One Month in the Desert

I’ve now just passed the one month mark in the middle east. Here’s the month in review.

Jack Layton…

I had just gone through security at the airport when K told me the news. I had enormous respect for Jack Layton, none of our leaders are perfect, but his vision of Canada most closely mirrored my own. I vaguely recall the first time I saw Jack Layton. Not in person, but on the news, CTV to be specific. While I don’t remember what he said, what I do remember is how his words spoke to me. Over the weeks, months and years as I continued to follow politics I enjoyed watching Mr. Layton at work. Had he not passed away I believe he would have been Prime Minister, and yes I believe we would have been a better country for it. I read his final letter to Canadians with a heavy heart. Whether various attack dogs try to discredit the letter, passing it off as an exercise in vanity, Mr. Layton’s very last words were brilliant, and touching. Those words are a reminder of those intangible things that make us Canadian.

College Life…

I arrived in Qatar at 5:00AM. The school put all of the new teachers in a beautiful hotel for the first few days. The weather is scorching hot, but not unbearable as I had expected. We attended an orientation during our first week that was meant to introduce us to the college and culture of the region. In some ways this was a success, but once the orientation was over I quickly realized there was a lot of fluff and wasted time. What matters is the classes I’m teaching, and sadly that wasn’t really dealt with at all, just a lot of broad talk. When it comes to my classes, I’m still learning on a day-by-day basis as I go exactly what to expect and what I should be doing. This is in addition to taking the usual round of blood tests, and x-rays to verify that I’m not just another diseased English teacher. To coin a phrase used back in Korea:

‘Qatar is dynamic’

That being said, I’m fortunate to work with a lot of passionate people who’ve been helping me and the other new teachers get adjusted to our new academic lives of meetings and committees and forms and, oh yeah, teaching. So far the classes seem to be going well, I only have a few students, in a coed class. Students here are hardly as motivated as the ones I dealt with in Korea. And it’s surreal to see the teachers all taking the bus to school while their pupils drive by in Land-rovers and other 4WDs. College life is hectic and exhausting but at the same time it’s exciting. Hopefully as things settle down in the coming weeks and months I’ll be able to go out and do some exploring, I can’t wait to see the desert!