February 27, 2019: Boo Boo Butt

Noor and I needed a little time away from campus, so we headed to the Greek Club for some fantastic food with a view.  This is easily one of my favorite spots in Alexandria. I love the boats. I love that the restaurant serves wine. And the calamari is pretty good too.  Tonight the company was just what I needed. When I was first hired, my principal told me I’d be working with a girl named Noor, and that she was “my sister from another lifetime.”  Apparently after my principal hired me, she ran to get Noor from her classroom so that she could tell her the same thing about me. No pressure for us to like one another. :) After spending time with Noor, it’s clear our principal was right. We became fast friends.  She is the same kind of dorky that I am. I love her.

The other day, I read a book to my class called “The Book with no Pictures,” by BJ Novak.  It’s hilarious. If you haven’t read it, and you have school aged children, check it out from the library.  Your kids will love it. The whole idea of the book is that the adult reading the book HAS to say everything that is written on the page.  No matter what. And the kids think this idea is hilarious. There are pages that say things like “I am a big monkey with a big monkey mouth” and then the kids die laughing.  One page says, “My only friend in the whole wide world is a hippo named Boo Boo Butt.” (more laughing). After I read the book to my class, the kids were joking that they were going to call me Boo Boo Butt from now on.  I told them they couldn’t, because the book clearly didn’t say that my name was Boo Boo Butt, but that my only friend in the whole world was Boo Boo Butt. (You like the textual evidence conversations I have with my first graders??)  One kid thought about that for a while then finally bursted out, “OHHHH! So Ms. NOOR is Boo Boo Butt.”  To which I replied, “yes, yes she is.”

Very happy to have found a fantastic Boo Boo Butt here.

February 26, 2019: Street Carts

These carts are one of my favorite things in Alex.  Many of them have brightly decorated wooden planks on the back.  Some of them have megaphones and speakers attached to them, so the guy selling things can yell into the megaphone and it’s amplified throughout the neighborhood.  There’s one guy who we hear often, and I’ve heard he’s not selling things, but collecting unwanted electronics from people’s houses. The other day we walked around a cart like this that happened to have a speaker on the side.  At the exact moment we passed the speaker, the guy yelled something into the megaphone. I’m choosing to believe this was a coincidence and that the man didn’t intentionally try to deafen us.

February 25, 2019: Nap in the warm-ish sunshine

It was too beautiful not to enjoy the sunshine on the roof after school today.  I think we hit 73 degrees! I laid in a lawn chair, took a tiny nap, and sunburned my forehead, all the while having goosebumps on my arms.  I know I’ve said it before, but my Kodiak self is so ashamed at how soft I have gotten here.

February 24, 2019: Sociopathic travel buddy

We have a LONG summer break this year.  I think it's 10 weeks.  I'll be back in the states for about 3 weeks of the break, and the rest of the summer I will be traveling.  I'm spending a week and a half walking the Camino in Portugal with some teacher friends.  After we finish the Camino, my sister, Meagan, is meeting me in Lisbon, and we will spend almost two weeks exploring Portugal and Spain.  As of now, our list includes Lisbon, Sintra, beaches in the Algarve, Seville, Granada, and Barcelona.  As I type it out, I am realizing that's quite a lot, and we might need to trim it down a bit!  We started a google doc and have color coded our notes so we can keep track of the logistics and who adds which details.  I was looking through Meg's recent additions when I noticed this alarming side note.

Funny, Meg.   REEEEEAL funny.

February 23, 2019: this is the life

Nothing says relaxation like beachside coffee sipping. 

February 22, 2019: standard yoga by the sea picture

There was a zumba instructors conference happening at the hotel this weekend.  This meant we got to witness LOTS of enthusiastic zumba classes on the beach.  Even better, we got to see these instructors take countless selfies and inspirational workout posed- pictures with the sea in the background.   The beach is has little cabanas scattered around, but they aren't in use right now, so they look more like little stages.  Lots of photoshoots here.  This morning, I pulled a muscle in my back while I was trying to move my beach chair back into the sun.  (Rough life, I know).  I moved on to one of these platforms to stretch, and was immediately inspired to take my own inspirational, insta-worthy stretching pose.

Nailed it.

*I hope I don't offend anyone who loves taking inspirational pictures of themselves in front of beautiful things.  I get it.  I'm just too awkward to be that person.  :)

February 21, 2019: Photo bomb!

We're back at the North Coast, enjoying the sun and the sand.  I've loved vacationing with this little dude.  He's one of the coolest kids I've been around (and his parents are pretty ok too).  He makes legit sandcastles, and gave us reason to occasionally get out of our lounge chairs.  Without him, I may have melted right into the chair.