PE teacher Ailsa Davidson, from Stepps, has been working at the Emirates International School in Jumeirah, Dubai, for the last three years as she could not secure a permanent teaching post in Scotland.
"The cutbacks had just started and so there was a shortage of vacancies, so I decided to up sticks, though I return during the holidays," explained the 29-year-old, who was allowed by her head teacher to return home before the end of term in order to carry the Queen's Baton - on the condition that she set up a Facebook blog so that her 35 pupils from the UK, the UAE, Australia, US and Russia were able to follow her. They also watched her live yesterday by webcam.
When she arrived at Glasgow Airport from Dubai on Friday morning, she was "awestruck" by the buzz around the Games.
"There isn't much coverage of the Games in Dubai because we only get news from London, so I wasn't really all that excited until I touched down in Glasgow," she said.
"I immediately posted photographs of the pictures of the running track on my blog because it was nice for the kids back in Dubai to feel part of it."
She was so nervous about tripping or falling over, that she practised fast-walking the route with a hockey stick before the big event.
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