'Wow' Sights in Doha

Today in the grocery store I spotted a can of ready-made chicken salad. Not too unusual, except for where it was located: dead center of the Mexican food area!

Picture one of those huge, blow-up slides that is bigger than a bounce house. Now, picture three college-aged girls climbing up and sliding down. Nothing unusual, right? Picture them wearing abayas. What a sight! I desperately wanted to take a picture but I just couldn't bring myself to do it!

The first rainstorm of the season happened yesterday. Since it doesn't rain often here, it really was a welcome site. Thankfully, I was home and not out driving. Many roads flooded. Friends who happened to be at the mall got to see water cascading down in H&M which ended up closing. Yikes!

The 'Real' Spiderman

So the second day of vacation brings much excitement! The real spiderman, Alain Robert (www.alainrobert.com), is going to be scaling the big hotel that is across from my building. La Cigale is the hotel and I can see it well when standing on my balcony. WooHoo!!

Here's the hotel:


Here are a few pictures of the climb:




Even with a zoom, I couldn't get a really good picture of him. Oh well. At least I had an incredible seat for free!

1st Day of Vacation

The first day of a month-long vacation. How sweet does that sound?!

My church put on a Christmas play unlike any other. I loved it! The play included Herod and his perspective, paranoia, and penchant for putting people to death. Herod's chief adviser, Nicolas, was there when Herod gave the decree to put all Bethlehem children under the age of 2 to death. Then, 40 years later, we see Nicolas, in prison, in deep despair over the loss of his own son because of the decree. But Peter is in prison with him and explains that the real King of the Jews didn't die but instead lived to adulthood. He goes on to show Nicolas that he can be saved because of Jesus' death on the cross. It was a way different Christmas play and it was wonderful!

Thanksgiving Feast

So I'm a slacker. Who didn't know that?!

Wow! How does so much time pass so quickly? Everything here is good. This will be a long post so feel free to come back when you've got more time to read everything. I'll try to update y'all on the major happenings of the last month.

CS4Qatar Conference
It stands for "Computer Science for Qatar" and is Carnegie Mellon University's organization that
sponsors workshops for teachers and students here. Last week, I spent the whole of Saturday at there campus and learned about Becker's Robots and Programming Competitions. Becker's Robots is a way to introduce and teach basic syntax in Java using a graphical environment that simulates the streets in a city. I plan to introduce it to my students next week as they begin learning the concept of loops. The programming competition material was wonderful and I think I'll incorporate some of their ideas into my regular class. It was a wonderful day!

Karaoke Night
Last night, a neighbor in my building, James, hosted a Karaoke Night and it was very well attended (at least 20 people). We had tons of fun singing songs from "New York, New York" by Frank Sinatra to "Oops, I Did it Again" by Britney Spears. Since most of us grew up in the 70's and 80's, the musical selection available was wonderful. I had to laugh really hard at myself when I got up to sing "Jessie's Girl" by Rick Springfield because I only remembered the chorus! LOL. I did a much better job with Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time" sung as a duet with Ryan. The best song of the night, earning a perfect score of 50,000 points was "Greatest Love of All" by Whitney Houston, sung by Carolyn and _______ (I think it was Jenny...). I had a great time and yes, my throat was very sore by the time it was over. I gotta get one of these machines!

Church
Well, I found a church that I'll call home. There really aren't many choices here in Doha but I've found a compromise I'm happy with. It has a contemporary worship service and the doctrine is the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed. It is a charismatic church but not off the deep end. :-) I'm still listening to teachings from home to supplement, too.

Spa Day
Tomorrow will be a day spent at the InterContinental Hotel's spa, courtesy of the PTA of the school. All new teachers were given a day pass and they expire next week. Tons of us will be using it tomorrow.

Car
The car is still running but it has a major problem with the gear box that will take about $3000 USD to fix. I've decided not to fix it but to keep driving it until it won't drive any more. At least that's the plan right now. I'll look at buying a better vehicle when this one is a goner. The banks here will give a car loan at 4% interest. Not bad!

Classes
Classes are going well. My robotics students are just starting a Robot War competition where each team (I only have 5 kids so that's three teams) builds a robot that can locate and move to its oppenent via sensors and has a weapon to try to disable the opponent robot. They are so psyched! Intro to Programming students have learned tons with Alice (www.alice.org) and will be moving on to actually Java in a couple of weeks. My AP Computer Science students are doing well and really getting the hang of Java. Upcoming topics are loops and then arrays. Parent-Teacher conferences were held recently and many parents were interested in looking at what their children could do in the computer field both in high school and on into college. Exciting!

