Driving in Doha

I have been living in Doha now for the past four weeks and I have experienced very little culture shock except in the area of driving. I have already been involved in one minor accident (I was not the driver), I was almost involved in one major accident (I was the driver), and I have witnessed  six or seven. Driving in Doha is like driving in a toy maze filled with toy Land Cruisers  that are being controlled by overanxious toddlers. Each trip on the road is filled with surprises that could be hazardous to one's health. Few drivers in Doha have have any concept of "lane discipline". Most have Land Cruisers and they use them to weave in and out of lanes. They turn every which way from inside lanes, outside lanes, middle lanes; the more impatient drivers skip the lanes all together preferring to drive on the sidewalk. Other drivers choose to meet for their social hour in the middle of the road. Parallel SUV's  will roll down their windows and talk to one another while speeding down the road. Some stop in the middle of the road while they finish their polite conversation. There are few enforced speed limits. Land Cruisers regularly wiz by my car at speeds topping 100mph. And then there are the roundabouts which are everywhere!!! What more can I say. I love Doha but the driving needs work.

Pictures of Classroom

Reflections On My First Week of Teaching

I have now finished my first week teaching 3rd grade at the Awsaj Academy. How was it? It was exiting, exhausting, at times intensely frustrating and in the end just plain fun. As for the exhausting, no teacher took a lunch this week as there needed to be some serious schedule tweeks this first week. This year the Awsaj Academy doubled the number of its elementary school students from one hundred to two hundreds in preparation for the opening of a new school this fall. The only problem is that the new building is not finished and so we have been forced by circumstance to both continue to share a building with Qatar Academy and share classrooms with partner teachers of the same grade. The Awsaj administration left it up to the teachers as to how they wanted to structure the learning environment during this transition time. Some teachers chose to divided their classrooms into two half and conduct two separate classes in the same room. Others chose to co-teach and for me this is where the fun begins. 

I chose to co-teach with my partner teacher Mary who is simply amazing!!! As Eiman, the HR Director for Awsaj remarked, "you are really really blessed by God to have been paired with Mary...she's a goooood woman!" What makes Mary so great? First of all, she's a jazz singer and she has all of the personality (and looks) to go with it. I will have to take a picture of Mary for you for now it's enough for me to tell you that she imports her shoes from Europe. She has quite the striking personality yet more importantly she has a soft heart for our students. She's a darn good teacher who is full of ideas and she is eager to get better at the craft.  I am very systematic, ordered, data driven in my approach to teaching. She is very creative, personal, and full of life. We complement each other so well that both of us will be sad the day we have to part ways into our own separate classrooms.