Wow, so I know it has been too long since my last entry but
I have been super busy (unlike you bums in America ;). When I last wrote I was
about to head to a conference in Dubai for my IB History certification and what
a beautiful city it was! I have never
been anywhere so big and clean! The
cityscape is not so much wide as it is tall.
We were able to see the world’s tallest building (Burj Khalifa) and stay
in the world’s tallest hotel (Rose Tower).
We stayed on the 46th floor with a magnificent view of the
city! To give some perspective on how
high that is, your ears pop twice in the elevator ride up to your room. Our first night there Mark (one of my fellow
teachers and an Ioweigen) and I sampled some of the duty free beverages they
had as well as some of the local delicacies (shwarma). We are
also able to swim, take the metro around the city, visit the only mall with a snow
ski hill inside of it (yes you read that right), and oh yeah learn about
history. I would say my favorite part of
the city is the intense diversity. Not
only could I not distinguish where any of the people I saw in the streets were
from but the buildings themselves were so different. Each building had some sort of light show or
architectural tweak to it that separated it from every other building
there. You will definitely be reading
about me being back in Dubai.
Back in
Bahrain things have been moving forward for me.
I finally feel like I am gaining a grasp on the material I am teaching;
now I just need to find a way to be more efficient in accomplishing it. As it stands, a day in the life is as such:
wake up and 5:30 and shower, Skype Jenalee and eat breakfast. 6:30 I head down
and get on the bus that takes the teachers to the school. School is from 7:20-2:00. Bus leaves the school at 2:30. Nap from 3:00
to 4:30 (it’s a cultural thing that I have been happy to adopt). Grab something to eat, Facebook with Jenalee,
and work from 4:30 to 11:00. So I just
need to get to a point where I am turning that last chunk into more than lesson
planning.
However,
Wiz Khalifa said best when he said “Work hard, play hard.” I have been able to go out about once a
weekend and see the Bahrain nightlife.
So far I have been to a couple of dance clubs which are about what you
would expect to find in the states, loud music, lots of horribly dancing guys
on the prowl, and $10 dinar ($26.50 US dollar drinks). Differences do exist however; the music is
much more dub step, techno then the US and way more light shows then back
home. I enjoy both of those differences
but one thing I will not get used to is coming home smelling of ashtray. Please cherish the smoking bans, it is a
beautiful thing.
I will
wrap up this post with hopefully a piece of mind for my worry warts out
there. Yes there are demonstrations
happening here on almost a daily basis (feeling better yet?), however, these
demonstrations have little or nothing to do with us as US citizens. If there is any hostility towards America it
is just to the government. The
demonstrations are 99% based on internal problems within the country and we
have never felt any risk or even seen any of the demonstrations in person. So please do not worry about my safety as I
am already precautious about something that does not even involve me.
Hope
that makes everyone feel better and on a lighter note if you would like to
write me, my address here is:
Patrick Mahoney
Modern Knowledge
Schools
P.o. Box 15826
Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain
P.o. Box 15826
Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain
