Thanksgiving!

Well, I celebrated Thanksgiving with my coworkers on Wednesday; it was an awesome time! I went over to the science teacher's house where I and her daughter made biscuits from a mix that was sent to me from a friend back in Michigan (thanks Meredith). The eight year old had never seen biscuits before, and when I asked if she knew what they were, she quickly explained that they were thin and crispy ... ahh the British influence on her language is telling. I guess one can expect nothing else from someone raised in Egypt. I took this opportunity to show her the picture on the package and explain that an American biscuit is not the same as a British biscuit.

She read the instructions and proceeded to help me stir water into the powder that was just poured into the bowl. Unfortunately, we had to guess as to the amount because we had no measuring cup. As I have made biscuits in the past, I had some idea as to the proper consistency, and I think we made them a little watery. No matter, we mixed away and dropped the mix onto the waiting cookie sheet as the oven heated. Of course there was no way to tell if the oven was at the proper temperature as it is a gas oven with no thermometer inside. So, as every amateur cook knows how to do, we guessed yet again.

Now, I wanted to make the biscuits small as they generally rise better that way, but Selma, the girl, thought better of this and made them bigger. Of course this caused them to break a little when they were taken off the pan, but the eating of them was wonderful! They were just the right texture, the flavor was almost like home, and with honey or blackberry jam, there was no doubt this was a necessary contribution to the gastronomy of the day.

The turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and gravy were all expertly prepared by the two English teachers who live above the science teacher. It may have been late, but the food was definitely about as traditional as one could get. And to be there spending time with friends was the thing I was most thankful for.

Following this, we watched the new Star Trek movie, and then I went home, sans hat! The little one had stolen my hat and told me that I could have it back when I next cam for a visit! The nerve of some people...how dare she steal my hat? It was one of the nicest things she has done to/for me. Knowing that I am welcome is a great feeling. I did go back and get it just yesterday (Thursday).

Of course it wasn't just for this reason that I went back. They actually came to see me. I had messaged them that I had just moved into the downstairs apartment, and they came to see it. It is a wonderful 3 bedroom apartment very similar to the one upstairs. This one, however, has bigger beds, a bathroom connected to the bedroom as well as the main shared one which has a BATHTUB!!! This apartment also comes with a new roommate. He is from Baghdad originally, but has been living in UAE for the past nine years. He seems very nice.

As of now, it is not comfortable living here. I did sleep very, very well, the best since I have been here, but I have yet to get the washer, drying rack, refrigerator, stove, blankets, microwave, etc. I don't think it would actually be considered legally inhabitable in the US. Ahh, but it feels good to not have to feel like I am at work all the time. I also don't have to worry about constant visitors anymore! I am very happy about it. Hopefully I will be able to start focusing a little more now as well. I guess only time will tell with that though.

Eid holiday has come!!

Eid has come. I think the actually day itself was this past Saturday, but I cannot be certain. My break lasts from last Thursday at about 3pm (mostly because none of the students showed up) until when I go to work on Sunday morning. It is a long break in which I feel nothing of any consequence will happen. But this is good for me, I do not want anything overly exciting to happen. I want to just take a day or two to relax without having to worry about people and being around them.

This of course is a disadvantage to living with two very social (and socially controlled) Lebanese. Does it matter that they are Lebanese? Normally I would want to say 'no', but the truth of it is 'YES!" Of course it matters! Much of what they do, they do because of their culture. They are constantly inviting the other Lebanese employees over for shisha, dinner, or just to hang out. They had a Lebanese BBQ two days ago which I helped with (and was the only nonLebanese there). I didn't really have much of a choice, but at least they told me the night before that they were planning to do it. That is an improvement over all the other times. They expect me to be alright with all of the visitors and have no problem with them coming over. I, however, get very tired from being around other people and need a break once in a while. This does not mean that I don't want them to come over; it just means that I need to be able to be prepared for it and to have a day or two to myself as well. This is apparently a foreign concept in this part of the world.

I didn't have the opportunity to celebrate Thanksgiving last Thursday, so a few of my coworkers and I are going to do so this Wednesday. I think it will be a nice chance to sit and relax and eat. And I will have enough time afterward to be able to recover from the experience. I am really looking forward to it because it means that I will get a chance to spend time with my coworkers 8 year old daughter. It is a great boost to my mental health to be able to interact with a child again. I miss being around children, and I don't have much of an opportunity to do that here.

I am still attempting to learn Turkish, though it is coming very slowly. I need to become more focused with just about everything I do, but especially this! I have been too long out of studying that I am no longer used to it. I need to change that as I would like to eventually go back and do some more studying. I want that PhD!

With so many changes, I am glad that this break has come though. The dean left and the new dean has come in. I am not sure what types of changes this will bring with it, but we shall see. I have also had to pick up more teaching hours as they appointed one of the new English Instructors as the Academic Coordinator (or something like that). She will take on a lot of administrative type duties and, therefore, had to lessen her teaching load. Now I will teach 28 hours a week. My Mondays will be the toughest because I will be working from 7:45am - 6:00pm and then have Turkish class until 8:30pm! Hopefully this will not be too much for me. This will continue until we leave for break on the 18th of December. This is not an overly long time, so I should be alright.

Next semester is anticipated to be worse. They are saying anything specific, but it is the whole "we have to go down before we come up" routine. We shall see what happens, I suppose. Wish me luck in everything; I am sure I will make it!!

So many changes!I

It seems that things almost never change. I still wait longer than I want to do everything from shopping to writing my blog, I still haven't been able to sleep well, and I still don't eat as well as I should regardless of the fact that I know I should, and I want to.

This being said, it seems that lately everything has been changing! There are things here within the university admistration that are changing. This means everything from the set up to the way we are supposed to teach to the position people are in; all of this is going to change. I am not completely sure what to think about these changes just yet, but I do anticipate some problems on the horizon.

On another note, things have been a little tough for me for the past few weeks (2 or 3 actually). I had been sick, and then I had to take a Turkish test even though I had missed 2 weeks of class. I did score a 59%, so I was very happy! I never thought I would say that, but having not put the effort in required to get a good score, this was better than I was actually expecting. I have been seriously thinking about leaving the company, but I know that if I decide to do that, I will be out a lot of money, I won't have a job, and I won't be given a letter of release allowing me to work in the Kurdistan Region. This may not seem like a bid deal, but I like it here for some strange reason, and I would really like to stay. My only problems come from my job, and if I were able to either get a different one or even work freelance, I would be alright.

My students are actually causing me a bit of frustration at the moment, however. I just passed out a book for them (21 pages, maybe 3rd grade level), and they are struggling with it. I decided to make the homework to prepare for class. I don't think they are used to having to do that and making it homework may remind them to do so. I know that if they look at it at home, they will have time to translate everything and be ready to read it in class. I wish that they wouldn't rely on translation, but I don't know if they are ready to not. I can't fight it anymore; I will merely keep mentioning it and hope that some of them will take it in.

I keep telling myself that I don't care about the way my students perform, but I really do. I think I am too easily attached, and I feel almost personally responsible for their English ability. I know this isn't true, but I can't help but feel it, nonetheless. I guess this is why it is so frustrating to me when they don't seem to care, when they talk while I am talking, or when they come back from break 5 minutes late. I guess I should expect it, but I still do not find it acceptable.

I am thinking about hiring someone to do my cooking for me. As much as I don't like to have someone do my work, I am not eating correctly, and I don't forsee that changing anytime soon. So, if I hired a cook, then I wouldn't have to worry about what to eat or having to prepare it; I could just come home and have it either waiting or being prepared (or even just ready to heat up in the microwave). The only other solution I can think of is to get married, and the possibility of that seems quite low at the moment.

I guess that is all for now. I seem to have been rambling much more than usual, and there are many topics covered here; however, I think they are all relevant to what is happening and what I may need to do in the future. And barring being fired or some unforseen circumstances, I should be here until the end of June or mid-July. Hopefully by then I will have lined up another job....hopefully in the area!

Finally another update!!

If one waits until they know the ending, the story never gets written. It seems that this is what I have been doing for the past few weeks: waiting to know the end of the story. To think it is still not complete; the drama and sub-stories that play underneath, come to a head, and sink back again are of such a quality that TV would never take them (we can't have good quality television, people may start to think or something).

I wish I knew what it was all about or at least what facet of life it was dealing with. Unfortunately, it is like a cancer that has permeated the not so distinct lines between the work, home, and social aspects. Of course living in a place where you live with your coworkers/supervisors and they are the only people you know enough to socialize with, this is not really a surprise. But this is starting to change! Just two days ago I met one of the students from my Turkish class. He was visiting my university in order to sign up his sister for classes (she has the flu at the moment). Then yesterday while waiting for my housemate to get his hair cut, the two others from Turkish class that I usually had tea with walked in. Such a small world these days.

