Waiting for Water - Our life in the desert
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Birthday party at School
The school encourages birthday parties in class so we had a fun time taking some cupcakes down for Layla's class. There are 11 kids in her class all turning 4 and some point during the year. It was a cute time. Ryan was all over the place, of course. The boy that is the very front of the table looking at the camera is her "boyfriend". Yes, she used this word. I was shocked but acted like it was normal (= I don't know what she thinks it means!
Monday, September 19, 2011
Friday, September 16, 2011
Starting school.....arab style
There is so much to say about this that I hardly know where to start. The easiest thing seems to be bullet points (=
We wanted to put Lj in a local school for pre-school and kindergarten to help her to learn Arabic. I have always assumed that we'd do this and I went into the process with my eyes wide open, and aware of some of the challenges.
My neighbor, who is a local lady and a supervisor over all the English teachers in town, told me flat out to not put Lj in a local school. She said their teachers are not good, and that she doesn't want to admit that, but it is true. A Western friend I have who teaches at the school where I was planning to put Lj even said to not put her in school there.
So after much discussion and readjustment of expectations, we have placed her in a South African run International school that uses the British curriculum. The student body is almost entirely Arab and there is an Arabic teacher in each room to translate for the students especially at the beginning of the year. So it is a big disappointment in some ways but in other ways it is a great situation and we don't have MANY of the worries of putting her in the other situation.
The main drawback to local schools would be what you could describe as the "emotional climate" that is created by the administration and the teachers. Rote learning, public shaming, various degrees of swatting kids etc.
Here are some other impressions of school after one week:
***Cracks me up to see parents driving so FAST on the dirt path up to the school and into this bottle-neck that none of them can back out of. Driving in reverse is not a skill that is valued out here (= They all want to turn around. You should see this happening at 730am and 1230pm.
***Kids carry the hugest, gaudiest, most decorated backpacks/rolling bags. Wow.
***I got my parent notebook today in layla's bag. It is our way of communicating with the teacher since having parents on the grounds is not encouraged. Too bad I say....they will have to get used to seeing me!
***All the kids are given school hats so they can walk to and from the bathroom outside with a little shade on their heads. Very Bright. Very Hot these days.
***There are three thugs who run the "bus room" or whatever you call that holding station for kids who have been dismissed from class and are waiting to get on the buses. I think they are all actually teachers in the school but in order to control the boys, they need sheer physical intimidation. Yikes. I just keeping saying hello and smiling so they'll be nice to Layla if she ever has to sit in there for long (=
***Lj's room is really fun - not overly decorated which I personally appreciate. The days of the week starts with Saturday.....I tried changing the way we sing our little days of the week song but she was having none of it.
We wanted to put Lj in a local school for pre-school and kindergarten to help her to learn Arabic. I have always assumed that we'd do this and I went into the process with my eyes wide open, and aware of some of the challenges.
My neighbor, who is a local lady and a supervisor over all the English teachers in town, told me flat out to not put Lj in a local school. She said their teachers are not good, and that she doesn't want to admit that, but it is true. A Western friend I have who teaches at the school where I was planning to put Lj even said to not put her in school there.
So after much discussion and readjustment of expectations, we have placed her in a South African run International school that uses the British curriculum. The student body is almost entirely Arab and there is an Arabic teacher in each room to translate for the students especially at the beginning of the year. So it is a big disappointment in some ways but in other ways it is a great situation and we don't have MANY of the worries of putting her in the other situation.
The main drawback to local schools would be what you could describe as the "emotional climate" that is created by the administration and the teachers. Rote learning, public shaming, various degrees of swatting kids etc.
Here are some other impressions of school after one week:
***Cracks me up to see parents driving so FAST on the dirt path up to the school and into this bottle-neck that none of them can back out of. Driving in reverse is not a skill that is valued out here (= They all want to turn around. You should see this happening at 730am and 1230pm.
***Kids carry the hugest, gaudiest, most decorated backpacks/rolling bags. Wow.
***I got my parent notebook today in layla's bag. It is our way of communicating with the teacher since having parents on the grounds is not encouraged. Too bad I say....they will have to get used to seeing me!
