Summer Days Drifting Away But, Ah, Oh Those Summer Nights!

Hey all, I’m back!

It’s been a long summer but it seemed so short because school is already back in session! So to start with, I travelled to Australia in late June/early July on my way home for the summer. For 10 days, I stayed with my host brother, Andres, from Ecuador in Melbourne. Every day we went and did something different and there was even a day I went exploring by myself in the city! Highlights were:

        Sea Life Melbourne aquarium-which happened to be promoting the movie Finding Dory at the time; therefore it was pretty fitting

        Queen Victoria market-an older styled open market with stalls and shops where you can find almost anything. I bought my soccer jersey here.

        National Gallery of Victoria-an art museum which, at the time, featured Edgar Degas. I had heard of him previously but didn’t know much about him at all. What was especially cool was that I saw many of his works that I knew but didn’t know was his. Also on the way here from the train station, Andres and I stumbled upon (what I think was called) the State Theatre. I wanted to go in and see if I could tour the stage or something but we couldn’t find a way in there. Instead, we did come across a mini museum featuring costumes, costume designs, light designs, set designs, etc. So, basically I got to geek out on all these pieces for different shows that have come through that mainstage, some of them are/were really famous designers and/or shows.

        Shrine of Remembrance-a memorial dedicated to the Australian men and women who died in World War I, or The Great War as it is referred to there. The architects were actually soldiers who had returned from the war and their designs were based off of one of the Seven Wonders of the World-the mausoleum at Harlicarnassus to Mausolus, King of Caria in South West Asia Minor. It opened in 1934 and is still in great shape. Below ground in the crypt, my favorite part was a sculpture of a father and son standing back to back which represents the two generations fighting in the World Wars.

        Old Melbourne Gaol-a former prison that was very popular in its heyday. It is now a museum with unique guided tours both during the day and at night. This one, I’d have to tell you about in person as it was, by far, my favorite part of Melbourne. Overall, the important parts are that there used to be executions in the prison until it closed in 1967, they have two guided tours to the court or the holding cells behind the court in which you have to act along, they do night tours (I really wanted to do but didn’t think staying alone in Melbourne until 10pm was a great idea), and it feels way more authentic after 3 or so as it becomes quiet and dark.

       Scienceworks-a museum dedicated to science from way back when until what we are continuing to work on now. This is more aimed towards younger kids but I definitely found this to be really cool as there’s a lot of hands-on stuff to do. My brother and I had so much fun hanging out in one area for about 3 hours but it closed after that, unfortunately. I would definitely go back to see everything else they have.

        St. Kilda Beach-even though I was visiting during the Australian winter, it was not too bad. It was quieter and more peaceful, cold, but still worth the visit. There were still tourists and locals along the beach walking and some had dogs we got to pet. Mostly, though, it was just a nice break to just relax and hang out with my brother and talk with him.

Now after I left Australia, I flew the other way around the world and flew into Los Angeles. I left Australia at 8am on July 3^rd and arrived in LA at 7:45am on July 3^rd while also getting a full night’s sleep. Weird. Anyways, I had about a 10 hour layover in LAX before I could get on my last plane to Omaha so I had booked a personal tour of the city. The tour guide, named Javier, picked me up at LAX (after waiting for me to get out for about 45 minutes) and drove me around the city. He told me multiple times that if I fell asleep he would not be offended. The tour company had packed a small cooler of water and soda for me in case I needed something and Javier also told me we could stop and do almost anything I wanted because I was the only one on this trip-I pay for what I want.

We started off driving through a small cemetery where Marilyn Monroe’s grave is and then drove over the Venetian canals (in LA, of course). We then went to Venice Beach, a.k.a. Muscle Beach, and wandered around before we left for Santa Monica Beach. He left me there to wander myself for about an hour and then we went to Beverly Hills. He showed me a few celebrity’s houses/front gates along the way and explained some architecture and horticulture to me as we were driving across the few blocks. Javier also had me pose and/or directed me to a couple spots where they’re the most common or well-known places for every place we went. For lunch we went to the Original Farmer’s Market and I decided on a Mexican meal since I hadn’t had any real Mexican food in about a year. Anyways, for dessert Javier left me to finish my meal while he went to grab donuts at one of the most famous donut shops there. While he left I happened to meet an older Iowa couple who had won a trip to LA from a radio station. When he returned, we took a short walk through the Grove and back to the car. Javier then took me to the La Brea Tar Pits and left me to explore again by myself.

