One more week!

This morning as I was on the bus to school, I noted that in EXACTLY ONE WEEK, factoring the time difference, I would be in the Saskatoon Airport. Oh joy! Oh bliss! I was thinking how the sun will have just set and it won't even be really dark yet.

The humidity has subsided and now the heat is somewhat more tolerable. I am finding the end of year much more bearable than the beginning, both in temperature and living conditions. It's like the end of high school when everyone just gets along and wishes they'd gotten to know people better, or that they'd been just a little nicer, or a little more social (that's my case). We all put our differences aside and work jsut get along.

We had a great poolside party on Thursday night. I made heaps of sushi, Thai noodle salad and strawberry shortcake. My friend Jenna and I made veggie skewers on the bbq and she also baked a ham. How did she get a ham? you may ask...in case you forgot, pork is HARAM (forbidden) here. Well, some people who work on the army base or through the embassy can get pork products and this guy who was trying to win her over brought her one.

Top two ways to win a girls' heart in Kuwait:

1. Pork products (even the vegetarians will pass them along to friends who will be forever grateful)
2. REAL, brand name wine or other such liquids. Forget the flowers, and the chocolates would melt by the time they arrived these days.

My witty comment of the evening: I was looking at all the food I'd made and its lovely presentation, and said "All this and yet I am constantly being rejected by men! What is wrong with this picture?"

So back to the poolside party:
a couple guys were down by the pool with guitars, and others brought drums so we sang and played and drummed for most of the evening. We took intermission to eat and to jump (or be tossed in) the pool. IT was a great time, one of my favourite evenings I've had at home.

Since the Canadian delegation has a 6 hour layover in Frankfurt, some of us are going to take the train downtown to look around and go for cappuccino and pastries before getting on that long flight to Toronto. I have decided this will make the day seem more like it's worthwhile, since we actually get to see and do something on our stop. It will sure helps break up the monotony of the day in the airports and airplanes.

Well, I may not write again before I leave because I need to stop procrastinating and get some actual work done. So, Friday, 9:05pm. I think it will be family time after that (I'll be up for something a little crazier on Saturday night). I will go ahead and do this without my mom's permission but I think we can hang out in the backyard after I get out of the airport. Feel free to bring Sleeman's or Grasshopper, a big hug and some pictures from year. I am not sure how late I'll be able to stay up. I know it sounds boring, but I'd like to get in a bit of a routine straight away. Otherwise it's hard to function.

See you soon.
xoxoxoxoxoxo

From zero to

sweating like a...pig? in 60 seconds. Or do we say perspiring? I seem to remember some little saying we had growing up- horses sweat, people perspire. Whatever.

This morning when I went outside to catch the bus to school, I put my sunglasses on. In about 10 seconds they were so foggy from the humidity that I could barely see. Plan B, take OFF the sunglasses. 1 minute outside in this stifling heat (45+C now) and the insane humidity is enough to knock me out. The heat is getting to everybody, for sure.

Last night I went to the grad, since the band had to play. It was fun and interesting and not quite so upscale as I thought it would be. Don't get me wrong, it was in a fancy hotel and folks were dressed up, but nothing shocked me. well ,actually, the night before grad when one of the co-ordinators informed me I could only have 15 students in the band, I was a little shocked and for the next 13 hours until we got to the venue, I was feeling pretty stressed out. As it turned out, all 26 kids who signed up to play had room to be there and we could have fit a couple more.

That's just typically how people work around here. Get stressed out, get over it. Blood pressure goes up, blood pressure goes down. Honestly, it is a bit fatiguing especially at this time of year when everyone is exhausted from hard work and the heat.

I came up with a great joke for the rehearsal and my band kids were totally into it. They were looking forward to it for days. (I didn't tell them much in advance lest the secret slip out) We played the introduction to Pomp and Circumstance (the processional used for most grads) then we jumped right into about 12 measures of The Imperial March (Darth Vader theme from Star Wars). It was hilarious! At first I thought things might be too tense to pull it off, but we went with it and the kids (graduates and band students) thought it was great, as did the other adults there. Good times!

Just a little over a week now til I get a break. Bless the clean prairie air and gorgeous skies! I cannot wait for the late evening sunsets. Here we wait until 7 or 7:30pm to do anything outdoors. Sunset is about 6:30 and then it cools off enough that it's tolerable. Though a two block walk does induce a certain amount of perspiration.

Aaaaaah!

Hi everyone. It's 4:00pm on Saturday, the first day of the work week. I am still at school and will be here until around 7:00pm because we have a 5th grade band concert at 6. Hurray.