Weather
The weather has definitely cooled down now and is quite beautiful. It's 84 degrees (F) at 3pm. The humidity is mostly gone. I'm told we are entering the winter. This is incredibly difficult for me to accept as my last 9 years involved winters with temperatures below freezing. This is winter??? No way, Jose! This is a beautiful Spring day in Ft. Lauderdale!

Winter Break
Our winter break runs from December 5th to January 3rd. It's really long this year because a Muslim holiday, Eid al Adha, gives us the first week off. The school decided that it isn't smart to have everyone then return to school for one more week before the normal two week winter break. So wahoo! In an effort to save some(!) money, I'm not going home for the break (tickets alone are over $1700!). Instead, I've decided to go see some friends a bit closer to where I am. I'll go to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for 12 days to see the Vicknairs, friends from Moscow. I'm really excited to see 'real Africa' as I've only seen Cairo and Tunisia, both of which are not characteristic of the majority of Africa.

Well, that's all I can think of for now. Thanks for being patient with me!!!

She said what?

What are my students like? Diverse. I'll regale you with stories from time to time. Here's a story of one very unusual Qatari student.

One of my Seniors, a girl, came to class the other day. When she needed something to write with she asked me for a pencil. I noticed her rather large purse sitting on the table beside the monitor and said, "Don't you have a pencil in that big purse of yours?"

She replied, "Now why would I carry a pencil in my purse?!"

It took me several moments to gather my wits about me after her response registered. Then I just started laughing. Out loud and in her face.

Then she said, "If you want lotion or germ-x or something like that, then we can talk."

I laughed even harder. The best part is that she couldn't understand why I was laughing!

I absolutely love working with kids.

First Games Night

Wahoo! Many people in my building love games! Last night I hosted the first Games Night of the building, a kind of last-minute thing but very casual. We did have 6 people just to play Risk (Riett and Frans, DK and Crystal, Bree and myself) and others dropped by during the night as their plans allowed (Ryan and Renee, Donna, Regina, and Sanford).

I got booted out of the game first by Frans so I never got to complete my mission which was to hold both Africa and North America. The best part was when Frans, who is South African, battled me for South Africa and my guys really fought well against him, taking out several of his guys. But alas, Frans' guys were just too strong (many) for my army of 8 and the real South African took over the territory.

Some of us played with puzzles most of the evening. At one point Sanford and I were scrambling to find string to use to play Cat's Cradle and then looking all over the internet for the steps we couldn't remember. That was so much fun! I even learned some I never knew, like the mouse. Okay, now go search for it. You know you want to.

Cost of Red-Light Running...

So what is the fine for running a red light in your neck of the woods? I just found out that here in Doha the cost is 6000 Qatari Riyals (QR) which is $1643.84 (US Dollars). The fine alone is just enormous but the second time you do it the fine is doubled! The cost keeps doubling until your license is revoked. Talk about expensive!

No, I didn't get the ticket, a colleague did. But there's a catch. She didn't run a red light, she ran a flashing green light. What's a flashing green light? Well, you've got the solid green light. The next in the cycle is a flashing green light to warn you that the light is about to change. The light then changes to a solid yellow which only lasts about 4 seconds or so and then it changes to red. So she got a ticket for running a flashing green?? It's not even yellow yet!

As for me, I'll just get in the habit of stopping at all green lights, just in case!

Dinner Party

Last Friday night several of my new friends came over for my first dinner party. Stuffed tenderloin, corn-on-the-cob, butternut squash, stuffing and salad were on the menu. We had a great time just sitting around and talking. After dinner we celebrate one person's birthday with cake, homemade ice cream and a single candle.

There's not much happening here except that traffic has gotten even worse. The volume of traffic has increased since the end of Eid and I am busy trying to find ways to avoid the traffic. Other than that, not much is happening. Hope things are going well with you all!

Thank You Lord!

The moon was spotted and Ramadan is over. Eid Al-Fitr begins now and there is no school tomorrow! You should have seen us teachers when we got the phone calls! Teachers were running up and down the stairs shouting, "No school! No school!" It feels like a snow day, which just doesn't compute in my mind. HAHA.

So what will I do with my extra day off? I think I'll rearrange my bedroom and put up all my photographs. Nothing will be open tomorrow as the first day of Eid for families to spend together, much like American Thanksgiving or Christmas. So going out is not an option. I may go up to school to go swimming. Friends are throwing their annual "I Survived September" party in the evening and I'll definitely go to that. I will also spend some time with friends during the day, friends I hardly get to see with our respective amounts of work.

A 6-day weekend. Who woulda thunk?!!

School Tomorrow??

