Bernie Grafe

Week Two Blues

My turn to post something! First thing that needs to be said is  thank-you to all of our devoted readers (this means you Cousin  Ike!!) who’ve been reminding us to get something up and leaving us messages on our posts… It certainly makes us feel more connected and less homesick!

It’s been two weeks of ‘work’, back in the classroom and dealing with kids again! Bernie as you’ve been hearing has worked pretty much as steadily  in the school as I have! My class is great, I have 14 Grade 8′s in my homeroom and teach Language Arts, Social Studies and Health (Hygiene here I come!) to the other Grade 8 class (also of 14). Their teacher handles the Math, Science and P.E. for both classes. Most of my students are Egytian/Arabic who are thinking ahead to Canadian Universities. Kids are pretty typical wherever you go and 13 is a hard age, no matter where you grow up, so I’ve already been dealing with the bullying and discipline issues and relationship issues and emotional issues that make this such an interesting and challenging age to teach! I’ve also picked out the future politicians and poets from the groups… and the ones who it’ll either be them or me who crack before June!

Speaking of which, I had an I-just-need-to-go-home-and-drink-heavily day last week. I’ve also been assigned a Grade 5 Science class because I have ‘more prep time’ then the other elementary teachers, so to make it fair I now have much less than everyone else… with the additional prep and 3 extra teaching periods, plus the marking and reporting… Let’s just say that last period on a Thursday after dealing with a day of teenage hormones and finding out your French teacher (the only break you have that day) is not coming in as you are walking your class into her room for there 11:30 class, is not when you want to try to do an experiment with ice and 9 year-olds who think they know more than you do about everything, and are so convinced that school ends at 2:30 (you have them until 2:40 and school’s over at 3) that two of them have grabbed their bag and are trying to run down the hall. Add to that that the teacher isn’t returning at 2:40 to take over and you are supposed to be with your Grade 8′s, now add to that frantic calls to locate the teacher and get back to your room to find that your Grade 8 class has pretty much trashed the classroom with garbage, scattered books and spilt water. Finish it off with the lock on your door having been snapped by someone at some point in the afternoon. Bernie had to practical carry my limp and weeping body to the bus. Thank-you Lord (and Absolut) for Duty-Free-Passion Fruit Vodka….

Other than that major day of drama, I’m finding my groove back in the classroom. Like riding a bicycle I guess. We had a parent-curriculum night on Tuesday and its funny how quickly the ability to ‘work a room’ comes back to you!

On the home front, Bernie has developed a really killer beef-curry recipe that I’m loving right now! I don’t ask where the meat comes from… he does his excursions down to road 7 with the other hunter-gatherers while I stay home and think about doing the dishes. Is this that ‘domestic’ thingy that I’ve heard about? We’ve also been trying to decide where to spend Christmas… Bernie leaning toward some where with snow, my way of dealing with being away from home is somewhere non-Christian so its just another day… We’ll see where we end up! We have a week coming up in November and have been discussing doing some desert camping with a Bedoin tribe our friend Wael knows. I’m looking forward to it; and diving when we are a little more established in the flat.

For those of you giving us grief, I know we don’t have pictures of the flat up yet, but we are giving Skype tours to those signed up!!!

Missing everyone a lot! Especially Nate on his birthday today!

Stay well!

xoxoMe

Now Mahmoud, biting is not allowed !

Today was such an awesome day. One of the largest selling features that was pitched to Haley during the contract negogiation phase with the school was that her significant other; me; was to be offered supply teaching work at the school. What I had not realized was how soon it would all come to being. Miss. Kerry, one of the JK teachers, had to go back to Canada for a wedding. So, badda bing, badda boom, Bernie Grafe is now, the JKC supply teacher for a week.

Today was my first day, and lets just say, that it was awesome. Kerry and I had sat down previously and sketched all her lesson plans, but I was never prepared for the amazing experience I got today. 16 little people all excited at their first day of school ever. Thankfully, my assistant Ibera, and the monitor Mona, were there with me ready to help begin these little tykes journeys into school life.

We met all the parents and kids in the field and the chaos ensued. The tough part was parents with multiple children trying to leave them with different teachers. My assistants were chasing kids all over the place. As part of a group effort, the teachers also had to prepare a little care package for the parents. I was not amused when I became aware of my participating in said event, but complied. Haley was very amused when I purchased my ziploc bags, cotton balls, tea and tissue. All four items went together with a little poem about how the cotton ball was like their childs soft hand, and the tissue was to wipe the tears, and the tea was to relax with later. Bleh…

So, we got all the kids together, and my strategy was to separate the kids from their parents in the field, because once we got to the class room I wanted to establish that they could not cry there and be home sick. Well this failed miserably. A lot of the parents eagerly followed the children to the class and defiantly video tapped them from the back windows. I had a few heavy hitting criers that could not let go, and the parents having some presence just prolonged the transition into the classroom environment. I finally had to be really insistent that the parents leave, boarding on being rude. Sure enough, once gone, the kids quickly began to model the other children and settled into a regular non-crying mood. As well, some of the kids helped in the comforting of some of the other kids. It was actually really nice to watch the sincerity in some of the kids.

The day was great, and the kids were so excited. We started off with routines on how to be quiet, where their cubbies were, and where their desks were. The assistants were great to work with, as some of the kids had been in Pre-K with them. As far as bathroom issues and the like, the assistants took care of that too. The day was filled with play, reading and song. We also took a trip to the yard, where I helped a few of them play on the swings. It was really moving to see that I was actually teaching kids how to swing, and they were so excited at when they got higher and higher.

Oh, and Mahmoud, did bite another kid. I changed his name to save the innocent, but it was the drama of the day.

After an amazing day, I am wiped, and off to make a very lazy dinner. Frozen food to the rescue !