We then moved on to the very “touristy” things-the Dolby Theatre (where the Oscars are held) and the Chinese Theatre (which hosts many of the movie premieres of Hollywood and has the handprints/footprints of people in front). This was also one of eighteen blocks which the famous Hollywood Walk of Fame is-all those stars with celebrity names. Across the street from where I was standing was El Capitan where majority of Disney movies are premiered and the Jimmy Fallon’s Late Night Show outdoor stage is. Lastly Javier and I went to a lookout over most of Los Angeles and to the Hollywood sign. We spent about 45 minutes between the two and then he brought me back to LAX for my last flight. By this time I was dead tired even though I had gotten about 7-8 hours of sleep the night before. However, Javier was great and really catering to everything I needed. Anytime I needed a break or longer time somewhere, he allowed me to do so and when I needed caffeine and/or sugar, he obliged. Surprisingly, we chatted quite a bit in-between stops so he found out a lot about what I do and my life and what I’m interested in. He knew I liked movies and loved theatre and architecture so he explained that stuff more than anything else. I paid him at the end of the tour and left him a really good tip. We hugged goodbye and then I left for the last leg home.

Over the months of July and early August, most of my time was spent travelling between one house and another. I was visiting as many family and friends as I could before I had to leave again. I made a list at one point and I think there were about 20 names on there-which means a different place and a different house. Oi lots of driving. On the plus side, I can still differentiate my driving between Bahrain and the Midwest-which are obviously completely different.

I also took a road trip with a teacher from Bahrain and went out to Washington DC to do some visa work for this school year and so he could go camping on the beaches while I was visiting friends and family out there…and going to my cousin’s wedding! Anyways, beyond that, the summer went by pretty fast and now here I am back in Bahrain and already finished with a week of school. Really the only thing I can say so far of this year is that it’s odd seeing everybody gone that I became friends with but overall, it’s soooooo much easier than last year. I feel like I have gained respect from the students and am more known and I also know more of what I’m doing. Anyways, I should go do some work for school tomorrow so until next time!

Fires Before Ramadan!

Hello! I am once again sitting around doing nothing in my abundance of free time. Since I last talked to you, I have been wandering around school looking for things to do because my classes are all done and now it’s finals. Students are only in school for about 2 hours to take a final so I proctor. After that, I watch movies or shows because I’ve got all my work done for next year and I have no finals to grade. I’ve already volunteered to help grade finals for some fellow teachers and I’m even planning a full lesson for an elementary teacher’s class.

On another note, Ramadan just started at sunset last night and so I’ve been experiencing the initial shock of the difference. If you forgot, Ramadan is the religious holiday where Muslims can only eat or drink when the sun is down and sleep most of the day because they’ve been eating a lot of the night. They focus on their religion and their relationship with Allah. They also focus on being generous to others and give back as much as they can. What I’ve mostly noticed so far is how much quieter it is. Students come to school and are so tired they fall asleep during their final or after their test. Even on the streets there are fewer cars and people. Besides that, a lot of places are closed until sundown because they are catering to the community. At school, we Americans cannot eat or drink in the hallways or classrooms without covering up the windows and locking the doors. This is to show respect for the Arab staff. You also have to be careful because you cannot eat or drink in public anywhere. If you even take a drink of water in the car while driving, you could be fined. This makes it incredibly hard when it comes to working out at jiu jitsu. We’ll go for the first time tomorrow during Ramadan but I am not looking forward to working really hard and not being able to drink water. Although I’m sure most of the Arabs would understand and not mind, I feel like I should not drink water to show respect for their religion.

As for things I’ve been up to in the past weeks, it’s been fairly boring. Last last week I had brunch with the Frisbee group at a Japanese restaurant called Bushido’s and it was really good! Afterwards there was a party at Donna’s house that I went to until midnight or so. That was also a lot of fun but I honestly can’t remember what else happened that weekend. I didn’t get drunk or anything, okay, I just can’t remember haha.

Graduation was this past Thursday and I was asked to help with that so there were a few practices during the school week. It was interesting and there were a few mistakes but it seemed fairly normal compared to American graduation ceremonies. With the exception of people using air horns during the diploma presentations; my goodness those got really annoying. And someone got kicked out of the auditorium because he cheered during the owner’s speech. Friday was brunch for most people in the building but there were a few of us who didn’t want to go so we went to Ric’s (American breakfast restaurant about a block from the teacher building) for breakfast before they even left. The three of us, Mike, Taylor and myself, had just finished our meal when a fire started in the kitchen and everyone had to evacuate. We didn’t even pay for our meal. There were 3 firetrucks that came to put out the fire and smoke turned black and it was smoking for at least 30 minutes! At first we were watching from the front of the restaurant and then we went to the roof of the teacher building and watched for a while. Apparently the place opened like

an hour later but I haven’t been back yet to see how. Between the fire damage, smoke damage and water damage, I figured it wouldn’t open for at least another month (after we had already left). Shocking. I don’t get it. Anyways, later on I went to ultimate Frisbee on base and then went out to eat with one of the Navy guys from Frisbee afterwards at the Lagoon. The next day was a lazy day until Dr. Cynthia’s party at an apartment building nearby. She is the one who has access to an indoor and outdoor pool, bowling lanes, and a game room and she always either makes us food or she orders it for us. I was only there for a couple hours because my afternoon nap was longer than I expected. There's not much else to say so I'm off!

