expect any child and every child because they 'just turn up when they want'. I went into school on the Sunday with the rest of the staff full of anticipation, fear, excitement and I suppose, just every emotion imaginable!!
The first child to come through my door was a little girl (obviously I cant disclose names or anything on here) She came straight into the classroom without a backward glance and headed for the play dough. It quickly transpired that she spoke English pretty well, so I was rather pleased about that. The next child was a little boy who hid behind his mum and wouldn't even look at me (clearly I was making a good first impression!) I tried every trick in the book to get him to come away from his mum and come and join in, but he was having none of it. Mum stayed for a little while to get him settled and he eventually told her to go. The next two children, a girl and a boy (not related), were both screaming. Before they even got through the door. I was like.. oh, my, word!! The nanny stayed with the little girl and the mum with the boy. Here in Qatar, it is very common that in the rich families, each child has a nanny that looks after them. You very rarely see the parents and it is the nanny that you build the rapport with and feed back any concerns and messages too. I then got two more boys, and two more girls. One of the little boys came in with a very bemused expression on his face and just sort of stood in the corner for the first hour looking at everything and the other one was tearful, but not screaming like the other children had been. The two girls, one came in and settled herself in like she had always been there and the other one clung to the nanny for dear life! It was like I was about to kidnap her or something!!! Thank GOD for my TA - she was an absolute star and she speaks Arabic, so she was able to talk to the children and help me with words to talk to the children and enable me to learn some basic words so that the children could tell me things that they wanted. On the first day, I learned 'La' which means 'No' which comes in VERY handy! 'Hammam' which means toilet - we spent a lot of time in the 'hammam' in the first couple of days!! 'Kaka' which I think, needs no explanation, as 'Peepee' doesn't. I also learned 'Mama' - Mum, 'Baba' - Dad and 'Mama eji baden' which means 'Mum is coming soon!!' That was used to death in the first week too!! HAHA!!
By the end of the first week, I had met 21 children out of the 22 children that I had on my register. It had been a week of ups and downs, me learning about the children and the parents, the children and parents learning more and more about me.
The second week was extremely eventful out of the three weeks that I have spent with the children, I think that this one was the most challenging. I really struggled with the managing of the behaviour and actually keeping the children entertained with the few resources that we have (the order still hasn't come). The rest of the staff were also feeling frustrated, but me being a new teacher and being used to what I had back in the UK, it wasn't so easy. I have to admit that a lot of my evenings and after school time was spent in floods of tears and feeling sick about actually having to go back to school the next day or after the weekend. One particular day I had had such a horrendous time with the children that I actually contemplated throwing in the towel and going home. Its not easy working in an International school and if I am honest, I don't know what I expected to come to from the UK, but it wasn't what I was experiencing. I know that some people might be reading this and thinking - for God's sake, the children that you are working with are 3 and 4. But working with these children is a whole other experience. The problem is, that the children get what they want. And if they don't get what they want, the thing to do is retaliate and either hit or throw a tantrum. I've been kicked, punched, pinched, a child try to rip my bracelet from my wrist, shouted at in Arabic (by a child not a parent!)  just to name a few things. They refuse to do things, not because they don't understand, just because the culture is that if you don't want to, you don't have to.
Also, I have to say that by the end of the morning, the children are exhausted. The day for the children here is 7am to 12.30. So that is 5 and a half hours in school for the children in Foundation stage One and Two. Its a VERY long day especially when some of those 3 year olds are getting on a bus at 5.30 in the morning to come to school and then are not getting picked up for the bus until 1.40 when the Primary finish then they have the journey home. So that's 9 hours away from their family more than 10 hours that they have probably been up for... it makes you think - is it any wonder that the children are as badly behaved, tearful and distressed as they are?!
Don't get me wrong, all of the children are lovely in their own way and when you get them, you have them, if that makes sense. Some of them are so loving and after 3 weeks of having the children some of them now run to me in the morning and give me a big hug and kisses. Its so lovely. That's the side of the job that makes it worthwhile. But when you have a bad day, you know about it!!
Its now the last day of the weekend and I think I am actually looking forward to going to school tomorrow for the first time since I started, knowing that the children will be there to greet me and that we will hopefully have a really good week.

Prep week at School!

