three reasons i love my job

1.  i'm reading the novel "the tales of despereaux" to my class.  we're only like 7 chapters in and they are HOOKED.  they love it.  when i asked for opinions of the book after only having read 4 chapters, one boys' response was:

"ms.  i really like the book a lot.  when you are reading, there is so much descriptions that it's like a moving playing in my head" he says as he closes his eyes and touches his forehead. 

AH-DOR-ABLE!

2.  a conversation between myself and a rather large boy in my class:

S:  ms.  i have very bad news.  i have to tell you but you can't tell anyone ok?

ME (worried):  ok s.  what's wrong?

S:  well ms., *whispering* i think i'm being stalked!

ME (trying not to laugh):  oh really?!  what makes you think that?

S:  well ms., there is someone who keeps following me.  and she isn't very cute.  and everywhere i go ms., if i look behind me, she is there!

ME (trying REALLY hard not to laugh): oh dear!  well, i'm sure that it's just a coincidence. 

S:  no ms.!  it isn't!  and do you want to know the worst part ms.?  *whispers* it's a girl!

ME:  *hysterical cackle out loud*

S:  ms. it isn't funny!  what should i do ms.?

ME:  you know s, in a few years you aren't going to think that this was quite so bad!  i want you to test your theory tomorrow and keep me posted ok?  

S:  ok ms.

ME:  plus s, she's probably cute!!  *more cackling*

3.  sitting at my desk, well after the kids should be gone home, a young girl comes in my class.  

H:  ah, hi ms.  

ME:  hi h.

H:  ah, ms., do you want to hear the poem that i made up at recess about the boys?

ME:  yes, please!

H:  ah, ok ms.  "go east, go west, you snore like a pig!"  oh.  i guess that doesn't really rhyme does it?

ME:  well not quite.  let's try this, "go west, go east, you snore like a beast!"  

H:  *laughing* ok, bye ms. 

so trendy...

look what i did this weekend!  i am so trendy!!  just ask my grade 5's!

ps - it IS a real feather!  scary - cause i do not like birds...

A.A.

aka avenue anonymous.

i'm addicted to the shopping mall.  i don't know how it happened.  but it did.  and it's weird.  i don't even need to shop, i just have a NEED to go there.  frequently. 

i just thought you should know.  admitting that you have a problem is the first step to recovery right???

i saw the sign

qatar has some super cool signs!  all kinds of things crossing the street around here!!  be careful out there!

sweet sounds...

ahh....there is nothing like the sweet sound of pistols and fire crackers to ring in the holidays!  grown men and children alike share in the joy of the eid holiday but shooting off guns and playing with fire!  talk about good old fashion family fun! 

NYC's got nothing on KLT!

 last night we had a nice treat with an evening out at the kuwait little theatre.  the show was "mad musicals", showcasing music from many broadway favourites!  it was so much fun!!  the singing was great and there were some really hilarious parts too. plus, a few of our colleagues were in it, so it was great to go out and support them.  they were GREAT! :)

my favourite songs were "on my own" from les mis, "for good" from wicked, "i will follow him" from sister act, "hallelujah" from shrek, "and i'm telling you" from dream girls, and "i wanna be like you" from jungle book.

the two crowd favourites were the hilarious, yet beautiful dream"girls", singing "dream girls" (they weren't really girls.....) and the showstopper, "you don't own me" from the first wives club where the singers came out, fully covered, carrying designer handbags.  SO funny!  i've attached a couple pictures, they're a bit blurry, but you get the idea :)

a new love.

i LOVE this show.  it's quirky and cute and funny and smart.  some might say it's aDORKable!  watch it!!  seriously.  find out when it's on.  or download it.  it's SO good!

oh kids...

this morning when my students arrive:

H:  ms. did they fix the lockers this weekend??
me:  they sure did!
H:  i knew it!  do you know how i knew ms?  because it smells drilly in here!!

