Le Gitan

Hello all,

A lot has happened since I last posted.

There are butterflies EVERYWHERE, really pretty orange ones :) It's SPRING...not that we ever had Winter this year...which is abnormal even for this place.

Went to St Pat's Ball at the Hilton that was put on by the Irish Society, but it wasn't anything special, nothing out of the ordinary and the guys were lame...moving on in more ways than one.

The ball was on a Thursday night and on Saturday it was Carnival Day, a MUCH more fun day! All the kids from school and their parents were invited to go to Sha'ab Amusement Park (it's pretty much in my backyard...err front yard). All the teachers had to go to make sure everything ran smoothly, but with the parents there I really didn't have to do anything but wander around with my friends, go on rides, visit Rippley's Believe It Or Not and say hi every time a kid yelled "Hi Miss Ash" from a ride.



Got my first sunburn of the year too! it's mid March and we're already in the low 40s temperature wise...hotter here now than it gets at home in the middle of summer at home!

Uhmm, what's next? Oh right, I had an MRI on my knee to figure out why I've been in pain for 11 years...nothing seems wrong, so now I get tons of fun meds to help me sleep at night in hopes that does...something...

We also had International Day at school, all the kids dressed up in their country of origin's national dress and paraded through the school. We had assemblies, fashion shows, guest speakers, booths set up by parents and even a real camel!

Next week in my library is Genre Week! Activities at our recess breaks everyday! Prizes! Yay!


The countdown to going home has begun! I leave the Sandbox around June 10th and am spending a week alone in the English countryside, I'm going to walk EVERYWHERE and enjoy seeing nature again. Then it's on home to Canada.


Today was uneventful, I cleaned from top to bottom this afternoon and now and sharing the couch with my cat and am watching Julie and Julia...yeah, I'm totally a crazy cat lady.

Oh, and I've rekindled my love of French singer Charles Aznavour and of Quebecois singer Garou.

This is Halloween Town...

Okay, so a million things (give or take 99,9999 or so) have happened since I last posted...here's the run down.

Did I mention before that I spent every other day for a week in November get iron injections by IV? Well, I did...even on my birthday.


All our new friends threw an awesome Christmas party, I got to meet Santa! But before that they threw a birthday/costume party...fun all around!

Before I knew it, it was Winter Break at school, everyone left and for one lovely week it was just me and the cat :)

Then Mom, Dad and Jackie (my sister) came to Kuwait for six days. We went to all the malls near me, the highlight of Jack's trip I'm sure, the Towers, the Heritage Market and even the ice rink (Dad was in shorts). We got a tour of said rink, much to Dad's delight...I think the ice here is at least as good as the ice at home. Haven't gone skating yet, but I will.

We also went to the Aquarium, really cool though I felt bad for the penguins- their tank thing seemed kinda small. If I've forgotten anything I'm sure Mom will remind me in the comment section.

School has been back in for a month and we're all now looking forward to spring break. I'm also looking forward to summer break (4 months!) so I can stop over in England on the way home.

So now I'm going to settle in for the night and watch Halloween II, not for the faint hearted or squeamish- it was directed by Rob Zombie (LOVE) and as far as I can tell is dark, suspenseful, has buckets of blood and fairly realistic breaking bone sounds.


I'm also eating chocolate covered raisins and later will start reading a new, non-child related book.

When Irish Eyes Are Smiling

Dia dhuit!
Connas ta tu?

...nothing huh?

The answer to that would be Dia is muire dhuit. Ta me go meath.

*cricket noises*

Okay, moving on!

The Irish Society semi-formal was, to borrow the two biggest compliments from the Old Country, altogether brilliant and grand!

It really was great. Great place, great food, great dancing (who'd have thought I'd learn Irish dances in the Middle East?) and great friends (old and new).

I think we're going to go whatever function is happening every month...we really really need something to do.

We (Amanda, Dawn and I) took a cab to the Hilton (fancy!) and then hung out until Amanda's friend Lloyd and his friends got there. We were introduced to most of the guys, I think I missed a few of them though. They brought some of the best homebrew I've ever had. :)

Dinner was an amazing buffett that included local dishes as well as Irish stew (naturally!), Yorkshire pudding and roast beef...don't even get me started on the dessert table!

Then is was time to DISCO! And we did my friends, we did. Whilst belting out the words of course (why do I know the words to so many disco songs anyway?!).

Next came Irish dancing lessons. The first round I sat out thinking I was going to be horrible at it and look like an idiot. Then I was two things that made me change my mind: 1) no one was any better at it than I would have been and 2) it looked like a hell of a lot of fun!

