Traveling solo does not always mean you’re alone. Most often, you meet marvelous people along the way and make connections that last a lifetime.

Wow what an incredible week in Germany! Germany was always one of those countries in the back of my mind in Europe that I wanted to see but I didn't think it would happen so fast! I was fortunate enough to go to Munich and Berlin for a week and had some hilarious and awesome adventures along the way. I got pretty well acquainted with the 2 cities. 149,928 steps and 59.81 miles according to my Fitbit! I was a little nervous at first about the idea of traveling on my own, but I wouldn't change a thing. When you travel on your own you learn a lot about yourself, and meet really cool people along the way.

The day that I left for Munich was a little nerve wracking. I was flying out the same day the attack on Istanbul's airport Ataturk Airport, and I had a stop in Istanbul. It was not through that airport but a smaller airport in Istanbul called Sabiha Gokcen International Airport. Fortunately my flight was not cancelled (all flights at Ataturk were). Needless to say my family was pretty concerned and wanted many updates. They were hoping they could reroute my flight (I kind of wanted this too) but I kept the same flight. It really is such a shame there is such violence and conflict in Turkey because from what I saw from my airplane window, Istanbul is a beautiful. The whole world could do with less hate and a whole lot of love am I right?

I am happy to say that after nearly 10 hours of traveling, I made it to Munich! And it was beautiful. I was overwhelmed and so happy to see all the rolling hills and an unbelievable amount of green... everywhere. My first mission when I got there was to find where I was staying. I chose to stay at Airbnbs in Munich and Berlin. Airbnb is a website that allows people to list, find, and rent housing from all over the world. Now you are probably thinking "But Kellie... you were traveling on your own, is that really the best idea? This sounds like the beginning of a Criminal Minds episode..." Trust me I was very judgmental when I was browsing through page after page of potential houses and apartments! The whole process of registering with an account on Airbnb has its difficulties too. You need to provide a scanned copy of a government issued ID such as a driving license or passport. It took me a few times because it is very nitpicky over whether your scanned copy was clear or not. When choosing my housing for Munich and Berlin I purposely picked places where I was only renting the room and the families were still at their house. This way I wasn't completely alone at the house and if I had any questions about the area then I could just ask whoever I was staying with. My advice if you are ever planning to use Airbnb? Do your research. Make sure you pick someone that has a lot of reviews. For both places I picked I also got a notification that said it was rare that this housing accommodation was available because they were usually booked. So I trusted my gut and went for it and was happy with both choices!

Hello Munich! You're looking beautiful!

Some views from around Hermannplatz, which is where I stayed in Berlin.

Right across the street from my Airbnb. Yay colors!

 The first day I got to Munich I knew I wanted to go to the BMW Museum. Trip Advisor as well as many other lists suggested that the BMW Museum should be one of your stops. So I played tourist, checked it out and it was pretty cool. The first thing you see is these silver beads floating in the air on strings that are constantly moving. It took me a few minutes to realize (and someone else pointed it out) that they were moving to create the different outlines of different cars! It was cool to see all the different vehicles BMW has created over the years.

Vroom vroom!

One of my favorites. Love the artwork!

This was really cool. This has all the labels from every BMW ever made. It was hard to get them all in one shot!

After I finished exploring the BMW museum, I still didn't feel like going back home. I wanted to explore some more! So I helped myself to a soft pretzel (the first of many!) and went through a little place called Olympiapark. It was beautiful! I think living in Doha AKA tan city just makes me appreciate color even more and makes it extra special when I visit beautiful parks. Sri Lanka took my breath away and Germany definitely did too. Olympiapark was built for the 1972 Olympics and it is absolutely gorgeous. And it had grass! And the grass was real! I literally laid in the grass for... at least a half hour. And I wasn't the only one. You look around and see other people sleeping in the grass, people taking their dogs for walks, people jogging and biking, and people just strolling and loving the view. I was a little anxious that day about tackling this big city all by myself, but relaxing in this park chilled me out.

A picture I took while laying on the grass. Such a beautiful blue sky! With lots of white fluffy clouds.

Olympic Tower

My goal was to climb to the top of the hill. Challenge accepted and completed! Words of caution: watch where you are walking because I nearly got run down by bikers at least 3 times.

View from the top! My company at the top included dogs, couples, and bikers.

Wandering back down the hill. I spent about 3-4 hours just getting lost and exploring this park. It's so beautiful.

The sun stays out so late during the summer! Way nicer than the sun setting around 6:30 in Doha.

Day 2 involved me taking a free walking tour of Munich through a company called SANDEMANs. I cannot recommend them enough I did walking tours with them in both Munich and Berlin and they were fantastic. They offer free walking tours in 18 cities: Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Brussels, Copenhagen, Dublin, Edinburgh, Hamburg, Jerusalem, Lisbon, Liverpool, London, Madrid, Munich, New York, Paris, Prague, and Tel Aviv. If you are planning to go to any of these places and want to get to know the area, use them! Ben from Ireland was our tour guide for the walking tour of Munich and he was great. I also met a cool and fun group of guys and ended up hanging out with them for the rest of the day. The best thing about doing tours like this on your own? You meet other people traveling on their own! And you get to hear about their adventures, where they've been, and get even more ideas for places that you want to travel.

This was my Munich squad! We stopped here for lunch. Our tour guide recommended it and I tried pork knuckle- it was amazeballs. I attempted to blend in by putting my hair in braids. 

