Just a quick catchup...

Okay so it's the weekend - well the end of ours and the start of everyone else's. Andrè left for Rabigh (Red Sea side of Saudi, North of Jeddah) this week and will be there for a few weeks working at the Aramco refinery there.
This means he will miss the girls' Student-Led Conferences on Thursday :( This is always such a great event when all our students present their portfolios to their parents. Will hopefully video each of them - Lucy was such a hoot last year !
Andrè being away also impacted my going to Greece for the Student Study Trip which left Thursday for 8 days or should I say it impacted me not going :( well along with delays in visa for me etc. Always the next one though - we're finalising the itinery for our South Africa/Swaziland Student trip planned for October 2006 :)
Our weekend was a quiet one, girls and I just relaxed at home. Weather is heating up nicely, bit like summer at home so not too bad yet. Thats what planning is all about though - most everyone leaves for July/August which are typically the hottest months.
Which brings me to ...
Just 6 weeks of school left .... so much to do and the time just seems to be flying by - obviously this is a good and a bad thing hehehe
Good for the upcoming holiday and seeing family and friends, bad for all the stress of projects that need doing before the end.
Oh well thats it from me then for this posting, Survivor 12 Panama is on and I'll have to report back to Andrè :( he's really suffereing having no internet or western tv even to fall back on in the evenings :(
I even had to complete his Fantasy League Rugby Team over the phone heheh will surely have to do a blow by blow of the Sharks games until he gets back too :( hope I do our team justice :)
Cheerio for now everybody, catch the updates here again next week xoxox

Sandy

After spening weeks and weeks at long rehearsals both during the week and weekends, finally this whole week Aimee has been playing her part in the Grade 3-8 school production of Annie Junior. Aimee was only in two scenes, non-speaking, as Sandy, Annie's stray dog :) But after saying that, Andre and Lucy saw the last show on Wednesday night and were two of the proudest family members in the audience I am sure. Tracy was doing the lighting for the show and so got to have her proud moments a while back :) We're all glad it's over and we got to celebrate the end of late performances and long rehearsals by sleeping in Thursday morning :) and of course Aimee's idea of sleeping in was .... before 7am !!

Adoring fans brought flowers for the little actress

Final number - Tomorrow

Photo time, Aimee and her co-stars pose together on stage.
Muhammad Azhar - Oliver Warbucks, Patille Madaghjian - Annie, PJ Cruz - Rooster, Giana Sareyeddine - Miss Hannigan, Tanis Sayegh - Lilly and Jude Al-Aswad - Grace.

Sandy and her sister :)

And then off to McDonalds for a celebratory ice-cream and some dinner for Mom and Dad :)

And Aimee turns Seven !

On Friday the 31st of March, Aimee Julia Bosch turned a whopping seven years old :)
Becoming quite the young lady as we can see, a little skinny melinks - and not so little either, next to her little sister :o !Knowing that we were heading off in the morning across the bridge, we did cake and singing the night before.31st March - The most considerate child that she is, she even waited a good half an hour for Mom and Dad to get up so she could open presents hehehe (we had left her gifts in the lounge for her to find and she came and whispered thankyou and then still waited - wow, know I wouldn't have !).After presents, it was off to Bahrain for a quick visit to Gèant and then to the rugby club for Dad to run touch Bahrain vs. Sharja. Good day was had by all, Aimee sat and listened to Mom explain a bit of the game but was soon off to go and play in the sand with Lucy. They returned just in time to see one of the visiting players break his leg badly in a tackle eeewwwww ! Thankfully it was near the end of the game and once he was cleared off and on his way to hospital there was only minutes before the final whistle was blown. Dad showered and we were off to tackle the drive across the causeway. Big thanks to Santa for the dvd player we got for Christmas, the girls got to watch Nanny McPhee on the way home, which Mom and Dad thoroughly appreciated :D .
Back home, Aimee and Mom then TRIED out their new rollerblades, much to the amusement of Dad, Lucy and even some neighbours :o( !
All in all though, it was a fabulous day, all tired out girls were off to bed early - good thing too cos it was back to school in the morning after our Spring Break.

My Birthday in Bangkok !

