Darren's First Jordan Post

Well, I think the dust is finally settling from our whirlwind start. Arriving in Amman on Friday evening and starting work on Sunday morning was…fun. Oh, and grade 12 started a week early, so on Tuesday (that’s right, the 3rd day) I had to teach my first class! As for classes, originally I had grade 8 World Religions, grade 9 World Religions, grade 10 World Religions, grade 11 World Religions (x3), grade 12 World Religions (x2), grade 8 Social Studies, grade 9 World History, and grade 10 World History (x3). But the guy in charge of scheduling thought that was a little heavy, especially for a new teacher, so he gave my grade 12 classes to someone else. This, of course, is not a daily schedule, but spread over a 2-week "cycle" in which I teach 32 classes. Needless to say, I stay pretty busy!

In my office 

I’m still getting used to the "cycles" and everything else that goes along with the International Baccalaureate Program. Also, the school is struggling to migrate to a new record-keeping platform, so we've had trouble with class schedules, room assignments, class lists, and submitting attendance. In the last month, my schedule has been changed 3 times, I don't have my own room but float for every class, I just got the list of students in my grade 11 classes (although I was warned that they may not be up-to-date), and the other day was the first day I could submit attendance for my middle school classes electronically. Stress level slow and steady…

Lest I sound like a big, fat whiner, it's not all bad, by any means: the people here are as nice as we remember, the food is fabulous, and I like the classes I'm teaching. I just try to keep up with everything and not stress out too much. It will all fall into place with time, I'm sure.

Downtown Amman

Other than work, we’ve not done too much. The first break is coming up soon for the Eid al’Adha and we are heading to Rome! The FOT starts during the break, so were are extending our trip and staying in Saboudia for that. Once we get our residency cards we can do some more travel inside Jordan.