Mary's Column. This was the meeting point for our tour! I walked right past it and ended up doing a big circle around Marienplatz (the central square in the city center). Fortunately I found an English couple and was SO HAPPY to hear English and they pointed me in the right direction!

New Town Hall or Neues Rathaus. Funny enough it looks older than the Old Town Hall.

Old Town Hall.

The front and center of New Town Hall. In the middle of it you can watch the Glockenspiel. Every day at 11 AM and also 12 PM and 5PM in the summer it chimes and reenacts two stories. The first story is the marriage of Duke Wilhelm V (founder of Hofbrauhaus!) to Renata of Lorraine. The second story is the coopers' dance AKA the beer barrel dance.

One of the unluckiest buildings in Munich- the Opera House. This building has been burnt down 3 times! They did try to learn from the fire after the first time. They took in some preventative measures by installing in a kind of sprinkler system and had a bowl of water at the top to put the fire out. However another fire occurred in January... and the water supply was completely frozen. Their next idea? Make a human chain from a nearby pub to the Opera House. Then fill up huge mugs with beer to pass down the line to put onto the fire. As you can imagine... that plan didn't work out so well either... and the opera house burnt down.

Hofbrauhaus! A very famous and popular beer hall in Munich for tourists.

A very cool piece of history. This is Dodger's Alley. In Odeonsplatz near the side of one building, there was a memorial Hitler installed. When people passed by they were required to salute the Nazis. Not everyone was in favor of the Nazi party and they would 'dodge' that route and take a detour down this road instead, which is known as Dodger's Alley. However the Nazis were clever and caught onto this and questioned people on the street when they took this route. If you didn't come up with a good enough excuse then your name was taken and you were thrown into one of the concentration camps. But the people did it anyway! Stand up for what you believe in!

Before we went to the Englischer Garten we hit up St. Peter's Church. For 2 Euro you can walk up the 300+ stairs to the top and get this amazing view!

It was very easy to get my 10k steps each day on this trip!

New Town Hall from up top

 After the tour ended we ventured into the Englischer Garten. It is the largest urban public park, even bigger than Central Park in NYC! Ben warned us about this, but there is a part of the park where you can sunbathe nude. The people who actually partake in the nude sunbathing- not the people you want to see! We happened to see a 70+ year old man proudly walking/jogging/strutting around in his birthday suit. Scarring? Yes. Was it like a bad accident because it hurts to look but you just can't turn away? Yes! You have to give him props though for having that confidence. The only one... walking around naked in the park. And then to join a yoga/exercise class in the park later on! Otherwise, the English Garden was wonderful. We even got to see river surfers on the Eisbach (Isar River) which was so cool to see. Shoutout to Nick for all the recommendations of places to visit in Munich and Berlin!

The Chinese Tower or the Chinesischer Turm. I suppose we could've climbed the stairs to the top... but we chose to have some beer instead. Because that's what you do in Munich!

River surfing!

How can you not just want to skip and frolic through all of that!? Bonus: not a naked old man in sight.

Day 3 I took a day trip to Nuremberg. I didn't know much about it besides the fact that the Nuremberg Trials were held there. It was a fun day where I got to see lots of churches and some castles. I attached myself to a family from Manchester and they welcomed me with open arms. They've been coming to Germany for years so I picked their brains for places to check out. They knew way more German than me and were able to give me some helpful tips. The rules of escalators in London apply the same way in Munich and Berlin- stay to the right! Otherwise you will get someone behind you barking in your ear 'Entschuldigung!' as they zoom past you on the left. Some say it politely, others you can tell in their tone they are saying 'get out of my way before I run you down.' I had some of the best bratwurst in Nuremberg and enjoyed the sites.

Scale model of Nuremberg. Obviously we didn't get to all of it in one day but we covered a decent chunk of it!

The King's Gate. One of the main entrances to Nuremberg.

Part of the Nuremberg castle.

Cool but slightly morbid fountain. It's a shame Nuremberg's main fountain Schoner Brunnen was under construction because it is gorgeous!

One thing you learn reaaaal fast in Nuremberg- its NOT flat. Wear good walking shoes!

Old town hall in Nuremberg

Walking over to Zeppelinfield. This was the Nazi party rally grounds.

Congress Hall. It is inspired by the Colosseum. The building remains unfinished.

This is the main site in Zeppelinfield. This is where Hitler would stand and make his speeches on the platform.

And here's me being a typical tourist and getting my picture up there. Gasp! Bare shoulders! Clearly we aren't in Doha anymore.

And my last day in Munich was spent on a bike tour with a great company called Mike's Bike Tours (thanks for the recommendation Diana!!) to see the beautiful Neuschwanstein castle AKA the Disney castle. This is the day that I fell in love with bike tours and if I ever go to a country that has bike tours then I will do it! Biking in Germany is as popular as beer and ice cream. In other words, lots of people partake. Mike's Bike Tours is a fantastic company to tour with. All of their staff is extremely friendly and accommodating, very personable. During the second half of the tour, the rain hit. The sky was looking iffy for most of the day and it's a wonder it held off for as long as it did! Ponchos definitely came in handy. It was still an awesome day and I had a blast.

If you're concerned about the idea of doing a bike tour like I was at first- they go at a very slow and leisurely pace! The point is for you to take it easy and to take in everything around you.

Neuschwanstein Castle! Ain't she a beaut? This was built by Ludwig II who was obsessed with fairy tales. And he was a little cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs. His death remains a mystery... but there are plenty of theories out there!

