Courage is grace under pressure.

It is strange how short work weeks can seem long or longer than a normal work week. It makes me a little bit wary about how I am going to feel at the end of next Thursday! We had a three day week after the Eid holiday and it looks like no days off until Thanksgiving. Bring it on kindergarten, bring it on. Or maybe I should be careful what I wish for! They do keep me on my toes my little kindergarteners. I said it before and I will say it again- more often than not I find that lessons that I think of spur of the moment go better than the ones I planned. I constantly feed off what the students give me and learn to go from there. Sometimes the language the kids use when they answer a question I ask them triggers a whole discussion or gives me ideas for something I want to focus on next. I have to go at a pace that works for them, and of course make sure I still challenge them.

Last Friday I went with a big group to a brunch at the Marriott hotel. Let me first just say how completely different brunch is compared to brunches at home! No eggs or omelettes at all which was a little disappointing. Maybe they should just call it linner because there was definitely more lunch foods compared to breakfast. Although I did hit up the crepes and waffle maker a few times. The food was unbelievable. They had every food you could think of! Chicken, ribs, a sushi bar, pasta, Indian food, quesadillas, guacamole, seafood, pizza, desserts galore- you name it, they probably had it. We got there around 12:30 and were there until around 4ish. A lot of people were planning to meet up at other places afterwards and then go to the Irish Harp at the Sheraton later... I needed a break! Eating and drinking off and on for almost four hours... and yet there were moments where I was so disgustingly full that I was still thinking "hmm well those quesadillas were really good... maybe I will just get one more waffle with ice cream..." I love food. I may be a picky eater but I have no problem shoveling down lots and lots of food! I got to have mashed potatoes at brunch. That was the first time I have had them since my dinner the night before I left for Qatar! It truly is the little things in life. Brunch is a little pricy. Not something I plan on doing every weekend, but definitely a nice treat every now and then. As Tom Haverford would say- treat yo self!

Marriott. Sweet Marriott. 

Palm trees are everywhere at the hotels. 

They had these fans all over in the lounge areas to keep you cool. Maybe I have just
been watching  too much Doctor Who but they totally looked like they could've been a villain
on the show. Exterminaaaaate!

After we got back home and I laid in bed digesting the ridiculous amounts of food I consumed I decided I wanted to go out and do something. So later that night my roommate and I went to the Katara Cultural Village (the name makes me think of Avatar every time!) because they were having fireworks a few nights to celebrate the Eid holiday. We got there just in time because the fireworks started earlier- they said they were starting at 9:30! Afterwards was the coolest part- we saw this shadow show where people made different shapes and designs with their bodies. They could spell out words, they made a car, a dragon, and acted out different scenes from Aladdin- I was in awe! And it gave me a craving to watch Aladdin which sadly is not one of the Disney movies on Netflix. We also found Burgeri aka the first ever food truck in Qatar! I read some articles about it and then was so excited when we got out of the cab and there it was right in front of us. I got cheese fries and they were delicious. We wandered around Katara for a few hours and it is really beautiful there. I know that there is still so much more that I did not get the chance to see. But it was late and my feet were throbbing from all of the walking. Guess that means I will have to go back!

Shadow show! Seriously impressive stuff. 

Shadows were the theme of the night for us! We started talking to this guy who has been doing photography for 7 years. His instagram is elfar3on you should check him out! And we probably talked to him for almost an hour and he took some cool photos of us. This one is one of my favorites! I am the bottom part if you can't tell. 

My school week went pretty well. I got one new student. I am still expecting a few more and hope the rest of my teacup humans arrive next week! I really do love my class I think they are such a great group. Part of it is because I love the fact that unlike subbing, I have the same kids every day. I just do my best to keep it as interactive and engaging for them as possible. I am happy because I finally got my word wall up. Probably a good thing since I introduced 2 sight words this week. I also want to put their names on the word wall too. I made these little index cards and put a little photo of each child on them. This way they know how to write their friends' names. Yesterday and today we were talking about sorting in math. It was a big moment for them because for the first time ever I let them use my Activboard! I found a website where it showed different objects and the students had to sort them into these 3 boxes by color- red, green, or blue. They were so unbelievably excited that they got to use the Activboard that I am constantly reminding them not to touch. Mainly I tell them not to touch it when I am playing music because if they do it pauses it. And they got really into it. I need to make sure I keep making different flipcharts and using the Activboard as much as I can. Not only does it save paper but they love when we do stuff on there. However they do also like to make shadow puppets sometimes on the screen from the projector!

My super colorful word wall! You have to get a little creative when it comes
to hanging things up because we aren't allowed to put anything on the walls. 

One of my goals for the week was to work on something with my kids to hang up on display in the hallway. I finally found one I really liked! We have been talking about apples this week and Johnny Appleseed- they love this Youtube video I found that is this short animated video that talks about Johnny Appleseed and who he was. So for a little art activity I had them make apple trees with their handprints and they made the apples with their fingerprints. I am so thankful for Pinterest and all the ideas you can find on there! I had them make the apple trees with a combination of construction paper for the trunk, and then the actual tree part was with their handprints... with paint. I was a little nervous about this because of the mess and I didn't want there to be massive chaos in my room. I borrowed green paint from the art teacher and she practically snorted when I explained what I was doing and went "You're brave." All in all it went really well. I definitely would not have been able to do it without my TA Iolinda. We each sat with the kids at one table and did it one child at a time. I found the best way was to actually paint their hands directly with a paintbrush (I was determined to have as much control over the situation as possible!). "Miss Kellie that tickles!" "Miss Kellie that is kind of cold!" And they turned out so cute. I am so excited to get them hanging up in the hallway before Back to School Night. I will have to post the finished bulletin board on here!

The finished product! On the apple in the middle of the trunk it reads: Cute little apples hanging from my tree. I made them with my fingerprints; they're a special part of me. The 10th one will be the last, listen now and I'll count them fast! 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10." Much thanks to teachwithme.com for the idea!

Overall I definitely feel better than my first week. I felt like I was struggling to keep my head above water. It can be so hectic because there is just so much to take in. Not that I don't still feel that way sometimes. It is a lot to process and balance but you just learn to make it work. I have my ups and downs. It was a little rough for me being away from home for my sister's 15th birthday. Probably because it was the first one out of the family I was missing. But I had a great Skype chat with my mom and I finally got my birthday box filled with all kinds of goodies! Hooray!

I felt like I was reenacting the movie Seven as I stared at the box on the bus ride home. "What's in the box!? What's in the box?!" 

This entry probably isn't as thrilling as the last one with all the dune bashing so my apologies. I can't wait during some breaks in the future to travel to some places and see more of the world. I really want to go to Dubai. Gotta fill that passport with stamps! Although there are still some parts of Qatar outside of Doha that I want to explore. I have heard that out west in Zekreet is another great camping area and stone buildings to see. Al Khor Al Udayd looks beautiful from pictures- it is an inlet of the Persian Gulf and the water looks so unbelievably blue. Plus that would be another opportunity to do dune bashing again and reunite with the camels. Stay tuned for an update next week!