Hello World

Hello World!

Weeks 1, 2, and 3 at Modern Knowledge Schools are under my belt, now, and I am happily ready for more weeks to come.  It looks like a big Thanksgiving meal in front of me.  

I am not necessarily ready in the sense that I feel totally able as an organized English teacher, but I do feel ready as a growing taker-inner-and-carer-for-students-er.  I feel ready as an experimenter and try-er-outer. It is amazing how much there is to try - how many different ways a teacher can interact with students in class to make something of the time spent together and apart.  It makes me excited to be human.  Sometimes, it makes me tired to be human, but this is why humans sleep.  And, I like sleep.  If there's not quite enough of it during the week, then there is enough during the sunny weekends.  One weeknight when I was quite sleepy, some words of Octavio Paz that I heard sung before and that I used to keep over my bed at school came to mind, and I looked them up again to remember their order: "we must sleep with open eyes, we must dream with our hands, we must dream the dreams of a river seeking its course."  

Yes, Octavio.  Just seeking a course and feeling my way.

And this dreamer's definitely happy she has such soft and loving support around her in school and outside of school.

And I sang last Tuesday!  A lovely couple of musical, scientific teachers named Katrina and Joe drove Deena and me to a rehearsal with the Manama Singers.  It felt so good to harmonize with people, and to hear the multitude of accents in the choir between songs or during the "10 minute" break that included coffee, water, or tea vended from a little window outside of the Catholic church where we rehearsed. We're singing some pretty songs that I'll hopefully have in my hands this week.

Another highlight of the last few weeks was meeting Sara - an absolutely gorgeous and intelligent woman of the world who was born in Bahrain and has traveled all over, who knows her delicious foods, and who very kindly took me out to lunch.  We went to a restaurant called "Fast Food" that has cuisine from the Philippines, and I tried fish again!  It was called milk fish, and it was absolutely mmm.  (What's not mmmm that has milk in its name?)  It was strange to work with bones in my food - vegetables done't have bones - but I got some good vit d, and my mouth was happy.  It was so good to talk with Sara about many things Bahraini, American, and human.  Thanks to U. Girard, Fulbright, and the stars for this meeting!  Thank you for the lunch, Sara!

I am told I should take more photos of where I am, and I will work on this.  For now, I have a few that are not too spectacular but that are parts of my life.

It is very dusty when you walk around, here.  I get what used to be the ocean in my sweaty sandals all the time.  So, I get to clap them out outside and let them take a shower pretty regularly.  I think they're growing accustomed to the custom.           

Our washing machine had enough and left.  I hardly got to know him.  Pity.  

What my desk looks like at school.  Hopefully the students feel welcome.  

The glass window art that mom gave me before I left.  Queen Anne's Lace is squished in there, and I've told students the story of the flower and how it's from my home, and they nodded.  Outside is the courtyard.  It's a challenge to my students to stay focused during breaks when other students are on break and checking themselves out in the window glass.  My room gets nice sun.

Our TV works, now, so I can watch AlJazeera and know a little more about what happens in the world.  Sometimes it is frustrating to have this window, but always important.  

    

xoxoxo from the Gulf!