Back to Kindergarten

Today I went back to Kindergarten. Actually our Kindergarten Superintendant came to observe me teaching in the English K-4 class today. I've been working in the HR office of the school this year, but I requested to be considered for an opening we have for next year as English K-4 Teacher. I knew that the superintendant and also the lower school principal were both already excited at the prospect of having me join the teaching staff, but I had to follow the protocal of being observed in the classroom before they could officially offer me the position. So, today was the big day when I actually got observed. Even though anyone who has ever seen me teach has had good things to say, I still felt that nervous ball in the pit of my stomach as I fell asleep last night. I slept fitfully - that kind of sleep you have when you're paranoid that you're going to miss your alarm clock going off in the morning. I didn't. I woke up at 4:53am, 7 minutes before the obnoxious buzzer went off.

I felt like the session went well with the kids. I had a blast teaching a lesson on emotions. It was fun getting the kids to make faces and really get into the lesson. I know teaching is hard work, but the prospect of getting up in the morning to do something I love is really exciting! Later in the afternoon our kindergarten superintendant stopped by my office to go over her observation with me. I was relieved to find out she was also elated with what she saw and she told me she had talked to the French kindergarten lead teacher and they were both really ecstatic about having me join the team. Yeah! So, I don't have a contract in my hand yet, but it looks like that will get handed to me tomorrow listing my new job assignment here as KINDERGARTEN INSTRUCTION :) Yippee!

Happy St Pat's to YOU!

The Best Medecine

We all know that saying... "laughter is the best medecine." Well, usually I would agree with that, but I happen to have one of those yucky phlemby (I know there's a "b" in there somewhere) coughs. It started out as a stuffy nose but thankfully never turned into that miserable full blown head cold that I was dreading. Sometime over the weekend, probably at the ice skating rink, the congestion dropped from my nose down into my lungs. Over the past couple of days, every time I laugh, I end up hacking like a smoker. Last night I was checking out a few blogs to keep up with my myriad of addicted friends and I read an entry from my friend Bob about taking his wife & daughter to the American Girl doll store in Chicago for his daughter's birthday. The comments are as hilarious as the post...
http://weblog.wordcentered.org/
Look for the entry called "American Girl, American Sucker"

I was laughing so hard and then coughing so long that my poor roommates came to check up on me!

India Palace

Hey - this post is especially for all you India Palace fans! This is the local India Palace. I had been hearing about it since I got here & finally got to go check it out a couple of weeks ago with Mary, Scott, Elissa & AbdulMuhib.

The food was great, and the peacock was amazing!

Baksheesh

In my office we have a Word-of-the-Day contest. My stepmom gave me this great calendar (which wasn't in Spanish - haha!) with a new word for every day. So there are four others that work with me, and every day I read the word and they come up with definitions. It's kind of like a running game of Balderdash. We especially like Mondays because we get three words at once. Sometimes we are disappointed by normal words like "antic", but other days we get interesting ones like "kvell" and "poltroon".

Today's word was BAKSHEESH. It probably would have qualified for a great word of the day except that we are living in a culture where that is a constant reality.

BAKSHEESH: n., payment (as a tip or bribe) to expidite service

Charming

The End of Rainbow Season

I've heard about hurricane season and tornado season, even dry and rainy seasons, but I have never heard of anyone talk about rainbow season. Maybe it's just the character of human nature to look at the negative side of things, but I was re-reading an email I sent to a friend a couple of weeks ago and realized that I've just lived through my first rainbow season.

"Greetings from rainbow-y North Africa! I was bummed this morning to see rain pouring down in sheets, but by the time we left for school it was letting up. Just minutes ago I walked over to the restrooms (have to go outside for that here!) and saw the most beautiful rainbow hanging over the ocean. Wow! I need to bring my camera on one of these rainy days." - Feb. 21st

I can't believe how many rainbows I have seen here on campus this past winter, but I think I've missed my window of opportunity for catching one with my camera. The next ten days are supposed to be sunny, and I've heard that once sunny season starts there's no rain again until October :) I'm not complaining too much - I'll have to catch one next year.