They asked where I have been and said that everyone at class was asking about me. I haven't been going for the past week or so because I have been really exhausted. I even started sleeping 11 hour nights! Now I am back down to 5 hours, which is alright as I feel more rested than I did when I was sleeping longer.

During all of this mess of illness and such, I managed to get into a real tift with my housemates and my former coworker who will be leaving for another university. I grew tired of her disrespect. I also learned that I was not able to trust her any longer. I told her this and she hasn't spoken to me since. She did, however, take a picture she took of my and our handyman where I was helping him with his reading of English and send it to management. They decided to construe it as teaching. I was told that if I ever did this again, I would be immediately dismissed!

So, I have been having a ball as they say. She tried to get me fired, my housemates weren't talking to me for about a week, I was paid late, and I haven't been able to send money home due to power outages and generator problems at the Western Union! Sometimes I wonder what the draw of all these adventures really is. Perhaps one of these days soon, I will find someone with whom to settle down. I guess we will have to wait and see.

The surrealistic life of work and play!

Lately has been interestng times with work. It seems that I have been working without a contract, and now they are asking me to sign one. I was under the impression that the letter of intent would work as my contract for this year, or at least that the contract they would give me to sign would be basically the same as the previous one; however this is not the case. The whole process has made me somewhat dubious about things around here, as does the situation with other workers here.

I am in the process of looking for another job. I received a reply to send copies of transcripts and my passport to a place in Kuait. I have heard that it is a good place to work, and the money is better than here, that is for sure. I am not so sure I want to leave, but if too much more happens here, I am not going to be able to in good faith/concience sign the contract. I guess we just have to wait and see what happens.

On another note, I started Turkish lessons last night and found it to be quite an interesting experience. If I do decide to stay, I will have people that I can talk to outside of work and something else to do as well. I just have to learn not to immediately dot my 'i's as those with dots are different letters than those without. I learned the word for many yesterday, and much to my surprise, it is the same word used in the Hawaiian English: /choke/. I am not sure how it came about to be the same word, but I am sure not to forget it!

I received a text message today. It was in kurdish and it is inviting "me" to a dinner for someone who has a familiar name. I do not know who it is from, and it is probably a wrong number, but it is interesting to recieve nonetheless. Who knows, perhaps it is from someone at Ishek University who for got the fact that I don't speak Kurdish~ I have to make something up to make it interesting AND make sense....

I will attempt to keep you updated on all the happenings as they unfold.

I have finally done it!!

Yes, you have read that correctly; I have finally done it! Now, you may be asking, what could cause such a stir that I have to write home about it? It is very simple: I bought a phone refill card! This was the first time I have attempted to refill my minutes since I have come to Kurdistan back in March. If that doesn't say exciting, I don't know what does!

I went out last night with the group from work. I haven't been out of the house except to go to work in so long, I had forgotten what it was like. The crowded restaurants were not exactly my cup of tea, but I did mostly enjoy hanging out with them again. Unfortunately, there was more than a fare share of drama, but I managed to stay out of it myself. I was, however, fortunate enough to meet some very interesting new people from out of town. Who knows, maybe I will go to their city and visit them someday soon. They are Kurdish and also live in the Kurdistan Region. I would love to do more traveling around this place; there are so many beautiful places that I haven't been to.

I finally made it home around 3ish in the morning. I decided as I don't have to work today, that I would sleep late. Apparently my body had other ideas: I was up at 6:20am! I have to work tomorrow until 1pm, but then I am free until 6pm when I have to go to the local Turkish university to see about taking a Turkish course. I need to finally finish my language requirement; it is costing me a severe amount of money every month by not having it complete. So, the sooner I get it done, the better!

Nothing else is new around this place...talk about boring. Though I must say, if I really wanted to look around and such, I could find more to do here than I could back home in Standish...

my first day of teaching and all other things that have come

Well, it has been a few days since I began teaching (ok, so it has only been two), and I must say it has been interesting. The second year students are back, and they are in rare form. I was so glad to have them in class again, but I had forgotten how frustrating class with them can be. They have to take science, math, and IT Literacy along with English, and they are having a difficult time with it. I found out that their logic skills are a bit lacking, so this is what is making is so tough. For example, they need to know what "scientific process" is, so I asked them "What is a process?" They tell me. Then I ask what "scientific process." They tell me that they don't know. So I explain: "If a process is how we do something, scientific process is how we do science." "Ahhhh!" They seemed to be expressing understanding, so I go a step further: "If scientific process is the way we do science, what is educational process?" This through them.

Seeing their inability to answer I say "educational process is the way we do education. What is educational process?" They still were unable to answer. Not only could they not make the logical jump from one to the other, they even have trouble listening to when I actually give them the answer! This really frustrates me sometimes.

Of course the administration frustrates me as well. I had a new class today, and I didn't find out that I had it until 2 hours before. That is I learned that I had a class, not anything about it such as the level, the number of students, the time! How can one prepare if they do not know these things? The class eventually came, and it went well. The students are very low level, but they really want to learn and are eager to do whatever I ask.

I will end with telling about my first day. It should have been first, but I have such fond memories, that I wanted to save it for last. That day I was being so accident prone. First I kept dropping my marker, then I dropped the cap and it rolled into the whole that is being covered by the teacher's table. After this, I was writing on the board and gesturing, and the marker flew out of my hand. It was so embarrassing, but the students seemed to have fun with it. Finally, as I was erasing the board, the eraser fell apart in my hand! What a day.... the excitement never ends :)

My new haircut and contract

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Well, as everyone has been asking about my haircut, I have decided to attempt to post a picture to allow you to see just how short and ridiculous it is.

Lately things have been going alright, though I am so sick of training and orientation. We are going over some of the stuff that I helped to create and put into place, so it is a little boring for me. I know it is important, but I can't help that my mind keeps floating off into other realms when he is explaining it all.

Last night was the dean's 60th birthday party, and that was quite the blast! We sat and joked, caught up on old times, and related our feelings about present situations. I heard horror stories of the 1st graders at the primary schools and felt a bit nostalgic. I remember when I taught the young ones in Korea; I honestly do miss it, though I do like teaching at the university level as well. I am thinking that perhaps I have to stay at the older level because if I start teaching the younger ones, I may end up stealing one for my very own. I think it would just be safer (and more advantages) if I got married and had one the old fashioned way :)

Today the university teachers are going to get together to discuss the issues of life in general. The science teacher is Palestinian and used to teach in the Gaza Strip. I asked her if she could tell me about her experience there, and it ended up being an invitation to her house. She is going to fix a couple of traditional Palestinian snacks, so it will be very exciting I think.

While I haven't seen the other teachers in a while, I can't help but keep thinking about how comfortable I was with them. Generally, I have a very difficult time going through people's cupboards in their kitchen, even when I am told to do so. At their house, I do not have this issue. I helped one of them cook, I helped another one clean, I was able to just sit with them and talk and relax, all of this without awkwardness. There is one woman from Lebanon named Daisy. She has a 5 year old brother named Jason, and told me that I am her younger brother now; she could take care of me. Well, I think that everyone needs this every now and again, so I decided to agree. Now, people say things like this all the time, but nothing really ever comes from it, but she is different; she actually treats me like her younger brother. I actually feel like I have an older sister in her. The fact that she is of a different ethnic background doesn't seem to matter, nor does the small detail of my being older than her! It feels good to have someone that I know will be willing to listen should I so need it, and someone who will help with making soup or something when I am sick... it is an interesting feeling.

I have been back since the 20th, I believe. Before I left I signed a paper that stated that I was agreeing to come back to work for my present employer with the only change in the contract being a change in the pay. I naively thought that this was the contract, as did the dean per our discussions about it. It turns out that it was not. Today I was emailed my new contract they wish me to sign. Unfortunately, they have changed things in it that I didn't agree to, and I will not agree to. I must now renegotiate my contract and see if I can get what I want. Perhaps this is one of the best things that could have happened to me. Perhaps I can get suggestions from others about what I should be putting in it to protect myself from the overwork and exploitation that I know the company is capable of (and almost is required to do). Hmmm...what to do, what to do?

A day of hiding away

I just decided to write again as I haven't done anything all day. I woke up at 4pm and decided that I wanted nothing to do with anyone or anything. Even this typing is a little on the annoying side for me. Perhaps I just need communication much more than I am willing to admit.

