Between my last blog and this one, a serious analysis of living life in the Middle East was completed which resulted in an excel sheet that listed 11 reasons to break contract and move home this June and 19 reasons to endure this bizarre reality. Night after night, we'd discuss this topic. Jake was ready to stay OR ready to go, the final decision was up to me. I confided in three people to help me figure out what to do and how to cope: my brother, my best friend and my son. Three completely different people with different perspectives and the ability to analyze and give thought-provoking feedback on this topic. Jake and I set a deadline for Saturday morning, February 11th for the decision to be made and agreed that no matter what, this indecisiveness would end. A second document was developed which consisted of three columns: #1-major irritations/negatives/stressers, #2-coping mechanisms for those issues and #3-positives to focus on moving forward. This second document was inspired by a military term and is entitled "Embrace The Suck." The morning of the 11th, I decided that we'd stay.
After coffee, we started packing for India.....
The Conference in India & The Culture of India
With 11 students and our trip co-leader, Ms. Nesireen Midhlaj, we flew to Chennai, India via Dubai to attend the 2-day Middle School International Writers Conference at the American International School Chennai. We also toured in Chennai and the beautiful city of Pondicherry. Chennai is in the state of Tamil Nadu and Nesireen is from Kerala, which is a state we want to return to, extensively tour and visit Nesireen and her family.
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| Zainab enjoying the Indian Ocean. I absolutely LOVE this photo. |
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| Indian art found throughout the American International School Chennai campus. Jake loves horses. |
The conference hosted students and teachers who represented 5 continents and 17 countries. The school was decorated with inspirational quotes and is committed to fostering "International Mindedness."
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| This was the MOST amazing dining experience we've EVER had. The service and the food was over the top outstanding. |
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| What shall I choose? |
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| Good choice. Yummy! |
At the conference, the students were divided into three learning tracts: Novels, Graphic Novels and Storytelling. We spent intensive time with published authors and other Middle School Language Arts teachers and their students.
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| ISG represents. |
Both Jake and I were presenters and throughly enjoyed teaching to a room filled with diverse students from around the world.
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| The Master at Work |
It had been years since I watched Jake teach and as I sat in the back of the room and listened to him share his craft, I was overcome, as many times before, with tremendous respect and admiration for this exceptional educator.
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| The 6 Word Memoir, what fun! |
Everywhere we traveled, we saw cows. The cows were in the streets, on the sides of roads, in people's yards and at the tourist attractions. You don't see that every day at home....
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| Cows, cows, everywhere there's cows. |
We found a local beach which was filled with colorfully painted fishing boats and dangerous undercurrents. This combination made for extreme wave playing supervision and amazing memories.
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| Hanging out on the beach with the fishing boats. |
This is Mahabalipuram, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and it was incredible! To learn more, visit: Mahabalipuram
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| Our students at Mahablipuram. What a site! |
Not only did we see cows everywhere, there are goats here and there. Lots of goats. Jake likes goats.
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| Jake and the goats. |
This welcome sign was made the morning of the conference from dried flowers by artists. This is a local custom. It was very interesting to watch them create a beautiful piece of artwork for everyone to enjoy.
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| Fresh, dried flowers------amazing artistry |
This is Jeremy, the conference director, and fellow American. This guy and his team organized the smoothest conference I have EVER been to. He didn't miss a detail, in fact, there were so many personalized components to attending this event-it absolutely blew my mind! I learned a lot more about event planning from him!
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| With Jeremy from the American International School Chennai. |
Growing up IN Lake Waukenabo and often camping on the North Shore of Lake Superior has instilled in me a love of water. Need therapy? Seek out a beach, freshwater or otherwise.
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| Nabri and his coconut water! Good for your health. |
Someone has to supervise these crazy and fun kids......or maybe I'm the one who needs supervision.....
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| Supervising |
And this is my colleague and girlfriend, Nesireen. An amazing, intelligent woman who is from India and grew up in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, teaches Language Arts AND works in the family business, married, a mother to Hazel, has abundant energy and a beautiful spirit. She's teaching me about her culture, her religion, her country and her dreams. She's my "Short-Indian-Muslim Buddy" and I am her "Tall-American-Christian Buddy." We're a really good team.
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| Nesireen and I bought matching dresses! |
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| On the Bay of Bengal, Indian Ocean. |
We returned back to our Saudi villa on Tuesday night, February 21st and on Wednesday morning, we received an email regarding my Mom and some health issues she had experienced. Jake and I were concerned enough that we decided I would fly home, check in with Mom and see how she was really doing. Up until the minute we left for Saudi last August, I felt hesitant of leaving her knowing that this would be the first Winter she'd be alone in 15 years as Jake and I have been her neighbors.
I departed on Thursday, February 23rd. 34 hours of travel from our compound villa door the Mom's front door in Waukenabo Township. Knowing that Mom would advise me to NOT travel home, I agreed with our 4 children's advice to not tell her until I landed in the United States! I sent her this photo as I was boarding. She responded with "you look beautiful" and then I wrote back, "Mom---what ELSE do you see in the photo?" and she wrote back "If that is what I think it is, that is ridiculous!"
