My Amazing First Day

I guess I will start off by saying my first day had a rocky start. Last night, I decided to try to be in bed at 11pm in order to get up at 5:30am. At 11, I shut off the light and climbed into bed and reached to grab Kingpin. Not on the bed. I turned the light back on, looked on the chair, the desk, the table, in drawers, under the bed, under the pillows, in the closet. No Kingpin. Housekeeping had lost my TV remote during their morning service, and now I realize Kingpin is gone too. For those of you not aware of my weird sentimental connection to this stuffed polar bear, I will briefly explain. When my mother was in her final stages of cancer, she was restless in bed. I am not sure if it was the medication, or just her final stages of life, but she began to pull on everything. Her clothes, her oxygen tubes, the bedsheets, anything really. I went into my bedroom and found this little stuffed polar bear (which in fact I owned for several years and never took a liking to), and gave it to her so she had something to hold and pull on instead of her tubes. Once again, possibly the meds, the illness, and quite probably a hint of my mom's humor and quirkiness still present, she named the bear 'Kingpin'... We eventually concluded that maybe he looked like a bowling pin to her.. White everywhere, but a black scarf around his neck. Anyway, my mom passed away later that day and Kingpin has been close to me ever since. Needless to say when he went missing from my hotel room, I was actually quite frantic. So instead of going to bed at 11, I was tearing my room apart searching for him. I finally called the front desk and they sent the housekeeping manager to my room. He explained that the laundry was closed until 7am and they could look then. I was worried that since he was the night manager, the message might not get passed on to whomever was on duty in the morning... I slept the best I could and stopped at the front desk before I left to visit my school in the morning. I explained the situation and left my cell number so they could call to tell me if they found it.
My coworkers and I piled into the car and headed to our new school. We found the school pretty easily. It only had two cars parallel parked on the side... I parked my car behind them and we decided to wander and see if anyone was there. When we got inside, a sweet woman in a beautiful abaya came out of an office to greet us. This kind lady was the vice principal! She told us "Maybe we will have a principal, inshallah". (Inshallah here technically means the equivalent to 'God willing'.. It is used in nearly every situation here, and I generally interpret is as meaning 'maybe, maybe not'...  The Muslims believe that everything is predestined, so if it is the will of Allah, it will be, and if it isn't it won't. For example: We asked what time we need to report to school tomorrow and were told '8:00am, inshallah'). Anyway, of course we were the first people there and she told us to go ahead and have a seat in the lounge and we would have a meeting sometime, inshallah. After about 45 minutes, other ladies began to arrive. Most Arabic, and a few other expats. Anytime a lady entered the room, they went and shook hands with EVERY person in the room and said good morning. If they knew the other person really well, they made three very loud "fake kisses" on each cheek. Good thing I don't know anyone that well here. I would have been lost on that one!!! Eventually a super nice, friendly lady named Kristin entered and introduced herself as our HOF (Head of Faculty.. There is one English speaking HOF and one Arabic speaking HOF). Our school is brand new, and still under construction and has no resources as of yet. Kristin had us go to her old school to pick up some resources.
Soooooo... We get outside to see that the two vehicles that were parallel parked were now gone, and EVERY other car was parked perpendicular, except mine, taking up three "spaces"... All the other teachers were saying "Wow, I wondered whose car that was parked up in here like a boss"... Yup, that's me. Live and learn.
Anyway, my school is amazing. My coworkers, HOF, and VP all seem wonderful as well. Here are some pictures of my school.

Yes, this is the lobby of our school, not a Waldorf Astoria Hotel.

We have a pool!

 

No I didn't get THAT fat, I have on a baggy shirt!

Each grade level has a "pod". In the middle of the pod there are cubbies and furniture. The classrooms have glass doors facing the pod.

And our cafeteria, still being worked on.

During all this excitement, I noticed about 18 missed calls on my phone.. I called the number back - the hotel telling me they found Kingpin. Upon, arriving to the hotel, I am delivered this package:

Apparently he was grabbed with the dirty laundry, washed and sealed in a bag! The perfect end to the perfect day!

Update! Well maybe. Possibly. Or not. Who knows?

The title of this post refers to the lifestyle I am adapting to.  Nothing in this culture is definite. It changes day to day, hour to hour, minute to minute. Yesterday we were told to begin moving into our apartments. By the evening, there was word that we actually were not  allowed to move in yet. Then this evening we got another note to start moving in. Sooooo... I am moving to my apartment soon. Well maybe. Possibly. Or not. Who knows?
See how it works?

Today I had my first "American" meal since arriving. Fuddruckers! And they had ranch dressing, which is virtually unheard of here! I also paid  for my couch, chair and coffee table which are scheduled to be  delivered Saturday.  On a sad note, apparently the warehouse that was manufacturing the bed I ordered burned down today. It was emotional to hear this as I had really enjoyed getting to know the salesmen, whose livelihoods greatly depend on the mass orders recently placed by the incoming teachers.


Tomorrow morning we have the Bedaya Forum for all teachers. In the evening I get my rental car and can possibly go clean and prepare my apartment for move-in! I will miss the hotel though when I have to move in a week or so, although if I can get one of the guys from the omelet station to come cook me breakfast every morning, I think I will be fine!