Mosaics

Welp, another two days under my belt. The 4^th and 5^th graders yesterday were great, as expected. The kindergartners today were somewhat better. For the first 2 hours I was left alone again with 31 five year olds, but this time I was better prepared and the chaos levels were slightly lower. Our relationship with the principal and other teachers has gotten even worse though. Before classes started, I told Ms. Nabila that I could not be alone with the kids. It wasn’t fair to them. Finally she gave in and said, “Ok, I will go with you.” She went with me to the classroom and then 2 minutes later she left. After I had been with the class for a few hours, another teacher finally walked in so I could have a 10 minute break and she got really mad at me. She even started yelling. She said that I was supposed to teach the kids things, and not just play games with them, as she had walked in when we were all singing a song together. I showed her the worksheets they had done and tried to explain all the things I had taught them, but she was still mad. The nice thing about being in a culture that shows emotion is that you can too. I told her I was doing the best that I could and that she wasn’t being fair and that I wasn’t supposed to be alone with them in the first place. And I walked out for my break.

So I went to where a few other Arabic teachers were sitting and sat down. I asked the lady next to me where the cups were to get a drink of water and she said “I don’t know” and then got up and left to go sit by other Arabic teachers. What the heck??

Then Ms. Nabila found me and told me that they needed me to teach another class the same English lessons I had taught first thing in the morning. So I had another few hours with a new class, once again all by myself. Thank goodness in this class there were only about 15 kids. I have learned a few phrases now, like “Can I go to the bathroom?” and “I want my mom” and “now” so when I heard them, I could try to respond, but it was still crazy and exhausting.

I am so frustrated with the staff at that school. We tried in passing to talk to one of the supervisors there and all he said was “You are not volunteers here. You get paid for this.” But we are not doing what we had previously agreed to before coming here, and there is no reason to be unkind.

I can see their side of the matter. It is a brand new school, they are understaffed and are just trying to get things organized and running. But they blatantly lie to our faces and they won’t admit any of the problems that we are having. Rather, they are treating us like we’re the problem.

I talked to my actual boss (none of the staff at the school are my boss) and he seemed to agree with me. He apologized a few times and told me he didn’t know it was going to be like that. That is true for everyone involved since the kindergarten school is brand new. He assigned my 4^th and 5^th grade classes to another teacher and told me that we would have another meeting to discuss additional pay for the additional hours. That is nice, I guess, but it still doesn’t solve the problems with the administration there.

Whatever. I’m here to have an adventure and enjoy myself. If it doesn’t get any better, or they still insist that I move into the school’s basement, I’ll quit, and not even feel bad about it. But I’m going to try and enjoy my time outside of teaching and leave all the problems there.

Yesterday we went to the Visitor’s Center of Madaba and learned more about the city and what there is to see and do here. First thing on the list was the archaeological museum here, just a two minute walk from where we are living. We saw some amazing mosaics and old buildings, most of them about 2,000 years old!

This is the mosque that is just a few blocks from where we live. The calls to prayer come from here and are really loud. Sometimes, right after the calls to prayer start, the Orthodox church starts playing their bells at the same time. Very loud competitions of religious noises.

The courtyard in the archaeology museum. Inside each archway are more ancient mosaics.

A huge Greek mosaic that covers the floor of a room. They said the original piece contained hundreds of thousands of pieces.

A view further back of the same Greek mosaic.

A Roman road built around the time of Christ. We walked down it and wondered what other people did all those years ago. 

An ancient church. This room and floor mosaic are all that are left. We weren't allowed in any further.

The most green I have seen in Jordan so far. This was a garden outside of the Visitor Center.