Teaching Adventures: August 2014

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Year 2!

We are back in Beirut after a whirlwind summer. We landed Saturday night at 8:30 and our favorite taxi driver was there to pick us up. It was so fun to see him, and he was excited to see us. The drive from the airport to our place was nostalgic. I was remembering coming a year ago not sure what everything was, or how it would be here. I was so comfortable on this ride, the familiar sounds of horns honking, cars weaving in and out of traffic "lanes", the sight of the buildings and the people reminded me why we love living here in Beirut.

We got to our apartment to find that we have new living room furniture, which was wonderful. No more wicker living room furniture for us, moved up to real couches and nice tables. We went out right away to get some food and see some of our favorite Lebanese people. It was great to see the same places still open, and the same people still working there.

Sunday Ryan had his admin retreat up in the mountains, so I tackled the unpacking, cleaning, and setting up the new furniture. I then went out to my favorite hommus place and picked up lunch. It was what I was waiting for all summer long, and it did not disappoint. I stopped by a few other little shops and talked to my favorite store owners. I had a nice chat with our concierge and his family about their summer. Going for a run was nice, but I forgot just how humid and hot it is to run here at this time of year.

Sunday night we headed out to get our favorite veggie burgers here and for a nice long walk around the city. There are a lot of people here on vacation right now so the Corniche was packed with tourists.

Monday I went to check on an apartment for some of our new hires, and then headed off to the airport to pick them up. Seeing them coming in was another great reminder of us last year, jet lagged, a little overwhelmed, but excited. It is crazy how much of a veteran you feel like after just one year here in Lebanon. Monday night we met up with Phil and Nick, the middle school principal and assistant principal. It is so much fun to hear what everyone did all summer.

New teacher orientation is this week, and I am helping with that. Next Wednesday teachers all are back to work, school for kids starts the first of September. I am really excited to see the students. I did get to see one student randomly at the airport yesterday, Bashar, which was fun.

This summer Ryan and I had a chance to see a lot of family and friends. The summer seemed to fly by. We were "home" for two months, but a lot of that was traveling around. We went to a baseball game in Cincninatti, I had class in DC for 4 days-my last class before my dissertation, headed to Raleigh to meet up with Alex and Brenda for a great OAR concert, went and camped on the outerbanks, had lunch with Ryan's Aunt Margerite in Baltimore, went to a play and a Yankees game in NYC, and camped at the Finger Lakes. We went to Niagara with my mom and Tom for some great sight seeing, a little gambling and a lot of fun. We went to Boston and met up with a Beirut colleague Lucia, and saw Liverpool FC play vs Roma. We got to be a part of Tysen and Earl's wedding in Connecticut and hang out with Ryan's family, including my amazing niece and nephew. We went to Colorado for my dad's family reunion for a week of hiking and catching up with family. We got to see my brother and his wife's new home, and I camped out in the backyard with my nephew, which was hilarious. We got to hang out with my sister, an incredible teacher herself, who was busy preparing for her new school year and her new courses. Finally, we went to Ireland to see Ryan's grandparents home country and take in a lot of green space. I am exhausted just typing all of that.

This year we have a lot of traveling scheduled already. In October Ryan will be in Bangkok for a conference, and Gretchen and I will be presenting at an IB conference in Rome. We will be traveling with sports teams to Bahrain, Dubai, Sofia, and more. I am excited for the new school year to begin!