Cara Louise's Blog, page 3
February 2, 2015
Sunday 1st February - Shock horror! MEN on Campus.
Long day. The students were sent home early as MEN (!!!) were checking over the building. No such luck for teachers. An e-mail was sent telling us to take half an hour for lunch and report to duty for yet another session of marking totally impractical placement tests which were still unfinished after several days.
I hadn't seen the e-mail and pretended no one had told me so I could finish my tortilla wraps in my usual place by the naughty teachers smoking corner at the banned back of the college in the sun.
Then, to avoid my line manager and the dreaded dullness of marking, I headed off to the admin block, contemplating handing in my passport to HR for processing the residency iqama. Relieved to find all the HR staff had mysteriously disappeared and still clutching my beloved passport to my breast, I headed down the corridor happy that I could still hop on the next plane before my hopes of exit ended up propping up a table leg in an office in Riyadh.
"Hey sister? You teacher?"
I turned. I'd run into a group of MEN!!!
A door opened. The Operations Manager, clad in black abaya, hauled me into the office.
"You're not wearing your abaya. It's highly offensive to them. You'll have to stay in here."
So wearing my offending ankle length skirt and long sleeved top, I found myself in an office full of managers busy imputting data - as they do - and other women similarly hauled off the thoroughfare before they could upset the poor MEN with their lack of external covering.
I stared out the window, relieved to escape the dreaded marking and relax for a bit. The Student Services manager, also sans abaya, needed another kind of relief. She managed to slip out for a quick trip to the loo, avoiding the sensitive males.
I took her cue and getting bored of incarceration, asked if I could climb out the window. The vice principal said no. However, she and the managers soon returned to glueing their noses to their computers and I seized my chance. Sneaking out the door, I scuttled down the corridor before the MEN looked up and escaped into an empty office. From there I jumped out the window, skirted around to the back of the college and found the marking team.
True to form, my papers which were supposed to have been marked weren't. Nor did the entire possee of sensitive MEN supposedly fixing the building manage to stop the fire alarms which go off around 5 times a day.
So I joined the other teachers in the totally futile exercise of marking a totally useless placement test at IELTs level, with a listening so fast most native speakers would struggle, given to students who can't write more than 3 words without a spelling mistake. My class papers alone took over 6 woman hours to mark. (The test was dumped by Oxford years ago.)
As someone said, that's what comes of decisions made by people with doctorates without a clue, sitting in isolated splendour in offices, in blissful ignorance of reality.
I hadn't seen the e-mail and pretended no one had told me so I could finish my tortilla wraps in my usual place by the naughty teachers smoking corner at the banned back of the college in the sun.
Then, to avoid my line manager and the dreaded dullness of marking, I headed off to the admin block, contemplating handing in my passport to HR for processing the residency iqama. Relieved to find all the HR staff had mysteriously disappeared and still clutching my beloved passport to my breast, I headed down the corridor happy that I could still hop on the next plane before my hopes of exit ended up propping up a table leg in an office in Riyadh.
"Hey sister? You teacher?"
I turned. I'd run into a group of MEN!!!
A door opened. The Operations Manager, clad in black abaya, hauled me into the office.
"You're not wearing your abaya. It's highly offensive to them. You'll have to stay in here."
So wearing my offending ankle length skirt and long sleeved top, I found myself in an office full of managers busy imputting data - as they do - and other women similarly hauled off the thoroughfare before they could upset the poor MEN with their lack of external covering.
I stared out the window, relieved to escape the dreaded marking and relax for a bit. The Student Services manager, also sans abaya, needed another kind of relief. She managed to slip out for a quick trip to the loo, avoiding the sensitive males.
I took her cue and getting bored of incarceration, asked if I could climb out the window. The vice principal said no. However, she and the managers soon returned to glueing their noses to their computers and I seized my chance. Sneaking out the door, I scuttled down the corridor before the MEN looked up and escaped into an empty office. From there I jumped out the window, skirted around to the back of the college and found the marking team.
