Baking in a Foreign Country. You convert grams to cups and meticulously measure. You use foresight to buy and bring a Fahrenheit temperature gauge from America. Your experience warned you that your foreign oven will either have a Celsius gauge or, more likely, no way to measure how hot it is. And still they don't turn out. Those chocolate chip cookies you wanted to make for your book club are just okay, even though you spring for the brand name chips, the expensive butter and the rare, and thus, pricey brown sugar. Is it because the oven heats differently, because of the strong molasses aroma of the sugar, or maybe quality and price of butter don't match? Who knows. I sure don't. As a baker I hate extending energy and not getting perfection. In that regard, my book club baking was a fail. Baking in a foreign land.
Book Club.
Book Club was great though. I squeaked through it and had to call in sick the next day but that was not a result of the meeting or the baking. (And we did eat all the cookies.)
Next month we are reading:
I've never heard of it, but I'm up for it.
In March it will be:
Calling in Sick/ Teaching without a Voice.
At the end of the day, my patience is thin and student's attention is waning. I had laid out his 2 choices, 1) stop blurting during the lesson or 2) continue to blurt. If he did the first he could remain in class, the second would result in leaving. He chose the latter so I told him go sit with the class across the hall. He began to argue, so, in my most serious do-NOT-argue-with-me voice I said "Go!" What came out was a chipmunk chirp. Everyone was quiet but, I couldn't help breaking into a smile and so the entire class fell into hysteria. Minus my 2 sensitive children who were telling everyone, "It's not nice to laugh at the teacher." They were also the ones who offered to read for me, asked if I needed water, and looked intently concerned the entire day. The poor choice making boy left the class and I called in sick the next morning.
Free Medicine
Here when I send a child to the nurse, (I have to write a very specific pass EVERY time, but I digress,) the children actually get medicine provided by the school. *Bonus. So do I. I got some awesome, numbing cough drops which I was too lazy and cheap to get for myself. Snow Day. I pinned this to my Middle East Pinterest board way back thinking, funny. Though applicable for Nebraska, it's ironic for Kuwait.
But in the middle of winter, in Kuwait, I did just receive 2 unexpected days off. It will never have a cute poster on Pinterest though. "Due to the Saudi king's unfortunate death there will be no school for students and faculty..."
A little more about that here: The King of Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, died Friday at the age of 90 from a lung infection. Many Arab nations, including Kuwait, announced a period of mourning. All government ministries have shut down for three days. The king was an ally during the Gulf war. His brother, in his late 70's and also reportedly not of the best health, is the new king. I read an article reporting that no policies or political changes are expected to take place in the kingdom. Buying an Abaya. Because of the above, my planned Old Kuwait City tour was also a cancelled this weekend. Boo. Instead I went to a Souk(market) and purchased an abaya, hijab and nicab, all in black. An abaya is the long sleeved, loose fitting dress women often wear outside over their clothes. The hijab is the scarf you use to cover your head and the niqab is the square that goes across your face, only showing your eyes. All three pieces are sold separately. At least, that was the case in the ones I purchased. I've heard it is wise just to have one in case of an emergency.
Do you know how to wear a hijab? Well if you are curious, check out this video:
Send me a picture if you try it out. :)
About the above picture: I have never seen a burqa here. Chadors are rare. Hijabs are the most common, but Niqabs (worn with the hijab) is also quite common, though I've never personally talked to anyone with one on.
Biweekly.
I have been grappling with the idea of only publishing my blog every other week, or biweekly. Because I just don't have many novel things to share anymore. I then wondered, Biweekly? Wait, does that mean once every two weeks or twice a week? There is a big difference between those.
Quick Google search reveals:
adjective & adverb
1. appearing or taking place every two weeks or twice a week. For example, "a biweekly bulletin".
Well. That clears things right up.
Regardless, I'm planning to publish every other week from now on.
