Life here is very different.
Things I like:
*Being able to spend time with family.
*Getting to know my cousins better.
*Feeling welcomed by everyone.
*The sense of community here...everyone knows ALL their neighbors. When someone moves somewhere the most important factor is who are the neighbors.
*The slowness of life (although as my dad well knows, this is also something I don't like at times as I prefer to be busy...but it is nice to slow down). When I mentioned the possibility of working 5 days a week 8am-3:30pm to my family, there was an uproar of "No!" "That's too much work!" "It's bad for your health!". It made me laugh :)
*Living 10 minutes from the mediterranean sea.
Things I don't like:
*Not being able to freely go on a walk (you only see men walking around....women go shopping and such, but it's not acceptable for a woman to wander the streets)
*The driving. Everytime I am in a car I pray I don't get into an accident.
*The color brown. Everything here is brown and I don't find it aesthetically pleasing at all.
*The language barrier...but I guess that is what I am here to overcome, right?
*Living with a 1 1/2-year old who's only form of communication is screaming. :)
*There are very few places to go to hang out with people (especially for women, but there isn't too much for men either).
*The mosquitoes...I try to keep my body covered in bug spray in the evening. Probably the only spot that was not protected was my lips, so I currently have a bite on my lip. They just love me :)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
One of my cousins has lived in England for the past 5 years and recently moved back to Libya. I was talking to her husband who said something I found interesting. He told me "You shouldn't let people tell you what you can and can't do. You should learn for yourself, it's a safe country so no one will hurt you". I took this to mean "go outside and go on a walk if you want to" or "go to a place that they say only men can go to"...but I am not sure that is exactly how I was supposed to interpret it...we'll see.
The daily schedule (which doesn't actually exist) goes something like this on some days:
Morning: Wake-up at 6:30am if I have work or wake-up at 10-11am. Have breakfast (eggs, cheese, bread). If not at work, sit around the house, go on the net, play with the 1 1/2-year old, read until lunch(between 2:30 and 3:30pm; it's the big meal of the day) or go somewhere with my dad and my cousin for a couple hours.
Afternoon/Evening: Lunch, nap (I generally don't nap), hang out with my cousins, have an arabic lesson, ask my dad questions about the arabic language.
On Thursday the sister of a family friend wanted to take me out for coffee and I found out about it as she was driving to get me....that's how planning works here :) I was really excited though because I didn't know such a place existed (for women at least). It's basically a family restaurant, not what we would call a "coffee shop" in the states.
Let me know how you are doing when you get the chance :)
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Thursday, October 7, 2010
The European School
This week I started work at the European School. On Sunday I went in to talk with the Director and the Vice Principal about what I would be doing. They wanted to station me in the Library and have me supervise the Year 12 students during their study periods. They also wanted me to help update the Library, help with ESL classes, and work one-on-one with students who needed extra help. I committed to working 3 days a week.
I love being stationed in the Library, it's not very big but I still like it. The Director is in the process of ordering more books and has asked me to create an online catalog of all the books (I will start that next week). I basically have been babysitting 16 and 17 year olds all week. There are a total of 10 students in Year 12 (the school has a total of 98 students), so it's pretty small. They come to the Library when they have a study period, there are a total of 7 periods in a day (each 55 mins long) and some of them are only taking 2 or 3 subjects, meaning they are with me for 4 or 5 periods....which is a lot. The Director and Vice Principal know that the students don't really study during that time, so they asked me to supervise them to make sure they do study. The first couple days I wasn't too strict on them, mainly because I wasnted to get to know them a little bit (the Director said it would be good for me to get to know them, that way they might be more open with me). The guys will generally listen to what I say...although they also lie to me a LOT (Example: I come in the morning and no one is in class, I look at the schedule and it is the Biology period (most of the guys are not in Biology, so I know they should be with me). One guy walks by the room and says "Oh, we are supposed to be in here?", Me: "Yes, where are you guys?" Student: "We are in the classroom, I will go get them". He comes back, alone. Me: "Where are the others?" Student: "Oh, they say they have a subject right now." Me: (deep breath) "Ok, where is the classroom?". He tells me, I open the door and there are the other 4 boys, playing on a laptop. The history teacher always looks out for me a bit (he gives me a heads-up when they are downstairs when they should be with me) and when he saw me walking down the hall, escorting the boys to the Library, he gave me a look that said "sorry you have to deal with them), BUT I am starting to realize when they are lying now. :) Yesterday the boys were horrible though and for the first time I had to tell them to sit in different seats. The school is having a football tournament (they play during the lunch break) and the Year 12 boys I guess are in charge of keeping up the schedule. The first day I was there they decided to work on the schedule instead of study. I asked them if it was for school and they said "Yes, Student Council" (which I now know is what they say when it is something they aren't supposed to be doing, but want to make it sound vague and important). After a few minutes I walked over picked up the piece of paper and said "You guys get tested on the football schedule?", They kind of chuckled and said "No", I told them they had 5 minutes and then I didn't want to see it again.