True to form, my papers which were supposed to have been marked weren't. Nor did the entire possee of sensitive MEN supposedly fixing the building manage to stop the fire alarms which go off around 5 times a day.
So I joined the other teachers in the totally futile exercise of marking a totally useless placement test at IELTs level, with a listening so fast most native speakers would struggle, given to students who can't write more than 3 words without a spelling mistake. My class papers alone took over 6 woman hours to mark. (The test was dumped by Oxford years ago.)
As someone said, that's what comes of decisions made by people with doctorates without a clue, sitting in isolated splendour in offices, in blissful ignorance of reality.
2nd February 2015 - Surviving Saudi
Still in Saudi and have managed not to do a runner to Bahrain airport after nearly 2 months.
Things have calmed down a bit though there are ups and downs depending on how much a pain in the bum the students decide to be.("Please Miss - bathroom please" every 5 minutes. Inability to keep eyes open and head from hitting the desk. Wandering about the classroom, begging for break and as for the b....y mobile phones.....) No - it's not kindergarten but 18-20 year olds. My 4-7 year olds were far more mature.
Have settled into the routine. Up at 4.15am. An hour of kriya yoga breathing and meditation and cup of Earl Grey tea. Fruit for breakfast. Quick shower. Hatha yoga routine and a bit of Tibetan chucked in for good measure before getting the bus at 6.45.
Arrive at college 7.10 and tank up with coffee before prepping lessons (ie winging it from coursebook)
Teach from 7.30 to 2.30 with a 15 minute break in the morning and 45 mins lunch - except no one can do those kind of crazy hours so we usually let the class out early and hope managers aren't around to notice.
They're too busy usually with data and the place is always teeming with feral students with no teacher anyway.
Get the bus back to hotel at 3.00 - exhausted.
Yoga head and shoulder stand and much needed relaxation.
Catch up on e-mails and FB -
Collapse into bed at 9.00.
Have met another lady who is well read on Annunaki, Sitchen, reptilian shape-shifters, alternative dimensions, portals and gateways.
People said she's crazy. I replied they've obviously never talked to me.
Things have calmed down a bit though there are ups and downs depending on how much a pain in the bum the students decide to be.("Please Miss - bathroom please" every 5 minutes. Inability to keep eyes open and head from hitting the desk. Wandering about the classroom, begging for break and as for the b....y mobile phones.....) No - it's not kindergarten but 18-20 year olds. My 4-7 year olds were far more mature.
Have settled into the routine. Up at 4.15am. An hour of kriya yoga breathing and meditation and cup of Earl Grey tea. Fruit for breakfast. Quick shower. Hatha yoga routine and a bit of Tibetan chucked in for good measure before getting the bus at 6.45.
Arrive at college 7.10 and tank up with coffee before prepping lessons (ie winging it from coursebook)
Teach from 7.30 to 2.30 with a 15 minute break in the morning and 45 mins lunch - except no one can do those kind of crazy hours so we usually let the class out early and hope managers aren't around to notice.
They're too busy usually with data and the place is always teeming with feral students with no teacher anyway.
Get the bus back to hotel at 3.00 - exhausted.
Yoga head and shoulder stand and much needed relaxation.
Catch up on e-mails and FB -
Collapse into bed at 9.00.
Have met another lady who is well read on Annunaki, Sitchen, reptilian shape-shifters, alternative dimensions, portals and gateways.
People said she's crazy. I replied they've obviously never talked to me.
January 15, 2015
15th January - spiralling out of control
Things have got so crazy here they are farcical. I was going to write my notice this weekend but now things are really hotting up so I might stick around to watch events unfold.
Teachers are talking about going to Bahrain for a night to get some alcohol after a week of exhaustion and total chaos.
Management have meetings shut away in offices in the admin block and leave the teachers to cope with the havoc in the teaching block.
Classes with no teacher run riot in the corridors.
The Head of Department has resigned.
The students are running feral around the college, having picnics in the photocopy room, under the stairs, in the classrooms, stealing speakers for a disco on the 2nd floor
A group of feral students occupied my computer while I was at lunch earlier this week, plugging my speakers into their mobile and a Blackberry into my laptop.
