so this is summer???

The phrase "summer vacation" generally brings to mind images of ice cream cones, lazy days by the pool, eating lunch outside, bike rides, baseball games, and the like. According to that definition, my "summer vacation" hardly qualifies. We kicked things off with a two-week experiment in Parenting 101. Rey and I were chosen to house sit/babysit? (not quite the right word...stay with?) two teenagers from our church while their parents went to Scotland for the graduations of their other two children. Our main responsibilities were driving them to school and feeding them. Ok, seems simple enough, right? Well, why not make things a little more interesting by scheduling this right at the end of June when we have to be packed up and moved out of our old apartment and into the new place by the 30th. Ok, so the game plan is, take the kids to school in the morning, go to our old flat, spend the day packing and cleaning up, get the kids from school, start dinner, and crash by 10:00. Go team Phillips. :) But that still seemed a bit too easy, and we like a challenge, so why not throw an infected cavity in there for Rey just to spice things up a bit? When he was finally in so much pain that he agreed to go to the dentist, his blood pressure and sugar levels were so high they couldn't do anything for him until they came down. So that left me rushing to the emergency room two nights in a row so he could get an injection of painkillers and left him so drugged up for the next week that I was suddenly a single mother of three. We somehow managed to empty our old place and bring it all to the new apartment, but that girl wasn't leaving until the 30th, so once our housesitting gig was up, we were homeless for a few days. Living out of our car and plastic bags and sleeping at Rey's parent's house, we managed to survive.

At this point, I've had enough excitement for a while and am ready to just get into our new house, start settling in and begin unpacking and organizing everything. It's Friday morning, Rey's tooth is out and healing nicely, and we are getting ready for church in the morning. After church we are finally going home. Or so we thought. We got a call in the morning from India: one of Rey's uncle's has passed away. He had cancer and had been suffering for quite some time, so it wasn't exactly shocking, but still. Rey's dad was close to him, so he decided to go to India for the funeral. And if Rey's dad was going, then his mom was going. And if both his parent's were going, Rey should also go too so he can help them out. So instead of settling into our new place, we spent the day getting flights, packing, and rummaging around for Rey's clothes. They flew out that night leaving me alone for a week in a house full of boxes. I spent a fairly quiet week unpacking and setting up as much as I could, although for those of you who know Rey and know about his obsession with electronics and wiring, there was only so much I could do by myself.

Thankfully now, things are pretty much back to normal. The house is unpacked. We've painted some walls (a topic of a future blog post). The outside temps are a steamy 110* that feels like 120. Things are as they should be. There have been no days lounging by the pool, baseball games or picnic lunches. Instead I've enjoyed teenage-sitting, a drugged up husband, and unpacking. But on Tuesday, Rey and I leave for our three week vacation in India where fried bananas, elephant safaris, tree top apartments, and houseboats await us. It certainly wouldn't be called a "normal" summer, but since when have I done what's "normal"? :)

Happy summer!

Farasha (butterfly)

It was a moment I had been dreading; I didn't know how to bring it up, and quite frankly, I didn't want to. She is one of my closest friends, and in all honesty, probably the one person who could make me change my mind; the one person who could make me stay at MKS. How do I tell Faten that I'm leaving? Faten, my dear Egyptian friend who taught Arabic to my class for two years, who makes me laugh harder than anyone else at school, who tells my students that I'M the one from Egypt and she taught ME English, rather than the other way around; Faten who walks arm in arm with me down the hall, who teaches my completely unhelpful Arabic words like monkey and diarrhea. How do I tell my best friend that I'm not coming back next year?

I didn't plan on telling her that way, but maybe that was God giving me an opportunity because I wasn't ready to bite the bullet. I was quite upset that day because the school was giving me a hard time about my annual ticket home, and everyone was being unhelpful and just plain rude. I came back to my class, and Faten just knew something was wrong. She asked me if I was ok, and of course I said, yes, because it really wasn't the time to discuss the issue. But she knew I was lying. She always knows. She found me later in the afternoon to ask me again if I was ok. I explained what happened, and she randomly asked me if I was coming back next year. There it was: that dreaded question. As hard as it would be to tell her the truth, it would have been harder to lie. So I told her. She didn't believe me, didn't want to believe me, so she asked me again and again. She thought I was leaving because of the issue with my ticket, so she offered to pay me the extra money so I would stay. When I finally turned to look her in the face, I found her eyes filled with tears. I realized in that moment that both our hearts were breaking. I turned away knowing that if I stayed looking at her, my own tears would begin to fall. After a few more minutes she fiercely kissed me on the head and left. I should have known that wouldn't be the end of it.

