Over the last couple of weeks we have been busy, hence no post for a while, sorry mom. 3 weekends ago I was in Dubai for an IB conference. There are some pretty exciting changes to the History curriculum, so Else and I took off to learn about these changes. While we were there we were able to hang out with Alex and Brenda, and see some of the crazy and unbelievable sites in Dubai. We saw the Dubai Mall, which was nothing short of overwhelming. I would definitely be lost in there still, if it wasn't for dumb luck and Else. There is an aquarium, in the mall, with guys scuba diving. There is an ice skating rink. There are hundreds and hundreds of stores, which are somewhat organized by category, such as sports stores, shoe stores and stores I can't even dream of affording. We were able to eat some Mexican and Asian food, which was a plus with the lack of good quality Mexican and Asian food here in Beirut.
This past weekend was Teacher's Day, so we had Monday off of school. My exceptional students were so kind with great emails wishing me a happy teacher's day. The holiday is big here, with stores having teacher's day displays in the window. Gretchen, Margaret and I went to the Library Hotel in Cyprus Friday night til Sunday night to celebrate with some hot stone massages, Mexican Train Dominoes, and reading in the sun. The Library Hotel is probably the most quaint hotel, with incredible sisters that run the place. Gretchen and I took some great runs/hikes up into the mountains there, checking out incredible flowers, cactuses (cacti?), and just some general peace and quiet, much needed after the busyness of Beirut. There is an incredible artist right by the Library, who collects rocks from the beaches and turns them into incredible statues and planters.
Ryan spent the weekend busy as well. He ran our track meet, then headed up to the mountains with Mike, Phil and some other people to spend the night in Becharre. The next morning, by 5 am, he took off on a 19k snowshoeing trek, uphill in the mountains with the Lebanese Army. It looked beautiful in the pictures, but he was definitely sore.
Today Ryan is off with the JV bball teams to Abu Dhabi for their end of the year tournament. They are looking to bring back a victory. He has a great group of guys, and one of the nights they are there, they are going to a Drake concert. That should be hilarious.
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
Monday, February 16, 2015
Egypt
Two weekends ago we were fortunate enough to take a trip for Mike's birthday to go to the pyramids. We took off with a group on Saturday morning, with Ryan meeting us later since he had a soccer tournament. We stayed at the Marriott Casino hotel, on part of the island in Cairo, right next to the Nile river. We took a cruise on a Faluka on the Nile the first night, that we had to negotiate to get since there were no cruises leaving when we were there. We negotiated a nice price, and when the cruise was almost over, another boat brought us some snacks to enjoy.
The next day we all went to the pyramids. It was different than I imagined, and breathtaking. The pyramids are right near the city, so people have houses right there that they can always look out their window and be staring at the Great Pyramid. The Sphinx was a lot smaller than I thought it was going to be, even though Ryan warned me about this fact. We climbed into all three pyramids, which was a little scary since it is a tight space, and pretty steep. Ryan had to be basically on his hands and knees going through. We did take some more pictures on camel rides. I felt bad since tourism is down in Egypt, clearly the people aren't making as much as they usually did selling to people. They were desperate to sell us something.
That night we enjoyed a great feast right on the Nile with our group of friends from all over the world. We left Egypt right as Putin was flying in, so that was probably good timing.
This last week we had our fundraising dinner for our Bali trip at Cru, a restaurant in Hamra. Gretchen and I wanted to contribute since the girls are doing so much to raise the $10,000 we need. We managed to raise over $600 at the dinner, which was really nice. Cru is an incredible restaurant and wine bar, and the owner, Karen, is from Indiana and is a wonderful person.
Ryan was gone from Wednesday to late Saturday in Cyprus running a soccer tournament for boys and girls, JV and Varsity. It was a huge undertaking, but overall went smoothly. The Varsity girls won first place, JV boys and girls took fourth and JV girls also received the sportsmanship award. Ryan put the tournament together since last year no teams wanted to travel here, so he hosted it in Cyprus.
Sunday we had a nice brunch at Jesse's apartment in Monot. She has a great place, that she has decorated incredibly since she is a very talented artist. I should have taken pictures!
I leave Thursday this week to go to an IB conference in Dubai. There are some new changes to the History curriculum, so Else and I are heading to there to learn all about the changes.
Track has started, so we have practice Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Last week was a little rough with the big storm that came through. There was some pretty big damage. It is funny, last year it only rained 2 times all year, and this year we have had some impressive storms. Ryan and I saw a lot of the damage yesterday when we were out on our run. The track team looks to be pretty good this year, a lot of solid athletes. We will travel to Dubai for our international meet in March.