Hello everybody,
Well I am back in the land of sand now after spending five days in Bangkok for a teacher's conference.
NESA (http://www.nesacenter.org/) "The Near East South Asia Council of Overseas Schools is a non-profit, voluntary association of more than 75 international schools in the Near East and South Asia region .... Mission Statement: To serve member schools by being the catalyst for their continuous improvement and for on-going innovation based on the best practices of American education." This was to be my first time at a Spring Educators conference, I have attended two Fall Administrators conferences (Dubai and Cairo) in the past two years as our consortium of NESA Virtual School System Administrators meet there every year. The only drawback to going was that I'd be going on my own. Andre took three days leave to stay home with the girls - unlike the other times I have travelled, our school was not in session and so Daddy had to be at home with them.
After a very sad goodbye at the airport, I was on my way. Flight was very full - Thailand is a popular destination from this side of the world :) A sleepless night saw us arriving in a hot and sticky Thailand 9:00am. After a bus ride to the conference hotel (Shangri-La, Thailand), check-in, registration and some lunch, The Barnhouse family took me along on a boat ride through the canals.

An amazing experience to see real river-front property !! Although I somehow doubt these homes are priced in the millions as is the case elsewhere in the world :)
The river is sooooo polluted and dirty and yet you come across scenes of happy children frolicking in the water - only a few meters away from seeing snakes entering the river, (wish I had a shocked looking little emoticon now cos thats what our faces were doing hehehe).

The beautiful ornate temples alongside wooden almost ramshackle houses, such stark contrast at times. BUT what really struck me was the graciousness of the Thai people, no matter their circumstances, good or bad, this is a spot to visit if you want to truly experience people who want to please and accomodate. Not that I have travelled the world over, but this was such a refreshing experience.
Day two - was conference time and our first Blackboard SysAdmin meetings, a good day with some new things to learn and even a chance to share some knowledge and experience with the others :) There was an gathering at the poolside for all that night and I even got to have a little ride on an Asian elenphant :) cool !! (Friends took photos so we'll have to see how they come out. Although my face is probably frozen with fear... the covering over the elephant's body was Thai silk and VERY slippery - I spent the whole time being terrified I was going to slide off and land on my .... IN FRONT OF EVERYONE - that would've gone down well hehehe). The evening ended and we were a tad hungry. Some friends wanted to go to Patpong - which among other things has a huge night market. Not keen to go and so we walked to McDonald's down the road from the hotel for a snack (11:00pm). On the way back Cindy (my first teaching partner at ISG - American) and her husband Sammy (Saudi) took me to a massage place where I enjoyed the first foot massage of my stay (photos to follow when the Knox-Al Rimaly family as seen below, return from Koh Samui).

Day Three - some more Blackboard meetings .... and then just relax at the hotel. Oh and another massage downstairs :) :) :)
Day Four - Saturday 25th March :)
Breakfast with the Barnhouse Family again - first singing of "Happy Birthday to You" and gifts. On to Blackboard meetings - second singing and wishes :)
Lunch - Third singing and wishes followed by Jana and I deciding to bunk the rest of the day and go shopping :) So Jana, Leah and I took a taxi downtown to a little government store. Loads to buy and once again loads of help - there seems no end to the lengths the Thai people will go.

Also, cool idea, there are at least four people doing jobs that just one person could do - BUT it creates the jobs and therefore does away with the need for someone to be outside on the streets begging ! Shopping done we headed down to catch the skytrain back to the hotel.
Stopping first to have a photo with Ronald :)

{Ronald - as seen here posed in the Thai greeting. We have decided to contact McD and offer our services, travelling around the world to visit all their Ronalds to ensure that as with Thailand, they are authentic to the county they're in :) we think its a fabulous idea !} You know you are never too old to have a birthday at McDonalds hehehe.
Back at the hotel Rick and Aaron joined us for a walk along to get a dress from one of the shops along the way and surprise surprise ... another massage :)

Just to complete the experience, we took a tuck-tuck back which was a little crazy too !