Let me get you up to date, so that you can understand why I slept so late and what has been happening here. First of all, the doctor never called back, so I did not get to go to dinner with him, and my engagement was all for not, and so unceremoniously ended! So for that evening, I did what I seem to do so much of here: nothing. I should be used to it by now, but it is still very difficult to get used to. This is especially true when the housemates go out and have Lebanese night with teachers in Khanzad (suburb where the main primary/middle school is), and the girls have girls night. So, everyone is having fun doing what they do, and I am sitting at home unable to figure out what to do as I know no one else to hang out with and don't really feel like going out by myself. The girls call and ask me to bring something over to them, which I readily do. I am rewarded with a piece of apple crumble they have made with ice cream on the side. I stay long enough to eat it, walk one of the girls back to her house as she needed to do something, and continue with my night alone. The girl I walked home was pretty adamant about my "not wanting to come back." I do so hate people making decisions for me. If you don't want me there, tell me you are having a girls night, or you just don't want me around at that time and let it go at that. Don't make it seem like I have so much to do and am choosing to not hang out with you, especially when everyone knows that I am home alone!

The following day was much better though: it was Mexican night! There was so much food! Lindy, one of the new teachers, made quesidillas, homemade tortillas, enchiladas, and some other stuff I was not sure of. There was watermelon, fruit kabobs with a honey-something dipping sauce, and cake. It was wonderful. There were a lot of people, which wasn't so good for me, but I handled it well. I spent a lot of time in the kitchen helping Lindy prepare drinks and more food for the guests, and then I delivered it to them. A very good job for me as it kept me away from people, but also gave me the opportunity to interact as much as I could..

Somehow this party continued on forever. A couple of Kurdish teachers were talking with me, and they said that when they first saw me, they thought that I had no knowledge about teaching, but as I was talking they were impressed with how much I knew. They want me to help them with getting materials together to teach English to two boys who are complete beginners. They said they would pay me for this. Perhaps this could be the start of my own consulting business! Hopefully it works out because I do not have their contact information, and I didn't give them mine, I don't think. They do know how to get in touch with me though, so hopefully this works out.

Late in the evening/early in the morning, the residents of the house and I started a fairly deep discussion about things. It was one of the best discussions I have had, and I think we are going to be able to be very good friends. Unfortunately, this discussion persisted for such a time that I didn't get home until 5:30am! I woke up at 8:30am, though, so I was still good with being up at a reasonable hour. The only problem was that because of this, I was feeling a little too tired to go camping when it came time to go. Of course, I decided to not go for different reasons. Everyone who was supposed to go, other than me, is Lebanese. This is not a problem per say, but they were all over at my house about 45 minutes before it was time to go. They were all speaking Arabic and the only time my presence was even acknowledged was when they first arrived. They are mostly good people as far as I can tell, and I like them, but I didn't want to spend a minimum of a day and a half with people I could not understand or being ignored. This is why I opted to not go. Instead, I settled for the much more common past time of sitting home and doing nothing. I have been so unmotivated lately, and this is a problem.

I am hoping that when I finally have to go into work Saturday (tomorrow), I will be able to get into that work mode and figure things out and become just slightly more motivated. I didn't even sleep until after midnight, even though I was just watching tv and on the computer all day. Then I awoke at 5:30am! This getting up early was annoying, so I decided to go back to sleep. This is the time that I woke up at 4pm.


I haven't cut my hair yet, though I had planned on doing it when I got back. I know it needs it, but the only person to say anything was the teacher who used to work at the university but now works at one of the primary schools. The dean told her that I need to cut my hair and he isn't sure if he is supposed to tell me, or if it is the job of the academic coordinator, who also happens to be my housemate. The fact that he is uncomfortable with telling me to cut my hair annoys me. It seems that everyone is treating me with kid gloves, like something has happened that everyone knows about that has affected the way they feel they should treat me. Some of it is actually good, but others a little odd. I think I need to talk to people to find out if there is something going on that needs to be discussed.

Back in Iraq!

The "vacation" is finally over and now I can start to recover. I don't have to work until the 24th, and I don't start teaching until the beginning of October. This means that I have a little bit of time to get used to being back in this time again before anything important comes up for me to do. It seems that I manage to come here during times off, so I am quite fortunate in that way.


My time back has been quite interesting thus far. There are many new teachers that have come, and I have been getting to know them. The odd part is they all know about me. It seems that I have apparently been the topic of conversation among them on at least a few occasions as whenever I was introduced to someone I heard "Oh, I have heard so much about you!" I am sure it couldn't have been too bad as they were smiling and still talking to me. I just don't like the feeling of being at such a disadvantage. Perhaps I should attempt to look at people's files and research them a bit more before finally meeting them :)

My first night back was Eid (the ending of Ramadan), so they had a BBQ (they grilled chicken kabobs basically) and we spent all night at the new teachers' house listening to music (they danced) and just hanging out. I finally got home around 3ish in the AM, but didn't get to bed until 8:30am! Luckily I had a "long" sleep and was up before noon.

I figured I would just go to bed early last night because of not having slept so much after the BBQ. Unfortunately, the girls decided to have game night. So, at 8pm, like a good little boy, I walked over to their house to prepare to play Cranium. I am not much of a game player, so while I was looking forward to hanging out with the people, I was not looking forward to playing the game. The feeling of uneasiness became worse when I found out how to play! There is so much artistic and creative things one must do in order to win; these are things I am not too good at. But play I did, and I had an awesome time doing it! Of course I didn't win, but that was nothing to feel blue about (even though my team's piece was blue...we decided we were smurfs!).

Of course all of this game nonsense came after a rather odd situation one of my coworkers got herself into. She took a cab on the previous day (Eid) to go to a friend's house for dinner. She managed to leave her wallet in the taxi. After searching all over for it at her friend's house, she returned home and checked the internet. She looked on her facebook and have around 5 messages telling her to contact this person if she wanted to get her wallet back! (And you thought facebook was only good for staying in touch with people you already had some contact with!)

She called the guy, and he said that his sister had found the wallet and that he would return it the following day. He was in a city that is a couple of hours away, but he would be coming here anyway and would call her then to set up a meeting time and place. When he called, he invited her to dinner. This seemed a bit strange to her, so she asked me to go with her as her "fiance". So, for one brief meeting of no more than 15 minutes, I was going to be engaged! One of the other teachers lent me her ring (I must have small fingers as it fit perfectly) and off we went. We met the man, a medical doctor in the other city. He once again invited us out to dinner. I said we were unable to go that night. We brought another of the teachers along as well to work as a translator as she speaks Kurdish. She told him that we had guests from London who were waiting for us. He wouldn't take no for an answer, so we agreed to meet with him the following night for dinner. She tried to give him money as a reward, but he refused to take it.

So, I am going to once again be engaged. This time it will be at dinner with a random doctor guy whose English isn't very good. It should be a very interesting experience, though I seem to be the only one looking forward to it. The more people one meets, the more interesting experiences one can have, and the more one can learn. These are things I love, so I am really excited about this.

I also learned that one of the teachers is seeing a guy whose sister works in the HR department at the American University in Sulimania, Kurdistan. (this is the same city the doctor is from). They pay A LOT better than where i am working now, so I am thinking that I will talk with the boyfriend, see if I can meet the sister, send them my resume, and try to get a job there next fall. It would be a wonderful way to stay in the area, make good money, meet new people, and learn a little more about the language and culture. It is a good deal all the way around, I think. Just a thought.

Back in the UP

After a long, long day (about 48 hours long!), I finally made it to Houghton County airport. I have been here for a couple of days now, and I leave on the evening of the 9th. All these flights are ridiculous, but it sure makes it a lot easier to travel.

My airport time was spent meeting random Ukrainians who spoke little English. The girl spoke almost no English, and it was her first time traveling outside of Ukraine. She asked me if she was in the right spot and about the time the plane came and all of that. It is a good thing that I spent that time in Ukraine and picked up really basic Russian. So between my almost no Russian, her almost no knowledge of English we managed to have a very interesting and long conversational session (about 4 hours!).

I spent 24 hours in the airport in Istanbul. I tried to get some sleep, but there was an early morning flight on which there was a rather loud family from Morocco. The children were running around and not listening to the mother, and they were all chattering in a strange mixture of French and Arabic. It was very interesting, but would have been more so if it weren't so early. There was also a tour group that I think was from Sarajevo. I am not really certain, but it was where they were going. I tried to figure it out from the language they were speaking, which was an interesting mix of a Germanic language and a Slavic language I was unfamiliar with. It wasn't quite Russian, though it contained similar words. I should have asked, but it was much more fun to just listen and pretend to be invisible.

I got in late for my flight to Hancock, so I had to fly standby to Minneapolis and then to Hancock. I spent 4 hours in the airport waiting for the first one, and then another 4 hours in Minneapolis. Walking around the airport after spending so many hours in other ones is not as fun as it could be...I was tired, and needed a shower. I finally got to the hotel around 12:30am. I slept well for the first time in at least two days. It is amazing how much you can miss things like sleep and not know it until you finally get it again (sort of like post offices).