The next day we all went to the pyramids. It was different than I imagined, and breathtaking. The pyramids are right near the city, so people have houses right there that they can always look out their window and be staring at the Great Pyramid. The Sphinx was a lot smaller than I thought it was going to be, even though Ryan warned me about this fact. We climbed into all three pyramids, which was a little scary since it is a tight space, and pretty steep. Ryan had to be basically on his hands and knees going through. We did take some more pictures on camel rides. I felt bad since tourism is down in Egypt, clearly the people aren't making as much as they usually did selling to people. They were desperate to sell us something.
That night we enjoyed a great feast right on the Nile with our group of friends from all over the world. We left Egypt right as Putin was flying in, so that was probably good timing.
This last week we had our fundraising dinner for our Bali trip at Cru, a restaurant in Hamra. Gretchen and I wanted to contribute since the girls are doing so much to raise the $10,000 we need. We managed to raise over $600 at the dinner, which was really nice. Cru is an incredible restaurant and wine bar, and the owner, Karen, is from Indiana and is a wonderful person.
Ryan was gone from Wednesday to late Saturday in Cyprus running a soccer tournament for boys and girls, JV and Varsity. It was a huge undertaking, but overall went smoothly. The Varsity girls won first place, JV boys and girls took fourth and JV girls also received the sportsmanship award. Ryan put the tournament together since last year no teams wanted to travel here, so he hosted it in Cyprus.
Sunday we had a nice brunch at Jesse's apartment in Monot. She has a great place, that she has decorated incredibly since she is a very talented artist. I should have taken pictures!
I leave Thursday this week to go to an IB conference in Dubai. There are some new changes to the History curriculum, so Else and I are heading to there to learn all about the changes.
Track has started, so we have practice Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Last week was a little rough with the big storm that came through. There was some pretty big damage. It is funny, last year it only rained 2 times all year, and this year we have had some impressive storms. Ryan and I saw a lot of the damage yesterday when we were out on our run. The track team looks to be pretty good this year, a lot of solid athletes. We will travel to Dubai for our international meet in March.
Monday, February 2, 2015
Living Abroad
This week had me reflecting a lot about living overseas. There are so many things I have learned from living in a different country with a different culture than what I have grown up with in Chicago. However, there are so many ways in which things are similar too. The people here are much more hands on, hugging and kissing people when meeting more frequently, walking with arms around each other, sitting with arms around friends and more. It is really nice to see such outward signs of friendship and love. I am still constantly amazed at the generosity as well of the people in this country too. Today ordering a Saj at the place by school I only had a 100,000 ($75) and Feras, the owner, didn't have change since it was early in the morning. He was prepared to say just pay me next time no problem. I can't even imagine this happening in Chicago.
There was a moment this weekend where Ryan and I were a little homesick as well. This comes and goes of course, but with the Superbowl on Sunday we reminisced about all the Superbowl parties from before. We always went to Ryan's friend Jake and Kelly's house and all of us got together with great snacks and some watched the game, others the commercials and most importantly half time show. I sent them a text yesterday to find out about what snacks they were serving. However, when hearing about the blizzard going through Chicago, and the trouble my friends were having getting to their Superbowl parties, while sitting in a t-shirt and jeans here, I quickly got over my homesickness. I do not miss that snow and cold!
We had a great weekend, starting on Thursday at Jai for dinner with Nick, Margaret, Gretchen and Mike. Jai is the Asian take out place with only a round table in the kitchen so you are the only ones who are there eating while the food is being prepared next to you. The food was delicious and sitting at a big round table like that makes it seem like a big family meal, and these people have so quickly become my family over here. Friday Ryan and Mike had basketball games and Saturday there were two Football (Soccer) games that we attended. Our Varsity is ready for the championship game of the League Ryan started this year next week after demolishing the big rival IC, the school we face and share the road with. Saturday night we did a progressive dinner in a building where some teachers live, where we started at the ground floor, and worked our way up eating appetizers, dinner, and dessert on the different levels. It was a great time with lots of different food and people all over.
We are heading to the Pyramids this weekend! I am so excited. A group of us are flying out Saturday morning and coming back Monday. We don't have school on Monday, so it is a great way to spend the long weekend. The flight is only an hour long so it is nice and easy to get there. We have been talking to a lot of people here who have lived there before, so we have the inside scoop on where to go. Right after Ryan heads to Cyprus for the big conference football tournament, with jv and varsity boys and girls playing. We are going to be busy the next few weekends, we realized that the two of us won't both be in Beirut, without guests on a weekend until after Spring break, and then only for 2 weekends before week without walls. So crazy and fun!