So I'm sitting at home, waiting for a phone call to see if we have school tomorrow. You see, the Eid Al-Fitr holiday is supposed to start on Wednesday. BUT, if the moon is spotted tonight then the holiday will start a day earlier and there will be no school tomorrow. Can you imagine what all students and teachers are praying for right now?? :-) Yep, Moon, show yourself!

Regardless of when the holiday starts, we will have holidays through Sunday and will return to school on Monday. That means a 4-day work week for next week. Wahoo!

Come on, phone, ringgggggg!!!!!!!!!

Let's Go Surfing, Now!

WAHOO!!!!! High-speed internet has finally arrived and I'm in surfing heaven! Because it is so expensive here, several of us are splitting the cost of one ADSL hookup. This picture tells the story of my neighgor and I trying to get all of our computers authenticated in the wireless router. How many laptops are there?
Six. Now for the real scary part: 4 of them are mine! Yikes!! Gotta get off to school now so I'll blog more later. :-)

Catching Up

Wow, how has a whole week passed so quickly?? Well, I have some forced downtime (stomach flu, ick!) and I'm able to pick up my neighbor's wireless signal so let's catch up!

The dinner last week was really fun. We went to a place called the Diplomatic Club for the Iftar dinner. But it wasn't the Iftar, instead it was the late meal, which is the main meal, sometimes called the midnight meal. An Iftar is the meal that actually breaks the fast at sundown.

The meal was fabulous with hummus, shish kebab, meat sambukeak, grilled houmilli cheese, labneh with garlic, falefal, fried cheese, mixed grill, and tons more. The table was overflowing with so much food that we couldn't even eat. I guess I was expecting a little more exotic fair but these 'normal' dishes are so wonderful that I didn't mind.

We had a reservation for 8:30, apparently way early for this culture. We were in fact the first customers in the place, which was a make-shift tent. Other people didn't start showing up until well after 9. And our food didn't come to the table until after 10.


The best part of the evening was just hanging out with my new friends, all teachers at the school. All of us live in the same building and so, theoretically, we should see each other all the time. But we don't. As well, we don't always see each other at school because it is soooooo big and we are in different buildings. So it was great getting to know each other. I didn't bring my camera so I'm limited for photos. These two were taken by Jocelyn. Thanks, Jocelyn!!


The next day a friend needed to be taken to the hospital so I got to experience the emergency room at the private hospital Al-Alhi. I was glad to see how well-equipped it was and the staff took very good care of my friend. In just a little while she was no longer in pain. :-)

On Sunday, the first day of my work week, I went to Q-Tel (Qatar Telecommunications) and applied for high-speed internet. WAHOO!!!!! This was the highlight of the week. It will be installed this Sunday and I can't wait! I'll be able to have the internet on all the time and my Skype phone number (a Ft. Lauderdale, Florida) will be active.

My Intro to Programming students turned in their second games this week and we all had lots of fun playing. One game is called "The Principal" and has our high school principal shooting detentions at students. LOL. The other classes are going along fine.

The only downer of the week was getting sick at school yesterday. I got home by 3pm and spent the rest of the night being sick and sleeping. This morning I feel much better but still not fully right. Oh well, life happens. And stomach bugs are going 'round the school right now so I'm not too surprised. Another day or two and I'll be fine. :-)

More later, friends!!

Excitement!

First, I am going to an Iftar dinner tonight with a group of teachers. An Iftar is when the fast is broken during Ramadan and it is supposedly quite a to-do. This will be my first one and I'm thrilled to experience it.

Second, I can finally request high-speed internet for my apartment!!!!! I had to wait until the phone line was transferred into my name and that was completed yesterday. So we looked up the hours of Q-Tel, the telecommunications firm here, and their Ramadan hours are from 8am to 1:30pm (I'm in school then) and 8pm to midnight. Unbelievable! After dinner I'll go and request the high-speed and maybe, just maybe, I might actually have it hooked up by this time next week. I do realize I'm being very optimistic, but I must or else I just might cry...

Anyway, here's to a great weekend!

Al-Ahli Hospital

I needed to get back into physiotherapy for my back now that I'm settled here in Doha. Most doctors work out of a hospital instead of private practice so last night I went to see the orthopedist at Al-Ahli Hospital, the newest and most western-style hospital in the city. Hospitals in the US, take a lesson. The waiting areas were filled with comfortable couches and chairs. While you wait, a lovely lady comes around and asks if you would like anything to drink: tea, juice, water. I tried to get some grading done while I waited but things happened so quickly that I didn't really have time to get much done. I went for an x-ray in the same building and then returned to the doctor to have him read the x-ray and prescribe physiotherapy. He also prescribed some medicine that I could get right at the hospital pharmacy which happens to be the cheapest place to get medicines. What a difference!

