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. :-)