There was a moment this weekend where Ryan and I were a little homesick as well. This comes and goes of course, but with the Superbowl on Sunday we reminisced about all the Superbowl parties from before. We always went to Ryan's friend Jake and Kelly's house and all of us got together with great snacks and some watched the game, others the commercials and most importantly half time show. I sent them a text yesterday to find out about what snacks they were serving. However, when hearing about the blizzard going through Chicago, and the trouble my friends were having getting to their Superbowl parties, while sitting in a t-shirt and jeans here, I quickly got over my homesickness. I do not miss that snow and cold!
We had a great weekend, starting on Thursday at Jai for dinner with Nick, Margaret, Gretchen and Mike. Jai is the Asian take out place with only a round table in the kitchen so you are the only ones who are there eating while the food is being prepared next to you. The food was delicious and sitting at a big round table like that makes it seem like a big family meal, and these people have so quickly become my family over here. Friday Ryan and Mike had basketball games and Saturday there were two Football (Soccer) games that we attended. Our Varsity is ready for the championship game of the League Ryan started this year next week after demolishing the big rival IC, the school we face and share the road with. Saturday night we did a progressive dinner in a building where some teachers live, where we started at the ground floor, and worked our way up eating appetizers, dinner, and dessert on the different levels. It was a great time with lots of different food and people all over.
We are heading to the Pyramids this weekend! I am so excited. A group of us are flying out Saturday morning and coming back Monday. We don't have school on Monday, so it is a great way to spend the long weekend. The flight is only an hour long so it is nice and easy to get there. We have been talking to a lot of people here who have lived there before, so we have the inside scoop on where to go. Right after Ryan heads to Cyprus for the big conference football tournament, with jv and varsity boys and girls playing. We are going to be busy the next few weekends, we realized that the two of us won't both be in Beirut, without guests on a weekend until after Spring break, and then only for 2 weekends before week without walls. So crazy and fun!
Sunday, January 25, 2015
Guests and Fancy Fundraisers
We had another busy week this past week. Thursday night we had a fancy fundraising dinner for school at the Phoenicia Hotel. The fundraiser was fun because we were able to see so many different parents out to support the school. ACS is raising money for a new playground, and with this one event they raised over $119,000! There was a raffle with over 20 great prizes, and I won a Roberto Cavalli clutch! Anything to help the school!
We also had some fun news this week. Our friend AnnMarie from Chicago, has a daughter, Kaitlin, who is a senior at the University of Chicago Lab school. She has May off to do a senior project, and she asked if she can come stay with us for 2 weeks! We are so excited for her to come, and we already have so many things we can't wait to show her.
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Back to school
We are back to work after 3 rain days. The school was closed from Wednesday to Friday due to a crazy storm that hit Beirut, and all of Lebanon. We were watching the storm last Tuesday night from our neighbors apartment that has a view of the sea, and it was wild. There were waves crashing over the sidewalk and street on the corniche, which made running a lot of fun! It also got chilly here, which is a big change from last year. Our apartment, and most apartments here, aren't set up for cold weather, and they do get cold! The temperature dropped down to around 40 or 50 degrees Fahrenheit, which is obviously not as cold as were used to being from Chicago, but is definitely cold here.
The three days were nice to help get back on the right time zone. Ryan had no issue, but that is because he was off all of Winter Vacation. I am still struggling with sleeping all night, but it's getting better.
Thursday night we celebrated Serbian Christmas with Nick, Michelle and Lucia. Nick's family is from Serbia so he included us in his celebrating. Friday we celebrated Jane's birthday with Margaret, Joe, Jess, Eric and Zainab, which included dinner at our favorite Italian place, Dottore. They pulled out all the stops including massive sparklers in her tiramasu. It was fun catching up with everyone on their travels during the break. Saturday night we attended a concert at the Rose House that included an Arabic singer Maya Hobeika, and a small orchestra that accompanied her. Even though I didn't understand most of what was said, she had a beautiful voice that made the evening incredibly enjoyable. Sunday was a beautiful day, so we headed out around town, walking around the different neighborhoods and parks here.
It was so much fun to see all the students again on Monday. I think everyone was refreshed and ready to be back to school. The sophomores are so fun at this point in the year, since they are much more mature than they were to start the year off. It is awesome to see the change in all of them.
Ryan leaves tomorrow for a conference in Cyprus, just till Saturday, where they will be working on some details for upcoming international tournaments, including the Soccer tournament he is hosting in Cyprus in February.
The three days were nice to help get back on the right time zone. Ryan had no issue, but that is because he was off all of Winter Vacation. I am still struggling with sleeping all night, but it's getting better.