Saloons in Doha

I was driving home from work the other day and got stuck in a bit of traffic. As I was mindlessly looking around I noticed a business called, "Barber Saloon." Now, I thought that was an odd name for a barber shop (the guy's face with shaving cream made me certain). Oh well, it's probably just a typo, very common in every country I've lived in. As I inched my up the street, I saw another shop with a similar name and then another. At one point there were 4 'saloons' right next to each other all offering a shave and a hair cut. So it must not be a typo but a salon here is for females and a saloon is for males. Go figure.

Nearly 5 weeks here now and I still don't have high-speed internet at home. I am having severe withdrawal symptoms and frequently find myself typing and surfing at speeds that dial-up just can't handle. I know I need patience but I need it NOW!

Yesterday in my Introduction to Programming class, a student said to me that he has never been so excited to come to school as he is now that he is working on building a video game in Scratch. I just had to smile because I am experiencing the same kind of excitement about my job. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE MATH, but teaching computer programming has opened my world to all kinds of fun. Watching my students create and program gives me a sense that I'm really playing a part in preparing them for the 21st century, the tech generation.

I am sooooooooooooooooo glad I made the switch to technology.

So much going on....

First and foremost, I received my residency permit today. Wahoo!!! That means that I can request high-speed internet maybe as early as tomorrow. Who knows how long it will actually take to get it working... For now, I still have dial-up which is so caveman. It takes about a minute for a page with no major graphics to show up and longer for pages with lots of pictures or videos. As for watching videos of any kind, no dice. I try to stay at work late so I can do essential internet things. I will post more regularly when I have better internet at home. Promise!

School is going really well. Open house is tomorrow night so I'm just a bit nervous (always am at a new school). My Algebra II course is reviewing basic Algebra I skills, three weeks into the semester. My Robotics course has students making their robots move, turn in circles, do point turns, back up, park, say things and use the display. Now they are working on a project to combine everything in one program and make the robots follow an obstacle course. The Intro to Programming students have just finished their first video game in Scratch and really enjoyed making them. One game is titled: The Caveman and the Search for the Golden Toilet. Gotta love student creativity!! LOL!

The AP Comp Sci students finally have the JDK installed properly on their home computers so now they can actually program for homework. They like the course and we started with 'objects early'! They are learning the differences between classes, objects and methods already and will be able to do a lot quickly. I'm excited for tomorrow's class because I get to show them the API and their Java world will expand exponentially.

On the home front, I bought some bookcases and spent part of the weekend building them. Now my books have a home that's not a cardboard box or the floor. I also found some nice lamps for the living room but I'm still looking for something for the bedroom. My DVD player that has been in storage for the last year is working perfectly and I am soooooo thankful! Cable is up and running and my favorite channels are there: Hallmark and TCM.

Socially, I'm not doing too much right now because I'm working so much. I've found a few people in my building that I enjoy spending time with and can't wait to have more time for them. I've been attending a church here and am looking forward to when Bible studies begin.

Well, gonna go for now. It's nearly 8pm and I would like to see my home for bit today. :-)
Miss you all!!!!!!!

Oil

So I was in the grocery store and turned down the aisle that had cooking oil. I happened to look up at the sign for the aisle and it read, "Edible Oil."

I love being overseas!

Whoa, it's been a while!

So much has happened in the last week. First and foremost: THE ELEVATOR IS WORKING!!! Do you hear the angels singing??? I sure do! I'll try to include a picture soon.

The day before school started, I was asked to teach a math class. The numbers in my two robotics classes were low so one was canceled and kids moved to another teacher's class and I am now teaching a section of Algebra II in its place. It's good because I don't do any of the planning for it - the two other teachers teaching the other 4 sections will do all of it and I'll just teach and grade.

My computer classes are going well. I've got a whole 5 students in my Robotics class. It's really nice and the students are almost done with the driving base which is the basis of most of the robots. The students in the Intro to Programming class are loving Scratch, a simple programming tool that can be used as low as 4th grade. If interested in Scratch, see http://scratch.mit.edu. As for the AP Computer Science course, there are 12 students, 3 of whom are girls, and they are all geared up and have already written some basic code.

My residency permit is done! Apparently this is a major miracle. The school had to submit requests for 70 of us new teachers, more than any other year. The amazing thing is that this is the first time any of the permits have been issued in less than a month. What does having this permit mean? Most importantly, it means that I can set up a high-speed internet connection and be done with the arcane dial-up!

