First Day Of School Jitters

Thank you everyone for the wonderful comments! It is so nice to see them and read them!

Last night we had a French family come and sleep in the desert. They had a really sweet little girl, who was 9 years old, and she reminded me of little miss sunshine. Her parents worked for the SNCF (trains and things in France). The mother had the most interesting profession. Before you read on I want you to guess the most random profession you can think of....................................................................................................
She makes furniture out of cardboard!!!! How cool is that?!? She is also a travel writer (something I may want to do in my future). They were so nice, and they even noticed that French people do not seem content. We stayed in the desert 'till about 10:30. We were driven back in a big SUV with plastic on the seats by three doctors. One studied in Algeria, and one in Russia. On the way up we listened to cheesy English 80s songs and Gasolina (if you are older, you may need to ask your teenager about that one =]). Who would ever think that I would be bopping around the desert in the middle east, drinking orange soda, and listening to cheesy 80s songs in an SUV. Who knew? We got home and I was very very very tired. I plopped into bed and was out like a rock. I was planning on going to school tomorrow, and I was very scared that I would be too tired to go. I woke up fine and put on my best outfit for school. I still looked like a hiker, but oh well. Eptisam and I ate breakfast and headed out. We walked out of the driveway and turned to go into the little shop. There was a steady flow of girls coming in and out of the shop with little black plastic bags filled with paprika potato chips, Cheeto's, chocolate wafers, and cookies. I immediately noticed that everyone had on a uniform. The older girls I saw wore green coats, and then group below wore a blue and the group of girls even younger wore a blue variation. The older girls came and greeted Eptisam and she began talking to them. They looked at me with surprise and bewilderment. It was very uncomfortable, so what do I do when I am in a weird situation??? Smile. You got it! I always smile uncomfortably when I don't know what to say or someone is staring at me, anytime I feel awkward. Eptisam left me without a word and walked into the shop. I was left standing out in my tallness and little girls in blue jackets and strawberry shortcake backpacks walked past. Their eyes were magnetically drawn to my western face and uncomfortable aura. I realized that the reason I was uncomfortable was not because some of these girls had head dresses or looked different. It was just school jitters. I was the new girl and I knew nobody. I just looked around and did what??? Smiled. My mom was standing at the edge of the driveway just looking at me with her camera at her side. I felt like it was the first day of kindergarten. (Thanks mom!) Eptisam came out of the store finally and her and her friends started walking away. I trotted over to them (yeah not exactly trot, more like awkward fast walking) and we came to the school which is only about 20 meters away. I got a glimpse of the school yard and there were tons of girls gossiping, kids doing homework, playing soccer. In the activities aspect, It looked like a normal school. We walked in and I followed behind. The girl's school is made of two buildings. On the left there are small classrooms with a tiny little awning. There are about 4 rooms and they are constructed out of cinder blocks. On the right is the school building that has more classrooms. The area between the two buildings is all covered in speckled while tiles. It takes a little dip when you walk closer to the larger school building. All of little girls were playing with a soccer ball in the lower half of the school yard. Everyone was looking at me. EVERYONE! I was about a head taller than everybody. Quite a nice view from the top I must say =] It felt like the first day of school just by the way that people interacted with me and the looks. I have changed schools a lot and I know the feeling. I felt out of my element, not in the sense that I was in the middle east, just the fact that I was in a different school. I was a magnet for everyone. I would have little girls come and stand around me and look at me. We would tell each other our names and then smiles. I felt comfortable in the sense that I was in a different world. This was something that men could not experience, which make me feel secretive and special. There were some women were completely coved with a burqua (face completely covered in black, only eye slits). It was a little strange at first. There was a signal and all of a sudden everyone rushed to the dipped part of the school yard, in front of the school house. All of the girls began to line up into their classes. I was very confused and stood in the front, then noticed everyone was lined up and quickly scurried to the side. I noticed that as the girls got older the dress got different. The youngest girls had on the blue coats and no hair cover, a little older some had their hair covered and different blue coats, then the older girls with green coats and hair covers, and the oldest had on well tailored long jackets and looked very beautifully poised. They began to recite thing and then apparently had their morning announcements. I was studying all the girls and noticed that a little girl had a tiny boy in front of her. He was big chestnut eyes and wore a cute little orange shirt. She had her hands on his shoulders as his eyes went here and there. He looked so cute, he could have been in a TV commercial. There was a signal and Eptisam told me to follow her. We walked into the school building which was very dark because the lights were all turned off. We pasted the office/teachers lounge, and made our way into a nice size class room. The only problem was that the desks were tiny. They looked like antique desks that would have been used in the deep south. Eptisam told me to come sit in between her and her friend. I was in quite a shock because that bench was tiny! I squeezed into the bench and her friend sat down next to me. In came a woman with a white head scarf and a very young face. She did not look at me or smile at me. She spoke in Arabic and one thing after another I was riding a small wave of girls into a science room. It looked just like mine science room back in the states. The hard counter tops with faucets in the center, electrical outlets, and cupboards. In the back of the room was a glass case (nothing in it) and big blue cupboards. The only thing different about this room was that it was very barren.The only color on the wall was the bottom half, which was dark blue and one poster about beach birds. In my school they are covered with inspirational posters that everyone likes to make fun of. We settled in and they were studying the elements and putting them together. I noticed that there was a division in the lessons. There were 4 girls that were studying batteries. The way the class interacted with the teacher was very different. They would chant the words during the lesson, and when they would want to answer a question they would all shoot their hands up and say "miss, miss, miss" They seemed very excited to learn, but they also had a very small class compared to the states. I would take a look outside and see the amazing landscape a have an inside giggle because when I look at the whole situation in retrospect it just sound funny. I have been to school with a Muslim girl in the Wadi Rum desert of Jordan. How cool. I am very lucky. After the class, Eptisam took me to the principle to say thank you. They were all very nice and I walked home. I had been very nervous and just being in a school made me realize that I did not miss school. I like doing my school on internet and traveling. It reminds me that school is around the corner so I need to make the most of my time left.