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!