Sunday, June 21, 2009

Counting down the hours

As I am packing right now I am thinking about the few things I will actually miss about this here place I affectionately call, World's Smallest Shithole, or the Latin term, Ruwais.

First and most importantly/obviously, I am going to miss Tang is it's abundance here.... Not really, but I did used to be obsessed with the tasty orange powder drink. I was pretty convinced that if I drank enough I would grow up to be an astronaut. Instead I just grew.

Anyway, the real list of things I am going to miss:
  1. My kiddies. In no specific, yet completely specific order: tied for first- Ghina, Hessa, Nitish, and Zayed Zeail. Coming in second: Merssal, Alreem, Zayed Al Hosani, Bryan, Eman, Tariq, Mutia, Jacob, and Weam. Third, for indefinite reasons, Masud, Sevina, Pradita, Abdul Rahman, Rahaf, Nekesha, Waad. And rounding up the end: Danis, Mugesh, and Asad. Oh and Ariha, rhymes with diarrhea. She is the last last, in fact, she goes on the list below. Is it mean that I kinda want to send 4th place to the list-of-things-I-won't-miss... Welp too late. It's done in mind.
  2. My friends.
  3. The smell of the Arabian nights. It actually smells like warm jasmines. It's what I hope Agrabah to smell like.
  4. Being a local celebrity. If I wasn't the girl on the bike, I was the blond harlot, or the teacher that went to jail.
  5. Being stared at because I was pretty. (Or slutty looking... whichever they thought, I was okay with the little attention that boosted the self esteem.)
  6. Getting to the front of the lines because I am a helpless girl.
  7. My vacations. I had a lot and I got to go many a places in the span of a short time. This year, I have seen the Taj, the Great Wall, and the Great Pryamids, not to mention, I live in the Middle East.
  8. My bike. Although her tires weren't meant for this heat, she did me well, and deserves a loving home.
  9. Same, same. Ask me later and I'll explain if you want.
  10. Tang.
Thing I am not going to miss:
  1. Choueifat. This school has a backwards thought on teaching, let alone kindergarten. I shouldn't have felt stressed if my kids were out of their seats. I should have been able to encourage it. I shouldn't have to sneak treats to them and they shouldn't have to be in school 7 hours a day with only 1 hour of art a week. This school is an idiot mess, and I feel sorry for any graduate of it. They truely missed out on a childhood.
  2. The drama that goes with being in a ridiculously small town. Too many people up in your biznas!
  3. My living situation. You don't know how lucky you are when you get assigned housing with (or near) awesome people until you get assigned housing with lame ones.
  4. Being uncomfortable in anything western thing I wore. No, not my cowboy boots and chaps, I'm talking about my ankle baring skirts and my elbow showing shirts.
  5. Sweating.
  6. Being thought of as a helpless girl.
  7. My 4th and 5th place kids.
  8. Crappy internet and phone.
  9. Missing my family and friends.
  10. A 25 hour journey to get here/there.
  11. Not being able to buy any fruit or veggies that taste good.
  12. Taking on lame British/Irish slang.
  13. Not speaking proper English because I can't speak proper Arabic.
  14. Rudeness and racism. I am guilty of it too. It is something that inadvertently happens when you are abroad too long in a place that is enveloped with it.
Well it looks like I am going to not miss things more than I am going to miss them. Guess I am meant to go home. Even if I was going to miss more things, I would add some more on the no list to prove I belong at home.

See y'all in a matter of hours (or days, but really a day is 24 hours, so technically....)

2 comments:

  1. See ya soon D-BALLZ

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  2. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
    EXCIIITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
    SEE YOU SOON!!!!!
    wE are STILL GONNA CALL YOU TONIGHT, OR THE MORNING WHERE YOU ARE!!!
    xoxo
    XOXO

    ReplyDelete