Winter in Doha

Can't believe it is almost a month to the day from my last entry.  Well actually I can, I have become quite lazy when it comes to writing here.  Often I am out walking and I think of all the things I want to write and then when I am home the ideas have disappeared from my mind.  Not too long ago I was thinking I need to get a little recorder so when ever I think of something to write I can just say it and come back to it later, but I think that is a little over the top.   I guess I could just carry around a little notepad, but that would be to simple.

So I finally received my residency permit a few weeks back, and got my passport back as well.  It has proved very helpful to be able to go out and do things.  I feel very official now.  But only a week or so after getting my passport I had to hand it back in to HR so she could process my exit visa.  Yes we have to have an exit visa to leave the country.  Whenever we are leaving we have to fill out a form with our travel plans and hand it in, with your passport, three days prior to leaving and then we will get a small piece of paper that gives us 'permission' to leave.  This is another thing that seems a bit crazy/controlling to me.

Today was the last of school, and I am so relieve to have a break.  Not only to be going to Thailand but just to have a holiday from my students and the school.  The last month has been crazy.  We had our Eid break which was fairly uneventful for me.  Went out to eat a few times, lots of walking, met some canadian and american teachers working in kuwait who were holidaying in doha, did some serious drinking and dancing and only worked on the last day of the break.  I was really proud of myself for that one!  As for thanksgiving, I had the best of intentions to make an actual dinner, I even made the trek to Mega Mart (the store that sells lots of western food items) to buy a turkey.  But it just seemed like a lot of work and a lot of money to make dinner for just a few friends.  Next year I will plan ahead and get people to bring dishes and then I can just concentrate on the turkey and hosting.

It really wasn't too bad not being at home.  I was sad to be missing out on the family gatherings, but other than facebook and the date I would have had no idea it was thanksgiving.  There were no advertisements or really anyone talking about it.  I went out for a meal with Jen instead.

When the break was over it was 2 1/2 weeks of madness.  We had three days to 'revise' (review) with  the students for their exams.  Yes I said exams.  I gave 6 and 7 year olds an exam. It was quite serious even, I didn't see the exams until they were delivered to my classroom in an envelope on the morning of the exam.  These last few weeks have held a lot of learning experiences for me from writing reports, giving exams, marking them in accordance to the British National Curriculum schemes, getting yelled at by a parent.  Just a few of the many things to add to my repertoire as an international teacher.

I could probably do an entire blog on the student reports but I will keep it simple.  For each student I had a three page word document.  On one page I had to insert their National Curriculum level, that was derived from the exams for maths, english and science.  I then had to copy and paste ticks (checks) to correspond with the students achievement.  Page two I had to tick behaviour and then I had to comment on what the student has acheived this term.  A few sentences about each core subject.  Then I had to comment on targets or goals for them to reach for, and thirdly I had to write a few sentences about what the parent can do at home to help  their child.  The final page had space for our SMT (senior management team) to make a comment, (they made handwritten comments on EVERYONE' trips).  Additionally on this page I had to add their absences and lates (which I had to tally from the weekly attendance sheets.  I am sure there is reporting that is worse than this, but compared to esis, I just wanted to pull my hair out.  It was just tedious working with 23 different documents.  Once my reports were read over by my KS leader, Nathan, I had to adjust anything notated by him, which many comments I had to add more to.  Then I imputed levels and handed them off to Head of Primary, Nadia, got them back with her comment and signature and I could finally sign and stuff.  I then had to compile all the the one page reports they received from their specalists: French, Arabic, Islamic, P.E., Music, ICT.  It wasn't until this morning that all my reports were in the envelope and ready to go.

So much more to say about exams, and our rainy day, and international day, but so very sleepy now.  I will write more soon, I will aim for before I leave for my holiday, but there is a slim chance of that happening.  Oh if you haven't heard I am going to Thailand for my holiday.  Really excited to start traveling.  I will do a few days in bangkok, head north to chaing mai and then back down to one of the island.  It will be a great 13 days!

<3 Viv