March 25. The air conditioners were officially turned on at school.

desert BBQ

During spring break, we (all the volunteers) took a trip to the desert for a little BBQ. We drove through the arid land looking for the perfect place to fire up the barbie. With little change in scenery, each new location was the same as the last. We finally settled on a spot close to a little ridge where we could see out over the endless desert. We circled up the cars, spread out our blankets, and started grilling chicken kebabs. Yum! While the food was cooking, I did a little exploring. I found an interesting looking bug, and the bodies of seven dead camels. Although slightly disgusting, I was intrigued. All of them were in various stages of decay; some were nearly whole, while others were only a pile of sun bleached bones. We're not sure why the camels were there or how they died, although we did note that all of them were bound at the feet. Fortunately the wind was blowing in the other direction so the stench did not ruin our feast.

Below are some pictures.
My roommate and I at the famous Tree of Life.
Our picnic location.
A few snaps of the desert.
My interesting desert bug.
The dead camels

Birthday Surprise!

Somehow or another, my students found out that I had a birthday coming up. They were very excited about this. So excited in fact, that my student with a broken arm took it upon himself to write it on the chalkboard in his awkward left-handed print. The big day was coming, but this year my birthday landed on a Saturday, a weekend, meaning no day party day for my hopeful students. Well, you can imagine my shock when I came to school (late) on Thursday morning and found a crowd of seventh graders waiting in my darkened classroom. I opened the door to a chorus of "Suprise!" and a round of "Happy Birthday." They got me so good. I had no idea this was coming. One student had made cupcakes; another had baked a chocolate cake; others had brought in an assortment of decorations that were strung around the room; several students got me presents; and someone had purchased a giant card that most of my students had signed. It was so nice and extremely thoughtful, especially considering most 13 year-olds are rather self-focused. I had such a nice day with them. Here's a few snaps of the party.

The Ordinary, Every Day Things

Last week our washing machine flooded three times. Well, let me be more precise. The drain pipe in the floor of my bathroom that the washing machine, sink, and shower all drain in to overflowed and flooded my bathroom floor. All I wanted was clean clothes. I threw a load into the washer and about 15 minutes later I heard a gurgling sound coming from the bathroom. I walked in and found water bubbling up from the floor drain. I cleaned it all up only to see that it flooded two more times before the load finished. Yuck. Then the next morning, I was in the shower and two minutes later, I was standing in several inches of water. My shower, which was perfectly fine the day before had lost it's ability to drain. Yuck again. Then my friend was in the bathroom washing his hands and suddenly the bottom of his jeans were wet. Yes, it flooded yet again. Finally this weekend I took the bull by the horns. I poured half a bottle of Drano down the pipe and then proceeded to pull wads of crap from the drain. Fortuantely I had gloves. We've had no problems since. Well, no problems in the bathroom that is. Now our stove has no gas.

ESL

My students were working on a comparison/contrast assignment last week in which they needed to fill out a Venn diagram comparing themselves to a partner on different categories such as birth month, countries visited, favorite movies, music, TV show, etc. As I walked around the room, I saw two boys huddled over a piece of paper. Heads bent close, they were writing, analyzing the word, scratching it out, and writing something else. I walked over to see if I could help with something. Looking at the paper, I saw the words "dranke cola."
"Teacher, is this right?" he asked.
"Drank cola? You mean like he drank __ cola? He likes to drink cola?" I said, guessing at what he was trying to say. Knowing what the assignment was, I couldn't figure out how this fit into what they were writing about.
"No, dranke cola like this." Then he used his fingers to make fangs and made a hissing sound.
I frantically searched my brain, trying to figure out what he was talking about. Dranke cola. Fangs. Comparison. Favorite movie. Then it hit me.
"OH! You mean DRACULA!"
"Yes! That one!"
:)

winter blues

Winter here has been more of a challenge than I anticipated. Coming from the bitter cold Iowa winters with mounds of snow and icy wind, I figured a winter in the Middle East where it only got down to the 50s wouldn't be so bad. I was wrong. This year Bahrain has had record low temperatures. It got down to 6*C, so 40-something. Again, considering my background, that really isn't that bad. Actually, I'm sure some of you are praying for some 40* days right about now. :) However, what they failed to tell me was that this country does not know how to deal with cold weather, meaning nothing is heated. When it's 40 outside, my bedroom is also 40. I go to school to teach all day in a 40* classroom, and then I come home to a 40* apartment. We have one small space heater in our living room, but it kills all the power in the room, so we couldn't use it. I never thought I would freeze to death on an island in the Gulf, but I came very close. For the past month now I have been wearing roughly 4 shirts a day. I started teaching with my coat on and wearing my gloves in between classes. I came home and crawled back into bed with piles of blankets on me. It was a truly miserable experience. Then to make matters worse, I caught a cough and cold about three weeks ago that still hasn't completely left. Fortunately, the end is in sight. Each day gets a bit warmer. Now the air outside is warmer than my apartment, so I'm opening the windows to let in the warm air! This week is supposed to get up into the 70s. I'm grateful for the chance to let my body thaw.