As American as I Could Possibly Be

Hey guys! Not too much excitement has happened lately but here are the highlights:

Sunday Kate and I booked more for our spring break trip to Italy. We now have an actual schedule to follow (in terms of which cities and when) and have booked all the flights and hotels. Now, we just have to find time to book the train tickets and any sight-seeing tickets we can buy ahead of time.

Tuesday most of my car went to dinner and a movie on the American base. Kendall, Taylor, Kate, Kay and I went to dinner on American Alley-specifically Fuddruckers-then headed to base at the end of the Alley and went to a movie. It was odd because it was a very small movie theatre, the movie we watched was actually pretty recent, they played the U.S. National Anthem before the movie started and, most importantly, nothing was cut out. Kendall did not come to the movie because she had lots of papers to grade but we all tried to convince her that it could wait.

Monday I went to jiu jitsu for the first time in a week by myself because Jess said she had too much work to do. Neither one of us went Wednesday because there was a Senior BBQ (Arabic version) after school that we were invited to and then that was also the day we lost our car keys. Between when I got to school and entered my room and around 3pm when we were putting stuff in our car, the keys were stolen but I had no idea by who or when. Thankfully there were cameras in my room so whoever took them would be caught.

Thursday morning, however, a student came into my room before school and handed them to me. I didn’t ask for details because I was just happy we got the keys back. However, that joy quickly wore off as it was a short day when most of the students were skipping and teachers had a professional development day. We had 2.5 hours of straight meetings because we are implementing a new lesson plan template and we had to talk about budgets for next year. That night, there was a small party in the room next to mine so I joined and watched Despicable Me 1 and 2 and played Cards Against Humanity while eating pizza. It was pretty fun to hang out with people that I see but don’t talk to too much. After, my roommate and I went out with Mike, Leon and a friend, Hussain, to a club. However, Jessica and I only stayed out until midnight. When we came back, we found two people from the party earlier wanted to go out too but no one else would go with them so we decided to go out with them again for a little bit. We were out longer than I originally wanted but it was still a lot of fun.

Friday night I went on a sort of date night with Taylor. We went to a restaurant called Texas BBQ and Wafflehouse. Neither one of us had been there yet but figured it would be pretty good. I thought it was but I think Taylor has mixed thoughts on it. It was also a little expensive for my taste. After that, we decided to go to the nearest mall and we went straight to the top and played in the arcade. First we started off taking photos-because what kind of a date is it without photos? Then we started playing a whole bunch of little kids games because we could. We found the best one to be similar to whack-a-mole except you have to beat this ghost’s head with two soft pallet drum sticks on the beat that it gives you. We also found some other ones like a big adventure simulator and Mario Kart to be quite entertaining-probably more so than an adult should think. In the end we turned in all of our tickets and got a kite. By this time, we had already been out for about 3 hours so we quickly grabbed a few things from the grocery store the floor below us and then headed home.

Today, I have just mostly been sitting around a working a little bit. I’ll be headed to jiu jitsu soon so I will leave you here. Ma Salama!

Lots of Kitties and Kiddies

This is why I make
fun of my cat...

Sorry guys! I’ve been busy with a bunch of things lately I forgot to post! Last Thursday after conferences there was a party at a teacher’s house out in Amwaj. It takes about 20 minutes to get there from our apartment building but we spent a few hours there. Donna and her husband invited some of us to their house for a couple hours for food, drinks, conversation and dog lovin’. We got to explore their house, eat delicious New York style pizza and appetizers, play Cards Against Humanity and meet their dog and one of their friends. We stayed for a couple hours but it was fun to hangout with people outside of school and outside of the apartments. It ended up being a pretty relaxing and fun night. The rest of the weekend was spent laying around and watching Netflix because we all need those days.

Also because she thinks
my face is comfortable.

This last Thursday, two days ago, there was a field trip all day for the seniors and I was asked to go earlier in the week. At first I wasn’t expected to go but then there were a few changes in the schedule and such so I was asked to supervise the trip. First we went to American Alley to eat breakfast anywhere we wanted in 1.5 hours. Then we went to Khalifa Park to take pictures before going to a carnival at a Police Academy in Bahrain. Although the pictures only took an hour and we only stayed at the carnival for about an hour (it was pretty much done when we got there), it was still cool to get away from school and see my kids outside of class. I didn’t quite think it was a worthwhile field trip but the seniors needed it and I’m pretty sure I did.

