Salam! It's been a while, I think. Luckily, this is not because nothing has been happening, but rather because so much has. Wowee, what a life. Here are a few little updates that bring me to my take-off from Bahrain.
When is the next time I will live in a building filled with teachers who are willing to do a silhouette photo shoot? I don't think for a long while. This stack of teachers here by Al Jazira is quite the stack - I am thankful to have been in a bunch with such teachery/travelly/chill people on such a new and exciting endeavor of teaching in a foreign country. As we scatter and fall into new or familiar places, I'll look forward to meeting again to make more adventures by car, by foot, or by plane. Shukran (very much) habib(t)is!!
House. ^
Sara! This life-full woman is changing the world, and she definitely changed mine. Thank you for showing me all the tastiest restaurants, the music, the lights, and for conversations about life that are still swirling (will always swirl) in my head. You are beautiful, and I am so excited for you! Huge hug!
Formula 1 track
Not long after the races, a group of us hopped over to Dubai to see Florence + the Machine. Here are a few images from this experience.
okay!
"Sandance will take a short break while we respect the local prayer times." I will miss that call to prayer.
This. woman. This concert was amazing. She was an actor, channeling this energy to the audience that was like nothing I had ever lived.
At one point, her braids started falling out. She tried to pin them back up. They fell back out. She tried to pin them up, again. Before long, she decided to just let her hair down. That is a drumstick in her hand. She drums. She is the coolest.
Here are a few pictures of geocaching, a fun activity that I'm very grateful to have been able to jump into. Thanks, Mr. Joa!
Night geocaching under a full moon with some lovely full moon maniacs. I found my first one at a sandy horse racing track. I'm excited to keep geocaching around the world!
Block 338. If you go to Bahrain, go to Block 338 in Adliya. There are murals and art exhibits and art markets and places to stroll and artists who will ask you to do tongue twisters and students studying for med school and architecture school and artists and musicians and all sorts of people. Al Riwaq Art Space on block 338 became a place where I would order an Americano with steamed milk and the nice women there would nod and tell me they'd bring it upstairs to my 'office' - a table with a comfy arm chair up the spiral staircase. Back in the spring, Al Riwaq put on a whole month of workshops and artistic collaboration for the Spring of Culture. One of the things they did was put up this outdoor stage in a park with metal palm trees around it and geometrical shaped blocks to lounge on in the audience. Each Saturday, they had an open mic. night on that stage where students and adults would grab a guitar and sing, drum, and read poetry. I thought it'd be a great space for students in our school's writing club to come read their poetry, so I checked it out a few times. Saturday night (equivalent of Sunday night in the states) turned out to not be ideal for students, but hopefully in the future it'll work for them. One night I was sitting there checking it out and taking it in, and my hands were itching to try standing up there myself. So I did. A chill rock 'n' roll dude who did covers lent me his guitar, reminded me how to do an A minor chord, and introduced me. It's something I've wanted to do for a long time, and I guess Bahrain was the spot where I finally felt like I could do it. Felt so good. Shukran, Bahrain!
We visited the Al Areen Zoo. Notice the dog in the picture of the zoo's featured animals. (:
Do you see the flamingo? It's there! And mangroves! It was a fun little adventure there through corrugated steel farms and land fills, and a funny/squishy/suuuuper long drive back with the group through a very trafficky Sitra.
Sea anemones? Close. The beautiful chandeliers at the Sofitel of Bahrain for Fete de la Musique. Manama Singers sang Carmen, a medley from Les Miserables and a few others. It was a beautiful venue and was a lot of fun to sing in. I felt so lucky to be a part of such a warm group of singers from all over the world!
Up on the roof. Fave spot. Will miss this.
On Block 338, there was a piece called Here, there + everywhere. No joke.
It was a huge box with reflecting glass as walls, and white blue print looking arrows sketched all over the floor.
I walked into the box (which must have been holding a million degrees Celsius inside), and I looked at all the containing walls that reflected each other over and over, making it look like the small space was as big as the whole landscape and bigger. I expected to see something come together in all those reflections - some unifying theme, something that brought it all together. But all that there was was space and reflection, walls and transparency - continuations and places to look. I took a few photos to try to capture what I saw, and I walked back out into the "cooler" air.
It's been a while since I walked into that art; time and school and days went on, and I flew away from Bahrain yesterday.
It was a tearful, enjoyable, busy, and fast last few weeks on the island. I met so many vibrant people there, and I am so grateful to have connected with all of them. I know that they are connections that will affect me for the rest of my life with all their warmth, new ideas, passions, excitement, organization, questions, music, stories, conversations and dreams. People are so amazing, and I think that they are really what connects here and there. PEOPLE are what make one place different and similar to the next. PEOPLE are what make a place unique, as they make NEW history by trying to live NOW while knowingly or unknowingly bringing and sharing their special histories to that NOW that they already unavoidably lived THEN. Whoa. Did that work? It made sense when I thought of it and it made me happy.
Anyway, while I wish that I could keep making new memories with all of these people now, I am so grateful that their energy is with me and that we will all go on and keep finding new connections with people and creatures and places. Because of these connections that are zipping with electricity inside of me, Bahrain is still HERE, even though there are no mosques around me or date trees or sandy streets. Insha'allah, (God willing) we'll find common ground again soon.
I've never said so many goodbyes all at once as I did at the end of my stay in Bahrain. Saying goodbye to the 160 students I had was hard; they taught me more in this last year than I have learned in a very long time. They were a HUGE part of connecting my here and my there - my past with my present - who I am with who I have been and who I am becoming. The conversations I got to share with them, the laughs, the confusion, the frustration and problem-solving, the small space of my classroom in the bigger space of the hot island - it is a miracle that I had all of that. It is a gift to get to read students' writing - to see their growing thoughts and their concerns and their jokes and their uncertainties. While there were times when I felt like the classroom was all over the place and there were so few connections, and we were both bored by grammar, I was always thankful for the journal writing that they trusted me with, for the simple exciting moment of greeting at the beginning of class, and for the central idea that this was meant to be a place for movement, learning, and growth. There is so much I need to learn to make the classroom a space for students to grow and explore the nature of each other and themselves, and I feel like I have a big old strange and colorful specimen of a year to learn and grow from. Thank you, English 10 super-human beings of the world!