All Things Asian. Except BBQ

Hey all! I am sitting at my desk working like I have been all week. It’s been pretty uneventful but I will fill you in on everything on my mind. I subbed 5 times from Thursday to Monday because both Drew and Kendall were gone so most of my free periods were spent dealing with other children and babysitting. From one of Kendall’s classes I got 3 students who owe me detention but Drew’s classes were pretty good. By Monday I was definitely done subbing so I told the administration’s assistant that I would not sub for at least a week. Thankfully, there’s really only one week left of school. The next week is review week when most kids don’t even come to school and then after that it’s finals!

My theatre students went to the elementary school this week to read stories for some classes there as that was their second-to-last summative grade and the last one is a fairy tale or legend performed on stage. It’s short and there’s not many lines for people to memorize-if they have to memorize. Speech and Debate students are also on that same track-they have one more debate to do for me and then I won’t even make them come in for class. I’m not telling them to skip school, just that they don’t have to come to class for me. Same for the theatre class once we’ve done our last performance.

This weekend was actually pretty full for it being a weekend. Thursday I went to jiu jitsu with Mike and then after was just a very chill night watching a movie and eating. Friday Jessica, Mike and I went to brunch at Texas BBQ and were there from 11am-5 or 6pm. It seemed like it would never really end because we were trying to get all the food and beer we could in the time period allowed. But it was a lot of fun. And kind of awkward-I saw one of my students there and she got me a drink because she “never comes to my class”. She was also a little drunk but it is not rare to see your students out and about and even at bars.

After the brunch we were going to play laser tag (after a quick nap). Mike and I were supposed to meet up with some people and then go but they all bailed for one reason or another. When we got there the lady at the counter said we had to have at least 3 people, so instead we sat down for some shisha and then made a surprise visit to Donna who lived in the area. We were only there for an hour as it was late and she had two dogs. Yesterday nothing really happened. I got to sleep in and work all morning/afternoon and then some of us decided to go to a Korean play thing that one of the students told us about. A few of my students saw the brochure that someone gave me and seemed genuinely interested in going and asked if I would. There were 6 of us teachers going to the show but since we had to split into 2 cars, we basically stayed split for the whole night. Mike and I wanted to eat at the Indian restaurant in the souq that we liked a while ago but then the others wanted to go to a Moroccan restaurant in another part of the city. 
Then, when we got to the culture hall where the show was, we got there first so we were further up in the line since they didn’t join us. Oh well, it didn’t matter. The cost was free anyways and there was still a line. We got in and were looking to see where we could sit and see if we could find a huge spot for all of us teachers and then the student that invited most of us came up behind us and said hello. He’s a really good kid and even took a picture with us afterwards but he wanted to say hi before the show even began. Anyways, as Mike and I were standing there looking and chatting with our student, the “VIP” section was opened up by one row and we got to sit four rows from the front. The other group of teachers was too late though, so they had to sit waaaaaaaaay in the back corner. The show itself, called Nanta, was actually really cool and funny. It is the longest running show for South Korea and it has been to Broadway already. They were here to help celebrate the 40^th anniversary of political relations with Bahrain. They did a lot of musical stuff with kitchen utensils and supplies like knives and cutting boards or spoons and water jugs. They told an entire story about working in a kitchen while only saying like 10 words. They were really good and it was a lot of fun and worth the wait in line.

Anyways, that’s all I’ve got for this week. Only 2 weeks of school left with kids, then one week without before I go on my next adventure! I’m not ready for summer break or anything. See ya!

THE BRITISH ARE COMING!...Oh Wait, It’s Just Bahrain Royalty

Sorry guys, it’s been busy here! Last week I was just really trying not to kill the children. Everyone seemed on edge and students were just unruly it was getting so ridiculous. Unsurprisingly, I’d say I was in a bad mood most of the week. Seniors were gone (unless they were in school for a class) but it was one of those times where everyone needed a break but the one day off certainly didn’t help. But on the plus side, I found out most of the things on my “wish list” were approved and I did get promises of things to be given as well as some money from the school to spend for my classroom. Thursday night was good though because I got done taking out all my anger and frustration in jiu jitsu and then came back to grill out. I was still in bed by 11pm haha. The week went fine but between kids being antsy and obnoxious, teachers being on edge and the school in full presentation mode, no one wanted to be there-well, much more than usual.