Camels, Pyramids, and Ramadan

Yesterday and today have been interesting days. Actually I guess it has been the past 3 days already. 3 days ago, I was standing on street corner waiting to cross. Out of nowhere I hear "hey!" and there stands my friend whom I lived above in Poland. I knew she was coming, but I didn't expect her to be standing with 2 other people waiting for a cab on a random street corner in downtown. In a city as big as Cairo, one does not really expect to just randomly meet someone who has just arrived from the US five hours before!

Later that night, we went out with an Egyptian guy to a sisha place to have tea and so they could talk and smoke. It wasn't all that great of a place, but this boy who was selling tissue stopped at our table. He seemed to like the hat and spent almost 10 minutes playing with my head and trying to talk with me. It was really kind of cool to make such a connection.

Yesterday, I went to the Cairo Tower and saw the view of Cairo from above. It was a great sight. It was interesting that they tried to tell me that I couldn't go with just a regular Egyptian friend; I was required to go with a tour guide. I found this to be quite strange...but they let me and my friend through anyway.

Today was a long day. I went on a tour, with a tour guide I had said I didn't want. I visited a perfume shop, a papyrus factory, a carpet school, and the pyramids where I went on a camel ride. The camel ride was bumpy and the desert was sandy and the pyramids actually were pyramids in shape...all in all not a very enlightening experience...but fun nonetheless.

Then I came back home and got a message that I was invited to an evening meal with some Egyptians. We are to meet for this meal at around 11:30pm..it is definitely going to be a late one. Ramadan really messes with people's schedules I guess.

I really have more to write, but I don't have time.. My allotment of time on this computer is about to run out, so I am typing fast, and trying to think even quicker...not working to well.

Is everyone in this city related?

Today I decided not to go to class. I am having a hard time retaining the information they have given me, so I am going to take the day today and this weekend to attempt to process all of that. I went to the American University - Cairo to see about a program I am interested in, but they moved their campus and the guards at the old campus were anything but helpful.

On my way to the university, I was met by a man who said he worked for a travel agency and did adventure travels here in Egypt. He took me back to his shop which was a family owned papyrus shop. They apparently also do actually do adventure tours, but they offered me that only after they showed me all of their papyrus and gave me a brief history of how it is made and where it came from. It was quite educational and interesting actually. I did end up buying some a couple of postcards and some odds and ends...it ended up coming up to 115 pounds (about $23), which I thought was kind of expensive, but I paid it grudginly and started on my way. The guy who sold me the stuff took me to their perfume shop on the next street, and I managed to get out of there without too much trouble after listening to him for only 5 or 10 minutes.

On the way back from the university, I happend by the store at which I returned some things. The person who helped my get my money back was sitting outside. He came up, walked with me, and wanted me to give him money for helping me. He also wanted to take me to his perfume shop. I went with him to his shop, and what would you know: it was the same shop as the one I was taken to that morning! When I told him I didn't want perfume, he offered to take me to his papyrus shop, to which I didn't go. It would have been the same one I had went to that morning.

Then he tried once again to really guilt me into giving him money for helping me. What is it with people using Ramadan as a way of insuing guilt? And when someone helps someone, if they are doing it for the money, then it is not something they are doing to help; it is something they are doing for payment. I do not like to be made to feel guilty about not giving money, so I am less likely to give it if that is the case. I felt bad about it, but I refused to give him money.

Now I find out that my evening plans are not going to happen either. I hate when days go like this. Perhaps my friend will contact me, and we will be able to get together. I know she will be tired after traveling, so this is probably not going to happen...but who knows, perhaps I could get lucky.

More fabulous adventures on the microbus!

It seems that the adventures for me never seem to stop. Yesterday on my way home from class, I got into a microbus that was going to my destination. Unfortunately this person was also very happy for Ramadan and it being the night time. As the driver of the bus, one would expect him to be somewhat level headed, but this just was not the case. He was deliberately swerving in the road and blowing his horn in celebration! He also turned the music up loud so that everyone in the bus could hear and clap to it. I must admit that it was a lot of fun, but it was certainly scary as well.

All the while this was happening, he was trying to talk to me. He didn't know any English, so the converstaion was not what we would call extremely enlightening, but he did offer me some figs and he wore my hat for most of the trip home. All in all it was an experience I would definitely repeat again, though I am not sure how safe it was :)

This morning was another experience. It seems that the first time I was on a microbus and the tire blew out, this could be considered a fluke. I was told that these things never happen, so I was just lucky. Well, I must be doubly lucky because it happened once again! At least this time the driver had a spare and we only had to wait for him to change it and not for another crowded bus to come by. I guess that is what I get for taking a bus that I knew went that direction, but was not my usual bus to take! See, change is dangerous!

Another change in time!

I must say that as adaptable as I may be, I am not really happy about all the changes that have been going on since I have been here. My class started with minimal difficulties, but as the group class consisted of me and one other person who has a background in Arabic, this was a little tough. Yes, he can speak it; he is just attempting to lessen the Sudanese accent he has. Also they were already 25 - 30 hours ahead of me, so a lot of what was being done in the book was with vocabulary I hadn't gotten too yet.

They decided to put me in a class by myself. This is often what people think of me, but this is the first time they have actually physically done it. This makes hiding way more difficult than even with one other person. Have you ever tried to let your mind wonder in class when you were the only one there? It is not an easy task. In fact, I would say it is a lot less work just to pay attention! This change in class also caused a change in time. Unfortunately they didn't tell me this until two hours after I showed up for class the next day. I was sitting in the school waiting for the teacher, and finally someone came up and told me that my class wouldn't start until 2pm and it would go until 7pm. 5 hours is probably better than 6, but it is still a lot of work and very intensive. I am not sure if I am going to be able to handle this for a month or not. I guess we will just have to wait and see.

I am in the process of meeting many people here, however. I met up with one person two nights ago after class, and I was supposed to meet up with her again last night, but for some reason I didn't hear from her. Perhaps she was scared away by my rather odd demeanor ;) . On Saturday I will meet up with a British woman who is living here in Cairo. She wants to hear all about my life in Kurdistan, Iraq. I am sure she will be terribly disappointed to learn that it is just like anywhere else, but the company will be good nonetheless. And after hearing her voice on the phone when she called, the accent will be an interesting thing to work through as well.

Yesterday I took a random microbus home from class. I know what number I take to get there, but that bus apparently doesn't come by very often. The driver hollered out the destination near where I wanted to go, so I got in, paid, and hoped for the best. When we pulled into the bus station (beyond where I was told to take the bus to), he attempted to ask where I wanted to go. There was a passenger who spoke English, so the translation worked. I showed the address of my hostel, and they said "you should have gotten off back there at Ramses. You are now lost. You can take anyone of these busses and tell them you want to go to Ramses." Well, I would have none of this. I just started to walk and follow the signs toward Ramses. All of the sudden I realized where I was: I was at the same bus station that I take the bus from in the morning! To think, I went from being lost to being exactly where I wanted to be. Now how often does that happen?

Hopefully today will be a good day as well. I am not sure how long it is going to take to get to the school because I don't know the schedule for the bus or how traffic is at this time. It has been fairly bad, so getting on here at the beginning saves me from hanging out of the bus (think van) door. Coming back can be just as scary, so I am not sure what to think..and as always, I really hate doing things like this. There are too many people, I can't speak the language, and I have no idea where I am going!

Soon I have to go shopping and do laundry. I am not sure where to go for the shopping thing, but I am sure I will figure it out. As for the laundry, the hostel charges by the piece, which I thought was quite strange. 1 pound per shirt or trousers and 1 pound per 2 pieces of underwear. I would rather just pay 20 pounds and pay for the whole water and time of the washer. Perhaps I will ask if this is a possibility. Perhaps I could just wash them by hand, but that is such a time waster, and I have been finding it to difficult to study as it is...I really need to work on getting my vocabulary memorized.

In Cairo waiting for class

I rushed to the school this morning because I was supposed to come yesterday, but I was unable to get into contact with them. I was glad of this because I had just come in from Istanbul, and I was quite tired. I got here and took my placement test (almost unnecessary as my Arabic is almost nill). As most of their classes start at 8am, I came about that time, but it turns out that the class they are gong to put me in starts at 1pm! Though I have to do an hour by myself at noon. So now I have to fill this time span with something, but what could it be?

I could study the map that I have in my pocket. Of course it would be slightly difficult as it is in Italian, but I am sure it is close enough that I could figure everything out without too many problems. The only thing is that it would be quite useless. The map is of Istanbul, and Cairo is not enough like it to have any correlation whatsoever. I guess that is not what I am going to do. At least I have the Internet to keep me busy for a little while at least.

