Last night my friend and I decided to take in a movie. We chose Cowboys and Aliens (movies come out a lot later here than in North America). Unfortunately, we did not realize that EVERY noisy, annoying teenager in the Middle East would also choose our movie. They talked through the whole thing and I did turn around once to tell them to be quiet, but it didn't help much. They remind me very much of one of the classes I teach, actually :P On the bright side, for a movie ticket, a large diet pepsi and a big bag of M&Ms, it was only $14 CDN, where it would easily be double that at home. Speaking of good prices, I got a haircut yesterday for 25 dirhams, which is $7.09 CDN. I tried to give the girl a tip and she said "No Ma'am, it is not allowed!" This place is so weird sometimes!
It was a friend's birthday a few days ago, so we went to a local restaurant downtown. I think it was called Food World or something close. When we went in, the restaurant was empty and the waiter took us to the back and up a small, guest elevator. We came out to see a bunch of small, self-contained booths, each with their own saloon type swinging doors. The idea was that Muslim women could sit and eat uncovered and not be seen by other men. Before the waiter came into our booth each time to bring us something, he knocked on the doors. This made us giggle since we didn't have anything to cover, but it was a neat experience. I tried to get chicken fried rice, but the waiter said "No Ma'am! You can get that anywhere, try something different!" I agreed and let him pick my food, as long as it was chicken based. He brought this chicken in a red sauce, rice and garlic na'an bread. I really liked the chicken and after a while he told me it was pickle chicken. It definitely did not taste like pickles, but it's a good thing he didn't tell me that because I wouldn't have ordered it!
In terms of work, we should be seeing the new school they have built across the street from our current school, next week. Apparently it is open concept, meaning fewer walls and more open space. I personally think that's a terrible way to teach, but I will have to give it a chance. Things are still up in the air about teachers being transfered as well, so we are just hoping that we will all get to stay by some miracle! I have one class which is amazing and sooo well behaved and one that is considerably more "rambunctious". See: standing on desks and running in circles hitting each other with water bottles. I have tried being calm, using humour, yelling, getting support from the VP...so on Sunday I will try a To Sir with Love "you are all adults" angle. We shall see.
Off to the pool now :)
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