Let The Dust Days Begin

As salam alikum,

Wowzers (by the way, I used to HATE that word until I discovered they say it on inspector gadget). And even now, I'm second guessing myself on whether or not that's cool. But, wowzers... life is just crazy sometimes, eh?

In choir, we're singing an opera about.. ah crud I don't really know but it involves witches. So, naturally, we will wear witches noses.. And I was excited for them and my friend was like, "can I leave?" Lol. At least my friends are the non- judging type. :)

Let's see, some must share events, ideas, frustrations, etc. in the every day life of Ms. Tiffany. Here's some solid advice about your first year of teaching: accept- early on that you suck at teaching until further notice, USE YOUR RESOURCES (extra emphasis intended), make friends with the good people and tolerate the rest, eat red delicious apples... Seriously!, find ways to "control" or "navigate" those annoying, ever flowing ideas about teaching that completely take over the inside of your brain, "mention" to your students that you love chocolate and hope for a prompt back asking, "what kind?", pay attention to where s^*# is and how to get s^*# done efficiently (reliable go-to people), understand what they mean by having clear and concise expectations and procedures AND also be aware that these two things are completely different, practice smiling in uncomfortable situations because you WILL have a parent who annoys the living daylights out of you, and phrases like "is that dust or fog,".."thanks god,".. "miss, why you wear your hair open?".."humdullah".. become part of your every day conversations. Also, everything is not in something. I'm not in Thursday. I'm not in my table. I suppose for 6 and 7 year olds learning more than one language at a time, I can forgive this for now.

Well, dust days have officially began. Reminder * I need to figure out what color gets us out of school. Apparently, it's unusual to see the kind of fog we've had this past week in Kuwait. Mix that in with a lot of dust and absolutely terrible driving (exaggerated, and genuinely concerned voice). Sometimes, I just wonder what my lungs look like. Khalas, we've.. as in us newbies... still have yet to experience our first "real" dust storm. :s

On another note, this last week, I went to the Tarak Rajab Museum, a jazz quartet at the Kuwait National Theatre, permanently "borrowed" a plate from the coffee bean, went to The Early Bird, had shirts made at the Friday Market as well as a rug, indulged in bread and hummus and bread and hummus and bread and hummus oh my! The museum was pretty fascinating, even considering I'm definitely NOT a museum type of gal. I usually find my way straight to the potato chips and hold people's coats. Check out pictures on FB if you want to see it. :) The jazz concert was nice. It for sure had Arab style concert etiquette: Videos  cameras, walking out and about, texting, laughing, smoking, are all things that are normal. The Early Bird- best. breakfast. food. ever. (all you need to know). Hmm, having a shirt or anything really made specifically to your liking for super cheap is a nice benefit to living here. Oh, and inshallah... latest rumor about the apartment situation is that it will be one in a half more months. HA. Am I supposed to think it's actually going to happen someday??


It's hard to believe that January is almost over! Where does the time go? I mean, it IS still January right?!?

Alright folks, let's get down to business and get real about this whole living on your own and being grown up thing. It's exactly everything all at the same time. You jump on this roller coaster because you want to. Yes, you WANT to. The top of the ride may very well be the best moments you will ever have in life, and boy, the bottom makes you question everything in this life. You get on this ride, though, because you don't want to wonder for the rest of your life what the top of the ride involved.

I have been stretched in every way possible. Seriously, Kuwait! COMMIT TO SOMETHING for once (like the ability to throw trash on the ground anywhere). Geez, if Kuwait committed to something like that.. well, that's just scary to think about. A teacher's worst flaw: seeing the potential and knowing you will not be able to change it.

I think it's really important for an expat to find that "thing" that keeps you sane. For me, it's jazz band. I don't have to worry about not being good enough anymore, or "holding people back" as they might say in college. I feel like I can embrace my mistakes and do it proudly. They always say.. if your going to mess up, mess up loudly and with confidence. When you take this approach to music, it's so much fun. When you're not so worried about things, then you can relax. When you play music relaxed, your sound is way better. Win, win.

Anyways, to sum up this rant or perhaps leave it with a question: Does money truly equal happiness?


