Something a Little Different

You Don't Know if You Don't Ask.

Was celebrating the birthday of a friend, this week, at The Cheesecake Factory.  The server went to ask the manager if they had any free birthday deserts, per our request. He came to our table to tell us "no, but since you asked, okay". We got three huge deserts. Free!

Free Books and Movies.

The combination of the transient teacher population and pirated movie venders, create this: 

It's dusty and disorganized.  And just when you think you made out with a couple of treasures, you realize the DVD box is empty. But free is free.

I am about ready to dive in again to update my Chuck love. 

Arabic.  

I have resumed my Arabic lessons. I graduated from the Primer course to the Basic course.  Both are fancy ways to say Beginner level classes. 

My Thoughts About Arabic: 

Okay I get it. Arabic is written from left to right and each of the 27 characters represents one sound. okay, it's annoying but, I understand I have to know the initial, middle and ending ways to write each letter because many characters change their shape is they are connected to preceding or folowing letters. But WHY. Why do I have to pronounce characters that are not written and how? HOW am I suppose to instinctively know what the vowel vocalizations are when nobody actually adds them?

Sticky Fingers.
Someone in my class has sticky fingers.  Luckily nothing of great value has been taken, but candy, boxes of pencils, a gallon bag of glue sticks, my tape dispenser (they were very intrigued with it. ?) and most recently, one child's new Trash Pack collection have been lifted from my classroom.

Fads.

In the short 5 months we have been in school, I have seen 4 big fads pass through the student body.  The students are required to wear uniforms, so I am only referring to toy fads. It seems like I see a new item and then within two weeks, everyone has them. Here are the 4 prominent fads, in order of appearance. 

Loom Bands

Thinking Putty

Tiny magnets.  In my opinion, these should be outlawed. The boys are constantly making beards or nose rings which require one magnet in the mouth or nose.  Not safe. NOT SAFE. They have been outlawed from my class. 

Are these in America, too?

Something a Little Different.

Visited a Kuwaiti version of a farmer's market this weekend, Qout Market. It was on a rooftop of a downtown building.

Winter has Passed.

Yep. I guess we experienced a mild winter this year. And I guess it is now over. Sweet.

I am dubious that this was accurate.  On average it has been getting to around 77- 80 degrees fahrenheit.