Former Expat Teacher Acclimating to the American Way!

Its been forever, I know. It's a wonder I've updated for this long. Life gets monotonous and there is nothing to post aside from a few complaints or surprises.  The (not so) recent move was, at first, a minor irritant and a reason to spend money I would have preferred to keep in my pocket. It turned out to fulfill my secret wishes though and I am so happy that we were able to  had to move! Basically, we lost a room. Well, we also lost half of what was already a small kitchen but it is open so we have a bar. We were also losing storage space and I spent months mentally preparing for this  change. Funny because I toyed with, even romanticizing, the idea of having a smaller space when I was convinced we were going to move to South Korea or Shanghai. In real life, I was walking from room to room, trying to decide what wasn't going to make the cut and it was driving me CRAZY! Some things were an easy choice. Other things, not so much. It was a bit cathartic at times and n...

I finished a small group activity with some children, it was really informal. After calling some children I really wanted to work with, I began to call others and some just showed up to the party. Unless the group is just too large you can join in as you like when it's something like this. Shaykha sat down and I was sure she would breeze through, become bored, and move along to another center. It was counting out manips on a 20 grid paper because they'd been having problems adding without recounting what they already had in front of them. To my surprise, most of the children who played asked to play again and Shaykha made sure to let me know just how she felt about it when the game was over. "why-ed haloo, wheyyyyyy-ed haloo." Basically, it was very nice. I laughed and told her I was glad that she liked it and we could play it again another day. Now that I think about it, its funny how something so simple can catch their attention. Other times, I can laminate and c...

Looking back home at all the summer concerts...only summer starts there before we actually get off work. You catch yourself thinking, "man, yet another reason to go home." Which is true, but then you realize that if you were indeed home, you probably wouldn't have the money to go to the concert to begin with. Ah, such is life.

Since being here, Ive been able to slide into the old adage of letting things slide off my back. I don't get too caught up in the (crazy) happenings going on around me. At least I try not to. Still, there are some things that still irritate the living _______ out of me! Thankfully, the list isn't too long or Im not sure how Id cope. Much like others are coping here I suppose. 1. People who bounce from lane to lane as if they were taught that that is the way you are supposed to drive. 2. People who change lanes in SLOW MOTION. Are you getting over or not??!! 3. People who aren't changing lanes. They're just straddling the lane even if someone is IN that lane next to them! 4. "Pharmacists" who don't know the names of medications nor do they know what interacts with what. It is ridiculous for me to have to adamantly tell you that I don't want a medication because they paper inside says X,Y,Z and then you say its not problem. Where did you go to s...

Seems like my last several posts have been about getting the hell outa dodge. I seem to go back and forth but continue to come to the same conclusion which is to stick to my original goals. Ive stayed the course thus far and to veer from it now would mean that some things wouldn't come to fruition and since I won't be making this my permanent home, it doesn't make sense to do that. I even have a teeny tiny itch of missing America. Though I know Im not ready for all that comes with that right now. Im sure a month of being with family will cure that really quickly. I just have to wait about five months for that to happen. In the meantime Ill just start planning for summer vacation. And if I have my way, its going to be AWESOME! Like, really awesome. This is the year to reward myself for staying said course and I am planning to see a couple really cool places in addition to going home. It is a bit overwhelming so I won't say anything beyond that just yet. Prices and boo...

Its that time of year where you think about your goals.Where it (usually) goes from there is anyone's guess. Except we make goals regularly and work to see them through. And that got me to thinking about something that I keep touching on in my posts about changing jobs. Its such a catch 22 because the two major things I want don't really support each other. (1) I want to go home in a timely manner AND I want to meet more of our financial goals before leaving. (2) I want to be in an environment more conducive to using the skills I learned and was able to use at home. Initially, I was sure I should just make the move, take the pay cut and just deal with whatever comes. But...isn't there always a 'but'? I got to thinking (think long think wrong) that this is but a blip in time and the things I can accomplish financially I can't accomplish in even half the time at home and there is no guarantee I will be in a better situation if I move. Having looked at school ar...

There have been several times where I've thought, "I need to go write..." but I never got around to it. So in the spirit of keeping this place updated I figured I should come and write before the year ends. Maybe Ill just recap the highlights of the semester. This is my first time having a class for a second year in a row. Its quite different from getting kg2s who haven't been to kg1. Every year I felt bad because my kids weren't using English but it was because they  hadn't heard it long enough. They did, however, understand English and I was usually satisfied with that. They are using a good amount of English,especially to tell on each other.They also translate for me when they can. I have a few who are ready to start reading cvc words, that is also a first. We continue to get more materials for the classroom. Though not much for Arabic. Its unfortunate and if someone were to get into production in that area they would make a fortune! My teacher is ...