Qatar – the country in search of a u¹

pronounced cutter as in wood cutter

Halleluja!!!! Alan and I will be working next year at a progressive and innovative K – 12 school in Doha, Qatar. We found the school the 21^st century way. We were using online sites to find out positions that were available worldwide. One link would lead us to another site, that would lead us to a school-site, that would lead us to a new country, so we would look at other schools. In other words, hours and hours later, we were still reading. Not a bad thing, we learned a lot. During the search, we ran across the phrase “State Department” school. We knew there were DOD and embassy schools, but we had no idea that the State Department was running schools. More investigation – they’re not. They are, however, endorsing certain schools. When looking at their list, we saw that the “A List” schools that we had heard about were also on this list. We didn’t know many though, so we started checking out the State Department’s list. Gold mine! So, we sent off cover letters and resumes at the beginning of December and then waited.

We had a nibble or two. For a moment, we were interested in a great school in Muscat, Oman. Alan was vying for a technology position and I a fifth grade. One way or another, we were not offered the jobs. We decided to ask why. Being new to this world, we wrote back asked if we were doing something or presenting something wrong. They replied nicely and said no, they actually liked us, they just had candidates with more international experience, and they would keep us in mind if other positions opened up.

At the beginning of last week, email chatter started picking up. Our resumes were being sent to appropriate principals, etc. About Sunday, we receive THE EMAIL from American School of Doha. One principal liked my resume, sending Alan’s on to the middle school. Next day, are you available for a skype interview? Three nights in a row (and sometimes one of us on skype and one on the phone) we were interviewed by 3 different principals and the director of the school. Meantime, we’ve visited their website and checked out Youtube videos. We wanted this job. Luckily, the feeling was mutual. Wednesday, we received job offers with the salary package!!!!

Although we know other schools are looking at our resumes, Alan and I agreed that we wanted to pick a school first and the country second (to a point – no cold countries). ASD offers everything we want. We will be working hard, but it sounds rewarding. Fourth through 12^th grade are starting 1 – 1 ratio with computers. This will be something completely new for me. However, I know the teachers are expected to work together and support each other. Should be exciting. I think the collaboration and building of curriculum will be a lot like what happened at Shearer and River School but on steroids. Can’t wait after this year.

Qatar – yes another little rich Arab country. For those of us in the know, these are GCCs - not the Middle East. That would be Gulf Coast Cooperative. My figuring, GCCs have oil. So sorry Jordan, Lebanon… It does set them apart. We’ve learned the Arab countries band together at times, but don’t really like each other that much. Kuwait really isn’t liked – too proud/stuck up – based only on having new money.

Back to Qatar – Qatar is trying to straddle the line between both worlds. They are definitely a muslim country but they accept that other religions exist. They are inviting tourism, but are trying to avoid Dubai’s mistakes, so moving much slower. Supposedly, this world economic crisis has barely touched Qatar. The Emir wants the country to have the best educational advantages in the world and has poured money into the Qatar Foundation. QF is an astounding array of schools, universities, and resources available to the public. Not sure how it all works, but I’m sure we’ll learn a lot more. We have signed a two-year contract, but hope that we might settle down for a few more years.

School ends in Kuwait around mid June. We’ll come back home for about six weeks. We’ll visit family and friends and plough through our teaching boxes. We have a generous shipping allowance, so we will send our “good stuff” off to Doha. (One of the hardships this year was not having the right things beyond a textbook with which to teach.) We are due to ASD Aug. 1, but we have a full week off at the end of September, another in November, and 3 weeks for Christmas. (SPAIN or TURKEY – ahh choices!)

Now, back to report cards. Luckily, we’re leaving on good terms so finishing out this year will be fine.

Hope everything is well with all!

1. credit to Jay