***All the kids are given school hats so they can walk to and from the bathroom outside with a little shade on their heads. Very Bright. Very Hot these days.
***There are three thugs who run the "bus room" or whatever you call that holding station for kids who have been dismissed from class and are waiting to get on the buses. I think they are all actually teachers in the school but in order to control the boys, they need sheer physical intimidation. Yikes. I just keeping saying hello and smiling so they'll be nice to Layla if she ever has to sit in there for long (=
***Lj's room is really fun - not overly decorated which I personally appreciate. The days of the week starts with Saturday.....I tried changing the way we sing our little days of the week song but she was having none of it.
Layla's School!!!
Thought you might enjoy seeing some pics of where she is spending her mornings these days! She picked out her very own gaudy school bag. The dress on the Barbie is actually attached separately! Ooo la la.
Classic first day of school posing (=
Note that Ryan is still in his pajamas....we are out of the house EARLY these days! Yikes.
This is the bottle neck where parents race up to pick up their kids. The gap between the two walls is where they try to squeeze as close as possible and then - due to a complete of reverse driving skills - they all try to turn around and drive out. Really Fun. Not. I just park waaaay off to the right and walk through the sand.
This is Rita - a South African friend of Layla's from her nursery school last year. She is a year ahead of Layla but they see each other on the playground.
Classic first day of school posing (=
Note that Ryan is still in his pajamas....we are out of the house EARLY these days! Yikes.
This is the bottle neck where parents race up to pick up their kids. The gap between the two walls is where they try to squeeze as close as possible and then - due to a complete of reverse driving skills - they all try to turn around and drive out. Really Fun. Not. I just park waaaay off to the right and walk through the sand.
This is Rita - a South African friend of Layla's from her nursery school last year. She is a year ahead of Layla but they see each other on the playground.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Castle in Germany - playing catch up on photos!
I am trying to get our photos from the summer uploaded so they do not wallow in the digital world never to be seen again. This was a really fun day where we drove in a BIG circle around our region of Germany and got to see a castle, the Bodensee (famous lake) and some other fun sights. Tom did a great job planning all of this and we were able to borrow a GPS which was indispensable!
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Happy Family
Just couldn't resist posting this sweet family photo...Layla is channeling her inner princess and Ryan is wondering WHAT ON EARTH is wrong with his sister (= We were on a car ferry in Switzerland which was super fun for us all. We are well-outfitted with Richard Scarry books (thanks Nelsons, Ridderhoffs and Palmers!) and have a keen interest in all things transportation (=
We are still adjusting to the fact that our visas are just around the corner (= We'll let you know when it is all settled!
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Ramadan Decorations
One of the fun things about Ramadan is to see how different stores and malls are decorated. These are very typical sights: the "bedu" fabric tents and the elaborate lamps (which I don't know the significance of, but they are everywhere during this month). The couches and tent-sitting areas are SO common where we are I just wanted you to see them in the middle of the glitzy, western mall (=
Birthday Fun!
My birthday was on Saturday and Tom and I got to spend the WHOLE day up there alone, without kids! Big big thanks to Zach and Megan and their three kids for taking care of our redheads for the day. It was so fun to be able to talk and finish a sentence without having to stop 5 times and deal with something in the middle of it (=
Tom gave me $50 bucks and told me to spend some alone time in the bookstore up there (= Is that a man who knows me or what!? We had a nice lunch and leisurely walk around the mall and the even had the chance to see a great movie. So fun.
Tonight someone here in town gave a little "ladies' birthday tea" for me which was really sweet. Lots of students are coming back in to town so it was nice to see folks again after the summer.
So it has been a nice, drawn out birthday (=
Friday, September 2, 2011
No WAY!
Well folks, it would appear that we are approved for our visas! This has been a long road and we are hoping to have all the paperwork finished in a couple of weeks. Eid holiday ends on Monday so we will start submitting lots of paperwork with stacks of little photos of each of us with our blue blanket as a background. On our previous visas we had stacks of photos of us with a white background and were told that now we need to have BLUE backgrounds....(= ah yes.
Anyway. Just wanted to share if you hadn't already heard.
Anyway. Just wanted to share if you hadn't already heard.
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