Winter

This place is beautiful in the winter. The white covers all the dust... at least until it turns to mud. We just got about 4 or 5 inches of snow yesterday and everything is still white. The sky is clear and blue, the birds are singing...its beautiful. When the sun is out, the cold temperatures aren't so bad. Its the cloudy days and mornings that are tough. I'm getting better at knowing how to stay warm. My classroom heaters get turned on half an hour before I go to school now (there was ice inside our windows this week!) My bedroom electric heater is rigged up right by my chair and is turned on pretty much whenever I don't need hot water (since I have to unplug my water heater to turn on my heater). I'm getting the hang of it. Tomorrow we don't have school and are planning to build snow forts and have a huge snowball fight on campus. Such is the life of teachers, especially when they are trapped on a compound! Some of you may have heard about a recent attack here at a hotel. This has us all staying close to home these days. One of our main forms of entertainment is going out to eat, but resturants are off limits for now. Winter is usually quiet here, and when I step out my door it feels subdued and calm in this city. But its a deceptive serenity. Underneath the pure snow, the mud exists and for now, we are feeling the effects of its evil intent. Please think of this land and lift it up during these winter days.

Home

I decided to surprise my parents and return to Oregon for Christmas unannounced. It worked and I made it, but it wasn't the surprise I had envisioned. Part way through my journey, I developed an unrelenting stabbing pain in my back that continued until my arrival in Portland and a subsequent trip to the emergency room. As it turned out, the leftovers of a head cold had developed into a nasty case of pneumonia. So when I finally got home, all I could manage was a weak wave to my dad before crashing on the couch, where I remained for 3 or 4 days before I gradually regained some strength. Though my break turned out very different than I had anticipated, I was thankful to be in a warm, comfortable place with easily accessible health care and a mom to make me chicken soup! Plus, our family was together for Christmas, which hasn't happened for a few years and I enjoyed seeing friends who weren't expecting me.

Teaching With My Mittens On

Winter officially started today, as we woke to a shallow dusting of white snow that attempted to cover the brown of this place. It melted quickly but not before my kids were able to enjoy making a miniture snowman and catching a few flakes on their tongues at recess. Oddly enough though, they got more excited about the rain we had last week then about the snow. The air here has turned cold. Everyday I wear about four layers and keep them on all day. I have two heaters in my classroom that work about as well as a little space heater you might buy in the States. Its not bad yet though, just a different way of functioning... learning to teach with my mittens on. It makes getting dressed in the morning easier because I whatever I wear, my coat will cover all day! Winter here makes life rough for everyone. All year, some of our workers have been collecting cardboard which will be their main source of heat through the winter. Many people here just do what they have to to literaly keep from freezing. My blankets, heaters and warm clothes, inadequate as they may seem when compared to what I'm used to, are a great luxury compared to the average person on the street. I'm blessed beyond measure.

Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving Day here was a special one. In a place like this, its easy to sometimes get caught up in the everyday challenges and forget to lift your eyes and realize all that you've been given. And yet, in a place like this, there is so very much to be thankful for. The reminders are all around, I just forget to take the time to see them. I am thankful for my "family" here and how we have come together as a team and as people from many walks of life for a united purpose. I'm thankful for their company, encouragement and that I get to work alongside them. I'm thankful for little things, like hot water, my 2 new heavy blankets and a package from home. I'm thankful for each of my students and the joy they bring to me each day as I get to see them grow and learn and change. I'm thankful that I've been brought here and been given this task and that I have the assurance of the Promise that will be fulfilled when He comes.

Thanksgiving was also just a plain old fun day. I got up early and had breakfast with a friend before joinging some other teachers to go to the embassy for the 10k and 5k races being held there. I ran in the 5k and, suprisingly enough, placed first in the women's race and won a cool turkey hat. It was a nice morning and I enjoyed spending time with fellow teachers and some other expats that I've met through frisbee or our local fellowship. In the afternoon, we had a big dinner together as a staff with all the typical Thanksgiving food and played cards and watched movies late into the night. A great way to celebrate and time to remember all I have to be thankful for!

Some school and frisbee friends and I at the race


Our school staff that competed in the 5k or 10k


The 5k group

K-Town Ketchup

Lots to tell, not much time. So pictures will have to speak for me. Enjoy...



