School’s Out for the Summer!

Greetings from the Middle East! Wait, you ask, why aren’t you still teaching in Central Asia?

Due to circumstances and events in the city, we let out school yet another week early. So April 30 was our last teaching day. A few (mostly the engaged ones with fiancées back home) left for the US as soon as they could earlier this week. The rest of us staggered our flights out of the country and opted to not pay extra to change our transatlantic flights yet again. Instead, we found places nearby to stay and have adventures while we decompress and debrief the year. I decided to visit a grad school friend in the Persian Gulf.

Before I tell you about Bahrain, I’ll let you know that I’ll be mentally/emotionally processing the end of the school year in Central Asia for a while. Probably bits and pieces will come out in my conversations, speaking opportunities, journaling, blogging, and  newsletter writing.  It was a crazy time period for us at our school. Between some crazy events in the city, life went on in our school. We hosted a school of children in poverty for our “Week Without Walls,” (aka WWW) where our secondary students taught the kids fun science, English, and other lessons day-camp style, and everyone who attends/works at the school contributed to a mural (pictured). Our soccer team competed in Turkey and had a great time (and brought us back Krispy Kremes).

My algebra class was struggling with both grades and behavior, but thanks to some helpful lesson plan intervention from the science teacher (who is also our mentor teacher and currently interim principal), the last few weeks of class were fantastic. I was able to finish strong with all my classes, even with the shortened schedule. That was such a huge blessing! Especially since I’ll have the 9^th graders again next year for geometry. I’ll also have regular 7^th & 8^th grade math classes, 7^th/8^th grade math foundations, and 8^th grade American history. I’m really excited for that last one because I haven’t taught history since student teaching in grad school, and I don’t want to forget how. I’m very excited for next year!

So anyway, back to the Persian Gulf…  It is lovely here.  The weather is warm and muggy but not unbearable. Where I’m staying is an interesting mix of Middle Eastern and Western culture, with centuries-old fortresses and a spaceship-shaped Starbucks. I’m excited to explore more!

With that, I’ll leave you all to your summers. What’s that? It’s not summer in the States yet? Well, as difficult as it was to end the school year early, I won’t complain about having some extra weeks since I’ll be returning to Central Asia in early-mid August (which means I’ll miss the Scandinavian Festival and our family reunion again, bummer!). And I’ll enjoy having more time to visit all of you. Take care! And I’ll see you soon, America! (aka “Amrika” in my part of the world- love it!)