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).