Sometimes I feel bad for them because I think things are really strict at the school (not that they follow the rules anyway), but a student got in huge trouble the other day for listening to an IPOD during study period that I had said he could listen to. Almost everyone I know studies listening to music (I personally can't), so I didn't think it was an issue. I told the teacher who walked in and got upset that I didn't realize they couldn't listen to IPODs and that I had allowed him to do it. The teacher said that wasn't the main reason the student was in trouble, I guess he was skipping classes also. Also, when they have 3 study periods in a row, I usually let them talk a little bit because I can't even study for 3 hours straight without some kind of distraction. I have also learned which students can and can't study with talking, so I keep the room extra-quiet when certain students are present (or at least I try).
The students at this school remind me a lot of the students at the University I attended in Ecuador because these are the country's elite that are able to afford this school. They all have their own drivers that take them to and from school (and elsewhere I assume) and maids. There is one girl that really doesn't listen at all and says the oddest things. She is Libyan, but grew up in England. On the first day she was telling me how she does her make-up the last 5 minutes of every class and that make-up is more important to her than school. Almost every day she arrives 30 minutes late to school because she refuses to wake-up earlier to come to a class she doesn't like (usually Bio or the study period) and she would rather spend extra time making herself look better. I guess her mom is still in England and she said she wished her mom was here to do her laundry. Another girl said she should get a maid, "Oh, well we have 2 maids, but the house is just sooooo big that there isn't time for laundry". "Well, you could do the laundry yourself". She gave the worst look as if to say "How dare you". She also hates Americans and manages to let me know more than once a day (although she says I am a "decent" American). She LOVES American T.V. shows though and is obsessed with The Kardashians. A couple days ago she told me how she knows EVERYTHING about them (she watches their show, some other show about them, reads their blog updates every day and follows them on twitter), but it suddenly hit her that "They don't know anything about me!". Well, of course not! I didn't say that to her, but was amazed by her sudden revelation. She also likes to talk about how she gets everything she wants and can do whatever she wants, no one controls her. I said "Obviously, you apparently are incapable of listening to me, I have asked you to be quiet 10 times, yet you are still talking". At the end of the day a couple days ago she apologized and said she would try to be better and yesterday she actually was good most of the day.
Yesterday, the Director walked in during one of the periods and asked me if I could stop by his office for 5 minutes before I left for the day. I figured it was just to check in about things, but I was a little worried that he was going to say I needed to be more strict with the students because more than once he or the VP have dropped in to check in during study time and either I have been talking, a student has been talking, or had their head on the table (this only happened once and he had JUST put it down when the VP walked in, so I didn't even realize until she pointed it out to me). I walked into his office and he said that this week they have seen dramatic improvements in the students (he wasn't sure about the quality of the work, but they are actually completing work now). He and the VP said they know supervising them isn't easy and isn't the most interesting thing, but they can see how much they really need it. Once I start updating the Library system it will give me something to do and he said I can also study my Arabic material while I am there. Yesterday I started working in the ESL classes (the Director said he would watch the Year 12's for a couple periods while I did that), and I really enjoyed that. There is one girl from Spain, so maybe at some point I can practice my Spanish with her!
The faculty is really nice and most have been there for quite some time, but aren't Libyan. The teachers are from Palestine, Turkey, Ireland, Scotland, England, South Africa, Bangladesh, United States, and I know there are others that I can't remember now.
This post was originally going to be about more than just the school, but it' so long I will just give a brief overview and talk more about other things later. I have my first Arabic lesson today with an Egyptian teacher. I went to my first wedding last night (am slightly deaf now) and have another one tonight that I just found out about.
So far things are going well! :)
Hope you all are well!