At that moment,I lost the Wi-Fi connection and had to board the flight bound for Minneapolis!
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| First hint to Mom that I was on my way home |
Megan was waiting for me at MSP and what a beautiful moment it was as we hugged and cried in the baggage claim area.
I called Mom as we drove through Elk River and continued to comment to Megan about the trees and no trash and wide roads and people driving lawfully. My God, I felt like I was in a foreign country......
And so began my 13 days of hiding out with Mom at home, staying away from Aitkin and assessing the situation with nightly updates to Jake, and re-opening the excel sheet to discuss the topic again.....
Megan stayed an extra day and she and Mom baked an apple strudel. I ate my fill of PORK while home: pork roast, bacon, pork breakfast sausage links, Spam and grilled pork chops.
After 2 trips to Duluth, my sister and I got Mom's health checked and cleared.
Thanks to Megan's convincing, Mom and I met with Darlene. She is from the Aitkin County Care Homemaker Services. After a wonderful conversation, we arranged for fresh grocery delivery every other Thursday and housecleaning once a month. What a big step and nice addition to Mom's life!
Mom and I also completed lots of little odds and ends that were on Mom's list like wood hauling, furnace filter changing, porch cleaning, laundry organizing, shopping in Grand Rapids and dining out in Palisade for the delicious Friday Night Fish Fry.
Every morning, we drank coffee upstairs while snuggling in the blankets with our jammies on. The time with Mom resulted in a Peace of Mind for both of us as we discussed what Jake and I have been coping with, what she has been coping with and what we are going to do moving forward to cope with and tackle Year 2 of our Saudi contracts. As I reflect back on those 12 days with Mom, they were the best hours I have ever spent with her in my entire life.
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| Morning coffee in our jammies, no make-up, no stress. |
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| The Strudel Making Team |
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| First grocery delivery with Darlene! Woot! Woot! |
The crisp Minnesota Winter air refreshed every fiber of my being.
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| In my happy place. East Lake Ranch. |
Jonah traveled down from Bemidji for a walk in the woods and family dinner with Oma. I was also able to see my nephews Alex and Brandon and their girlfriends, Tracy and Carly, which was a bonus.
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| With my Jonah. |
Time with Megan Mary is priceless.
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| Mother Daughter Love=Magic |
I even enjoyed shoveling snow. There's only sand and shit to shovel in Saudi. [That was supposed to be a joke.]
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| I miss snow! |
My in-laws, Linda and Michael picked me up Wednesday morning from Waukenabo and I spent the day visiting with them, going out for lunch, shopping and being together. It was so awesome. That night, the whole Jaskowiak clan gathered for grilled thick pork chops, laughter and fun. I adore my Jaskowiak family. On Thursday, March 9th, Michael drove me to the airport and back to Jake I flew, emergency row exit seat the entire way feeling refreshed, renewed and ready to "Embrace the Suck" once again.
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| With my godson, Zeke, and my amazing in-laws, Linda & Michael. |
So what now?
One of my favorite students is leaving to attend the Pakistan Scouts Cadet Batrasi College-a boarding school for future Pakistani leaders and soldiers. He's 12 years old.
One of my favorite Pakistani girls is leaving at the end of the school year because of visa issues with the Saudi government.
I would love to visit them in Pakistan but that is not a good idea. Per the US Embassy and Consulates in Pakistan: International and foreign schools and schools with English language curricula may be the target of a terror organization operation already underway. The U.S. Consulate General considers thee threats to be credible and U.S. citizens are advised to avoid schools until the threat is s resolved. U.S. citizens are reminded that there is an active Travel Warning for Pakistan and U.S. citizens are urged to defer all non-essential travel to Pakistan.
Ramadan is soon approaching and life here revolves around this most important Islamic time. During the Holy Month, ISG will be operating a normal start but an early finish for all school sites and all employees. This is intended to demonstrate sensitivity to the host country during the Holy Month and simplify whole school operations during this period. Will Jake and I be paid less? Nope! Employees contracted for an 8-hour day will continue to receive full salary even if they work a 6-hour day as per the revised Ramadan hours. Gotta Love Ramadan!
The fighter jets continue to fly south and return. It's a troubling sound to hear and think about.
Jake and I are packing and leaving for London in 2 days with 24 high students attending a Model United Nations Conference. To learn more about that, click here: Our conference
After we return from London, we have a few days and then we're heading to Egypt for our Spring Break Trip. While there, we've hired a tour guide in Cairo and we are going on a 4 night cruise on the Nile River. To see the cruise line, click here: Our upcoming Nile cruise
And in today's news, I read that two of the Saudi Airports are on a list requiring laptops, tablets etc. to be stowed in checked luggage....
It's an interesting time in our world.
There are 49 school days left and we'll be leaving for Slovenia.