Carving pumpkins with my housemates


Another great hike up the mountain




Dressing up for our Pumpkin Party on the 31st followed by our first game of "Packet Wars" in the rose garden.



My kids enjoying Flat Stanley, who is visiting us from East Primary in Sutherlin, OR.



Visiting R's house for Eid (Flat Stanley liked the food!)

Where has the naan gone?

"Did you see my toilet seat this morning?" I asked Adrianne who was sitting at the table eating a bowl of Crunchy Nut cereal. "Yeah, I did actually. I hope you don't mind that I used your bathroom."
"What do you think it was?" I asked, my eyebrows lifted. "Come look again."
We entered my bathroom with wrinkled brows and examined the patterned muddy marks around and inside the toilet.
"Mandy thinks it may have been a cat, but the prints look too small for that," I reasoned. We squinted in the direction of the white seat again.
"A mouse?" Adrianne wondered, crinkling up her nose.
"The prints are too big. I think it was a rat. A pack rat. Yup, I think a pack rat visited us last night." Memories of a night in the Rocky Mountains of Montana were flashing through my brain... the sudden awakening at one or two a.m., the pathetic "trap" of cheese and suitcases, the chase that ensued and the eventual violent death of the hairy monster on our carpet. If it could happen in Montana, it could happen here.
"Yuck. We did have a mouse last year. And then there was that potato that Sohgra found on the counter all munched up last week."
We left the bathroom, both hoping that the problem represented on the toilet seat would somehow disappear without our personal interference.
That evening, we gathered around the table again. Helen had made vegetable soup and was willing to share with the rest of us. "I'll see if Ali will run down to the nan shop and get us some bread," she said grabbing her phone. There is nothing better than warm naan and hot vegetable soup when the nights are beginning to get colder. We feasted and then watched a movie, leaving the rest of the massive naan hunk on the table.
The next morning I was the first to arrive back at the table, since it seems I am the one in the house who can go the shortest amount of time without food. I pulled out my own box of Crunchy Nut and sat down. Pouring a bowl and filling it with milk, my eyes wandered around the room, trying to wake up. "Hmmm, I wonder who ate the rest of the naan. It would be good with some peanut butter this morning," I thought as I crunched. A little later Mandy came down the stairs. "I'm going to make French toast, do you want some?"
"W-Yes-ch pl-w-ease-ch!" I mumbled through my crunchy nutty bite. I swallowed. "Hey, do you know what happened to the naan from last night?" I asked.
"Nope. It was there on the table."
"Hmmmm..." The French toast was great. Its one of our breakfast favorites.
Later, Debbie came downstairs, pulled out a Nutella jar from her cupboard and popped some toast in the toaster. "Hey Debbie, did you eat the rest of the naan from last night?" I asked, still hungry for naan and peanut butter even after my Crunchy Nut bowl and French toast.
"Nope," she said as she sat down at our long table. "Maybe Helen did? Everyone else is gone for break."
"Hmmm..."
We relaxed at the table until it was past nine, enjoying the fact that we were on vacation and didn't have to get ready for class or do anything really. Finally, Helen came downstairs. Before she could get to her cupboard for her own Cruchy Nut and Nutella, I asked, "Hey Helen, did you eat the naan from last night?"
"Nope."
"Did you move it or put it away?"
"Nope." (Helen is not much of a morning talker.)
"What?! I didn't eat it and neither did Debbie or Mandy." Everyone's eyes turned toward my bathroom door. (Except for Helen's that is. She was busy pouring her Crunchy Nut into a bowl.)
"Its the toilet seat creature," I sighed.
"No way, that was a big hunk of naan, we only ate like half of it. There was at least that much left," Mandy said, stretching her hands a good 12 inches apart.
"Yup, and it was sitting right there when I went to bed," I said pointing at one end of the table."But now, where has the naan gone?" I smiled, chuckling at my lame rhyming skills.
Several days past, the naan was forgotten and I found other food items to put peanut butter on. Then one night, I sat at the table with Mandy and Esther, working on report cards and listening to the Beatles.
"What is that?" Esther asked, turning her ear toward the kitchen cupboards. We stopped to listen. Behind the tune of "Hey Jude" there was a scratching, crinkling kind of noise coming from behind one of the bottom drawers. Mandy and I looked at each other knowingly.
"We had a visitor while you were in Dubai, Esther," Mandy explained.
"Yup, and it looks like he's still here," I added."But how did he get back there?" I got up to investigate. Peeking behind the fridge, I saw that between the living room wall and the kitchen cupboards, there was a nice little pack rat sized alley way. I pulled the sliding door that separates the kitchen and living room closed, allowing me to have a clearer look into the crack. Mandy looked over my shoulder. "What's back there?"
"It looks like there’s a pot holder or something on the floor. I can't really see it, it’s too dark."
"Let me get my maglite." Mandy rushed upstairs and returned with a huge flashlight.
"Shine it straight back...yeah, there!"
We both chuckled. Tucked neatly back into pack rat alley was our missing piece of naan, though a bit smaller than we remembered it to be. "Well, I hope he didn't get his paws on my peanut butter too!" I thought.
The naan that was gone has been found. But this is more than just a story; it’s a cry for help! If anyone has suggestions for the removal of hungry, sneaky pack rats, by all means, share your wealth of knowledge with this house full of women, would you?

