I love Eid

Next week marks the end of Ramadan! And with the end of Ramadan comes the holiday of Eid al Fitr. This year it was planned to be October 1-4.

Then they gave us September 30th off.

And today, the entire week!

A long weekend, and then 4 days in the south of Jordan.

Ramadan Kareem, everyone :) Eid Mubarak!

Gherghian

I should be cleaning, or planning, or something. The shopping bus leaves in an hour and I usually like to have the place a little clean before then! So I'll write quickly. And then run around for 30 minutes cleaning frantically! ...or the bare minimum? (toilets, floors, dishes after...)

On Thursday, we had Gherghian at school. Like last year, it's what we joke to be Kuwaiti Halloween. But we don't dress up as someone else, we wear beautiful dura'as and the students give candy to everyone. It's to mark the half-way point of Ramadan for them.

Here are a few pictures:

The KG kids are the cutest.

Elementary dancing with characters!

Us in our Dura'as

Diane's class. They sang me the Gherghian song. They're actually posing for Myrna, but I stole a picture in the process :)

I heart Engrish

Today I bought an Egyptian dessert, Om Ali. It's one of my favourite desserts because it has a nice taste but it isn't too sweet, plus it's full of coconut...and I do love coconut. I just considered baking it, so I read the directions on the box. Might I say that we could get a sweet job being a translator in this place?

Ingredients: whey pwoder, margrine, soduim chloride, stapilizer, vanillin.

Direction #2: Whip well using an electric mixer with high speed for five minutes until desired consisteney is obtained.

Direction #4: Represent hot with beast appelite!

I hope you have a beast appelite! I know I do. Best. Dessert. EVER.

dusty desert and delicious dessert

One thing about living in the desert from April to September is that there are almost always two things you can be sure of: humidity and sand storms. Fortunately, they don't come at the same time. Unfortunately, they are equally craptacular.

The humidity is really only annoying if you have to spend more than 5 minutes outside - because everything is airconditioned (even some patios!) so generally it isn't a problem. And then there's the sandstorm. Buildings are not necessarily great for being well insulated - and the dust is surprisingly fine! It sneaks into any crack or crevasse, through the fans in the bathroom or the joints in the windows. On Tuesday night we were out when a crazy wind/sandstorm blew up! It frightened Melissa who grew up in Tornado country - and it gave her that creepy feeling. But we made it home safely, and our building is still standing. The fan in my bathroom has been broken (to the point where it can't close because the string holding it shut has torn off) so the wind was forcing the blades of the fan to stop spinning! To keep the motor from burning out entirely, I turned it off. Currently my bathroom is covered in a fine dusting. But I have learned the trick to cleaning this place: everything is dusted, then sprayed with Fantastic, then cleaned. If you don't dust first, you end up wiping MUD over everything....yes, I learn from experience. Yes, I am the queen of absent-minded-ness. Hey, being ridiculous is better than being boring?

Last night we went out for dinner at Diva's, the restaurant just near our apartments. It's Ramadan, so a lot of the stores and restaurants are having promotions. They had a raffle - put your name on a ticket and if they pick it - you win! So we gave them our names without really thinking. And what do you know, I won! Nothing big, but it's cute - a new small backpack. It's red. It's a one-shoulder kind of thingy.

And to top it off, it says Virgin across the front.

Well, if I haven't been getting enough attention from the men here already, this should really set them off! Thank goodness that I no longer have blonde hair...

It's September 9th

I love teaching Art. Have I mentioned that? Is it the 3 free periods that I have on B-day? Is it the seniors that I keep forcing to work harder? Is it the work periods? The drawing I can justify doing in my free time?

:)

It's already the second week back?

So the big thing about starting school in Ramadan scheduling (9am-1pm), is that it still feels like summer. It's hard to believe that the school year has begun and we're already into our second week of classes. I see my students for 55 minutes a day, time which FLIES by, and then they are off to their next class. There is no lunch break since most of the students are fasting, so they are sent home by 1pm to sleep for the afternoon, before they can eat around 6pm.

I teach five classes this semester, in four blocks. Three Art 1 classes on Day 1 and a Studio Art class on Day 2. Today they canceled my 1-student Art 2 class...so I officially only teach 1 class on Day 2. The principal is trying to figure out what to do to keep me busy! But since I am still prepping for three different classes, I don't think that they really mind. Neither do I :)

Other than a confusing schedule, life here has been pretty good. It's amazing how quickly we go back to our routines from last year - school, nap, order food...although, to combat our ordering food habits, we've all joined the gym and we work out together...once in a while!

A little tidbit of information: did you know that our moon is the only moon in our solar system that doesn't have a real name? I mean, what's with that?

So proud

I have a new nephew! His name is Gideon Isaiah, and he was born at 11:34pm on August 31, 2008 (which is 6:34am in Kuwait - just as I woke up for the first day of school!) He was 7lbs 12oz at birth, with a little tuft of red hair.

I can't wait to meet him! in 3 months. THIS is why I go home for Christmas, people :) It's for the little ones who grow so fast. Congratulations, Rod and Rebecca!