Ramadan begins tomorrow and lasts for a month. During this time, Muslims fast from sunup to sundown: no food and no drinks, not even water. They have huge breakfasts before sunrise and have incredible feasts for dinner after sundown. At school we have a mixed community so we have to allow for food but still be respectful to our Muslim students, faculty and staff. For non-Muslims, all food in the school can only be consumed in the cafeteria and the doors and windows are blacked out. It will be so interesting to experience Ramadan. It's been strongly recommended that we go to one of the big hotels and have dinner during the month. They have elaborate dances and shows that go along with the meal and I've been told it's amazing.

Gotta go for now, more shopping and lesson planning to do.

Quandry and I want your opinions...

So, driving here is, uhh, different. The likelihood of an accident is high because the rules of the road are ignored frequently, mostly be expatriates who I'm afraid don't really know how to drive properly. I feel safe with my driving abilities after my Moscow driving experience but the more I watch the drivers around me, the more nervous I get. I bought a 1997 Honda Accord from a teacher who left the school. It's okay for an old car and was quite willing to deal with reasonable repair bills as the car wasn't too expensive.

The cost of auto repairs here is expensive and the work is far below acceptable. I recently heard of a guy whose motor mount had gone and had it replaced, only to discover that the "mechanic" had filled the space with pieces of cardboard. I realize this is probably a worst-case scenario but at the same time, I don't know if I'm willing to deal with this type of problem.

Instead of owning a car, it seems that many people rent a car year-round. For about $500-$600 per month, the rental car is insured against any damage, is repaired at the company's expense, and is reasonably new. They are not always the newest cars but they really are someone else's headache.

I'm interested in exploring this option to rent. I'd really only end up renting for 10 months a year because I'd be home in the summer so it really would cost about $5000 - $6000 a year. Considering the cost of gas is sooooooo low, I'm guessing that's about what you guys in the US are paying per year to run your cars?

So what do you think? Own or Rent? What else should I consider? Please leave a comment below and give me your thoughts! Thanks!

A Busy Few Days

Whew! The last few days have just flown by. Here are some of the activities and highlights:

I filled the gas tank in my Honda Accord. I had just under a quarter tank of gas and it cost me 26 Qatari Riyals which is about $7.12. Whoopee!

My shipment was here in Doha but the receiving agent wouldn't release it because they hadn't been paid by the US shipping company. After a rather pointed email to the US company, I received my shipment the very next day. Now I'm wonderfully swamped with boxes to unpack.

This big apartment needs a few more pieces of furniture to showcase the treasures I've collected over the years. Time to go shopping!

The elevator in the building is still not working. No real surprise it's just that I've lost count of how many times I've walked up five flights of stairs.

I bought a television and had cable hooked up. I actually got to watch TCM last night when it was showing A Bachelor in Paradise, an old Bob Hope movie that I love.

The first day with all the returning teachers was yesterday and the day started out with a huge breakfast catered by the Ritz-Carlton. It was the best opening to any school year!

I went to Arby's today and was seriously disappointed in the Beef 'n Cheddar sandwich. That's not really a bad thing, is it?!!

I got my Qatari driving license today. That consisted of sitting around the driving license bureau chatting with my colleagues while someone walked our paperwork through the process.

Slowing down is worth it

Today, I was told about the traffic laws in Doha. There is a zero tolerance for any drinking and driving. Wahoo! I won't have a problem with that. Speeding even 5km (which is less than 5mph) over the limit will net you a ticket. Running a red light will also net you a ticket. Not enough police to catch you? Technology to the rescue! Major intersections are equipped with cameras to catch you. A stale green light is up ahead so you speed up to make the light, right? Well, that same camera just caught you going over the limit to get through the light so you get a ticket too. Okay, so you got a ticket. No big deal. You'll just pay your ticket and it will be done and over with. So how much will your ticket cost? Two thousand dollars, U.S. dollars. Don't choke on your wallet. That was written correctly, $2,000 USD. Slow and steady wins the race (and keeps money in my pocket) in my book.

With those cameras, how do you know if you got caught or not? You go online and check. That's really convenient! Seriously, how cool is that?? And if you didn't bother to check before you left the country for vacation, the immigration people at the airport will not let you leave the country until you see the police in the next office and pay your ticket. Pretty good way to collect your revenue if you ask me.

In all my preparations to come here, I'd heard that Qatar is 'one of the richest countries' in the world. Well, I thought that was due to oil. It turns out that their wealth is found in natural gas instead. It is turned into liquid natural gas and that seems to be what will make Qatar THE richest country in the world in the next few years. Apparently, there is so much natural gas underneath Qatar (a country the physical size of Connecticut and the population of Providence, RI) that if all of the natural gas were available at once, it could power the entire US for 100 years. Absolutely amazing.

As for me, I'm dead tired and falling asleep as I type. So it's off to be for me. See ya later.

