Life

Sometimes life just gets too busy.

Lesson planning
- Math
- Writing
- Grammar
- Unit of Inquiry
Running
- Week 5 Day 2 of Marathon Training
Teaching (which includes but is certainly not limited to)
- Corralling, herding, and rounding up my students
- Helping my students learn the value of knowledge
- Loving, loving, loving them
- Listening, disciplining, soothing owies, giving hugs, sorting out problems, mediating between friends (or enemies), fostering an environment of unconditional love, acceptance, and love for learning
- Pouring forth every ounce of energy I own for my exuberant and energetic students
Driving
- i.e. taking my life into my hands!!!!
Cleaning
- Dust
- Dust
- And, yeah, more dust!!
Post-Grad courses
- Videoed Observation
- Hypothetical unit lesson plans
- Professional Development Webinars
- Written Responses
- Collaboration, collaboration, and more collaboration
Eating
- Oh right, I need to do this...
Sleeping
- Zzzz

So today, when the power went out after we got home from school, I walked into my still cool apartment and set my school bags down.

It was quiet.

My computer was dead.

My treadmill wouldn't work.

Disconnection from the world accomplished!

Two hours of blissful silence reigned

As I rested my weary head

Then whir, hum, pop, stir

Life returned again.


Moral of the Story:  Next time I need a two-hour nap, I'll just call the electric company! :-)

 

Urban Homesteading and Syllabus Shock

Urban Homesteading

There has long been a part of me that loves the idea of homesteading.  If ever I had a chance to take part in one of those "reality" shows where they stick a family on a rural farm or ranch, I'd grab my hat off its hook, lasso from my bedpost, and tug on my boots.  However, given that I live in a city five minutes away from two grocery stores, and have no need for those aspects of homesteading which I find so fascinating, you might think me a bit silly to not only ponder the idea but endeavour to fulfill it. 

I do find it rather amusing that at no time during my stay in the the beautiful, soul-inspiring and rugged west, where my neighbors owned cows and pumped their water from the river, did I even try to tackle this idea.  Rather, I began to feel out the process of doings these things when thousands of miles from appropriate supplies and anyone who knew what "canning" meant.  Here, try as I might, there are no "pressure canning" supplies, no canning wax, and rather little I can do in the way of gardening.  But I have prevailed!

I began this year by canning my own pear jam.  I had far too many pears that were becoming ripe and decided, 'It's time!'  So mush, mush, mush and into the pot they went.  One heavenly-scented house later, I canned the most yummy pear-cinnamon jam ever.  Rank: Beginning Homesteader ;-)  In the following months, I canned my own pickles, garlic, and onions, made salad dressings, cleaning supplies, makeup remover, face masks and even made my own cheese! 

My latest project?  Yogurt making!  This is my first attempt and if it works, I'll never buy another container of yogurt again!  I'm using what has to be the easiest recipe for yogurt making ever and if you're interested, you can find it here. I bought jello moulds to put the finished product in, that way I can freeze half the batch in perfect portion sizes for smoothies.

What about you?  Any "urban homesteaders" out there? 

Syllabus Shock

Ahh... syllabus shock.  Something I had long forgotten about and find myself facing yet again.  As a full-time teacher of 40+ students, I give homework, read homework, give grades, enter grades, create tests, think up creative ways to keep my kids challenged and interested in their school work, differentiate, group, individualize, separate, pair together, create goals, share objectives, plan, assess, communicate with parents, administration, and coworkers and otherwise use up every minute of every school day until the bell rings.  When I go home, I'm glad to be there, and typically say 'ahhh' as I pad around in comfy clothes.  But not any more.  Now, I must take a full year of online courses to appease the powers that be in the glorious state of California.

Yesterday was the day of doom.  My online courses came online - and so did the syllabus.  If only those little pieces of emailed paper were policemen, I'd simply run away and be done with it.  Alas, they will be my constant companions for the next 8+ weeks.  Read me.  Hey!  I said READ ME!  Do this, do that, post here, record your learning there.  Look at us - we demand your time!  We do not ask for it, we demand it!  That is what those 27kb pieces of paper clouded with ink say to me.  Not very friendly. 

I was rather stressed out when all those bits of ink pounced their way through my inbox and demolished my yearnings to run barefoot through the tall grass (wait, grass?  What grass?).  But I have come to recognize my reaction - one I used to have every quarter while going through college.  And now that I have diagnosed my problem, syllabus shock, I can thankfully say, this too shall pass.  I still have thoughts like, "Hey, syllabus, I teach full time.  I have kids who depend on me and colleagues to plan with.  I have lessons to create and things to do.  Don't you get that?"  And then I think, "Oh yeah, that's why you, my online syllabus, was created." 
 

Run Away!

