Lethargy

Over the past week or so, not a lot worth writing about has happened. The students didn't have class, so I had time to get stuff done at work. The break from the students was also good. At this point in the semester, everyone has been hitting the doldrums. Personally, I've been feeling pretty negative towards the students so I figured it was best to take a break in the "say something nice or don't say anything at all" line of thinking. I've come around but I hit a combination of the middle-of-the-semester-being-annoyed-at-everything with I've-been-in-a-new-county-for-over-six-months-and-the-newbie-shine-has-worn-off negativity.

That's not to say that there hasn't been anything new. The UFC had a match here over the weekend. The weigh-in was at a shopping mall a few miles away and I could easily have gone. I wouldn't have minded going to the match but I couldn't find anyone to go with and I didn't care that much. It's one thing when just going to a friend's house and having some beers and watching the fights and quite another to deal with crowd and the hassle.

Also this weekend, Bill Clinton gave a speech on education in Dubai at one of the schools owned by the same group of the school my kids go to. I doubt I would've been able to go, but it's nice to know that GEMS Education will become part of the Clinton Global Initiative.

Most importantly, I finally organized my apartment after eight months of living here. We don't have that much stuff, but when we first mover here, we didn't have a lot of places to put it. We bought some shelves and cabinets but I never put the stuff away until Saturday.

One nice thing that happened was when I got a call from the police on Saturday afternoon. Apparently, I had dropped my driver's license without realizing it and someone had brought it to the police station for me. The station was close enough to walk, so I took a stroll. When I got there, the police were really helpful and gave me a warm feeling knowing someone had gone out of their way to turn it in. It's strange how something small like that could change my attitude.