My new residence!

Nice lake that we had the option of swimming in.

"Flying history!!" our tour guide Brad excitedly told us. Apparently this is one of the few that remain in operation. In the world. I think he said it was one of the Ju 52 Junkers... I could be wrong about the number though. See that sky? That'll come into play later!

Lunch time! Hello roasted pork and Bavarian pasta. And beer of course. That's my friend from Malaysia in the background.

One thing that I should have looked into a little more was how long this day tour to Neuschwanstein lasted. As we took the 2 hour bus ride towards the castle, our bus tour guide informed us we would get back to Munich around 7-7:30 PM. This is the part where my stomach clenched tightly and I had a minor panic attack. Why? My flight to Berlin was scheduled to leave at 9:30 that night! So I told myself that it would work out, I probably wouldn't need to be at the airport too early anyway since it was a domestic flight, just one city in Germany to the other! And even if I didn't make it in time for the flight there was probably another one going to Berlin shortly after that. And the memories for the day were worth it. We got back around 7-7:15 to the main train station and I booked it to the train and ran back to my Airbnb in Hermannplatz. I have never packed up so quickly in my life and amazingly did not leave anything behind. So I took the necessary bahns needed to get to the airport, trying to keep my calm, even though as I approach it's now getting to be almost 9:00 and I vaguely remember reading something when I checked in online that they would not be accepting baggage for the flight after 8:50. Then the bahn I was on decided halfway through the trip that it was NOT going to the airport and was instead going to Freising. So I had to get off and then get on the next train... finally I made it to the check in desk for Lufthansa and sure enough boarding for that flight is closed. The woman told me to wait in another line to see what they could do about getting me on another flight. I had to wait at least an hour in line because there was a flight from South Africa that was delayed and caused all kinds of delays and problems for people who had connecting flights. When it came to my turn I explained the situation. The woman informed me that the next flight to Berlin was leaving at 7 in the morning... for the lovely cost of 390 Euro. I laughed in her face to keep from crying. She told me to check out the train schedule because it might be cheaper and to make a decision about whether I was taking the train or plane because they were closing for the night in 10 minutes (it was almost 11 at night). In the end she was right and I ended up taking a train to Berlin for a much cheaper price! A cheaper price for a 6 hour train ride, which I passed out from exhaustion for the majority of it. Berlin here I come!

My first day in Berlin I spent doing some sight seeing. If you ever visit Berlin and are planning to use the bahn a lot and do sight seeing- get a welcome to Berlin card. It only cost a few extra Euro for the 4 day pass I got- and I saved money on all the tours I went on and got a nice touristy book about the different sites. My first stop was the TV tower/Berlin Fernsehturm. This is a great landmark in Berlin to help you figure out where to go and where you are... and is a great spot to just chill because it has free WiFi! Berlin is much more free WiFi friendly than Munich. From there I did some sight seeing at the Berlin Cathedral/Berliner Dom after my friend Nick recommended it. After I got to the Berlin Cathedral I realized how much of a tourist trap the TV tower was because I really liked the views from the Cathedral better. Ah well live and learn! Berlin is also where I fell in love with Bandy Brooks ice cream and ate currywurst.

Hey Berlin you look pretty good from up here!

Berlin Cathedral/Berliner Dom/Denkmalskirche

From the inside

View from the top! Only 7 Euro to check out the Berlin Cathedral- worth it!

TV Tower/Berliner Fernsehturm

Inside the cathedral. For 1 Euro of course I lit a candle!

I love seeing green in Germany!

Of course I had to sit and relax here for a bit. I think that's an art gallery in the background.

Not a bad view near Bandy Brooks while eating ice cream eh?

Currywurst! Sausage cut into pieces + ketchup + a sprinkle of curry powder = yum!

My next day in Berlin started with SANDEMANs walking tour with our guide Sam. He was hilarious, incredibly knowledgeable, entertaining, and a great storyteller. I learned a lot from him and loved that he threw in Game of Thrones and Star Wars references. One of the girls on my bike tour at Neuschwanstein was in Berlin before Munich so of course I picked her brain for what to do when I got to Berlin. She recommended Fat Tire Tours and I hit them up when I got there. They were easy to find because they were right by the TV Tower. I signed myself up for the evening food tour since I had the walking tour during the day. It was probably my favorite tour the entire time I was in Germany because we had a really good group for it. The bike ride started off at Museum Island where we made a toast (Fanta and other soft drinks for the young-ins) and then made our way to our first stop for falafel and other Middle Eastern food. We stopped at two other places- one with pork, beef, schnitzel, and that was very filling. We also got a history interlude and got to see some of the Berlin Wall. Then our last stop was dessert for some cake and coffee- yum! I think it was my favorite tour because I talked to almost, if not everyone, that was on the bike tour. It was all different families and couples... I was the only solo traveler in this group. It was so cool hearing everyone's stories about where they came from, where else they had traveled to, and where they were going after this. It was just a perfect end to the day. Never in a million years did I ever think I would be biking around different neighborhoods in Berlin and trying some of the most delicious foods from different restaurants in the area. Thank you Alex, you were a great tour guide (and easy on the eyes too)!

Brandenburg Gate! This was the meeting point of our tour. All the other buildings surrounding this are purposely meant to be boring because it is supposed to stand out and be the most memorable in the area.

