photos of the week

My students started working with paints on Wednesday. This is the sink after they left...I took a picture. And then didn't clean it because I thought it was pretty. And then it dried. Solid. Whoops!

It rained on the way to the last Varsity Soccer game on Wednesday afternoon - and I had fun trying to get pictures of the rain on the windshield of the bus.
So did Shaikha.

Thursday night, Pam and I went to see our student's photography in an art show. She was so excited to see us, it made us happy, too! It was helpful having her there, she explained the arabic for us. The art was all about striving for freedom in Kuwait.

And then we went out for dinner on this awesome big ship, called a Dhow. Delicious.

It was for Christina's 30th birthday. The table is on an angle, because the entire ship is on a slant!

pictures of the day (or days...)

Here are a few pictures from the past few days that I thought might be interesting.

Sometimes we forget where it is exactly that we live. It doesn't really feel like we are in the Middle East, and so close to a couple of very big wars....

It may be the desert and 35+ degrees every day, but winter is coming! Officially! It rained yesterday and today. It actually POURED. Here is the proof. Can you see the bubbles from the raindrops hitting the pavement?

These kids were also very excited to see the rain and they were out playing on the roof. Look at the girl in pink and blue. She's letting the rain fall on her hands...it's amazing when you only see it a few times a year.

Today after the Varsity soccer game, we went with the students to the Chocolate Bar for breakfast and had pancakes. They came with a chocolate dip and a maple syrup dip. We were soooo sick afterwards...but it was well worth it.

The students were hyper and while waiting for their drivers to pick them up, they decided to buy us teachers some roses at the flower store next to the restaurant! Crazy kids. They are so cute.

clouds!

I woke up this morning to... clouds!!!

now this may sound a little silly, but in a desert country like Kuwait, clouds are few and far between...but now that it's nearing the end of October, we should be seeing MUCH more of each other.

It means that the weather is turning for the better and cooler weather is on its way. Yay! A little sign of hope.

Think of it as that first robin in the spring or that warm week in February...

AND...I've just been informed...that it is RAINING!!! First rain of the season!!! YAY! Winter really IS coming! You don't understand how boring the weather is here for a Canadian. This is ... awesome. The end.

awesome students

I have to go to bed, but i wanted to post a quick recap of my awesome birthday yesterday! 25 years old. Another year closer to 100. That's my goal. It seems like a decent one.

It all started with ice cream for breakfast. Ben and Jerry's, actually. and not just ice cream for me, ice cream for aaaaall of my friends. Two of my students delivered 8 mini tubs of ice cream to my classroom floor with candles and a note "happy birthday - sorry, we don't smoke." So the candles weren't lit ;)

During my second block class, even MORE ice cream was delivered to my classroom! Arabic ice cream, which is very much like italian gelato. Delicious. So i had a lot of ice cream, as did my students.

Near the end of third block, my awesome students had pizza hut ...AND burger king... delivered to my classroom. And during lunch, a big mango/strawberry cake.

Seriously. Seriously. So we had a lovely feast during our student council meeting. And a little bit during 4th block. And at our high school staff meeting after school.

At home, my friends delivered brownies (muffycake brownies...mmm) and more pizza. Peppe's. Mmm. My favourite kind. They got it right this year.

So today involved a million more brownies...and an hour at the gym! ;) As well as an hour spent in the elevator with Christina and Kristen. But what a good birthday yesterday. I was so spoiled - the girls really know how to make you feel special. I think i'll miss that the most about this group of seniors. A few in particular, but the ones that i know are pretty darn awesome.

I just wish that they knew how awesome they really were.

Here's to a great 25.

Eid melad saeed!

friday morning

Ah, Friday morning. Friday morning is officially my favourite morning of the week. There's nowhere to be until 10:30, there's nothing to do but drink coffee, read my bible, and play with photos. Alright, I may also be doing laundry. That doesn't bother me so much. Tomorrow I will once again worry about school work and planning, but on Fridays I like to pretend that I'm not a teacher. Nono, I LOVE to pretend that I'm not a teacher.

Though I can still say that I love teaching Art. Although on some days it really tires me out. Like the days when we give out progress reports. I locked myself in my classroom during 3rd block because I couldn't handle talking to anyone after the first two classes. My 4th block class is amazing (there are only 5 students) and they are like a breath of fresh air at the end of a long day, instead of a stifling stale stench or furious, cold, gusting gale.

I thought it would be nice to add a few photos from my trip, so here they are!

A view of Amman from inside our taxi. It looks very flat! ...here. It's actually pretty hilly. You notice it most when walking. Amman is near the north of Jordan.
The mountains in Aqaba, in the south of Jordan. Mountains, Red Sea, desert...it's really a little paradise.

This is in Wadi Rum. It's the desert near Aqaba and the sand is very red, and the mountains are amazing. We stayed until night time and you could see so many stars. Half of me wished to stay all night and gaze at the sky. The other half wanted nothing to do with the ground and the child-size beetles walking around.
And we went snorkelling in the Red Sea! It's so blue...and so beautiful. Like a whole other world down there, under the sea.

I have to admit that I had to photoshop the underwater photos - they were all a strong shade of blue. But with a few coloUr changes and contrast fixes, they actually turned out pretty nicely!

dreaming of a seaside paradise

The Red Sea is not red. It's blue. Almost turquoise. And it's full of coral and a million different species of marine life. And it's not as cold as they say it is.

Wadi Rum is just like Prince Edward Island...if PEI had mountains and desert. The sand is so red, and when the sun sets it glows. At night you can see so many stars that the Milky Way is practically a thick white line across the sky. And the beetles are the size of small children.

Aqaba is such a small city that you can walk across it in under 30 minutes. There's a Roman Church from 400AD. And an ancient Ayla fortress. A diving centre every 2 feet.

And an overwhelmingly large flag of Palestine.

Expect pictures later. But not now. Much later. Bed now. Bus at 6:10am tomorrow. Classes from 7:30am to 2:30pm. Then sleep.