FIGHT!

Hello dearies. I just sucked down a mirinda orange soda and i want another. I usually don't buy myself soda but today is a special day. Today I worked at the SwimAmerica office and stood outside in the sun from 4pm to 8pm trying to control the masses. Every other day I'm coaching in the water, but not today. Hasty, angry, or just otherwise LOUD parents were scrambling to register their kids for the slowly disappearing spots for June swim lessons. I kept the door closed and admitted people slowly by their number on my ever-growing waiting list. I never lost my cool or anything but once I'd cut off half the waiting list and was just trying to answer all the last minute questions a little after we were supposed to be closed (so it was around 8:20pm), one of the angry dads stormed past me and anyone else in the pathway between me and Ayman, the one doing most of the computer registrations at the desk. Ayman saw him coming and flew at him too, and their fight was somehow thrown outside where half the coaches and men who were standing around had to hold them off each other. They still got some good hits in, and banging around on the glass walls that I thought would crumble. The damage was done by the time we got Ayman back in the office and the parent OUT of the office. That took a couple tries. The last try knocked the door's lock right off it and my office key is now bent and unusable. I sat there for a while listening to all the "lets calm down and take control of the situation" riffraff (more like, "ba'uluk ey, if he comes in here again he dies!"), then I walked out in search of a restroom with toilet paper. Finally found one here at the cafe, and now here I am.
hehehehehe.... i can laugh now because it's utterly ridiculous. Actually, amid all the grim faces right after the fight i was immediately trying not to betray my secret amusement.

roach count is up to 5.

creepy boss of boss is no longer creepy and no longer a problem.

The gym equipment here doesn't function well enough to let me work up a sweat, so i just work up a temper and leave.

Right now I'm reading "From Beirut to Jerusalem" and it's jam packed with intense information and stories. Some time soon I'll write about what I've learned about Beirut. It has a story unlike any other city I know. I also started reading Freakonomics too, and I love the author's style. I'll probably end up telling you all about it :) Weee - oh roach count 6 now. feet off the floor. aaaand i continue

So far it's been a little rough teaching swim lessons to kids who may or may not understand me in English. I'm still learning new Arabic words to supplement my teaching. There are some preschool kids that are still taking days to put more than just their mouth in the water. Other kids are getting along grand with their front stroke and so on. I have one class from hell though. They're under the water half the time so I can't get their attention, and they have the attention span of 1.4 seconds. Example:
Ok Ali, hey Ali, ta3la, come here we are starting something new- ALI! Ali? Ali, ok lets start back - ALI! I want to see you glide on - ALI! ALI stop swimming away.... yada yada yada." Luckily, there's only one hell class that I can't seem to control.
I teach two older women at the end of the day and I really enjoy that lesson.

Must wash clothes. washer doesn't function except to get clothes soaked and soapy. and I thought I'd get away with no hand-washing? I was wrong. No cleaners around here mom, I asked. Write me