During the drive home today, I was talking with a coworker and was reminded of a funny story I wanted to post.  So here it is :-)

Two days ago, I was merrily driving home after school ended when I came up to a round about.  Now, many of you, my American readers, have yet to experience one of these pieces of ingenuity.  Instead of a four-way stop sign or a stop light, the designers of this fair country plopped a cement circle in what we know as the intersection and decided to contribute to the rat race by making us drive in circles (because running in circles during our work day wasn't enough).  Idealistically, it works like this.  In reality, it works like this with lots of these hanging out at each one.

I waited for several minutes while traffic streamed past me, too thick to even think about entering the fray.  Then, just as I was wondering if I would make it home, preferably prior to my 9 o'clock bed time, the clouds parted and a brief spot opened up.  A green van pulled up to my left and decided that he had enough time to venture out as well.  I instantly surmised I'd be safe, due to the rather self-serving fact that if there was a problem, he'd get hit first. 

Well, as it would happen, the green van gunned his engine a little faster than I and darted out into traffic while I merged just after him.  All of a sudden, I saw two things.  1. A police car.  2. A car rather quickly approaching.  With no choice but to follow through, I pushed my little Toyota Yaris to it's limit and popped into the open space. 

Instantly red and blue lights started flashing behind me.  

My first thought?  FASTER!  Take the alley and ditch them!  I can't get a ticket for what I just did!  Are there even any rules for roundabouts? 

WHAT??  Yes, my friends, those were my thoughts as I rounded that roundabout just ahead of the car which I apparently cut off.  I had to laugh all the way home.  If I were in the states and a police car flipped on his lights due to my actions, I'd mentally kick myself, dutifully pull over, and wait for him to hand over a ticket along with my license and registration.  But here?  Oh, no.  I would never do that.  The first thought that goes through my mind?  Run away! 

Side Note:  I never did get a ticket.  The police car apparently decided simply making his presence known was enough.  But just in case they had come after me, I had a few alternate routes up my sleeve. ;-)

 

Questionable Ethics and Maybe Just a Little TMI

Questionable Ethics

When living overseas, in the midst of a different culture and different sets of ethics, you can quite easily find yourself in the midst of an activity that might be considered questionable.    Such as buying DVDs... from the DVD man on the corner...who pirates them. 

Upon first arriving to the Island, I couldn't find my way to the grocery store down the street let alone make it to a proper store that sold proper non-counterfeit versions of the entertainment product (I'm not exactly great with directions).  So, rationalizing my purchase, I began to buy from our friendly neighborhood DVD man.

Recently, I was involved in a... confrontation of sorts... regarding an item which was not rightfully owned by the person who had it in possession.  This incident, during which the person realized that they were in the wrong, prompted me to examine my own pile of not so rightly-owned items.  I am very aware that some people reading this will probably roll their eyes and say that I'm making a big deal out of nothing - and what about all the bad ethics of the people who make movies in the first place?  But to you, I simply say I cannot account for the people behind the DVD industry, I can only account for my own actions.  So, to wrap this short story up, I took each one of my wrongly owned DVDs and made them unusable.  Amazon.com digital copies, here I come!

                 Scratched, broken, cracked, microwaved, and no longer wrongfully owned DVDs.


Maybe Just a Little TMI

Today while discussing a story recently read with my students, one of my darlings piped up and said that kissing on the lips (shock, horror, gasp!) was "haram" - wrong or forbidden.  She went on to say that it was "haram" for Muslims to kiss.  Period. 

I found this rather amusing and quipped, "What do you think your mother and father do?  Shake hands?"

At which point my sweet little student's jaw dropped and her gaping mouth was accentuated by her bugging eyes.  She then stated for her friends who were now listening, "My mom and dad have NEVER kissed!"  I laughed while another student whispered that she had seen her mother and father kiss once  while they thought no one was looking.  The little girl who so adamantly affirmed her parents' chastity looked downright shocked to think of her parents committing such an unheard of act.  I had to laugh but also wondered if I had just mistakenly crossed the invisible line between classroom discussion and discussion of the sacred.  I think for that little girl, those few minutes contained just a little Too Much Information.

 

F words, Semantics, and Desert Beauty

F Words:  My kids are great.  If  you continue reading this for any length of time, I'm sure you'll be regaled with numerous accounts of my students' antics, quirks, and qualities that make you go "awww."  It's usually the kids who make me laugh, but occasionally the tables are turned and they get a pretty good hee-haw out of something their teacher did or said.  I love laughing with my students - it creates such a camaraderie.  A shared joke, a knowing look, a laugh-out-loud moment - those are things we can store away and share with each other.  Grades don't matter, home-life fades away, and schoolyard bullies become nonexistent in the warmth and joy of shared laughter. 