First Weekend

The first weekend was great! Thursday night after school, there was a big cook-out dinner with all the new faculty and the administration. I spent the evening sitting outside by the pool and talking with a great bunch of people. It was warm but it was really nice out.

Friday is the holy day here so I went to church with some teachers in the school and loved it! It's just like the church I attended in Moscow so I'm very comfortable already. When I got home I took the traditional 'Sunday afternoon nap' except I took it on Friday. :-) In the evening, the director, Ed Ladd, and his wife, Carol, hosted a big shin-dig at their house. Get a load of the table. It was incredibly beautiful and the food was very tasty.


Today (it's Saturday night here) I gave a lesson in creating a blog to some of the new teachers in my building and then spent the afternoon at the mall. Three of us went and discovered Macaroni Grill!!! YUM! The grilled salmon was wonderful. This mall also has TGIFridays, Pizza Hut, McDonalds, Haagen Dazs, and Coldstone Creamery. I really hoped moving here would remove so many food temptations, but it's not to be. Oh well. I'm working off everything I eat by climbing five flights of stairs several times a day to get to my apartment! Anyway, the rest of the afternoon was spent having coffee at Starbucks in the mall with a couple from the school and then doing some shopping. I bought a microwave and an ironing board that I had to tote up 5 flights, along with various small items. I need to buy a tv but I'll wait until the elevator is actually working to purchase it. I'm afraid I'd drop it and watch it roll down the stairs! :-S

As for the elevator, the company 'working' on it really was doing nothing toward getting it finished so the school and the building's owner both agreed to get another company (the only other company in Doha) to get the elevator working. This company says they can have it done this week, by the 20th to be exact. I'll believe it when I see it. And then I'll finish the big shopping I need to get done. Keep an eye on the blog and I'll post more about it this week.

Arabic Applebees, Elevator Notes, & Other Stuff

Last night, my neighbor and I went to Applebees. The food was really good and a Bruschetta Steak (steak hamburger so to speak) was 38 Qatari Riyals, which is about $10.40 US ($1 = 3.65 QR). Not too bad. Most of the good dishes were around twenty dollars though so I won't visit too often. I loved the sign out front and had to get our picture in front of it. It is right around the corner from where I live and it begins a stretch of road that is nicknamed "Cholesterol Corner" for all of the western food chains along it (McDonalds, Hardees, Applebees, Chilis, Arbys, and the world's largest Dairy Queen)!



I got in the elevator in our school building today and had to laugh out loud (lol) at the third bullet point in this sign. In case you can't read it, it says: Do not attempt to leave before the lift has stopped. Uhhh, duh!! The other unusual thing about the elevator is its buttons for the floors. It goes to three different floors but they aren't named 1, 2, and 3. They are named G, 1, PH. So our third floor classrooms are really in the Penthouse! I told you this was an amazing school! ;-P

Monday, I was at a kiosk in a big store and was looking to buy a cell phone. I picked out the model I wanted and the clerk took it out for me. As I went to pay the cashier for the phone, I noticed a sticker (which acted as a seal) across the tab which closes the box. The sticker said not to accept the phone if the seal on the box was broken. I asked the cashier for a new box with an unbroken seal. The cashier handed the box back to the clerk and asked for a new one. The clerk turned to me and said all the boxes were already open. "They come from the company like that," he replied. With a smirk, I bought my phone and checked on their return policy (24 hours to return cell phones). Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore.

I had to go do some medical tests for my residency permit. The typical HIV and TB tests. At the facility, the sign on the wall showed four stations you had to visit and listed them in number order. Station 1 was reception; 2 was clinical examination; 3 was blood draw; 4 was x-ray. After station 1, I went to find station 2. I wasn't sure if I was going in the right direction so I asked the woman at the desk outside the doors marked #2-Clinical Examination. Without saying anything, she took my papers, stamped them and gave me a blood vial. I turned and started to go through the doors for #2 but she pointed to the doors for station 3. I said, "But aren't I supposed to go to number 2 first and then got to 3?" She shook her head and pointed to #3. I asked if I was to go to #3 first and then go to #2. She shook her head 'no' and pointed at #3. Finally, some wonderfully nice woman in the line spoke up and told me that station 2 is now skipped. I smiled, said my thank you's, and walked into station 3 shaking my head. Aaaahhhhh, learning a new country's systems is always so humbling! :-)

