Out of the ordinary

We deviate from our "Groundhog Day" schedule occasionally, most often on the weekends. For example, Melissa and I went to the AWARE center (http://www.aware.com.kw)last Friday to find a wonderful blend of crafts - some local and other imported, food, and art. We ate falafel and sesame cake, each found a silk skirt, and got henna tattoos on our hands. Maria and I heard about a textile bazaar this Saturday that we will check out at the Sadu House textile museum. 'Tis the bazaar season, much like at home.

Also last weekend, Sarah and I went to volunteer at Operation Hope (http://www.operation-hope-kuwait.com/), an organization that works with domestic workers. Because she has a car we were able to bring bags of clothes to the women's shelter at the Filipino embassy. Hope to get into a routine of doing this once a month. They will be opening a thrift store up soon as well. Recycling is almost non-existent here, so this is really venturing into untested waters.

This weekend is all about Halloween. The elementary kids have been parading around the middle and high school in costume today and the high school students will have their chance on Halloween. We've decorated our entryway at home with large paper pumpkins, and we be putting goody bags together as the kids from the complex will be trick-or-treating Monday night. There are a couple of parties that we will probably duck into for a little bit. It's also a big schoolwork weekend as grades are due next week.

During the week, it's a little harder to change up the schedule. Every now and then, we go downstairs to Rob's to watch a Sunday afternoon NFL game. It starts at 8:00 Sunday night, so we really only watch the first quarter before trodding off to sleep.

This past Monday afternoon after we got back from the gym, Maria and I had a happy hour of sorts in the apartment. We have built quite a cabinet of drink offerings, and it was nice to "go out" even if we were staying in.

When we don't have a lot of school work in the evening, we try to visit people in the complex. It helps to get out of the apartment, and we have met some really incredibly nice folks. This week we stopped in to see Nancy, who is one of Russ' science colleagues. She's from Chicago, a few years older than us, and incredibly positive. Chris and Christy are from Sasketchewan; she's a nurse and he teaches middle school. Chris is quite the experimental brewmaster and showed us this week how to make hard cider. Sean and Melissa are incredibly warm and open people who host the Arabic lessons every week. The are down-to-earth and very funny. Sarah and Justin give us a ride to church, and had us over for breakfast last weekend. They've been on the international school circuit for a while, and both their kids were born abroad.

Last night we did our grocery shopping on the way home so that frees up the weekend tremendously with one less chore. This morning we took the 6:15 bus to work which was almost decadent. We had more time at home to putter around; I actually had time for a cup of tea (which I normally refuse to have unless I have the time to drink it leisurely). We did not have as much time at school to get ready before the day started, but it's kind of a catch-up day anyway. I've already accomplished a lot which is a great feeling. Just five more school days until the holiday.

Groundhog day

Russ and I watched this movie last weekend and laughed about how it mirrors our life here. During the week, our daily routine is exactly the same with little deviation: we rise early, go to work, then the gym, and have a few hours in the evening together. Herein lies the paradox - the days are incredibly long but go by amazingly quickly. It is hard to believe that we have been here two months, that there are thirteen days to go until our first holiday break, and then only a few weeks after that until we fly home. Unfortunately, the weekend hours fly by as quickly as the work days.

I find myself nostalgic for Africa. As the weather cools down, it is the same morning crispness that we found in Namibia and Botswana at this time of year as it is starting to warm up. I am not sure what exactly I miss; it is more of a general sense of longing to be there. We live Africa vicariously now through friends who will soon be traveling there; through Cheryl and Brent who asked us for housing recommendations in Maputo, through Amy and Rob who want to traverse Kruger next summer, through Sophie who is keen to hike Mount Kilamanjaro.

It's undoubtedly much cooler at home now too and the rallying cry among American ex-pats here is "bring us more pumpkin!" Last week at Lulu, I found canned pumpkin pie mix which I normally would not buy, but it brings back the seasonal comfort that we are craving. Pumpkins are hard to find here but every so often we see butternut squash.

We have found two decent suppliers of table wine - one red and one white. Not bad for home vinting. And we will try our hand in making hard cider this weekend.

Lost in translation

Today, Hasan, our Arabic teacher, shared the following slogan from Saudi Airlines - "Seventy years of progress and no change". Right. Learning the language is slow but steady. Every once in a while I have great opportunity to practice it. I feel if I can be fluent in the basics, it will go a long way. On the other hand, I am eating quite well. Today we had Turkish coffee and Syrian helow (sweets). I probably gain a pound a week from our lesson time, which creates more motivation to go to the Hilton.

Randomly during the week, we got the word that our phone lines had been reconnected. So now we have free landline service but out of habit still use our cell phones most of the time.

Russ has been putting our insurance to the test, and so far it's passing. He is getting great care checking in with a couple of doctors. Our latest visit took us to Al- Sabat Hospital, which resembled a sparkling mall with its marble floors, glitzy boutiques, sparkling escalators, and charming cafe. They even had a day spa there. Boy, I was thinking - when can I check in?

In this artistically devoid city, there was an exhibit by self-taught artist Matt Lamb at the American University of Kuwait after school on Thursday. A few of us went over to check it out and then got something to eat at a nearby Lebanese restaurant. The weather was pleasant with a slight breeze and so we sat outside on comfortable sofas, smoked sheesha (water pipe), and dug into a spread of olives, breads, hummus, lemon potatoes, falafel, and fried halloumi cheese. It was a nice way to start the weekend.

