The coolest/weirdest tutor

I'm pretty sure the kids I tutor either think of me as the coolest tutor ever or the weirdest tutor ever. 

Examples:
1. I can rap Nicki Minaj and Lil Wayne just as well as they can, if not better.
2. I want to play their English board games they make in class.
3. I watch Disney Channel stars on YouTube with them.
4. I teach them new ways of studying (i.e. flashcards & flashcards on a key ring) and then tell them to read the notecards before they go to bed, when they wake up, when they eat, and any other time they can.
5. I know stuff about Science even though I tell them I don't.
6. I share stories with them.
7. I talk to their parents.
8. I say "Sup?", "homie", and "dude"
9. I have a smartphone, but no 3G
10. I tell them to not worry about wasting paper (sorry, tree-huggers)

Peace, love, & not-cool smartphones.

A Contemplative Post

Hellooooooo!

Last night the family had a relatively late night and so everyone (but me) is still sleeping at 8:35 on a Friday morning.  This has given me adequate time to do some homework, read some blogs, and think.  YAY!

These are some of the things I was thinking:

1. This time last year, I was getting ready to leave Korea in about 10 days time and start my summer adventure in Vietnam, Italy, Greece, Croatia, Monaco, California, OK, and VA.  I honestly can't remember how I was feeling at this time last year except for probably overwhelmed and maybe a little disappointed in myself that I didn't give Korea more of a chance.  Se la vie, I suppose.

2. I realized last night, that I have found (with help from the rents) a great group of people here in Kuwait.  You wanna know how I realized that?  I said the WEIRDEST most non-sensical thing and they didn't really judge me too much and I didn't feel embarrassed.  That's always a good sign that you've found good people. 

3. I feel good.  I feel happy.  I am happy.  It has been a great deal of help having my parents here and helping me with the transition to this completely different world than any other world I've been in and I have to give them most of the credit for that.  But, yea, I'm happy.  I'm teaching, I'm going to school, and I'm [hopefully] making lasting friendships, while continuing to build older friendships as well. 

4. I am grateful.  This sort of coincides with #3, but whatever.  I'm grateful that I there are still some friends of mine from college and definitely friends of mine from travels that like to keep in touch just as much as I do.  I am grateful for the opportunity to experience a new place and grateful for the chance to travel and make my dreams come true!

5. This isn't as serious.  A really really really good friend of mine will most likely be teaching in China next year and just so happens to have the month of January and February off.  I have the month of February off.  This means we will probably end up reunited in a new place :) Also, another new friend of mine that I have grown quite close to will also be in China and will be able to travel, too!  I feel so lucky!

That's it.  I thought I heard someone stirring, but nope.  Nada.  Oh well.

Peace, love, & happiness.

5 Things

Fun/Cool Things from this week so far (it's only Tuesday!)

1. Yesterday, I was the only substitute in my "old" class, KG1L, so I didn't see my newest class, KG1D/S, unless it was in the hall or whatever.  Anyways, Khaled from KG1S saw me and yelled out, "MISS SOPHIE!" and was waving the ASL symbol for "I love you."  AWWW.

2. Also, yesterday, I was reading KG1L a story during circle time then asked them about rhyming words.  I prompted them with 'run' and got 'bun' (way to go!) then prompted them with 'kick' and got 'dick.'  HAHAHAHA.  Except I couldn't laugh because the principal, Ms. D, was in the class.  Dammit.

3. This morning, I saw Ms. D (principle) and she was smiling and said, "You did a great job yesterday!"  MWAHAHA.  Suckas.

4. This one isn't as awesome, but it's sorta awesome.  I have been on recess duty this week and was squatting against the wall talking to a student when I saw Abdullah from my "old" class and waved.  Suddenly he was up and running towards me with a devilish grin on his face.  I had an inner dialogue conflict thingie where one part of me was saying, "STAND UP!" and the other was like, "Naw, he's not going that fast..."  Then I got whammed into, knocking my head really hard against the wall twice!  And then I cut my lip.  So now I have cuts on my inner lip.  Awesome.  I had to go to the nurse.  No, I did not cry.

5. Dust storm!

Peace, love, & gritty sandwiches.

Inside a Coconut (aka: me)

Hola people.

It seems like this weekend has flown by.  How unfortunate. I'm getting a lot of mixed feelings about the rapid approach of summer.  Long story short: sometimes I can't handle being around everyone for too long.  Wears me down.  In a good way!  Of course. 

Anywhos, my second masters course pretty much has been wrapped up and I start my new one on Tuesday, so I've had a lot of free time this weekend and it's nice.  Spent a great night out with great people at the Embassy on Thursday, went to the Kuwait Aquarium on Friday (btw, if you don't know me, I LOVE aquariums... Like LOVE so much, I could sit there for a really long time), tutored this morning and will be picking up my other skirt from the souk tonight.  The rest of the family went scuba diving this morning, so I snagged that opportunity to catch up on tv shows aka season finales.  How disappointing. 

Random thought: I've been seriously thinking about getting scuba certified here.  I think I know someone else that is interested, so that would be really swell if I didn't have to do it alone cos the thought of being underwater with a metal tank attached to my back sort of gives me the heebie jeebies.  But yeah, might as well try it, right??  I think so.

Here's a cool quote I for sure dig:

Peace, love, & rock 'n' roll.

