Miss Jewson

Dear DCVI

There is an interesting culture here in Kuwait.  Eating out is both a common activity and a focus of leisure time.  Purchasing food in grocery stores here can be quite expensive, and produce especially tends not to last very well, owing to the distance it has often had to travel to reach Kuwait.  Interestingly, this often means that eating out (or ordering in) is the same price or cheaper than cooking for yourself. 

Last week I had the chance to go to a small restaurant called Slider Station.  I think it must have American counterparts, as the inside is designed to look like a 1950s gas station.  Everyone is seated around a long oval counter.  The kitchen is visibile through a large window at one end of the counter, and the food is delivered by conveyor belt to the appropriate diner.  It's a hilarious way to eat, and a good way to meet people (since everyone eats at the same counter).

In addition to going out, the system for ordering in food here is an artform.  There are large central websites that have many restuarants listing their entire menus on line.  The customer can peruse the menus, and place an order for delivery from the comfort of their own computer desk.  It is free to use the service, and it cuts down on the language barriers involved in ordering over the phone.  All kinds of food are available to order, from Burger King, to fancy French food, and Indian dishes. 

On a non-food-related note, I am glad to hear all the positive reports of Europe Trip 2009.  I hope to see pictures on the school's website soon.  And Doug Moore...I will never forget my Champs.

Have a good week DCVI

Miss Jewson

I Love Jordan

Dear DCVI

Last week I had a bit of extra time off. Feb 25 and 26 are national holdiays in Kuwait, celebrating "Liberation Day" and "National Day".  I was lucky enough to spend 4 days in Jordan, another country in the Middle East.  It took about 2 hours to fly to Jordan from Kuwait.  The only airport in Jordan is in the capital city of Amman.  We arranged for a driver to pick us up in Amman and drive us the 45mins to our resort on the Dead Sea.

The drive was gorgeous.  The terraine around Amman was sort of like northern Ontario.  It is rocky with pine trees dotting the landscape.  Scrub brush and small farms give way to rocky mountain scapes.  It's gorgeous.  We passed small farms, and Bedouin camps.  Our driver stopped when we reached sea level for us (the tourists) to take pictures. 

The Dead Sea is actually located considerably below sea level, and is so salty that everyone is very bouant.  It is actually hard to stand vertically in the water, instead of floating on your stomache or your back.  Also, you float on the SURFACE, you really can read a newspaper without getting it wet!  It's a one-of-a-kind feeling.

Our third day in Jordan we went on an adventure.  Our guide took us to the Jordan River, and the spot where Jesus was supposedly baptized.  We also went up Mount Nebo to see the burial place of Moses and on to a small town called Medabo where the people specialize in making mosaics. 

All in all it was a fabulous trip, and I would love to go back!

To my fellow travellers taking flight later this month, have a GREAT TRIP!

Miss Jewson

Dear DCVI

Today I was able to participate in a new type of competition at the school.  It's called Academic Games, and it was a blast.  It's a bit like Jeopardy.  Schools enter teams of four, and teams play off against each other in 15 minute matches.  A reader poses questions to the teams, who have a chance to buzz in to answer.  Once a team has buzzed-in they have 15 seconds to answer the question.  If they get it right, they get 5 points, and the chance to answer a 2 point bonus question.  If the first team gets it wrong, the second team gets a chance to answer.  The questions are broad ranging and cover topics in physics, biology, chemistry, literature, grammar, history, geography, politics and pop culture. 

The students had various skill levels, but in teams they were generally well matched.  Fun was had by all, and it was great to see students working together as a team to compete for an academic goal.  I have no idea if we run academic games in Canada, but it might be a great new adventure!

Miss Jewson

Today there is a dust storm.  It is the last day of the semester, exams start tomorrow.  All the staff and students in high school have been review for the last four days.  Emotions are high among the students, exhaustion is high among the staff, and now, there’s a dust storm. 

Some of you I’m sure have thoughts of swirling dusty tornados, or walls of sand that can be seen for miles.   In fact, it really isn’t like either.  It’s like a fog....that you can chew.  It’s sand in the air everywhere, giving a very distinctive orange colour to the air and the light.  It looks like orange tang has been poured over the entire city.

These types of storms here are akin to major snow storms at home.  They only happen once or twice a year (to this magnitude, anyway) and the kids all go a little squirrelly.  Parents begin to show up at the school to take the kids home, although I personally would not want to be out on the roads.

It is one of those things that truly has to be experienced to be believed.  It is nothing like I expected a sand storm to be.  However, that can pretty much be said of all of the weather so far.  I did not expect it to be humid, and it was, REALLY was.  I was never expecting it to be cold, and it was...sort of.  It was cool when I returned home from Christmas.  I think the coldest day so far was 10 degrees.  Aside from the dust, it’s beautiful now.  Not too hot, around 20 degrees every day.  I have to say I am not missing the winter at all.  Sandals in February are a beautiful thing.

I have been back in Kuwait for a week now, and it seems already like I never left.  It's amazing to go so far from home (St Marys) and feel like I have come home too.  While I was home Kuwait was so far away that it seemed sort of like a sandy dream I had once,  and from here, it's hard to remember that people are living "normal", non-desert lives at home. 

