Pictures!

I realize that i've been neglecting the blog because it's so much easier to update Facebook. So I've added some links to pictures on the right side of this page - *most* of the pictures that I put on Facebook. Some just aren't that interesting to post ;)

In 12 hours (ensha'allah - God willing) I will be on a plane going home to Canada! Finally! These past 4 months have gone by slowly...and quickly, I guess...but I'm ready for a little taste of Canada. I'm not looking forward to the jetlag, but I am looking so forward to seeing everyone for a quick visit.

Merry Christmas!

Beautiful Kuwait

Pictures from my walk on Friday morning. I tried sleeping in but God woke me up and said, "wake up...check this out!" Wow.

2 days!

We're down to 2 days of school, a secret santa banquet, high tea at the One, a fancy Eid party, lots of shopping, cleaning and packing, and a 17 hour trip home (wow...practically like driving home from Halifax...déjà vu?)

All this before December 21, 9:40am EST.

I'm excited.

All I can see is you, me and Tim Hortons coffee at the YYZ.
It will be wonderful.

the 37 cent store

We have officially found and visited our new favourite place...the 100-fil store. Like Dollarama back home, everything is 100fils. But the best part is that 100fils is only equivalent to ~37 cents CAD. It's the perfect teacher store.

I picked up a bunch of prizes for the girls, a few noise makers, and a couple things for my prop closet. I also found a dart board! And, to top it off, a game of Uno. Uno! It's the same things that you find in at Dollarama back home, just packed into a tiny store.

And, it's within a 20-25 minute walk from our apartments. I love it.

In other news, school is just about to finish for Christmas break. We have a week and 3 days of teaching left, and on December 21st, I'm out of here and flying home! I'm very excited to see the family, friends, snow, Christmas lights and everything familiar. Though I think it will be pretty surreal for much of the time.

Yesterday we went to the annual Christmas bazaar near Kuwait City. I picked up a bunch of Christmas presents (yay!), the kinds of neat souvenirs that you can't really find elsewhere. It was very festive - very reminiscent of bazaars back home. Christmas trees, Christmas music, Christmas ornaments and lots of red and green. Although it is still over 20C outside, so it's still a little weird to be thinking about Christmas ;)

wind and waves and surfers

Kuwait has about 40 windy days per year - and they seem to be mostly in the winter!

...winter currently being now, which is about 20C. I can't complain. Although it can feel cold when it gets really windy. Plus our apartments don't have heating, so we have a space heater - which I haven't used yet, but I intend to when it becomes time. It is cold in the mornings now - so much that I don't want to get out from under my duvet!

But 47F beats 47C any day.

18 days until home!

finally!

the long term forcast for Kuwait, this week.
mmmmm.....

adventures in teaching

What a day.
Wake up, 5am, as per usual. On the bus at 6:15, at school by 6:25. Organize my lessons for the day, go outside for gate duty from 7:00-7:20. My first class arrives by 7:30, and they do their warm-up. These French 1s enjoy talking, and talking they do a lot. To the point where they can't even sit still in my class. They don't listen to each other, they don't listen to me. So I had to be stern with them today, and explain the consequences of constantly talking and not paying attention to each other or to me, which is losing their participation marks of 15% of their final grade. This is huge. I explained that if they have a 94% in their class, and lose 15% on participation, what does that leave? (79%). And what grade is that? (C+). And I would not be boosting a C+ on account of behaviour in my class. I had had enough.

The girls were silent at this point. Absolutely silent.
And they tried arguing. And they tried being smart with me. And I tried explaining it.

I gave them their assignment, and let them to work. I had no urge to try and get them to participate in large group activities if they just were going to be that way. I wanted, for one, to see that the girls could figure it out on their own - to combat their "learned helplessness" and give them pride in their achievements. And they complained throughout the entire activity! Until the end, when they realized that they had done it, and had done it in no time at all.

I had girls writing on the board, "Je deteste le francais" (at least they learned something!) - these are my very outgoing girls, the ones who are constantly complaining that I take their marks off while talking during the lesson.

So out of 17 students, the only 7 or so who do not hate me at this moment are the few who never get to talk during class, who want to learn desperately but cannot because of the ones who crave my attention and slow down the class - these 7 girls got to answer questions at the end of class - I got to hear their voices for once - because the rest of the class refused to participate.

