Three weeks into the year and I have already broken my resolution of attempting to update my blog more often. At least I was honest with myself and only attempted to update more often. Sorry guys!
So since the last time . . . .
Home for the holidays:
Home for Christmas is always my best trip. No matter where I am, being home with my family for Christmas is the best choice. Even though it is only for two weeks, it is always money well spent. This year for some reason it was extremely hard to come back. Being home felt so nice. Two weeks is always a mad dash to see everyone and do everything but some how this year it didn't feel that way. Everything that I did was perfectly planned out. Christmas with the family, then a few days later up to the mountains to hang out with friends and enjoy some snow, then down to Philly to ring in the new year and finally back home to have the last two days at home.
Some how this year being home has made me consider moving back to the states to continue working. Being internationally is great, don't get me wrong. But at the same time can be a bit lonely at times too. Minka sure does help with her constant love and affection that she gives.
Nearing the end of another decade
29 . . . a few years ago that seems so far away and now here it is. A week into being a 29 year old and life is still good. I was born on Friday the 13th so maybe 2013 will bring me some kind of weird luck. Cheers to hoping so!
Mastering Technology
Course work continues to press on. Coming to the end of my 3rd course. This whole masters program has really solidified that concept that I know what I am doing. It isn't that I am learning much, but it is making me think of using technology in new ways. I have read some great articles and had some good conversations with my classmates (like facebook in the classroom . . . hmm not sure about that)
Another year in the Sandbox
This week I officially signed on for another year here. It took me a while to think it through and actually agree with the idea of staying here. I do enjoy working at my school because of the great opportunities that are there for growing as a teacher. The amount of support we have is great. For sure my last year here but I think it will be great. New opportunities on the horizon and learning experiences. It will also be a big year, based on deciding where to go next. Torn between different coasts. Lots to consider and think about. Staying is the right choice. I am not ready to move, plus I would like to finish my masters before that happens. It will be a busy year.
In a nut shell, that is about it. heading into a short week which ends with a trip to Doha for the long weekend. It will be nice to do some traveling again.
Friday, January 18, 2013
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Masters Program
Creating a blog here at Blogger.com is quite simple. All you need to do is decide on what you want to blog about, pick a layout and start typing. My challenges with this blog are to keep it up to date. With teaching, you always have to make sure that your blogs are neutral. Because of that, I decided to focus not just on teaching but also on the traveling that I get to do while teaching over seas and the cultural experiences that I come across.
Wow it has been a while!
Hello from the Sandbox!!
So I am almost positive that I warned you when I started this blog, that updates might get scarce from time to time. And I have kept to my promise. But not to worry, I am still here and will try to be better with updates.
So what has happened since Latvia . . . .
A new school year has begun with a new group of students. My kids are great and school life has been very stable. I have found a great routine that works for both me and my students and we are successful in working together.
Outside of school I am working on my masters program . . Masters of Teaching and Learning with Technology. It has been on my list of things to do for a long time and now I am 2 courses done and currently working on the 3rd one. It is a year long program, so by this time next year I will have a masters in technology. Pretty exciting!!
With that being said, my current course is having me set up a blog. So why set up a new one when I can just use this one. So once in a while you might find a post that seems out of the ordinary. That is me fulfilling my course requirements. (Hence the newest post).
I am a week away from being home for Christmas which is really exciting. I have no idea where this first half of the year has gone. Time sure does fly when your having fun.
Though I am in a slight predicament . . to stay or not to stay. I will most likely be staying for one more year in Kuwait but I am conducting a very soft search for what else the world has to offer.
Future travel plans:
January - Doha for a long weekend
April - Bangkok for professional development
My brother is moving to Kazakstan within the next few months so I am sure to travel there too. And before I know it, it will be June and I will be flying back to Latvia. Wow!!
Life here in Kuwait just continues to be steady and enjoyable.
So I am almost positive that I warned you when I started this blog, that updates might get scarce from time to time. And I have kept to my promise. But not to worry, I am still here and will try to be better with updates.
So what has happened since Latvia . . . .
A new school year has begun with a new group of students. My kids are great and school life has been very stable. I have found a great routine that works for both me and my students and we are successful in working together.
Outside of school I am working on my masters program . . Masters of Teaching and Learning with Technology. It has been on my list of things to do for a long time and now I am 2 courses done and currently working on the 3rd one. It is a year long program, so by this time next year I will have a masters in technology. Pretty exciting!!
With that being said, my current course is having me set up a blog. So why set up a new one when I can just use this one. So once in a while you might find a post that seems out of the ordinary. That is me fulfilling my course requirements. (Hence the newest post).
I am a week away from being home for Christmas which is really exciting. I have no idea where this first half of the year has gone. Time sure does fly when your having fun.
Though I am in a slight predicament . . to stay or not to stay. I will most likely be staying for one more year in Kuwait but I am conducting a very soft search for what else the world has to offer.
Future travel plans:
January - Doha for a long weekend
April - Bangkok for professional development
My brother is moving to Kazakstan within the next few months so I am sure to travel there too. And before I know it, it will be June and I will be flying back to Latvia. Wow!!
