Think like a proton and stay positive.

Today is Sri Lanka day! I am so unbelievably excited to go whale watching and see some elephants! My brain is mostly in vacation mode. I have been having a really good week school wise. I feel like some things are starting to get on track. And now I feel more like a teacher and less like a kid wearing grown up clothes.

The Royal Palms Beach Hotel is where we are staying! Right on the beach. I cannot wait to relax by the water with my kindle. 

I finally updated my bulletin board in the hallway for the first time in months. And now I have 2 months to come up with another creative idea before I have to change it again!

Big shoutout to Dav for the witty title! Otherwise it was just going to be called Shape Pizzas.

It is nice when a foreign place starts to feel more like home. It really does make a world of difference. And when you gain some confidence in areas of your work, that feels pretty awesome too. I feel like my tunnel vision has gone down a little and I remember to actually enjoy the kids and talk to them... get to know my teacup humans! They are stuck with me for 180 days after all, might as well make the most of it.

We have had some interesting weather lately here in Doha. A few days in a row we had insane amounts of fog. And it actually caused a lot of car accidents. Not surprising with the maniacs on the roads here. The best part was that we did not have to give out any tardy slips those days! The fog was so thick. It kind of reminded me of the fog from Catching Fire. Except you know it was not poisonous and people didn't die when they walked through it.

Spooky fog

For 3 mornings straight this was the view

Meanwhile the weather at home has been pretty exciting too! They got a hefty amount of snow and I eagerly shared pictures and videos friends and family sent me to my students. They absolutely loved it and were happily exclaiming how much they wanted to go play there! They especially loved the video of adorable Xian Xian the panda rolling around in the snow. I got a care package from home this week! Harry Potter souvenirs from HP World- I drink from my butterbeer mug every morning. And also lots of junk food because I make fantastic life choices. Animal crackers ginger snaps, Kraft macaroni and cheese (Spongebob and TMNT shaped!) Life is good.

Like I said school has been good. Parts of it were sad because I had 2 students leave my class because they went back to their home countries. One family was so incredibly kind they even took me out to dinner one night. I will miss them so much. However they did say I am more than welcome to visit them over the summer so I may have to take them up on that!

It is exciting to see how much growth some of the kids have made. One child in my class went from recognizing only 10 capital letters and 4 lowercase letters to knowing all but 3 letters. And it is just so exciting to see them read. I think about when I first put a book in front of them and they stood there reading each individual sound of the words and now they are reading books with multiple sentences on them. Some of them of course are still on books like "I can see the cat. I can see the dog." But everyone moves at different speeds and I am confident that by June they will be where they need to be for first grade. We have also begun writing sentences. We talked about how each sentence has to have 4 parts: begin with a capital letter, finger spaces, a period at the end, and written neatly.

Sentence number 2 put a little smile on my face. 

People keep telling me that this is not only an incredible work experience but also life experience. And it really is starting to hit me now how true this is. When I work with so many different types of people and see and meet new people all the time, I realize how special and rare this opportunity is. If I had stayed in New Jersey and took on another year of subbing (maybe I would have finally gotten a long term sub position) and interviewing and submitting hundreds of resumes and not taken this huge leap- my life would be so different. I am giving myself a big pat on the back for taking this huge risk. Because there have definitely been moments where I questioned myself and wondered if I made a huge mistake. Teaching itself is hard but teaching in a foreign country in the desert? Definitely challenging. But I am happy to be here and so grateful for all the people I have met here.

There is a Facebook group called When, Where, and How in Doha. Sometimes people post pictures on there.
 This was one of my favorites.

Awesome shot of the skyline. 

Tonight at 10:40 my flight leaves for Colombo in Sri Lanka! I promise to update with many pictures and stories about my adventures!

Kalutara, Kandy, and Mirissa here I come! 

Help will always be given to those who ask for it.

It actually took me a while to fully understand the meaning of that quote, but my first year teaching has definitely allowed me to realize what it means. For me personally it was/is very difficult for me to reach out and ask for help. During the beginning of the year part of me was afraid to ask questions because I was afraid people would think "how did she even get this job doesn't she know anything?!" But you know what we are all in the same boat. We are all unsure of how things work and trying to make it work with the limited resources we have- it is so crucial to reach out and help each other. We have to cling onto each other like a barrel of monkeys- otherwise it is going to make the school year even longer and more difficult.

