*the pool water feels like bath water
*your sunglasses fog up whenever you step outside
*you have to wait longer for the tap water to turn cold than to turn hot
*you start sweating within 5 minutes of leaving the house
*the shoes you bought in a nicely air-conditioned department store don't fit anymore because your feet swell up before you reach school :(
*the whole country shuts down from 1-5 pm
*when you walk into a room, you turn on the air conditioner before turning on the light
*the evening temperature of 101* feels refreshingly cool
:)
Monday, September 15, 2008
Monday, September 1, 2008
Back in Bahrain
Well, I made it back for year number two. The temperature is a balmy 108* with a heat index of at least 120, so needless to say, I spend my days running from one air conditioned location to the next. :) I really forgot what the heat feels like here. This weekend we lost power for an entire afternoon. I decided that was a good time to take a trip to the local air conditioned grocery store. Like I said, one air conditioned place to the next!
School started yesterday. Things seem to be getting off to a good start. I was more than ready to get back to it. I feel so much more confident this year as I have some idea what I'm doing. I was also able to map out the entire year of what I am teaching when, which will cut down on a lot of planning time throughout the year. Again I am teaching three sections of seventh grade English. The classes are only 15 students this year, which I'm really looking forward to. Even though that's only 3 less than last year, it still feels much more manageable.
Today was the first day of Ramadan. I had recess duty, and the students all seemed a little wilted standing out there in the heat. I feel like this could be a long month seeing as Ramadan has only just begun and the energy levels are already quite low. But, we'll see how it all plays out.
The school is still in need of several teachers including English and math teachers for the high school. I'm not sure what they are going to do. We are all hoping for some sort of miracle as finding qualified teachers is quite difficult here. In the meantime, I guess we will all be doing extra lessons to make up it. But like I said, I'm feeling confident and rather optimistic; year two is going to be a good one.
School started yesterday. Things seem to be getting off to a good start. I was more than ready to get back to it. I feel so much more confident this year as I have some idea what I'm doing. I was also able to map out the entire year of what I am teaching when, which will cut down on a lot of planning time throughout the year. Again I am teaching three sections of seventh grade English. The classes are only 15 students this year, which I'm really looking forward to. Even though that's only 3 less than last year, it still feels much more manageable.
Today was the first day of Ramadan. I had recess duty, and the students all seemed a little wilted standing out there in the heat. I feel like this could be a long month seeing as Ramadan has only just begun and the energy levels are already quite low. But, we'll see how it all plays out.
The school is still in need of several teachers including English and math teachers for the high school. I'm not sure what they are going to do. We are all hoping for some sort of miracle as finding qualified teachers is quite difficult here. In the meantime, I guess we will all be doing extra lessons to make up it. But like I said, I'm feeling confident and rather optimistic; year two is going to be a good one.
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