Getting to Cairo was an experience. I guess it started when I got to Istanbul. I met a man there who was selling carpets in Cairo recently. His uncle said hello to me in Polish as I was passing him in the street. This was the first time I was ever mistaken for a Pole before! It was quite different and exciting. I also met many people at a meeting and then had tea and coffee with someone overlooking the Bosporus River. It comes highly recommended. (This all deserves its own posting, so I am just touching on it here.)

At the airport while waiting for my flight, I decided I wanted to spend some money, so I went to Starbucks to buy a venti TAZO Chia Tea Latte (extremely good!). While I was standing in line, this blond haired woman walks in front of me and starts looking at the cakes and such on display. I wasn't too happy about it, but I wasn't pressed for time so I just let it go. Then the line seemed to straighten itself out, and she motioned me ahead saying that I was there before her. I insisted that she go first, and I asked her where she was from. When she told me she was from Rome, I was aghast! "You are from Italy and drinking coffee at Starbucks! You should be ashamed of yourself." She smiled and whispered, "the coffee here is horrible! but it is the only place available at the airport." I figured one could not argue with such logic and we took our respective drinks, shook hands, and graciously said good-bye.

The plane ride was fairly uneventful. The person next to me was friendly, but only spoke Turkish and German, so we didn't really speak. He was flying with his wife for a holiday. The food on the flight was alright, especially for airline food. The Cairo International Airport is quite easy to navigate and getting the visa is quite easy as well. I like the little do-it-yourself visa stickers! Only $15! $5 cheaper than the visa into Turkey! What a deal.

Now I am here. $420 poorer for this class (1 hr/day private lessons, 5 hours a day in a class 5 days a week until September 3, with books, registration and certificate. Not a bad deal actually...as long as I can figure out the bus system as opposed to paying 30 EGP to get here and then 30 to get back everyday. I really can't afford that.

So long, what have I been doing!?

It seems that I have once again been neglecting my readership. I can be such a bad writer on occasion! I do, however, have an excuse: I am not able to connect to the internet at home, and here at work I am generally busy. As you can probably tell now, I am not busy. I am sitting in my office wondering if the internet is truly so important that I come and sit for 9 hours just so I am able to have use of it. Of course if I were back home I would be going crazy.

Since I last wrote, there was an election here in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Apparently the appropriate person won because there was gunfire in celebration all over the city. This resulted in 11 injuries and one death. Not exactly the way I would want to celebrate a victory, but that seems to be the common way here in the Middle East.

I have been suffering through classes here. Luckily they ended last Thursday, and I am now free! I will definitely not teach summer school again! My actual vacation starts on the 5th; though I suppose I can consider it started now as I don't have to be at work. On the 5th I will fly to Istanbul for three days. After my stay there, I will fly to Cairo where I will stay for almost one month. The plan is to study Arabic so that I will be able to communicate with some of the people here. After that month I will head back to the US. I will go to Hancock for a wedding and then to visit my family in Standish. Oh the days are going to busy for me!

Yesterday my coworker and her housemate left for their respective vacations. As much as we fight, I really miss my coworker. What makes it worse is that we aren't going to be working together next semester. Actually, maybe this will be better. She will be living in the same location (practically next door), so I will be able to visit, and I won't have to be with her constantly at work so there will be less time for us to get mad at each other. I do so hate arguing with people, especially if it really doesn't matter...and this place is so full of stress already; the fighting has just added to it tremendously.

I wish there were more exciting things to report, but there isn't. I haven't done anything other than work and hang out with coworkers at the coffee shop and at restaurants. None of the students have done anything out of the ordinary either. The ones that cause problems are still causing problems, and the ones that are good are still good. There is a new teacher for an impromptu summer session for staff members at a new school that the company is going to help manage. She has never taught English before. I guess she is educated in counseling or social work or something like that. She has her PhD, but I am not sure what in. It sounds as if she is going to be moving to the primary schools in September.

There is a new English teacher coming in the fall for here. She has taught with this company before, but there were problems and she had to leave. Now she has decided to come back; it seems there is still some rough spots between them though. There is also a science teacher coming from Egypt (she has a little girl that is coming with her, so I am not sure how that is going to play out), and a teacher from Lebanon I believe. I think they will teach math. We should be getting an IT teacher as well and these teachers generally come from Lebanon as the company is Lebanese. It will be interesting to see what they are going to do for housing. All of those working at their main school live there; those working for the university or the two government schools that they are managing (if they are not Iraqi) are provided housing somewhere. They said they have finally found enough houses, so that is a good thing.

I was told that I would be moved, but I don't think that is going to happen now. It seems that all of the teachers that they have hired are female, so there is no other place to house me than where I presently am. This was a problem in the past as both my roommates are Lebanese and one is kind of a supervisor. This does not lend itself to a very relaxing home-life. I guess I will have to deal with it though. Not unbearable, especially if I am able to get a basis in Arabic before I come back.

I think I will cease boring you now. Hopefully all is well.

Elections and boredom!

Well, I have a three day weekend. I can't believe that this could happen where I am working, but they managed to do it. Friday went alright, except I was alone for most of it and I really don't like most of the movies on television. We have a DVD player, but it doesn't read the DVDs, so it doesn't really do much good. So, I sat outside on the balcony for most of the night (actually the whole night until 3:30am!), then I went to bed and woke up at 4:30am. These short nights are going to drive me crazy!!

One would think that sitting outside in a conservative area would be rather boring, but I think I can see why many of the Kurds here do it. The people are very active here doing things almost secretively that they would never do during the light of day. People will drink under the cover of darkness, there are children of all ages running around, riding bikes, and all sorts of other things, and there are people on the roofs hanging out together kissing and such. Watching people walk back and forth preparing for a day where they can't go shopping, can't go picnicing, just can't go anywhere is such an interesting thing...even when you are feeling betrayed and down...It is almost a pick-me-up and a depressent all at the same time!

Today I am not sure what I am going to do. I can't go anywhere, and I am not so sure that there are going to be any people to watch outside. My roommate is home, but we have no real plans, so he will probaly take back his computer that I am currently typing on, and play games or something....I would read, but I don't have any English books, I would study but I don't have a computer to use the programs. I will find something, but I am sure that I will go crazy first and end up trying not pull my brains out of my nose...

It will be good to finally get out of here on the 4th of August. I still haven't confirmend anything, but that should happen soon. Hopefully the rest will do me good so that I am ultraprepared when I come back in the fall. That is all for now.

Hiding in the future...and the past!!

I have not been meaning to not involve my wonderful readers in everything that has been happening lately, but it has been difficult to get online. We had no power here at work for those wonderful days when I was not the one busy with all of the classes, though now that I am the internet and power is working fine.

I do not have a computer at home, though we have been having generator problems there as well. It is amazing how much we rely on electricity these days. It is difficult to live in a place that is very hot and not have the air conditioner, even though I hate it and it makes me nauseous. I like to sit outside, but it is too hot for that until late evening.

All in all, I have had a tough week. My coworker stopped talking with me again. I am not sure why I care so much, but it is like she and I are meant to constantly fight; it is almost fun. This time I feel completely justified in my anger, so I have just decided to wait until she starts talking with me again. I think that will probably be soon....she chatted with me online, so that is a good sign. Of course I haven't gotten my ticket home yet, so I don't know if they are thinking about not asking me back or not. I guess that will be up in the air until the end as well.

At the moment I am thinking about going to Guatemala for four weeks before going home in September. I need a language and it is too expensive to learn Arabic. Spanish is easier and also a very important language. Guatemala is a cheap place to go and it is cheaper to fly there than to Mexico, so it works out better that way. I guess I will have to wait and see what happens.

Other than that I have no idea what is going on in the world. Apparently there was an earthquake here in Iraq. I didn't really feel it, but it was at 11:30pm, so maybe I was actually asleep at the time. I guess that is what I do..not pay attention. I am feeling alright though, so I guess I can be thankful for that. I am safe and I am surviving the heat; I really can't wait to get home though...things are so different here.

Mishka: the bear of problems!

It seems that the people here are very conservative in everything they do (big surprise, eh?). I do not mean just the Kurdish people, however. The Regional director/coordinator here is from Lebanon and is also apparently quite conservative.

I am in trouble once again. It seems that this Regional head person received a picture of Mishka, my bear, wearing sunglasses in the classroom. This picture was taken during break time last week and was the cause of no disruptions. Apparently, however, this is enough of some sort of infraction to cause him to yet again reconsider my contract for next year. Apparently the statement in the policies of the organization that say that they will not interfere in the classroom teaching and do not care what methods you use as long as they don't go contrary to their ways is not really the case. There is nothing about having my bear in class that would go against the system they have set up. It makes a good prop and can give the students something to talk about if they have a difficult time coming up with something on their own (which I have a problem with myself quite frequently).

