A Few Thoughts

The Break is Over

I am now on my last day of a weeklong break from school. For the most part I feel rested and relaxed and ready to start school again tomorrow. During the break, I was able to spend some time with friends from school and church – including a bbq in the desert and visiting a few of Bahrain’s sites. I visited, for the first time, the local Starbucks (which is even more expensive here!) and went to a concert – an Iranian group who played traditional persian music.

I even ventured to get my hair cut for the first time here, with success for the most part. I need to work on my Arabic. However, part of the haircut is an amazing head massage. I will definitely be returning (armed with a few more relevant vocabulary).

While it was nice to have a break from teaching, this week has had provided a moment for me to look back and see how the first 7 weeks of teaching has gone. All in all – I’ve survived. Hopefully I’ll have a better report at the holiday break in December. The learning curve is steep, and to be honest, I’ve learned more in 7 weeks here – both about teaching and myself as a teacher – than I would have if I were teaching in the states.

For the Visual Learners

I have a place to post pictures.

Update #3 - "His Still Quiet Voice"

My brother David's film did very well in the San Antonio Film Festival. He was a finalist in his category - Young Filmmaker - which means his was one of the top 4 films in that grouping. He is already planning his next project, and will begin production very soon.

My idea for his next movie: "Bahrain Witch Project". There is a legend (believed by many people, actually) that there is an old woman who wanders around the desert in the southern part of the island. She apparently haunts the Tree of Life - a random tree growing in the middle of the desert.

Mr. Joshua: Teacher, Traffic Director, Firefighter

I am many things to many people. Mostly, I am a teacher. But please, don't put me in some sort of box. I have many skills.

My new favorite activity is standing in the afternoon desert heat. In pants and long sleeves and a tie. After school every day, parents come to pick up their kids and attempt to wade through the sea of cars within the narrow, narrow street. Teachers are always outside turning this street into a one way road (which the neighborhood residents don't appreciate). I have traffic duty twice a week.

However, this week, I added a new job to my list: firefighter.

I was standing near my room watching students move to and fro during their break. I can see down the hallway and outside, and as I'm staring blankly down this hallway, a student runs in, grabs the fire extinguisher, and runs away. Mischief was in the air.

As I tore off after the punk, the kids are saying to me, "Mr. Joshua, there's a fire!" And I was thinking in my head, "I'm sure there is. Go to class." As I follow our little thief around the building, I see smoke billowing from the bushes at the back of the school. As I got nearer, I saw the flames. We're not talking about small flamelets. I'm talking about large LARGE flames. Large enough for about 30 people to roast marshmallows on. Of course, I started freaking out.

I grabbed the fire extinguisher and got in as close as I could and started spraying it. I soon finished that one and before I was done putting out the fire, about 4 fire extinguishers had been used up. I didn't even know we had four fire extinguishers at the school. My clothes wreaked of campfire smoke for the rest of the day.

What caused the fire, you're probably wondering. I'm wondering, too. Student mischief comes to mind, but I don't know.

What matters is that I win this week's "hero award".