Teaching Adventures

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!

Mt Evans

Ryan on top of the world Mt Evans

Ireland Aran Island

Blue sheep

Ireland

nyc

Niagara Hornblower

My mom and Tom and us in Niagara

My Mom and I

Monday, June 9, 2014

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.