Thursday was a big day to eat. The Senior class had their annual breakfast, which I mistakenly assumed would be a donut bonanza. It was catered by three different companies - Johnny Rockets provided a full American breakfast of eggs, sausage, bacon (beef of course), pancakes, maple syrup, and hash browns. Another group supplied falafel and chicken wraps made to order over a hot grill. Still there was another table with sweet cakes, Arabic coffee, tea, and juices. The students sat in the courtyard and were served by waitresses while a DJ played in the background. It was quite the early morning party which seemed to disrupt most of the school for the first period but was totally acceptable. I was completely blown away by the extravagance of it all.

It wouldn't be the weekend without at least one day at the Hilton. The weather is still quite warm, and so after a yoga class and treadmill session this morning, I started another book - Age of Iron by JM Coetzee - out by the pool. I am getting more reading done here than I ever expected.

A change of pace

My weekend started a day early. Kind of. I did not go into work on Thursday because I took online courses for four hours each on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday nights. They were live sessions from NY, so went from 6 to 10 pm. It made for late nights (we are usually in bed by 8:45), but I negotiated flex time so had all of Thursday free when everyone was back at school. I slept in, read the NY Times over a cup and half of tea, and then went to a Zumba class at the Hilton with Christie. She is a RN from Canada, whose husband teaches at the school. She is frustrated looking for work, and it reminded me of where I was a year ago in Botswana. Then I came back, watched a (guilty pleasure) episode of Big Love (from the DVD library downstairs) and ate a big bowl of cereal. Later, I visited Sarah, a part-time teacher who is home every other day to be with her toddler daughter. She and her husband Justin have been teaching overseas for a while. They invited us to their church on Friday morning which was also a new addition to how we spend our weekend time. The church was in a residential area, in fact in a redesigned house space.

Yesterday morning was the church service; today was the Grand Mosque. Melissa and Sean organized the tour, and I was not about to pass it up. At last, something cultural to do in Kuwait that does not involve shopping. The tour was run by an English woman who has lived in Kuwait for over twenty year and is naturally a Muslim. The mosque was quite gracious in dressing us in black abayas and offering us tea before the ninety-minute tour of the world's seventh largest mosque. The space was cavernous with rays of natural light pouring through. We got the Islam 101 introduction and also some local culture information which was quite interesting.

The online courses were better than expected, as most trainings I go to are completely boring. But this was so hands-on, it was stimulating and exciting. I am learning a new program - Naviance - which will greatly ease the college application process.

There are a lot of US and Canadian colleges coming through school last week and in the upcoming weeks. They really woo the students, not to mention the counselors. I have already been invited to an all-expense paid college tour in Italy and Switzerland; sadly the timing is horrible, right in the middle of the college application season so I will not be able to go. I've been given nice fountain pens a silver plated business card holder, and a few other nice things of use. A step up from the pennants and coffee cups I collected at Lenox. It's a rich ground for the colleges; Kuwait and the Middle East is swarming with students who do not need financial aid and who are hungry to go to the West.

Grocery shopping today, Arabic lessons, getting everything ready to go back to work tomorrow. Finishing out my comp time, I will just go in for the morning and then have the afternoon off, which should make things a lot easier for the next week.

Krispy kremes and baklava

Much like any other school, the front office becomes a catch-all for all sorts of treats. As the students get to know me more, they are bringing by snacks on a regular basis. Krispy Kreme donuts are a huge phenomenon here; in fact I had two last week which is kind of my yearly limit. Last week, a student brought Russ traditional Kuwaiti chicken and rice, which was mostly white rice, but it was the thought that counted. Makes going to the gym a little more of an incentive (Maria and I went for an extended session today). For anyone who thought we were wasting away on rabbit food, rest assured, we are keeping some padding on, me probably more so. Russ looks great - he has slimmed down and is nicely toned.

Yesterday was my first Arabic lesson. There is a group of nine of us who have hired Hasan,a Syrian student who is working on his MBA. We are his first class, so it is a learning curve for all of us. Big lesson with words all sounding the same - tamam means perfect, haman is a pigeon, and hamman (pronounced with two m's) means toilet. I am pretty sure I will be asking someone for a pigeon with a desperate look on my face in the near future. He started with the alphabet, which was a good way to overwhelm us. We told him that we would like to talk taxi, talk shopkeeper, talk restaurant. We will meet for the next four weeks and then he will test us by taking us to the streets. He also introduced us to Syrian desserts much like baklava, dripping in butter and honey, so between that and the donuts, it's been quite a week.

I miss intelligent female conversation, and so invited some friends over to talk about "The Help" last night, drink non-alcoholic wine, and order take-out (chicken wings, onion rings, and caesar salad delivered to our door within twenty minutes). There were ten of us and while the conversation started off with tips on smuggling "real" (as opposed to nasty homebrew) alcohol into the country, it soon turned into a thoughtful discussion about the "help" in this country. Much like in the book, the Indian and Asian nannies and housecleaners are not well-treated, and at the same time, many of them are completely endeared by the children they essentially raise. The money they earn here then goes back to their families in their home countries. That is a sobering thought - to raise some one else's children while being treated like second-class citizens in order to give your own kids a better life.

We bought our air tickets home for the two-week December break and the time will undoubtedly go by quickly. Before that however, our next holiday will be at the beginning of November.

Every weekend we do laundry but can do only small batches at one time because we don't have any hanging space, just a couple of drying racks in the spare bedroom. It is impossible until the weather cools down to get any cold water out of the taps because the water in the roof tanks heat up so incredibly. I have learned the hard way why some clothes insist on being washed in cold. Sigh. Whites look great though!