I woke up early to get ready for teacher training. Mustafa and I had nescafe and talked about Teacher training. I apologized for falling asleep so early last night.
"How did you meeting with crazy guy go?" I asked. "He hasn't shot fire on the school busses yet so its possible that he is just bluffing." I had said.
"Well," he began. I knew that it was going to be a good story based on the face he made when he was starting the story.
"Well... I went to meet the guy and I told him, okay I want to settle this. I will just pay you whatever I have for the days I used your school for registration. But paying $5000 was ridiculous. I don't have that kind of money and neither does the American girl. Nobody does. I cannot get it from anyone." He was smoking his ciggarrette as he recalled the story. "Sama, I told him I don't have it. He said very bad words to me and told me the most he will lower the amount to is $3000. He feels as if I have stabbed him in the back."
"After I left his house, I saw 5 angry men walking towards me. I knew they were there for me and I didn't want to make a scene on the street. So they pulled me into the alleyway and grabbed me by the neck. Then I talked to them until they finally let me go. THey said, 'this is the last warning, we don't want to hurt you but this is what we do for a living and we make our living off of it. You seem like a nice guy so just solve your problem with him.' I told them that I am trying to do my best to solve it but he is making it very difficult for me. Sama, this is a very dangerous time and the guy is serious, I need you to not go anywhere by yourself. Stay in the school or stay in the house, and I know you are adventurous and like to do things, but please, they know you are here and are making threats. "
"Im glad you are okay." I said to him. We then joked about how one of the guys gave him a cigarette. Arab hospitality, even in a situation like that!
I got to school a bit earlier than the teachers and starting organizing all the school supplies into storage bins that I had purchased
School was off for a locally recognized holiday called Ashura. We took advantage of this and decided that we could do a longer teacher training on a day when the teachers were not in school.Kids had the day off for Ashura. We did a 5 hour training. played games, epr, teaching techinques...
I went to go withdraw money from an ATM in Tripoli and then went exploring the Old streets of Tripoli for 20 mintues... just in time to buy fish for a rooftop bbq the following day.
FRIDAY
In short, Friday we finished the Teacher Training... I finally met OMAR!!! Finally, an art teacher applicant who looks creative and capable. I told him to come to school the next day and he can help me with the mural. I wanted to see how he interacts with kids.
After the teacher training, we went home and had a wonderful fish bbq on the roof. The whole family interacted and I got to spend some more one on one time with his nieces and nephews. The more time I spent with them, the more I loved each and every one of them.