In diversity there is beauty and there is strength.

Another week has gone by! An eventful one too. Wednesday was United Nations Day at the school (technically it is the 24th but that would be the weekend) and it was an incredible day. I was so excited to see all the kids in their costumes representing colors from their countries. My class did not disappoint! I have kids in my class from the United States, Canada, Indonesia, Poland, Palestine, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar, Germany, Australia, Nepal, and El Salvador. At last I finally took down my sailboat bulletin board and made it KG2D Around the World. I took a picture of each child in my class holding a picture of the flag of their country.

I figured their faces were far enough away that I could share this picture. I love how this turned out. A big thank you to my TA Iolinda for setting it up for me! 

Me representing the USA and Iolinda representing Mozambique! 

UN Day is a day I won't forget. It was amazing seeing everyone dressed up representing their countries. The pride and excitement they had as they talked about where they were from and showed off their outfit. The kids' faces just lit up. They were all just so excited to share a part about themselves and their culture. All day I related my lessons to the different countries. We went through a slide show of pictures that showed how students from various countries get to school. We watched a video and sang a song about how to say hello in different languages. They loved Guten Tag and Konnichiwa best. We talked about some of the different countries our friends were from and drew pictures of the flags of our countries.

They loved when I took them to the front of the school/lobby area to look at the different tables that were set up. The parents are fantastic at this school. They organized everything and it all went very well. Each table had a different country where they had food dishes, some had arts and crafts, music was playing, pictures, and so much for the kids to see. It was almost sensory overload at times but the kids absolutely loved it. And I am proud of how well behaved my class was. They had a rough day yesterday and had some of their recess time taken away twice. They got a bad report from gym and I just had problems all day with them listening to me. Today I gave them a firm lecture before we walked down the hall and informed them to be on their best behavior, otherwise they would miss out on the fun and would sit in the classroom with my TA. I am pretty sure that when we walked down the hall that it was the quietest line I have had all month!! They listened to me and stayed together as a group. No one wandered off (I was constantly doing a head count as we made our way around!) and we slowly strolled around and went from table to table to hear about the different countries (and get free food). They were excited when we got to the table that was their home country. They all really seemed to enjoy it. Even the boy who threw up. He was fine- I think he just overindulged in the ice cream and other treats that were available because he was running around at recess later on!

One of my coworkers posted these on Facebook and I had to share. Turkey!! One of my parents got me a whole plate filled with Turkish food (including the Red Lentil Kofte dish she made me before!) and it was so good. 

Yummy Turkish food! I feel like I am always eating. My TA took some pictures of me when we were walking around from table to table and in almost every single picture I am shoveling food into my mouth. Everything was so good! My family won't recognize me the next time they see me because I will be enormous and they will have to roll me around to get me from place to place.

Oh hello there Qatar. 

Tunisia! Funny story- only some of my kids got some of those balloons as little souvenirs. Right after we went to the lobby area my kids went right to art. For the art teacher's sake I collected all their balloons and the flags they gave out at another table and took them back in the room. I promptly told my TA that we needed to make these balloons disappear ASAP because I couldn't remember who got a balloon and who didn't. I didn't want them fighting over them. I don't like the sound of balloons popping so I hid them in the cabinet in my room and then put them in the trash later after the kids left for the day. Then when maintenance came around later and I left my room there were balloons in the hallway and some in his bigger trash bag (I guess some of them fell out?). He gave me the strangest look when I left and I laughed and apologized for the balloons. 

South Africa! They gave out bracelets to the kids made out of colored pasta. 

I just love the attitude of kindergarteners. They are accepting and kind and positive and so many other wonderful things. It sounds cheesy and you can roll your eyes but some days I think I learn more from them. My TA took some pictures of my kids on the playground at recess time and I really wish I could share my favorite one on here. It is a picture of 4 of my kids standing together holding hands. At first I didn't even realize they were holding hands I thought it was just a group shot and thought "oh that's a nice picture they're all looking the same way." And when I looked at it again and noticed they were holding hands it just melted my heart into a pile of mush. It just makes me want to freeze time so they don't grow up and just stay that sweet and kind and loving.

This week I started this website called Class Dojo and it is a great way to stay connected with parents. Basically it works like a classroom Facebook page. You can use it for attendance or for behavior management, but I am only using it to upload pictures onto our classroom wall or classroom story. I like using the pictures to show the parents what is going on in our classroom to keep them in the loop. It's a great resource and I highly recommend it!

We got our ID badges today and now I feel even more GEMS official! And in traveling news... in November I will be doing my first journey outside of Qatar! I bought my plane ticket for Thanksgiving for... wait for it... Bahrain! Probably not the country you expected right? It is a little island not too far off the peninsula of Qatar. Seriously it is super close the whole flight is about 50 minutes. I am still reading up about it but from what I have heard Bahrain has some beaches and water parks. Who would've thought I would be spending Thanksgiving on a beach or going down a water slide? Bahrain also has a lot of history and it sounds like the Bahrain National Museum is definitely worth visiting. The Al-Fatih Grand Mosque is one of the biggest mosques in the region. There is also the Saudi Causeway Restaurant Tower where the only land border Bahrain has with Saudi Arabia is these bridges that are 25 km long and the view from the restaurant is incredible. I will be sharing lots of pictures on here with you! And I bought my plane ticket for the holidays in December to come home. I plan to see as many people as I can those 10 days I am in Jersey!

I wonder if they think my middle name is MC? Yes. Kellie MC Hammer McCreery. 

Here's a map for the geographically challenged. I honestly did not know much
about Bahrain (and am still learning lots) until I moved here to Qatar!

Another week down and a 3 day teaching week next week due to parent teacher conferences. November is right around the corner I cannot believe it! And I will just leave this note here that I got from one of my students as a belated teacher appreciation gift because it made me smile:

A picture of me, him, and a snowman. Sounds like a good combo to me!