Walk a day in my shoes

Keep in mind, as we are going through my day that today was the first day I didn’t wear flats. Rather I thought my heavier black pants and up to the knee boots would keep me warm in this cold Kuwaiti winter.

4:50 AM: First alarm goes off. Sets alarm for 4:54 (again with my timing, 4:55 makes me feel too rushed and 4:52 is just too little)

4:54 AM: Rolls out of bed and stumbles into the kitchen. De-shells a hardboiled egg, drinks some water, decides against making porridge (mind you the brown rice and barley are already cooked but at this early in the morning adding oats to the grains with some water in a pot seemed like too much work). Makes a protein shake instead.

5:10 AM: Goes into the bathroom to do wudu and get ready for tahujjud.

5:20 AM: Athan goes off next door, prays fajr. Plops back into bed.

6:02 AM: Alarm number two (three if you count my 4 minute snooze) goes off. Roll over and shut it off, drag myself out of bed wondering if I dosed off in the thirty minutes after fajr. Turns off alarm number three that will go off in another five minutes.Get dressed (outfit was already picked out), checks bag to make sure I’m not missing anything, puts on black pants which is the first time in about a month of wearing pants to school since my long skirt shopping spree back in late October. Heads out the door.

6:28 AM: First one to board our mini teacher “bus” aka van. Studies note cards on the way to school and chimes in sporadically to the conversation going on between the three other teachers on the bus.

6:45 AM: Arrive at school. Decides against going to the mailroom and instead heads up to my classroom to see if my heater was turned on.

6:47 AM: Smiles because my maid Ms. Chandra is wonderful and turned on the heater. I turn on the computer, open my school email as well as gmail to check both accounts.

6:55 AM: Visit from administration to go over a parent meeting and update me with current student status.

7:00 AM: Fill out math meeting board – problem of the day, pattern and so on. Forget to change January 5, 2009 to January 6, 2009 on the front whiteboard. Write the morning work assignment on the board.

7:10 AM: Sit down at my desk to write a thank you card for one of my co-workers. Chat with Ms. Rana and tidy up my desk.

7:20 AM: Bell rings. Prop door open to greet my students. Ask about their evenings and mornings. Remind them what they need to bring to class.

7:25 AM: Second bell rings. Remind students that they should be in their seats and starting their morning work. Go around passing out stickers for students on task. Am reminded that today is January 6, 2009 and not January 5, 2009.

7:40 AM: Get started with math meeting. Call on students, hand out positive reinforcement left and right like it’s my job… oh wait.

8:00 AM: Pass out individual whiteboards and markers for a math review activity game.

8:20 AM: Bell rings. Students go to Arabic. I sit and enjoy the quiet classroom. Respond to several school emails. Go through my TBD list on my desk. Smile while crossing out each accomplished task.

9:01 AM: Bell rings. Students have PE. I continue on my TBD list and watch the clock so I’m not late picking my students up (unfortunately and I figured out the reason why a few hours later, I’ve been late getting them). I leave my classroom 4 minutes early so I’m not late. Bell rings when I’m half way to the gym. I run through the hall. See one of my students arguing with the PE teacher and give a mini lecture about how we need to be respectful to all adults.

9:41 AM: Break. Grab my coat and walk my students outside to the playground. Go around looking at their lunches, adding to the very interesting conversations that go on between 9-10 year old boys.

10:02 AM: Bell rings. We have Occupational therapy. I sit at the table and supervise a small group. Demonstrate how to write the “tricky” letters in cursive on the board. Watch as a cat walks past the door, going down the hallway inside our school. Leave the class 5 minutes early to go up to the room and tidy up.

10:45 AM: Am supposed to be teaching Science. Instead we celebrate one student’s birthday. While waiting for the food to arrive, I entertain the students with some spelling review. The food arrives, enough to feed the entire elementary school. We sing Happy Birthday. I pass out cake and pastries and set some aside for my iftar.
11:28 AM: Have students continue working on spelling. Get a compliment about how one student really likes the Spelling packet I put together.

12:08 PM aka Lunch: Pray zuhr, walk to the library to get the projector. Forget about a farewell luncheon for one of the FSIS staff members in the staff lounge until Ms. Rana asks where I was.

12:36 PM: Bell rings. I pick up my students from the playground, supervise as they get their Islamic studies books and send them on their way. Spend the next 40 minutes in a parent teacher meeting going over progress and behaviors of concerns.

1:16 PM - Last period: Struggle with the projector. Finally get it to work. Go through the questions and answers to a reading guide I created for the story Horrible Harry and the Ant Invasion. Am asked “where do you want to die?” Don’t know how to respond. Lose track of time and have to rush through showing my pictures of my break in Connecticut. Get my students packed up and ready for home and send them out the door.