First Days

It's been a fast and furious two days since I posted last. Tuesday was the first day of school and 70 of us new teachers arrived with bright, shiny faces. As the group introduced themselves, I was amazed at the diversity of our group. We have people from South Africa, Scotland, New Zealand, Australia, Turkey, Canada, US, UK, Trinidad and Tobago, Lebanon, and more but that's all I can remember for now. As for where people have been working around the world, 'all over' about sums it up. One couple was teaching in China last year and were about 50 miles away from the epicenter of the earthquake. I can't wait to hear their stories! We seem to have a plethora of Kims: Kimann, Kim, and me. I can go by Kim or Kimberly or 'hey you' works too. So I may need to change names here. :-P

The rest of the school day consisted of a tour of the school and being issued laptops. The tour took so long because the campus is huge. Huge. It's as big as most of the suburban high schools in the US that have 3000 to 4000 students. We have about 1700 students from Pre-K through 12th grade. My computer lab has 25 iMacs lining the walls and an LCD projector (every classroom has one). It's a great setup and I'm so happy. I see there are new Lego Robotics kits that arrived over the summer and there is a rather large 'sand table' (minus the sand) in the center of the room that seems to be for the Legos. In the afternoon, all 70 of us were each given a new MacBook to use while here. We can take it home and bring it back to school each night, whatever we need. It's awesome!

Here are some pictures of my apartment, or flat as it is called here. It is sparsely decorated for now. My shipment will hopefully be delivered to my apartment sometime soon.





Living Room















Dining Room

















Hallway















Kitchen














Kitchen

















Guest Room










Study













Bedroom
(3 photos)
































Gotta run for now. I'm going to dinner with my neighbor from Trinidad. More later.

Arrival in Doha

After 4 good take-offs and 4 good landings, I'm finally here in Doha. I arrived Sunday night at about 9:30pm with 27 other teachers for the school. Immigration went smoothly and all my luggage (three 70lb. bags!) thankfully made it through without being searched. So, all my DVDs made it through. Whew!

My apartment is absolutely amazing!!! It has 3 bedrooms and 2.5 baths, and air conditioners in every room. The rooms are large and have big windows for lots of light. The setup is great. You walk in and see the dining room, living room, and a half bath. There's a hallway that leads to the kitchen, bedrooms and a full bath. The master bedroom has its own full bath. The apartment is tiled and will be a breeze to keep up. The kitchen has lots of counter space and I might be able to put a small bistro set in there.

The building's not quite finished yet so there are some issues, like the elevator doesn't work yet and I'm on the 5th floor! The school provided a few 'pack mules' to carry all our luggage up the stairs. I have hot water and took a nice shower this morning, but I had to brush my teeth with hot water because I have no cold water. Go figure. The management company has a crew on site for the next two weeks to sort out problems, thankfully. I'll be talking to them quite a bit for tons of small stuff in the apartment.

We went shopping this morning and I got all the plugs for my electronics. The apartment has British plugs so I needed lots of adapters. :-) I bought the typical things you need right away in a new place: trash cans, broom, hair dryer, hangers, tissues, laundry detergent, etc. I also bought an iPod speaker and a new cell phone. So now I've got music, phone and internet. I can function now!

At home, I've got a dial-up internet connection and I'll have that for about a month and hopefully only a month. By then my residency permit will be processed and I can apply for ASDL. In the meantime, I'll only be able to upload photos and videos while I'm at school because it has a high-speed connection. I hope to be able to upload a video tomorrow or the day after so you can see my apartment. :-)

More later...

Tara!!

Monday, my dear friend, Tara, with whom I worked in Moscow, came to the city to visit the Turkish Consulate. We got a chance to catch up and even had time for a late lunch before she got the train back to Connecticut. Tara will be moving to Istanbul in the fall to be a College Counselor, a job at which she is INCREDIBLE!

Spending time with Tara today was a precious gift and I enjoyed every minute of it! Thanks, Tara! See you in Istanbul or Doha, whichever comes first!

Japan Day

Sunday was Japan Day in Central Park. Lance, Jin and I walked around the exhibits for at bit. The coolest exhibit was this robot. It was so real! Until you took a good look and realized her moves were a bit jumpy.

We found a nice place to sit under a tree and frisbee began. It was really nice just to lay on the grass and watch. Watch frisbee, watch people, watch the trees moving in the wind. We met a nice guy, named Amos, and a boy of about 10 or 11 who joined the frisbee game.


The highlight for the guys was helping some kids get their Aerobie (a ring that you throw like a frisbee) out of a huge tree. It was this little red spot about half-way up the tree. The guys threw everything at it, trying to shake it out and they were successful after about 15 minutes of attempts. I really wanted to see someone climb the tree, but I was left disappointed. :-P

Julia, Tammi, Ed, and Nicole showed up and played frisbee for a while and then Jin, Lance, Julia and I went for all-you-can-eat sushi at Yuka (2nd and 81st). On the way, Lance showed up this really cool Hungarian deli that sold Russian cookies called Iryaneekee. They are a soft gingerbread-like outside with filling (orange, my fave) inside. Ah, nostalgia!