...Until a man by the name of Michael Jackson stayed at this hotel. And as Sam hilariously put it "reenacted the Lion King and dangled his baby out the window of this hotel."

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. Our tour guide Sam says he does not like to take tour groups through it. He says he feels it is a private area that deserves respect. You are not allowed to stand on the blocks.

Time for a bit of shopping? Eh no thanks. There's enough malls in Doha!

Really cool wall of newspapers at the cafe we stopped at on a short break during our walking tour.

Some cool artwork that we saw during the walking tour. Right before we got to Checkpoint Charlie.

Julia I could totally see some of your artwork up here!

Part of the Berlin Wall. That's our tour guide Sam. He was awesome!

Fat Tire Tours rocks!

First stop. Hellooo falafel!

Om nom nom get in my belly!

A food tour without beer would be incomplete.

Did I mention that the day I did these tours was July 4? Thanks to the couple from Texas who let me keep this awesome headband! Sometimes during the tour I forgot I had it on and wondered why people were looking at me strangely...

Part of Alex's history interlude. Those poles represent where the Berlin Wall would stand.

What's the best way to get to West Berlin if you can't climb over it because of the barbed wire? Dig a tunnel of course! These marks represent that there is a tunnel underneath that runs from East Berlin to West Berlin.

Berlin Wall

These circles represent people who tried to escape from East Berlin. This one was unfortunately someone who did not make it past the east side. Fortunately after this I did see many circles on the west side of people who made it!

This is where I had some of the most delicious cheesecake! And coffee.

My bike's name was Agnes. I purposely picked her because I have a friend named Agnes! The bikes all had different names like Walter White. Agnes Keyser was a real person. Apparently she was the longtime mistress to Edward VII of the UK. Apparently she held a close bond with Edward VII compared to his other mistresses, and she was pretty well accepted in royal circles- including Edward's WIFE Alexandra of Denmark!

My last full day in Berlin was a little less cheerful but nonetheless something that I wanted to. I visited a concentration camp north of Berlin called Sachsenhausen. Here is where another one of my funny adventures started. I was leaving my Airbnb and heading to the bahn station where we were meeting in the Berlin city center to all take a train to go to Sachsenhausen. Literally right as the bahn was pulling up to the station- I got a nosebleed. I freaked out and ran to a nearby little snack stand and gestured with my hands and asked if she had any tissues and she threw some paper towels at me. Blood is all over my hands and it got on my shirt, I looked like a mess. I managed to make the bahn (I was short on time and needed to catch it in order to meet with my Sachsenhausen group on time). If you have blood on your hands and shirt- people are definitely going to stare at you on the bahn. Some nice guy handed me the rest of his tissues. I casually stood there pinching the bridge of my nose waiting for the nosebleed to stop. People asked me if I wanted or needed to sit down but I said no that it was ok. I just wanted to be as close to the exit as possible and get off and get to a bathroom or somewhere to clean myself up! Fortunately it wasn't too bad and I got off and found where our group was meeting. I asked my tour guide where I could get a new shirt real fast because I didn't want to be known on the tour as the girl with blood on her shirt. I quickly ducked into Uniqlo, got a tank top for 8 Euro and headed on my way to Sachsenhausen! Pretty cool store by the way, reminded me of H&M. If I wasn't in such a rush I would've shopped some more!

Ysanne was our tour guide and she was fantastic. She is very well spoken and filled the tour with lots of fascinating and heart breaking historical facts. Sachsenhausen is located in Oranienburg. It was mainly used for political prisoners and was not intended as a kill camp. This camp was the administrative center for many of the camps, and it was also the training center for the SS officers. You really get a feel for the camp right from the beginning when your guide has you walk from the train station to the entrance of the camp down the same path the prisoners took. It was set up right by a neighborhood. People knew what was happening. Can you imagine something so horrific happening right outside your backyard?

The entrance to the camp. This is where you would give your name and state your crime. One man told them that there must have been some kind of mistake because he didn't commit any crimes and didn't know what he was here for. He was then kicked and beaten bloody by SS officers for his response. When they asked him again he responded, "My crime is being a Jew."

The sign at the entrance of Sachsenhausen. It means 'work sets you free.' It appears at some of the entrances to other concentration camps as well.

Sachsenhausen

2 of the only original barracks in the camp

If prisoners stepped on the gravel in this neutral zone then they were shot on sight. One of the men who attempted many escape was Jimmy James who is known for 'The Great Escape.' He survived and visited Sachsenhausen later on in life. He gave some tours and shared some of his wartime experiences.

Inside one of the barracks. In parts of the barracks and an exhibit dedicated to the Jews, there is evidence of a fire. Ysanne informed us that in 1992, shortly after the Prime Minister of Israel visited, a group of Neo-Nazis set a fire that severely damaged one of the barracks. My tour guide Sam from the other day mentioned this and said how it was one of the most offensive things he had ever heard of. Not just offensive on Facebook or somewhere on social media, but personally offensive. And it is absolutely disgusting. How could a fellow human being burn a memorial to Jews from one of the most horrific events in our history? It makes me sick to think about it. Why can't people learn that love is always better and stronger than hate?

The clothes the prisoners wore. The triangles symbolize what you were imprisoned for. Red triangles = Communists, yellow triangles = Jews, Pink triangles = Homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses = Purple triangles

One thing that every single tour guide I had emphasized was how Germany is talking about and coming to terms with its past. They aren't just sweeping it under the rug and avoiding the subject. They are addressing it head on. The word for it is this (it's a long one): Vergangenheitsbewältigung. It basically sums up how they come to terms with their past, in regards to the Holocaust and the Nazis. It roughly translates to 'Overcoming the past.'