2:05 PM: Clean up my classroom. Wipe down the whiteboard and math meeting board, change the order of our line for tomorrow and the class schedule, condense the leftover food from the celebration into two boxes and walk around to the elementary teachers to share. Condense again, wheel the projector to the library and leave the leftovers. Realize the wall clock in my classroom is 5 minutes slow. Check my email once more, turn off computer, turn off heater. Call my taxi to remind him to pick me up at 3:45 at my apartment. Turn off the lights. Lock the door.

2:45 PM: Pray asr in the school prayer room.

2:57 PM: Am the second one to board our mini teacher “bus” aka van. Studies note cards on the way to school and chimes in sporadically to the conversation going on between the three other teachers on the bus.

3:15 PM: Get to my apartment. Set my bag down, take out the things I won’t need for the afternoon. Make a snack to bring to tutoring – humus and a cucumber. Put away the extra food I brought home in the freezer and the fridge. Brush my teeth. Sit down for five minutes to check my sister’s blog. Get a missed call on my cell phone, taxi is waiting outside.

3:45 PM: Get in the taxi and stare out the window. Watch a car try to bypass a traffic jam by taking his SUV over a curb and driving down the sidewalk area. See a sign that says “Speeding: the short way to death or prison”. See another one that says, “Speeding can lead to death”. Peak over at the speedometer of the taxi.

4:02 PM: Let myself in through the front gate, notice the family I tutor has a swimming pool on a lower level of their front lawn area. Let myself in through the front door, find a maid and ask her to get the boys.

4:10 PM: Get settled and start helping the older boy write a fictional story about soccer players in Spain. Explain why Spain should be written with a capital S and how a capital S is the same thing as a big S and that a lowercase s is the same as a small s.

4:20 PM: Am brought a plate with three juice boxes and two grilled cheese sandwiches (again, on white bread). I thank the maid and put it to the side for when I break my fast.

4:55 PM: The oldest boy brings me some dessert his mom just made and asks me to try it. I explain that I’m fasting and will eat it in 10 minutes when I break my fast. He runs to tell his mom I’m fasting. She comes in and asks if I would like some dates and lebnen (yogurt drink) to break my fast with. I thank her and say yes.

4:59 PM: Maid brings in the dates, water and lebnen.

5:05 PM: Athan goes off down the street, I chow down on the dates. Try the dessert and eat the grilled cheese sandwich. Am brought a prayer rug and prayer clothes (one big piece of material with space to cover my head, except my face) and am pointed in the correct direction. I give the youngest boy directions to complete his math homework and pray maghrib.

5:25 PM: Call my taxi and ask to be picked up 15 minutes later than our original time. Work on science homework with the youngest and praise the oldest one for being so creative on his Arabic project.

5:50 PM: Read with the oldest child from a Scooby Doo book. Gather my belongings, make plans to see them the following day.

6:15 PM: Missed call, taxi is waiting. Head outside. Get in the taxi and give the address for the AWARE center.

6:30 PM: Arrive at the AWARE center, sit down in the lobby and open to a random page in the middle of Twilight, the book I finished while traveling to Kuwait. Catch myself smiling and getting giddy while reading. Feel silly. Text Marisol to see where she is.

6:55 PM: Marisol arrives, we make our way downstairs to the lecture area and catch up on school stuff.

7:15 PM: Lecture about Kuwaiti Marriages. Learn about how marriages have changed in Kuwaiti culture from the past to the present. Found out that if a Kuwaiti marries another Kuwaiti the government gives them a 4,000 KD (16,00 USD) wedding gift and will help them with rent if they need assistance.

8:35 PM: Lecture and discussion is over. Marisol calls her taxi company, we stand and chit chat with a woman from South Africa until she gets a missed call. Taxi is waiting.

8:38 PM: Get in the taxi. Taxi driver remembers the name of my street while I struggle to get it off the tip of my tongue.

8:50 PM: Get to my apartment. Finally, take off my boots! (No no, this post doesn’t stop here.. but we’re almost done) Change out of my work clothes. Repack my bag for tomorrow. Grab some water, eat my humus and cucumber. Sit on my bed, going through various websites and articles while I snack.

9:15 PM: Brush my teeth, do wudu, get ready for bed.

9:20 PM: Remember I brought cake home that is sitting on my counter. Wonder if it’s worth brushing my teeth again just for a little taste.

9:23 PM: Brush my teeth again. Get ready to pray isha and witr.

10 PM: Climb into bed. Wonder if I have anything interesting enough to write a post about. Wonder what I should wear tomorrow. Ask myself, do I really want to spend another 12 hours in those shoes? Think of the quote, “You don’t know unless you’ve walked a mile in someone’s shoes”. Wonder how many miles I walked today. Come up with this (not so) brilliant idea for this post. Spend the next 43 minutes writing, all the while wondering how many people I lost throughout the way. (By the way, I’m interested if anyone managed to make it to the end, leave me a comment and let me know).

10:44 PM: Decide to stop typing. Wonder why I didn’t just go to bed at 10.

11:09 PM: Finish editing this post. Know that my sister, the English and creative writing major will immediately pick up on all my mistakes.

Decide to stop typing.

Wonder why I didn’t just go to bed at 10.