Being in the Middle East has brought some of the global issues that I was peripherally aware of much closer to home (both geographically and metaphorically).  The current fighting in Gaza is a very hot topic around here.  The official stance of most Muslim Arabic countries is in support of Palestine.  In fact, when I teach here under Minsitry of Education guidelines, I refer to Israel as Occupied Palestine.  Students and their families take the issue very seriously, and many have personal, emotional ties to its outcome.

It is sometimes difficult to answer questions that students ask me, knowing that there is an "official" answer, and an answer that I would give as their teacher if we were in Canada.  I sometimes struggle with trying to have respect for the customs, beliefs and traditions of Kuwait, while at the same time considering providing information that students are asking for that may contradict official information.  It's a fine line to tread, and I hope I am doing it well.

So dear students, while you are grinding your teeth over all the information that you have to cram in while studying for exams, consider the benefits of access to all that information, without anyone to tell you what you can and cannot learn.

Miss Jewson

Winter Break

  I would like to start by letting everyone know why my blog posts just stopped.  I wasn't sure anyone was reading them (that is NOT a guilt trip) and then I began to feel weird about posting my life online, if no one was reading it, and then I got busy, and so I just didn't post.  Since I have been back a lot of people have let me know that they were following the posts, so here I am posting again. 

Tomorrow I leave to return to Kuwait, for the second half of my stint there.  The first half was fun, but stressful.  I don't think I realized until I came home how hard it actually was to get used to living there.  The first few weeks were nuts!  Like most times that are stressful though, you do it, because you don't have a choice.  It sucks to get through exams (for example) but you do it, because it's your life and you have to.  It does make me wonder exactly HOW I got through some of those first crazy weeks, but I did. 

I am looking forward to returning to Kuwait.  The best thing about being there is the people that I have met.  One of the things about this experience being hard, is that you make awesome friendships with the other people who are in the "deep end" with you. 

I was in to the school a few times while I was home.  I even got to take in the Christmas Assembly.  Well done all, it was a great time, and special congratulations to Mr Bishop and his "beard".  I have seen some of you at the school, grocery store or pyramid centre while I have been home.  It was great to get even a few minutes to find out how things are.  When you live in St. Marys it sometimes feels like things never change, but go away,even for a little while, and you realize that isn't really true, the world goes round and life goes on, even in our sleepy town. 

That;s it for now fishies.  Have a boo at my blog every now and again (which I promise faithfully to update) and let me know how things are going at DCVI.

Miss Jewson

P.S.  Enjoy New Years Day...I hear it's supposed to by -11....suckers.

Dear D.C.V.I.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween here in Kuwait is an enigma at best.  While technically it is "harram", there are costumes, decorations, and candy to be purchased in the major supermarkets.  There is no trick-or-treating, but some people do hold private parties.  This is an interesting case study of how western and eastern cultures mix in Kuwait.  The people here accept somethings entirely, some things in degrees, and some things are absolutely forbidden.

Things that are forbidden include pork and alcohol.  Both of these items are banned by Islam, and as this is an Islamic country, they are illegal. 

Halloween is a great example of something that is accepted in degrees.  Certianly at school there were no halloween celebrations.  There was no assembly, no door decorating contest, and certainly no murder mystery!  However, students made their own weekend plans, and some even came to school with masks to put on at the end of the day. 

One thing that seems to be accepted entirely, and somewhat surprisingly, is music.  Many of my students listen to a hip-hop radio station that plays all the same music you guys hear at home (although they are a bit behind us).  For example, the Milkshake song is big right now.   The lyrics are not censored, even though other forms of entertainment (movies and tv) are.  It's an interesting dichotomy. (look it up :-) )

Happy November Everyone

Miss Jewson

Dear DCVI

I realize that Thanksgiving was a few weeks ago now, and that I did not share with you what that particular holiday is like here.  First of all, it isn't a holiday here at all.  Thanksgiving is a purely North American holdiay, unless we travellers export it to wherever we are!

To celebrate this year, one of the women who has been teaching here for a while (named Diane, lives in Antigonish, Nova Scotia when she's home) organized a potluck thanksgiving feast.  A local grocery store cooks the turkey and makes the dressing and gravy, and we, as a group provide everything else.  I brought pumpkin pies myself, with a little help from Sara Lea!

It was a great meal, and a good time.  There were no restrictions on attendance, so we had Canadians. Australians, Brits and Americans all chowing down together.  Everyone was happy and festive, and it was also (to a certain extent) a celebration of having gotten this far in our Kuwait adventure together.  The best part is that we get to do it all again at the end of November for American Thanksgiving.  Ajeeb! (see previous post).

Miss Jewson

Dear DCVI

This week I thought I would share with you some of the Arabic words that I have learned since I got here.  Learning a little bit of the language is inevitable, and also very necessary to life in a new country.  Many people here speak English, and almost everybody's English is better than my Arabic!  I am not forming sentences, but there are some things I can make understood!

Many words or phrases mean more than one thing, I will include the various meanings as I understand them.  I am warning all readers that I am spelling these words and phrases phonetically, based on the pronounciations taught to me by my students!

"Yella" - Let's go, faster

"Shwaya" - slower

"Mooshkeela" - big problem

"Afia" - please

"shukran" -thank you

"Afwan" - You're welcome

"bacallah" - corner store

"hallas" - stop, done, it's finished

"Ajeeb" - awesome

"walla" - I swear

"harram" - sinful, forbidden

So that's the list I have written so far.  The next challenge is "left", "right" and "straight" so that I can direct cab drivers!

Have a good week DCVI

Miss Jewson