 After Sachsenhausen I spent the rest of my last full day in Berlin at Alexanderplatz. Alexanderplatz was one of my favorite spots to check out. And I also had ice cream from Bandy Brooks. Again. Their flavors are amazing! And for only 2 Euro for a cone how can you say no?

Alexanderplatz rules! Wish I had photoshop skills to take out that one pole blocking the sign!

Meet Ampelmann! This is the symbol they use for the pedestrian signals for crossing the street. I first saw it on my coworker's shirt before I even came to Germany and it reminded me of Breaking Bad and Heisenberg. Now I got to see him in person!

Really cool chalk artwork at Alexanderplatz

So basically I was the energizer bunny during my week in Germany. It was an amazing experience and I would not change a thing. I feel so privileged and fortunate that I got the chance to visit this beautiful country. I can only hope that I am fortunate enough to visit again and see other parts of it! Now I am back in Doha for a few more days until I fly home for the summer. Ramadan has ended and we are reaching the end of Eid al-Fitr, which is the festival/celebration after Ramadan has ended. For expats like me this means that the QDC is open again and we can eat and drink in public again! But all I really want is to go back to the US and see all my family and friends and hug them.

The main point of this entry is that this crazy American had a blast in Germany. And there's a silly story about these sweatpants. Feel free to ask me about it in person, I'm not sharing it on here =)

See you in September for details about year 2 in Doha! Have a great summer friends!

And there's a million things I haven't done. But just you wait, just you wait.

We are down to the final days friends! It is hard to believe that tomorrow is my last teaching day of my first year. Part of me is having trouble believing that this moment is finally here! I am so excited for my solo adventure in Germany and then flying back to the states in less than 3 weeks! I plan to devour many soft pretzels and cheesesteaks... and make myself a regular at Wawa. Hopefully to the point that they greet me like Norm in Cheers when I walk in the door.

Hoagiefest 2016 here I come!

June has been a very kind month to me. Exciting news- I live in Barwa City now! 2 of the accommodations my school provides are Barwa Commercial Avenue (BCA) and Barwa City. I used to live at BCA and just recently moved to Barwa City. It is fantastic. Ah the things you take for granted. Like seeing the color green and having grass. Each accommodation has its pros and cons. For me personally Barwa City is a much better fit. It has a more neighborly/community feel to it and you can actually walk around! You can walk around BCA too but your options are to do loops around the apartment complex or go past Ansar Gallery and get honked at the whole time. Plus instead of Ansar Gallery you get Lulu's for your grocery store, which let's be honest is much better. It is exciting to see brand names from home. Each building also has a gym on the ground floor. Just your basic machines and weights but that works for me! It's like having a little Planet Fitness here in the Middle East.

Check out that green! There's tennis courts and parks too!

A view of some of the buildings. C4 is mine. BOOM.

It was a funny adventure finding my building in the first place. There has to be at least 100 different buildings. When I drove around with my cab driver I did not have a clue where mine was. It was a hilarious conquest that involved me sticking my head out the window and asking random people outside "Do you know where C4 is?" I think we circled Barwa City a few times. It is huge! But eventually we did find it and Mohammad kindly helped me move all my stuff up into my apartment.

Check out that kitchen! The gas stove is my favorite.

I love these open compartments. It's nice to just grab a bowl or a pan right then and there when I need it.

My room! 2 twin beds. If any friends want to visit I have a place for you to stay! For my Game of Thrones friends: Why do the Lannisters have such big beds? They push two twins together to make a king! Ba dum bum.

The living room area. Complete with my Harry Potter blanket and adult coloring book.

School wise, read alouds with my teacup humans have been so much fun these past 2 weeks. They are one of my favorite parts of the day. At this point of the year we have read basically all the books in our classroom library. Some of their favorites include Rainbow Fish, Big Pumpkin, anything with Froggy or Pete the Cat, and more. I have done everything in my power to share with them my love and passion for reading and I am pleased to say that my class is filled with kids who love to read! When it is time for them to do Read to Self for Daily 5, some of them will come to the rug with a stack of my books and excitedly tell me, "Miss Kellie I am going to read TEN books!" and then they scamper off happily and my heart melts into a giant puddle of goo.

I highly recommend this book. We have read this book since way back in September. It is falling apart and held together by tape because it is a well loved book in my class.

One of my favorite read alouds that we did recently was The True Story of the Three Little Pigs. If you have never read this before it is the 3 little pigs story in the wolf's point of view. It was really funny because we even had a little debate after we finished reading it. I asked them "Well whose side of the story do you believe? The wolf or the pigs?" Some classic one liners from the teacup humans include "All he wanted was a cup of sugar!" "But he ATE the pigs." "The pigs said go away that is not nice."

Everyone knows the story of the Three Little Pigs. Or at least they think they do.

Another thing that I started back in the middle of May that the kids have loved is keeping a diary. I have a few stuffed animals in my class that they read to for Read to Someone. One of the stuffed animals is Baxter Bear. I explained to them that each of them was going to get a turn to take Baxter Bear home. I told them to please make sure that they write in the diary what they did with Baxter Bear and take pictures with him. I did my own entry on the first page to let them see what my expectations were and they were absolutely excited to take him when it was their turn. I wish I could post some of their entries in here because they are so adorable. Thank you families for all your hard work because I know a lot of you were sitting down with your kids and helping them with all the writing. I know it was not an easy task!

