A great birthday gift

I told my class it was my birthday and that my birthday gift for them was getting out of class early. (Ok, that was really a birthday gift for me...) Two of the girls ran out and bought me two flowers before I left the building.

Nice, but that's not the great birthday gift.

Today should be the last day I ever have to teach during ramadan. Why is teaching during ramadan something less than fun? I consume a lot of liquids while I teach because I, you know, talk a lot. During ramadan the most I can do is sneak sips in the bathroom before class.

Also, the students are just dead. They stay up almost all night and eat and drink their last food at 4:30 in the morning and they are walking zombies during the day. I would be too if I tried to fast in this heat.

So, with ramadan moving up ten days next year it will start on August 11th and end on September 9th. That's followed by a week holiday. There's no way they'll have us start school for one week and then take a week off.

There's no way. There's no way. There's no way. I'm going to keep saying that... knowing full well nothing is a given in this region.