Goodbyes

Over the past few days the office has been seeming emptier as people are finishing up their work. We're all required to be at work until today, but with all of the official end-of-year coffee chats in the library Starbucks, the place has seemed pretty empty. Even though we're required to be here from 9:00am to 3:00pm. I'm pretty sure some people are cutting out early.

A majority of the teachers are leaving on their summer holiday this weekend while I'll be here for a few more weeks before leaving. Ordinarily, the days for the summer break are pretty set with no variance, but this year because of when Ramadan falls, we get the same number of days off, but have some flexibility of when to take them. There was also the option of borrowing days from next year's holiday, but the idea of a shortened break next year didn't appeal to me. Still, it's a bit annoying watching everyone leave knowing that I'll be here another two weeks.

To celebrate the end of the semester the other day, we had a school-wide breakfast buffet in the foyer of the school that started out with some speeches, awards for service, and some goodbyes to people who are leaving this year. I was surprised to find that two of the five people I initially arrived with were leaving after one year. Unfortunately, I got the feeling that a few of the teachers who were leaving weren't all that happy with the students. I guess that can be frustrating, and people have different levels of tolerance to discipline issues. My students pushed me pretty far, but in the end I was glad to say that I got through it and am ready for more next year. Or at least I'll be ready after two more weeks of teaching and a two-month break.