The Adventures of Grover and Tylene: A picture's worth a thousand words Part 1. September 3, 2008

Another week, another blog...and all y'all who are keeping up with the blog should note that this is the second one this week. One might say this is the official "weekly blog posting" while the "first day of school" was just a monumentous occasion best shared by itself.

Now, I know how excited you'll all be to hear that this post will have pictures and everything. Keep in mind that I haven't had a lot of time to sight see in Kuwait yet, but I've done the best I could. I have a loverly break at the beginning of October that will definately add to the pictoral account of the adventures of Grover and Tylene.

Now, we'll go back a little in the story to the almost missed flight.

Here you see Grover, safe and sound at the Frankfurt Airport. He was a little bit concerned that he wouldn't make it to this leg of the flight, but once we were on the plane, he was good to go! Grover would like to remind all travellers that, when travelling, especially internationally, NEVER, EVER leave the airport!

Welcome to Kuwait City!.

This is the view from the plane (duh) as we flew into Kuwait City on Saturday, August 15th. It was really beautiful to see all the lights. It also was quite amazing to see this city come out of almost nowhere...one minute it's blackness, the next we're "home".

Brunch in Kuwait

This is the view from the restaurant that the school took all the new staff to for brunch. If only I could remember the name of it. Anywho, it's right on Gulf Road (aptly named because it's...you guessed it, right on the Gulf...which, just as a point of interest, we call the Arabic Gulf, not the Persian Gulf.

Thanks to my dear friend Jenny, I now know that we ate at Jean's Grill.

Dinner at Palm Palace

Alright, just so that everyone sees that I am actually alive, and my blog is not being maintained by a ghost writer (or Grover), I have included a picture of me with two of my new friends in Kuwait. I'm the one in the middle (tee hee hee...please note: I was a rebel...wore my strapless blouse out for supper.) On the left is my team member/apartment floor mate Jessie. She is from Minnesota. Jessie lives across the hall from me as well as teaches across the hall. On the right is Sally. She teaches grade two and is from Nova Scotia.

My classroom...the sad beginning...

Upon arrival at my school, my classroom was less than orderly. After hours and hours of cleaning, this is what it still looked like. That week we spent getting our classrooms ready definately took considerable effort.

My Classroom...the first day of school

This was technically taken the night before the last day of school. I spent about 10 hours at school on Saturday doing the "last minute" prep work so that Sunday morning I could come in and feel "ready"

This was the first time that I've had to turn the lights on in my classroom...I have a wall of windows essentially, and it is loverly to have natural light pouring into my classroom everyday. Currently, the children appreciate the heat that accompanies the light because the ac in my classroom is too cold.

At the back of the classroom is our opening activity bulletin board. It is now covered with apples that demonstrates one of the "Attitudes" that the children bring to the classroom.

In the PYP, attitudes and learner profiles are integrated into everything the students do. Good for me to incorporate the attitudes into their introductory activity.

Once again, another pic of the classroom on the last day before school started. Those who are interested in Grover's journey...stay tuned. His first day of school pics haven't been transfered to the blog yet.

I have discovered that posting pictures on a blog is a bit of a pain in the ass (oops, I cursed). Anywho, as such...stay tuned for more from the exciting adventures of Grover and Tylene...next stop Fahaheel (What a great word... it's sounds just like it looks...go on, try it once or twice!)

G&T