But it was silent.

And yet I feel bad. I don't like that I had to be stern with them, I don't like that they claimed I was mean and hated them (which I denied - vehemently), I don't like that I don't know what to do at this point. And I don't like that this will inhibit my sleeping for the next few days.

I need to find a job that doesn't require so much invested emotional and physical energy.

----

Oh, one more thing. Our first teacher flew the coop yesterday - just up and left the country, no explanation, just that she was "done". The sad thing is that at this point, everyone is feeling a little "done" and running seems very tempting - the honeymoon period is over, Ramadan is over - the girls are giving us a run for our money and making us earn every last penny. There's only 20 more teaching days until Christmas, which is coming none-too-soon.

I have to admit that I'm a little homesick at times, especially when it's tough, but I'm having more fun in Kuwait and experiencing more than I would be in nowheresville Ontario. Thank God for good friends, good fun and good shoulders to lean and cry on.

a taste of home!

I've been trying to find Chai Tea here for the past 3 months.

On Friday, we were at Marina Mall and we decided to splurge and go to Second Cup...and I had my first Chai Latte in Kuwait and it was pure heaven.

I miss my Chai!

So much that I dedicated an entire post to it. You betcha.

super students

I am officially one of the coaches for the Academic Games. Yes, yes, the nerdo-lympics.
But I'm not going to write about that. Although I'm pretty excited about it. Even if it will take up 3 lunch periods a week for the next 4 months. Somehow, I'm excited to learn lots of new, useless trivia, too ;)

But there is one student who missed practice today because she had an AP meeting (AP stands for Advanced Placement - kind of like the old OAC courses - for the smart kids who want to be more prepared for university). She came at the beginning and said that she wanted to be there but she couldn't, so I put her name on the list and off she went.

After school, she came to talk to me, she asked when meetings would happen. I told her: Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays at lunchtime. So she said, "ah, and Tuesdays are Student Council, so that leaves Wednesday night for Grade Advisor meetings."

This girl is hard core. She plays on every sports team, she does every extracurricular activity, AND she's in AP courses. If that's not crazy, I don't know what is. She's a special kid, and I'm very proud of her - even though I'm not even really her teacher!

November in Kuwait

I think that November in Kuwait is going to be my favourite month. It feels a lot like September in Canada - the mornings and evenings are nice and cool, but it's still quite warm during the day.

I went for a walk this morning, just as the sun was rising. I even wore my sweater - for a few minutes, until I realized that I really didn't need it. It's nice to feel a cool breeze, I didn't want to cover it up!

first world money, third world mentality

On October 1st, we received a notice from our superintendant telling us that our water heaters would be changed in the next couple of days, and we should lock up our valuables and whatnot in our apartments.

Who knew that "a couple days" would turn into a couple of weeks? Mine was changed today. Yesterday, they came into my apartment to get it started, and moved my fridge across the kitchen. Today, they finished the job, and my fridge was back in its happy location. Now with a large, white cylinder above it, that is my water heater.

Not a bad thing, I do like hot water! It makes my showers feel, you know, bearable.

But the mess the workers left behind! My apartment smelt like sweaty men who hadn't showered in a while (you know, that taxi driver smell), and there was dust PARTOUT. (aka everywhere). I swept up the largest pile of dirt. They left the doors to my washrooms open (including my boy's bathroom...which smells like an outhouse, even after i clean it, because of the drains) and they used my ensuite bathroom! Not only did they use it, but they left the toilet seat up. For the love. Honestly. Is it so difficult to put a lid down? Especially in a girls' apartment?

Needless to say, I spent an hour cleaning when I got home from school. Maybe my apartment needed it. Though I was still a little bitter about it! ;)

Although the water running from the tap is now brown. Mmm...hot chocolate, straight up

worlds apart

Mom just sent me a small reminder. On October 29 of last year...I woke up to this:

This year?

Swimming in October! Today it was 34C in the shade. I love it :) What a difference.

24!

Another year, another birthday :)

Today started ...early. 4:45am early. Enough time to get ready for school and on the bus by 6:15am. Man, I sure didn't miss these early mornings before Ramadan! Christina decorated the door to my classroom, and the 'social committee' dropped off a card and some chocolate. I had 2 classes, which I managed to get through without my students even realizing that it was my birthday, until lunchtime, when I had lunch duty and several girls wished me happy birthday - even students that I don't know! Thanks to Miss Pam, who even showed the girls a picture of me so that they would know to whom to wish happy birthday.

