my mother, the can lady

My mother is in the habit of getting up before work to go walking. She used to go with her good friend and our neighbor until she moved; these days she is going solo. I'm not quite sure when it started, but at some point my mother realized that people leave an awful lot of cans on the side of the road. Of course being the clever, economical Dutch woman that she is, she looked at those cans and saw an opportunity: both to make the world a little cleaner and to make a few bucks. So she started walking with a bag so she could pick up all the stray cans that people had carelessly thrown out the window of their cars. At first our neighbor was a little embarrassed to be seen walking with "the can lady," but she soon got over it with a little shake of the head and an "Oh, that's just Sheryl." Well, here I am, 24 years old, and turning into my mother. Since starting the school recycling program, I am completely nuts about recycling. It's come to the point that I am incapable of walking past plastic bottles and cans along the road now. In the two short minutes it takes to walk from school to my house, I manage to pick up enough items that I can barely get the door open. So, I've resolved to start carrying a recycling bag. Yes, I am joining the can lady in her quest to clean up the planet. :)

going green

Last week we had a green day at school to celebrate our drama this year, which is about recycling. We organized the green day as a fundraiser for the drama as well as to promote recycling and taking care of the environment. We sold flowers and plants to the students, had a delicious Chinese buffet for lunch, and sold other snacks and green colored food to the students. My contribution was to designate certain trash cans as recycling cans and guard them with my life to make sure that no one dumped their ice cream into it! :) I also had nice environmentally friendly and recycling washable tatoos which I passed out to the students, who were thrilled to have them on their faces; however, the supervisor soon spoiled our fun when she made the students wash them all off before the first period was even finished. Sad.

We've also teamed up with a German company who is working to lauch the first recycling campaign in Bahrain, which we desperately need! In fact, we just had four large recycling containers delivered to our school this morning, the second location for the containers on the whole island. I'm super pumped about this whole campaign. I've created recycling bins for my classroom and am giving extra credit to every student who returns a canvas bag filled with recyclable goods. GO GREEN!

Some pictures from green day...

seventh graders

The wonderful, smiling faces I see every day...

how insightful

I'm currently teaching my students about organization and sequence in writing. I gave them a small assignment to practice these ideas. Each student needed to choose something that he or she is an expert at. Then, he or she needed to write a one page "How To ____________" paper giving me step-by-step directions on how to do that particular skill. Here was my favorite:

How to Annoy Children

Hello everyone!
First I will tell you how to annoy and bother a child and make him cry. In the beginning hold someone from his head, then start making crazy faces. Tell him that he's stupid and he has cheap clothes. Later, take an ice and put it inside his shirt. When he goes to sleep take a tissue and make it a small curl, after that place the tissue inside his nose or ear and tickle them to bother them. Eventually, run away!

made in the....USA????

local pottery

my favorite food

chicken tikka. small pieces of spicy chicken, grilled. eaten with fresh, flat bread. (naan)

Also, at the restaurant there is something called the "family section." Tables are surrounded by a curtain so women can remove the head cover and enjoy a meal with their family. (first pic)