Yes I relate Harry Potter to everything!

My flights back to Philly were definitely an adventure. Never again will I book a flight that makes multiple stops! My trip back home was from Doha to Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi to London, and London to Philadelphia. Doha to Abu Dhabi went smoothly. Abu Dhabi to London- not so much! The flight was delayed because apparently air traffic was congested flying into London. We landed in London around 7:20am, and my flight was leaving at 8:10am. I had to take a bus shuttle to a different bus terminal to get to my next flight because I switched airlines for the last leg of the flight. I got there around 7:45am and they informed me that they finished boarding for the flight and that I wold have to take a bus shuttle back and find another flight. In my head I was freaking out because I just wanted to get home and see my family and friends. Fortunately they managed to get me on a flight that was leaving at 12:25pm and I got home 4 hours later. I was bummed that I missed my sister's first cheerleading event but it all worked out. Note to self and advice to anyone else: do not ever book a flight that makes 2 stops and switches airlines! I do not know what I was thinking. Clearly I was not thinking when I booked this back in the beginning of October!

It was great being back home. I was traveling all over because I wanted to take full advantage of being able to drive. That in itself was a weird transition on top of the jet lag! But I managed to get to Washington DC, Bel Air MD, and York PA! In DC I got to see Zoo Lights in the Washington DC Zoo which was awesome. Basically all throughout the zoo they have all these light displays. And I tried pho for the first time, which by the way is pronounced like fuh. Yay for yummy noodles! Then I visited my aunt in Maryland before going to York where I got to see The Force Awakens. And it was fantastic and got me craving Star Wars. I haven't watched those movies in so long!It was so great to see friends and I enjoyed couch surfing for those few days, but then the rest of the time all I wanted was to go back home. And I basically spent the rest of my break home relaxing. And going to the Lakeshore teaching store for the first time and being completely overwhelmed! One of my favorite stops was the dollar store. Doha needs dollar stores! Christmas Eve was one of the highlights of the whole break. A night in with the family playing Cards Against Humanity. The adult version of Apples to Apples.

I have pictures somewhere but cannot find them at the moment. 

BB-8 <3 

I survived the first 2 weeks back of school- and in 2 weeks from now I will be in Sri Lanka! The first week back was tough. It was hard saying goodbye to my family at the airport, but at the same time Doha does not feel completely like my new home yet. So at first it was like I had an identity crisis and was asking myself 'where do I belong?!' For Christmas I asked for a lot of things for my classroom and also for my apartment. I asked wanted things to make it seem more homey. Kind of necessary to come back to somewhere warm and welcoming after long days at work! And hooray for blackout curtains!

I redid my photo collages. They were originally held up by blue sticky tack... which is still up there and hard to get off because it turned into this blue slime that does not hold up the pictures very well. So scotch tape it is! 

You can't see the blue sticky tack in these photos but it is still there... trying not to think about how much fun it will be finding ways to get it off the walls... and hopefully not the paint from the walls too!  

And my room just feels extra complete now with my crazy cat lady calendar. 

Family: like branches on a tree, we all grow in different directions yet our roots remain as one. It puts a smile on my face looking at my wall and seeing all these familiar faces. Cats included! 

Eventually I will hang this up as well! Unlike the tree branches one it is not a sticker. It is one that you rub onto the wall. I am looking to get some kind of posterboard paper and putting the quote on that. After the blue sticky tack fiasco I don't want to have anymore trouble getting anything else stuck on the walls! 

Last weekend I did The Color Run 5k. I have done them in the past and they are always a good time. How can you resist doing the happiest 5k on the planet? And for the first time I jogged the whole thing! Sadly not even halfway through the jog and one of the lenses of my sunglasses just popped out. So when we came to the different areas where they throw color at you I was kind of careful about making sure it didn't get in my eyes. Maybe goggles next year will be a better plan! It was a beautiful day for the run too- clouds in the sky and not too hot!