I am just so angry right now with everyone and everything. I am trying to work through issues that I never knew I had along with the whole three month mark.... I am not sure what it is about that time period, but it seems that after about three months I really start feeling all the pressures and stresses that I didn't even necessarily recognize before. It will all work out, but I am not sure how much more I am going to put myself through first. I guess I will have to let you know when I find out.

Does it get any better?

Right now things are starting to settle down a little. I am starting to relax a bit more, and I actually was able to sleep yesterday. Unfortunately, the sleep provided little rest. So now I am going around wondering why I am so tired even though I slept for the better part of a day.

I guess I am into a period of depression. I cry easily, I am easily angered and confused, and I can't seem to relieve any of my stress. It has reached the point where the students are starting to ask about it, so I really need to do something to take a break and just get away from everything for a few moments. I need a hobby or something. Nothing here seems to work lately, so who knows what I can do.

The wifi at the house is now working, so I should theoretically be able to use my phone to connect to the internet, but it seems that the password has been changed, and no one I ask seems to know what it is. I need to find out who to ask so I am able to finally reach the outside world when I am not at work. Perhaps that is all I need to release some of the frustration I am feeling.

Not all that cheerful these days, but I am sure it will take an upswing here shortly; it always does eventually.

New Phone and continuous headaches

It is official: I finally spent $165 for a new cellphone. I really needed to have one in order to stay in contact (even though no one actually ever contacts me), and since the laptop incident, I decided that I needed one that I could check emails with and such. When I was looking at the prices, the one that I first wanted was a flip phone, and it fit nicely in my hand. It didn't have any fancy bells and whistles, but it was still $140! I was going to pay it, but I chose to wait a week before going back to look again. I really didn't like the idea of paying the much for a cell phone.

I went back to the store a couple of days ago, and I saw this cell phone. It has wifi capabilities, bluetooth, camera; all the bells and whistles one could ask for and more. I was definitely not looking for all of these things, but this Nokia E63 was only $25 more than the one without all of the stuff. I figured I would get my money's worth out of it even if I only used it to chat and check email on occasion. So, I bought it. It came with a free soft case, which is nice but not quite what I would have liked. I guess I really can't complain as it was free.

Other than that, I have been driving myself crazy! Our satellite is fixed so I can watch television now, but I tend to just sit out on the balcony and watch the world go by. Yesterday we had a good-bye barbecue for one the people here. It was great other than I once again managed to make people mad at me. Which I seemed to have exacerbated to a great extent this morning, though I am not sure how or why. I am really starting to wonder about what I am doing and what I should be doing and all of these things.

I haven't been able to sleep, and this is starting to effect my thinking and my work. I am not sure how I am going to make it through the rest of the summer if I don't find a way for my brain to switch off. It is unfortunate that it sounds like I am complaining, but my mind has very little room for any actual thought. And the dust (sand actually) in the air is really getting to me.....GRRRRRRR...

Another instalment of reassurance

It seems as if I am disappointing my readers. It is taking me longer to post now due to no longer having access to the internet from home. You see, my laptop has met with the most unfortunate accident...I never realized just how hard the floors here really are.

Lately it has been tough for me. There aren't a lot of opportunities to go out and do things, so most of my free time is spent at home. This isn't totally bad except lately I have had no access to the internet, no television, and mostly no people. There have been times when my roommates were home, but for some reason they have been gone most of the time. I was sure that I was going to go crazy, and perhaps I actually did.

I have been doing training for some of the teachers at the primary school here. And starting next week it will be admin staff. They are looking for pronunciation training. I am not sure how many of them actually need it, or what level they are going to be at, but I have to have the material ready for when they get here. Talk about having to do things tentatively and have a backup plan ready just in case something doesn't go well.

I don't get to see the university students anymore, except in passing. They wonder when I am going to teach them again. Luckily I know that I will be teaching them starting this Thursday. I hate that it will be such a weird day to start, but that is just the way things worked out in the scheduling. It will be nice to work with them again; I really do miss them.

One of the university students said that his dream vacation was to go to "tomato." Of course he got a very quizzical look from my coworker from this, and she questioned him about it. "Tomato," he replied, "you know, the capital of Canada." He was obviously surprised that a Canadian would not know the capital of her own country. "Oh! You mean Toronto...but that is not the capital of Canada, Ottawa is." At least I am not the only one who has problems with geography :)

My housemate is from Mosul. He is Iraqi, but as he is not from the Kurdistan Region, he does not speak Kurdish. One day he went to take a cab. This particular cab driver did not speak Arabic (which is actually a little strange here), but my housemate managed to tell him where he was going and was quoted the price of 15,000 IQD. He felt this was too expensive so he replied "11. I will give you 11." The driver did not seem to understand, so my housemate "wrote" it on his hand and said "eleven. one-one." The driver replied "no, 10!" So my friend agreed. He shut the door to let his wife get past first, and the driver shouted out "nine!!" If only I could negotiate with people like that.

All is mostly alright. The frustration level is raising as I have no way of relieving it. Hopefully I will find someway.

Finally another blog post---I guess....

Well, I guess it has been way too long since I have posted anything, but I have been really busy here lately. The university students have been preparing for their final exams, and as part of that, the teachers had to give them "oral exams." This actually consisted of having them, in groups of two and three, read a passage, answer some questions about their own passage and also about what the other people read. Then they had to choose a topic on their own to talk about and then answer questions about that.

Unfortunately it wasn't set up as well as I would have liked, and even with the sections (reading and speaking) being broken into sections and having a rubric, it wasn't quite clear enough for my liking; it was still too subjective. The other teacher and I mostly agreed on the scores, so it wasn't too much of an issue outside of my own head. We have to do a report on this for the dean and probably for the head office as well. The passages were too long, the students tended to memorize their topics, and they really were unsure of what to expect as they have never done this type of thing before. All in all it was alright, but we do have a bit of refining to do.

In other news, I have been trying not to go crazy, though this is not as easy as it sounds. I have managed to get myself into trouble with some of the people in the office. I basically let the dean's assistant have it today when we talked about the upcoming test. The other teacher and I made the writing and comprehension portion, but the company wants to set the main portion of the test at the head office so they can have it standardized in order to be able to compare them across all the schools they have across the world, or some nonsense like that. As of then, we had not received the test, and we have to have the test for Thursday morning. As this test is over 4 books, I told him that we need to know if we are getting the test or not as we would need to set the test starting now if we are to finish in time. I also told him that there needs to be better communication between us and the main office as well. I let him know that I was not going to set the test and then not be able to use it; if it were just a weekly test, I would have no problem with it, but I am not putting as much work that is required for this in to see it wasted. And what would happen would be that the head office would be able to use our tests to put into their databases, so they would send one later that we would have to regive to the students. Obviously, I was a little perturbed.

He then called the head office and found out that the dean did in fact have the test with him, so all would be well. It was good that he came and told us. Communication breakdowns are too common, and I guess I have become just a little frustrated because of it. I guess this is all part of the game.

My air conditioner had been broke the past couple of days, so I was sleeping in a sauna. Luckily they came to fix it last night, and it is cool again. I guess they had to refill it. The 40 degree Celsius temperatures are a bit much, so I have to have it at least a little bit. Hmmmm...All is well now.

I am still waiting to hear about my vacation, so I am not sure what I am going to do. Hopefully I will hear soon. Summer school will start in a week or so, and then June and July will be over. Ahh the days are starting to go by so fast. Hopefully things are not so fast that I miss the good things that come with them.

I have also been quite the coward lately, but that is the way I am. I hate being shy, and I do what I can to overcome it, but I will always be shy and selfconscious. I have learned to deal with it and do things that are outside of my comfort zone, so I do not miss out on things, but I find that I am missing out on things that I really want to not be missing out on now. And even now that I know the other side, it still doesn't seem any easier.

Bangladeshi and English...what's the difference!

Yesterday was another long day. Not at first of course; days are never long at the beginning. It did, however, seem to drag on into the night with an indeterminate length and strength. One would think this was a bad thing, but it actually turned out all right.

The morning was test time for the university students, so I had free time after reading the listening portion until that part was finished 10 minutes later. Then I was correcting those sections as they began their other parts. This lasted until my class with the engineers/vets. This class was about clothes and comparisons and opposites. They had minimal problems with this except for the inordinate amount of differences between British and American English. Then came the question. While I explained to group 2 some of the opposites and how confusing they can be on my own accord, group 3 actually asked about them. "What is the difference between light and dark and bright and dull?" AHHHHHHH!!!

If I have to keep explaining opposites to people, I think I am going to quit! Who invented this rather odd language of English anyway? Actually it is quite amusing to see people struggling with the difficulties created by all of this. Even for native speakers some of these things are not easy. Oh the fun of teaching things that make little sense.