So! Its the one that you have all been waiting for!! The blog about School!!!
After a week of doing lots of things that the school had put on for us, finding our way around the city and spending lots of money, the day finally came for us to head into school! If you don't already know, the Qatari week runs Sunday to Thursday, with Friday being the day of rest and prayer and Saturday the 'other' day off.
It was very weird to say the least getting up on a Sunday morning and heading into school, knowing that everyone at home was in bed. Unimpressed wasn't the word!! I wasn't too sure how I was supposed to dress on my first day and the email that we had hadn't specified so everyone played it safe and went in school clothes. We boarded the bus about 6.30am, to get to school for 6.45ish (Urgh!!), so that everything could start at 7am. We travelled to school, a journey that takes about 15 minutes, depending on the traffic and which way the driver decides to take you!! When arriving at school, we went through to the Secondary Lecture theatre where we met all the new staff from all the Schools and all the old staff. The Vice Principal introduced himself and the Senior Management Team and explained that, as yet, our school didn't have a Principal but they would be arriving soon. After all the introductions and everything else, we split into Schools, the Primary going over to their building and the Secondary to theirs for a briefing for all staff, then a tour around the school for new staff. Just to give you a brief idea of the size of the school, there are at least 6 classes in each Year Group in EYFS and Primary (More in some years) - each with an average of 25 children per class. So in Primary alone, you have about 1200 children. Yeh, the school is huge! The Primary School is set out in levels. The basement of the School houses the staff car park, the first level has the Year One and Two Classrooms, The Second Floor Years Three and Four and the Third Floor Year Five and Six.
After a briefing with the rest of the Primary and Early Years Staff, we went on a quick tour of the building. As I didn't really need to know where anything was in Primary, I headed over to the EYFS Building to have a look around. There didn't seem to be many people around so we (Rebecca, Charlene and I) just had a quick glance around. To be honest, first impressions took me by surprise. The EYFS building is purpose built, set out on 2 levels, with a Fountain in the middle of the downstairs! There didn't seem to be anything anywhere, all the furniture not there, cupboards covered up with black bin bags and not a toy or anything in sight. This made me worry a lot.
So after the shock of finding my building and thinking.. Oh, My, Word... we had a meeting with the CEO of the School - who talked about what the school is about and her back ground. There are four schools in the group of schools that I work for, dotted about all over Doha. The school I work at is the biggest of the four and the only one that is housed in a purpose built school, the rest all housed in a number of Villas on a particular site. Its an interesting concept - housing a school in a Villa, but that's what they seem to do over here and its the 'norm'.
We spent some time after the meeting talking to the CEO and just chatting to one another in the entrance hall before I finally got to go over to Early Years again and meet the team. There are 12 classes in Foundation Stage in total, 6 in Foundation One and 6 in Foundation 2. Upon taking my job, I was told I would be teaching Foundation Stage Two, however, it turns out that I am Foundation Stage One. The classes are also called after colours, so, I am Yellow Class!! Wasn't quite the red or purple class that I wanted, but I can work with Yellow!! :) I met the team and it quickly transpired that everyone was lovely, so that made me feel a little bit more at ease. However, I was told that the resources that had been ordered still hadn't arrived and it was looking increasingly likely that they were not going to arrive in time for the start of term. Nightmare. Sara, the Foundation Stage Manager worked so hard bless her to try and get the resources, but it was a nightmare and she had spent the majority of her time when back in Doha phoning around and chasing things. Not an easy task when you're missing thousands of pounds worth of resources!! 
She showed me my classroom and my worst nightmares were realised. There was NOTHING in terms of resources in my room. 3 tables and a set of chairs for each, a bookshelf, 4 cupboards and a carpet. No interactive whiteboard, computer or anything. I was so gutted. This is what my classroom looked like when I left on the Sunday Night....

It would be fair to day that I was pretty gutted. It wasn't anyone's fault in Foundation, it was just one of those things. I am a new teacher there, I hadn't been able to bring resources over from England because of weight and luggage restrictions so it was a really hard thing to take. I really didn't know what I was going to do in terms of sorting the classroom and resourcing it effectively to have a class of 22 three and four year olds in this room the following weekend!! I have to admit, I cried a lot during the prep week, not just for myself, but for the children as well. I kept saying to myself, its just different, its just different, but if I'm honest - part of me thought, what the hell have I done. Leaving my job in the UK to come to this? My old classroom was fabulous and I think now, that I may have underestimated how lucky I was to have all the resources to hand, when there is so little here at my new school. It takes months for things to arrive here in Qatar from England and its not just frustrating for me, but for all involved in the Foundation Stage.

The following day I went into school not knowing what to expect or where I was going to be able to go with the room. I think I must have spent an hour or so just moving tables and chairs around, much to the annoyance of my TA Miss Donna!! I just didn't know what else to do. All the other teachers seemed to have everything that they needed and although they weren't, their classrooms seemed to be taking shape and I was just getting more and more fraught. That's when I spoke to Emma, who works up in Green Class in Foundation 2. She told me about a shop called Al Rawnaq, which is basically, a teachers dream. It is packed to the rafters with different stationary, toys, books, posters, household items and all kinds bric a brac that you can think of!! I made it my mission to make sure that I got there by the end of the week!! It then transpired that the new teachers had been given some money by the school to help them to resource their rooms with basic things! I was over the moon with that - at least I would definitely get to get some stuff!! That night, I went over to City Mall and went and raided the Home Centre. I bought cushions and different things to put out, sorting trays e.t.c and felt a bit better. However, it did cost me QR369, which is about £65 (of my own money) but I had come to the conclusion that I needed to do it to make myself feel better about the classroom. I also bought two hanging nets and some separating curtains just to colour up the room. All the while, the voice in the back of my mind was shouting at me as I don't actually LIKE over colouring my classroom... Im more for the Communication Friendly Spaces approach!! However, here, there isn't really much choice. Its colour, or just nothing.
The next day (which was Tuesday) I took the things I'd bought into school and set about trying to at least get sorted. I felt a little bit better when things started to go up and even better when Emma told Rebecca, Charlene and I that she was taking us to Al Rawnaq. I was so made up to go there and wasted no time in piling my trolley high with everything that I could think of to put in my classroom. By the time I got to the till I was convinced I was going to have spent well over my budget. But I was shocked when it only came to QR206!! (£36) You should have seen what I got!! Was just amazing!! :-D That night, I went back with a couple of girls from my building and spent another QR236 (£41) and began to feel more and more relaxed about the room as a whole. My TA was amazing too, she printed, laminated and stuck stuff up without me even asking her bless her. So by the end of the week I was feeling a little more prepared but still not 100% about everything. However, it was all in the hands of God now as I left on Saturday afternoon (having gone in on my day off to finish everything and was joined by a number of other members of the EYFS and Primary team) and it was just a wait to see what the children and my first week would be like!! Everything would be alright... Inshallah!!

