Two beach bums in the desert...

In twenty-four hours, we will be heading to the airport!!!

This break is for the Islamic holiday Eid al-Adha or Feast of the Sacrifice. It falls on the tenth day of Hajj (when Muslims travel to Mecca). They sacrifice a sheep in honor of Abraham who was willing to sacrifice his son, and God had him sacrifice a sheep instead. Muslims who don't go to Mecca still sacrifice a sheep and pass the meat to family, friends and the poor.

This also means that we have a holiday!

So we will be flying out tomorrow night at 10pm. We arrive in Sri Lanka around 6AM and then ride 4 hours to the hotel in Hikkaduwa. That means around 10AM Sri Lankan time, I will be on the beach, in my bikini with a drink in my hand! Sand, salt water, sea breeze, clouds, rain, and stars! So excited!!

Life in the desert is tough for beach bums; especially a beach/dive bum who has been out of the water for 2 months! Michael is already checking surf reports.

I just have to get through one more school day and tutoring session and then I'll be on island time!!

Desert Camping Trip

Friday night was the Desert Camping Trip! It's a trip for ex-pats living in Kuwait and is put together by the Sand Ballers (a paintball group in Kuwait.) Michael went early for the paintball portion, and I came later on the bus. There were teachers there from our school and other schools as well as ex-military who are now contractors and their family and kids. Some people brought their dogs too which was really exciting for us! We never see dogs in the city. I didn't have my camera but Elizabeth got some great photos! 

We were in the middle of the desert-10 km from the Iraq border!

Photo of the campsite from far away. 

Bombed out buildings where the paintball games and dinner took place.
This was the first place Iraq invaded during the Gulf War in 1990.

Setting up the tents was wild!
The wind picked up and sandblasted us right when we were setting up for a good 20 minutes!
It was all we could do to hold on to them without getting sand in our eyes!

All of the delicious food!

 

Nice photo of the sand. Unfortunately a lot of the area was trashy.
Littering is a big problem in Kuwait City. 

Great experience with great people!

Eat, Sleep, Lesson plan

This week was interesting. There's a normal speaking voice and a teaching voice-which is a lot louder! Well this week I had a sore throat and lost my teacher voice and almost my normal!

Yesterday we had a Hajj celebration. The third graders acted it out with costumes and props. It was quite a production! I'll have to borrow some photos and put them up tomorrow!

The rest of this post is just teacher stuff, but we're going on a desert paintball/camping trip tonight so there will be a update post tomorrow with pictures : )


These are my random thoughts of a first year, second grade, boys' campus teacher in Kuwait:

• I taught a lesson last week how to say Miss Toni. They were saying Miss or Miss Tonya (like tone-ee-yah) So I drew a stick figure and said, "Look. Toe. Knee. Toe-knee. That's my name.
• My to-do list is never ending and there's not enough hours in the day. 
• My maxi skirt gets caught under the wheels of my desk chair daily.
• Second grade boys have learned that if they cross their legs, grab the front of their pants, squirm and give the bathroom signal, it means emergency and they will be given permission. So, we had a talk the other day-only use one had to give the bathroom signal-no grabbing with the other! haha
• There's no shame in lesson planning the night before : )
• Kids love routine and it helps with their behavior. 
• I did an author study on Laura Numeroff, and explained that part of her writing day includes walking her dog. My boys yelled out "Haram!" So my TA discussed it's only haram if she keeps the dog inside. (It's not too common to have dogs as pets) It's so nice having a bilingual Muslim TA!
• Pinterest-it's a love/hate. I love all of the great ideas, and I hate that I can't do them all.
• I choose small group instruction over whole group any day.
• "Actually" now has a new meaning. Example: I'm introducing a lesson but I already asked the boys to get out their scissors and gluestick...big mistake! They can't pay attention so mid sentence I say, "Actually, we're going to talk on the carpet!" 
• When I need a dry erase marker-I can only find a pen. When I need a pen, I can only find a pencil. But I always have my clipboard! It has my schedule, class list, informal assessments, lesson plans and to-do lists. I lost it for one period last week and almost lost my mind!
• When my boys do really great, I feel like a proud momma!

The past three weeks, we've working in small groups for reading block, and this past week we worked in small groups for math. But this upcoming week my math stations and literacy centers will be in full swing!! I am so excited, because I know it's best for my active boys! Can't wait to let you know how it goes!

Kuwaiti Fashion

Quick update:

Had a great week! Michael and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary! I took the day off so the kids were kind of wacky the rest of the week. I'm learning that if they're schedule changes in anyway, we have break downs in behavior.

Next weekend will be going on a desert paintball and camping trip. I'm not playing paintball of course, but it should be fun! And in 11 days we'll be flying to Sri Lanka! I can't wait to get back on a beach!!

