Sunday, May 26, 2013

Lately


For most of last weekend this table was surrounded by friends I love. We only left the table to dance like rocker chicks or to top up our glasses.We laughed out loud and cried as we said goodbye. Jane and Sven are leaving Bahrain and heading back to the land they love; Uganda.

Then this weekend I was back in Dubai. I spent the weekend with 20 fiercely independent, strong and loving ladies. We danced the day and night away and put the world to right round bar tables.



And in between my weekends...I've been trying to find the pretty and reminding myself to breathe.

I'm trying to look forward not back; mostly looking forward to a quiet weekend at home!

Healthy living resumes now now!



Thursday, May 16, 2013

Three Beautiful Things


  • Meeting my running buddy at 5 am is actually the best way to start off my day. With a slight breeze we have a quick trot around our neighbourhood, just enough to make me feel righteous for the day!
  • My laptop has been returned to me after being repaired. It has sobered up after having a gin and tonic spilled all over it. Was more annoyed at the waste of gin than anything. 
  • Getting an email from Jane, my wonderful friend in Bahrain, saying their drinks cabinet is stocked for the Q8 crew this weekend and the coffee table has been reinforced for dancing! Cannot wait!

Sunday, May 12, 2013

3 Beautiful Things

  • Hearing from a friend in New Zealand that I made her day with snail mail. This then made my day! Once again vowing to write and send more letters and cards by post.
  • Walking into my little flat and spotting my new, pretty, blue cabinet from the door. Totally worth the four trips to Ikea. (Said completely seriously!)

  • Listening to Florence + the Machine as I cook dinner. Dancing on the beach to her on the weekend was also pretty great!

Friday, May 10, 2013

A date with Flo

Off to dance on the beach in Dubai with this lady! Can. Not. Wait. Sundance here I come.



Have a good weekend!

P.S Thank you for all the comments recently. I'm sorry for deleting some accidentally. I'm still learning...for example...how can you 'reply' to a comment? Thank you!

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Wednesdays

There are 9 classes in our year group. That is not a typo,9. There are more children in this one year group than in the entire school that I taught in in Kenya.

The staff in the year group are all pretty different,but we have one thing in common,we pretty much hate Wednesdays.

From when the bell goes at 7.26am (I actually just found out our official starting time by looking in a pupil's planner...that pretty much says it all about the place I work in)we are with our class until 2.45pm,with 35 minutes for Arabic. We have snack duty,so eat with our class and then we all, let's be honest, (pupils and teachers) pretty much are sick of the sight of each other by the end of the day.

It is always a day that the tell-tales are vocal and most annoying.
"Ahmed said I was a giraffe boy"(or insert any other word, even if it doesn't make sense).
Me-(In my head-What the hell is that..!?)
"Well,are you? No."(or some other useless words of wisdom.It is Wednesday after all!)

Any child-"Faisal said the 's' word!"
Me-"Faisal,what exactly did you say?"
Child-"I told Kareem to shut up"
(In my head..oh fuck..I hate Wednesdays.)

Today,of all days, I was baking biscuits with my class (not for fun,there are maths and topic links there...). Such light relief it was, the 5 minutes of quiet time at the end, eating the biscuits, made it all worth while!


Wednesdays end with ICT. 26 laptops in one classroom with 7 year olds. Imagine the fun!  Usually we play the game of who can go the longest without asking me a question. Ahmed always loses.

As the gates open and the parents flood in to collect their little people,there is one Year 2 teacher sitting on a bench while the other eight are high fiving each other,  thankful that at least we don't have Mr.Sean's class!!

Tomorrow is Thursday. The last day of our working week. Hooray!

Monday, May 6, 2013

Holiday Snaps-The Maldives

More photos???







It is the start of a new week...and it's not every day you get to go to the Maldives.Just be thankful I don't make you sit through a home video!




Dinner

The glam speed-boat look



A roti making session




By now..if you are like my dad, you will have already started to look at your phone! So I'll stop there. Thanks for indulging me. No more, promise!