Allow me to explain to how a guy like myself came to be sitting in a Majlis (a room set up like desert camping tent, complete with fur covered saddles, floor pillows, and blankets) listening to a Sheik lecture to a group of tenth graders in Arabic. A few weeks ago, one of my superiors told me I was going to co-teach a class called Qatar History with a Syrian-German named Hossam. Hossam and I would have the full suport of Sheik Samir, the school’s resident expert on all things religion. Sheik Samir, we were told, could be used for guest lectures, or spot checking our facts.
The class text book was to meet only once a week, but the text book was going to be in Arabic, so Hossam and I were responsible for translating the necessary materials. Wonderful, I was looking forward to trying to sift my way through Qatari History, however brief it may be. Ottomans, Pearls, Natural Gas… World Cup?
Next thing I found out, Hossam hadn’t turned in any of his paper work, so he wasn’t going to be around for a while as he needed to get some documents in order. This process for me took months, so I was not counting on his return any time soon. But then nothing happened with the class. No one came to drop off standards. No one came to deliver the Arabic-based text. No one told me where I was teaching, or when the class was starting. Not one to ruffle feathers, I didn’t ask.
Maybe I didn’t ask because I didn’t want to teach the class alone, so I figured if I didn’t ask, no one could tell me that bad news. Maybe I didn’t ask because I’ve found most answers in Qatar to be wholly unhelpful, and I figured someone, when they deemed it necessary, would tell me what I needed to know. No need to ask a question that I didn’t think had an answer yet.
You can imagine my surprise when on Tuesday, I ran into my boss Sara in the hallway at around 250 and she said, “You’re missing the first day of class! I’ve been ringing your mobile all afternoon!” She had the wrong number, so that explains that. I headed to the Majlis as the students filed out. Sheik Samir shook my hand, and we tried to chat, but since he doesn’t speak English and my Arabic is shaky, it was a tough conversation. An Arabic teacher and maybe co-teacher with the Sheik told me that we had class tomorrow, so that at 2, I should report to the Majlis and not to worry about missing day one. I asked him what I should expect and he told me to just watch. He did the thing with his fingers, where you point them at your eyes and the turn your hands and point out into the open. Just watch, he said. Supervise.
Teaching, this did not sound like.
So I reported to where I was told to report the next day and took a seat on some pillows and blankets. The 30 10th graders filed in, and boom, Sheik Samir started talking about something and 40 minutes later, class ended. From what I gathered, we were talking about everything that happened in history. I think I heard him talk about the Pyramids, Jesus, the Qur’an (I heard this word a lot) some dates in the middle ages, and then boom, all of a sudden, he’s talking about Napoleon and or the French Revolution. I wish I could have had a translator, because how he covered everything in history up to Napoleon in under 40 minutes is beyond me. What’s more, why is a class called Qatari History covering the French Revolution?
I watched. I stared intently at the Sheik not wanting to be the first one to fall asleep, but really the 2 hours a week is going to be a struggle for me. They expect me to sit in a comfortable room, listening to a man talk in a foreign language, right after I eat lunch, and not fall asleep?!
After class, I spoke with Sara and asked her what my duties are in the class. Turns out the Sheik is now the teacher, and I am just there to advise, and watch. She suggested I prepare a lesson so that I can pick up where he left off, in case he decides to not show up one day. “Just have something in the bag, that you can whip out and give to the cadets.”
Right now, I am thinking I’ll make them put together a timeline for everything in history that happened between Napoleon and the Pyramids. That ought to fill an hour, right?
Going Missing for Awhile 