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!