I've decided that's what I miss most about home (besides family and friends of course!) Right now the leaves are changing and the weather is cooling down in NC. I miss fall! I miss fresh air!! I miss the ocean!!! Michael and I counted the stars the other night from the rooftop...there were 9. But I was promised stars this weekend out in the desert!

We went to the mall today, and I forgot my camera-again!! So I decided to show you some Kuwait fashion, but all of the photos are from the internet.

This is group of Kuwaiti women.

The women show that modesty can still be stylish.
High waist pants, blazer, pumps and a coordinating hijab. 

And some women cover everything bu their eyes. 

In the malls, even if they are covering their face, you can still see their eyes and eye make-up. 

No matter what the women wear, they are dressed up! I love the fancy make-up and accessories!

Here are two Kuwaiti men wearing dishdashas and ghutras. 

This is the inside of Avenues Mall-the largest mall in Kuwait.  

Reading Week!

This week was reading week and by far the best week yet! 

Bulletin board! Thanks Ms. Eman!

Grade 12 boys came in to read to my class.

One of the perks of being on a campus with middle school and high school.

Our very first Author Showcase!
Can you tell how well they're listening? ; )

All of the parents who attended the showcase

The parents brought food for the occasion.This is what was leftover after the kids left!
Lots of savory pastries, donuts and cookies!

My Little Critters in the Reading Parade! 

The parade ended at 11:00 but since I postponed their spelling test and we celebrated before the parade, all of the parents took their sons home! Turned out to be a half day for me!! 

Next week is going to be great!! Math stations will be in place soon, so teaching the kids the different games is fun! I'm also having small groups for English and finally getting in phonics instruction and guided reading! We start social studies, because science and social studies switch midway. Basically my kids are used to my expectations and procedures, so I am able to implement the practices that I feel are best for their learning needs.

Michael is going to be the high school boys' PE substitute teacher all next week! At least the grocery shopping will get done thanks to taw9eel.com! 

We put the order in online and they deliver them for free!!

If things get too busy we can always have a maid clean our apartment. It sounds crazy but most of the teachers here hire maids to clean once a week-they do laundry, dishes and everything for 5KD! Don't worry mom-I'll clean!! haha But it's nice to have that option : )

Duty at ACA

For starters, I forgot to fill you in on my weekend! Friday is church day. 

 

Saturday we treated ourselves to a pedicure! 

Walking around the dusty streets in sandals for a month....this pedicure was definitely needed!

Saturday night we went out for all you can eat sushi-it was a splurge but absolutely delicious!

I started tutoring this week! It's a different experience than tutoring in the states. The driver picks me up from my apartment and takes me to the student's house. I use the side entrance where the maid greets me and takes me to the table for the child-usually in a finished basement or in the dining room. They serve tea and coffee and then let us work for an hour. Sometimes I don't see the mom at all. When we're done, we let the maid know and the driver takes me back home. Yesterday I had to go straight from school because we had a meeting, so the mom had a salad, hummus, and flatbread with cheese and olives ready for me; she said she knew I didn't have time after school-so thoughtful.

I'm including a photo and video of my duty that I have 4 times a week-mosque duty. The fourth grade boys are washing behind the mosque, then walk around to remove their shoes. While the fourth graders are praying, the fifth graders are at recess! Guess what they're playing....

Soccer!!!! Kuwaiti boys LOVE soccer!! They play it all the time! The only other sport I see during recess is basketball, but it's only a few students. Some teachers throw a ball to students in the classroom when they ask questions, because the boys are very bad at catching.

Pile of shoes beside the mosque. It's hard to tell, but they're all soccer shoes! Purple, neon green and of course- orange!

I see at least 10 pairs of these shoes in each class!

This is recess at ACA-sometimes it feels like dodgeball for teachers on duty!

Learning about Islam

I've been trying to get a video so you can hear the call of prayer but it's always too quiet, so I'm borrowing one instead-thanks Elizabeth!

The next one is a video taken on a Friday during the sermon. I like it because you can see the men heading into the mosque. 

One of my boys is practicing a reading from the Qur'an for a competition. He stayed in from recess today to practice. I asked him what he was reading.. To explain the Qur'an, he asked, "Do you know Allah?" 

"Yes, I know Allah."

"Well he said all of this." [pointing to paper]

"Well who wrote it? Muhammad?"

"No, Allah told Muhammad and he memorized it and then told all the other Muslims who memorized it. Then they wrote it. It's not in English. It's in Arabic."

"Oh okay."

And then he kept reading/singing his part.

I love how kids make everything so simple! 

I've also learned that Islam has prophets; twenty-five are mentioned in the Qur'an including-Abraham, Moses, Elijah, Jonah, John the Baptist, Jesus... Any of these names ring a bell? Yep, same guys in the Bible. Of course there is one very important difference-Jesus! We believe Jesus is the Son and God and died on the cross for our sins. But it's nice to remember Islam and Christianity are more similar than most would admit. : )

This week is reading week! Our theme is Little Critter series by Mercer Mayer! I can't wait to tell you all about it!