The class ended, and it was time to get back to marking. The marking lasted the rest of the day. Then I came home. As I was walking from the van to my apartment, the other teacher asked if I really wanted to go out to dinner at the Persian restaurant, which I immediately agreed to do. Of course, she had to wash her hair, so it would be a little while. I didn't think much of this until it turned out to be just over an hour and a half later that she came over! Apparently it usually takes her 2 hours, so she must have rushed a little so we could have dinner at a semi-decent time.

The restaurant was fabulous! It has one large fountain at the front door, and a fountain that looks like a river (complete with fake ducks) running down the center near the back portion of the restaurant. This ends not to far from another "fountain" that looks like a large waterfall. The front part of the restaurant is made up of regular tables one would expect to find at a fine dining establishment; in the back are raised "beds" on which you sit after having taken your shoes off. It is like sitting and eating off the floor, except you have to climb onto it. There are cushions, so it is quite comfortable.

The food was also quite excellent, and well priced. At first it seemed a little expensive ($13 for a kabab), but then I realized that the pop (soda), water, and all you can eat salad and desert bar were included in the price. And the kabab came with a large plate of different types of rice (purple, yellow, white...the colors were wonderful), vegetables, and bread. It was very filling, and the atmosphere made the wait well worth it.

After spending about 2 - 3 hours in the restaurant, we walked to Maximall (a clothing store). I walked around with her for about half an hour and she tried on various tops and looked at the jewelry and other such girlish nonesense. Then we crossed the street to Bakery and More for some ice cream...and they were out!! They said they would have some tomorrow...but it was quite dissappointing for that night.

The cab ride home was interesting as well. The person made me sit in front while the other teacher had to ride in back alone. The driver attempted to talk to me all the way home. He asked me where I was from, if I like Iraq or America better, if it would cost a lot of money to go back the US with me, and various things like that. I only caught half of it, though as it was all in Kurdish. I am not sure what possess these people to constantly talk to me when they know I can not understand. I generally don't mind, but sometimes I just want peace and quiet, and I would probalby pretend to not understand even if I did.

I got home around 11ish, and I was tired. I said good-bye to the other teacher, but then got caught by the Bangladeshi who works on maintenance and such. It is here that I learned that there are some twisted similarities to English in their lanauge when it comes to family. Apparently "mommy" is Bangladeshi for mother's sister, while "daddy" is grandmother and "dadda" is grandfather. He tried to teach me more, but I have sense forgotten them. I am already going crazy with all these words floating around in my head. I really need to find a way to organize them. Even when looking to say thank you, the first words to enter my mind are the Arabic, the Polish, and the Finnish...eventually the Kurdish gets there, but it is still a little slow. Perhaps as time goes by, I will be able to get it faster.

Can I speak Kurdish?

So, the quiz night was wonderful! My team tied for 1st (we were on fire, the questions were right up my alley), but it was decided that we needed to do a tie breaking question. My team got this question almost immediately. The other team too what seemed like forever to answer, but they also got it right (time should have been called :P ). Then the next, and final tie breaking question: The PGA decided on the maximum weight a golf ball could be. What is that weight? Come on! Who knows this stuff? Golfers might, but I do not golf, and I do not know anyone who is really serious about golfing. Neither team had a clue, so we just put down numbers. There guess was closer than ours, so they got the money. Oh well, I was still very happy with the night.

Yesterday morning went well, at least I think it did; I really don't recall much about it. It is amazing how much all the days seem to come together and turn into mush! I do remember, however, trying to teach phrasal verbs and plurals. It was supposed to be review, but it seems they forget everything, even the parts they add to the class. So, I in review for "to talk someone into" I brought up the idea of being hesitant. In Kurdish, hesitant is "doodle" (pronunciation not spelling). They were surprised that I knew this, even though it was them who taught me! In the other class, the students didn't know the plural of "cloud". This is regular, so fairly easy. "Clouds. The plural is clouds. ds, ds, ds." I felt emphasizing the last /ds/ sound would keep them from adding a vowel between them. As it turned out /ds/ is actually the word "theif" is Kurdish. I suppose I can now figure out if the adjectives come before or after the nouns and say hesitant theif in Kurdish...and perhaps something about a watermelon as well (shifty). The shifty doodle expelled air "ds". Ok, so going from one language to another using false cognates is not a good idea, but it is fun!

Yet another observation!

Today was another nerve wracking day. I knew I would be observed, but I didn't know when. My first two classes, and there was no sign of the observer. I had to take the mothers' class for the dean today, and just before, I was told that this would be the class that she would observe! Not my idea of a good time as I had no idea what I was supposed to do with them or anything.

Of course, it turned out that I did not have to worry about it anyway; the mothers decided not to come today; instead they went to the dean's house and visited him :) I think they are just too loyal to accept another teacher when theirs is sick! So, instead, the Academic Quality Control person for the region came and observed me teaching my 1:30pm class. This is my lower level class, and today was a review day as well as a day for presentations. Many of the students did not do their summaries that they were supposed to do, and they would constantly try to talk while I was trying to explain things. I felt odd telling them to be quiet and such while I was being observed, but this had to be done. It turned out that I was complimented on doing this, but it really didn't make it any easier.

The other teacher and I had a rather interesting talk today as well. Her situation is precarious at the moment. The one student who is trying to get her fired is making things difficult for her as well as the rest of the class, and just may win! We tried to make sense of the situation, and I listened to her complain about it and how this is the first time she has ever not been a model employee for the organization. Then she listened to me complain about some of the things that I am not comfortable here with. It was good to get it out. I really hope she stays for summer school and comes back next year. Unfortunately, I am not so sure next year is going to happen :(

Tonight is quiz night, and it appears that I am the only one who is going to go. The other teacher doesn't have a team, and my housemates must have other plans. I just hope that my team shows up. If they do not, then I will be very upset as the only reason the other teacher is not going is because her housemate is not going, so she won't have a team. It is actually quite silly, but that is the way things are. I am not sure I can do this last one by myself; I had such a time on the previous one! These flags are definitely not my strong point.

More trouble

I tried to post earlier, but my computer froze and didn't save anything I had written, so now I have to attempt to once again write what was there. Hopefully it will be easier the second time around, except now there is more to write!

Yesterday was a hectic day that caused a lot of problems for everyone. It didn't seem any different than any other at the beginning, but then something happened to turn the rest of the day into an seeming disaster! I was teaching the vets/engineers. Just as the class was ending, I see this face looking in through the window: it is the other teacher. I let the class go, and the other teacher comes in with puffy eyes, a box of Kleenex, and a solemn look upon her face. I ask if everything is alright, and she replies simply, "no" and begins to cry. Then she explained that the dean had had a heart attack. "He was teaching, he turned yellow, he spit up blood, and then he fell down. They took him to the hospital. The mothers said it was a heart attack." I was both skeptical and worried. To me, this did not sound like a heart attack, but I really can't judge as I am not a doctor, nor was a I there to see it happen. No matter what it was quite inconvenient of it to happen during class!

During our break time, we heard back from the hospital that he was ok, and that it was not a heart attack. He had low blood pressure, and there was something that had been bleeding inside, though they weren't sure what. They suspected a bleeding ulcer, but they would have to check. Many students used this as a reason to leave. Some wanted to go visit him at the hospital, but this was not allowed this soon. Many of the girls were crying. It seems they are quite emotional here, and they took this incident very hard. I, on the other hand, being the hard-hearted individual I am, knew that we still needed to have class and proceeded to teach the lesson at the appointed time.

After class, I came to my office and discovered one of my friends who I had not heard from in a while was online. I decided to start a chat with her in order to take my mind off from the happenings. As it turned out, this was not the best of ideas. It seemed that she was having huge issues of her own to deal with and really needed to talk to someone. I was glad to listen, but it meant that I had to not think about mine for a little while and focus on trying to help her. It also meant that another one of my friends was hurting. I tried to help her as best as I could just by listening and telling her it would be alright, but there is only so much one can do when they are so far away.

Finally it was time to go home. I went home and tried to prepare myself to go out with some students and the other teacher as we had previously arranged to do. Then it turned out that we would be able to visit the dean, and the other teacher said that she would like to do so. I told her she would have to call the student and tell him that she wouldn't be able to make it. She said that I could still meet with him. "You don't think I want to go see the dean, too?" With a surprised look on her face, she replied, "you want to come? You can call the student then." "It is your phone, you call him." "You can still meet him you know, and then I can meet up with you later." "You should just call him and let him know what is happening," I said. "You are such a child!" "Yes," I said, "you are." "Here," she said as she handed me her cell phone, "I guess I am too much of a child to make the call." I took the cell phone, tossed it on the couch, and stormed out of the house. I was none too pleased with the way things were going.

I started walking, and continued to do so for about an hour. During this time I managed to fall against a large generator and hit my forearm. I would swear I broke it if I weren't able to move it. I do have a nice bump there as a reminder though. I would probably have kept walking around the city and toward a different one if it weren't already dark out. I started to feel as if where I was going wasn't safe, so I turned back and went home.