The weekend was hectic and busy but pretty good. Friday I went with Brandon and went shopping for stuff for my classroom. We only got some very basic stuff from the farthest stores-also ones that he knew of but few others do. After that I went to ultimate Frisbee with a bunch of people from base. They went to a different field in the Rugby Club and played there for about 2 hours. It’s a lot nicer than being on the one on base but this one also charged to get in. I was originally going to play but decided not to once I was about to go because I was just physically exhausted from everything last week so I just sat and watched. Afterwards, there was a restaurant in the club that is called Manos so we stayed there for dinner and a beer. I ordered my first steak (ribeye-but not as good as yours, Dad)) since I’ve been gone from the U.S. and also got a beer, salad, French fries and corn on the cob for less than 10BD! Which is somewhat expensive when converting to USD ($26-$27) but is pretty inexpensive compared to many nicer places here. Afterwards I just went home and went to bed. Saturday Mike 

and I planned to go to the farmer’s market again but it had moved to a very nonspecific place. So we drove to where it was and asked a security guard that was there where it was. Apparently it won’t open until December because the indoor market space for it isn’t done. Soooo…..so much for fresh food. But when we were on our way back, we figured we might as well go by the jiu jitsu center since we were one town over and drove home that way because we knew where a lot of small food stands with fruits and veggies are. We stopped at one on the way back and I got some green beans and potatoes. I’m fairly certain they are from Saudi since there was a ton of veggies and fruits in it that I didn’t see at the farmer’s market but that’s okay because they’re still pretty fresh and much cheaper.

This week the school has been just absolute chaos getting ready for the visit from the…well, Shaika is her title but a lot of people have been calling her princess. So when the king’s wife’s favorite daughter-in-law comes, we are all putting on this huge show: there’s banners and posters everywhere, kids preparing for their dancing show and honors presentation, buying unnecessary things that will probably never see the light of day again, and “suspending” “bad” kids for a day so they aren’t caught out of uniform or out of class………………..Yup. She’s coming to my classroom along with some newspaper/magazine photographers and some news channels-at least from what I’ve been told she is.

On Sunday, I was told I had one day to decorate my class because one of the owners would come looking at the room. I had nothing on the walls as they had said they would paint my room (which they didn’t) and I had no bookcases, closets, or a podium as they said I would. So, needless to say, I was a little frustrated and pretty annoyed. I spent all three of my now-open class periods (were senior classes) decorating the walls. Monday until Wednesday, I was still preparing for the visit at any chance I got. Any time I happened to have a free period and I didn’t sub was basically spent in my room moving things around and decorating or getting stuff for the lesson itself ready. At least until about the last hour of school Wednesday when I could finally take a step back and, you know, plan for my other classes. But on the plus side I got 3 bookcases, 2 closets and the promise of another one, a table, a podium (which was later taken away with a promise that I would get another one), and all my seats replaced…with the same chairs that will break later I’m positive. We’ll see about all the promises and the replaced seats later on, but I don’t have my hopes up. They did also give me 120BD to spend how I wanted as long as I brought back the receipts and I bought a bunch of props or pieces of clothing that most people probably wouldn’t have. I also got a bunch of books from my head of department so that I could fill up my bookcases, but they’re only on loan. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to keep one of the copies of every script she has but we’ll see on that too.

Today, the King’s wife’s favorite daughter-in-law (Shaika) came to school. Wow. That’s all I can say. Almost no students showed up because school was cancelled for the elementary school because of this visit (no real reason that I know of) and apparently one of the high school counselors decided himself that he should tell almost all the kids not to come to school. In my first block I had 3 of my 13 kids and in my second block I had 11 of 16 but most had to be there for either my 3^rd block or another teacher’s where they were in class for the Shaika to walk in on. I don’t even have a 3^rd block class so I had to create my own class so I just kept most from my class before. Anyways, it was all just a show anyways. I had lesson plan ideas shot down because they weren’t “theater-y” enough—in other words, they were expected to be holding scripts and I was directing them while my “para-teacher,” Brandon, helped people in the back. Since she was making headway long before the schedule sent out said, she ended up walking into the class while they were practicing reading the children’s books which is an actual project they will be doing Sunday and Monday. I’m really bitter about her visit, though, because when she walked in during the middle of some students reading she interrupted the entire class and everything just went silent and all my students looked at her. There were a bunch of pictures being taken the entire time when Ms. Hanan, my Vice Principal, introduced us and we shook hands before introducing Brandon and then we all stood there awkwardly so I made a comment about practicing to read for the elementary students next week. She said, “It is good to read to the little children,” and then her and the whole entourage walked out but not before taking pictures of my students sitting there (they were now too nervous to read).

