The Arabian Gulf

After dinner with colleagues at an overpriced Indian / Chinese restaurant C and I decided to walk home. This was the view - very nice. It took me about 30 minutes and after about six hours of teaching kids I'm not sure how I did it, but I must've wanted to be out walking in fresh air. Until recently, it's been impossible to walk in the evenings.

I had a shower when I got home and lay on my bed messaging a couple of friends by which time I was too tired to get up and change out of my clothes and crawl under the covers.... needless to say, this is a backblip.

One of my teens had been a bit challenging today; she's a little more conservative than some. I'd asked the class to focus on the use of the pronoun 'it' and why it'd been used. It refers to the dog she said because dogs are things and don't have brains. I struggle with this concept; it was the same in Cairo; animals aren't valued which I believe is partly cultural, partly religious. I said dogs are intelligent and God's creatures. I also cautioned them that as second language learners they'll likely be interacting with people from other countries with other beliefs and to realise they will need to accept there are other views, even if they don't accept the view itself. The conversation concluded with another learner asking if I were a vegan. I replied I wasn't. She was surprised I understood her, but I don't know why.