I love being stationed in the Library, it's not very big but I still like it. The Director is in the process of ordering more books and has asked me to create an online catalog of all the books (I will start that next week). I basically have been babysitting 16 and 17 year olds all week. There are a total of 10 students in Year 12 (the school has a total of 98 students), so it's pretty small. They come to the Library when they have a study period, there are a total of 7 periods in a day (each 55 mins long) and some of them are only taking 2 or 3 subjects, meaning they are with me for 4 or 5 periods....which is a lot. The Director and Vice Principal know that the students don't really study during that time, so they asked me to supervise them to make sure they do study. The first couple days I wasn't too strict on them, mainly because I wasnted to get to know them a little bit (the Director said it would be good for me to get to know them, that way they might be more open with me). The guys will generally listen to what I say...although they also lie to me a LOT (Example: I come in the morning and no one is in class, I look at the schedule and it is the Biology period (most of the guys are not in Biology, so I know they should be with me). One guy walks by the room and says "Oh, we are supposed to be in here?", Me: "Yes, where are you guys?" Student: "We are in the classroom, I will go get them". He comes back, alone. Me: "Where are the others?" Student: "Oh, they say they have a subject right now." Me: (deep breath) "Ok, where is the classroom?". He tells me, I open the door and there are the other 4 boys, playing on a laptop. The history teacher always looks out for me a bit (he gives me a heads-up when they are downstairs when they should be with me) and when he saw me walking down the hall, escorting the boys to the Library, he gave me a look that said "sorry you have to deal with them), BUT I am starting to realize when they are lying now. :) Yesterday the boys were horrible though and for the first time I had to tell them to sit in different seats. The school is having a football tournament (they play during the lunch break) and the Year 12 boys I guess are in charge of keeping up the schedule. The first day I was there they decided to work on the schedule instead of study. I asked them if it was for school and they said "Yes, Student Council" (which I now know is what they say when it is something they aren't supposed to be doing, but want to make it sound vague and important). After a few minutes I walked over picked up the piece of paper and said "You guys get tested on the football schedule?", They kind of chuckled and said "No", I told them they had 5 minutes and then I didn't want to see it again.
Sometimes I feel bad for them because I think things are really strict at the school (not that they follow the rules anyway), but a student got in huge trouble the other day for listening to an IPOD during study period that I had said he could listen to. Almost everyone I know studies listening to music (I personally can't), so I didn't think it was an issue. I told the teacher who walked in and got upset that I didn't realize they couldn't listen to IPODs and that I had allowed him to do it. The teacher said that wasn't the main reason the student was in trouble, I guess he was skipping classes also. Also, when they have 3 study periods in a row, I usually let them talk a little bit because I can't even study for 3 hours straight without some kind of distraction. I have also learned which students can and can't study with talking, so I keep the room extra-quiet when certain students are present (or at least I try).
The students at this school remind me a lot of the students at the University I attended in Ecuador because these are the country's elite that are able to afford this school. They all have their own drivers that take them to and from school (and elsewhere I assume) and maids. There is one girl that really doesn't listen at all and says the oddest things. She is Libyan, but grew up in England. On the first day she was telling me how she does her make-up the last 5 minutes of every class and that make-up is more important to her than school. Almost every day she arrives 30 minutes late to school because she refuses to wake-up earlier to come to a class she doesn't like (usually Bio or the study period) and she would rather spend extra time making herself look better. I guess her mom is still in England and she said she wished her mom was here to do her laundry. Another girl said she should get a maid, "Oh, well we have 2 maids, but the house is just sooooo big that there isn't time for laundry". "Well, you could do the laundry yourself". She gave the worst look as if to say "How dare you". She also hates Americans and manages to let me know more than once a day (although she says I am a "decent" American). She LOVES American T.V. shows though and is obsessed with The Kardashians. A couple days ago she told me how she knows EVERYTHING about them (she watches their show, some other show about them, reads their blog updates every day and follows them on twitter), but it suddenly hit her that "They don't know anything about me!". Well, of course not! I didn't say that to her, but was amazed by her sudden revelation. She also likes to talk about how she gets everything she wants and can do whatever she wants, no one controls her. I said "Obviously, you apparently are incapable of listening to me, I have asked you to be quiet 10 times, yet you are still talking". At the end of the day a couple days ago she apologized and said she would try to be better and yesterday she actually was good most of the day.