While I was in my room trying to sleep, my housemate gets a call from my student saying that he is outside waiting for me. He had called the other teacher and she let him know where we live. So, we were going to go out after all. The two students and I went to the restaurant and waited for about an hour for the other teacher to arrive. It wasn't too much of a surprise as she is always late. What was surprising, however, was that it wasn't as uncomfortable as I thought it would be. There was an off-handed joke told by one of the students, and she whispered to me "never throw my phone again." I knew that this would upset her which is exactly why I did it. She had just bought the phone two days ago and had been treating it like her baby. Of course for $345 I would think it should be well taken care of! Anyway, she said it in an understanding voice, and I apologized for my behavior. She also apologized for hers and all was forgiven. The rest of the night was filled with talking and laughter.

This morning we were both tired. We didn't get home until 12:50am, so we didn't get to bed until late. School was the same as always. We received more information on the dean. We learned that he is doing well, and they will release him either today or early tomorrow. I will probably have to teach his mothers class, so that will be fun (I hope). Other than that, today has been one rough day of teaching! I had to try and teach the difference between when we use "going to" and "will". There are basic rules, but they are so similar that they are hard to tell apart. And the students still do not want to study; they want to go home early, copy off from each other, and have me give them the answers. I guess that is just the way things go everywhere. Then I also found out that tomorrow is another observation. Hopefully this one goes well, though I am not sure if it will or not. We shall see.

Sports day!

The day started like any other Saturday: I get up, go to work, try to teach the vets/engineers class.... Then it was off to the main attraction that all the university students and all the staff from the other two schools and the university (minus the dean, the other teacher, and I) were already at. Sports day seems to be a very big, exciting thing!

We get there and meet up with the students who have just finished playing soccer. After chatting and getting pictures taken with them, we go up to the gym where the basketball games are about to begin. We watch those until around 1:30pm when we go to eat lunch. Lunch left a lot to be desired as it only consisted of a small sandwich (think 4 inch hot dog bun) and a drink box of fake orange juice. Combine this with my having to tell the students to pick up their trash as if they were five years old, and I was feeling a bit cranky.

Then it was more basketball, and I was ready to leave. Of course I was stuck there for a lot longer. So, I made the most of it and went with a group of them to the store where I helped to remind them that cookies and biscuits were the same thing and that throwing things away is a good thing (as opposed to leaving it on the ground). Then it was back to watch the volleyball games.

The volleyball games were somewhat exciting, but I spent much of this time being retaught the numbers in Kurdish along with a British teacher. Then I was asked to be in more pictures than one can even imagine! If I had implemented my 5000 dinar a photo idea, I would probably have at least 3 - 4 hundred thousand dinar right now...and then some of the people who wanted my picture started talking to me about their school, and my school, and such. It was an enjoyable conversation. They asked me to come to the PPP school for a long visit, not just for half an hour or so. If I get the opportunity, I would really like to do that. I don't think it will be easy though.

On the way home (around 6:30pm), we were stopped at the checkpoint. The guard asked the driver where I was from. He was very happy to hear that I was from America, and he told the driver that I was very beautiful...I hate hearing that! I am sure that if he had had a camera, he would have asked for my picture too! One of these days, I think I may have to put up the sign (in multiple languages of course).

I am not sure of the final results of the games, but I will find out tomorrow. There was the finals in soccer still to go when I left. They were going to stay until 11pm, and I didn't feel like I could do that, so I came home. Now I am going to see if I can find someone to talk to, and then probably go to bed.

an interesting ending to a LONG day

Yesterday was very long! After getting to the university at around 7:45am, I had to spend the following hour and a half or so writing the test. I managed to get that accomplished just in time. Then there was the test for the vets/engineer students. I fortunately was able to get the coordinator to invigilate the exam by taking over his post in the reading room. I did this because it would give me the opportunity to mark tests that needed to be graded yet. Unfortunately, this did not work out as planned.

It seems that most of the students were under the impression that they were able to go home after the exam; this was not the case. So, many of the students kept asking me to leave, none of them had brought the worksheet they had been handed yesterday that they were supposed to do today because they were allowed to study for the exam. The dean came in and took them to show them some slides, though I don't know where they actually went or what he was doing with them. I decided to just go and mark tests in my office and hope the chaos would work itself out.

As it turned out, for the afternoon class, the other teacher and I combined classes and had a total of around 16 students (a little less I think) (this is out of a total of 36). We watched a Tom and Jerry episode and had the students answer some questions about it. It was alright, but even that was like pulling teeth. Finally it was over, and it was back to marking more tests! We marked until 5pm at which time we left for home. Then the other teacher and I went to Coffee Shop and More to sit, have a milkshake and continue to mark exams. This lasted for almost 3.5 hours!

As we were leaving the coffeeshop, the owner stopped us and asked where we were from and informed us that a Texas BBQ place was going to be opening up behind the coffeshop in a few days! We talked a little bit about home because he lived in Michigan for a long time before returning here. He even used to hang around the place I grew up and the surrounding areas.

Then we took a ride home in a cab. The driver had spent 6.5 years in England. He kept going on about how if I wanted anything I could just call him, and such things like that. He gave me his phone number and told me not to pay for the ride (he was going to charge us 5,000 then agreed to 3,000 at first). I became a little worried with one of the exchanges however. "Have you two had anything to drink tonight?" We replied, "no." The response he gave made me cringe a little and shake my head. "I have."

He seemed to be driving alright, though, so I relaxed a little. Of course he didn't know his right from his left, but we managed to get him to where we live without too much difficulty.

Today was a boring day. I woke up, went back to sleep, woke up, tried to do some stuff on the computer, took a nap, woke up, tried to visit my coworker, she didn't answer so I came home and tried to not be bored out of my mind. I wish I was informed of when the people went on the trip today, I would have liked to have gone. One of the people who decided not to go said that there will be other opportunities to go to this destination, but to me, it isn't about the destination, it is about the journey there and spending time with other people than those that I see everyday six days a week. It is a chance to relax and just enjoy myself. But, yet again, I was uninformed and missed it. Ahh well...perhaps it was for the best.

performances, effects of teaching, and tests!!

My brain is full!! I think I need to find a new way to relax and take it all in, and then try to figure it all out. Tomorrow is supposed to be a test for the university students. The other teacher and I misunderstood what the test was supposed to cover, so we told the students that Unit 4 Lesson 1-4 was all that was going to be on it. As it turns out, the dean has put all of Units 1-3 on as well! There is no way we can give that test to them, so we are going to postpone that test until next week. This means that we need to make (set) a test tomorrow morning when we arrive at the college. I just hope it is enough time. This also means that I have to come up with something to teach them in the afternoon. I was not supposed to have to teach as the test was supposed to last all day and then they go home; but now it will be a shorter test and they will stay!

The vets/engineers had their test today (except for group 3 which will take it tomorrow as well). I have to read through and make sure the answer key is correct, and I have already found 3 errors and I am not even halfway through it yet. After finishing the answer key, I have to do the correcting of the multiple choice, and then I have to read the "100 -150" word essays on their favorite vacation. They went a little overboard and wrote whole pages, some front and back. I was expecting only 10 - 20 sentences (depending on the length). One of them asked if the prepositions counted as words! I had to laugh to myself about that one.

With so much marking to do, I, along with the rest of the staff, left early to go to the other school the company runs. This is a primary school up to grade 8. I believe they will be moving into secondary as well next year. They lower grades were having their annual Spring Concert. They performed music and dances from different cultures and even had a miniture fashion show as well. This fashion show was done to Christmas music, so I was a little confused by that, but all in all, it was a fun time.

On a slightly different note, it seems that I have two or three phrases that I say a lot. Today I was writing on the board and put in ellipses. When I did this, one of my students said "blah, blah, blah". Apparently I often use this phrase when I write ellipses. Another student was telling me how she now uses "oh my gosh!" at home. Her mother (an English teacher) asked her what it meant, and the student replied "I don't know, but my teacher always says it." And now her brother is using it as well. It is amazing how much impact we have on the students' thoughts and the words they use. But it is not only the students; the dean has also picked up on one of my overuses: 'whatever!' I use this after listening to the way things are being done, and what they say because I know that it will probably change within the next day or so anyway; I have learned one must go with the flow here..

The president of the company stopped by to observe my class today. This unannounced visit was not a good one for me. I was so nervous! AND after I told my students to not use the dictionaries for the exercise, the one he was standing directly behind opens hers! I was walking around seeing how people were doing and when I came to the desk next to hers, the president said "you said not to use dictionaries." All I could do was look at the student and let her know she had done something wrong. I felt like and idiot. I guess these things happen though.