I have a touch of insomnia, it seems. I woke up this morning and laid in bed for quite some time before I heard the first prayer call. The first call to prayer is currently at 3:25am. I awoke from a bizarre and disturbing dream. I cannot describe it but it left me feeling weird all day.

And now, it's Sunday and I am trying to sort through 50 some musical instruments, 80 some books, oh how I love this time of year.

The Grade 5s did relatively well in their concert. It was short and sweet and now it's one less thing to do. I only have three more evenings to give up now. High School Grad, Grade 5 Moving On (to Middle School) and Grade 8 Promotion. And only 2 of those 3 nights involve performances. Great.

After the concert, my music colleagues (and best friends here)and I had a couple drinks and watched Corner Gas. World's Biggest is still my favourite episode, though Pandora's Wine comes a close second. No matter how many times I watch that show, it still cracks me up.

Wes: We can use sheet metal and an old telephone pole.
Woman: No, the wood's too dry, it will crack.
Lacey and Brent: Crack hoe!
Brent to Lacey: You're really enjoying this, aren't you?
Lacey: You have no idea...
..it never fails to induce uproarious laughter...

Many of the staff here have enjoyed Corner Gsa, Seasons 1 &2. Thanks, Mom, for those. Now I am popular and have lots of friends and always a topic of conversation. Apparently Season 3 is on Orbit (satellite network here). If only I had a TV and cable and time to watch...

And that said, I best get back to the musical instruments and figuring things out for the next couple days.

On the official countdown, 12 days to go. A bientot!

Friday, bloody Friday

The weeks are passing faster than ever, time being taken for farewells now. It is remarkable to think some people with whom I have grown close over the year will soon move on without a trace. It is an emotional time of fond memories, good laughs and excitement for what is to come.

The weekends are over before they even begin, it seems. I have so many social obligations these days, mostly for the aforementioned farewells, and typical year-end wind up style parties. This weekend, I attended a gathering at the High School Principal's flat. It was a lovely get-together. Last night was one of those typical loud parties, except we were mostly gathered outdoors. The temperature was in excess of 30C, I am sure, but that did not stop us from drinking homemade, massive headache producing sangria and talking loudly. That's just what we do in Kuwait.

To get to the party, though was a huge: ARG! as following directions here is a royal pain. The directions were as follows: the road curves right, then you take the first right (this was a sand road, not a paved road but this detail was not indicated in the directions), then the second left past the mosque. Then you go to the first pink building. Right. So my friend and I did not think the first right was where it was since we, North Americans that we are, took the PAVED road. Duh... So we found this large pink building with white trim and since there were about 8 vehicles parked outside, we thought, this is it??? Well, as we looked around we quickly deduced it was a private residence. So after getting ahold of someone at the party, we got some better directions- the buildings are across from a patch of desert land. We then found it no problem. Using mosques as landmarks, incidentally, is the equivalent of using my initial Parisian tracking system. "It's the white apartment building with the black iron balcony with a red flower basket, complete with a Patisserie and a brasserie". Right, that describes every block. Oh, and street addresses are optional here. The explanation is that numbers were removed from blocks and buildings so Saddam Hussein could not track people down during the invasion. Kuwait is set up in a confusing manner to prevent maniacs from finding people, or their way around. So you can imagine the flawlessness of this particular system of logic. Blocks are now often marked, in a neighbourhood there are several blocks (1-13 for example). But essentially, unless you know where you are going, you will get lost at least once in the process of getting somewhere. That even goes for people who have lived here most of their lives.

This week I will attend the grade 12 graduation, since I will be conducting the band with the ever popular Pomp and Circumstance, plus the national anthems of Kuwait and the USA. Hurray. I cannot wait to tell you about the event that is grad at ASK. I have heard but cannot imagine it yet. It's a real fashion show, apparently.

What I can tell you is Wednesday this week was the seniors' last day at ASK. For some reason, they do not have to write final exams like the rest of the High School. I don't get it, but I could write a book of things I don't get about this place. Anyway, at the end of Wednesday, the 12th graders were dismissed to the courtyard for a countdown. I saw them afterwards and never in my life have I seen so many teary-eyed young adults. Some were full-on bawling their eyes out, and this was not reserved for the female population. It was pretty touching, though I still find the magnitude of teenage emotion wrought with hilarity. I just cannot help myself, though I know I, too, am sentimental.

Well then, this concludes the weekend and today's edition of the blog. In two weeks and 12 hours, I will be in the Saskatoon airport, inshallah. I can promise you one thing: not matter the temperature, I will not complain.

all good things...