Camel Market

It is actually exactly what it sounds like.

Today my fellow 4th grade teacher along with another teacher and I headed out to visit the camel market.  Its out there in the middle of practically no where.  This is where you would go to buy a camel.  We were talking to one of them men there and I think he said that we could buy one for roughly 500 KD (about 1800 USD).  Words can't explain it so here are some pictures:

These last two pictures are of a camel that has been bought and is now getting ready to be transported.  They bind up their legs so that he/she isn't really able to get anywhere and has to stay lying down and then off he/she goes to his/her new owner.

A really interesting place to wander around for a bit.  Will have to keep saving my KD to get that camel.

You couldn't take away this smile even if you tried

So in Grade 4 there are six of us all together.  It has been like a dream come true.  Working with the dream team.  On our team are people who have been teaching for a while and also a few people who are new to the school while others this is their second year.  After working by myself for the past 4 years, getting to work at a big school with other teachers was a prerequisite for a new school.  After talking with the superintendent in January and finding out that I would be one of 6 teachers, I knew this was the place for me.

As a team we have been meeting every other day to help with planning lessons and making sure that we are all on task.  We get to help each other figure out how to deal with certain issues and to work out how the math program will work within our classes.  Right now I am really just sitting and listening and throwing in my 2 cents, but also really enjoying having 5 other people around me to bounce ideas off of.

The other great thing that our team has is a teacher's assistant.  She is the person that I can turn to for copies, laminating, cutting, decorating etc.  We rotate her around the six classes since we work on a 6 day schedule.  So today was my day to have her and it is amazing.  I ask her to do something and before I know its on my desk and ready to be used.  She picked up my kids and dropped them off at their next lesson just so that I could continue working on what I was doing.  I am going to owe this girl big time.  AMAZING!

My other favorite person is the copy man.  No more fighting with the machine to get it to do what you want it to do.  You ask the copy man, tell him what you want and he makes it happen.  I don't even need to touch the machine and get close to it.  I am pretty tech savvy but sometimes copy machines and I don't get a long.

Honestly the people that I get to work with are really amazing people.  I am so happy with my choice and am really looking forward to a great year and an awesome learning experience.  I now need to figure out what will be my teacher goal for the year.  Each teacher sets one and then during the year they check in with their buddy to see how things are going.  I just need to narrow my thoughts down to something I know I can measure and feel that I can do within this year.

By the way . ..  my class is also great, the kids are beyond nice and respectful.  Just what a class should look like.  We have done so much team building over the past week and just really getting to know each other.  Remembering all of their names was my greatest challenge because they aren't name that have been common for me.  But that's ok, I love a challenge.  A random kid came up to me and gave me a hug today and that felt amazing.  I need to find out who this kid is because he made my day.

sit, wait, go go go, sit wait, go go go!

Today was the day that was set aside for us to get our blood work and chest x-rays taken care of.  So Thursday I left my class hoping I had left enough for the sub to do with my kids today (for those of you still confused, my weekend is Friday and Saturday; school week is from Sunday to Thursday).

So the day started off with a little bit of confusion but eventually we were on our way to first get our blood work taken care of.  We were told that the males would make it back to school while the females most likely wouldn't.  No big deal.  Well getting blood work was a breeze and in an hour we were all done there.  The men could stay at the same place to get their chest x-rays done but the women had to go somewhere else to get it done.  Once again no big deal.  We figured that since blood work went so fast that a chest x-ray shouldn't be that long either and that we would soon be back at school.

Well, lo and behold when we got to the chest x-ray place there was a HUGE line up of other people waiting to get the same thing done.  So we were seated in an area to wait our turn.  A few moments later the first group was taken and we started to think, well this can't be too bad a quick picture of our lungs and we are out of there by 11:00 (we arrived before 10).  No no, I was in the second group and after going down to the x-ray room realized that the first group was still standing and waiting.  By 13:00 we were all done and on the bus and had learned one important lesson:  Kuwaiti females get special privileges no matter what.  So we had to wait until they were done and if there was one waiting we would have to let her jump the line.  Really shows you where we stand in this country.  But that's ok, we all got our x-rays taken and got home in one piece.

For a first experience among Kuwaiti people, it wasn't as bad as I thought.  After taking a swim in the pool I am now ready to make sure I am ready for the rest of the week and to have dinner.

Back to getting up at 3:45 tomorrow!!

The first day of school

First days are always stressful, nerve wrecking, but amazing at the same time.  Prior to starting school I spent two days in my classroom preparing it for the children.  Here are a few pictures of my room.  I really do love my room.  So many great nooks where the kids can work.

 the front of my classroom.

 The back of my classroom.

 One cubbie area.  I also have in here a cabinet of materials.

The other cubbie are and a shelf of different materials.  There is also a filing cabinet in here.

The first day of school really went smoothly.  My class seems like a good group and I am excited to continue working with them this year.  At the end of the day I asked them who was coming back tomorrow and they all raised their hands.  So I hope they like me cause I like them.

Last day before work

Today has been the official last day before school starts.  Tomorrow and Monday are teacher days and then Tuesday starts school.  The biggest adjustment will be getting used to working on Sunday.  Friday and Saturday are my weekend. But it will be fine, will just set my I pod alarm to go off on the right days and all will be fine.

Today was also my brother's last day here.  In the evening we went to the Heritage Souk, which was basically a gigantic market area.  My brother got a few scarfs and I just wandered around.  Since I am living here now I didn't feel the need to buy things.

The "OMG I am living in Kuwait" feeling is starting to settle in now.  But I am liking it, I have met some really great people and I am sure the others that I have yet to meet are just as awesome.  Really looking forward to the school year.

Here are some pictures from tonight:

And then my cat crawled into a plastic bag.  She loves bags and doesn't even mind being carried around in them.