Yesterday, the Director walked in during one of the periods and asked me if I could stop by his office for 5 minutes before I left for the day. I figured it was just to check in about things, but I was a little worried that he was going to say I needed to be more strict with the students because more than once he or the VP have dropped in to check in during study time and either I have been talking, a student has been talking, or had their head on the table (this only happened once and he had JUST put it down when the VP walked in, so I didn't even realize until she pointed it out to me). I walked into his office and he said that this week they have seen dramatic improvements in the students (he wasn't sure about the quality of the work, but they are actually completing work now). He and the VP said they know supervising them isn't easy and isn't the most interesting thing, but they can see how much they really need it. Once I start updating the Library system it will give me something to do and he said I can also study my Arabic material while I am there. Yesterday I started working in the ESL classes (the Director said he would watch the Year 12's for a couple periods while I did that), and I really enjoyed that. There is one girl from Spain, so maybe at some point I can practice my Spanish with her!
The faculty is really nice and most have been there for quite some time, but aren't Libyan. The teachers are from Palestine, Turkey, Ireland, Scotland, England, South Africa, Bangladesh, United States, and I know there are others that I can't remember now.
This post was originally going to be about more than just the school, but it' so long I will just give a brief overview and talk more about other things later. I have my first Arabic lesson today with an Egyptian teacher. I went to my first wedding last night (am slightly deaf now) and have another one tonight that I just found out about.
So far things are going well! :)
Hope you all are well!
Friday, October 1, 2010
We're in Libya now
20 some hours later and we made it! :)
For the most part, the 9 1/2 hour flight to Amsterdam went well, I watched 4 movies. The flight from Amsterdam to Tripoli was a lot shorter (4 hours), but was a lot harder to get through because I was soooo tired and couldn't sleep on the plane. I knew we were getting closer to Libya when a flight attendant was walking around the plane before take off with a "lost" toddler. The guy next to me said "we aren't even in a mall, imagine if we were in a mall, this is a small plane, how can he be lost?". After the lady walks through the whole plane asking if anyone knows who the boy belongs to, one guy says that the family hasn't gotten on the plane yet. A few minutes later the family walks on the plane and puts their stuff in the row next to us, they realize they are in seats farther back in the plane. They walk back and my dad and I realize they left their little baby girl behind. Eventually they came back for her. A few minutes after that there was an announcement that someone left their carry-on luggage at the front of the plane and needed to come pick it up before we could take off...it happened to be the same family again. Yep, we are almost in Libya :)
Upon landing the flight attendant announced that "Tripoli International Airport is a non-smoking airport", as we walk off I see people smoking everywhere. When we walked off the plane there were no signs indicating which direction we should walk in, so we chose one direction, then turned around and found a worker to ask which way to walk. We put our carry-on bags through security and then walked throught the metal detector, I didn't beep, but just about everyone else did and they didn't say anything (I don't think they even look at the monitor to see what's in the bags). We then went downstairs to baggage claim, we had to wait for bags from Dubai to come through first. My dad started to joke around about how the conveyor belt was probably going to break... and then it stopped. I thought maybe it was just paused for a little bit, but while laughing my dad announced that it was indeed broken because he could see a guy trying to fix it. It eventually started working again and we got ALL our bags (yes!). We then had to put all our bags through a conveyor belt security check (what is that called?). The guy told my dad that he needed to check what was inside the box we had (it was full of car parts that my dad was bringing a friend...it went through a very thorough check at PDX). My dad told him that "In America they checked it very thoroughly and he was bringing car parts for a friend because people buy cars from the U.S. and then don't have the parts to repair them. Really, it's just a big headache to go through". The guy said "ok, just take the box then". I don't think you can talk yourself out of a security check in the U.S.!
While waiting for our flight to Benghazi, a few friends came to visit us in the airport. A family friend came with his 2 daughters (they just moved back to Libya a year ago). They are about 10 and 11 years old and started giving me the scoop on life in Libya. One asked me if I drive, I said yes, but not in Libya. She said "but why? it is so easy, you can do whatever you want. in a driving test you can drive 300 km/hr, do what you want, and the teacher will say 'good job!'". I think I forgot how crazy the driving was until driving around last night and today. There are very different rules around here (e.g., if I honk and flash my lights at you that means don't merge in front of me; 2 lane roads can easily be made into 4 lanes; if the light is red it doesn't matter; seat belts don't work and if they do, no one uses them; carseats for babies? what is that?).