That's why I love my new coworkers and friends. Even the busdriver sang happy birthday on the way home from school this afternoon!

We all watched Grey's Anatomy together this evening, and, half way through, the Peppe's Pizza guy arrived! They'd ordered pizza for all of us...including my pizza...sort of...a 16-alarm-super-spicy-hot pizza instead! But delicious, and it's the thought, and I'll finish eating it tomorrow :) I love my girls.

It's been a great day, I even got to talk to mom on the phone for a few minutes! Very short, next time I'll have to move to a country where the long distance rates aren't so ridiculously high!

So thank you to everyone who wished me happy birthday - whether you read this or not - you made my day feel very special :) I hope that 24 is better than 23 and 21 combined! It's already looking up.

back again, back again

It's hard to believe that I'm back in Kuwait. Our trip to Jordan went by so quickly - yet so wonderfully. Of course, not without it's frustrations, or stresses, a few tears and short tempers - but that makes it more interesting ;) We spent our last 2 days at the Marriot Resort in the Jordan Valley, floating in the Dead Sea, and that was just perfect.

I'll upload some pictures later, I'm just waiting for a good time to head to Burger King for fast internet! Our plane landed this morning at 5:20am, and we arrived back at the apartments just before 6:30am. It's now 7:30am and I'm fighting going to bed...I know that might be a little disastrous. Necessary, but disastrous nonetheless. I think I'll do laundry first, and then sleep. I'm still feeling a little energized from the sunshine and the 1 hour nap that I had on the plane! I'm sure I'll crash in a little bit.

The hard part was realizing, when we landed, that we'll be waking up at this time tomorrow to go back to work....

oy!

So I will be spending most of the afternoon and all of my night sleeping in MY bed.

I'll update on our Jordan adventures later, I promise - it was an awesome time and we did soooo much. Amman, Jerash, Kerak, Petra, Dead Sea, Mount Nebo, Medeba, Bethany...my visa and I both got quite the workout!!

But I love the girls I was traveling with, and we had an awesome time hanging out, getting to know each other better and seeing a little bit of the world.

Eid Mubarak!

Happy Eid! We're off school next week, and heading to Jordan. The flight leaves at midnight tonight and we'll be away until October 20! That's one way to make the days fly by.

Today was a good and relatively relaxing day. I let the girls watch movies in French class; French 1 watched a movie on learning French and French 2 watched the Princess Diaries in French. They complained at first, but it had their complete attention for 55 minutes, plus they kept asking questions, like, "why did the subtitle say that? she said something else..." It makes me glad that they were paying attention.

I did give the Economics class a free work period today, seeing as only 5 of them came to class and I didn't feel like actually doing any work. One of my girls is from Ottawa, Canada - it was neat to connect with her a little.

I also met the previous French teacher after school today - that was a little awkward. She said to me, "I hope you got all the stuff I left for you" and i wanted to say, "yeah, thanks for all the plentiful resources" in a sarcastic tone. But I just said yes, being nice and what not. It is working out, and I'm proud of all my girls. They are MY girls. And they are good students. Even when they whine.

It's definitely a challenging year, but I'm having fun (finally!). Once Eid is over, school days will go back to the original 7:30-2:30 format, which is exhausting, but in a way it's better because we can just get more done. And the girls won't have the "But I'm fasting, miss" excuse!

And we can listen to music in class, again. I love subjecting them to my French music.

Well, I'm off to pack! See you in 9 days, with plenty of pictures.

Canadian Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! I am again very blessed to be surrounded my so many fellow Canadians. We couldn't let this holiday pass without a little celebration. So we organized a large Thanksgiving Dinner for the entire building! We had a good turnout - Canadians, Americans, British (among others) and there was still lots of food leftover. Which means...Thanksgiving leftovers! We started eating them tonight, we'll continue eating them tomorrow, and dear Diane is already sick of turkey!

I'm thankful for my new friends and coworkers. We're getting through this together, and having a lot of fun in the meantime.