Cool beans... A dull post.

Hola people-that-read-my-blog!

This will be a somewhat dull post because there hasn't been too much excitement since the weekend (no worries, I'm still in a great mood)!!  This week has been a normal one, except that my sister flew in on Sunday evening!  Wahoo.  And today I visited my new school for next year and learned a lot, including I (most likely) have THREE WEEKS off in February!  Wahoo.  Oh, and sister and I went to Avenues for lunch today and I left my Ipod with some people to get the screen fixed!  So I guess there are more exciting things that have happened this week than I thought!  How exciting.

Anywhos, here's something super cute:

And here's something that I think would be fun to do one day:

Peace, love, & excitement

Mommies are Cool

HAPPY 

MOTHER'S

DAY!

Three of the most special women I've had the honor of having in my life and helping make me the woman I am today.

Peace, love, & kisses.

Fanfreakingtastic!

Guys.  I have a confession to make.  I am high.  Oh so high... ON LIFE!  Life is awesome.  This weekend is awesome and is still going strong!  The kids are awesome.  My friends are awesome.  Just awesome awesome awesome.  I am going to relish this feeling for awhile, I hope!

Anyways, I stayed up really late on Thursday night to do a paper.  I did an amazing job procrastinating, if I may say so myself.  I Facebooked, Pinterested, and erged.  And turned it in on time.  It was awesome.  On Friday, I went to the salon and chilled out.  It was awesome.  On Friday night, I went to the British Embassy with ze friends and danced all night in the super hot desert of Kuwait.  It was awesome.  Oh, for the ball, I did my own hair.  Awesome.  Today, Saturday, I went JET SKIING with some of the most awesomest people ever!  AWESOME.  It was sooo much fun!  We went for a whole hour and got soaked!  It was awesome.  Today, now, I'm going to be going to tutor twice, which means awesome money.  Awesome.  Aaaaand SEESTER comes tomorrow!!!!!  TOTES AWES!

Guys.  Life is awesome.  I love it.  This is great.  I am just too happy.  YAY! 

Oh, and here's a picture of my hair for the ball.  Yay!

Peace, love, & suicide curls

Games, parties, & colds

Wassup?!  Oh the weekend.  Everyone is workin' for the weekend these days.  The end of the school year.  I'm just as exhausted as everyone else that has been here for the ENTIRE year.  Le sigh.  A good sign for next year?  Probably not.  Oh well. 

Thursday night, some really cool people hosted game night.  It was awesome fun.  I sort of learned how to play Yahtzee!  And we played Charades, which is, like, the coolest game ever.  Let's be honest, guys.  Oh!  Before game night, I got my skirt from the tailor that I never told you I decided to have made!  But yay!  I'll have to snap a photo of it to show it off.  It's so cute.  I love it. 

Yesterday, I did some homework (yay) and went to this Spring Bazaar thing.  It was pretty neat.  Got to see some really awesome people that I admire a lot and bought something for Ms. D.  I still need to get some other stuff for some pretty special people.  Think think think.... And then I went to a pool party!  Twas a lot of fun!  Ate some delicious food and got to go swimming and hung out with some awesome people, too!  I had a great time.  :)  Got home super late, too.  Oops, haha. 

Today, I woke up pretty late cos I drugged myself up with some allergy pills when I got home cos I'm sick.  Woke up and realized that it's most likely not allergies, but a cold.  Excitement.  I observed basketball practice, which was sorta neat and sorta boring (sorry Phil).  I read and fell asleep, that's how exciting it was, but it needed to be done and I think I got a lot of information out of it.  I hope! 

Anywhos, this was a super boring and long post.  You're welcome.

Peace, love, & runny noses.

Turn that frown upside down!

Today was a pretty good day (knock on wood), I was surprised.  Things have been intense and stressful lately, but I was really calm all day today and things went really smoothly!  Exciting.  But, even if I was having a rough day, it wouldn't stay rough for long (perks of working with 5 year olds!). 

Anywhos.  Three awesome things happened today.  Here they are:

1. In line after recess: Aziz turns to me and says, "Miss, I have a song."  And he busts out Shakira's "This Time for Africa" song.  Needless to say, YES!  He only knew, like, three words and just repeated them over and over again, but his smile and his head bobbing made me really  happy, so I danced along to laughter from the rest of the class... and Deputy Principal.

2. Waiting for 12:30 on the carpet:  I'm putting away puzzles and I hear a snicker behind me.  I turn around and, lo' and behold, it's Faisal.  Weird, right?  I look at him and ask him what's he is laughing at and he says, "Miss Sophia, I saw your butt."  I pick him up and hold him and say, "You saw my WHAT?!"  He repeats it and then says, "I saw your fanny!"  BAHAHAHA.  I couldn't help but laugh (note my previous post on fannies).  After he and I had a good chuckle out of it, I told him he shouldn't repeat it ever again.  Pretty sure he didn't understand that.  Oh well.

3. Waiting for his mom to come pick him up:  Tariq and I were lying on our stomach reading "David Gets in Trouble" by David Shannon and come to the page where David has a bar of soap in his mouth.  He asked why and I told him because he probably said something naughty.  Tariq, then, breaks out with "I love eating soap!"  Say what?!  "I put chili on it!  It's delicious."  Oh man, what a cutie, but really?  Soap?  REALLY???

Peace, love, & bubbles