Back to work adjustments

I have finished my first week back from the Eid vacation and I'm sure glad it's over. Ever since Ramadan ended, I have home from work each day feeling really tired, and yet I'm no busier than I was at any of my previous teaching jobs.

In an attempt to identify the cause of this fatigue, I came up with the following possible culprits:

• Trying to maintain a decent body temperature in over-air conditioned buildings. Although much better than working in stifling heat, it is draining to feel cold all day long. I have a nice pashmina scarf that I wrap around myself in the office and I usually drink 2 cups of tea a day, which definitely helps. And when I get really cold, I'll find an errand to run on the other side of campus. The walk in the heat always does the trick!

• Receiving additional responsibility at work. Now that the dust has settled (so to speak) on the semester, the time I was originally allotted for teaching a second - canceled - section of my 9 hour-a-week course has been reallocated. I've got additional projects to be working on now. Also, the course I'm teaching continues to become more and more content-specific, meaning we use more vocabulary specific to the students' future jobs in the oil industry. This is good for the students, but it means I have to do a little more research into basic concepts of the technical fields. It's interesting, but does require time.

• Driving home as the sun is setting. When we first arrived in Doha, the sun set around 6:30. Now it's closer to 5:30 when it gets dark. When I first started working at the college, I went home at 3:50. Now it's usually 4:50. There's something psychologically taxing about working longer than the sun does. I remember some winter days at Niagara College where I would enter the school before the sun came up and leave after it had set. It was depressing. Here I definitely beat the sun in terms of quitting time, but watching it prepare to check out on the commute home adds to my lethargy.

• Starting the day at 5:30am. This is the biggie. Three days a week I have to be at the college at 7:30am. In order to do that, I catch the 6:20 bus which arrives at our destination anywhere between 6:45 and 7:25, depending on traffic. So I start thinking about getting up as the alarm rings at 5:30, and finally make it to the shower by 5:45, prompted by Darren's, "If you don't go now, you'll miss the bus." Fortunately for me, he saves me at least 5 minutes in the getting ready process by getting up and making my lunch. (I wouldn't be surprised if he goes back to bed for a little nap after I leave - I WOULD!) Most days, once I'm at work I'm awake and ready for the day, but starting so early takes its toll...

I know I'm not the only one who is feeling the change. My students come to class saying they are so tired because they've had a long day. In all fairness, when you're taking 30 hours of classes a week, you do have long days. But when we were on the Ramadan schedule (shorter classes; shorter days), they said they were so tired because they hadn't slept the night before because of Ramadan. I guess it's hard to win no matter what the circumstances.

I'm just hoping I can train my body either require a little less sleep or get invigorated by AC, side projects, sunsets and early mornings!