Happy Thoughts

Oy.  Guys.  It's the weekend and I have never been so thrilled for it.  Probably not "never," but definitely not this year.  This week kicked my butt, emotionally.  The kids are legitimately going crazy.  Insane.  Even the good ones.  I'm going to implement a class-wide rewards system, since individual ones seem to do nothing.  And I also got sick a bit, too!  Massively sore throat!  I'm still taking meds to make sure I kick it alllllll the way out.  Insh'Allah it will work.

Because this week was a biznatch, here are the little things that made me smile this week:

• Christmas music
• Love letters from students two days in a row
• Bowling and winning!
• Buying and decorating my Christmas tree
• Wearing Grandma's necklace
• Macklemore and the Good Husbands
• A mattress pad
• Buying a new couch
• Helping friends out
• Cold weather
• Hugs and kisses from kids (hmm wonder how I got sick???)
• Buying a ticket to Sri Lanka with one of my most favoritest people in the whole wide world!!!!!

I guess, in retrospect, it can't have been that awful of week, except that the majority of my time is spent with kids and they were really rude this week.  Next week, hopefully, they won't be.  Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Peace, love, & happy thoughts

 

Moving time

So...uh, yeaaaa... I'm moving.  Sweet.  No big deal.  JUST KIDDING!!!!  YAYAYAYAY!  Hip hip hooray!  And a HUZZAH for good measure!

The new place is really brand-new!  It's a small two-bedroom apartment with kitchen, two bathrooms, two rooms, and a living area.  It's really nice.  I like it (yes, I've seen it... twice!).  The other day, I went to see it and pretty much everything is moved in!  Another HUZZAH!

The only downside to moving (again) is that I have to pack everything up.  Yes, I unpacked my things because they told us they had no idea when we'd be moving.  And I have bought a lot of things!  GOOD GRIEF, have I bought a lot of things!  It's a wee bit ridiculous.  Like, seriously.  Ugh.  I feel like I have just about anything and everything a small FAMILY would need.  I might be slightly exaggerating, but STILL!  WHAT?! 

I can't wait to finally get into my apartment and unload everything.  Putting it in it's proper place and knowing I won't have to move it for the rest of this  year and (at least) next year, too.  Phew.

Peace, love, & new apartments!

YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!!!

KATIEDALE IS COMING TO KUWAIT!!!!!!  

FEBRUARY 7TH - PLEASE COME FASTER!!!!

PEBBLES!

Thanksgiving 2012

Yup, today is Thanksgiving.  It didn't hit me until I was awake for a couple of minutes, but I promptly wished my friends a great Thanksgiving. 

I love Thanksgiving.  It's a great holiday.  Not only is it filled with the most delicious food ever, it is filled with love, laughter, family, and warmth.  How can you not love that?!  This year's Thanksgiving was filled with school!  Yay!  But I still like to take some time to reflect upon things of which I am grateful for.  Here is a bit of that:

* my family * my friends * my sister * the people who have stuck by me no matter what * my students' parents * my assistant and very good friend, Hibah * blankets to pile on top of me * food to stuff my belly with * chocolate * ice cream * chicken * good friends to share laughs with * baby smiles * small hands in my hair * tiny arms wrapped around me in a hug * moving to an apartment very soon! * my Kindle * my education * my ability to grow * my ability to learn * my ability to see things from various vantage points * football (REDSKINS!) * my boss * my coworkers * travel * my hunger to see more and learn more and do more and be more * KatieDale * my sorority sisters, who are still around and continue to help me become better * amazing professors * laughter * the ability to be who I am...

Etc, etc, etc.  This list could go on and on and on.  You shouldn't just make a grateful list on Thanksgiving.  When I'm sad or in a down-and-out mood, I like to make a list of things that I'm appreciative of.  It doesn't always help, but it definitely gives you something about.  Things could always be worse.  We are lucky.  We are fortunate.  Be grateful for what you have and who you are.  Go out and do good.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Last Weekend

Last weekend was a great weekend, in addition to it being three days!

Starting with silly faces.

Fabric Souqs

Race-day apparel (whoop, crew!)

First 10K and medal!

Gorgeous sunsets.

Beautiful weather!

Here's hope to this weekend being just as dandy!

Peace, love, & cool weather!

3 Days

... THAT has been the most magical thing ever, lately.  We had a surprise 3 day weekend last weekend because Kuwait celebrated their 50th anniversary of their Constitution.  They had so many fireworks - it was record breaking!  No, seriously!  It was!  I watched from the roof of our hotel, surrounded by good people.  I thoroughly enjoyed the hour of fireworks... I mean, who wouldn't?!

