Chapter 7
First Impressions
You know the scene in movies where the heroes walk next to each other in slow motion, wind blowing through their hair and profound
music playing in the background-much like the astronauts proceeding toward the
shuttle in the movie Armegeddon; kind of spelt out our entrance into the school
on our first morning. Except their was no music, no wind-it was hot as
hell-like 44 degrees Celsius, and of course we were only teachers. So, ya if
you really think about it, it wasn’t really like that. It would have been good
though-being celebrities again.
Although everybody was warm and friendly, the only thing
that captivated me was the way the school looked. If anything, the school
really wanted to test the theory of first
impressions. The first thing I noticed on entering was the huge free
standing Swiss clock, named ‘Ebel’, which welcomed us with open arms. Next was
the luscious greenery, looking like it needed a designer label attached to it.
The perfectly painted walls in ice, gave me the feeling that its purpose was to
cool down the immediate surrounding. And don’t get me started on the football pitch.
The impressive turf was not the conventional type. It was more like an indoor
pitch, but outside, made of a type of soft cement instead of grass, and it was
covered by arching banisters curling around the top, creating a roof-like
structure-standing guard against the sun. It gave me the feeling of the massive
half-human, half-animal bodyguards to the pharoahs. Maybe I’m just
exaggerating, but one thing is certain the school was beyond profligacy. It had
only struck me then, we were part of an
upmarket institution that pervaded extravagence. This I came to discover even
more, after meeting its clientele.
The school, which if you roughly translate its Arabic
name, means ‘Gateway to Interlectual Development,' was shaped like a huge star
and was probably visible from space. This in itself as a design concept was a
far cry from the norm back in 1980 when it was built. It was definitely ahead
of its time considering what Jeddah looked like back then. It was also the
first exclusive playground for the elite minority. Even though the school is
that old, it still, even today, has that contemporary asthetic appeal. The
vision behind its design was simply brilliant.
The director-general of the school, I called him AK, held a meeting with us in the
conference room. His second in charge, who Nizam aptly named Dr. Nose, gave us
another speech as an extension of what Sean had already given us the night
before. After listening to them about the status of the school and the
importance of the student body, we proceded on a short tour. It was all about
orientation that day. The estate was divided into two schools, the elementary
and high school, all of which had various departments, equiped with all the
resources one could only dream about back home. I will go into the details of
these departments later as I encounter them. One thing I really want to say is
that the school has its own restaurant. They serve breakfast and lunch, and of
course teachers get a 50% discount. Anyone who knows about me and food, will
know this definitely puts a smile on my face. I can just see how some readers
are already laughing at this statement.
We were then allocated to our different departments. I
was placed in the elementary section, grades 1, 2 & 3. I didn’t mind at
all, the content was easy and I could probably adapt to six year olds quickly-I
mean how hard could it be? They’re only babies, aren’t they? Was I in for a surprise!
Patrick Dogan was a very meticulous yet fair person. He
was fair, slender and had a slight feminine demeanor about him. He had typical
Irish features minus the femine part. If anything he’ll probably kill me for
even thinking this about him. He was my immediate manager-the one who was going
to show me everything there’s to know about ‘The
School.’ He was excellent at his job
with at least ten years experience in this particular section at this
particular place.
Administration called a meeting in the library at 1pm
that Thursday. It was actually a fully fledged library, not just a room filled
with a few shelves and books. Teachers from both schools, were present. I
didn’t know the number exactly, but it looked like we were a total staff
complement of about 80. Rows of chairs were packed neatly next to each other
resembling a scene from a 1980s home cinema, where movies were played on a 16mm
projector. AK started the normal
Thursday progression with prayers and stories of the Prophet, giving us the the
feeling that it was actually the mandatory Friday sermon. Next, Dr. Nose
welcomed us to the rest of the school, letting them know briefly about our
purpose there.
Then something strange happened that made ‘The Team’ look at each other with
extreme skeptism. Our thoughts to each other was as clear as daylight, ‘What the hell!’ Teachers were
complaining and venting about unpaid salaries. Apparently teachers never got
paid vacation money from the year before, and what was even more scary was that
some teachers didn’t even get paid two months prior to that. It seemed that the
local teachers were worse off than the rest of the faculty. How could this be? This was the playground for the rich and famous,
wasn’t it? Is this what they thought
of teachers? Little did we know that the school was in extreme financial
trouble, but I’ll get to that much later.
After the meeting, the driver was instructed to take us
to a local photographic studio. We needed twenty passport photos for all the
forms and protocols needed to make us leagal residents.
After the long and tedious process of each of us having
to pose and look our best for the camera, we went to a local supermarket. I, of
course needed industrial strength detergents as I had one hell of job waiting
for me back home.
Chapter 8
....to be continued....
Chapter 8
....to be continued....