Before... 

After! Go team GEMS!

Jump jump jump! 

Yes that's a unicorn on the stage. Runicorn I believe was its name. Basically the main reason so many people stayed and jumped around was to try to win free stuff! 

It has been great seeing my teacup humans after the long break. I missed their honesty. Some memorable quotes: *anytime I am modeling drawing/writing* "What is that!? That looks like a monster!" "Miss Kellie we know you're not a very good drawer." *draws 9 tents when we are talking about the number 9* "I am gonna draw tents too! Except mine are gonna be better than that!" They are so brutally honest but also incredibly kind and caring. They teach me just as much as I teach them! I am just reminding myself to keep a positive attitude and to keep reaching out for help. I cannot do it all on my own and my coworkers are a great resource. We have to act like a team and support each other! I am doing the best I can and can only focus on the things I can control and to not beat myself up too much. Everything will work out!

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all

Tomorrow night I fly out from Doha and come home for the winter break I cannot believe it! These past two weeks have been absolutely insane. Getting everything together before the break, report cards, keeping the kids entertained (especially this week!), planning my trip over the end of January/beginning of February, and everything in between! At the end of January I will be going to Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka- a country where the number of cows outnumber cars! Seriously it's a thing. There will be traffic from hundreds of cows standing in the roads. Apparently they are not intimidated by horns and do not move when you honk at them. Other random facts about Sri Lanka: their literacy rate is 92% which means that they have the highest literacy rate in the world. It was the first country to democratically elect a woman as the head of state. Temple of the Tooth is the most sacred Buddhist site in the world. Just a few things I have learned so far- cannot wait to go!

The hotel. Right on the beach- are you jealous? 

Today was my last day with the kids before the break- now I won't see them until January! We celebrated Qatar National Day in school today. We had a couple of assemblies where we listened to the Qatar national anthem and got to see some of the kids do some Qatari dances and listen to some Qatari music. Then we went outside to see and touch the falcon. Well half of my kids did, the other half had no interest whatsoever in getting close to the bird. "I do not want to touch Miss Kellie. It scares me." I kept telling my kids that they had to be quiet or they would scare the falcon away. It was pretty effective and most of them listened. Falcons are the national bird here in Qatar and they are very special and sacred (and expensive). You can buy them at the souq. They even have a hospital specifically for the falcons. Then we had an end of the term party for the kids. There was an insane amount of food- donuts, cake, cookies, lots of bread, appetizers- it kind of reminded me of the feasts that they have in Harry Potter in the Great Hall because I had the kids sitting at one long table together.

The dream team

There were falcons! So of course I had to be brave and hold one. Even though I was
secretly (or maybe not so secretly) terrified it was going to bite my face. 

Happy Qatar National Day! 

For Social Studies we have been covering the unit Holidays and Traditions and talking about holidays from all around the world. From Sinterklaas in Holland, the story of poinsettas in Mexico, Hannukah, Kwanza, and Christmas. I also had the kids make snowflakes and snowmen this week. They liked making the snowflakes and were so excited to see them when they finished. It is funny because I modeled for them how to do it and we folded the paper together. Once they got back into their seats and I told them they would be cutting different shapes they were like "Miss Kellie I don't know how to do it!" They stared at the scissors and the folded paper like they were foreign objects they had never seen before. For a lot of them I ended up taking a pencil and drawing shapes along the edges of the folded paper and telling them to cut them out. Their faces were priceless when they opened them up they loved seeing the finished product. And then of course from the scrap papers they kept making tiny snowflakes- until I took their scissors away.

Making the snowmen and snowflakes gave me an excuse to play some Christmas music, which made me very happy!

Over the weekend we went out to dinner and celebrated Shannon's birthday my fellow Jersey girl. We got a group shot of the group and we look like we belong on the cover of a Christmas card! I also went to the souq to do some shopping... I finally found the section that has all the animals!

Some of the Doha family- we wish you a Merry Christmas! 

Who could resist that face?

Feel the love. 

So. Many. Bunnies.

Placing the cage of cats next to the cage of birds. Brilliant idea.

Today was a great day. Now I am ready for break where I can recharge and get back in gear for January. Jersey here I come! 

