Another Week is Done

The children really haven't calmed down much.  They still win everyday.  But, they get this work done (probably because the "work" I give them is just like playtime)...

There are no small victories.  Even with that 3 upside down, the fact that he sat down long enough to match those numbers brings a tear to my eye.  That child is on go ALL DAY LONG. 

Today was "Fancy Dress Day" at school.  To me, this meant that the kids would be dressed up in what we used to call "Sunday's best."  However, somehow the translation was a little fuzzy because it actually meant that children would be dressed in costumes.  It looked like Halloween all over the school.  The theme for the past few weeks has been "All About Me."  Perhaps they were trying to tie this day into the theme.  I am not actually sure because all of our correspondences are in Arabic, and Google Translate does not do a very good job of translating.  The translation did mention something about making sure learning is fun for the children.  I don't know about fun but it sure was funny...

Community Helpers........the children in the military costumes cheated a little because these uniforms are worn daily by some of the boys.

Lions, tigers, bears......OH MY!

Obviously Spider Man costumes were on sale somewhere.  Hahahaha

So this actually scared me a little.  What animal is this exactly?

The children were separated into characters.  These are the animals.

I don't know about using costumes in this manner to make learning fun, but I do know that my coteacher uses costumes in her lessons and the children seem to have a blast.  Yesterday, they acted out a story in Arabic.  The story was teaching them about parts of a house.  In the story, a boy lost his rabbits.  He searched in every room of the house to find the rabbits, and finally found them outside under a tree.  My coteacher brought in props to set up areas of the classrooms like different rooms of the house and had three of our students wear their bunny costumes.  They acted out the entire story and were able to sequence it in small groups once they were done.  I am blessed to have a great coteacher.   I might not understand Arabic, but I know good teaching when I see it.  We work very well together and I like to "borrow" a lot of her ideas when it comes to the children.   I just have to put an English touch on it.  I have heard horror stories about coteachers not getting along or coteachers leaving the English teachers alone with the children all the time.  I am so thankful for my coteacher.

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In personal life news, we won our last kickball game.......barely.  The team was so good last year with only a few people on the western team.  Now, we have almost 20 people and we are just mediocre.  They describe themselves as the Bad News Bears last year, yet they remained undefeated and won the championship.  This year, we look like a legit team during stretches but are on the struggle bus during the games.  There are just too many people in my opinion.  In the whole game, everyone gets to only kick once.  SMH.  But, it is fun and that is all that matters to me.

The founder of 3C Sports and my coach/teammate 

We have themed games.  Friday was "wig day."  This is me about to kick the ball straight to the pitcher and get out.  SMH. I get one kick per game and I ruined it.

I went to a ball Friday night that was hosted by the Zeta chapter out here in the desert.  I was disappointed in myself because I attempted to have a dress made and did not have a backup when it did not turn out like I wanted it.  Therefore, I went to the ball looking really basic.

Yesterday we celebrated a birthday in our desert family.  We decided to have our Vision Party on her birthday.  

I told Chauny I would bake her a cake.  This is how it turned out.......If you believe that, you probably are not my real friend.

Apparently, we take these visions seriously!

Work in progress.  We are continuing the party next week so that we can finish our boards.  This year, I tried to be a little more strategic about mine and actually map out some aspirations for the year.  The 2 is for motivation, just sayings and quotes that I like.  The 0 represents fitness as I have been working out more and would like to tone a bit.  The 1 represents my style.  I get tired of being so basic and boring, so it is time to fix that.  I might even be 32 about life and try to wear some make-up! The 5 is for travel aspirations.  The whole thing is about myself.  I did not include love/marriage on the board because I figured if I make myself happy first, that will fall into place.  I also did not put a baby on the board because it is illegal to be unwed and pregnant in the UAE, and deportation is not one of my aspirations!

I was in a funk about not being able to watch the Super Bowl with friends and family.  And I did not stay up until 3am to watch it here.  This is the first time in years that I have not watched the Super Bowl.  This and the Hawks doing so well right now really has me homesick.