My First Week of Work

Today marks exactly a week that I have been back to work. It's been full of ups and downs, but unfortunately it seems like mostly downs. Leah has had difficulty transitioning. I'm not sure if it is more than usual or if I am just feeling serious Mommy Guilt. She is fine about 5 minutes after I am out of the room, but there are meltdowns each time I leave or if I am seen while at school.

I spend half of the day in the 2-3 year old class with Leah, Miss Jane, and our helper. The other half of the day, I am in Miss Lina's 3-4 year old class. I take a break between... I thought it was 30 minutes, but then I found out that everyone else only gets a 15 minute break...  so now I'm a little confused. Let me explain...

Unfortunately racism is pretty rampant here. I expected to encounter lots of diversity, but the racism was definitely a surprise. :/ Here in Abu Dhabi, your salary, your breaks, your job, etc.. all has to do with your nationality. So far as I can tell you're set if you're Arab, American, or European. Labor jobs are usually done by Indians and service jobs like nursing and cleaning are usually done by Filipinos. I'm still trying to figure out where Africans and Asians fit into the "pecking order," but I think a lot of it has to do with the amount of education obtained.

Wednesday last week was my second day of work. Miss Majdah hired me as the 2-3 year old teacher. The problem was - that I could CLEARLY see - is that there already was a 2-3 year old teacher, Miss Jane from Kenya. I was very concerned, so I asked another person at the nursery in private if Miss Jane was going to lose her job and she assured me that she would not. (Whew!) This person also told me (as nicely as possible) that a big reason I was hired was because I was an American and it is good business for a nursery to be able to say that they have "native English speakers." I've heard that parents here will sign up their kid for a nursery if they see an American (white person) there.

Yep! That's me they're talking about - Native English Teachers. This flyer went out yesterday.

I've been watching (all two days of my employment) trying to learn how the nursery works. I asked Miss Majdah when she would like to have me start writing plans. She said I should start for next week... and plans are due on Thursday, so that meant I'd be writing my first lesson plans during nap time that day.

My first shot at lesson planning for preschool. (Lots of Pinteresting going on!)

Thursday (the start of the weekend here) was interesting.  I had emailed my plans to Miss Majdah prior to coming in and continued to observe and help as I usually do waiting for feedback from her. At one point, I was helping gather the kids in for the 2-3 year old class and I asked Miss Jane, "Is this kid in our class?" She responded, "No, she isn't in MY class." Uhhhh... okay. Then during my break, Miss Majdah hollered up and said that my plans were good and that I would start teaching the 2-3 year old class next week, Oooookay! So it's the afternoon and Leah and I are getting ready to head out when the class newsletters that are sent home each week are dropped off in the room. I scan the newsletter quickly and see that I am introduced and my name is at the top as the teacher. Miss Jane is in the room with me at the time and takes the chance to glance over it as well. She stopped DEAD in her tracks and just sadly stared at the paper in complete shock with my name at the top. I guess no one told her of the change. I felt SO terrible and it was incredibly awkward. During the rest of my time there, I tried to apologize and also to show that I had experience teaching and that I wasn't just some "token American" placement in the school... that I have a teaching degree. It was terrible.

As I was leaving, Miss Majdah comes to me and decides that this is the time to critique my plans. I stopped and listened, welcoming any bit of constructive criticism. I am an elementary school teacher and not a preschool teacher and I am just trying to meet expectations. Her criticism... "You need MORE." Uh, more what? I tried to get clarification, but Leah was pulling on my arm to leave and we had somewhere to go. This working mom thing is going to take some adjusting.

Sunday was my first official day teaching. The whole week prior I had started off the mornings in the older class because the younger class was in Arabic, so I had been planning to have a little prep time during my 30 minute break. Upon arrival Lina explains to me that I will be STARTING the day teaching because they are now going to be alternating days for who has Arabic in morning. I freaked out a little because I wasn't ready. Lina reassured me that everything would be okay and that she would help me cut out what I needed. Then Leah decides to have a HUGE meltdown. She refuses to walk. She is sobbing. I am nervous about teaching a lesson that isn't even ready. It was ugly.

Luckily, this is preschool, the kids don't even understand how school works, and the 2-3 year old class has just as much experience with preschool as Leah and I do. Jane helped me fly by the seat of my pants until we could get things together and it worked. Communication is still very difficult. Leah is the only native English speaker in the whole school. The rest of the students speak Arabic at home. You can't give the kids even the most simple directions because they don't understand you. On top of that they're still learning the game of school - sitting on the carpet for circle time, standing in a line, taking turns - all of it is brand new to them.

Each day has gotten slightly better. I am lucky that the staff so far has been incredibly helpful and nice to me...even though I feel like such an overprivileged American jerk sometimes. I come in and take someone's job. I work 3-4 less hours than everyone. I am probably paid about the same if not more. I get a longer break. I work, not to provide or pay bills, but because I am bored and I want my toddler to be able to socialize with other kids. The list is incriminating.

One of the classroom helpers, a single Filipino mom has a 3 and a 4 year old at home in the Philippines that she hasn't seen in person in more than 2 years that her mother takes care of. She sees them on Skype. The other teacher, Lina, is from Palestine and grew up in the war-torn West Bank and Gaza Strip. She has sons back home in Palestine and lives and works in Abu Dhabi because it is too difficult to find employment back home. I am slowly getting to know everyone and I am interested to learn about different perspectives of the world.

Personally, I am finding it difficult to get back into the groove of working with the addition of being a mom as well. When I taught before, my time away from work was my own. Now, I don't really have "my time" anymore... not that I really have so much as a stay at home mom, but now it just seems like less. I also need to somehow fit in cooking dinner each night, doing laundry, and the general cleaning of the house. We'll get there... at least I'm not bored, right?

So I can end on a positive note... Leah and I were invited by a friend at church to tea on the observation deck of Etihad Towers which is the highest point in Abu Dhabi. We had a great time and it was nice to be able to do a little touristy stuff even though I am working.