I love my teacup humans! Homemade gifts are the best <3

Promise me you'll always remember: you're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.

My apologies for the lack of weekly updates. Spoiler alert: being a first year teacher in a foreign country is HARD. There is a lot of adjustments. November was a tough month for me because I was really missing home. I have been facing a lot of big firsts in my life: first time being this far (and longest time!) away from home, first job in my job/field, and first time living on my own. It is a lot of cope with and I need to remind myself that this is an amazing opportunity and to stop being so hard on myself. I am getting incredible life experiences and seeing things that not many people get to see! I just have to keep opening up because I am not alone and do not need to handle everything on my own. I said it before and I will say it again it is like High School Musical- we're all in this together! 

The day before Thanksgiving was definitely eventful in Doha. We got massive amounts of flooding. They prayed for rain and we certainly got some! I did not even realize how bad it was until I started seeing photos online. We were very fortunate in Al Wakra. Thanksgiving Eve will be remembered as the day my TA went home sick, the day I had a birthday party where the parents brought a selfie stick and took tons of pictures, and the day of flooding all throughout Doha. Some schools even closed early, but GEMS did not. Desert + massive amounts of rain = chaos. November 25 Doha got the amount of rain in a matter of hours that they typically get in a year- let's just say they definitely were not prepared for it!

This was my first Thanksgiving away from home. It was strange not sitting around the table with my family eating turkey, but fun because I got to leave Qatar for the first time! Over Thanksgiving break I visited Bahrain with some of the other teachers. Some of my coworkers play Gaelic football and went to Bahrain for a tournament. I decided to go to support them and also an opportunity to see some more of the world!

Here's a map to give you an idea of where Bahrain is. It is a tiny little island off the peninsula of Qatar. 

Happy Thanksgiving to me! Surf and turf at Bennigans... and a salad to have some green with my meal. And guzzling it down with a nice pint of Stellaaaaaaa!

Dinars are the currency in Bahrain. Very interesting that they had paper money for 1/2 a dinar. And the fact that they had coins was strange too since they don't really use coins ever in Qatar. The only time I got coins was when I went to the post office or the Q-Post to mail some postcards. 

The first day we got there we checked into our hotel Al Safir. There were some problems with check-in because they were trying to charge us more for having 3 people in the room even though we specifically booked a room for 3 people to sleep in. Fortunately Katelyn was awesome and assertive and we got them to bring in an extra cot for no extra charge. Then we went to Bennigan's for a late lunch/early dinner where I had my yummy Thanksgiving dinner. Then we explored Bahrain a bit and walked around. Cats were all over the place which made my inner crazy cat lady very happy.

Cats outside Bennigans.

Cats of Bahrain. Watch out for the barbed wire!

Our hotel

Pool at Al Safir. If only I remembered my bathing suit!

Saw this hilarious shirt when we were exploring the art gallery/cafe area. Too good not to share. 

One of the shops we explored. Found some magic lamps- make a wish! 

A cool shop on one of the main streets we were walking through. All kinds of different trinkets to buy. 

Friday I spent the majority of the day at the Bahrain Rugby Club watching some of the different matches. I got to have bacon! It was a nice day for the tournament. Much better than when these girls first started playing in September when they were playing in 100 degree weather! I only got to see some of my coworkers play. There were about 4 or 5 different locations that the games were at. We picked the Bahrain Rugby Club because it had 3 different fields and there was also a big celebration afterwards. On Saturday we decided to see some of the sights. We were going to meet up at JJs and spend the day there, but we left after we saw that it looked like this:

Just a little too crowded for me! 

We decided to get our culture on. We visited the Bahrain Fort and explored that area. Afterwards we went to the King Fahad Causeway which is a bridge that is 25 km (16 miles) long that connects the island of Bahrain to Saudi Arabia. I read somewhere that there is a restaurant you can go to at the halfway point and that the view of the sea is incredible. Our taxi driver mentioned something about it being closed but we figured let's go the view will be incredible! Yes it was closed because it was still under construction aka not even open yet. We made a brief visit to JJs and then decided to visit the Al Fateh Grand Mosque.  It was built in 1987 and is the largest place of worship in Bahrain. It was absolutely beautiful and I loved our tour guide. He was an old man who was very informative about Islam. He was a great storyteller who made it easy to explain it and answered any questions that we had.

