First day of school went off without a hitch. Have great students for the most part and an unofficial poll has designated me as the "hottie teacher". I'm also the mean teacher for some reason, which I guess is a good thing since a healthy dose of fear will keep kids in check.

For some reason the students can't seem to pronounce my name, which is actually quite stupid because it's not difficult, so many have resorted to calling me Miss S. The odd thing is that the Arab kids can't even pronounce my name! I mean, they have NO excuse. I'm thinking it's because of the way I spell it, but still...NO EXCUSE that the Arabs can't get my name right.

I have a handful of Egyptian students in my classes. The principal decided to group all Arabic speaking kids in my section in case they needed a little extra translation help. One of them told me today that he likes "to blay ze guitar" and another told me that she "zbeek[s] three languages". The guitar blaying kid's mother came to the parent orientation this morning and harassed me for nearly fifteen minutes.

"Ya S, mish 3ayza awasiki be F. Da ebni, habibi", she said as she tousled his hair and licked her thumbs to smooth his eyebrows. (Can't do a direct translation right now cuz I'm suffering from a brain fart, but the main idea is that she was telling me to take care of her son, her love). Poor kid.

The rest of the day kinda rushed before my eyes after the parent orientation. Did well, even when I was informally observed by the principal (ON THE FIRST DAY!!!!)

So....good day. Nothing spectacular, but at least I've jumped into that pool of fear and got over it.