Wednesday, October 5, 2011

The honeymoon's over...

I feel like I am always starting my blogs off about how much I love this place and I wouldn't trade this experience for anything. Guess what! I just started another blog off with it, because it's still true! I love it here!


You know when you have a bunch of your friends in the same place and you use the expression "My worlds are colliding." Have you ever felt the exact opposite - all of your friends are spread out and no matter how hard you try, you'll never get them all together? I'm totally feeling this right now. I've been here for over a month now. When I was counting down the days until I'd board the plane, I never really got sad about leaving Dallas. I figured I'd have a moment here or there where I'd think of sweet memories with friends back home and have a few seconds where I just think to myself "Aw, I miss Dallas!" but I didn't expect this. No offense friends/family back home. If you know me at all, you know I hardly ever get feelings and I never actually show them. I kept thinking I'd see you guys next summer...no big deal. The truth is, I miss the heck out of you guys! I've never experience homesickness until now. I miss everything about Dallas - the people, the atmosphere, driving a car, stupid weather patters, daylight past 6pm...everything! No matter how much I love my current experience, you guys are irreplaceable. I've made some awesome friends here and I couldn't make it here without them, but there's just something about Dallas. It will always be my home.


Everyone back home keeps posting pictures, check-ins and statuses (stati??) on facebook that make me wish I were right there beside them during all the excitement. Keep them coming guys, and know that I'm there in spirit! Drop me a line or two when you get a chance. It's good to hear from y'all every once in a while. I have toyed with the idea of coming home in January, but I don't want to be tempted to stay! Well, also that I have the whole world to discover over here. :)


My routine is getting pretty normal here. I have the typical school day with my awesome kids, bus it home with all the teachers, meet up with my group for who knows what. We typically venture down Bin Khaldun, Beirut, or Qutaiba street to see what shawarma/juice shack we can mosey into. We live in one of the least westernized areas of Kuwait, so its fun to see how excited they get when we come in and test out their dishes. Last night, we went to an arabic place for shawarma. Kristina and I have been three times, but this time they gave us this dish to try and placed it on a little table outside (the only table in the restaurant), and told us to try it. It was amazing! I think it was called fathah snouber, but I could be way off. After that, we went into the Western Union to wire money home. We got some tickets from the clerk for an Indian concert on Saturday! It should be interesting. He laughed when we got excited.


My teacher friends can appreciate this part... Our progress reports are due next week. Our gradebook just started working about 2 days ago. I'm actually one of the luckier ones. Some people wont have a gradebook before the reports are due. It's software on the computer, and I have to keep a hard copy just in case anything goes wrong (which happens all the time). I can't mass assign scores, and I must enter all assignment in each class separately. My computer has a short in it, so it likes to turn off on its own a lot. Our contact with parents is completely based on what the kids decide to give us on day one. You guys know how reliable that can be!


I actually have nothing but great things to say about my students. I just gave my first test, and I made it rather difficult for them. They tried so hard and studied so much, and they did well! They weren't all A's, but considering they have to translate it in their head first and then figure it out, they did awesome! I'm learning what it means to teach all ESL kids. After seeing the brains on these students, I think all kids should start learning a second language at 4 years old! It's awesome how much they think and problem solve without me coaching them along. It's amazing how they can switch from Arabic to English so easily. They actually take two classes a day in Arabic - Arabic and Islam. The rest are all taught in english.


Last weekend was really exciting. We went to The Palms Resort for the day and just relaxed. Google it. It's legit. Some of us have decided to start scuba diving classes there. I'm super excited about that! I swam in the saltiest water ever! It's crazy how much I float in salt water! I want to take my students there to swim in the pool then jump in the gulf. We also finally booked our flight to Sri Lanka. We definitely learned our lesson on waiting to book. The prices jumped about 50KD (180USD) in a couple weeks since we are traveling on a holiday. It was pretty stressful. We tried everything we could to book it on our own, then we gave up and marched down to one of the several travel agencies on one of our main streets (Bin Khaldun). They were the first one we saw open, and about the 6th one we passed. We went on Friday - their holy day and nothing is open if it's owned by Muslims. We are just happy it's booked and we are on our way to Sri Lanka on the 4th! Nine of us booked it that night and another 5 or so booked a few days later. I'll tell you what all we have planned in another post. It could be pretty long. :)


Next weekend, we are all going to the rugby ball at the Hilton. I wasn't too excited about it, but apparently its "the thing" to go to here. We are all going dress shopping tomorrow! It'll be fun! We met a man at Lulu's (the local target basically) who is here opening restaurants. He heard me say "holy canoli" and knew right away we had to be from the western world. He told us his story, but to sum it up, he's lived everywhere opening restaurants and studying different cuisines. He invited us to sit at the "Chef's Table" when his next restaurant opens in November. It's called "Z Brgr" and it'll be a high-end burger/vegetarian restaurant that's attached to the palms. He hired a nutritionist who is our age and she just moved here. He asked us to network with her since she's stuck around a bunch of old guys all the time. We contacted her and she's shopping with us tomorrow!


I love how easy it is to network here. We've met so many awesome people - some that are from the western world, and some who know no english. Every experience is a new adventure, and memories are being made on the daily. All of them are reaffirmations that I am exactly where I am supposed to be.


I stole these pictures from Alexis. I've been bad about bringing my camera everywhere with me!


 This is the crew at Dominick's birthday. We're pretty good at all getting together to celebrate an occasion - speaking of which, Canadian Thanksgiving is Friday night!

This is just after we finally booked/paid for our trip to Sri Lanka! Abdullah spoke very little english (I helped him spell thousand on the receipt) but was extremely patient with us. He hounded me for a copy of this picture!


Oh...and GO RANGERS! I might not be home to celebrate, and it might be the middle of the night when they play, but its the first thing I check when I wake up!