What difference can ten months make?

Every one's become much more fashionable.
Obviously the prevalence of Prada has rubbed off.

As we come to the end of our first stage of Middle Eastern living, I want to identify and catalogue the ways I've changed. The empirist in me likes clear and tangible data, goals that I've met, mountains I've conquered. This is one of the reasons I find I'm a little jealous of Liam, Lucy and Miranda and their adventures in Karate. At the very least they have their belt progressions to show for their efforts here. They came here as white belts and they'll go home as blue, green and yellow belts respectively.

Well, when I look at the last year, I feel that my life has consisted of many of the same routines I was experiencing in Nova Scotia. Sure there are a few differences in how the organization is run, but those changes have little real impact on my day to day interactions with the students. I get up, I put on a tie, I go to work and I teach English. I feel like I’ve made improvements as a teacher. I’m better at incorporating technology into the classroom which should come as no surprise to people who know me. And I’ve learned from some of the excellent teachers with whom I work. Sure, it's a little warm and there's a little bit of suspense every time you interact with someone not knowing how well they will understand you, but I'm basically living the same life I lived a year ago.

Watching the kids grow, makes me feel like I’ve been standing still the whole time. Even the way Julie and the kids have taken the challenges of a new culture and new lifestyle has made me feel downright slothful in how I’ve embraced the newness of the place. One of the greatest blessings of coming here was to learn how resilient and adaptable my family is. Whether it's the new language or culture, the new foods and smells, the adjustments to downtown apartment living, or the difficulties of being so far from friends and family, Julie and the kids have risen to each challenge in a manner that has humbled me. I feel like I'll be going back to Canada with a new family, but perhaps they're the same and this place has just given me an opportunity to see them more clearly. So maybe I have changed after all.

Anyone who visits needs to see Red Sea Antiques, that is if they can fit into the shop.

Lucy's green belt test.

Yes, my son now intimidates me.