The first day here was good, I am still experiencing jet lag....it's 3am right now and I am wide-awake. It's frusterating not being able to communicate on my own, so I am looking forward to starting classes or getting a tutor. Tonight I was at my aunt's house and was walking around the yard with 3 cousins and the 2 sons of one of my cousins. They were all pointing to things and telling me the name in Arabic (all at the same time, so I had some information overload and don't remember anything...I need to remember to carry a notebook with me). I will be going to the British school in the next couple days to figure out what I am doing (I was really confused when my dad told me this because it's the weekend, but I forgot that Friday is the day off here and Saturday through Thursday there is school).
Oh, so remember how I said I bought a new planner for my trip (that my dad made fun of me for?) Well, he told some of my family about it today (in order to explain to them that I like to plan ahead), they thought it was SO funny and said "no, no, not in Libya....welcome to Libya!"
For the most part, the 9 1/2 hour flight to Amsterdam went well, I watched 4 movies. The flight from Amsterdam to Tripoli was a lot shorter (4 hours), but was a lot harder to get through because I was soooo tired and couldn't sleep on the plane. I knew we were getting closer to Libya when a flight attendant was walking around the plane before take off with a "lost" toddler. The guy next to me said "we aren't even in a mall, imagine if we were in a mall, this is a small plane, how can he be lost?". After the lady walks through the whole plane asking if anyone knows who the boy belongs to, one guy says that the family hasn't gotten on the plane yet. A few minutes later the family walks on the plane and puts their stuff in the row next to us, they realize they are in seats farther back in the plane. They walk back and my dad and I realize they left their little baby girl behind. Eventually they came back for her. A few minutes after that there was an announcement that someone left their carry-on luggage at the front of the plane and needed to come pick it up before we could take off...it happened to be the same family again. Yep, we are almost in Libya :)
Upon landing the flight attendant announced that "Tripoli International Airport is a non-smoking airport", as we walk off I see people smoking everywhere. When we walked off the plane there were no signs indicating which direction we should walk in, so we chose one direction, then turned around and found a worker to ask which way to walk. We put our carry-on bags through security and then walked throught the metal detector, I didn't beep, but just about everyone else did and they didn't say anything (I don't think they even look at the monitor to see what's in the bags). We then went downstairs to baggage claim, we had to wait for bags from Dubai to come through first. My dad started to joke around about how the conveyor belt was probably going to break... and then it stopped. I thought maybe it was just paused for a little bit, but while laughing my dad announced that it was indeed broken because he could see a guy trying to fix it. It eventually started working again and we got ALL our bags (yes!). We then had to put all our bags through a conveyor belt security check (what is that called?). The guy told my dad that he needed to check what was inside the box we had (it was full of car parts that my dad was bringing a friend...it went through a very thorough check at PDX). My dad told him that "In America they checked it very thoroughly and he was bringing car parts for a friend because people buy cars from the U.S. and then don't have the parts to repair them. Really, it's just a big headache to go through". The guy said "ok, just take the box then". I don't think you can talk yourself out of a security check in the U.S.!
While waiting for our flight to Benghazi, a few friends came to visit us in the airport. A family friend came with his 2 daughters (they just moved back to Libya a year ago). They are about 10 and 11 years old and started giving me the scoop on life in Libya. One asked me if I drive, I said yes, but not in Libya. She said "but why? it is so easy, you can do whatever you want. in a driving test you can drive 300 km/hr, do what you want, and the teacher will say 'good job!'". I think I forgot how crazy the driving was until driving around last night and today. There are very different rules around here (e.g., if I honk and flash my lights at you that means don't merge in front of me; 2 lane roads can easily be made into 4 lanes; if the light is red it doesn't matter; seat belts don't work and if they do, no one uses them; carseats for babies? what is that?).
The first day here was good, I am still experiencing jet lag....it's 3am right now and I am wide-awake. It's frusterating not being able to communicate on my own, so I am looking forward to starting classes or getting a tutor. Tonight I was at my aunt's house and was walking around the yard with 3 cousins and the 2 sons of one of my cousins. They were all pointing to things and telling me the name in Arabic (all at the same time, so I had some information overload and don't remember anything...I need to remember to carry a notebook with me). I will be going to the British school in the next couple days to figure out what I am doing (I was really confused when my dad told me this because it's the weekend, but I forgot that Friday is the day off here and Saturday through Thursday there is school).
Oh, so remember how I said I bought a new planner for my trip (that my dad made fun of me for?) Well, he told some of my family about it today (in order to explain to them that I like to plan ahead), they thought it was SO funny and said "no, no, not in Libya....welcome to Libya!"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