This is just part of the group, sitting on the floor and in the couches in the lobby, eating our hearts out.

anaa' min Kanada

The letters are starting to make sense :) This is my arabic teacher, talking and writing, believing that we all truly do understand.

It's getting easier. Slowly! It actually says Canada on the board, the second word from the top on the left. Can you see it? You read it from right to left. It starts with an S shape. That's Kah. Jennifer is written above it and Kathryn is below it. It makes us feel both smart and stupid at the same time. That's impressive.

But you can't learn a language in a matter of weeks - and we've decided to take Arabic 1 in November. We have 2 more classes of introductory Arabic, before Eid (the celebration marking the end of Ramadan). We just want to be able to understand our students! The horrible thing is that our students speak Kuwaiti Arabic, which is practically a completely different language than ordinary Arabic...d'oh!

Gherghiyan

So I was wrong! (go figure)

It turns out that Gherghiyan isn't an Islam thing, it's just a Kuwait thing. Half-way through the holy month of Ramadan (where they fast during daylight hours), the kids have a day (or two or three) called Gherghiyan, where they go around and collect candy from people. At school, though, they GIVE it to each other! And not just each other, to us, too. Especially the elementary and middle school teachers (although as high school teachers, we received some). So now we keep having candy parties, visiting the middle school teachers to enjoy their goodies. And they are generous (as Ramadan would suggest!).

So we all dressed up in our dura'as, looking great as can be.

We had a good day. It's really the most comfortable outfit ever! It's just very very warm. How could people wear these all the time? Now I know why my one student always complains about the heat in the classroom....while the other students complain about the cold.

all dressed up, nowhere to go

Last night we went to Mubarkiya, a large (cheap!) market area in Kuwait, to buy our dura'as. Now we are ready for Gherghian on Thursday! I made us pose in a picture...they do actually mock me daily for carting my camera around everywhere ;) I just might have to buy a simple dura'a, just to wear around sometimes...it is so comfortable!

finally!

So, I've been worried that my Additional Qualification would not show up on my Certificate of Qualification, but today I looked - and voilà! This makes me very happy. It wasn't a complete waste of every Wednesday evening and almost $1000 last year.

I just thought that I'd share :) This is all public information on www.oct.ca - you can look up any teacher that is qualified to teach in Ontario. Search my name!

gherghian dura'as

Tonight we went to the dura'a store and tried on some dura'as! These are fancy ones, meant for special occasions, like Gherghian (the Muslim equivalent to Halloween).

I didn't buy that one yet, because...well...I'm a dutch girl in Kuwait. I'm just too tall! And thin. But I won't complain about that, I'll just keep looking around. It was soooo beautiful, though!

Pam and Nat plan on wearing theirs around the house every day...they are just that comfortable! Now I understand a little why the women wear dura'as all the time....

Ramadan Kareem!

Yesterday, was an interesting day, and it started bright and early with me, missing the bus! True, I should have been there 5 minutes early, but technically the bus should have waited just those few extra minutes, to ensure that no one was still in the elevator.
True, waiting for the second bus is not an issue, it's only 15 minutes. But the problem was that by the time the second bus came around (the second and last bus, mind you), there were 17 teachers and 12 seats!
We call it a bus, but really it's a van. Our bus-van.

So we shoved as many as we could, sitting on each other's laps, sitting on the floor, squashed and smushed.
Needless to say, as cheery as we get when we're excited, there were quite a few people who were none to impressed!



But we survived. This morning I got on the early bus (5 minutes early!) and we made them wait the extra few minutes. Which was good, because by the time that bus left, it was full, too.

Ramadan Kareem! This is the month of Ramadan. Muslims fast while the sun is up (fasting from food, water, music, television, smoking, sex...all sorts of different pleasures). It's actually illegal to eat or drink in public, you can be fined or put in prison for the rest of the month.
Last night we had the opportunity to go to a fellow teacher's house and experience Iftar, the meal you eat when you break the fast at the end of the day. Here is Natalie, at the gate. It's the only picture I took because I was too scared to take any inside of Nisreen's house.



The dinner was delicious.
All sorts of different foods, soups, salads, meats, rices - even a turkey - it was like a big Thanksgiving meal! And they do this several times throughout Ramadan. Not always so fancy, sometimes it's just leftovers, but often they get together with family and friends to celebrate.
We had a blast! I can't remember the last time that I've laughed so much.