Meet Baxter Bear! 

Instructions for the families to read. 

My sample entry for the kids to see. They loved the pictures. Especially the one of Baxter Bear all buckled up in the car. 

A few days ago it was Father's Day and I completely forgot until one of my kids came in and asked me what we were doing for Father's Day. Since we did a craft for Mother's Day it was only fair that I do something for Father's Day. I had them do a little activity where they told me about their dad's superpowers. I have a lot of fans of Thor, Spiderman, and Hulk in my class so they were very excited about this. They filled in the blanks for different things such as "He can run faster than a ______ or he can lift _____" were just a few of them. And let me tell you their answers were hilarious as the possibilities that are probably rolling around in your head right now. We discussed all of them as a whole class and then when they went back to their seats we did each sentence one by one. Some of the highlights include: He can lift a small rock, he can lift a cat, he can run faster than a spider, he makes the best hugs, he is a superhero because he can save me from bad guys, and so many other gems.

He can lift 1 big stone, he is funny when he jokes. These dads have some cool superpowers.

I also had them write a little message at the bottom for their dads. They make me smile.

During the last term I started having the kids do show and tell. I gave them an assigned day and 3-4 kids would bring something from home to share with the class and then they can answer comments and questions from their friends. After 2 weeks of this they had their show and tell day memorized. They came into class so excited to share with their friends something they brought from home. We had to establish some rules after the first few times. It had to fit in their backpack and they could only bring in 1 item. We are in our last week of show and tell now and it is so rewarding to see how much better they have gotten at presenting themselves! Some of them you could tell were nervous or shy at first about talking in front of all their friends. They would only say 1 sentence or maybe 2. Then I would ask them questions to encourage them to share more and to help give them ideas for what to talk about. Then for the comments and questions it is always the same. "Do you sleep with it every night?" "Do you play tea parties with it?" "Where did you get it?" A lot of them said they got their toys from Dubai and then it kind of became an inside joke. "Miss Kellie EVERYTHING is from Dubai!" How far they have come since September.

I have been trying to enjoy my remaining time with the kids as much as possible. I try not to run around too much getting ready for next year and actually make time to literally sit with them. Each day this week we have done a different cut and stick of an animal that they color before cutting and gluing onto a paper. Yesterday and today I actually sat down with them at their table and did all the coloring, cutting and gluing with them. You are never too old for coloring and I find it so relaxing. Hello that's why I have an adult coloring book! But I have started getting ready for my big move up to grade one next year. Packing up your classroom is stressful enough, but getting ready to move your stuff into another room when you know that someone is waiting to move into your room is pretty stressful too! But I know that I am doing all that I can and am making lots of progress with the move. And it's been pretty funny packing up and going through my different cabinets and realizing I had some things that I didn't even know I had that are really useful resources. Whoops. Save those math games and word work for next year!

We are in the middle of Ramadan. I praise everyone who is fasting. I really cannot imagine doing it. I would be so hangry and miserable to be around. Part of me is toying with the idea of trying it for a day next year. Especially if any of my kids fast next year. I have a couple kids in my class now that fast for half the day. They don't eat snack and don't eat or drink until lunch time. We had a big talk as a whole class about this because so many of them asked "Why are they going to the playroom? I wanna go!" We talked about how some of us are Muslims and that during Ramadan people fast, which means that they don't eat or drink until the sun goes down. I told them that some of their friends were fasting for part of the day and would not be eating snack. I asked them if they thought it was fair to have their friends sit there and watch them eat and drink when they could not. Their teacup human brains got it and no more questions were asked.

A big shoutout to the Muslims fasting in non-Muslim countries. I can only imagine the hunger pangs you must feel when people eat in front of you! Here in Qatar maximum punishments for eating or drinking in public include hefty fines and jail time.

What a year it has been. I am definitely not the same person as when I first touched down on the sand in August. Since then I have grown a spine and have learned that being selfish isn't really selfish at all. There is absolutely nothing wrong with doing what is best for you and standing up for yourself. In fact it is the best thing you can do. You cannot live to please everyone or you will be very unhappy. This is something that I still work on to this day. If I could give any advice to people moving or working abroad it would be this- do not isolate yourself. Don't be afraid to ask questions. Chances are other people are thinking the exact same thing. You are all going through similar experiences and it is best to stick together. Please reach out to people. Be brave. You won't regret it.

I will probably do one more entry here before taking a break for the summer. Not to worry I will be back in September to fill you in on all the details about grade one!

Gratitude is one of the most medicinal emotions we can feel. It elevates our moods and fills us with joy.

Ramadan Mubarak! It has been officially announced that today is the first day of Ramadan and fasting has begun. I learned that the fasting starts not at sunrise but actually from the fajr prayer, (first prayer of the day) which is an hour and a half before sunrise. This means that depending on where they live, some Muslims are fasting for 18 hours! I have a great deal of respect for Muslims celebrating Ramadan, especially this year experiencing the desert heat myself!

Here's to my first Ramadan in Qatar. Best wishes to my Muslim friends!

