Parent Teacher Conferences, School, Thanksgiving and Birthday

So today, Thanksgiving day in the States and my little brother's birthday (shout out to Josh! You're growing up so fast!!!), I am sitting at school having parent teacher conferences. In Bahrain, the parent teacher conferences are simply a school day without students. You come and sit in your classroom for the whole day and as parents come and go you talk to them about their students. I'm actually not nervous because of the great experience I had last year at Westside. I had some great direction from Patrick and Kim! I did the same thing as last year and made a list of tips for EARNING an "A" in my classes. I hope that the students actually take it to heart and start trying.

Of course just like the states, it's the students with the best grades in class whose parents show up. Then I have had a couple of the other extreme (failing students) whose parents have showed up. I explain everything I have done to try and help their students and I gave them my tips but I'm really curious to see if things are actually going to change. I'm just happy that none of the parents have tried to pin their student's grades on to me as their teacher. I can defend every grade I submitted, so I'm not worried; I was just told that this situation could happen. We will see how the rest of the day goes!

When I am not talking to a parent I am grading my tests from the past week. I almost want to cry. I have only had five students pass and I have almost corrected 50 tests. It is simply disheartening. I have no clue what else to do. I lectured, had them watch videos that retaught the concepts, gave them a study guide, posted the notes on the website, gave them in class time to study... I simply feel like I am running out of options to try and help them. A teacher can only do so much to aid students in their studies. If I could inject the information into their brain I would but it takes time and it's a hard subject to learn. Most of them don't understand that they have to do work outside of class to really know everything really well. I don't feel like there is enough time in class to teach them AND help them apply the knowledge. We have so much stress to "finish the book" and stay with the yearly lesson plan that I have to rush through each chapter. I thought this time I had timed it right though; I thought I gave them a diverse set of materials to be successful, I posted items on the website early... and now, this is their worst test yet. I feel like I'm running out of options and I just don't know how to help them. Students can't stay after school because of the bus, during lunch they only have 20 minutes to eat, before school they aren't allowed in the building... I just have no clue how to help them. I have no clue what other methods I can try. I'm feel like a terrible teacher in the moment yet, many my students say I'm doing a great job and that when I explain things to them they actually understand it.

Well, that was my venting session for the day. Hopefully I can evaluate my teaching currently and look for tips from other teachers in the building. I simply want my students to feel like they can learn the material and at the same time, I don't want to take out ALL the details and only teach the big picture. We will see what happens!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I am missing you all today and wish me luck for the rest of conferences!

Happy birthday bro :)

Rain in Bahrain!

So an amazing event happened two days ago! On November 20, 2012 it rained in Bahrain! By rain, I do not mean some small feat either, it was actually POURING! The rain started to fall the previous night, I was upstairs in the gym running and suddenly my roommate Tricia and two other teachers come barging into the gym exclaiming that it was raining! I jumped off the treadmill and stepped outside to fell small droplets begin to fall. It was a small sprinkle at the time but, those few little drops felt more refreshing than rain ever has. Other teachers came to join us as well... we even took pictures! I was told that last year it only rained ONCE the ENTIRE year, this was a moment in Bahrain history for me.
The next morning, as I looked out the window, the rain clouds were still heavy in the sky. As I walked outside I realized that is was STILL RAINING :) Super happy! We packed into the car to drive to school and as we were pulling out, it started to pour! I mean, a really good rain. One that if you are out in it for thee minutes, maybe even one, you are soaked from head to toe. This torrential down pour continued for about 10 minutes and then it was over; but in the process, the streets were literally flooded. There was at least three inches of water running down all the streets around the school. The dirt lost where we normally part had a miniature lake in it. A guy ran through it and the water came up past his ankles. I guess the saying holds true in Bahrain... when it rains it pours.
As I stepped out of the car, it was still pouring and since I was already wet, I decided to make the best of it. I stepped into the school courtyard and started dancing :) I splashed in the puddles and twirled around... some of my students even said they saw me dancing in the rain. I don't think I will ever grow up... and I'm perfectly fine with that!

The Beach and the Passport

So, I am writing today after my week has calmed down some. We have a three day weekend this week so I'm sure tomorrow will be crazy with the students BUT overall, things are going well... very well... in comparison to two days ago; and so my story begins.

