Camels in the desert

Friday 30 November

My first placement in Riyadh is galloping to a close.  I can't believe we have been here since September.  Time has been spent on trying to prioritise the work, identify the major strategies, planning and delivering professional learning and working with teachers in their classrooms.  Every aspect of our work has been well received and this provides the incentive to keep working hard at developing the best path forward.  (Gosh - sound like a business management text).

This is not to ignore the fun we have on almost a daily occurrence.  We travelled to Al Khobar last week for a 2 day workshop with the 11 principals.  This annual Retreat has been a regular feature on the calendar for the school over the past few years, but has only been accessible for the male principals. This is due to the cultural consideration that women are generally not permitted to travel without a male relative.  Therefore the previous leadership determined that this would be too difficult to organise, and the women were omitted.  Ron initially thought that the women could have a 2 day event in Riyadh coming in each day for the workshops.  After some consideration and discussion with his deputy (Mr Abdulrahman) they decided to open it for the women.  Abdulrahman meet with the women and outlined the proposal and then asked them individually if they would attend. They could bring a male relative if they chose.  All attended, with 2-3 bringing sons with them, who we never saw and presume staying in the room playing video games or watching pay tv.  The women travelled by plane, the men drove themselves and we travelled by large 4 wheel drives in a convoy!!!  So I have seen the desert - not the Empty Quarter, but the desert no less.  The highway was 4 land (each way) all the way to the coast and the drivers generally sat between 140 - 150km, and they weren't the fastest on the road.  We think the speed limit is 120km.

This trip provided us with our first sight of camels.  We had the driver laughing as we would get so excited in seeing more camels of differing hues: brown, camel(!), cream and almost black.  We saw baby camels, camels in large herds, camels with herdsman and camels at the camel markets.  Ron has proposed that we buy a camel and have it agisted (spelling?) and on occasions head out to visit it and have afternoon tea in the desert.  It is not unusual for families in the city to head to the desert and set up a tent, light a fire and cook and prepare coffee and spend the time enjoying the desert (and maybe their camel(s)).

The work in Al Khobar included a morning visit to a school - which was wonderful and provided all of us with much to consider for application back in Riyadh - and a visit to SciTech.  This was like Science Works - with equal number of activities that don't work - but it also included an iMax cinema.  This was the first time I have ever been to an iMax cinema anywhere.  Not only was it wonderful to sit in a theatre in this Kingdom where cinemas have been banned since the mid 1970s, but the film we saw was absolutely brilliant.  It was called Arabia made in association with the National Geographic and narrated by Helen Miren.  It presented the 2 past golden ages of the Middle East and posed that we could be entered the 3rd great age if the opportunities of education are realised and the oil money invested to build a strong educated society.  If you get the chance to buy (online), hire or see this - do so.  We are so ignorant of the past achievements of this part of the world and the beginning of Islam.  So much miss information is presented in the media that the picture of the middle east is of a backward, women hating, west hating society.  Whilst there are those types about - that is not the reality, nor the reality of Islam.  Islam has been highjacked by some mad people, just like the fundamentalist of any religion highjack the central tenants of the faith.  Believe it or not, many people here are terrified of the west, believing that they will be persecuted, attacked or shot if they travelled there.  We seem to be always scared of what we don't know or understand.

Well enough standing on the soap-box.  Home in 2 weeks for a 5 week summer break before back here and hard at it again.  Looking forward to seeing you and sharing a drink - something that we don't have past non alcoholic beer (that comes in many flavours: apple, peach, pomegranate, pineapple, etc!)

The Desert.  We were heading across to Al Khobar which is on the east coast just next to Bahrain

The trip back a couple of days later was very different.  It was wet!  Camels in the desert.

Proof that it rains in Saudi Arabia

Friday 9 November
Finally another update from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia!

Since I last prepared a post the Team has run a 2 day workshop for Principals and Vice Principals at the school and a second 2 day workshop for the Supervisors.  The Supervisors are really the ones who work in the classrooms with the teachers.  They are soon to be known as Instructional Leaders.  The added complication of holding workshops apart from the language - that requires a 'sometime' interpreter' is that a screen has to be erected between the male participants and the female participants.  As presenters, we moved between the two sections and they could see the presentation on overhead screens, but the women stayed veiled throughout.  Additionally a record of the workshop was taken but only filmed on the 'mens side' as the women can't be photographed.  I had to argue the day before for a separate room for the women to eat lunch - or else they would have had to eat their lunch discretely lifting their veil to eat.  They were grateful for the lunch room as it allowed them to take off the veils and chat and eat in comfort.  Importantly the content was received well.  It was complex and much completely new - the Sergiovanni Leadership model, performance plans that aren't punitive as is the current practice, feedback and professional conversations that don't led to teacher evaluation and determine the next contract.