(Thankyou to Mommy, The Morrick Family, The Wewege Family, The Chaplin Family, The Henning Family and Angie for all your text wishes through the day, sorry didn't reply immediately and to all of you sending emails and any other means - thanks too !)
The third night of the conference is typically a huge dinner dance and so it was upstairs to prepare for this huge affair. In between dressing, I had to take a quick breath to say hello to Andre and the girls for the first time of the day - Messenger is great but the other person has to be available and it seems part of the problem with being away was time difference AND we just kept missing each other ! And so I thought the first Happy Birthday from Andre and the Girls would be the last time I'd hear Happy Birthday for the day .... I was wrong ....
When I sat down at our table, Jana continued telling/reminding people that it was my birthday, including my principal. (hehehe joke at the table was ... I was the only teacher at the table ... I was surrounded by 3 principlas, 3 vice pricipals, a superintendent, a deputy superintendent, a councelor and the chairman of our school board - comment came up that maybe all that would rub off on me hehehe)

We had dinner, all was good with the world, and then .... just before the Thai dancing was to begin, the Director of Nesa stands up to make some announcements and then hands the mic to my principal .... and somehow I knew .... Bruce proceeded to announce to the 1000+ audience that at our school we celebrate birthdays and it need not matter where in the world we are ... "and so would everyone please wish Tracy Bosch (at which time I am told to stand) a very happy birthday today !" Yes I felt like melting into a little puddle on the spot. Wait it doesn't end there, then they wheel out a cake .... (all preaaranged by my principal) the mic then goes back to David (NESA director) and while, my colleagues are wanting to sing and me to blow out candles etc. David is trying to make announcements.

All made for a very special evening, once again though the real drawback was not having Andre there to share it. Off to bed after an evening of dancing at around 12pm, decided to pack first though as the morning would prove rather busy.
Day Five - up early to breakfast and set up for my presentation .... yes the nerves were really kicking in now !!! First speaker was at 9am followed by teacher presentations, mine at 10:15. I was presenting on electronic portfolios and had about 20 people attend.
I felt like it went well but it was confirmed when we went over the evaluations people had left (by our request). Mostly 4's or 5's :) :) :) I even had a comment "best presentation I have attended this whole conference" was so heart warming - even though I recognised it as my principal's handwriting immediately :)

Had to skip the last two sessions as I needed to check out, all done, luggage stored as I was only leaving late in the afternoon, upstairs for the closing speeches.
With time to kill now that the conference was done and most everyone had headed off to whatever islands for the remainder of the break, I walked the street outside for a bit just doing some browsing - bags were popping at the seams, no chance of any extra purchases hehehe next time !!
Decided to head for the airport little earlier, good thing too cos I was so overweight, had to actually pay for it - FIRST TIME !!! damn knew I travelled with a family for another good reason, more people to spread the weight around :( hehehe
Day seemed to be feeling extra long now as we waited to board but finally on and off home I was headed. Not a good flight, very cramped, very bumpy, no sleep and delayed by almost an hour was not good but it was nice to be home and hugs and kisses from Andre and the girls were very welcome :)
And thats my story of a Birthday in Bangkok ! Would definitely go again - NESA 2008 should be in Bangkok again, but having the family along would have made and will make the experience sooooo much better !

Our Annual Walkathon and Hot Dog Day

Wednesday was our annual Walkathon and Hot Dog Day at school.

The Walkathon ... every child,teacher and any parent that wants to participate as well, walks as many laps of our campus during a one hour period. A lap is equal to one mile ! During the week prior, students have the opportunity to find sponsors or pledges for their walking. The funds raised go towards an orphanage in Qatif - this happens every year and for the past two years we have assisted an orphanage in Sri Lanka as well, this year we are adding a community that was badly affected during the earthquake in Pakistan to the list too. Our walkathon has been an annual event for the past 10years or so.
Its a wonderful event with loads of class/grade/teacher challenges and in general everyone just has a wonderful time.
Lucy did fabulously although as usual really felt the heat as you can see in some of the photos :) Preschoolers only do one lap, which she did with me and then returned to her classroom to cool down and have a snack.
Aimee and I walked together on her last lap - she managed 3 in the hour, not bad for a first grader !!

Aimee and Lucy battling the glare ...


So they get to borrow Mom's sunglasses for a photo :)

Lucy finishing her lap and relaxing in the shade to catch a few breaths :)


Aimee finishing her 2nd lap with friends and then walking her 3rd lap with mom and some middle school students.




In the afternoon we welcome parents to join us for our Hot Dog Day lunch. As you can see by the photos, very festive, fun afternoon spent with family and friends.
Lining-up for Hotdogs

The Happy Sisters :)

Lunch with friends Haneen and Ameera (between Lucy and Aimee)

Lucy and Ms. Sheila (her teacher)

Mom and Lucy - courtesy of Aimee :)