The next day she teamed up with the PE teacher, another Egyptian woman, and began her quest to get me to stay. Little did she know that every plea made my heart ache and made my decision even harder to bear. Finally one day as we were sitting together, I brought up our friendship; partly as a change of subject and partly out of genuine curiosity. I asked her how in the world we became friends. As far as I can remember, she just plopped down in my room one day and started talking (and hasn't really stopped since!) Without missing a beat, she looked me in the eye and simply said, "God." God wanted us to be friends, so we are. As simple as that. As I sat back in wonder I thought, 'She's absolutely right. Probably more right than she even realizes.'

......

Today was our last day. She came to say goodbye and made me promise that I would meet her before she left for Egypt for the summer. The other fifth grade teacher was there and started giving her a hard time (as he always does) saying, "I thought Jena was your friend. Where are your tears? You aren't sad that your friend it leaving? If you were really friends, you would have tears. Now I know you have just been faking it; you aren't really such good friends." Faten, always quick with a response, looked right at him and said, "No, Jena is not my friend. She is my sister."

My sister, Faten...

class of monkeys

Well, once again, it's been a while since I've written anything. Today was my last day of school. A welcome end to a very long year. The combination of the country's unrest and a rather rambunctious class made for one exhausted teacher by the end. My class had quite the range of characters this year, including several drama queens, a hacker, a hot head, a turtle, an Energizer bunny, a chipmunk, and quite a few of the Seven Dwarves (Sleepy, Dopey, and Bashful come to mind) Here is a picture of the lovely monkeys. (I'll let you try to figure out who is who! :)

Although it was a very tiring year, I still look back with many fond memories. I truly love teaching grade 5. However, I received an offer a few weeks back that led to a rather abrupt decision to resign from my current school. A very dear friend from my old school, Al Raja, called asking if I would be interested in coming back. They were in need of an English teacher and coordinator and thought I would be perfect for the job. I must admit, I went to meet the principal with no real intention of changing schools, but low and behold, a week later I was handing in my resignation and packing up my things. I can't really explain what happened, other than to say God presented me with an opportunity and in a week's time managed to change my mind about taking it. I'm not necessarily super excited about it (although in all fairness, I usually don't get excited about such things), but I am confident I made the right decision. In September I will return to Al Raja School as the seventh grade English teacher and the coordinator for the English department grades 7-12. I'm sure it will be a learning experience as I take on this new responsibility, but in many ways, it feels like I'm coming back home.

The Pearl is gone!

We are now on day two of peace and quiet here in Bahrain. There are reports of isolated skirmishes and acts of violence continuing in some of the villages, but for the most part, things are peaceful. People have begun to come outside. We had our church service this morning. Shops are opening up and being restocked with the essentials. Even the garbage collection has resumed (although that task is far from complete--it's amazing how much garbage piles up when a few days of collection are skipped!) Now we have learned (from CNBC) that the iconic Pearl from the Roundabout has been demolished. Can't say that we are surprised by this, as people have been talking about the possibility of it's destruction since this all began; yet you can't help but feel a little bit sad, as this was one of Bahrain's most recognizable structures, one of its very few landmarks so to speak.

the plot thickens...

The king of Bahrain has declared a three-month state of emergency, state TV reports, following weeks of pro-democracy protests in the kingdom. ---BBC

So what does this mean for us? Well, I haven't been to school in two days. Most schools are officially closed. My school has not made that decision, but since no one is showing up, we might as well be closed.

We are all staying at home as most roads are blocked and most destinations aren't even open. We managed to get out to a grocery store yesterday morning to stock up on food, but other than that, we're just home. Rey went to work for a few hours this morning, but there wasn't any work to do, so they all went home.