Anyways, some of my kids for that fake lesson hadn’t been my kids anyways and most of them wanted to watch this huge show that was in the brand new auditorium. Students had been practicing for weeks and most hadn’t been to a single class in a week because they were practicing all day, every day. Every other class besides the ones being observed were already at the auditorium almost an hour before the Shaika arrived so she didn’t see any of the transferring happening. So we had to sneak out of my classroom and run to the building outside and get there and seated before she walked in-we were lucky and got settled like a minute or two before she walked in. The entire ceremony was just awkward and it was hard to keep a straight face. There were 4 or 5 dances from different groups and they weren’t that great nor were they synchronized. They also had some teachers read poems they wrote for the visit as well as the owner speaking, but it was all in Arabic so I didn’t understand a word of it. In the audience, the students were getting antsy and wanted out-they’d been sitting in silence for an hour 

before the Shaika even arrived and another 20-30 minutes before she got to the auditorium! Anyways, there was a video that Brandon made that was shown and it was pretty neat (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWcUVj37j0Y&feature=youtu.be you can see some of my fellow teaching peeps and students!) but otherwise, everything seemed just so over the top and fake that I am so happy it’s over. I got a lot of things I needed for my classroom because of this so it is a blessing in disguise but overall, it almost wasn’t worth it. Now that you have heard my mini-rant, I will leave you until next time!

Puppies and Plays and...Pain?!?

Hello All!

So again, I don’t have too many fun things to tell you unfortunately. But to start with, last Saturday I went to a co-worker’s house, Donna, and spent most of the day there. She fed us and let us swim in her pool and the beach she has in her backyard. We also got to play with two adorable dogs because one was hers and one she was dogsitting. We also played Frisbee and Cards Against Humanity. One of my other co-workers who came had a few friends that came from Saudi Arabia but they had to leave at a certain time so after that, there was video games. In school last week, my two projects for the rest of the year in theatre classes have been approved and I can work with the elementary school. Although it’ll be hell to combine classes and get what I want, I’m sure it will run smoothly the day of. Also last week, it was seniors last week at school but they even got to leave Tuesday. They were told that unless they had a project or presentation to do, they could not come to school. Reason being, they were literally ruining the school-both destroying it physically with graffiti and ruining the walls and floors and because they didn’t attend classes and/or disrupted classes. However, it was still pretty unnecessary because all they really need to do at this school is learn how to discipline. At least in the middle school they have detentions or they refuse to let students play sport games until their attitude or grades improve.

Anyways, I’m still working on stuff for school and dragging kids along with me because they’re already checked out for the year. Since seniors are done now I had to do everyone’s final which is a debate in Speech/Debate class and a performance in front of an actual audience for theatre class. I’ve tried to start planning for next year but I’m a little behind because of other things for school this year, but I’ll get there eventually. This weekend, we also had a 3 day weekend. So on Thursday night after jiu jitsu Mike, Jessica, and I went to The Jungle Book in the mall’s movie theatre. After that, Jess and I went straight to bed because we actually felt really tired. That night or early the next morning, most people left to go to Dubai or Doha but I had decided to stay here in order to get more work done and have a relaxing weekend. The next day we literally spent all day at Coral Bay, which is a sort of resort that had a pool,

beachfront, restaurant, and a swim-up bar. For the first part of the morning, we spent our time in the ocean on a floaty that Kay bought and then after that was spent going back and forth between napping/tanning on the lounge chairs and cooling off in the water. Jessica and I got quite crispy. When we were there last week, Kay got burned, Jessica had put on sunscreen and only got a little red where she missed spraying, and nothing happened to me even with no sunscreen. This weekend it was reversed. Again I did not use sunscreen and Jess this time did not either and we both fried but Kay was just a little burned. We’re not quite sure what the difference was between last weekend and this weekend.

Yesterday morning, we joined with Kate and went to a farmer’s market that takes place in a garden-yes, an actual garden with trees and grass and flowers! It’s not quite the same as ones that I’m used to but it was still really cool. Lots of vegetables but hardly any fruit but we did buy a lot of food to snack on and make with our meals this week. When we were buying snacks at the concession area, I even saw one of my graduating seniors who said hello. Of course, I was on vacation mode and just said, “Whoa!” when he called me Ms. Lally. A few hours later, we went and got some massages done at Coral Bay as well. Kate and Kay did the usual Swedish massage but Jess and I decided to do a combination massage which is a mix between Swedish and Thai. So basically, it’s a little bit more deep tissue and stretches you quite a bit as well since the main goal of a Thai massage is to increase your flexibility. It was very good but I doubt I will ever get a Thai massage done-but I could also be saying that because I’m still burnt. Later on, Kay and I went to the training center where I do jiu jitsu because they were 