She even sent us home with leftovers.

And the kicker - I've been trying to find Chai Tea here in Kuwait ever since I've arrived. Not only did she serve it last night, but she made it from scratch and she even gave me the recipe today at school! I can't wait to get the ingredients and make my own.

I'm really enjoying the time here in Kuwait, learning lots of new things. We have our first Arabic lesson tonight, and next Tuesday we're going to have another Iftar - our third. The first one we ate at a restaurant a couple days ago (Peppe's...I love Peppe's). But it's a different experience, and different food, each time. What an experience.

Divas!

This weekend, three of our teachers are having birthdays! So on Thursday night, we all headed out to Diva's (a restaurant) to celebrate. Here is Kelly and Natalie and I - we are all Nipissing graduates ;)

And here is the entire group. We are only missing 2 or 3 of our "new hires". (I borrowed these pictures from Briana :)


We've just completed our second week of teaching, and tomorrow begins another. But - it's Ramadan! Which means that we are only teaching 4 hours a day - which is pretty sweet in and of itself. We get to school at 8am and we leave at 1:30 - this is wonderful, considering that on normal days, we arrive at 6:30 and leave at 3 or 4. Our classes are currently 55 minutes in length, instead of 90 minutes. The only issue is that the girls are fasting, which means that it is all around harder for them to concentrate.

So it will be a slow month! At the end of Ramadan, we have a week-long holiday called Eid Al Fitr, and we're planning on heading to Dubai, or maybe Bahrain, depending on where we can get flights.

Teaching is going well - I think I need to slow down a little. It's a constant learning experience, trying to figure out how to keep the quick kids interested and challenged, while not losing the kids who are new to French. It doesn't help that the administration keeps putting new kids in my classes, who've never taken French. So I'm constantly fighting to keep them up to date. I can see how teaching adults would be much nicer - in university, you're 100% responsible for your own learning - here, I still need to sell my subject to the girls. But it doesn't mean much to some of the girls. Which means that now I need to focus on the girls who love French, and WANT to learn it, and let the ones who don't care realize that they are not going to get decent marks or have fun if they refuse to participate and pay attention.

It's just hard to do that. New teachers are allowed to be irrational dreamers ;)

Relaxing at the BK

So one of our new favourite activities is to go to Burger King for a treat. Here we are eating some "great" food. I don't know what it is, I never feel quite right after eating there, and yet - I continue to go. Rational smational.

Of course, there are no Kuwaities at Burger King at 4pm. They don't eat supper until at least 8 or 9, maybe later. Around 10 pm, the place is bustling - and so is the playground. But today, we were the only ones there, so we took advantage of the opportunity.

Weee!

the things we do for our students...

Yes, I actually wore this in my French classes today. Both of them. Well...in fact....both French classes and the Economics class. Yes, yes, I love the girls, and the only way to get through to them is to get them thinking I'm a little off my rocker.

Teaching has been going well! My first week of teaching is complete, and I survived. The girls are getting louder and chattier every day. They were fine the first few days (of course), but new students keep coming, and with larger classes, there's just more talking. Even today, I had 4 new girls in my Economics class, and right away, the new girls were talking. It's mostly frustrating because I know that if they weren't there, it would be that much quieter. You can tell that they just don't want to be there, whereas the other students at least pretended to be interested! But hopefully, if the lessons are interesting and relevant enough, they'll shut up enough to actually learn something. (Though it seems that my Economics class is becoming more of a Character Education class! Weird...)

My French classes are interesting. Harder. Much harder, because I can't just go and photocopy everything that I need done, the day before. We have to give our photocopy guy 4 business days in advance to get anything done, which means that I need to plan it 4 days in advance...and that never happens. So we tried doing some actions today, and the girls just look at me and say, "Mme., we'll never learn if we can't write it down." So ups and downs. I'm thinking that just a bunch of learning games, writing activities, and oral communication will at least get the ball rolling.

I just want my French classes to be step-by-step learning. But it doesn't work that way, since I just want them to know the AIM (gestures) program, for oral speaking, but also grammar...but I want it to be interesting...but I think the students, themselves, secretly just want to do worksheets the entire time, from the textbook. Are they nuts?

