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!

Mt Evans

Ryan on top of the world Mt Evans

Ireland Aran Island

Blue sheep

Ireland

Ireland

Ireland

Ireland

nyc

Niagara Hornblower

My mom and Tom and us in Niagara

My Mom and I

Last few weeks!

It has been a few weeks since I wrote a post, but things have been extremely busy here. We are down to the last little bit of our time here for this year, and I can't believe how fast it has gone. I leave Saturday morning for the US and have a quick stop in DC for a conference till Friday, and then I will be back in Chicagoland. Ryan will be here till the 26th, and then he will join me back. Our time has gone by so extremely fast, and we have gotten to do a lot of incredible things that we haven't done before.

We got back from Nepal and Ryan was off on two different trips for athletic director conferences. He has gotten us into a new conference at school, which will provide new places to travel too, and better competition for our talented athletes. He had to leave the Wednesday after we got back to go to Dubai, and then came home Friday and left again on Saturday for Jordan.

On Mother's day we were able to keep our tradition of going to the horse races alive by attending some horse racing here at the hippodrome. We went with Alex, Cori, Iman, Jared and Annie to try our luck on the ponies. It was slightly different than in the states, for one thing the horses race around the track the other day. Another difference is there were no odds when you were betting, you found out after what the odds were. Ryan won in the first three races, but even when he exacta boxed the winner and second place, it only paid out 5 bucks on a 5 dollar bet. Also, one other difference is that you walked across the track to get to the stands, so at first we had to wait in the middle during a race.

Last weekend was Gretchen's birthday weekend. Friday night we went to our new favorite place, Rooj, on top of a hotel in Hamra. It is a quiet outdoor venue, with a pool we get to use for free. Then Saturday we went to Pangea in Jiyeh. Pangea is a beach club just south of the airport. We snuck in our own food and drink, because were smart and classy like that, so that helped with the cost. Saturday was really quiet and relaxing. We had a bungalow for the four of us, with a outdoor patio that we were able to hang out on all night. We were able to swim in the Sea and watch the sunset on the beach. Sunday was a whole other ball game. Sunday apparently is the big day for the beach clubs. It was a radio party, filled with techno music, absolut vodka and red bulls, people reserving seats at the pool bar, girls in heels and leggings, jewelry and their bathing suits, lots of hilarious tattoos, a guy in a captain's hat and other amazing people watching adventures.

This past weekend was no different. Friday night we went to Music Hall, an outdoor music venue right on the water. We were with 8 other people, including Iman, Cori and Alex and enjoyed music from around 11 pm till 3 am. Each band would come out, play 3 songs, and then be done. There would be music in between each act as well. Some highlights were a reggae band, a Tina Turner impersonator, some Syrian men singing with some cane dancing, a woman singing Disney songs and so many other artists. It was one of the most fun nights here.  Saturday we had another great night. I threw a bachelorette party with my friend Cori, for our friend Annie, and then a friend who came in for the weekend, Lisa. Lisa and her now fiance - as of Thursday, lived here the last few years and are friends with Alex and Cori. We added her to the festivities after she got engaged on the Corniche Thursday.  Ryan went out with the guys for Nick and Jared's bachelor party. For the girls, we started here, and then went to a few different great places in Gemmayzeh. Ryan and the guys were at the Casino at out in Jounieh. All in all, an extremely fun night.

It's finals week here, and I have my juniors taking their final tomorrow. I am so proud of how hard they have worked this year. It has been incredible learning this new curriculum. I can't believe how fast the year has gone, and how many places we have been this year. We were able to go to Cyprus, Jordan, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Austria, Turkey and Dubai this year alone. I never could have imagined all the incredible people we would have met either, some great friends that have taught us so much. I am excited to come back again next year and do it all again.

Music Hall Entrance

Music Hall stage

Outdoor seating area

Sunset in Jiyeh

The Pool

View from our bungalow

Hilarious jeans

Why so serious tattoo

Awesome tattoos

Annie and Jenny

Whole group at Music Hall

Full group shot of all the ladies 

Nepal week without walls

We did it! We survived. 6 teachers, including Ryan and myself, took 55 tenth and eleventh graders on a ten day trip to Nepal for adventure sports, community service and culture. We left early Thursday morning, and the students were excited. We had a layover in Abu Dhabi and then we were off to Kathmandu.  We were due to arrive around 8 pm there, but had a little change of plans. The plane left late, but the real trouble was that we had some extreme turbulence that caused us to have to land on an airstrip in Lucknow, India. The students handled it well, but there were definitely some tears and some people saying they were never getting on a plane again, which they did. We finally got into Kathmandu around 11:30 and to our guesthouse around midnight.  We got settled into our rooms, had a few hours of sleep and then we were off in the morning to explore Bhaktapur. There were a lot of Hindu temples to explore and a little shopping to be done.

That afternoon we headed off to our campsite at Borderlands. The site was beautiful and the staff was incredible the entire time we were there. We spent the next four nights there, just 15 km away from the Tibet border. The first day we were in groups. I had half of the juniors. They started off the day doing team building and then we were off to repel down a waterfall. It was a little chilly and it was sprinkling a little, but we all made it down the five different repel sites. Ryan was with the sophomores on a 16 km hike. From what he said, that was interesting since many of the girls were afraid of heights, dogs, birds, etc., but in the end they made it the whole way. The next day we switched. On the home we were able to play underneath a waterfall which was really fun. 

The next two days our group was split up to go to three different schools for community service. Our students had raised enough money to buy the schools a projector, printer and sound system. The twenty students I had spent the day playing with the local students, reading to them, teaching them English and installing the projector. To get to the school we had to cross a long metal suspension bridge, which gave a few students a scare but everyone made it.  It was a really moving two days. The kids were so open. I even had one girl bring me a note with her number and wrote I love you on it the second day. There was a little boy who I had a contest with taking turns doing cartwheels, head stands and other tricks. All those contests with my cousin Molly paid off!  We also learned how to plow a terrace with two bulls near the school, after a day of picking up garbage. 

The next night we camped on the beach next to a river. It was a beautiful night and a hilarious experience as many people had never camped with just a sleeping bag and using the bathroom outside. We woke up early to head out to do some whitewater rafting the next day. After that, we went to our last location in the busy city of Kathmandu. The students had the next day to shop and most of them took full advantage of the time and cheap prices. They bought a lot of shirts, pants, jewelry, North Face gear, and Buddhist and Hindu trinkets. 

The next morning some of us woke up early to go to a Tibetan Buddhist temple. It was an incredible experience watching the monks chant and the people walking around spinning the prayer wheels. 

We left Kathmandu around 4:50 pm and finally arrived at 5 am at school.  It was incredible to see all the parents lined up to pick up their kids, and how excited they were to see each other. There were some tears and a lot of smiles. 

The trip was a huge success. The students were so well behaved and we made it out without any real injuries. We had a few kids get sick, a few cuts and bruises, a bloody nose on the way back from the airport and one black eye from a student who was playing soccer against local kids, but overall I think everyone learned a lot about Nepal and themselves.