doing upgrades (I didn’t quite know what that meant either). Basically I showed up in regular clothes holding my belt and soon found out I was supposed to wear my entire gi but no one had said that to me. Well, they happened to have an extra for me and then we went through this entire ceremony-type thing that I didn’t understand but followed along. Basically, everyone that had been training consistently for 3 months got an upgrade-a stripe on a patch of their belt (for me, I have a white belt with a black patch so it was a white stripe on the black). They called your name and you went up, shook the owner’s hand, he put the stripe (which was a small piece of athletic tape) on your belt and you went to sit down. That was it. Beyond that, there were 3 or 4 people who moved up a belt so that was cool to see that. The guy sitting next to me explained that you have to train for almost a year at one belt level before you go to the next, but even then you have to pass a test. After that part of the ceremony ended, we did a beating. Literally. This part someone also had to explain but what I know now is this: this is a sort of ritual for this training facility that when you move up a belt, you take off the coat of your gi at this ceremony and everyone makes a tunnel for you. Everyone else removes their belt and as you walk or run through, they whip you with their belts on your back. This might not sound that great or that bad, but you can run as fast as you can through it but there was about 60 people there making this tunnel…

This morning, Jessica and I went to Saffron’s, the place with the typical Bahraini breakfast. We quite enjoyed it even though we had to wait almost an hour to be seated. But we also did see a few other MKS teachers walking in and out of that area. Afterwards, Jess and I walked around the souq for a while looking for things that she wants to get before going home. I thought about getting a few things here and there but nothing seemed good enough to bring home for anyone yet so I just held off. Anyways, now we’re sitting in our apartment and I need to get working before we go to a movie on base tonight with Kay. So, I will leave you guys with that! See ya!

This Is The End For Them. In More Ways Than One...

Hello everyone!

So, I’m not going to lie, I’ve got no news. For the most part I am again sitting at conferences and waiting for parents to come visit me. I think they must think their children got whatever they deserved because as the year goes on, I get less and less parents at conferences. I’ve had a whopping 3 parents after four hours of conferences.

Anyways highlights from the week include wanting to kill my children, going to a music festival, trying not to kill my kids, chasing kids around the school, skyping with a former middle school teacher’s class, recording children I’m chasing and yelling at around the school, dreaming about killing kids, and writing up students. Fun times.

No but seriously, it’s that bad. Seniors are almost done (next week, humdullah) and their “I don’t care” attitude is rubbing off on everyone. Even me at this point. And from what I understand, kids are used to not doing anything the last month and a half after seniors leave. Boy, are they gonna hate me. We’re not doing that much after they leave but still. After the last week of this month, though, I have no idea what I’ll be doing with my theatre kids. I have an idea but I don’t think they’d really be up to it after having to rush everything they’re doing right now in class.

Seniors are having to do their final next week so they have either a debate or a part in a play depending on which of my classes they are in. Most of the seniors, however, are actually pulling everyone else down with them because of their attitude in class and for this final and if they don’t get it together, they will fail this quarter. Now, maybe most don’t care all that much about it but a lot of them were also getting low grades last quarter either from the same attitude and/or from the Fashion Show that took place. In March. Quarter ended in April (rolls eyes).

Back to highlights of the week: I went to a music festival with my roommate and another teacher, Brittany, last Friday. It was called Trib Fest where almost every act was a tribute to a certain artist or duo. Obviously they weren’t the real music artists as some of them were dead but some highlights were Justin Timberlake, Lady Gaga and David Bowie. Odd combination but it was pretty fun to just sit and relax all day outside. With a lot of expats in Bahrain. Oh, and there were two local bands that were in the show that my roommate kind of knew as well so meeting them was pretty neat as well.

As for the skype conference I had with the class last Thursday night-it was weird. I’ve never skyped with a big group like that but the internet worked pretty well for the most part. It was just really awkward to talk to a bunch of kids knowing that my face is plastered against a wall when I’m talking. They all had different kinds of questions and some of them were repeats, but I think my favorite question was “What crops do they grow there?” Uh, if you’re lucky you’ll come across real grass and some palm trees haha. I think probably the most interesting question I was “What are buildings made out of?” I’m not sure exactly what she was thinking but I’m wondering if she was thinking it was plaster and wood or something but it’s actually just sand and concrete for the most part.

Anyways, I should go try to be productive now during conferences. I’ll talk to you guys soon! Also, I attached more photos from Italy and some from school recently. Later!

"And Daddy, They Took My Boot!"

Italy!

If you don’t have me on Facebook, the biggest differences that seemed abnormal in Italy were the following: church bells, mutual respect, PDA, skin, ALL THE WHITE PEOPLE!
I’m not trying to be rude about it, it’s just things I am no longer used to. It was quite impressive to see all the changes from one culture to the next and comparing them to one another but, in essence, they were all very similar. I still had a lot of fun exploring and doing all the touristy things I did, but I also missed the feel of not moving around and just staying in one place to experience everything-not just the first impressions. I would say that would be my biggest regret of the trip but it’s not important enough to take away from the fun I had.