Then, we had a 3 day work week!  While it was super short, it felt super long.  I wasn't feeling life this week, and I'm not quite sure.  I guess it's just one of those slumps that creep up on ya and settle right on in for a bit.  I'm in the process of shaking it off for good at the moment!  This week at school, we started a new unit: Bears!  So I had the kids bring in their teddy bears and we have been doing fun things all week.  I'm excited to continue it next week.  If only the kids would get their ish together and stop being knuckleheads causing trouble.

THENNN we have another 3 day weekend!  It's the Islamic New Year (HAPPY NEW YEAR, btw!) and so we got Thursday off!  It's been relaxing so far.  Went to the salon and will probably meet up with some new friends tonight for some shisha and beverages.  I'm excited!  :)

Some other pretty awesome things: my boss complimented me on my comments on the report cards saying that I worded it very well and the parents can see what exactly is going on in the classroom from it.  :) My Arabic teacher (for the kids) loves me - so says all the other Arabic teachers! :) Went to Mad Musicals last night put on by SIK and it was pretty okay. :) Got to see Alex and Ian.  They always make me smile.

Here are some pictures and a video of my week!:

 Peace, love, & Lucky Number 3

This Week in Bullets

Hola,

This week has proven to be a bit of a test to my patience, happiness, motivation, and any other good/feel-good words.  But there have been pretty amazing things that have happened, too.  Here's what's been up:

• the school (KG) has been going through assessments because report cards are coming out soon.  Thankfully (and, at times, surprisingly) my class did relatively well.  There were just a few that I had a feeling wouldn't do as well, and didn't.  But that's good!  I'm happy about that.  
• in relation to assessments, I haven't really been in class this week because I've been assessing one-on-one and so my TA has been leading the class this week.  I missed them, until I was in the class yesterday.  They were complete MONSTERS.  We were going to have a fun day, but those little munchkins ruined it, so we did not fun work.  Suckers.
• Obama got re-elected.  While I didn't really follow the election all that closely, I knew for a fact that I definitely did NOT want Romney to win.  I still don't feel like either were the best candidate, but Romney was just the WORST.  I cried out of pure happiness that he did not get elected.  Thank goodness for that.
• us hotel people are still in the hotel and there hasn't been ANY good news WHATSOEVER.  We heard via hearsay that there might be an apartment ready in fifteen days, but when my roommate and I went to talk to the assistant superintendent yesterday, we were told it wouldn't be ready til January/February.  The apartments we were supposed to be moving into are all ready, but the owner backed out of having North Americans in his complex.  Bullshit.  ACA needs to get their shit together because it is not fun.  I'm fed up, but not to the point where I'm going to go find my own apartment, because our apartment stipend???  DUMB.  It's only 150KD, not nearly enough for anything.  Dumb dumb dumb stupid stupid stupid.  I'm very frustrated.  I love the school and my kids and my boss and my coworkers.  It's this one thing that is bugging me.  I'm not settled in and I don't feel at home yet because, well, I'm not at home.  It's dumb.  And frustrating.  And stupid.  
• I'll end this with good news.  Next week, we start the 2nd Quarter and we are kicking it off with the theme of Bears!  I'm very excited to bring my teddy bear, Brianna, in.  It'll be great.  She'll have a blast in school.  Last time I took her to school (in Korea), though, the kids gave her stupid mole on her snout.  So... I will have to talk to her about how this school will be better... insh'Allah.  I really love bears.   

That's it, homies.  Sorry for the rant, I tried not to make it all negative, but whatever.

Peace, love, & teddy bears.

Home sweet home: Pakistan edition

Since I've been home for four days, I guess it's sort of time to write about Pakistan, eh?

Well, as most of you know, our flight was delayed... three times.  Yea.  Ridiculous, right?  That's what I'm saying.  We flew on PIA.  The last time I remember flying on it, I just remember it being really smelly and how my parents just complained about it.  Because it was so cheap, though, we booked our tickets with PIA.  Supposedly they have quite a history with delaying their flights a trillion times before actually leaving, and we got a little taste of that!  So, 12 hours after we were supposed to take off, we finally were on the plane.

It takes about 3 hours to get to Lahore from here, so it wasn't too bad.  The pilots are awful and it's still smelly, but that's about it.

We got off the plane around midnight and were greeted by my uncle and taken home.  We didn't see many family members because, well, it was midnight.  So we went to sleep to ready ourselves for the next day, in which we were to go FABRIC SHOPPING!  My cousin is having her wedding in January and, since it's during a 3 day weekend, we are going to go!  YAY!

That's what we did pretty much our entire first day - fabric shop.  Because it was the day before Eid, it was CRAZY out in the streets, yo.  People can be crazy insane, including my father the Pakistani-Kuwaiti-American driver.  Oy.