As my work laptop has never worked with the speakers, I hid them in a disused room. During a class, they later returned demanding my speakers! I found out today they've been pinching speakers from lots of classrooms for their 2nd floor disco.
My laplap wasn't working all morning. I thought it was the connection. However the IT girl came round to fix and discovered the laptop is totally screwed because of the ferals plugging in their Blackberry and ruining the hardware.
At lunchtime today about 20 or so girls had a massive fight, punching and kicking, with fingernails ripped out and bloodied heads.
The new managers are demanding more admin from teachers. We now have to fill in yet more Excel spreadsheets despite a 30 teaching hour week and have 2 on-line registers to fill in.
Well I have the ferals to thank for my inability to do any of it. Thank God my work computer is f....d!
I'm not going to resign just yet. It's getting really exciting now. I want to see how bad things get!
Teachers are talking about going to Bahrain for a night to get some alcohol after a week of exhaustion and total chaos.
Management have meetings shut away in offices in the admin block and leave the teachers to cope with the havoc in the teaching block.
Classes with no teacher run riot in the corridors.
The Head of Department has resigned.
The students are running feral around the college, having picnics in the photocopy room, under the stairs, in the classrooms, stealing speakers for a disco on the 2nd floor
A group of feral students occupied my computer while I was at lunch earlier this week, plugging my speakers into their mobile and a Blackberry into my laptop.
As my work laptop has never worked with the speakers, I hid them in a disused room. During a class, they later returned demanding my speakers! I found out today they've been pinching speakers from lots of classrooms for their 2nd floor disco.
My laplap wasn't working all morning. I thought it was the connection. However the IT girl came round to fix and discovered the laptop is totally screwed because of the ferals plugging in their Blackberry and ruining the hardware.
At lunchtime today about 20 or so girls had a massive fight, punching and kicking, with fingernails ripped out and bloodied heads.
The new managers are demanding more admin from teachers. We now have to fill in yet more Excel spreadsheets despite a 30 teaching hour week and have 2 on-line registers to fill in.
Well I have the ferals to thank for my inability to do any of it. Thank God my work computer is f....d!
I'm not going to resign just yet. It's getting really exciting now. I want to see how bad things get!
January 8, 2015
8th January 2015
Sandstorm today. Yippee! We went home early! Cheers went up throughout the college from all the students following the tannoy announcement. The teachers have never before been so wreathed in broad smiles. The air inside smells strange and everywhere is covered in a fine white dust. My hair, only washed 2 days ago, felt tacky and I could barely get a brush through it.
Thank Allah it's Thursday - and we get to start the Saudi weekend early. Thank you desert sand.
Thank Allah it's Thursday - and we get to start the Saudi weekend early. Thank you desert sand.
January 1, 2015
1st January 2015
Wow! Have made it into the New Year. Not a happy bunch of teachers this week. Only the people with Saudi bank accounts got paid.
December 29, 2014
29th December 2014
I'm getting on better now I've realised this place is totally insane. We have endless e-mails sent from various admin departments - somehow we're supposed to keep abreast of them on top of 6 hours teaching a day. Then there are seemingly endless training sessions about various admin things, IT issues (since when did technology ever make life easier?) and ongoing sessions about the on-line register which has to be taken 4 times a day and takes forever as you have about 4 security windows to open the damn thing and the students drift in late. But as the college gets paid for bums on seats, it appears more important than what the students learn.
I just do what I can, working from the textbooks, not doing any photocopying as I refuse to run around like the proverbial headless chicken trying to find a machine not in use during my precious break and lunchtime when I'm desperate for coffee and my flatbread, dates and houmous.
By keeping within my own energy limits and doing everything slowly like a zen monk, I'm okay.
I get on with my girls and one of them gave me a beautiful bag with some chocolates in today which was very nice.
