"Your driving is a reflection of your civilization"

I love the road signs in Kuwait..."Your driving is symbol of your civilization," "Speed=Death," and "Speed results in prison and death" are some of my favorites. However, i'm positive nobody pays attention to these signs as Kuwait has the most dangerous highway in the world according to some. It has been ages since i've written anything...I am aware of this, however, its been crazy around these parts. Going back a month ago, I got an unexpected week long vacation. We had a long weekend schedualed for the end of Ramadan, which the government decided at the last minute wasn't sufficient. So, they decided to just call the whole week a holiday (giving two days notice) and The Ministry of Education (I can't think of them without thinking Ministry of Magic....hilarious) cancelled school for a week. So, I bought a plane ticket and jumped on a plane heading to Oman with a stop in Dubai. I went with four other teachers (one of whom i'm dating....oh and working with....he also teaches 9th Grade...what the hell right? His name is Brian) and it was awsome. My passport officially has two new middle eastern countries in it...oh and I got my residency in Kuwait so I have a really cool sticker in my passport for that too. Okay so we went to Dubai the first night and took it easy, went to dinner and then to bed....it had been a long week of school. Then the next day we got up and headed to the airport to fly to Oman. We arrived in Oman in the morning and headed out into the city. Oman is beautiful, I got to see mountains which was awsome because although Kuwait has the Gulf which is lovely, its very flat. More recently I have been very busy at school and had some crazy weekends mixed with plenty of grading thrown in. My kids....so cute...but also a huge pain at times....they are trying to "exit" (meaning kick out) three kids in the 9th grade and I have all of them....but hey it keeps life interesting. Two weeks ago Brian and I crashed a wedding, Brian managed to comendear the job of bartender and I made friends with the wedding party. As a result, we were best freinds with the brides father and mother by the end of the night and falling over drunk. I got to dance for one of the first times since I got here which was great and it was just hilarious....did I mention that we were dressed in street clothes for this event...I was wearing jeans and crocs, Brian had on flip flops. I also had a milestone pass last week- I finished my first quarter of school! I've finished 1/4 of my year- crazy! It's gone so fast, my kids got their report cards today and we have parent teacher confrerences on Sunday and Monday. Insane. Anyway.....I'll write more this weekend but I donated my classroom to a Model United Nations Simulation happening all weekend and kids are starting to arrive so i've got to sign off. I'm heading to happy hour at the embassy tonight and a Marine Ball tomorrow so it should be a fun weekend until Saturday when I need to grade 60 short stories, appendix, and creative element projects. But hey, even that doesn't sound too bad. Hope all is well with everyone else. Talk to you soon. Oh and Zach I promise the next post will illuminate the phenomena of "Wasta"

Life In Kuwait- Teaching Week 1

Well then. Soon will the days arrive when I have internet in my apartment and this whole updating my blog thing will become easier. I find it difficult to switch into friend update mode from the school...that whole surrounded by eager young minds awaiting my brilliance thing ; ) However, this evening I have hiked across the desert to the local starbucks and have taken it upon myself to provide some news.
First of all, when I say I hiked across the desert I would like to clarify by saying that my building is literally surrounded by sand and in order to get anywhere one must drive or walk through the dunes, as we call them, in search of a road. This makes things like ordering in dinner an adventure since you have a relatively slim chance that your delivery driver will understand where to find the Aqar Building on Block 2 in Mabula. Several nights ago I walked through the dunes to a local building, across the dunes, which can be more easily found because of a blue light which shines from its roof, to pick up my pizza and wings two whole hours after ordering it because the delivery driver just couldn't figure out where I lived. The pizza unfortunately was mediocer but the evening was greatly improved when I ventured out of the ASK buildings to my first party not hosted by an ASK teacher. This turned into a great night, however, I caution all of you greatly against the potency of date rum (rum made from dates). The alcohol here as a kick since it's all home brew.
Speaking of which, I am half way through the production of my first batch of red wine (12 bottles). As of today the smell of wine began to waft from the jug it is fermenting in. I promise to post pictures of this process but in short red wine can be made by dumping 2.5 pounds of sugar, 12 bottles of grape juice, a bottle of a juice with citrus and some suppliments into a large water jug. This you cover with a plastic bag and two days later you add yeast and some suppliments to kill the bacteria. You then top this with a condom which has been punctured by a pin...no joke and watch as the time passes and the condom begins to swell with air released by the fermentation. After two weeks you switch the wine to a new jug after adding geletin to capture any sediment and two weeks later you have wine. Who knew? As this is my first batch I don't have very high expectations but I am hoping that my years of drinking will have given me an edge on the production of wine, if not two years should be plenty of time to hone my skills.
In terms of honing my skills in arguably more important areas of my life, my first week of teaching here was phenomenal. It is very possible my students think I am off my rocker but who is to say they are wrong. I do have a tendancy to get a little crazy when I spend all my time with 13 year olds. However, we did get a shocking amount done considering this week was the first and I am still getting to know the kids as they figure out what it means to be in high school. I am enjoying the unique combination of personalities surfacing in each of my three classes. Perhaps the most memorable quotation from this weeks assignment "Please write a letter introducing yourself to me" ran something like this, "I am INCREDIBLY intellegent. I don't say this to brag but mearly because it is the truth. In time you too will come to understand that this statment is simply fact." I mean honestly, how could you not love this kid, that is hilarious. Most of my students are Arab with only a few North Americans and a few students from other nations. They are suprisingly well written for 9th grade students and are incredibly motivated. These kids actually care about their education and have long term goals related to their educations and lives. It is amazing. We had an assembly on thursday (our friday), and you could have heard a pin drop in an auditorium filled with 500 students, and the assembly was boring. They can be a handful in class from time to time but are really a joy to be around. Culturally people talk over each other, which means that trying to have class discussions requires a different touch here then in the states. Students here don't consider it disrespectful to yell over one another and are comfortable manovering listening and speaking in this environment. I am working to find a happy medium I can tolarate since I have a hard time listening to them in this form of discussion. They are also struggling right now because of Ramadan which provides several challanges.
Ramadan for those of you who are unfamiliar is a month long religious celebration which requires nothing to pass between the lips from sun-up to sunset. This means that after reaching a certian age (around 10), people here don't eat or drink or smoke or chew gum all day. Then when the sun sets and call to prayer announces itself the fast is broken and fitoor begins. Fitoor is basically the equivalent of feasting and visiting. People eat with family and then visiting commences and lasts all night. For the month many people literally survive on 3-5 hours of sleep a night followed by incredibly hot days without nurishment. Ramadan is taken so seriously that it is in fact illegal to eat, drink or smoke in public for the month and no food establishments are open during the day which means that many buissnesses hold shortened hours during the day but open for the night with later hours. This makes getting things done really difficult right now because if I want to for instance buy a can of paint (which I do, I'm painting my living room), I can't until after sunset which is fine but means venturing out later in the day then I really feel like it since I have to take a cab. Also, this all means that during the day I have to sneak water by locking my classroom and closing my blinds to avoid dying of heat stroke (its very hot and humid here right now). The poor students are exausted at school and hungry. My fourth period comes to me after gym which means they are especially beat since they are expected to play soccer and refuse water. It has been really interesting to be surrounded by people who hold such strong beliefs, I really respect it altough I don't understand it. It makes me think about my own beleifs and what I value.
Anyways thats about all I have in me for know. I'll post pictures and more info later this week if I get around to it.