More facts about Ramadan that Google taught me:
-It's better to be a Muslim in Australia than in Iceland! The amount of daytime in Australia is much less than Iceland
-The fast is traditionally broken by eating dates and drinking water
-The end of Ramadan is on July 5 this year and is celebrated by a holiday called Eid al-Fitr, which is a day of feasting
-The meal eaten before the sun rises is called suhoor and the meal that breaks the fast is called iftar
-Qatari law states that you can face up to 3 months in jail and fined up to 3000 QAR (about $825) for eating or drinking in public. Hibernation it is!

I love this lantern. Such an awesome gift from one of my Muslim families!

 This past weekend I treated myself to a little getaway and went to Dubai for the first time! It did not disappoint. I think the entire cab ride from the airport to our hotel my jaw was dropped as I gaped at the buildings and roads all around us. Doha has a lot of catching up to do and I am not sure if they will ever reach what Dubai has to offer. I just could not believe how much stuff there was! Roads, overpasses, the metro, buildings everywhere- there were times where I forgot I was in the desert. Looking on the sides of the road and seeing buildings and things were so much more developed- not just mounds of sand on the side of the road!

When you go from this view outside your window... (BIG shoutout to the drills for waking me up promptly at 5:30 every morning!)

To this view from your hotel in Dubai! It was a nice treat for a few days. All that green...

Dubai is like a very advanced version of West Bay in Doha. Basically it is a westernized Middle East. In fact it just really doesn't seem fair to even compare the two. It kind of blew my mind at first to see people walking around in short shorts... and tank tops! You just don't really see many knees or bare shoulders when you are out in public in Doha. I think I know where I will be spending my next Thanksgiving!

Is this real life?

Found in the grocery store. Bacon!!

View of some of the buildings by the fountains.

This is The Address hotel which was the hotel back in the news months ago that was on fire.

 Two of the main sights that I saw in Dubai were the Dubai Mall and the Burj Khalifa. I spent around 7 hours in that mall and there are still parts of it that I did not get to. My feet were definitely hurting and rightfully so after my Fitbit informed me we did around 35,000 steps, or a half marathon (we did nearly 14 miles!). We admired the Burj Khalifa, which is the tallest building in the world. It is 829.8 meters/2722 feet tall! At first when you see it in the distance you're like eh it doesn't seem that big. Then you start to look at it and compare it to the size of the buildings surrounding it and you're like wow that is massive. And then the challenge of fitting the whole thing in one picture. Of course we went to the top, as high as you can go, which was up to the 148th floor. It took two elevator rides to get there. The first elevator ride was one minute and they do a little projection on the walls comparing it to the size of other buildings in the world. The second elevator ride was 25 seconds. The view from the top was pretty impressive. In front of the Burj is the fountains and actually the way it was timed we got to see one of the fountain shows from up top. It looked pretty cool because we went up around sunset and they light up the fountains as they go off. We also saw the fountain show on the ground before we went up. They do one every half hour. Personally I thought the ones at the Bellagio in Vegas were better. You can't have everything Dubai! It was a great getaway and I cannot wait to come back.

Every mall needs aquarium right? We got to see them feed the fishies!

And a dinosaur to pose with. You can never be bored in the Dubai Mall.

A little different compared to the souq in Qatar! This one is inside and was mainly jewelry.

Burj Khalifa

Just a little tall. As if I didn't feel short enough!

Hanging out on the 148th floor.

 School wise we are in the final countdown! 13 days to go. Unreal. It truly is amazing to see the growth these kids have made in kindergarten. I've heard you don't really see that amount of progression in any other grade level. Which makes sense because some of these kids start with just sounding out each letter when I show them a sight word list to being able to read words up to a grade 3 level. And then I award myself a little dance party because all my hard work has paid off. 

So true! For the rest of the year for centers my teacup humans can switch on their own! Still working on lowering the amount of chatter during the transitions.

Next year is exciting because I will have some of the same kids again. I don't think I announced it on here but next year I am moving up to grade one! I love my teacup humans to pieces and absolutely love kindergarten, but there is still a part of me that wants to give it a try in other grades to compare and see what it is like. It's funny how much I fell in love with teaching kindergarten though. I remember how upset I was that I got kindergarten for my student teaching. But then fate was kind to me and gave me the best mentor I could ask for. Melissa is an incredible teacher and I don't know where I'd be without her guidance. Cherry Hill you don't know how lucky you are to have her! I have used so many of her ideas in my own classroom. And it blows my mind that she does it all on her own. No TA. And on top of it all she's an awesome mom that juggles all her kids' extracurricular activities. A big shout out to all the teachers that are moms. You rock! Meanwhile I am spoiled over here with my TA Ms. Iolinda who I think is secretly a mind-reader and I am going to be so unbelievably lost without her in grade one. I know whoever I get next year will be great, but no one will be anywhere as good as her. We make such a great team. Big shoes to fill!

My TA is very sneaky because she schemed with the parents and one of the other kindergarten teachers and they threw me a surprise party! She said she told the parents that we never celebrated my birthday back in September and that we should celebrate it now and a bunch of them were all for it and got it organized. It was a huge surprise and I loved it!

Cheers to one of the most thoughtful gifts. Teacup humans even made the cut! They were excited to search for their names in the collage. 

 Things are really starting to wrap up here. We had our last field trip where the teacup humans got to build creations with Legos a few weeks ago, music concert was last week, school pictures are coming out this week, parents are telling me when their child's last day is coming up- it is all finally coming together. It has been a wild and crazy year. One more year here and then we will see where life takes me. Just this year alone I have traveled to five different countries and it will be six before I come home in July. Germany I'm looking at you! Cannot wait to explore Munich and Berlin before coming home. This one is going to be a solo adventure. Everyone should travel somewhere on their own at least once in their life right? That's the philosophy I'm taking anyway. 23 days until I fly to Munich, 13 teaching days left and 36 days until I fly home. It's the final countdown!

