A little love

I started back to school on Sunday and am half way through this funny week of barely any students showing up Sunday, then a little more on Monday, then eventually they will pour in from the buses within the next week. Every day is unknown and always full of possibility.

This week grades 1 and 5 boys are getting medical screening done outside our school. A mobile doctor comes and takes groups of boys to get a basic check up, teeth cleaned/checked and a shot of...umm something?! Their parents don't take them to the Dr. so UAE has them come to school. Interesting...huh? But in the afternoon I had a lot of boys gone at one time, so as they slowly came back in they told me if they were brave or cried. (Yes I acted those words out) They obviously told me they all were brave but I secretly know they are all 7 years old!! We laughed and had fun this afternoon seeing that it was a "light" teaching day.

Now, my purpose...my little boy Raddad (I'll spare you the rest of his name) went in and out of the classroom about 3 different times this afternoon. I have no idea what he was doing or what the people are doing who are coming to get him. (Let me remind you everything is in Arabic) The third time he was told to come he ran to the back of the classroom and acted very scared. Welp, didn't need words for that one. I knew he was scared this whole time of going to the doctor. So I continued to tell him it was okay, but the nurse dragged him out and literally picked him up to go!

He came back but apparently wasn't done ( I am assuming he ran off at some point) and one of the workers at the school came to get him again. He said, "la, la, la" which is no, no, no and I heard him yell something in arabic then, "Miss Emily, Miss Emily" and the worked said to me, "ok, come Miss Emily." So I knew immediately Raddad wanted me to go with him. He grabbed my hand tight and stayed close to me as I walked with him out the door. He did not fight, scream or anything. I quickly grabbed another teacher to watch my class and walked with Raddad down the hall. He finished his body exam and came back to me and I said, "halas, Raddad, you are finished!" With a big smile.

You know what learned today? I learned that Raddad loves me! He finds comfort, peace and safety with me. How special do I feel?? :)

My kids can't tell me they love what we do in class, or that they LOVE to learn new songs, or do fun activities. They don't have the vocabulary. Of course I can see it on their face and by their actions what they like and don't like, but every once in awhile I get a glimpse, like what happened today, and that lets me know I am exactly where I need to be. What a perfect feeling that is.