Life here in Kuwait just continues to be steady and enjoyable.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
the first two weeks
Wow the first two weeks have just flown by! I have a big class this year. 24 awesome kids to train so that we can work together. The first two weeks really are just training for the year. We have practiced so much but we have also gotten into real lessons too. After a while just practicing gets boring so I trick them into practicing by not calling it practicing. I think it will once again be a good group of kids. Just need to get them back into the school mindset.
During these first two weeks my Masters program has also started up. For a long time i had planned on completing a masters program and finally this summer I buckled down and applied. Teaching and Learning with Technology is the name of my program and it will take a year and two months to complete. Its going to be intense. Each 6 weeks a new class starts. Already this week we have read two chapters and created an introduction glogster poster. Here is the poster that I created. Glogster is a fun program that my kids used a lot last year and I was glad that I finally had the chance to use it.
Even though I am very excited about the entire program, at the same time I feel a bit stressed about getting all the work done on time while also teaching and doing everything for that.
During these first two weeks my Masters program has also started up. For a long time i had planned on completing a masters program and finally this summer I buckled down and applied. Teaching and Learning with Technology is the name of my program and it will take a year and two months to complete. Its going to be intense. Each 6 weeks a new class starts. Already this week we have read two chapters and created an introduction glogster poster. Here is the poster that I created. Glogster is a fun program that my kids used a lot last year and I was glad that I finally had the chance to use it.
Even though I am very excited about the entire program, at the same time I feel a bit stressed about getting all the work done on time while also teaching and doing everything for that.
Monday, August 27, 2012
Goodbye Latvija . . Hello Kuwait
My goodness where did the summer go?! After our trip to Spain and Portugal it seemed like it never stopped. Since my last post so much has happened.
Pecis flew back to America, I was glad that he could come out for yet another summer of fun in Latvija.
Kaija decided that it wasn't going to be possible to bring her cat back with her over the summer and decided to come back during the winter time to collect him and with hope Latvian citizenship. Finally discussion is really underway of allowing dual citizenship. I was lucky, when Latvija first regained independence there was a short time span where people could gain citizenship without giving up another one, IE American citizenship in my case. So Kaija made her trek home minus the cat but with everything else. I am pretty excited about all of what she has accomplished this year. But sadly her cat did not survive. The day after she left, he decided that enough was enough and passed away among the bushes. It was a sad moment and very unfortunate. But at least he was in my yard and not in the airplane.
After that the summer continued to become calmer and quieter. I went to dinner at a few colleagues houses and started to say the "see you next summers" to all of them.
I got news of a distant relatives mother who passed away too. So being the only Aivars in Latvija I went and represented the entire family. Open caskets are not my favorite thing, but I was glad that I went as was the family.
I applied to a masters program. Its a one year intense program. Masters of Arts in Teaching and Learning with Technology. I am pretty excited about it. It has been in the plans for a long time now and since I am living in Kuwait with not much else to do, I will work my little tail feathers off this year and get a masters degree.
Went to a Lady Gaga concert in Latvija. Yup she made the trip up north and was stopping in each of the Baltic states if i remember correctly. Goodness does that girl put on a good show. Sadly a lot of people in Latvia are far more taller than I am and there for I didn't see much, but a small group of Latvian men pushed me forward to try and get me to a better spot. In the end I did end up seeing the show a little better. We were quite far back, but that didn't matter cause the music was great and I even got some good videos and pictures. Will have to upload those at some point.
Finally My cat and I made the journey back to Kuwait. The flight was pretty uneventful. 3 hours from Latvija to Istanbul and then another 3 hours to Kuwait. Its weird being back but at the same time it will be good to get back into a routine. The only downer is is that my SIM card for Kuwait doesn't seem to want to work, so I will have to see what I can do about that. Otherwise nothing much has changed here. A few more paved roads and building continues to happen all around our apartments.
And I think that is really all that has happened
Pecis flew back to America, I was glad that he could come out for yet another summer of fun in Latvija.
Kaija decided that it wasn't going to be possible to bring her cat back with her over the summer and decided to come back during the winter time to collect him and with hope Latvian citizenship. Finally discussion is really underway of allowing dual citizenship. I was lucky, when Latvija first regained independence there was a short time span where people could gain citizenship without giving up another one, IE American citizenship in my case. So Kaija made her trek home minus the cat but with everything else. I am pretty excited about all of what she has accomplished this year. But sadly her cat did not survive. The day after she left, he decided that enough was enough and passed away among the bushes. It was a sad moment and very unfortunate. But at least he was in my yard and not in the airplane.
After that the summer continued to become calmer and quieter. I went to dinner at a few colleagues houses and started to say the "see you next summers" to all of them.
I got news of a distant relatives mother who passed away too. So being the only Aivars in Latvija I went and represented the entire family. Open caskets are not my favorite thing, but I was glad that I went as was the family.
I applied to a masters program. Its a one year intense program. Masters of Arts in Teaching and Learning with Technology. I am pretty excited about it. It has been in the plans for a long time now and since I am living in Kuwait with not much else to do, I will work my little tail feathers off this year and get a masters degree.