On our first day in Rome, we flew in and checked in to our apartment-which was conveniently about 100 meters from the Coliseum. We then went and explored the Forum, Palentine Hill, Capitoline Hill, Pantheon, and the Coliseum. It was a lot of history to take in, especially with Kate who is a history geek, but I had my own things to geek about throughout the trip. The first day was mostly getting a majority of the touristy sites out of the way in order to avoid crowds (It was a Friday) and so we wouldn’t fall asleep too early in the day. I did enjoy a lot of these spots because they were much older and it felt like you entered a different world because they were so big and totally engulfed you. I felt like I was in ancient Roman times and I was seeing differences in our culture and theirs, especially in the architecture (one of my geek sides). And then we would get ambushed by tourists and then I wanted to leave. Such is Europe.

When we were in the Pantheon, we happened to time it perfectly. We had about 30 minutes where we were roaming around and then they made an announcement that everyone needed to get out unless they were attending mass. Kate and I decided to stay and, except for being very tired and hungry, enjoyed it (at least I did). It was a Catholic mass said in Italian so I didn’t understand about half of what was going on or being said because it was so different than ours, but it was very interesting. Afterward, we went in search of a place my cousin said was very good nearby. Eventually we stumbled upon it and found a pizzeria that explored various tastes and styles of pizza (talking about the toppings). I had a potato pizza and a buffalo cheese pizza. We both agreed it was awesome, but after what we did the next week in Italy, we both realized it was very good but not the best (Sorry Colleen).

The next morning, we got to sleep in a little because we had a food tour that didn’t start until 10am. We went to an older part of Rome that was actually the first part to exist because of the placement of the Tiber River. It first started out as a port and grew because of the markets and the location. This part of authentic Rome is called Testaccio. We had a 4 hour trip of taste-testing breakfast, lunch, and snacks. We joined up with quite a few Americans also on the tour as well as a family from Germany to visit generations-old and owned delis, cafes, markets and mini restaurants. We stopped at 12 food places and then 2 random stops to show a little history in the area. One of the random stops was to a cemetery that holds the final resting place of a lot of famous people-the first of which we saw were John Keats, Joseph Savern and Percy Shelly (English geek in me came out). Kate and I both agree that this food tour was our favorite part of the trip both because of the experience, the food and the social aspect. Every person on the tour was very delightful and we became a small family by the end of the trip.

After our food tour, we decided to do a few other touristy things-the Trevvi Fountain, Spanish steps and the Chiesa del Gesu. The Trevvi Fountain and Spanish steps were, of course, filled with people because it was so nice out and they’re extremely famous. We were both in agreement that we should just get in and get out for the most part. We forced ourselves into the crowd, took our pictures, and then left as fast as we could. We didn’t really stick around for a lecture or anything, not even a history note! The Spanish Steps were actually closed for construction for some reason and we didn’t bother to get close to them, we just stood back and let people do their thing. 

We did happen to see a Shelly and Keats museum right next to the Spanish Steps though, ironically. It was totally unplanned for and we had no idea it was there but we went in anyways. I, of course, enjoyed it a lot because it’s such a huge part of my education-the people anyways. The museum was basically the apartment where John Keats and Joseph Savern lived-and Keats died-when they were there a century ago but it also told the story of Percy Shelley because he was best friends with Keats. Anyways, after that we went to Chiesa del Gesu, a church that has a 3D ceiling. They actually have a mirror on the ground so you can look up at the ceiling easier without hurting your neck. This was a really cool place to visit as well, but we didn’t stay or study any sort of history for it so it was just a cool factor of the day. After that we went to dinner before wandering around for a couple hours. We ended up getting slightly lost but quickly found our way back while also visiting a bunch of piazzas and open air markets. We even walked down a street, found a tiny church, and met a Catholic brother in Rome that was from Iowa!

On the third day we took a day trip to Mount Vesuvius and Pompeii. It was 14 hours altogether. We had to travel to the far side of Naples and our group traveled to Mount Vesuvius first. We had an hour and a half to climb half the volcano; it was hell. The first part of it seemed like it was going straight up in small sections-which made it feel like it was taking forever-and it wasn’t ideal for hiking at all because it was very easy to slide down the rocks you just finished climbing. The second part of it started going less steep and more just like a hill so it was a lot easier to do. Kate and I never made it to the furthest point (there were 3 checkpoints, we made it a little bit past the 2^nd one), so, because of timing, we had to turn back around and head back down. We were about 

10 minutes late to the bus but we weren’t even the last ones so we didn’t feel as bad. After that we had lunch close to Pompeii and then we had a short tour of it. The guide was kind of funny because he was British and kept making jokes about their lives compared to ours. We didn’t get to see too much of Pompeii because there was so much to do in such a small amount of time but what we did see was pretty cool. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite live up to its expectations but, like I said, I did only see a few parts of the ruins.

