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.
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