It seems that I've been called to play Euchre upstairs! For a bit, before I crash and burn in my bed.

Tomorrow we're heading to the Crowne Plaza for a day of working out, relaxing by the pool, and just trying not to think about school. We deserve it.

Kuwait at 5am

The view from my window at 5am...

yep, that's when I wake up in the morning.
But it's pretty. And...it's not hot yet! In fact...it's almost chilly.
Relatively.

We survived our first day of teaching!
I was nervous for about 5 minutes...until I realized that the students don't bite.
And I actually had FUN!

d-day approaches!

Tomorrow is the big day! All the preparations, anxieties and excitement come down to tomorrow at 7:30 am, when the students arrive in the classroom. I don't think that I could feel any more unprepared - seeing as they did just throw us into our classrooms a week ago!

I am feeling better, though, but I'm still afraid - I think it's inevitable! Today we went to the school to get some final touches done - including photocopies! We just brought our pages down to Sabash...and smiled nicely...and he did them for us right then and there. What an angel! Just that one thing made my anxiety level decrease a million fold. I was able to work in the computer lab and print off a bunch of things - including another handout for my Economics class. They're being shipwrecked on an island tomorrow :) Go Economics!

So now I'll get to planning my classes entirely.

But, because I've been slacking off so much on updating the blog, here are some pictures from the event last Wednesday night at the American University of Kuwait.

We were the first ones there, and we got to see coffee-backpack-guy right away! He gave us little coffee shots from a hose. Aaaawesome. I think I saw him at the Starbucks near the school today...he might have wondered why I kept staring at him through the window! But they really do love their Starbucks here. They're everywhere.

The Mochachino came out much faster than I was expecting.

And I had a Hitler 'stash.

Here's our group, you know, mingling with the other teachers. Or...not. We're so antisocial! Well...social enough together, very very unsocial towards the Brits ;) Let's just say we're shy.

This is Diane (standing) and another woman...I can't remember her name just now. But Diane is from Cape Breton (originally) and lived in Antigonish for 35 years. She has a couple good looking, single sons. We're working on that. :)

When we got home, we shoved as many as we could into the elevator. It let us know that it was full. I'm always trying to fill the elevator...and they know it. The only problem is getting everyone out again at their respective floors. It's our clown elevator! (hehe. You can see Lindsey's eyes and ear in the reflection).

Classroom...after!

Here is my classroom after I've decorated it, it took a few days but it finally looks a little nicer!

The desks arranged in a circle...hopefully I don't have any more than 16 or 17 students. I also noticed that if I open the blinds a little bit, I can let in some light, but I can also keep out unwanted eyes and heat. And that's Canada on the wall behind the TV :)

This is the back wall! There's my desk in the corner, the cute Eiffel Tower, a map of Paris and a map of Québec and some fun posters.

Here is the side wall, with the door. I'm very proud of the bulletin board. And the red China poster.

This is the front of the classroom - there are French sayings on the wall above the board. And Montréal to the left.


But I still feel as though I'll never be ready enough!!

EEEEW!

I am very disappointed that I have to do this post twice. The first one must be floating in cyperspace somewhere...sigh!

But it is worth it.
So tonight, I was getting ready to make supper, and I was excited to eat my rice for the first time, and to make real rice with Rebecca's rice-making trick of one knuckle of water. I opened the brand new package of rice that I'd bought at CityCentre and I was about to pour it into the pan when...

Bugs!! Disgusting, black bugs!! It wasn't black and white rice at all, but there were little bugs crawling all through it! Hundreds of them! I told Pam, my neighbour, and she was also thoroughly disgusted. She helped me take a picture by not letting the bugs escape, and we decided that cooking was just not going to happen tonight.


We went to the 7th floor to recruit some girls to go to Happy Duck with us, and they were also equally disgusted. With due reason.
They didn't come along, but we went anyways. Here I am enjoying my delicious shawarma. The men at Happy Duck are amazing.


And I don't want to know how many bugs were in it!
For 350 fils, I really don't care.

across the way

A cool ....dead....crab thing on the beach.

Katie's Crocs in Kuwait. They're seeing the world with me, baby!

A family of cats I found living in garbage. I wanted to take the entire bunch home with me. So sad.

When did we move to Miami? All I can think of, every time I see these, is CSI Miami.