Hurry Up and Wait

I got the call.  Yes I got the call,  May 1st would be the day.  The day to begin the process for my resident permit in Qatar.  A resident permit is everything.  You can't buy a car, you can't access your bank account with out it.  The big debate in America is voter ID, in most countries other than the US, you need an national identity card to do anything.

The process begins with the typing of your blood.  Head to the Hospital and a finger prick later, a 15 minute sit and you leave the hospital with a certified copy of your body type.  I'm "O" positive in case you are wondering.  It's known as the universal donor type, so I got that going for me.

Take the copy of you blood type and surrender your passport to immigration control.  Let's take a moment to discuss the feeling of surrendering your passport.  Imagine being all alone in a dark room with no way out.  That's what giving up your passport means.  It is the one document that proves who you are.  Most other documents you may have in your possession mean nothing. Officials do not have to recognize anything else.

Anyway your passport goes to immigration where something mystical happens and one day you get a call to show up at the rallying point for a bus that will take you to the medical clearing facility.  I was lucky, I only had to wait 10 days for that call and the weather was only 100 degrees F.  In August, when most of the educational employees go through this day the temps can range up to 120 degrees F.

The bus then takes you south in traffic to an industrial area.  I am the only one on the bus who is white and most of the passengers speak some Arabic.  After a 50 minute bus ride the bus stops and the driver looks at me and says, "Go to the V.I.P. section."  Cool I always thought of myself as a very important person, I know my mother does.  That's when I realize I am pretty much alone in a sea of humanity going through the same process.

They told me that I would be greeted by a man from the foundation to facilitate my process.  I get herded into a waiting room and told to sit down.  I look around and I see a slight problem.  Remember the passport, well everyone seems to have a passport with paper work, but me.  It doesn't take long for me to realize that without that little blue book I am going no where.  100 degrees F, remember.  So I act like a very important VIP and act cool.  I sit back and chill, inside I am freaking out.  I text someone at the school...no answer.  Thirty minutes later I spot the foundation man, remember the one who was going to greet me upon arrival.  Acting cool, I ask, "You from QF?"  "Yes," he says.  "Did you bring my documents?".."No, they are on the way." "On the way..cool."

An hour and a half, my handler hands me my documents and makes me cut in line to register.  They take the docs scan them and STAMP...Please follow the yellow line to chest X-Ray.  Please take of your shirt in the hall. Press chest against the machine, click...another STAMP.  Please dress quickly follow red line.  Stop, scan document, receive bar coded vial...STAMP.  Follow red line to blood draw.  Wait in line.  People cut in front of me.  My handler sends the guy to the end of the line and proceeds to get in a lively discussion with another handler in Arabic.  I stare forward.  My handler wins and I never see the other man again.  He has to go to the end of the line.

NEXT....I sit down the lady technician is a pro at taking blood.  Tube, fist, blood draw...while filling up the vial she STAMPS my form with her free hand.  She amazes me with her efficiency.  NEXT

I leave and hand my passport to my handler again.  Bye passport.  I will see it again when I get the next call to get my finger prints for my background check.

What was amazing about the experience, is that for the first time I can imagine what it felt to going through Ellis Island.  A sea of humanity often not speaking the language.  Pushed, pulled to the next station and deposited out on the street of New York.  One could take the experience personally, but I realize that the workers just need to move you through the line.  It may seem impersonal, but you have to be really impressed by the efficiency.  I am guessing they processed over 200 people that three hours.  I have heard that on a good day they can do over 500, with over 30,000 people a year.

That's a lot of STAMPS.  Stage one completed.  Waiting on the next call

What do you mean you don't know where I live?

It's funny how things circle back reappearing when you least expect it.  Though they often happen in times of life's transitions.  In 2000, a lifetime ago, I began working for Northwest Passage Highschool as one of 4 teachers.  In addition to my many educational tasks, I also had the distinct pleasure of picking and dropping students off at their house using one of our school's minivans.  

Early during the year I was asked to drop off Billy(not his real name).  Now Billy was challenged.  He was challenged because his family was not there for him.  They lived in trailer park outside of Blaine.  He was under credit and over aged, meaning he was 3 years behind his peers. Billy was dealt a pretty weak hand. 

Having worked in Minneapolis and St. Paul, the roads in Blaine were unfamiliar to me, which is why I was doing the drop offs. Add to this situation a world where cell phone were not common, I didn't have one at the time.

