Thursday, December 16, 2010

The Good and The Bad

Taking a break from making, baking, and doing today as I've been feeling a bit crappy today.  Back with all that loveliness tomorrow.

Since I've finished the fall semester and we've now been living here about three and a half months, I thought I would go over the best and worst of being here.

The Worst:

1) I don't feel like my degree is very focused.  The department I'm in doesn't have many professors and they aren't teaching very many classes.  This makes me wonder if I'm really getting anything out of this academically, or if I'm mostly spinning my wheels.

2) Language barrier issues continue to frustrate and irritate me.  In most cases, people are understandable, but the extra focus and effort to understand is exhausting.

3) I'm struggling to find a balance between work and leisure.  The workload is nonexistent some weeks and other weeks I struggle to get through.  I feel like I'm off my game here, and it's uncomfortable.

4) I'm still having problems with my tail bone.  I've come to the conclusion that it's because of the ridiculously uncomfortable furniture and not riding my bike.

The Best:

1)  We found the best kitty here on campus.  Having pets in Saudi is pretty much isolated to the expat community so we were so happy to find such a fun, playful kitty.

2) We've had amazing opportunities to travel.  We went to Cairo and Alexandria, and if we get our business together we might going to Italy and Athens here shortly.

3) When we get back from winter break, I'm looking forward to hearing lectures by two amazing people whom I've admired for several years: Hans Rosling and Jay Shafer.  I absolutely adore the B-53.  This might be the best thing this school has done so far.

This is one of Hans Rosling's famous TedTalks

4) No matter how icky things feel at times, so many of our family and friends are a Skype call away.

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