Monday 8/25/08
Tonight, I witnessed an actual real-life tumbleweed. Man alive, we ARE in the desert! The wind was howling and dust was getting in our eyes as we sat out on the balcony trying to enjoy the night air. There was a late arrival from the UK, a tall, blond, lanky Englishman, and we had a bit of fun with him since he had no idea what he had signed up for when he put his John Hancock on that contract a week ago:
“If you find that your kitchen floor leaks, don't worry about it, that's normal.”
“Oh and if your bathroom floor floods, don't worry, that's SUPPOSED to happen when you take a shower.”
And “Can't really see the bats from down here, can you? Did you know we had bats here?”
His expression was priceless- eyes like flying saucers.
There really is not much to complain about though.* Even wiping up the water from the kitchen floor every morning has become routine, like brushing my teeth, or taking out the trash. The people I work with are fantastic overall, with interesting backgrounds and personalities. I'm learning a lot about not only Kurdish culture, but also Lebanese and even British. They really are a totally different breed from Americans, these Brits. Anyone know what Marmite or Pimm's is? It's just something British people eat and drink, respectively, that Americans don't (or is it just me?). And now, I finally know that “mince meat” equals ground beef. Why would you put ground beef in a pie??
Oh, and the job job: I found out I'll be teaching kindergarden- English and math- as well as grade 2 math. So far, I've heard some serious horror stories about teaching KG, but I figure I can do anything for a year. I can live in Iraq for a year!
*Take note: this statement was made before the job job actually began. I've learned that the same problems that don't bother you when you are relaxed and unstressed can become a real pain in the ass when you are exhausted and in dire need of sleep and rest.
3 comments:
oh my god, how do you deal with the creepy crawlies? do they have roaches there?
Marmite! Sometime ask the person who likes Marmite what he thinks of Vegemite - what I remember from the Australians I knew it was like a religious distinction if someone was a Marmite person or a Vegemite person. Some how I made it all that time without trying either - although looking at the pictures on wikipedia is reminding me why.
Glad to hear you are having a mostly good time.
Oh - almost forgot - that's an interesting point about e^ipi+1=0, I'm used to e^ipi=-1 (well really e^jpi=-1 as an electrical engineer), but I guess that doesn't include the coolness of zero.
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