Following the 2 days (which included one day of the holiday) we had a day with Boston Consulting Group - who have instigated the work here in the school and identified 31 major pieces of work from HR to student assessment schedules.  We each have a project around this report to lead and commence the implementation in the school.   The purpose of this day was to present the progress on our projects and outline the work that is planned over the next 3 months.

Then we were on holidays.  This was the Eid holiday when people across the whole of the Middle East travel home to celebrate the time with family.  This is also the time when Muslims from across the world travel to Mecca to undertake the Hajj.  As non-Muslims were are not permitted to travel to Mecca even outside of major religious periods.

Most of the Team headed off to neighbouring countries to relax and see what the region has to offer.  I went to Oman and stayed with an old friend who has been living and working in Muscat for 5 years.  Liza has been working at Sultan Qaboos University for the Language Centre where she works with the students to improve their academic English.  English is the language of teaching at the university.  Liza certainly showed me the wonderful sites in and around Muscat.

Muscat 

The Sultan's Palace & old Fort

One of the highlights was visiting the beautiful Sultan Qaboos Mosque. The size was enormous and though built in the last 10 years (opened in 2005) the building was graceful and the art was stunning.  Set in gorgeous gardens with the smell of frangipani, the whole area had a sense of calmness.  We also visited nearby wadis, towns, beaches and ancient buildings (generally forts).  Great time and very relaxing - as well as a place where I had my first beer in 5 weeks!

Inside the Grand Mosque

Cloisters adjacent to the courtyards

 The inside of the Mosque is truly huge - rivals the Blue Mosque in Istanbul.  The carpet is made as one piece!  The patterns are stunning throughout and the carpet is just mind blowing.  In recent years they had a hurricane and the protection of the carpet was the 1st priority.

It seems that the Sultan is quite the modern progressive ruler.  He is the son of the previous Sultan who kept Oman in the past.  However he did send his son to England to study from the age of 12.  He was boarded with a vicar and his family.  On completing his education with university he returned to Oman and 40 years ago led a bloodless coup.  At that time Oman had 10km of made roads, 2 schools (for boys only) and no secondary eduction.  They now have schools for all and a quality university.  They have modern highways and freeways, international airports at numerous cities and a vibrant, modern commercial centre with most of the major international companies present.  Oil is a powerful thing to bring a country from poverty to great wealth.  Muscat saw the opening of its Opera House last year.

We are now working with our teachers in a coaching model. They are excited and enthusiastic about their involvement with us.  We often are approached with the query as to when we will take on more teachers (by teachers keen to become involved).  There are many challenges for us and for the teachers to move to a new paradigm - but the premise of improving the outcomes for the students drives their commitment.  The difficulties lie in meeting times (school is 7:00am - 1:30pm and work outside of these  hours is rare).  The teachers have a relatively low load - generally 20 periods each week from a 40 period week.  Most periods are 45 minutes but maybe 40 minutes or 50 minutes.  The Kindergarten has a rigid timetable of 30 minute periods and the children's week includes daily lessons in Arabic, Qur'an, English, Structured Play and weekly lessons for Songs, Drawing, Physical Activity and Computer. The Kindergarten Principal is keen to change this and is leading our work in enabling a program that is child centred.  She is brilliant and we are hoping to get to Reggio Emilia (Italy) next year with a couple of her staff to support the transition to a stronger program.

Enough for this post.  Thank you for your emails, comments and messages.  They are very warmly received.  It is difficult living so far away, but the team from Australia is fantastic and the school is so embracing of our work.  It is important to also say here that the Saudi people are warm, polite and considerate of us - except in queues, but then the Chinese can't queue either!  This is not a scary place!  Yes we wear abayas when out - and we have been picked up by the Religious Police and next time we will ignore them as they have no jurisdiction over us (and we were each given a copy of the Qur'an in English!) - and we are living in a Compound guarded by armed soldiers (with machine guns), but we haven't seen any anger or conflict since our arrival.  Perhaps the fact that there is no alcohol for the young men is a good thing.

The Girls School Team
Mary, Me, Sue, Julie and Lorraine

Sunset from my bedroom

Week 5 Wednesday 24 October:

Reflecting on the past month in Riyadh is full of challenges, new learnings, great experiences and new friends.

After flying from Melbourne to Abu Dhabi FIRST CLASS we had our last alcoholic drink - champagne - in the Business Class Lounge before embarking on our final leg to Riyadh.  On arrival we were met by Ron and 3 cars to take us to our new home.  I now know that I travel light!  Though I am here for three months at a time, so others did have some excuse for 2-3 cases that were large and heavy.