My students are working on an ABC book project for their language unit.  These kiddos of mine are third graders, so picture something like this: Alice's Alphabet.  Each group of four students is given a letter of the alphabet and as a group must create an alliterative rhyming poem to go with their letter.  Overall, they're coming up with some very creative writing pieces.  One group, however, didn't quite catch the idea at first.  At the time of my viewing their poem, it went something like this:
F is for Francis who went to the zoo and ate a hamburger and went to school and had a good day.  I briefly reviewed the need for alliteration in their poem and succinctly told them, "You're getting the idea, but you need more F words."  Both boys looked at me with widened eyes and mouths agape.  Their rapidly growing grins turned into outright laughter and I joined right in! 

What would this world be without laughter?

Semantics:  On another language note, semantics play a very important role in communication.  One of my students has a one-on-one aide to help her during the day.  A recent writing piece turned in by this child was far higher than her ability level and made me question the ownership of such a fine piece.  I asked my sweet student whether or not they had, indeed, written the piece.  This student affirmed that yes, they had written all of it.  When I asked the aide, she, too, said that the child had penned the piece.  After a few go-arounds of questioning similar to this, I decided to change my tactic.

 I finally asked the aide whether she had told my student what to write and, lo and behold, her answer was a sheepish yes.  Both student and aide had been truthful in their answers to me for the child had, in fact, written the words with her own hand.  What they missed, however, was the deeper implied meaning of what I asked - who created the story.  Semantics!

Desert Beauty

Finally, here is a lovely picture to end on.  It's taken me three years to find beauty on this island.  Though it doesn't come close to the beauty I have known and loved from home, it is there if you look for it.  This island has a lot of dirt, a lot of sand, a lot of cement, and very little beauty.  Even the beaches (what few there are) pale in comparison to those I know and love from home.  But beauty is there.... if you look for it.

 

I'm Back! No... Forward!

While browsing through my favorites bar, on pure happenstance I landed upon my blog and read what I had written long ago (I know, usually people land on blogs other than their own - that tells you how long it's been!).  I read post #1, thinking back to my first impressions of this tiny dot of an island on the map.  I read my second post, then third.  Memories of students, crazy driving incidents, and a desire to understand my new place of residence all came flooding back in wonderful succession. 

It wasn't until I looked at the "stats" of my blog that I decided to do something various people had urged me to do in the past: keep writing.  My stats told me that, though I thought my blog was long dead, people were actually still reading it! 

Though I would like to say, "I'm back!" I'm not going to officially commit to anything that grand.  Rather, I'm forward. :-P  I'm looking forward to posting stories about the past two years of life, looking forward to catching you, my reader, up to this point in time.  And I'm looking forward to posting stories, pictures, and "snapshots" of life as it is being lived today.  Please read through the past few posts (there aren't many) and get ready for new ones to come!  I am looking forward to sharing this journey with you!

Found at last: Bahraini Culture!

Happy New Year my blog readers!

I know it has been a considerable amount of time since I have posted something on this site but I do have an excuse - for half of this month I was living outside of my overseas home and spent time instead with my family for the holidays. 

But!  I am now back and so are the blog posts.  I will endeavor to post more often than I have, so be sure to check back for more posts about life in Bahrain.

Shortly before I left to go home for the holidays, a friend of mine took me to the local souq, or outdoor market, where one needs a guide to find all the good spots and shops that aren't purely for tourists.  It was in the souq, down winding alleyways and apparent dead ends which led to more alleyways, that I finally got a glimpse of real Bahraini culture.

One of the first shops we stopped at was a spice shop.  It was run by a father and son and offered everything from dried lemons to Spanish saffron.  We asked about the price per kilo for unshelled peanuts and promptly received several for our sampling.  When our order was bagged we again received several as a 'thank you'.

Our next stop was a more touristy shop which had T-Shirts and other assorted Bahraini paraphernalia for sale.  Here as I was deciding which of the items to purchase for family members I was given an effusive "Welcome to Bahrain!"  The shop owner relayed his wishes that I would find Bahrain an enjoyable place to stay.

After only two shops I had finally found what I had been looking for since my arrival: Bahraini culture.  The specific aspect of culture which greeted me in the souq was warm Bahraini hospitality. 

Much of the Middle East is known for its hospitality which dates so far back the concept is no longer merely tradition but is practically a part of the genetic make-up of all Middle Easterners.  Bahraini owners in shop after shop greeted me warmly and repeated the wishes of other shop keepers that I would find my stay in Bahrain to be a pleasant one.

On the way out of the souq we took one last stop.  It was a jeweler's shop and when we entered, the owner was quite happy to show us his wares and speak to us about aspects of the jeweling trade.  Concerned that he might think we were there to purchase something, my friend told the man that we were just looking around and that this was my first trip to the souq.  He smiled in understanding, looked at me and said, "Do not worry.  You are like my daughter." 

Hospitality given by complete strangers, warmth, friendliness, and a short lesson in the jewel trade from a man I had never met: this is Bahraini culture at its finest.