Class on a Friday night??!!!!!??!!?!?!

So summer classes at Columbia started this past Monday, Memorial Day. I'm auditing a freshman level computer science class that meets on Mondays and Wednesdays. Due to Memorial Day, we didn't have class Monday so the instructor decides to hold class on Friday instead, as a 'make up day.' No problem, guy, what time of the day on Friday? "Same time as class." That's 5:30 to 8:40 on Friday night! Talk about messing up my plans for the evening.

Anyway, as soon as class was over, I went to meet up with my friends from the InterVarsity group and had a great time. Afterward, I sat with my friend on the steps of Low Library on an absolutely gorgeous night. It was the first time all year I actually was able to enjoy Columbia's campus. I plan on enjoying it a bit more before I leave here!

My mom and aunt are visiting next weekend!!! Yipee! I'm looking now for theater tickets and trying to find a reasonable price. Since they're going to be here on the weekend, standing in the lines in the afternoon to get the cheap tickets really won't work as that's only for weekday shows, so I'm told. We'll see what happens!

Driving in Moscow

People frequently ask me what it was like driving in Moscow. I've tried to explain it but words continue to fail me. Take a look at these YouTube videos for some examples:

A typical street experience in a 'suburb'


Turning left in Moscow


Normal city traffic on a snowy day. Pray you don't need an ambulance.

Memorial Day

Today is a day to honor all those who have fallen in battle for our country. I say it is also a day to honor all those who risk their very lives for our country now as well as all those who have risked their lives in the past. To all servicemen and women, especially my cousin Don, I am proud of you and I support you in all you must do to keep freedom free! As for me, today will again see me running into Sailors and Marines. It's Fleet Week here in Manhattan and they are everywhere, exploring the city and enjoying a little time off.

Today I will meet up with a new colleague from my new school, Kimann. We met briefly at the job fair while she was accepting the position. I'm excited to talk to someone in the same position as I am, finishing up here and yet thinking about there. I'm sure we have lots of the same questions and we can compare the answers we've found so far. It will be great also to go to Doha already knowing people. My friends, Mike and Rose, work there at the school already but they won't be there until a week after I arrive. Have fun on vacation, Mike and Rose!

So I am trying to learn Arabic. Yikes. It's a difficult language, especially the written script. So a letter has three ways of being drawn: one way if the letter starts a word, another way if it's in the middle of a word, and yet another if it ends a word. So there are really three alphabets in there. Wish me luck and great memory!

My friend, Kristy, is going to take me into many Arabic stores in Astoria later today. It will be good to learn which foods are which before I get to Doha. I really appreciate knowing this kind of thing because I don't want to end up buying or eating something strange and awful. :-P I'm going to look at my Arabic letters again before we go and maybe I can sound some things out.

Happy Memorial Day to all, and please remember what it's all about!

The Next Chapter

So, why a blog? Because I want my friends and family to know what my life is like overseas. Because I want a record for myself. Because I want a place to list all the websites I want to view. Because I want to learn something new. Because I absolutely suck at writing emails in a timely fashion, as all of you already know! So, here is my blog.

Why the name? Well, in college, my friends affectionately named me Footnotes because I don't tell a story in a straight line, like from point A to point B. Instead, I take my listeners on lots of little side stories, or footnotes, on their way to the end of the story. More than 15 years later, I am still the same Footnotes. So, to the ones who named me (A.J., Shane, and Ronn), you are always in my heart!! [And pumpkin pudding is still up my nose!] As for the 'From Afar' part, I'm not that afar just yet, although NYC does seem like another country. But there's no time like the present to begin a blog, so for a while, it's from Near-Afar.

The boxes have been packed and shipped. The dorm room is looking pretty empty. The flights (all 4 legs!) are arranged. Doha, here I come! Are you ready for me? I leave exactly 11 weeks from today and, although I still have much to accomplish this summer, I am so excited about going! The excitement is partly because I'm going to have a normal apartment again with all my treasures around me and partly because I'm really looking forward to working with the kids again. This year off has been wonderful but it has shown me just how much I love working with the students.

As for current events, today is my friend's graduation party out in Long Island. Renee, I wouldn't travel two hours for just anyone, dear!!! It'll be great to celebrate with her and meet her family from Jamaica. I helped a friend pack up her belongings last night and this morning, just as my wonderful friend, Perien, helped me do last week.

Right now, classes for Summer A have begun, but my classes don't start until Wednesday. So I'm on a mini-holiday for a few more days. Wahoo!!!