Later on, there was a small group of teachers going to Sherlock’s for dinner so Kate and I decided to join. Sherlock’s is a restaurant that has a slight British pub feel to it and décor is centered on the detective Sherlock Holmes. We were there for a little over an hour before we came back to the apartments and played Clue with the same group of friends. After one game, however, we were all tired and ready for bed. We had decided, though, that on Friday we would go to the mall to see Deadpool in the movie theatre. It was not quite what I expected but we had all heard from another group of teachers that went to it Thursday that it was a very good and funny movie. Like I said, not quite what I expected, but it was good to get out and watch it.

Today my roommate and I went to the BSPCA-basically an animal shelter-and walked dogs and pet a bunch of cats. We got there and walked two dogs each around the area for like 20 minutes each before going in the cat house and letting cats out of their cages and roaming the walkways for a little bit. I didn’t know much about the dogs because we weren’t allowed by their cages since most are either not trained or they are a desert dog, meaning they ran around the island for the first part of their life and that wild part of them is still there. The cats were easier because on each cage it gives the name of the cat, age, and a short description of their personality and medical info. There were so many dogs I was surprised how few cats there were. The oldest cat was only 3.5 years old and the youngest was 4 months. They also had donkeys, turtles, chickens, doves and ducks there. It’s a cute little set-up there, I just feel bad for the animals. The cats seemed like they don’t get much attention and the dogs didn’t want to come back from their walk.

I don’t have much else for you guys. There’s really only the London trip which is still questionable-it’s supposed to happen next week so I’m just assuming it’s not happening. Also Kate and I are still in the process of putting together our final plans for Italy so I can’t give you much detail on that yet either. Well, I’ll talk to you guys later!

Conferences, Fighting and Dying: Just Not in Order

Hey everyone!

Once again, today is coming live from Parent-Teacher Conferences! Yup, so as you can tell it is sooooo busy for me again. Granted it is still in the morning but I’ve only seen one parent so far. And that was for like a minute. So, to catch you all up on what I’ve been up to, read on:

On Friday, most of the building went to brunch but I didn’t feel like paying 30BD for it again so I decided not to go. While everyone was gone, I decided to spontaneously get my hair dyed. I didn’t tell anyone I was going to go or that I was even considering it, I just kind of went with the flow. I ended up spending a total of 6.5 hours at the salon because my hair has changed greatly since I started living in Bahrain. Basically my hair doesn’t take color quite as well as it used to so when the lady dyed my hair the first time, she finished washing it out and drying it but then looked at me and said, “You wanted darker didn’t you?” And I said yes. My hair was very much like a strawberry blonde color on top because it didn’t take the color well at all. You’d think that I was either a natural blonde or that she bleached my hair first but she didn’t, that was just the way my hair decided to be. She colored it again and when she finished, it was slightly darker but the top was still too light for me. When I asked her about it, she said we could go much darker than what we originally thought but she couldn’t do it then and it would also be bad for my skin. I said the color was still too light and I wouldn’t be able to handle it. So I ended up going home for like 2.5 hours before she asked me to come back for the 3^rd dye. She left the color in my hair for over an hour and it was also a more purple-y color than I wanted but, at that point, I just wanted it to be dark. It ended up looking really awesome when she was finally done with it. At first it was pretty dark and slightly purple with some purple-red highlights but today, it’s a little bit lighter because of the sun and showers. I’ve gotten so many compliments and I really like it despite all the trouble.