Outside of the museum and Bahrain fort. 

View of the Bahrain National Museum.

View of the skyline from the Bahrain Fort 

Bahrain Fort

Exploring through the fort. Check out these arches!

And now imma take a selfie

The halfway point on the King Fahad Causeway. This must be what they plan the final product to look like because it did not look like this!

The bridge 

An aerial shot of the halfway point and the bridge we took.  

Rocking the abaya. Women are required to wear them before entering the mosque.

Al Fateh Grand Mosque. It is the largest place of worship in Bahrain and can hold up to 7,000 worshippers. 

One of the sides of the mosque. No you cannot enter the mosque through this entrance- we tried lol. 

Bahrain was definitely an interesting place. Kind of like a much smaller Doha. Much smaller. Especially the airport! One of my coworkers pointed out that the airport is so small that they actually put a map of it on the back of our boarding passes. It was a little chaotic at the airport because our flight home on Qatar Airways was overbooked. There was another flight through British Airways that was arriving around the same time- 5 minutes earlier. We had to wait at least an hour at check in while they switched our flight. It is not as easy to switch flights in the Middle East as it is back home. But they managed to switch us on the British Airways flight and I enjoyed watching 2 episodes of Modern Family on the way back. The flight to and from Bahrain is so short! You are in the air for about a half hour and then suddenly you hear the pilot telling you that we are beginning to make the descent. It was good to get out of Doha for a little bit. A change of scenery was nice and after staying at a hotel for a few days it even made me miss my own bed.

I have started getting into the Christmas spirit. It doesn't even feel like Christmas is only a few weeks away because it is sunny, sandy and in the 70s here. Yesterday definitely helped though because we had a little holiday party. There was so much food and for the first time in months I had ham! I made mashed potatoes and completely stuffed myself with all the foods that people brought. It was nice hearing Christmas music and seeing everyone dressed up in Christmas colors. In Doha there are some hotels and places that will have tree lighting ceremonies. I am thinking about checking one of those out. I watched Elf last night and have watched The Holiday a few times this week. I cannot wait to go home and watch some of my favorites with my family like A Christmas Story and It's a Wonderful Life. It just doesn't feel like Christmas without George Bailey!

Buddy the Elf what's your favorite color? 

You'll shoot your eye out!

No man is a failure who has friends. 

Sooo much food with the GEMS family. It was awesome! 

I went out to lunch to an Egyptian restaurant. I decided to be adventurous and I tried stuffed pigeon. Honestly it tasted just like chicken it was just harder to get to the meat. And there was a lot of rice. More rice than meat. Afterwards we explored around the Katara cultural village. It was the first time I had been there during the daytime and it seemed so different compared to at night!

2 stuffed pigeons. We ate at an Egyptian place called Khan Farouk Tarab Cafe. I went with some teachers from different schools. One of them I met when I was doing my jogs in the basement and we have been going on weekly jogs ever since. She teaches at one of the British schools. 

The water is sooo blue. Quite the difference from the Jersey shore. 

Amphitheater in Katara

Oh you know just a typical day in Doha when someone slowly drives by in their Porsche. And in a nice lime green color. Not ostentatious or anything! 

I am working on staying positive and living in the moment. Sometimes it is hard for me to find that work life balance. I get so consumed and obsessed with work that I forget to enjoy life and treat myself every now and then. I took this job as an opportunity to travel and see more of the world. It is a giant step out of my comfort zone and I just need to embrace it and take it one day at a time. I have lived in New Jersey all my life but now I am living in a country with an entirely different culture and juggling everything that comes with my first teaching job. It is a lot to handle. I have to accept the fact that I am doing the best that I can and to stop being my own worst critic. I am working on finding my niche and continue to get to know Qatar. The best thing to do is just to keep putting myself out there and keep busy. And in less than 2 weeks I will be home!! It will be my chance to recharge and clear my head. I cannot wait to see all my family and friends =)