ya!  so take that!!  ....i want to know what drilly smells like....

i can't help it!

being a huge fan of how i met your mother, i can't help but think of this special message from the show around this time of year!  it's a special time really!  happy slapsgiving everybody!!! 

a special slapsgiving shout out to mr. jeremy in 'nam.  the show just isn't the same without you!!

lost in translation

yesterday i went on a lovely outing with shelly to the plant souk (market).  at the souk it's just plant shop after plant shop for probably a mile or so.  anyway, we were walking and chatting and looking at plants and shelly was helping me pick out plants that i hopefully won't kill.  she suggested that we look for these bead things that you put in the soil and then they help keep moisture inside the soil so people like me don't kill their plants.  we looked and looked and finally found the beads. 
here is what the instructions on the back of the package say: (please read carefully!!)

1. open to wrap to take out, soak it by few drinking water the quantity take just drowning it as proper, calmed down to place for 10-20 minutes, treated if to deliver bulge, added 1000 - 1600g water again. 

2.  need 10 - 48 hours to inflate well, filter the surplus humidity, pack to go into the transparent container that can increase its pleasant impression.

3.  join the plant nourishment liquid, can plant indoor green plant.

4.  join fragrance extract and its increases melting agent, can make gorgeous perfume bead.

5.  can also used for an other infoor decorate, inflation toy, candlestick, etc.

regulation:

make the sunlight keep shoot not

avoid eating its mistake

the usage of the child, should be serve as guardian by the parent.

appearing to lose a water a dry empress can add a water to make it once more absorb water an inflation, can absorb to release a water again and again.

normal usage, the term can reach to for a year above.

MADE IN CHINA

awesome.  i loved the package so much that even if i didn't want what was in the package, i was buying it!  anyway, we had a lovely day and i bought some nice plants for my apartment. 
we finished off our outing with a yummy lunch and some photo developing!  fun, fun, fun!!  thanks shelly :)

this is a conversation that i had with one of my students this week:

S:  ms. you know i am going to russia this weekend. 
me:  that's what you told me.  but really, russia just for the weekend??"
S:  yes, ms.  of course. 
me:  ok, well i hope you have a great weekend in russia!
S:  you know ms, i am going to buy you a nice present in russia. 
me:  oh no, you really don't have to buy me anything in russia!  really!
S:  ms.  i will buy you a present and you're just going to love it.  *pause*  oh i just can't hold it in anymore!  i'm going to buy you a russian jacket ms.!

he was SO excited about this russian jacket!  i'm not even sure what he means!  but i reassured him that i have many jackets and he really doesn't need to buy me anything in russia! 

maybe i should go to russia for a weekend?! :)

kleenex vs. paper towel

so apparently after i left phinsay's the other night, phil told linds that he had discovered something about me.  he claims that i am a kleenex person, while he is a paper towel person.  he also claims that after i have been at the house, they are always running low on kleenex. 

i must admit, i am definitely a kleenex person, but i hadn't thought of it until phil made the observation known.  and i do use a lot of kleenex but i use if for everything!  wiping my nose (of course), for a napkin, to clean up messes, to take off nail polish, as a coaster, etc. etc. etc.  kleenex is a very useful and multi-purpose product. 

meanwhile, phil claims that he would rather blow his nose with THIS:

PUH-lease!  he can't be serious!!!  come on kleenex people of the world!  let's stick together for what we believe in!!!

