The First Days of School

Hello all,

I am so excited that I just have to write right now. I just had my first full class with the senior (grade 9-12) band and it was awesome! I am not accustomed to students who are so disciplined and capable of reading music, especially at 7:30 in the morning. These are some of the most polite and interesting students I have met. So talented, so good and so mature. It's going to be very exciting to work with them every other day- they can do musical things and they are well trained and respectful, it's like working with an honour band. It's nice to walk into a program where you can pick up where the last person left off rather than clean up the mess that was left behind.

This week has flown by as it is a four day work week. This Thursday (that's the weekend here), the Hilton is having an open house day where we can go use the gym, the pool, the beach, the sauna and can eat a free lunch. I can't wait! Then on Friday are auditions and rehearsal for the Kuwait Little Theatre "Mad Musicals" where everyone gets in! A few of the school music types will be going.

As for other observations, I am learning first hand that prohibition is ridiculous. This is not because it makes people miserable, it is because it makes people behave in an uncivilised manner. Whenever the opportunity arises to consume that which is prohibited, people consume as though they may never again have access to this substance. Ah, the black market. One of the (Aussie) teachers has close connections and gets great deal on contraband.

This past weekend, I attended a small gathering- a lovely colleague and fellow Canadian Caroline, two American girls teaching at a different international school, an Irish rugby player who works for Harley Davidson, an English rugby player who works in finance, an Indian/Kuwaiti who also works in finance, and three Americans who work in security/military. Two of the Americans are named Steve, they're both from Alabama and epitomise the word red-neck.

We were trying to find another party that many of the other teachers were at, and as we drove around for over an hour, we were all getting frustrated since nobody could find it. We had a convoy of 4 ve-hicles (pronounced Alabama-style as though 2 words) driving along a busy freeway (known here as highways). There was a police check set up at the side of the road, but they just stopped us briefly then let us through. Moments later, we arrived at a red light. I was in a vehicle with the Indian/Kuwaiti who had consumed very little contraband. The two Steves and the two American girls were in the ve-hicle ahead of us.

One of the Steves got out of the rear passenger door, unzipped his pants and started to urinate in the direction of his vehicle. I truly could not believe my eyes- this is the sort of thing that folks do when they're on the long highway in the middle of the night, there's nowhere to stop for at least an hour and then they generally have the decency to pull off the road (impossible here) and go into the trees (also impossible here). Keep in mind that we were still in the city on a very busy roadway, had just passed a police checkpoint, and Kuwaiti traffic is insane at the best of times, suicidal all others. Would you risk getting out at a red light to go? It was quite funny, though. I asked Ash (the driver of my ve-hicle) if I was actually seeing what I though I was seeing. He verified that I was not imagining it. In any case, it makes for a great story that I have been quite generous in recounting.

I will report more later, but I must get some work done now.

Take a breath of clean, crisp autumn air for me. If you see the stars tonight, take a long look and enjoy the natural beauty of the open space and be glad for it.

Namaste.