Everyday Life

No matter which side of the planet you live on, it seems there's always that daily life stuff that has to be done. You still have to do laundry, make your bed, find something to eat and wash your feet occasionally. You still have to get up every morning, find your way out the door and deal with whatever everyday life may hand you. Life here is no exception. Of course, it isn't always monotonous and routine, sometimes there are little curves in the road that are unexpected. (Here, they seem like hairpin turns, but at least there's some variation!)
So the next time you're feeling the burden of a daily routine, remember that life in a foreign country can feel just about the same as life in your home country most of the time.
Here's a little synopsis of my everyday life:
5:30 Alarm goes off (Steph lays in bed pondering the coming day's activities)
6:00ish Power comes on (Steph decides to brave the shower)
6:20 Breakfast (Steph scrounges around her cupboard to see what she can find...it looks like toast is on the menu again!She really needs to go shopping one of these days...)
6:30 Quiet time (Steph gets some real food and wishes she could stay all day...but 7am always comes)
7:00 Off to work we go...
(Steph works frantically or calmly, depending on the morning, to make final preparations for her students. On most days, this involves squabbles with the printer and copy machine.)
8:05 Students arrive (Steph is bombarded with homework papers, various relational complaints and bugs of all shapes and sizes that were caught the night before by her eager students).
8:10 Students are working quietly (Steph bribes students to start working through a variety of top-secret methods).
11:30 Lunch (Steph escapes to the kitchen to recover from the morning's escapades, unless, of course, she has lunch duty. On these days Steph stands outside repeating in a loud voice: "Throw away your trash." "Sit down while you're eating." "Don't swat at the bees or they will sting you." "You were swatting at the bee and that's why it stung you." and "Is this your garbage?" until the clock strikes 12).
12:00 Return to class for story time (This is Steph's favorite part of the day when she gets to read great books to her great kids. Currently they are reading "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe").
12:29 Students leave the classroom for "Specials", ie. art, P.E., computers, etc.
(Steph breathes deeply for several minutes, perhaps lying on the floor- depending on the day. Then, on most days, she tackles her "in" box, grading papers until her students return. On other days, Steph can only gaze out the window and blink).
1:19 Students return to classroom (Steph reminds herself that she is more than halfway through the school day and prepares herself for the crescendo that usually occurs in most elementary classrooms during the afternoon, especially if the students have just returned from P.E.)
2:50 Students leave (Steph hurries the stragglers out of her classroom, throws away the forgotten water bottles, sits at her desk and stares at the computer. At last she gathers her courage and looks at tomorrow's lesson plans).
5:30 Dinner (the most predictable event in Steph's life)
6:30 Various local events (Sometimes Steph escapes to the nearby "coffee shop" with a few fellow teachers. Other evenings, Steph returns to her classroom, which unfortunately involves climbing in through the window because she does not have keys to her building. Still other evenings, Steph plays Cranium or Taboo with her fellow teachers, works on school stuff in her bedroom or attends meetings. However, Steph's favorite evening activity occurs on Tuesday evenings when she plays Ultimate Frisbee with a wide variety of expat locals).
9:30 Bedtime (Steph crashes, hoping the fan has a chance to cool the room down a bit before the power goes off).

Here's some pictures of my everyday life....

Hanging out at the local "coffee shop" where we eat pizza on Wednesday (our Friday) nights.




With some friends on our staff night out

Class Picture


Duran and Oghai soak their pea seeds in water while Farhad looks closely at his.