Yella, More to come: sharing about this place they call the Middle East..

sincerely,

a girl who could reeealllly use a big ole' dust storm tomorrow

R.I.P. Uncle Rich

You know you like writing when you wake up in the middle of the night most nights and the first thing that reaches your mind is what you either forgot on your blog or what you want to write about next. I'll start with what I forgot on my last post.

First of all, one thing for sure that I forgot to mention on my last post is how unbelievably quiet it is when you are not in the city! I was amazed how effortless and easy it was to fall asleep in CT at my sisters. It was quiet and dark. It was also super easy to get groceries, and just get to places in general.

Over the Christmas vacation, I knew how much I truly love spending time with my family. I literally loved every minute I had with them. We did so many fun things. One thing I did not mention on the last post was when we went to Carnegie Hall in NYC. We were going to try to go when we were in the city during summer, but it was in renovation. As we were contemplating things to do, my mom suggested we check to see if Carnegie was open. It was and we went on a tour! I LOVED it. Most opera houses or stages have some kind of wood in it, but Carnegie is made of cement and steel. The sound inside was phenomenal. It was like you could hear everything so clear and loud, kind of like scuba diving. We got to sing my dad happy birthday, and it was neat to hear it inside of Carnegie! :) We also did some other things in the city. We went to watch the skating at the Rockefeller, and we ate at a really nice restaurant for my dad's b-day.

We went to a New York Giants game in New Jersey. It was pretty neat as it was the first professional football game I had been to. It was so cold to me (especially after being in the desert) that I had several layers on. They included: long johns, sweat pants, regular socks, smart wool socks, a tank top, long sleeved shirt, hoodie, winter coat, earmuffs, a hat, a scarf, a Carhart jumpsuit, boots (with warmers), and gloves (with warmers). If you think I looked ridiculous  you are right! However, I bet people were wishing they looked like me after a while. The game was very sad in the beginning because the family, school, staff, and communities from Sandy Hook were invited to create the line ups in the beginning. We also observed a moment of silence. Wow, that hit home.

Well, life back in Kuwait is going good. I attended my first cinema movie. We went to the 360 mall, and believe it or not, snuck... yes, snuck popcorn into the theatre. It's just so strange that Kuwait would even care! 360 Mall is what most of my students talk about and they LOVE going there. It's like the high class mall. You will see stores like Coach, Prada, etc. Anyways, we watched Les Miserables. I hadn't seen or heard the musical before but wow I fell in love with it! It has amazing songs. Also, they filmed it all live. I think it really makes a difference and it feels real that way. Being in Kuwait, they sensor movies so we missed a good, 10- 20 minutes. Inshallah. The theatre was so nice. The seats were really cushioned and it angled down. I think it may have been the size of an IMAX theatre. I should look into that. Also, in 360 Mall, they have famous chandeliers by an artist from Washington. There is two I think and each one costed more than one million US Dollars.

School is going good. Everyone seemed to get back into the routine of things nicely. I can't believe I am already more than half way done with my first year of teaching! I am getting more and more used to phrases such as "can I close/open the lights?".. "I make like this..".. "Yella, Yella, so and so.. " (Yella means hurry up!)

Thanks to my sister and her husband, I got an alto saxophone  and got to enjoy playing it in jazz! I had been excited about going all week and it was so much fun. We are really coming together. We have a piano player, a drummer, a bass player, 3 trombones, 3 trumpets, and 3 saxophones  I am so happy I found this group. I am also involved with the Ahmadi choir. We are going to perform an opera soon. Inshallah. I am not sure what all it will entail, but I am ready to go with it! I've heard a variety of things like masks, witches noses, capes, memorizing the music, etc... but we all know how it goes when we "hear" things in Kuwait. :P

Well, now I want to write about a very special person. I want to dedicate this post to my Uncle Rich. He passed very unexpectedly from a massive heart attack. I was back in Kuwait not even 24 hours and I heard the news. My worst nightmare had come true. I lost someone I love, and I am so far away. Words cannot express how badly I wanted to be with my family at this time. My Uncle Rich was a great man. He was one of the first people to tell me he was proud of me to come to Kuwait. He always read my blogs and supported me. I have a very deep sense of pride when I think about my family. Being a Thorne, means you have an unmeasurable amount of strength,  a fantastic sense of humor, and are a genuine human. It still doesn't feel real, and probably wont for a while. I just want to say that my Uncle Rich was a great person and that he is missed so very much.

Until next time...