On Friday night, Jodi, Tricia, Cathy and I decided to go night swimming at the beach I mentioned previously, Al Jazayir. We went out around 10 pm after we went out for Mexican. I personally do not like night swimming, it makes me nervous because that's when all the big fish come out. As I am walking into the water, my legs start tingling. It's a slight burning feeling and I wasn't quite sure why. Suddenly, we realized that when we moved in the water, it glowed. In Bahrain, there is bioluminescence in the water! Although this is a really cool thing, all I could think about was how the dinoflagelletes causing this phenomenon, are toxic. These are the same creatures that cause red tide. This is the only thing I can attribute to the burning sensation on my skin ha ha. I actually got out of the water for a little bit and then, after being coaxed by my friends, I decided to walk back into the light show. Although my friends were only 500 feet ahead, I could not see them at all. The cover over the water was so thick! I literally had to follow their voices until I could see them. As I walked into the water a second time, I have to admit, it was very neat to watch the water around my feet and legs glow green briefly. I stood there and just swished my hands around some. It was as if glowing green and blue confetti was flying off my arms and into the water as I moved. It also amazed me how quickly the organisms would stop glowing green. You could pick up a handful of water with some green and then 3 seconds later it would just look normal. It really was a cool experience and one that I did not think I would ever see. I have added a link to a youtube video showing an EXTREME case of bioluminescence if you have no clue what I am talking about :)   (click on this ^)
Here is another link that explains red tide and why it is caused a little more!

Another amazing thing about going to the beach at night is that you can actually see the stars. In Juffair, you can see ten stars on a good night. Then, you drive 25 minutes to the beach and you can see so many! I could see more stars than I can on any given night in Omaha. It was so beautiful. Here I am, during the second week of November, in a swim suit, in the ocean, in bioluminescent water, staring into the night sky with hundreds of stars that I have not gazed upon in quite some time. It was a splendid night. As we left the beach, none of us could stop raving about all the events of the evening. Life was good.

The next day, I was working on finishing my lessons for school this week. I took my flash to the print shop to have tests printed and as I went to pay, I realized that I did not have my wallet/passport holder. Remembering that I had placed it in the bag I took to the beach the previous night, I walked home to find the missing item. As I looked through my room and searched in my apartment and through the car and in other people's rooms, I came to the realization that this VERY IMPORTANT factor of my life was missing. Not only did it have my money, the holder also contained my passport (which I need to go to Dubai), my bank and, my driver's license (the whole reason I took it with), my CPR card and my health insurance card... so it was a little imperative that I find it immediately. I drove back to the beach and searched where we were, not there. Checked at the cold store at the beach, not there. The security officer there gave me the number to the trash company and to the police. My friend Jodi (who is way more patient with accents than I am) called the police and the trash company so the search could begin. The trash company said they would look through their trash and the police said they would meet us at the beach. When they arrived, they looked around where I had already looked and then asked if I could follow them to their station so I could fill out a report. We followed them to the police station; I received a crazed look because I had waited so long to fill out the report (less than 24 hours). Once the report was final I had to cancel my bank card, just in case someone used it and then the next day I would have to go to ANOTHER police station to have a card made that pretty much said I had lost everything and please replace it for me. Later that night, after returning home, Jodi called me and told me to jump on my computer and write to the US Embassy because there was a waiting list of FOUR WEEKS to even meet with Embassy to talk about replacing my passport... not very helpful for my trip in 10 days. So, I sent the email and made the game plan for the next day.

Next day, second period of my day... my phone is ringing so I answer and all I can comprehend is that the person on the other side of the line is saying passport, found and cold store... WHAT! I handed the phone off to my Vice Principal to see if she could speak to him in Arabic, she handed the phone off to our supply guy because I guess he was speaking Indian (I can't tell the difference).  Through a couple minutes of translation, what I thought I heard was revealed to be true! The trash company had sorted through all the trash and had found my passport cover with EVERYTHING still inside, including my money! (This is one thing that would NEVER EVER EVER happen in America, thank yo Bahrain). The trash company then brought my passport back to the cold store at the beach. The security officer there found the receipt for our car rental, called the rental company, asked for my number and then he called to tell me the good news.  I was so happy I ran around to all the girls' rooms that went swimming and told them it was found. I even interrupted their classes, which I normally hate doing. I was beaming with happiness, I was jumping and dancing and I almost hugged our supply guy when he told me the news.

After school, I drove back out to the beach and picked up my passport and holder :) Along the way, the day simply become better. There were clouds in the sky (this doesn't happen here) and the sun was setting as I drove. It was so beautiful seeing the big, bright orange sun peek through the skyline and reflect off the millions of windows on the buildings. Then, with the palm trees along the road... I just couldn't grasp that this is my life now. This where I live. It was so incredibly beautiful. Once at the beach, I stood gazing out to the ocean, with the sky embracing the orange and pink, the date trees slightly moving with the breeze and the water gently flowing; I felt like I was looking into a picture and then I felt like I become a part of that picture. It that very moment, all the pieces of my life seemed to fit in just to right spot, the world seemed a little brighter and I was in a blissful moment of happiness. After soaking it all in for what seemed like enough time,I walked back to the car and drove away, blaring the music, rolling with the windows down, the breeze through my hair and stuck in a moment of pure enjoyment. It was a wonderful day.