After 3 - 4 days Julie and I were moved to a smaller villa in the compound, but it overlooks the swimming pool, gym and soon to open cafe.  (I say 'soon' to be opened loosely - they have been waiting 3 months for mains power to be connected.  Currently the gym & pool area are powered by a generator that is a large industrial one.  Ron is keen for the power to be connected also, as his apartment is in the same building and he can't move in until power supply is guaranteed.  Our villa is very comfortable but has its own quirks.  The first couple of days we were both flooding our respective bathrooms and couldn't locate the cause.  It soon became obvious that when we were having a shower the water was running around the outside of the bath and then onto the floor.  Solution - the maintenance guys (Indians and Pakistani) came and build a 'wall' of silicon to trap the water.  A dam wall they called it.  This has worked well for Julie's but my wall just sends the water back the other way.  My solution to date is to keep a sponge there and constantly wringing it out.  Today they decided I need another 'wall'.  So hopefully soon I can enjoy a long shower without concern of flooding.

School has been really interesting.  The most obvious difference is that our side is only women.  Female staff and students.  The exception to this is that we have a Kindergarten on our side of the Wall.  This starts with 3 year olds, then 4 year olds and finally 5 year olds [KG1, KG2 & KG3 respectively].  The KG is staffed by women only and has male and female students.  From KG they transition to school - Lower Elementary which is grades 1-3.  However the boys remain for the first two years before they move to the Boys side.  It is amazing that most of the staff (including principals) have never seen the whole school, remaining on 'their side'.  We have only seen the 'boys side' on non school days.  This impacts on usual events that we have to stop and think about.  For instance major events and celebrations at the school are for the girls and their mothers or the boys and their fathers.  This includes Graduation.  This is something Ron is looking to change - but has to be thought through carefully as often the Prince is a special guest at the Graduation (boys) night.

The school is structured similarly to an American system: Lower Elementary, Elementary, Middle School and High School.  To add to the number of schools, Middle and High Schools have two schools for each: National and American Diploma.  When you then double Elementary through to High School, you can see where the 11 schools comes into existence.

Me pointing to the Door to the Girls
School. Our bags are at the door
of the Mixed Meeting Room

This separation is gradually being challenged under Ron's leadership.  He has instigated a number of firsts:  Weekly meetings of all principals in the same room, meetings with all teachers (males one time and women on another occasion), meetings with students (again male and female forums) and has commenced meeting with parent groups.  He has started Twittering and the students are constantly sending him emails (and now Tweets) with suggestions for improvement.  The major topic is the Canteen, but beyond that they want harder work, more subject choices and more extra-curricula activities.  To enable these mixed meetings the women (including the female students) must were their headscarf and cover their faces, with their eyes showing.  Though occasionally some will put a light a scarf over their face so that it is completely obscured.  The weekly principals meeting is held in a mixed meeting room near the entrance to the Girls school (see the picture).  We walk past this each morning to enter our side of the wall.  We go through a door and into a room before stepping into the expanse of the Girls school.  Its a bit like stepping through the wardrobe into Narnia.

The other major adjustment we have had to make is the wearing of the abaya at all times outside the Compound.  The only place we have been able to take it off has been when we have been in a Women's only Beauty Salon. As we wear them constantly we have all bought several more and even some for 'going out special'.  The last day of the term we went home via an Abaya shop.  Who would have thought 2 months ago that we would all get so excited with the experience of choosing another abaya for our collection!  We can't walk around the neighbourhood without one of our male colleagues.  We can't walk to the laundry to collect our dry cleaning.  This means that we always have to plan ahead.  The guys have been wonderful and willing to accompany us if we wish.  We have also shopped at Malls a great deal as we can be dropped off by our driver (Ahmed - drop dead gorgeous Egyptian - photos in the future) and we can roam the shops with a relative sense of freedom.  That said everything shuts at prayer time and we find ourselves sitting around waiting a fair bit.  Though this provides time for meeting locals and learning more about Riyadh.  The other challenge as women is that clothing shops don't have change rooms for women.  You can exchange and the time for this ranges form 3 days (Zara) to 30 days (Marks & Spencers).  Men, off course, have change rooms for their convenience.

Anyway enough for now.  Off to Oman tonight to spend a week with an old friend from Fiji - Liza.  Liza has been in Muscat working for several years now and I'll get to see more of the Middle East - and perhaps enjoy a nice wine.

Traditional meal being set for us.
Great food (including camel - not
so nice)