The last full day in Rome, we went to the Vatican, St. Peter’s Basilica and Castel D’Angelo. To begin with, we travelled to St. Peter’s and roamed around for 30 or so minutes until our time came to go get our tickets to climb the dome. We decided to pay for the elevator ride up (extra 2 euro) so we wouldn’t have to climb all 554 stairs, instead we went up 323 stairs-but it still took forever and you can get really claustrophobic when in the “hallway” because it’s extremely skinny and even starts curving with the dome. Eventually we made it to the top after much struggle (apparently we were not nearly in shape for this adventure like we thought we might be) but we got to enjoy the view for about 45 minutes before we had to go back down to make it for our appointment in the Vatican Museums. We had previously gotten the tickets online for a certain time so we were able to skip a long line and go straight 

in, although it was very crowded. We were exploring the museums for a good 3 hours or so-they had a ton of things from armory to religious artifacts to pottery. We also had lunch there before resting for a few minutes then heading back to St. Peter’s. There was a lot of stuff we didn’t see and Kate wanted to listen to her audio guide of St. Peter’s. We were there for another hour or so before we decided we were finished and should go to Castel D’Angelo down the street. Castel D’Angelo started off as a mausoleum for the Roman Emperor Hadrian and his family before it was turned into a fortress for popes.

The 5^th day of the trip, Kate and I travelled to Cinque Terre-specifically the small town of Manarola. We spent most of the morning and early afternoon travelling on a high speed train so we would make it to Manarola by early afternoon. This one-day stop was just to relax and enjoy the view. It is a small fishing town on the coast but it is also gaining popularity and becoming a tourist town. Luckily, though, there was only a hundred or so extra people in town so it wasn’t too full. We had an early dinner and planned the last minute details of Florence before going to bed. The next morning, we only had a couple hours before the train left for Florence so I laid out on the beach for a little bit while Kate read and then we had an early lunch before grabbing our things and leaving. That day, we arrived earlier in Florence than expected so we started wandering around. We only planned to look at one or two places but everything there is much closer and it’s a smaller city. We ended up finding almost everything we would go to later on in the week and went into a few unplanned places as well. For the most part, everything we wanted to see was close to one another so if you wanted to do one thing, you paid for everything. However, we didn’t know that before and didn’t want to buy tickets for multiple places since we didn’t plan on going in all of them. It was also a little cool because I found out that an Irish pub across the street was called Finnegan’s, which is my brother-in-law’s last name. So we went in for a drink at the end of the night.

The 7^th and final full day in Italy we started off with a food tour in the morning by recommendation from our tour guide in Rome. This one was still in the beginning stages of the tours so we actually got a huge discount because it was a pilot. It wasn’t quite as fun as the one in Rome since Kate and I were the only people in the trip but it wasn’t as long or as interesting (food wasn’t much different) but I did try a few odd things like the stomach lining of a cow’s 4^th stomach. That was actually good…well, it was prepared well. I probably won’t eat that anywhere else haha. After that we went to the Duomo where we walked around and learned a tiny bit about the history of it-it has the largest brick dome ever constructed, it is one of the largest churches in Italy and used to be the biggest one. After a quick tour through, we went to the Academia Gallery where Michelangelo’s David statue is. That was about the only thing worth it in the entire gallery. Everything else was either a replica of the real thing or were a lot of paintings/sculptures by much lesser important artists so they were cool to see but didn’t have much for a history.

The last day in Florence was a half-day. In the early morning, I went to check out an auditorium down the road from where we were staying just to see if there was anything cool there. Originally, I had wanted to go to an auditorium/stage where opera basically started and one of the oldest opera houses in the world but you needed a private tour reserved which I didn’t know. Anyways, this auditorium wasn’t actually an auditorium. It used to be a convent but then it was turned into a military base and then back into a convent before being deserted and eventually, a sort of gallery and museum but without the popularity. This was just a quick stop before Kate and I went to the Uffizi Gallery where we saw a lot of the famous paintings in Italy from the Renaissance era (Botticelli, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci for example) that were a part of the Medici family’s collection. There was a lot to see but we didn’t have the time or will to go through nearly as many exhibitions so we stuck to the important ones and then left. This was the day we sadly had to come back to Bahrain. First we travelled by train from Florence to the Rome airport we flew into because it was also where our return flight was and then we flew from Rome to Doha to Manama. We got in around 2am and my roommate came to pick us up. I spent all day yesterday doing almost nothing. Now here I am, back at school, wishing I had at least one more day to recoup before teaching. But oh well, I’m making it work. Anyways, that’s really all I’ve got time for and this post is already really long, so I’ll catch up with you guys later. Ciao!