On Saturday I went for brunch at Saffron’s, the really cheap and delicious restaurant in the souq, with Taylor, Alex, Kendall, Kate, Mohamed, Nolan, and Tyler. We got to just sit and hangout for a few hours before heading back for a laidback afternoon. Later on, Jess and I went to a huge tournament that was taking place by the National Stadium. We didn’t have jiu jitsu that day because of the tournament and a lot of our teammates were involved in the jiu jitsu competition. We decided to go watch some but we also got to walk around for a while. Although we only stayed for an hour, there was a lot of stuff that we saw. They had had a Color Run earlier in the day, I found a student who said he was involved in the triathlon portion of the day, there was weightlifting, 3 on 3 basketball, MMA, parkour, etc. The best part though was driving up and freaking out because I saw that there was Bubble Soccer. Unfortunately, I could not play for 2 reasons: 1. I was not dressed for playing (jeans) 2. It was only for kids. So we decided to be boring and watch some teammates from jiu jitsu and then left.

Taylor’s boyfriend, Alex, left on Monday night. That night, Jess and I decided that we should go to Mohamed Noor’s, the restaurant with the true Middle Eastern feeling. We took both of our cars and ended up eating a really awesome meal (of course) before returning. I stopped at Jess and Taylor’s room to say goodbye to Alex and ended up fighting with him a little bit-which he had been wanting to do since he found out I was in jiu jitsu. He didn’t have the right idea for the sport (like most people) and so it was just a little awkward. Soon after, however, Jess came out of her room and fought him for a long time. I got lots of video as proof!

Since then there hasn’t been too much happening. Conferences are today but I’ve only seen 2 parents as of now. I also found out the other day that the senior Spring Break trip to China has been postponed for whatever reason and I am still unsure if my London trip is happening…in about a week now. Which is terrible. I’m hoping to find the lady today to tell me. Otherwise classes have been running semi-smoothly. There’s always a few bumps here and there. And I’ve also been rehearsing like crazy with the Drama Club kids to prepare for the show in about a month. I’ve been busy getting that prepared along with figuring out why I can’t invite parents to the show. Two days after there is a Carnival school that sounds like a lot of people attend and I will have to be here on a Saturday -_- I’ll live but I just will be very busy for the next month. Alright, that’s all I have for you guys. This is Ms. Lally reporting live from conferences, signing off!

A True Teacher Life. It's Begun

Hey all!

Last Thursday was when we celebrated two birthdays, Nolan and Jessica’s, and we went to a bar called Typhoon for Jessica’s birthday and then people went out to party in a tent in the middle of the desert for Nolan. I had no interest in going to Nolan’s party since it was so late but from what I’ve heard, it was pretty fun. Many people stayed out until 2 or 3 am but others were even still there. Like I said, not really my thing. I was ready for bed when they were leaving to go out haha. Anyways, since I didn’t go out, I got to have a completely lazy day all day Friday. I slept in a little bit and then got up only to stay on my couch all day and watch Netflix. It was pretty awesome. I made some food and drank cappuccino all day and had a few friends come visit for this or that reason but just stayed in with the cat all day. It was beautiful. 

Saturday morning was spent at a restaurant nearby called Rick’s where they sell all-American food and I got some BBQ pulled pork which is hard to come by here because it’s BBQ and because it’s pork. Other than that, I just worked on stuff for school and went to jiu jitsu. Since Sunday, I haven’t had too much going on. Just the usual working and getting things ready for classes. When I went to jiu jitsu on Monday, though, it was quite different than usual. Jess, the friend who got me started in jiu jitsu to begin with, was sick and could not come to class and I almost didn’t go. Since she and I usually partner together, I had to practice with a guy in the class whom I’ve never met or seen. He was much bigger than me, which is hard to deal with in jiu jitsu, and he had a lot more experience than me. It was awesome though because he really helped me break things down step by step and get it right and would offer advice and suggestions to help. But we also did a lot more conditioning in this class compared to normal because there is a competition this Saturday for those who want to compete. So, I almost threw up at a practice which is not something I’ve ever even been close to before. So now I hate Jess. But she knows so it’s okay.

Since then, I’ve just gotten stuff done for school and gone to jiu jitsu again. At school there is a class that is under my scrutiny because a few people cheated and now they’re freaking out about it. However, I think after two days of letting them sweat about their grades, I’ll give them the points they want because they are currently terrified of me. I’m also having kids sign a contract with me where I will give them the points they want to pass this semester but if they don’t get, say a B next quarter (it depends on the kid), I can take away twice as many points as I give them. There’s not been much going on but I will talk to you all later!