Smiles are universal:)

Reality check : smiles are universal!

This past week the surrealism I had been feeling since I began working in Abu Dhabi gave way to Reality.
It hit me hard when the deadline of completing report cards snuck up on me. I felt a bit of a struggle to complete the grading process in time. I got confused while grading since there are 5 Mohammed's and 6 abdullah's and 4 salem's split between my 2 classes. I am still working on remembering each students name. Luckily I have made giant name tags which are taped to their desks and that helps me remember them.
I had one challenging day when I was trying to solve some technical issues with the grading system and the vice principal was helping me. I was sitting sitting in his office sorting out the technical issues when he asked me "why don't you ever say good morning to me?" I nearly died of embarrassment. We had been told in orientation that we were to say good morning each and every day to our admin even when they were busy we were told to just walk into their office. The thing is sometimes the admin team are nowhere to be found! Or they are in a deep intense conversation with 5 other men.
In the end I apologized profusely explaining that I had felt very shy to interrupt him when he was speaking to others when all of the sudden I notice the corners of his mouth begin to twitch and he smiles. At that point I looked into his eyes and saw a glimmer of amusement.....he was joking!!!!! I was so relieved but still slightly embarrassed.
So in conclusion, the reports got done (thank you for coming to my rescue Chris) the classroom is now solely mine and we had a celebratory lunch buffet for a few teachers who had a baby, second wife and another who bought a new Lexus and I felt for the first time that I was right where I was supposed to be.
Ok I know you are all dying to know what the lunch buffet entailed so I will devote my next post to that. I mean who wouldn't want to hear about that? It was a lunch I will never forget. Probably because I realized how comfortable i felt, even being the only lady teacher that particular day in a room of 50 kind male teachers sitting on the floor eating with our bare hands....