Welcome back! We apologize for the long period since our last web page update, but things have been quite busy here in Beirut. We spent the fall doing research and making inquiries which led to our trip to the Search Associates recruiting fair in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In addition, Tracy has been busy with both the Senior EMAC Arts Festival in Cyprus, the Junior EMAC Arts Festival (which ACS will be hosting), as well as the Spring Musical, The Boyfriend. So, before throwing ourselves into a busy Spring, we wanted to post some pictures of recent trips and other events of note. We hope you enjoy them. As always, we would love to here from you, via the guest book below.
4/10/01:
Added pictures of Our New ApartmentVR,
the
Chouf Mountains, the Krak des Chevaliers, Aleppo,
Istanbul4/10/01:
Updates on Our New Job, Report on The
Boy Friend4/10/01:
replaced personal and travel archive with pull down menus
That's
right, we are heading to the tropics. At the Search Associates Fair in
Boston we accepted an offer from the Singapore American School, a K-12
school of approximately 2,700 students. It is a very new facility located
on a 36 acre campus on the beautiful island nation of Singapore. Tracy
will be teaching social studies, language arts, drama (Yay!) and broadcast
journalism in the middle school, while Dale will most likely be teaching
some combination of social studies (western civ., economics, psychology, Chinese history) in the upper school. We really
liked the people with whom we interviewed, and we are delighted with the
prospect of teaching at SAS!
Tracy
recently directed and produced the high school musical, Sandy Wilson's
The
Boy Friend. The reviews are in! ACS Matters spoke of its "flawless
opening night," and went on to say that "..the play was a well mixed spectacle
of synchronized dancing, talented singing, and comical overacting." Closing
night was a sellout, with some people actually turned away at the door.
This show is a spoof on the 1920's life in the French Riviera, and so is
full of the "corny" songs and lingo of the era. Most impressive of all,
were the risks students took as they engaged in their roles. Yes it was
fun. . .but now how will she fill all those afternoons?
Welcome
to Our Home in Solidere!
To Begin the
tour, simply Click on picture!
During
our October fall break we set out to visit some of the sights in the Chouf
Mountains, southeast of Beirut. See highlights of our visit to the Cedars
of the Chouf, the Beiteddine Palace and a trip to the Kefraya winery in
the Bekka Valley. Click here or on the picture to
start the tour. . .
The
first stop on our winter holiday in Syria was at the granddaddy of the
Crusader Castles, the Krak des Chevaliers, a mountain fortress we visited
enroute to a Christmas celebration in Aleppo, Syria.
Click
here to visit the mountain stronghold. . .
Our second stop on winter holiday was in the Syrian city of Aleppo, shown
here. We stayed at an old merchant serai in the Armenian quarter which
had been converted into a charming hotel. We saw the sights of Aleppo,
including the souk, the imposing Citadel, and some amazing restaurants
(in stark contrast to our culinary experiences in Damascus). Click
here or on the picture to see the sights of Aleppo. . .
?
?
?
?
?
?
Istanbul
straddles the Bosporus, the link between the Asian Near East and Europe.
Nothing symbolizes that duality more than the Hagia Sofia, the grand Christian
Cathedral later transformed into a mosque during that period when the Asian
side of the Bosporus was in ascendancy. We visited this beautiful city
this spring as presenters at the Near East South Asia Conference of schools
(NESA). We enjoyed the conference, and had a wonderful time sampling the
sights of this ancient city. Click here to see
the sights of Istanbul. . .