The Adventures of Grover and Tylene: Just a day, just an...ordinary day!

Well, the time has come again for another post on the good ol' blog. I know, you must be thinking, "Really, doesn't she have anything better to do?" Well, the truth is, at this moment, I don't.

It's nearing the end of another fabulous day of work. I am on my second prep...did I mention before that I have, on average, two hours of prep time a day? Tomorrow is my planning afternoon and I'm finished everything that I can do between now and then so it will be a free day for me. I will be able to get caught up on those things that have been getting away from me...marking big projects, etc. I will also do some more unit planning, get a few things underway for the rest of the year.

This week has been off to a better start than last week. Well, I suppose when the first two days of the week don't end with bomb scares, that makes the world a much brighter and shinier place. Yesterday I sent a novel to the English department head who will send it to the Ministry of Education to get approved to use in the classroom. Censors...a very strange thing to work around. At any rate, there shouldn't be too much of a problem with the whole situation. I am confident that this time next week, we'll be well into novel study. Interestingly enough, though, we kind of ignore copyright and rather than having copies purchased, they will just be photocopied. That kind of irritates me, but really, what can I do? The option is to not do literature circles or novel studies...I'm not comfortable with either of those options either. One more thing I miss about home!

Went to the grocery store on Valentine's Day...a holiday, by the way, that the government is trying to ban here. I'm all for the banning of Valentine's Day, not because I don't believe in love (those of you who know me well know that is far from the truth) but rather, because it's so in-your-face and commercial. But anyway, back to the story. Was in the baking aisle (which is where I spend a lot of my time...baking is a feel good activity!) trying to decide on which brand of chocolate chips to buy (Hersey's versus Toll House...I like chipets, but they've been sold out lately)...anywho, like I was saying, I was in the midst of the great chocolate debate when, out of the blue, this older gentleman, dressed traditional clothing, stops and says, "Excuse me, haven't I met you before?" To which I reply, "No, I don't think so".

Foolishly, I though our conversation was over. I was sorely mistaken! Instead, he then said, "I'm sure I've seen you in Jabriya" (a suburb here). Again, I said, "Nope, I'm afraid not." He was persistent and then said "Would you please come join me for coffee upstairs" But this point I was ready to grab ANY bag of chocolate chips, throw it at him and run for cover. But instead I calmly said, "no thank you". He made one last attempt (Or so I thought) and offered to give me his phone number in case I ever wanted him to give me a ride somewhere.

Now, at this point, I must remind you all that I'm technically not supposed to look men in the eye here. I do, just 'cause I spent so much time learning to not walk staring at the ground. But still, buddy needs to take a hint and back off. Even in Canada such behaviour would be considered creepy, not sweet!

Back to the story...four aisles later (or maybe more...I'm on the other side of the escalator now, into the peanut butter/cereal land, when buddy shows up with flowers. He hands them to me and says, "Here, these are for you." Again, I reject his advances and he tries two more times before I say, "Thank you, but I'm not interested". Then he left.

Mom's response, when I told her this story was, "Was he good looking?" I was mortified at such a question. I suppose, however, I should be flattered by the whole thing. It would just be nice if I could meet someone and it didn't leave me feeling like I had to keep watching over my shoulder all the time. Creepy! There! That's my social life in Kuwait. I could have married some dude from Pakistan a while back and now I'm sure I could have become buddy's 5th wife! Maybe my standards are just too darned high!

Teaching this week, I'd like to think, is going to fly by. Who knows though. (Oops, as I read back where ever is my transition into this paragraph?) Next week I'm off to Dubai. The following week off to Bahrain, then only two more trips until I come home. It's all very exciting in a "I live in the desert" sort of way.

And on that note, I will sign off. Must go pick up the kidlets from their Art class. I hope this message finds you all warm, snuggled tight in your bed. I'm back to using air conditioning at home and at school on a regular basis. Sad, but true.

Lots of Love

G & T