The Door to my classroom

What you can see when you look out of my classroom door... and yes.. it is a fountain!! 

My classroom, as I left it on Saturday afternoon 

Another view 

another view 

Dune Bashing and Sand Surfing

The day after we went on the city tour, school had arranged for all the new staff to go 'Dune Bashing'. We were all very excited about this and loaded up the buses outside the apartment block and headed to Al Mana. When we got there there was about 12 4x4 cars waiting. We all went into the apartment block where we were addressed by the group leader. He told us that we were going to travel in convoy, about 45 minutes to outside of the city. There, we would stop so the drivers could let air out of the tyres and then we would carry on onto the dunes. After a while we would stop to take some photos and then travel to the beach where we could have a rest, go swimming in the sea etc. Then we would be driven back.

Everyone was really excited so we split into groups of 4 and headed out towards the cars. I joined up with Yasar, Sofia and Katherine. We got into a Silver 4x4 with our driver Abdullah. He was a really nice guy and he chatted away to us asking us where we were from e.t.c. As the journey went on, we discovered that he really liked playing his music really loud. Although, it wasn't just Arabic music that he liked to play. He had a real variety of music on the USB and we were all well impressed! It was proper nostalgic early 00's dance and 90's music - with some 70's and 80's thrown in for good measure! 

We drove out of the city and stopped just outside the sand dunes. We parked in a big long line and we all got out! I know this might sound daft, but I knew we were in the desert, but I didn't expect to see camels!! And there they were. Three camels, all there ready to have rides on them!! I was so surprised! Part of me wanted to actually have a ride on the camel, but I was too much of a wimp to have a go!! It was only 20QR - so about £4 for a 5 minute ride - but I wasn't too keen!! So this time I watched. I've got plenty of time to go Camel riding - I'm here for 2 years!! 

After the tyres were all suitably deflated, we all climbed back into the cars and off we went over the sand dunes. It was pretty exciting and it was really really high!! As we climbed up the dunes, the driver was really putting the car close to the edge of the dune and we could see all the way down. Its quite disconcerting actually - looking down a dune knowing that the car could go off the edge at any time!! However the driver was good and obviously had done this a number of times - so I wasn't too concerned... honest!!

 As we picked up speed we really started surfing the dunes, Katherine, Sofia and I were squealing all over the place!! It was worse watching the cars in front as we knew that was what we were about to do!! We sand surfed for about 15 minutes, going up and down the dunes, being thrown this way and that and squealing all the way!! We then got to a huge dune were it was easily 100ft high! All of the cars lined up in a big long line, ready to race each other down it - and our driver decided to go backwards!! I was like... ARGH!!!!!!

So down we went! The adrenaline was flowing so much and it was so good! Poor Sofia was sat right at the very back in the car and when we were going down literally vertical it was so scary!! 

When we got to the bottom, we waited for the other cars to join us and then we set off again in convoy. We travelled a bit further to the top of a dune were we stopped to admire the view. We could see right across the ocean, the water was so blue and the sun was shining - just an amazing. Awesome picture opportunity - so we took advantage of that!! :) 

After we had had a bit of time on top of the dune, we continued on to our last stop - a camp on the beach. The camp had everything - showers, toilets, tents, sofa's, volleyball court, soft drinks bar... it was ace!! Here, we all got out of the cars and went to explore. We had about an hour to chill and relax. Some people spent time in the tents just having a drink, some went swimming and some went to play volleyball! It was great fun just chatting to people and getting to know them, as it was only our 3rd day in Doha. 

We could have definitely stayed there all day, but unfortunately, an hour was all we had, so we had to load back up into the cars and head home. It was a long journey back - after we'd had such an amazing day, it was quite deflating to be back on the road and heading back into the city back to reality.  

All in all, an awesome day. We're even thinking of doing a trip during half term back to the dunes to go on the Quad bikes and do a bit of camping! Now anyone that knows me knows that I don't do camping... but you only live once right?! :)