February  has been a big month in the desert.  First off, I paid off one of my credit cards!  This is my first step closer to financial freedom.  I’ve also completed my second open class at the college!   All new hires at my college undergo a year long probationary period. They have to conduct two open classes, teaching under the scrutinizing eyes of the school’s Associate Dean or Language Chair.  Overall I feel like the lesson went really well.  I had three students show up.  And one of them was actually on time! Another was ten minutes late which is pretty good.  And the final student was only an hour late which is his standard.  However the class still went smoothly and my unofficial feedback was glowing.  My observer (the School’s Language Chair)  overall liked the lesson content as well as the student/teacher interaction and my classroom management.    In a week or two we’ll have an official post-observation meeting and I’ll get a report on my performance.  Officially the probationary period is up at the end of June, but unofficially, if the meeting goes well then everything’s good.

Overall my adjustment to life in the Middle East has been pretty good.  I still suffer from varying degrees of what I like to refer to as ‘institutional culture shock’ from time to time.  Outside the classroom life is pretty normal.  However as I’ve said in the past there’s WAY more administration here than what I am used to and also the students in the Gulf are vastly different from what my previous teaching experience. In the end though, I think this experience is making me a better person.  At the very least it’s making me more patient and evening out my temper.

In other news…

Happy Valentines day to the Kat!  Wish you were here babe! I’d take you out for some world class food and Karak, Then we could go for a nice walk under the desert sun.