After three days of hoofing it around the track at our complex, doing stairs at the Annex (singles building in which the stairs are cooler than our building) and jump rope, I broke down and joined the Hilton. Even thought I enjoyed the company of three other women, the pervasive dust, smell of sewage, and the heat (even after the sun goes down, it’s incredibly hot with only about 15% humidity), made me stop and ask “Why am I putting myself through this?” Life is too short to be miserable. Instead, the school bus dropped me and three other teachers off at the Hilton, where I had a locker to store my things, towels to shower, and satellite television while I walked on the treadmill. In fact, I watched the Colbert Report and Martha Stewart, which gave me enough tv for the day. One of the best things was that I could exercise in shorts and a tank top and nobody cares. Even more than the physical workout, it was a complete de-stressor from the day.
Russ discovered a great find at his gym - there is a healthy affordable take-out restaurant on the top floor. So he can put in a request for dinner when he goes in and then pick it up when he heads out. Not something we will do every day but a nice option when both of us are to tired to cook. Tandoori chicken wraps sound good for tonight!
The days end up being extremely long and then very short. The long part is getting up at 5:00 am to catch the 5:45 bus and only returning at 3:30 (we decided the 5:15 bus was too early). School happens between 7 am and 2 pm, but the half hour commute each way stretches things out. Between 3:30 and 9:00 is our free time, where two and half hours at the gym (including transport to get to and from there) only leaves three hours to do everything else, which includes at least an hour to prep for the next day. For the time being, we will be going to bed on the early side.
We have little sense of time. The work week is Sunday through Thursday, and we are a bit robotic in just waking up, getting on the bus, and going to school regardless of what day it is. One thing about getting up early is that it is cooler. However, BBC world weather predicted that Kuwait will be the hottest inhabited place on the planet today. There is a huge difference between the 41 degrees Celsius yesterday and the 48 it will reach later on.
The school has a doctor and he re-wrote all of Russ’ prescriptions today, called them into the pharmacy which then delivered. Unfortunately, the insurance does not cover Crestor so we are paying market value for that, but not on anything else. He has an appointment with a doctor tomorrow at 6:30 pm (like everything else here, doctors keep late office hours). Taking time off from work seems to be frowned upon so there are these helpful accomodations.
Russ has a great schedule, with a large break around lunch time that serves as his planning time. We eat lunch together every day. Never thought we could work at the same school but we actually rarely see each other. I am on the second floor and he is on the fourth at the opposite end. We have different friends on the bus ride and then our own workout times, so it feels balanced. I enjoy my co-workers but just found out that one of them will be leaving in the next few weeks, which will totally complicate my life as I work with 150 seniors to get into college over the next four month. Oh, and the assistant principal goes on maternity leave next month so things should be very very interesting.
I could be stressed out with this recent news, but we are trying hard to take things one day at time, and it feels pretty good. Tomorrow's worries are not today's concerns because there is enough going on today.
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