I remember thinking in my first few weeks of teaching here that this semester would go on for eternity, no end in sight. Here I am today starting my second semester of school. Its weird. Towards the end of the semester the weeks seemed to fly by and things got much easier for many reasons. They were good weeks. I had a lot of interesting conversations with my students and I feel like my understanding of this part of the world has increased greatly, though I think I could never truly understand their feelings unless I was one of them. When you live in another country and work on a daily basis with people from another culture your mind really begins to expand.....and sometimes it hurts. Sometimes, no matter how much you try to wrap your mind around something, some idea, some thought, your never going to get it, and in some ways, I'm happy about that. This experience has been both good and bad in various ways. One thing confirmed to me again though, is that people really are very similar in some of the most important ways, no matter where you are in the world. Below are some pictures of the last days of this semester.
I think its funny that some of the most smily Saudi's rarely smile in pictures. I don't know if that is a cultural thing or what. Some of them look so serious in pictures...almost scary, but really they smile quite a bit.
These two were with me from the beginning. I had my class changed so many times I think I taught almost every student in the program at one time or another. Thank heavens this won't be the case second semester.
For the last day of class we reviewed a little for the final test, but mostly we just brought and ate food.
Some of the students made traditional food from their hometowns. Very good.
The student above is great. He truly loves to learn about everything, which is one of his greatest qualities. I think he will go far in life.
Eating with some of my old students during a break.
More of my old students.
Charles, teaching the students. This is the second to last day I believe.
Working hard.
Here is as many students in my class I could gather together for a group picture. Its very difficult to get them all together on one day. I will miss them. Luckily we had a week off in between the semesters plus one day the king declared as a holiday (I love when he does that). Its been a LAZY week. I will be moving schools for the new semester. I'm staying in the same city, but now I will be working at Chris's school, which should be nice, though I will miss the old one. Stay tuned.
I think its funny that some of the most smily Saudi's rarely smile in pictures. I don't know if that is a cultural thing or what. Some of them look so serious in pictures...almost scary, but really they smile quite a bit.
These two were with me from the beginning. I had my class changed so many times I think I taught almost every student in the program at one time or another. Thank heavens this won't be the case second semester.
For the last day of class we reviewed a little for the final test, but mostly we just brought and ate food. 
Some of the students made traditional food from their hometowns. Very good.
The student above is great. He truly loves to learn about everything, which is one of his greatest qualities. I think he will go far in life.
Eating with some of my old students during a break.
More of my old students.
Here is as many students in my class I could gather together for a group picture. Its very difficult to get them all together on one day. I will miss them. Luckily we had a week off in between the semesters plus one day the king declared as a holiday (I love when he does that). Its been a LAZY week. I will be moving schools for the new semester. I'm staying in the same city, but now I will be working at Chris's school, which should be nice, though I will miss the old one. Stay tuned.
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