This might need to be rewatched during Ramadan.

Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.

It is exactly 2 months until I touch down on American soil woo hoo! It has already reached temperatures up to 106 here in Doha and I am afraid of what it will be like in July. Hello pool and beach days! I will definitely be working on my tan before I come home for the summer. Now if you are wondering why I am coming back in practically the middle of July, it is to avoid all the nonsense with taxes. There is a rule that if you have only been in the US for 35 days out of the year, then you are exempt from taxes! Although I did not owe anything this past year, I would rather just avoid it altogether to make life easier. As of now I will be home for 42 days, but it will be 35 days once I make a trip up north to Canada for a week!

Truth. My kids have started coming in from recess drenched in sweat.
I kindly remind them to drink lots of water because we live in the desert.
At least they aren't smelly teens that are still getting used to the concept of deodorant.

42 days until my last day of teaching and 61 days until I fly home! When it comes to the workplace I just keep chugging right along. This past week for some reason I was ridiculously exhausted. I have been living up to my grandma status and the majority of the days this week I passed out before 9. It is time to start thinking about that 'A' word that all teachers are not a fan of... assessments. Ugh they are so draining and since it is the end of the year, it is a lot. Particularly math. The assessment for each child to complete is about 5 pages long. The key for me has been to break it up into pieces. Assess the teacup humans in counting one day, adding/subtracting another day, etc. There is just no way I could have a 5 or 6 year old sit down and go through every single thing in one day. We would both be absolutely miserable by the end of it. This week actually went by pretty fast. I think because the universe knows I have a lot of assessing I need to get through.

Keep calm and carry on friends!

Next month, June 5 to be exact, Ramadan begins. My happy place AKA the QDC where you can buy booze and bacon will be closed, which means it is time to start stocking up! The QDC actually sent out a text message letting everyone know when they close and open again. When you get a license to go to the QDC, you get a monthly allowance for how much you can buy. Since they are closed during June, they tripled the monthly allowance. I can only imagine how much business they get in May. Our new school schedule becomes 8:30-1:30. Some of the kids will be fasting during this time and the school adjusts to accommodate  their needs. The cafeteria is closed and no eating/drinking is allowed in the hallways or classrooms. My teacup humans will not be fasting during Ramadan. It seems like they start around third or fourth grade. Hence the short days because the kids will already be miserable enough trying to pay attention and ignoring their hunger pangs.

School wise things have been good. I have been keeping the teacup humans busy and getting them all ready for grade one. Last Sunday was Mother's Day (in the US) so I had my kids do a little craft for all the moms. We did a little flower craft and also made a class book "Something Only a Mom Knows" and what they come up with is absolutely adorable. Things like "how to kiss me goodnight, how to make a cake, how to read me a story, how to grow flowers, how to make pancakes" were just a few of them. Actually a lot of them said make a cake or pancakes. I guess cooking is a big requirement for being a mom to these kids! I am a big fan of class books because it is funny to see what they come up with. Plus they love to take the books from our class library and read what all their friends wrote.

I love my mom because... she plays with me.
My mom always gets me chocolate. My mom always
gives me a hug. Too cute! 

I love my mom because... she gives me pancakes
and hugs. Sounds like a pretty good combo to me!

Every Thursday they get extra time with me because that is our day where we have no specials. I am always hunting around on Pinterest for craft ideas to fill that time gap. The other week they made shape foxes and we sang along and listened to What Does the Fox Say while we worked. This week it was number bond kites! They turned out so good I even updated my bulletin board one last time. What they had to do was make a kite. On the kite it said "The Story of" and I told them to pick any number between 10-20. A lot of them picked 10 because they were familiar with it and others picked 12 because that is the number I modeled with them and they love to copy me. Then on the tail part of the kite they write the number sentences that equal that number. So for example if they did "The Story of 10" then they would write 5 + 5 and 4 + 6 and so on. I told them they were writing math sentences. I explained that just like in writing when we write stories we have to have capital letters, periods, and finger spaces, our math sentences have to have a + or - and an = sign. They really liked it and they turned out great!

Let's go fly a kite! Anyone else want to watch Mary Poppins now? Ah ok just me. 

Not school wise in the near future I think I am doing the desert camping and dune bashing again that I did way back in September! I am excited for an overnight camping trip and to do something fun to break up the long school weeks before our summer break. I stayed home all last weekend due to feeling pretty cruddy and I do not plan on doing much this weekend except meet up with our book club group. We are reading The Glass Castle which I have read before, but I read it again to keep it fresh in my head and hopefully have something useful to contribute to the discussion. It is a great book by the way that apparently is being adapted into a movie. I have already started compiling a list for books that I want to read over the summer. Big shocker that a lot of them are Middle Eastern themed like Girls of Riyadh, The Bamboo Stalk, The Arch and the Butterfly... along with my usual end of the world/dystopian novels.

Besides Canada I plan to be spending my break at home. Personally I feel that summer break is home/family time. It will be nice to spend more than 11 days at home. As for the breaks I get throughout the school year? Anything goes! Stay tuned for further stories and updates as I continue to somehow survive through the remaining weeks of my first year teaching!