So Mike, one of my new friends, and I learned two dances and quite frankly I think we did pretty damn good. Who really cares how good you are at something or what you look like so long as your having fun? Live a little, right?

Then it was time for more non-Irish dancing and some more drinking (for me anyway).

We left at midnight because Cinderella (Amanda) had to be at school ON A WEEKEND at 8am...boo! Do you hear me Amanda?! Boo! And thanks for making me leave my apartment for some fun times with friends..I owe you.

Here's to cheating, stealing, fighting, and drinking.
If you cheat, cheat death.
If you steal, steal a woman's heart.
If you fight, fight for a brother.
If you drink, drink with me!!
- Irish toast

When I'm havin' fun ya know I can't conceal it

I'm sorry but if my train of thought veers off it's track it's 'cause the kitty wants to play fetch...seriously.

Dawn's birthday was awesome, great food, great friends...some "juice" when we got back to her place.

My birthday is tomorrow and all I get is the kindergarten teacher from hell bringing her class to the library, a staff meeting after school and another iron drip/injection....lovely...oh well, c'est la vie


We had costume day during "spirit week"...I've never seen so many Hannah Montanas in my life! I was a hippie...wore a wig and everything. LMAO

Still missing the music scene from home but limewire will get me through the rough patches.

Does anyone out there know how to sinc an ipod to a laptop when the ipod is in fact already synced with a desktop that I left in Canada without erasing all the music?

I'm drawing again....I found art supplies! SO HAPPY!!!!!!

When we get paid I'll finally get to paint my apartment!

Also, I'm going to the Irish Society's semi-formal Thursday night...so, I'll look great but there's no way I'm covering my tattoos.

And so ends the random update.

Well, three more...

I found out the kitty is 6 months old not 12 weeks (she's just super stunted).

I've developed an addiction to watching pro-wrestling. Go Matt Hardy!

And I've stopped cutting my hair...so growing it out again.

Fin

Getcha a 3-piece Wall Street smile and son you'll look just like me

Okay, so it's been awhile since I posted...but not much has happened.

Until today, that is.

I woke up at 630 to get ready for our Halloween day at school only to get a call saying school was canceled, could I please pass the message along to the other teachers that work in my section of the elementary school?

Turns out one of our generators blew last night and was leaking oil. They worked on the generator last night but school was still canceled. Parent teacher meetings, however, are a go tonight and tomorrow...so for 3 hours tonight and 3 hours tomorrow I'll sit around my library wondering if anyone is going to bother visiting me...I'm taking a book.

The OFFICIAL sequel to Dracula that is based off Bram Stoker's notes and is co-written by a direct decedent of Stoker.

Then it's off to Dawn's birthday party tomorrow night!

PS- this place needs some serious punk rock culture....a punk show, something...anything!

I see you looking at me.

'member those the teens my friends and I ran into a couple weeks ago? The ones that chased us through a shop complex?

The one that was so persistent found me again today. He recognized me from behind, in my work clothes, with my tattoos covered.

I told him off, scared him a little too...chump! Drive away in your mom's minivan with your bad self and your idiot friend!

It's been an uneventful week. took a crying little girl to the nurse yesterday cause she fell outside at noon, took the kitty to the vet 3 days in a row to get shots for a cold, told of a teenage creep and now it's almost the weekend.

Yay!

What's New Pussy Cat?

Not much has happened in the last week...longer work days, less sleep- the usual.

Us teachers have to be "observed" at work next month, oh joy. Guess I'd better over haul my lesson plans and make my teacher friends give some input! Our curriculum is nuts, our facility and student level is okay...there are a lot of 4th graders reading at a grade two level, this makes me wonder what public school must be like.

Dinner at the school superintendet's place tomorrow night. I finally get to see his wife again..I love them both to death. I'm sure if I didn't know them personally, and we weren't basically from the same place back home, I'd have more seriously considered walking outta this place a few weeks ago. It's all good now, stressful, but good. Tina, the middle school librarian tells me what to do when I don't know- which is often.

Got a kitten today, she's hiding under the couch...she's not too sure about me yet, but she was seriously and intentionally injured and is only 2 months old at the most...I'm sure that memory is still fresh for her. She's eaten though and wanders around my place when I stay still long enough, so I'm sure she's fine. If she wouldn't eat then I'd be worried. She's got all day tomorrow to adjust to her new home and all weekend to adjust to me.

Time to read, I'm finally reading Wicked...it's an awesome book.