Went to a Lady Gaga concert in Latvija. Yup she made the trip up north and was stopping in each of the Baltic states if i remember correctly. Goodness does that girl put on a good show. Sadly a lot of people in Latvia are far more taller than I am and there for I didn't see much, but a small group of Latvian men pushed me forward to try and get me to a better spot. In the end I did end up seeing the show a little better. We were quite far back, but that didn't matter cause the music was great and I even got some good videos and pictures. Will have to upload those at some point.
Finally My cat and I made the journey back to Kuwait. The flight was pretty uneventful. 3 hours from Latvija to Istanbul and then another 3 hours to Kuwait. Its weird being back but at the same time it will be good to get back into a routine. The only downer is is that my SIM card for Kuwait doesn't seem to want to work, so I will have to see what I can do about that. Otherwise nothing much has changed here. A few more paved roads and building continues to happen all around our apartments.
And I think that is really all that has happened
Friday, July 27, 2012
Back home in Latvija
Sometimes when flight leaves as late as 1:00am its a good thing because you can get on the plane and just fall asleep. Well that was not the case for me this time. Not sure why but I did a little bit of reading, played a few games, slept for maybe 1 hour. Knowing that we were getting in at 6:00am i figured that I would just sleep at home when we get there.
Got home, unpacked a little, attacked the cats with love, and settled down to sleep. But once again I could not get to sleep, so I continued to unpack and catch up on missed e mails. Since we had turned off the water heater while gone we had to wait quite a while for the water to heat up again.
It was quite the long day, my mid afternoon I grabbed my laptop, started to watch Hell's kitchen and finally was able to catch a few zzz's. Being home really does feel good. This was a hard day though. at 9:30 I had had enough and gave in.
Over all, I still love Spain and Barcelona is still my top favorite city. Still not sure what it is that draws me to the city, maybe its the constant movement of people, the internationality, the beautiful architecture. I don't know but I advise all of you to get on a plane at some point and visit this pretty city.
Got home, unpacked a little, attacked the cats with love, and settled down to sleep. But once again I could not get to sleep, so I continued to unpack and catch up on missed e mails. Since we had turned off the water heater while gone we had to wait quite a while for the water to heat up again.
It was quite the long day, my mid afternoon I grabbed my laptop, started to watch Hell's kitchen and finally was able to catch a few zzz's. Being home really does feel good. This was a hard day though. at 9:30 I had had enough and gave in.
Over all, I still love Spain and Barcelona is still my top favorite city. Still not sure what it is that draws me to the city, maybe its the constant movement of people, the internationality, the beautiful architecture. I don't know but I advise all of you to get on a plane at some point and visit this pretty city.
Day 17: Madrid
Well rested we packed up our suitcases one final time. We decided that the smartest part would be to bring them to the train station to lock them up in a locker for the day. The hostel was going to charge us per bag to be held for the day (like I said, not recommending this place to friends). From the train station we would be able to catch a quick train to the airport for our 1:00am fight.
We made our way back to the center to find some breakfast and to continue wandering around and checking out the last few things that we wanted to see. We wandered through a few stores because we had time for it and finally made our way to some tourist attractions and finally making our way to a park were we decided to relax for a bit and enjoy one last sangria. Gosh sangria is amazing! Just having a laid back day to wander where we wanted to and to not be rushed was nice. We had a few key places we wanted to see but nothing too big. After all it was Monday and a lot of places are closed on Mondays. But thats ok. By the end of the day we had made it to a small park where there was a statue of Sancho Panza and Don Quixote. There we spotted an advertisement for Indian food that seemed to fit our price range possibly and we were in the area. Though upon arriving there it was still closed, but we were hopeful and thought that maybe they would be open for 8. So we found a restaurant in the area, the same one we had found in Algeciras where we liked the drinks, and had a drink there. Well upon returning to the restaurant we finally noticed that on their door they too were closed for Monday. Oh well! So we wandered back to the touristy area and finally settled for an all you can eat buffet that was decent. By this time we were now fed and ready to just make our way to the airport.
Another great trip comes to the end.
We made our way back to the center to find some breakfast and to continue wandering around and checking out the last few things that we wanted to see. We wandered through a few stores because we had time for it and finally made our way to some tourist attractions and finally making our way to a park were we decided to relax for a bit and enjoy one last sangria. Gosh sangria is amazing! Just having a laid back day to wander where we wanted to and to not be rushed was nice. We had a few key places we wanted to see but nothing too big. After all it was Monday and a lot of places are closed on Mondays. But thats ok. By the end of the day we had made it to a small park where there was a statue of Sancho Panza and Don Quixote. There we spotted an advertisement for Indian food that seemed to fit our price range possibly and we were in the area. Though upon arriving there it was still closed, but we were hopeful and thought that maybe they would be open for 8. So we found a restaurant in the area, the same one we had found in Algeciras where we liked the drinks, and had a drink there. Well upon returning to the restaurant we finally noticed that on their door they too were closed for Monday. Oh well! So we wandered back to the touristy area and finally settled for an all you can eat buffet that was decent. By this time we were now fed and ready to just make our way to the airport.
Another great trip comes to the end.
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