One of the hardest things in the morning, after being on vacation for almost three months, is getting up early. But it is even harder to get up at 5.30 in the morning because the schoolbus is leaving at 6.30, while according to your inner rythm it is 4.30 in the morning when you have to get up.
With these thoughts in my head, I somehow managed to get up, put on my abaya over my clothes for school which I now get to chose on my own and leave the house to go to the bus stop of my compound.
There are a couple of international schools here in Riyadh. There is the American International School, the British School, a French and a German school (going only till grade 10 though). Also, some other ones like a philipino school or the Indian International School, but the first four mentioned above are the most popular ones.
As I got on the bus, I realized that I was the only “grown up” on this compound that was attending the American school because all the other kids on the van were somewhat between grade 1 and 7. It seems like all the other parents send their children to the British School but for me it doesn’t make a huge difference really.
Getting anywhere takes its time here. Especially if there was a car accident involving three vehicles, like it was the case yesterday but surpsisingly, we made it to school even 15 minues before classes started .
My new school is very capacious, consisting of several buildings. I have spent ages yesterday, trying to find my IB Spanish classroom. At some point I already thought I would not make it there at all, when a very nice girl showed me the correct building, where all the language classes are located. The great thing about my Spanish class is that, aside from being a rather small class, my teacher is a native speaker of Spanish.
The classes also have very good equipment. Students may bring in their laptops, as there is internet access for research in class, etc. There are also less whiteboards and more electronic touch screen boards, like in my IB math class. The school has also a moodle platform where every course has its own website with all information and material on it.
After math and Spanish I had P.E. class. I was just dealing with this type of lock for my locker, that I saw for the first time in my life yesterday,
when I received the same kind of lock for my P.E. locker. I have been struggling with it for a good time but by now I am way better at it.
Even though I am not much of a fan of doing athletics for a grade, the program at my new school is quite satisfying. We have plenty of fitness equipment and now all we do in class is make use of those after we have created our own fitness plan. My school also has its own sports uniform that I am supposed to purchase. It looks pretty cool actually. I will be posting a picture of it once I have it.
My last 85 minute class of the day (yes, we have 85 instead of 45 minutes of class) was advanced acting. I feel like this is going to be my favorite class of all. While my math teacher is Australian (I suppose) and my Spanish teacher Spanish, my acting teacher is from South Africa. I find it pretty exciting how this school is really an international school with people from all over the world.
Anyways, so my acting class is a really fun and relaxing class. We were presenting monologues or at least all the others except for me because yesterday was my first day. Some kids in my class are really great actors. I am really looking forward to next time when it is my time to present a monologue. But I better find one first I guess.
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