People are becoming very paranoid by the hundreds of rumors that are flying around. The truth is that no one really knows what's happening. As Rey was coming back from church on Sunday night, he said the streets were deserted of cars but crowds of boys were roaming around with sticks. We've heard other reports of "gangs" roaming the street beating people up. Last night we went out for bread, and it was like a ghost town. Rey made me wait in the cold store while he got bread from the fresh bread guy because it just felt unsafe to be outside. There is a very creepy feeling lingering, like the air itself is charged and just waiting in anticipation for something to start. It's unsettling to say the least. For now we are just waiting. I feel secure in knowing that God is in control, and we are all praying for peace.

videos

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/03/14/bahrain.protests/index.html

There are two videos available on the site. The first shows the thousands of people protesting.

The second gives a recap of the protests, which started back in February.

troops move in

(CNN) -- Foreign troops have begun to arrive in the strategically and financially important Persian Gulf kingdom of Bahrain, following a month of citizen protests, the Bahrain News Agency reported Monday.Saudi Arabia, Bahrain's giant neighbor, appears to have provided at least some of the troops, who come under the banner of the Gulf Cooperation Council. The Saudi state news agency said the government had responded to Bahrain's request for help in view of the importance of security there. According to the state news agency of the United Arab Emirates, it "decided to send a security force to keep the peace in the Kingdom of Bahrain," at that country's request. side Bahrain protests

Dr. Anwar Mohammed Qerqash, UAE minister for foreign affairs, said that this is a part of his country's responsibility within the Gulf Cooperation Council in order to bring "security and stability to the region." The mission is being called Operation Desert Shield -- the same name the United States used after Saddam Hussein's forces invaded Kuwait in 1990. The arrival of the troops follows a day of clashes between protesters and security forces that resulted in more than 1,000 people hospitalized, human rights activists said. Protests have swept the Arab world this year, toppling the leaders of Tunisia and Egypt, but it's not clear that any country had called in foreign troops for help before the GCC forces arrived in Bahrain on Monday. It is not clear exactly how many foreign security troops have entered Bahrain or where they are from. Various parts of the Bahraini government referred CNN questions to other government offices on Monday. An eyewitness told CNN that dozens of armored vehicles and buses full of soldiers crossed from Saudi Arabia into Bahrain on Monday afternoon via the causeway linking the two countries. The Gulf Cooperation Council is a group of six Gulf states -- Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Qatar -- that encourages cooperation among members in a number of areas, including the economy and security.

Also on Monday, a key part of the capital was taken over by protesters, a Human Rights Watch official told CNN. About 100 demonstrators blocked access to the Bahrain Financial Harbour with barricades such as trash cans and cinder blocks, in effect shutting down the commercial district, Faraz Sanei said. There was no police presence, he added. Bahrain's Foreign Minister Khalid al-Khalifa said the demonstrations are not peaceful. "What we are witnessing in Manama is no peaceful protest. ... It's (a) wanton, gangster style takeover of people's lives," he said on Twitter.

A pro-government group of lawmakers is urging the king of Bahrain to impose martial law for three months in the wake of the protests.

Protests on Sunday appeared to have been among the most violent since police tried to clear the capital's Pearl Roundabout in February, leaving seven people dead, according to demonstrators.

Most of Sunday's injured suffered gas-related injuries, including burns and breathing problems, according to Nabeel Rajab, president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights. Doctors and nurses were among the injured. At least five people were in critical condition and at least two people lost their eyes because of bullet injuries, he said.

Manama, the capital, was in effect sealed off Monday, journalists there told CNN. The highway stretching from the Pearl Roundabout to the Bahrain Financial Harbour was blocked by trees and other debris. The government Sunday denied accusations that unjustified force was used against protesters at the harbor, along a key highway and at Bahrain University. Britain's Foreign Office warned against all travel to the Gulf kingdom Sunday until further notice, saying, "The risk of further outbreaks of violence has increased."

The nation's Independent Bloc of lawmakers called on Bahrain security forces to intervene to protect national security and stability, the Bahrain News Agency reported later Sunday. The bloc is made up of the 22 pro-government members of the lower house of the legislature. "Extremist movements are resorting to escalation and sectarian mobilization, which led to an unprecedented disruption of security and hostile sectarian polarization at health and educational institutions," the group said in a statement. The members of parliament asked King Hamad to enforce a curfew and deploy security forces across the country.

During protests in the tiny island nation, moderates have been demanding a constitutional monarchy and hardliners have called for the abolition of the royal family altogether.

The country has a Shiite Muslim majority population, but its rulers are Sunni Muslims.

CNN's Caroline Faraj and Jenifer Fenton contributed to this report.