One month today!

Lebanese Lira; pretty money!

It's been one month since I arrived in Beirut.  It's been a long month.  We don't get our first paycheck until the end of September.  Thank goodness South Whidbey School District paid me August 31st.  It's easy to get cash from the ATM using a debit card.  My last $200 withdrawal cost me $4 from US Bank.  I also use a VISA card from the Credit Union that charges only 1% on all purchases; best I could find.  So, I'm doing okay.  Getting used to the money system.  My earlier conversion formula from LL (Leb. lira) into dollars is greatly simplified.  If an avocado costs 3,000LL, that translates into $2.  If a meal costs 24,000 LL, that is the same as $16.  Take the 3 zeros off of 24,000, so 24.  Think 2/3 of 24, and that's 16, the cost in USD.  The other way around?  Something costs $8 American, that's 12,000 LL.  Easy!  Vendors accept dollars as readily as they accept lira.  There is some loss when using dollars, as everything doesn't cleanly convert into thirds. But in every way so far, Beirut is a very American friendly place.

Did I ever mention in this blog that my classroom has a view?  Here it is... Oh My Gosh!

If it weren't for traffic noise, I believe I could hear the waters washing up onto the rocky Corniche!  As it is, I can see the waves; incredibly nice. This is the view from my 4th story classroom.  We have an intercom to the office; no phone.  I have a key to my classroom.  There are guards posted at the outer perimeter gates, 24/7, who wave us onto campus.

Kids have a 20-minute morning snack at 10:00.  They have a 20minute lunch at 1:20pm.  Both meals are eaten in class with teachers.  In order to have time to eat, the food is delivered to our classrooms, both the snack and later the lunch, by an army of cafeteria workers.  They climb the stairs with the trays, bottled water, and paper bags.  It's an amazing system.  As soon as my school day ends, 3 people are in my room.  One is running the feather duster over all the surfaces.  Another follows her with a wet cloth, to wipe down all the surface, and scrub out the sink.  A third vacuums rugs.  Meanwhile, the first woman finishes up by dust mopping of all tiled floor surfaces.  Boggling, but great!

I start at 7:30 a.m. in my classroom.  Kids arrive early, but are sent up to the rooftop for recess.  At 7:50 they are released to come to class.  I greet them at the door; engrained from SWES.  We start class at 8 a.m.  School goes until 3:20.  You teachers know this is an extra hour of school!  Well, the kids have an hour of Arabic every day.  This becomes plan and team time.  We are on a 6-day revolving cycle.  In other words, every 6 days they have ART twice, French 3X, PE 3X, Music 2X, Computer class once, and Library once.  I also have 3 lunch recess duties, one a day for 3 consecutive days. "%$*&$%!!!"  and that's all I have to say about that. We watch 63 4th graders on the roof.  It's as big as two basketball courts in size... surrounded by chain link fencing to keep kids and equipment on the roof.  This amounts to one soccer game, one tetherball game, 4 basketball hoops, and two mats that readers and small groups can sit on.  There's a climbing wall, but the mats are so hard to hang up, that we prefer not to pull them down, so wall climbing is out.  There's also a pull up bar.  Kids line up for all these activities.  It is close quarters.  I dream of our giant fields of grass back home... all that space for 4-square, tetherball, cover areas for basketball... the climbing toys.  Oh well.  These kids don't know what they're missing.  Chin up Ms. Carolyn!