And Life Goes On

I have now finished the first week of school. It went well. I met the kids, did some teaching, and started to get into the groove of life. I wake up at 5:30, leave for school by 6:30 and start by 7. School right now goes till about three o'clock. So its a long day, but during Ramadan, one of the major muslim holidays, school will only go from 8am till 1. And that's a month long.

I have been having a grand time in the neighborhood, too. I have met a few of the local shopkeepers, bought an abundance of groceries from them, and askd them for help as I get more settled in.

As I type this, the call to prayer can be heard throughout the neighborhood. It is broadcast over a loudspeaker from the local mosque. I can also hear it at about 4:30 every morning. As you can imagine, most of the people in my neighborhood are muslims.

However, with being in the middle east, in a different climate, in a different culture, with a different religion, things are not as different and exotic as I imagined. Life has been strangly normal and I'm waiting for that "aha" momment when I am all the sudden I realize that, toto, we're not in kansas anymore.

Someday, but not today.

And back to the lesson planning I'll go - my life for this year.