birthday celebration

Birthdays at school are the best. They really are. My students absolutely LOVE celebrating my birthday. It happens every year, and this year was no exception. Once again I was showered with gifts and flowers. Interestingly, this year I realized that my least favorite students, the ones who drive me nuts, the ones who make me lose my cool, and frankly the ones I show the least love to, are the ones who were the most excited about my birthday, and the ones who were so eager to give me presents. Kinda made me rethink some things...

But anyway, on to the festivities!

I made made a cake and brought it in to share with my class. From the reaction of my students, you would have thought my simple, yellow, Betty Crocker cake was a masterpiece from the most renowned baker. Many were absolutely begging me for the recipe because they just couldn't believe that I made such a thing. Ha!

I should actually back up a bit. It all started with the flowers that came to the school from my dad. Every year since we were little he has gotten us flowers for our birthday, and not even the Atlantic Ocean or a 9 hour time difference can break that tradition. :) They came a day early and were delivered to the library where my class was trying to read. Immediately they were consumed with a burning desire to know who sent flowers to their teacher. I even had 6 girls sneak into the room during recess to read the card that was stuck amidst the blooms!

On the day of my actual birthday, Rey surprised me with a mountain of gifts. I asked him the day before if he was going to wrap them, and from the sheepish look on his face, I knew he had forgotten. So he was busy in the morning searching for wrapping paper. He ended up finding some and when he got it home, he realized it was clear with small gold flowers and hearts on it. So much for secrecy! :) But it was an A for effort!

The gift mountain awaiting me after school:

Rey had to work in the evening, so I relaxed at home until he was done. Then he and I plus a few close friends went out to an Italian restaurant where we stuffed ourselves with a delicious dinner.

So here are the final results of my big day:

Pajamas :) (this is the second time I've gotten pj's from a student!)

decorated box, perfume, watch

mug (Smile, it will make people wonder what you are up to), Indian version of a George Foreman, called a Sanjeev Kapoor :) (from Rey's parents), AWESOME digital camera (from Rey), bunny

an extremely Arab gift--perfume set, candle holders, wallet

and a GUITAR!!! I'm sure many of you are laughing right now, but believe it or not, this is what I wanted (also from Rey. Despite the clear wrapping paper, he did a VERY good job!) It is my goal in my 25th year to defy nature and learn to do something musical: play the guitar!

oh that makes sense

I have been having a hard time at school lately. The students are just not getting the material. No matter how many times and ways I teach it, they are just not getting it. Two weeks ago I was called into the principal's office to discuss last quarter's report card grades. Needless to say, she was not very happy about the number of F's I gave, and she was additionally concerned about how many students were failing EVERY subject. Of course I was not unaware of the situation; in fact I had been feeling like quite the failure myself due to this lack of progress with my students. This week we had a meeting with all the grade 5 teachers. The principal is getting concerned about some of the students moving on to grade six next year, and she has finally decided to do something about it. The middle school has a remedial reading/English teacher who is able to come to the elementary school in the mornings to work with the fifth grade students that are really struggling with basic English. The principal compiled a list of those students she thought were eligible for the program and wanted our feedback. As she passed around the list, I was shocked. There were 14 students listed and 12 of them were mine! That means that out of the 14 weakest students in all of grade 5, one went to 5B, one went to 5D, and 12 came to 5A with me.

What kind of planning is that???

convictions

I attended a conference in Dubai this past weekend. It was techinically a conference for university aged students, but a friend invited me to go along and I'm glad I did. I've been getting extremely discouraged and frustrated working with the youth ministry in my church, and this weekend was a great source of encouragement. This group, FOCUS, is completely centered on the Gospel and sharing it with the people around them. I've never been one to evangelize much, mostly because I feel I don't know how to do it, but the Bible is very clear that spreading the Gospel is something we are called to do. One of the speakers read this quote, and I was beyond convicted. This is coming from an athiest, which makes it all the more convicting:

“… I’ve always said, you know, that I don’t respect people who don’t proselytize. I don’t respect that at all. If you believe that there is a heaven and hell, and people could be going to hell, or not getting eternal life or whatever, and you think that, well, it’s not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward… how much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize? How much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them that? I mean, if I believed beyond a shadow of doubt that a truck was coming at you, and you didn’t believe it, and that truck was bearing down on you, there’s a certain point where I tackle you. And this is more important than that…” — Penn Gillette, (of Penn and Teller), atheist, quoted in Colin Marshall and Tony Payne, The Trellis and the Vine

May we all be bold and unashamed in our proclamation of the Gospel.

the local scene--some of my favorite pictures

bike
red door
pottery in the kiln
Islamic design
tapestries in the souq
shisha
@ the fort
:)
The Qu'ran
Indian sweets

wedding bells

The big event for December was, of course, the wedding. Everything went extremely well. The ceremony was wonderful, and the reception was loads of fun. Everyone spent the night dancing away.

Once I compress the size of the rest of the photographs, I will upload them to a website and post the link.

back again

after a loooong break, I am back. and so much has changed since the last post. My family came to Bahrain in December. I had an amazing time with them. We got to see some sights of the country and just hang out for a while.

our Christmas card :)

at the Tree of Life

We kicked off the wedding celebrations with something called the rose. This is a Goan (Indians from Goa) tradition. It starts off simply enough: each member of the family blesses the engaged couple by putting some coconut milk on their cheeks. Well, this quickly spirals out of control as handfuls of milk are thrown on heads, down shirts, and into open flies. Then out comes the eggs, tomatoes, chocolate syrup, and ice cold beer. All being dumped on the couple and bridal party, who sit helplessly on a tarp. But it was all in good fun. Several showers and a set of dry clothes later, we were all enjoying ourselves.

the results of the rose

RAIN

You will not believe it but I am curled up in bed right now listening to the RAIN falling outside!!! I never thought I would say that in Bahrain!! It's been cloudy and a little bit drizzly all day, but now it is actually RAINING! And the forecast has rain for the next 5 days!!!!! AMAZING!