Sounds easy,  get in the van with kids and they point you to there house, right?  Wrong.  I found myself in the van with Billy after dropping off a number of students.  I looked at him, "Where to?" Response, "I thought you knew where I lived."  How does a kid not know the way home?

Fast forward to last night.  For those of you who don't know I just arrived in Doha, Qatar.  I spent a wonderful evening at colleague's house as a guest for dinner.  It was getting late and they ordered me a driver to take me home to Al Khor, which is 40 minutes north of Doha.  Everything's great, I jump in the car and we head off, except this time the driver takes a different route to Al Khor. The Eastern route I know, the Western route I haven't a clue.  Arriving in Al Khor, he turns and asks, "Where to?"  Response, "I thought you knew where I lived?"  Ah, Billy forgive me for my thoughts at the time questioning your intellect.

Novel experiences are the life blood of learning. Placed in a new situation our senses are heighten, and if we stay focused real deep learning occurs.  How as teachers can we place our students in these kind of learning environments?  To keep the learning fresh, to keep the learner engage.  That is the challenge, that is the mission of education.

By the way, I didn't have a working cell phone that night either. Go figure.

Anticipation and Reflection

I find myself like the Heinz Catsup commercial of the past:




Slowly waiting for my departure from Cornucopia to Qatar.  Yet unlike the commercial of yesterday, my days are not spent waiting for the catsup to drop.  I know the bottle is tilted and eventually the time will come, but the catsup in my circumstance represents all the little things I want to do before I leave.

This past Saturday, I attended the 10th annual Donut Fest my friends put on at the Port Wing Community Center. This year Charlotte sang a Katy Perry Song: Firework, I was the hired help and played the guitar.  It was amazing to see how my little girl has grown as she belted out the high notes with no fear on a stage overlooking over 100 people.

On Sunday, I barked the order that we were going to do something outside.  I wanted to see Hidden Falls during the winter; it could be a while between visits.  So we fried up some pancakes, brewed up some hot chocolate, loaded up Big Red with the sled, the dog, and all the family.  We hiked the three mile route and were rewarded with a spectacular view of the partially frozen falls.

Sometimes it takes a radical change to refresh your mind to the beauty and gifts that surround us on a daily basis.  I know for me Cornucopia in the winter, is the Chronicles of Narnia, the Lord of the Rings, and Winnie the Pooh all rolled into one.

The Qatar Offer

How did it all happen? In July of 2011, I attended a charter school conference at Goddard College in Vermont to do two things.  One to witness good friend and fellow teacher at NWPHS, Peter Wieczorek, graduate and to speak on the promise of charter schools as alternative to traditional education models.  While in attendance I heard about a great school looking for a Head of School.  The school was located in the Bahamas and students from across the USA spent a semester studying Marine Biology.  Peter actually encouraged me to apply for the post.  Needless to say, I applied and didn’t even get a call back.

Fast forward to August.  For the past 20 years I have been working with some of the most at-risk students in the USA.  I have seen great successes and great tragedies. In my current position as Director of Northwest Passage High School in Coon Rapids, MN, I was privileged to lead and develop one of the most innovative high school in America.  I assembled some of the most creative and passionate staff that I ever worked with, and we took on the most challenging students and delivered personalized learning to every student.

For those of you who don’t know, the last four years at NWPHS I have been commuting on Thursdays and Monday to school leaving my wife, Angie to raise the kids alone in Cornucopia, WI.  She has done an amazing job, but we have reached our limit.  The kids are at an age where they need their dad.  Recognizing that, we began looking for a way to bring the family together. 

One of the options was pursuing a career teaching in an international school.  Angie’s sister, Carrie, has taught in Taiwan for 13 years.  In fact when Angie was getting her teaching license, she student taught at Carrie’s school.  Seven or eight years ago we had put together our files to attend the University of Northern Iowa’s International Teaching Fair.  So the idea of moving abroad was nothing new, more like it was a concept that was delayed.

In August, we joined Search Associates and assembled the required materials to complete our international job file.  Search then uploaded our file to their database and we picked an associate to guide us through the process.  Then the application process began.  I began to apply for administrative positions world wide.  I had several interviews with schools in Africa and China.  I also had a lot of rejections.

Then in October I received an email from Robert Trent, the Director of the Qatar Leadership Academy.  He spotted my resume on Search and noticed my experiential, Outward Bound, and NOLS experience.  That began the whirlwind dialog on Skype, the trip to Qatar before Thanksgiving, and the acceptance of a very nice job offer, which I accepted.