Found my very sweet British Moslem friend, Samina, at lunch and persuaded her to sit on the steps and eat with me instead of photocopying. She has been great - given me a niqab, hair clips to help keep my hair under my headscarf (still haven't got the knack. How do you keep your hair covered when you have a fringe?) And she so kindly gave me a box of chocolates after I got into an over-tired state last week over my malfunctioning on line register.
I was thinking of jacking it in last week but now things are much better. I stuffed myself with chocolate over the weekend too. Chocolate never fails in times of crisis, whatever country you're in.
Maybe I have more of my BETRAYED heroine, Charlotte, in me than I realise.
I just do what I can, working from the textbooks, not doing any photocopying as I refuse to run around like the proverbial headless chicken trying to find a machine not in use during my precious break and lunchtime when I'm desperate for coffee and my flatbread, dates and houmous.
By keeping within my own energy limits and doing everything slowly like a zen monk, I'm okay.
I get on with my girls and one of them gave me a beautiful bag with some chocolates in today which was very nice.
Found my very sweet British Moslem friend, Samina, at lunch and persuaded her to sit on the steps and eat with me instead of photocopying. She has been great - given me a niqab, hair clips to help keep my hair under my headscarf (still haven't got the knack. How do you keep your hair covered when you have a fringe?) And she so kindly gave me a box of chocolates after I got into an over-tired state last week over my malfunctioning on line register.
I was thinking of jacking it in last week but now things are much better. I stuffed myself with chocolate over the weekend too. Chocolate never fails in times of crisis, whatever country you're in.
Maybe I have more of my BETRAYED heroine, Charlotte, in me than I realise.
December 27, 2014
Christmas in the Gulf
Not very exciting. We worked on Xmas Day, though did finished early and went home at 2.30.
End of first week teaching. Shattered! Chaos reigns. Had to scour the college to find the text books for my class which were all in different locations and only found via the rumour mill.
No photocopier or printer yet, no chairs in our allocated staffroom.
Teach 6 hours a day in 3 blocks of 2 hours which is really too much.
The girls are nice though.
Went to a small section of beach on Friday which is a club for foreigners. Not hot enough yet for swimming or sunbathing though pleasant at about 20 degrees in the sun. Was nice to paddle and be by the sea. A couple of groups of people with loud music. No doubt will be a party scene and crowded when the weather warms up in a month or two.
The best part of the weekend was braving the giant shopping mall and coming home to my hotel room with bagfuls of food. Tofu, dates, stuffed grape leaves, Syrian makkdos (baby stufed aubergines) and 2 large trays of tangerines and figs.
End of first week teaching. Shattered! Chaos reigns. Had to scour the college to find the text books for my class which were all in different locations and only found via the rumour mill.
No photocopier or printer yet, no chairs in our allocated staffroom.
Teach 6 hours a day in 3 blocks of 2 hours which is really too much.
The girls are nice though.
Went to a small section of beach on Friday which is a club for foreigners. Not hot enough yet for swimming or sunbathing though pleasant at about 20 degrees in the sun. Was nice to paddle and be by the sea. A couple of groups of people with loud music. No doubt will be a party scene and crowded when the weather warms up in a month or two.
The best part of the weekend was braving the giant shopping mall and coming home to my hotel room with bagfuls of food. Tofu, dates, stuffed grape leaves, Syrian makkdos (baby stufed aubergines) and 2 large trays of tangerines and figs.
December 20, 2014
Saudi Weekend
Spent weekend doing the national pastime - shopping - though it didn't take me long. Bit of drama when one of the plug sockets of the new tumble driers caught fire. Fortunately it burnt itself out. Just as well as the fire alarm can't be heard in most rooms and we have no emergency numbers.
Went for lunch at a Pakistani restaurant with 6 other teachers. Great buffet with lots of veggie fare - samosas, houmous, salads, chick pea curry and delicious desserts made of courgette and semlina - a far cry from school dinners.
Got pestered by a man who followed me back from the shop wanting "friendship" and to carry my shopping. Gave him the slip by pretending to cross the road.
Spent time making notes for another kids book, looking at promoting Betrayed and generally faffing on the internet.