Our second day there was Eid.  We didn't go out much that day, aside for going to a pharmacy and a grocery store right quick.  We had a couple visitors, which was nice to see again (after 2.5 years for me).  That was nice.  We received raw meat from neighbors and family and my uncle, dad, and I went to the butcher to pick up our part of a CAMEL we ordered!  YESSSS!!!!

That night, my married cousins came over and we had a BBQ-type thing in the yard.  It was cold out, so the huge fire was very much welcomed!  The chicken kabob was delicious and Saman made delicious salad thingie!  :)  It was a lot of fun hanging out with the family in that way.  I don't remember having a time like that - just hanging out and laughing that much and smiling that much and stuff.  It was really really lovely.

Our last day in Pakistan, we spent the majority of the day in/around the house to squeeze in as much time with Grandma as possible.  We ate our CAMEL for lunch and it was DELICIOUS!!!!  Ahhh.  Nice-uh.


This trip was exceptionally nice.  While we didn't get out too much, we spent some good QT time with the family that proved to be one of the best trips I've had there.  It's so weird that the older you get, the closer you might become to cousins and aunts and uncles.  I love my Grandma too much, too.  I'm so incredibly happy I got to see her while I could.  It makes me happy making her happy, smile, and laugh (which she did a lot of).  Although there is a huge language barrier, we still manage to have a lot of fun together and understand each other after a couple of minutes of guessing, which just adds to the fun.  I'm hoping that by January, I can learn a couple more phrases of Urdu (heyyy, Rosetta Stone).  I love her.

 Fabrics!

 Mama :)

 The craziness of people.

 Family BBQing

 Mama, Grandma, and Daddy

 Eid Mubarak, goat!

 What an excellent gift!

 Thumbs up for a great visit!

Peace, love, & family

Vacation - Wahoo!

Yes!  Our first vacation of the school year has started!  Yes!  So exciting!

Tomorrow, M&D and I will be heading to Pakistan!  I'm excited to go back.  And pretty content on it just being for three days.  I haven't been there since before I went to Korea in May 2010 (blog posts here: 1, 2, 3, 4 and many inbetween) and, no, I won't be getting a haircut again!  Usually I do a lot of reading when I'm there... but seeing as it's only for three days, I'm not sure.  I'm going to bring a book, though, and school work.  Hahaha.  Yep!  Going on vacation with school work!  We're getting close to assessments and I need to get myself prepared for them! 

Anyways, I'll make sure to take some pictures and stuff to post!  Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Also, here is a link to information about Pakistan. I realize it's Wikipedia, but you'll live.

Peace, love, & travel (FINALLY!)

Birthdays Around the World

Oy.

I've been sick for almost a week.  With a slight cold now.  Just a bit stuffy.  Sound like a 5 year old, nothing unusual.  But, to top it off, after my birthday dinner with my momma and papa, I woke up with a horrible stomachache.  Went to school, but came home early and opted out of going to school today because I still felt ill.  Yay, sickness!  As of right now, I'm doing well.  Ate some rice (first thing in the past two days), so that's good!

Anyways, I had my birthday celebration at the bowling alley Saturday evening/night and it was a lot of fun.  Many of my friends came out, except for a few that weren't feeling well.  I got some awesome gifts from awesome friends and coworkers.  Awesome.  And my day at school was really great, too!  The kids were super cute.  I got a chocolate birthday cake from one student and a cutesy card from another!  Lurves!  The kids were sooo good and kept saying happy birthday and giving me lots of hugs.  Perfection.  Went to tutor and then went out to eat with my mom and dad, who haven't helped me celebrate a birthday since 2009.  I know, I know.  It's not that long, but really?  It is.

My first birthday away from my parents was when I was studying in Thailand in 2007.  Lucky for me, I had a great group of friends that I lived with and traveled with and, just, did everything went!  We went out for dinner and they bought me an ice cream cake (tradition!) and we went out to a chocolate bar afterwards.  It was a great birthday (also because the next weekend we went to Koh Pha Ngan for the Full Moon Party).  Excellent.

My second birthday away from my parents was when I was in Korea and they were here, in Kuwait (2010).  That has got to be the best birthday I can ever ever remember.  My bestest friends and I went out to eat and played darts and I won TWO raffle prizes AND a darts game against the boys!  It was the greatest.  And the following night, there was a big party at our local hotspot, Underground.

The third birthday without them was last year (2011).  It was alright, went out to dinner and had a football-shaped birthday cake!!  And great presents with a great family that I am eternally indebted to for housing me and loving me!

This year, I had a great birthday.  I'm really happy I got to celebrate my awesomeness with special people that mean a lot to me.  I am a very lucky person, to have met such great people all over the world that can share my happiness with me and make me even more happy.  Really.  Super lucky.

Peace, love, & birthdays around the world.