Thursday night we celebrated Serbian Christmas with Nick, Michelle and Lucia. Nick's family is from Serbia so he included us in his celebrating. Friday we celebrated Jane's birthday with Margaret, Joe, Jess, Eric and Zainab, which included dinner at our favorite Italian place, Dottore. They pulled out all the stops including massive sparklers in her tiramasu. It was fun catching up with everyone on their travels during the break. Saturday night we attended a concert at the Rose House that included an Arabic singer Maya Hobeika, and a small orchestra that accompanied her. Even though I didn't understand most of what was said, she had a beautiful voice that made the evening incredibly enjoyable. Sunday was a beautiful day, so we headed out around town, walking around the different neighborhoods and parks here.
It was so much fun to see all the students again on Monday. I think everyone was refreshed and ready to be back to school. The sophomores are so fun at this point in the year, since they are much more mature than they were to start the year off. It is awesome to see the change in all of them.
Ryan leaves tomorrow for a conference in Cyprus, just till Saturday, where they will be working on some details for upcoming international tournaments, including the Soccer tournament he is hosting in Cyprus in February.
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
Back to a routine...kind of
It's been a while since my last post-as my lovely mother reminded me over break :). However, there wasn't much happening besides the normal routine, but I did promise her to post more regularly, so here we go.
The end of the semester was wonderful, filled with holiday celebrations. There is more Christmas celebration here than in the US for sure. We had a great farmers market with a band playing Christmas music to end the year, as well as a good secret Santa. We ended the year with another rooftop gathering at Nabils, reflecting on the year and sharing in some fun memories with people that were off to all parts of the world for iur break, including Thailand, Austria, Germany, South Africa, Switzerland, London and the US. It's amazing to know how the world is so different, yet the same.
We headed to Chicago and Florida over break. We spent lots of time with family and friends and it was much needed. We did get to see Ryan's brother and sister and their spouses, who came from the east and west coast, as well as his parents and aunt and uncle. We also saw most of my mom's extended family about an hour after we landed in Chicago as well as my sister brother and their significant others. We spent many days hanging with my amazing 5 year old nephew playing light sabers and other games I don't get. Our break was not all happy though, my 32 year old cousin passed away from a heart issue related to his long struggle with juvenile diabetes. It was and is heartbreaking to think about, but I am thankful I was home to go the hospital to see him, and more importantly be there for my aunt and mother. My moms family is so incredibly close and I appreciate them so much for this fact.
Florida was nice, rainy, but nice. We did get to have our annual trip to see my aunt Doris and uncle bob in lauderdale by the sea and enjoy some delicious Xmas cookies.
We landed last night around 10 pm after leaving Sunday at 8 pm. Ryan was excited because he was able to still see Liverpool play last night and all of break. After sleeping in today, and visiting with our neighbor who has been in Italy we learned school was canceled for tomorrow due to the rain storm and heavy winds. I miss my students, don't get me wrong, but I am happy for another day off!
This coming year will see us hopefully traveling to some new places and hanging out with amazing people, on top of working at an incredible school and hopefully getting some visitors. It's always interesting after being home explaining to people how great Lebanon actually us to live in, how much I have come to love this place. We have plans to travel to Egypt, Dubai, Cyprus, Prague, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Abu Dhabi, London and Bali still this year. And I promise mom, I'll try harder to write more.
Thursday, November 20, 2014
Bahrain
These last few weeks have been flying by. The volleyball season just ended and we went out big. The girls worked do hard this year, and most were new to the sport. We only practice a few hours a week but the girls improved so much. They were an incredible group to work with, always positive and cheering eachother on. We didn't get to play a lot of games because not a lot if schools here have girls volleyball but we did end the season with our conference tournament on Bahrain. From last Wednesday to Sunday Ryan,Andrew and myself took the jv girls and boys to Bahraib. There were 20 9th and 10th graders. These students were incredible. They played so many games in the three data and were meeting lots of new people too. I love how many friends they all had after the weekend. Bahrain was interesting. We went to a Hard Rock Cafe and the mall most nights for dinner. The country seemed sterile, lots of sand and white buildings. The water around the country was pretty though. The tournament was a success with the girls getting third and the boys getting second.
This week has been busy. Sunday we came home and celebrated Ryan's birthday up at Nabils. Monday we celebrated Michelle's birthday. Tuesday we had dinner at our headmasters house with the American ambassador, some staff of ACS and staff from the embassy. Wednesday Ryan had a dinner for a coach that was retiring. As I write this he is packing to leave for Jordan tonight for Academic Games. I'll fly and meet him there Saturday to go see Petra and we will be back Sunday night. Crazy.
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