It's quite boring really - even for me with plenty to do on my books. You can't go out really, except in a group and there is only the malls and restaurants to go to. Lucky the hotel is comfortable.
Started looking at friends posting Christmas wishes on Facebook - but stopped as it's so far away - in every way.
Went for lunch at a Pakistani restaurant with 6 other teachers. Great buffet with lots of veggie fare - samosas, houmous, salads, chick pea curry and delicious desserts made of courgette and semlina - a far cry from school dinners.
Got pestered by a man who followed me back from the shop wanting "friendship" and to carry my shopping. Gave him the slip by pretending to cross the road.
Spent time making notes for another kids book, looking at promoting Betrayed and generally faffing on the internet.
It's quite boring really - even for me with plenty to do on my books. You can't go out really, except in a group and there is only the malls and restaurants to go to. Lucky the hotel is comfortable.
Started looking at friends posting Christmas wishes on Facebook - but stopped as it's so far away - in every way.
December 19, 2014
Friday 19th December
Friday - everywhere except the big supermarkets is closed for prayers. I woke up early as usual and after catching up on my yoga practice, spend the morning washing and cleaning my room (which doesn't take long) an advantage of living in a hotel.
1.30 went to a very nice Pakistani restaurant with 6 other teachers. Lots of veggie food - sag paneer, chick pea curry, houmous, tabbouleh, fresh cucumber and carrot slices, salads, veggie samosas, fried rice. Delicious desserts - an orange one made of semolina (a world away from my much hated English school dinner semolina puddings!) and a pale green courgette dessert with flaked almonds on top.
We got a taxi there but walked back - lovely to actually walk somewhere and be out in the warm Arabian winter sunshine which is a perfect temperature.
Back to the hotel to relax and enjoy my free weekend.
1.30 went to a very nice Pakistani restaurant with 6 other teachers. Lots of veggie food - sag paneer, chick pea curry, houmous, tabbouleh, fresh cucumber and carrot slices, salads, veggie samosas, fried rice. Delicious desserts - an orange one made of semolina (a world away from my much hated English school dinner semolina puddings!) and a pale green courgette dessert with flaked almonds on top.
We got a taxi there but walked back - lovely to actually walk somewhere and be out in the warm Arabian winter sunshine which is a perfect temperature.
Back to the hotel to relax and enjoy my free weekend.
Al Khobar "Beach"
The Persian Gulf, from the window of the mini bus taking us to school, is blue and calm, like glass.
The wide sandy area along the sea does not have sand as we know it in other parts of the world. The beautiful ocean is fringed by a large stretch of building dust. There are a few horses and camels, a little covered seat on their humps, waiting with their owners - for the ubiquitous Godot, I assume - which everyone, including us, seems to spend a lot of their time doing.
No one swims. No one walks. No one stands and admires the view. No one strolls and breathes the sea air. There are no boats. No marinas. No seagulls.
Saudi doesn't "do landscaping" - except for odd palm trees and grass round the occasional villa.
A far cry from the beaches in other countries, filled with dog walkers, bathers, sun-seekers and people out enjoying the sea view. No promenades. No beachfront hotels. No waterfront development.
Life is lived on the freeways in cars or inside buildings. Life takes place behind closed doors.
The wide sandy area along the sea does not have sand as we know it in other parts of the world. The beautiful ocean is fringed by a large stretch of building dust. There are a few horses and camels, a little covered seat on their humps, waiting with their owners - for the ubiquitous Godot, I assume - which everyone, including us, seems to spend a lot of their time doing.
No one swims. No one walks. No one stands and admires the view. No one strolls and breathes the sea air. There are no boats. No marinas. No seagulls.
Saudi doesn't "do landscaping" - except for odd palm trees and grass round the occasional villa.
A far cry from the beaches in other countries, filled with dog walkers, bathers, sun-seekers and people out enjoying the sea view. No promenades. No beachfront hotels. No waterfront development.
Life is lived on the freeways in cars or inside buildings. Life takes place behind closed doors.
