National Day and Thoughts on Self-Expression and Sandy Hook

The day after tomorrow is National Day! They get it POPPIN' for this day. Not only do folks bring out their Beemers, Benzes and Bentleys, but they also trot out their camels, falcons and donkeys (and eagles and tigers). They feast and make merry.

I'll definitely ask someone to let me hold one. With my bare hand. And if anyone asks you how I roll, tell them like that. Barehanding a falcon.



"Catch me convincing Qataris to ghost-ride the whip on National Day..." #bars

This is just...ill.

According to Wikipedia:

"Qatar National Day (18 December) is an opportunity to recognise and celebrate the actions of Qatar's forefathers who endured severe hardships and paid a dear price for the unity of their nation. Qatar National Day also emphasizes the identity and history of the country, embodies the ideals and aspirations that the country was founded on and pays tribute to the men and women who participated in building the nation, especially the Al Thani family, the current leaders of Qatar."

It also means that tomorrow (the day it's celebrated in school), the kids come dipped in their best threads, food is plentiful, there will be performances, a few animals on campus AND the kids are dismissed EARLY!


And of course, we are off on Tuesday!








Friday, I will be having a traditional Iraqi dinner with the family of one of my students! Fish - YUMSTERS! Maybe this? -

Omega 300s

Apparently, if we mistakenly teach geometry by drawing a 6 pointed star (i.e. Star of David), we could be in HOT water. You know why, don't you? Of course you do.

"And this, kids, is a dodecagon. Relax. Not a Jewish one. It's non-denominational."

The school improved the wi-fi connection at our apartment building, which we all find very exciting because Skype is infinitely more major here (at least to us) than it was at home, and you need a good connection to really live. And I don't get the unlimited data love like I had back in the States so 3G (no 4G here yet) isn't an option I wanna take advantage of.

Who am I kidding - I don't Skype, call, text, email, any of that. They STILL haven't made communication easy enough for me. I'm waiting for y'all to catch up to my telepathy.

Did I tell y'all that my building is a converted hotel owned by the brothers who own my school? They also own cable, jewellery, car rental, department stores and a bunch of other businesses.

Individuality is not so encouraged at my school. I think it's an extension of the British instructional standards that the school used up until this year. A teacher asked if the students could at least wear colorful socks to show individuality and the response from admin was, "I don't see why they would need to wear that." If you know me well enough, you know what my daily response is to the suppression of self-expression.

I'm showing "Diary of a Wimpy Kid," there's a long church scene with crosses, priests and communion, and I don't know if I should fast-forward the movie or not.

The Knicks are so real. 21-1 at home for any stretch of time is magnificent. Quarter of the season done and we are elite. We look like this at the break and call us contenders. I already do but I understand your hesitation.

Man, how SAD is it that protecting your students from gunfire is yet another VERY REAL possible requirement that isn't in a teacher's job description? Talk about a hero. Hard to find any peace with this kinda stuff man. And let's not ever say that this stuff only happens in the boonies. Connecticut hits so close to home. It can happen wherever there are people and guns. And please let's not turn everything into a self-serving debate. I hope we all can at least agree that we are anti-the-person-who-had-the-gun-who-did-this. He used a dangerous weapon in the worst way, that's a fact and that's a statement about dangerous people and access to dangerous things HOWEVER you want to look at it. A living breathing pro- or op-ponent of gun control shouldn't feel smugly satisfied by being able to argue and/or prove their point regarding the issue. Ok, you're right. Or wrong. Over 20 still died. And this feeling I have about these victims is no stronger or weaker than the feelings I've had about the lives that have been lost that I've heard about my whole life growing up in the hood. It's all just...it's tragic.

Y'all have a great day. I'm gonna go make mine greater, because I've been off for 25 minutes, but I'm blogging off of their ethernet game - you know how I do! Peace!