Mission Accomplished.

And I already miss them.

The end of the year wrapped up in a bit of a chaotic mess. The students were scheduled to attend their last day of school on June 3rd. Naturally, because this is the UAE, that means they unofficially stopped attending on May 27th.

It’s amazing how flexible I have become teaching here (did you hear that local school districts?). For example, on May 7th I spoke with my vice principal and I told her I planned to give my final exam on May 30. She quickly informed me that this was impossible! Grades were due May 11th! Eep! I had the weekend to write three final exams and prepare reviews. Then I had one day to grade the exams and figure final grades for my students. First semester I would have flipped. Second semester, no problem. It will be done… in’shallah.

In anticipation of our final days together, I made my girls a sweet gift and planned a party. We were going to play games, watch a slideshow of our year together, and settle a bet by eating apple pie. (My students are convinced that pie = pizza & pizza = pie… please). Unfortunately, the party coincided with a nasty case of food poisoning. Being the devoted teacher that I am, I dragged myself out of bed for the celebration. Needless to say, my girls came to school wild and excited for the party.

Imagine this:

Ms. Jill laying on the couch in the teachers room half asleep trying to keep as still as possible when all of a sudden a throng of grade two girls burst in screaming…

G2: “Ms. Jill! Ms. Jill come!”
MJ: “I cannot. I am sick.”
G2: “Come! Ms. Jill come!”
MJ: “I cannot. Ms. Jill sleeping, then Ms. Jill [makes motion of vomit]! I cannot come.”
G2: “Ms. Jill come, Shahad Khamis… come…”

Suddenly three more grade twos burst in the door struggling to carry… this…

Now I feel like a jerk for deflecting their invitations to come to the classroom. Slowly and carefully I raised myself off the couch and followed the girls down to our room. Oh my. The cutest thing ever. As soon as I enter the room the girls start singing/shouting “Happy Birthday Ms. Jill” from their hiding places. They threw me a surprise party! [Note: My birthday is in Februrary]. The singing then changed to “Happy Birthday Grade 2!” and several other student names. Apparently “happy birthday” is a synonym for regular plain “party”. The board [that they are not allowed to draw on] was decorated with adorable love notes.

Sadly, despite my heroic efforts to attend school that day, the principal sent all the students home early. We didn’t get to party down!

The schoolwide party was scheduled for Thursday, the last day of the week. The teachers explained that once the party is finished, the students will no longer attend school. It was a big and exciting day! The girls were exempt from wearing their uniforms and instead opted for… this..

wowza!

For the first good hour of the day the girls ran wild through the school. Next we played silly games and ate tons of food the mothers brought in. I snuck my girls away to finally have our party… unfortunately we only made it through the slideshow before the bus lady came in to scream at the girls to get on the bus. The students were being sent home early! Party plans foiled again!

As the girls ran out the door I struggled to pin their gifts to their dresses. There was a lot of shouting and a definite absence of “goodbyes.” No worries, I’m happy to report that I’ll be looping up with my class next year. Hello Grade 3!

xo, jill