"Don't drink whine in class."

We have officially finished the first two weeks of school! Woohoo! It flew by so fast. I feel like I'm fitting in well with the kids and the other teachers. I have already said this to lots of people, but I am having a really positive experience here so far. It's exciting to walk home from school in the afternoon, look around, and realize I live in the stinking desert. I just hope the feeling keeps up! 

I have enjoyed getting to know the kids so far. They all seem to have interesting life stories. I teach a boy who was in the mosque bombing that happened this summer. There are a couple of kids in my class who were born in Texas. Some kids come from families with mountains of money. Loads are from all over the Middle East: Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, etc. The diversity makes my days very interesting! 

The other day, I got onto a class for talking too much. I actually can't blame them... it was their last class of the day, and they have to sit on lab stools for 80 minutes listening to me talk... :)

Anyways, I raised my voice and told them I thought they were more respectful than they were acting. A boy raised his hand and said, "We're sorry, Ms. Mueller. It's just... I think we feel very comfortable with you. And science is really interesting. So, I think we just get really excited coming to this class." 

So. Sweet. 

I'll explain the title at the end of the post. Now, I want to share some pictures. 

These kids are my homeroom. They had to make posters for the middle school hallways about respect, responsibility, and safety. I was in this group's poster. Let's see if you can spot me ;)
This group: Ameer, Sara, Latefa, Dania, Tala, and Mariam. 

Ahmad Q., Mohamed R., Yousef Q., Yousef M., and Mohamed M. 

Mohammed F., Mubarak, and Omar. 

Silly boys :)

Hamad, Adam, Abdulaziz, and Hasan. Hussain not pictured.
Abdulaziz came up to me and said,"There are two reasons why this poster is the best."
I asked, "What's the first?"
He responded, "Abdulaziz Al Bahar."
I laughed, "So, your poster is the best because you are pictured in it. Let me guess, the second reason is also Abdulaziz Al Bahar."
He said, "You're so smart, Miss!"

Mohammed B., Ahmad W., Homoud, and Ebraham. 

Sweet gift from another boy in I teach. Those cookies were SO good. 

My lunch most days. I've gotten compliments about it. :)

Some legit dust one afternoon. This is the view from my classroom. That giant blue building is where I live. 

Last Friday night, my middle school principal took a group of us to the fabric souk. 

I should have taken more photos. There were the most interesting dresses on display!

Exiting the souk. 

Then to Mubarakiya, the old souk. 

Dinner with these awesome peeps. 

I'm cheesing so hard. 

Great dinner. 

Delicious chicken and lamb. 

Giant pieces of bread, hummus, and toum (garlic sauce). 

Lemon and mint. 

I was lucky enough to be invited by Ben and Stephanie to Texas Roadhouse for Ben's birthday. Such a fun evening! It was nice to have a little taste of Texas again. 

Some other random things. Danielle likes to share her food with me. I was talking about her choco flakes and she gave them to me! So sweet. Check out how much darker they are than on the box. Super choco flakes!

Danielle also came up during one of my classes to deliver a cupcake! Elementary school gets all the parties and middle school doesn't :(... so, she felt sorry for me and Andrew. 

Winter had these adorable Minion bananas in her apartment. 

 This weekend was so nice. On Friday, I went to church with some ladies from school. They provided lunch afterwards and it was fun meeting new faces. Afterwards, Ben and Steph invited me to the Avenues with them. It's a nice place to walk around during the hot afternoon. Later, I spent the evening with Andrew, Danielle, and Winter just chatting away. We had a yummy, impromptu meal. 

Danielle was grading her first graders work that evening.
Write three sentences about how you are a good citizen in Kuwait.
"I do not kill people and do not hurt anybody and do not eat pork in Kuwait and do not break peoples stuff."
Hmm... good answer kid... 

Smorgasbord of snacks. 

One of my favorite nights of the week. Thursdays, some of the staff jams out down in the basement. It's a fun way to decompress at the end of the week. Good times.

Okay. To back to the "whine"...  I gave an assignment the other day over lab safety. They had to look at this comic and answer questions about it. One question was: List three unsafe lab procedures. Under the "No Whine" poster, a character is drinking out of a beaker. Many kids mistook "whine" to be "wine". So, a boy raised his hand when I asked the question and said, "Don't drink whine in the lab." I thought it was pretty funny considering Kuwait is a dry country and all...

Overall, there is nothing I have to "wine" about being here. I'm really digging life.