LOL laundry

the other day i was doing a load of laundry and i automatically thought, "what would phil say if he saw this?"
now, you have to know phil to understand, but he may be a bit OCD...and by a bit, i mean a LOT.  anyway, when i was staying at phinsay's (phil and lindsay's) phil was very strict about what colours and fabrics were washed together.  i even tried to trick him a time or two but this guy is a laundry nazi!!!
oh ya, back to my laundry.  so i was hanging up some clothes that had just come out of the wash and i saw the following:  a pink tank top, a purple tank top, a black pair of pants, a face cloth, a white tank top, a grey shirt, a pair of black dress capris, and a red hoodie.  phil would have DIED!  i just laughed.

sad? or awesome?

right now lindsay and i are:

1. sitting in the same room.  no one else is here...just us.
2. bbm-ing each other.
3. blogging and commenting on each other's blogs.
4. and now lindsay sent me a picture of ME on bbm...

sad??  or awesome??

hockey night in.....kuwait???

yesterday i was reminded of a funny story. 
during the first week of school, all of the new middle school teachers were sitting in a meeting with the principal and deputy principal when all of a sudden....
"dun dun dun-da-dun" the hockey night in canada theme song!!  from our deputy principal phone!  it was SO funny! and so, all of the canadians in the room (a grand total of 3) started giggling....the americans in the room didn't get it.  even talking about it makes me laugh.
and then it happened again yesterday at our staff meeting!  "dun dun dun-da-dun"
GO CANADA GO!

good for a chuckle.

last year, while teaching in vietnam, i gave my students these for prizes...

they are silly bandz, which are essentially rubber bands in cute shapes.  fun.  cute.  inexpensive.  age appropriate.

fast forward to this year in kuwait.  my students are wearing these:

REAL cartier LOVE bracelets.  GORGEOUS!  expensive!  really expensive!  not intended for 5th graders.  EXPENSIVE!

i guess i can't use silly bands as prizes this year...

a little sing song

the other day after school lindsay was out at her tutoring job and phil and i were at their house.  we were cleaning up before the maid came (read: phil was cleaning up.  i was laughing at phil).  ANYWAY, phil started singing, "don't go breaking my heart" by elton john, except that those were all the words he knew.  (sometimes when he sings that line, lindsay responds with "i won't go breaking your heart".) so, loving google like i do, i proceeded to look up the words to the song.

one thing lead to another and next thing i knew, phil and i were rehearsing and rehearsing for our performance when lindsay arrived home.  we learned the lyrics to two verses and a really big finish (including spirit fingers).  i don't want to toot our own horn...but we were pretty darn good!  TOOT TOOT!

the important thing about apples...

is that no one actually EATS apples.  EVERYONE buys apples.  but no one really eats them.  they sit in the crisper or in a bowl on the counter.  but who eats them??  we figure that apples were really just invented so that people would buy them and then make desserts with them.  like tonight.  when lindsay made/invented individual apple crisps!  YUM YUM! 

the other thing about apples is that everyone buys those bags of macintosh apples or individual granny smiths and gala's.  no one actually buys the red delicious apples. they have those weird bumps on the bottom.  and even less people buy those silly golden delicious apples.  come on! 

but the important thing about apples is that no one actually EATS apples.

a minor etback.

it eem that the key on my keyboard for the letter that come after R i not working very well.  you have to pre really hard to make it work.  otherwie it jut look like i don't know how to pell very well.  and i do know how to pell.  i wear!!

orry if you had a hard time reading thi.  but i think it' pretty funny :)  plu it' like a ecret code game!  wih me luck for better reult from the letter that come after R!

she's learning!

yesterday i posted that i missed my cow boy.  mom commented on my post and it was really funny.  what she wrote was funny but i also think that it sounds like something i would write so i wanted to share it with you:

He's being pretty crazy right now, Em. A little on the wild side. And I don't want you to think we aren't taking care of him, but today Dad was outside sanding and when he stopped he heard this little "meow" behind him. He turned around and thought "that cat looks alot like Cow!" And guess what, it WAS Cow!!!! So, he casually walked over and picked him up and got lots of loving. I guess he forgot to latch the door and Cow opened it on his own. What a smart little kitty. Thought you might get a little laugh out of it. Ttys. Love Mom xoxoxo and Cow xoxoxo 

isn't my mama funny??  and isn't my dad a good cat catcher??  and isn't my cow a smart boy?!  

i think SO!