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Granola to Go

Monday, April 30, 2007

and in other news...

the Virgin Mega Store has been shut down by the Ministry of Information for selling uncensored media. We are hoping after a month it will reopen but we shall see. They (the ministry) have been cracking down on books and movies lately- took 12 books out of our school library last week. Allegedly these books contained the word "drugs" and indicated drugs were bad and folks should not use them. Right. Best to keep people ignorant... keep on blacking Israel off the maps while we're at it. I wonder which bozo has my Season 3 of Corner Gas. I laugh about it, because it's better than being angry.

The weather is great today, though it may progress to a sandstorm. The breeze is currently perfect.

Our Jazz Band concert last week was quite a success. We got a half page in one of the newspapers, plus we made 40KD each. Nice. And we are going to play at the embassy again in May, which makes me happy. That was the most fun I've had in Kuwait.

Life is good.

Fact or fiction?

Why do I have the most bizarre interactions with people? Am I socially retarded? Do I exaggerate more than other folks? Is is that I have a totally skewed perception of reality? Is it my cock-eyed optimism? Is it just that I love to tell stories? I cannot wait to hear people's reaction to this line of questioning- I have just opened myself up to all sorts of ridicule...

Today, for example, I went to a coffee shop near the school. I was on a kick with a friend where we went every second day, if not every day. I have not been there in a while now, as I have been too busy to take the break and I decided it was a bit over the top to spend that much money on coffee. The woman working at the shop mentioned I had not been there in a long time. I said I was trying to cut back (meaning on my spending and frivolousness). She smiled at me and said, "Ma'am, actually you are not overweight." To which I responded, "That's not exactly what I meant, but thank-you."

A couple months ago (I have avoided telling this story because I want no one to worry that I live dangerously) I was going for a walk with one of my girlfriends. As commonly happens here, a young Kuwaiti man started following us in his car, declaring his love and wanting us to take his number. Usually such men go away after awhile if you ignore them. I tried to ignore him, but my friend was interacting. This encourages the behaviour. Finally, I told him to leave us alone and I was going to call my friend if he didn't. He said, "Fine. Call your friend. I'm going to f*$#ing kill you," and drew a sword off his passenger seat and pointed it out the window to prove he could in fact follow through with the threat. As it goes, he drove off after allegedly mouthing an apology to my friend.

Then there's the driver I had over winter break in India, who calls me from time to time to enquire if and when I will come back to India. Last time he called, I was on holidays and missed his call. Then I had a text message from him that was simply three hearts. Why? He has a girlfriend and he's 20 years old. So I am not answering his calls or text messages anymore. So silly.

Hopefully these stories will tide you over until I get some more pictures taken and can write more about...who knows what. The next odd interaction with a friend or stranger? Fortunately I am good natured and have a silly sense of humour, or things may really get to me.

Until next time...

Friday, April 27, 2007

ANZAC Ball

Last night, I danced til my energy ran out. We were honouring the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps with a huge buffet and heaps of music and dancing. It was a fun time, mostly. There was a certain amount of drama, but not anything worth getting into right now. Let's just say that I lost a little faith in my ability to judge character and lost a little faith in the goodness of a friend. As is goes.

I had a pretty dress and I "looked lovely" as spoken by the aformentioned friend.



The week preceeding had been hectic as I was in Doha for an Arts Festival trip for 5 days (Thursday til Monday), came back in time to get ready for my jazz band concert, went to the concert and played quite well...and got home at 10. I just have 7 more weeks to plunge through and then, thankfully, it will be time to recharge.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

When do we ride into Jerusalem?

By the way, that's a direct rip off from the musical Jesus Christ Superstar. I had songs from it stuck in my head the whole time we were in Israel. Such good music, I love the funk. Best (arguably the only good) thing Andrew Lloyd Weber wrote, but I digress.

Our flight left Cairo at 2:45am. We had had a long day of pyramid and museum visiting, which was off ot an early start after our 7:00am arrival off the night train. We napped for about three hours after dinner before heading to the airport. We we questioned separately about how we knew eachother, why we were travelling, if anyone had asked us to take anything for them. Then our interrogators conferred. The procedure took about 20 minutes. After that, which was a little intimidating, the rest was easy. We got in to Tel Aviv at about 5:00am (there was a time change) and then took a service taxi to Jerusalem. The service taxi is an 11 passenger van that goes once it's filled up. It was nice- we met an elderly man who works at a peace organization in Bethlehem and a young man from New York who was celebrating pesah (passsover) with family in Jerusalem.

When we arrived in Jerusalem, our hostel was locked up and no one answered the door. We went next door and got the man to phone and wake up our proprietor. We had booked the room for the night before so we could rest for part of the morning, then go out and enjoy the day. Our room was not ready and after waiting around, going for breakfast, returning, and still not having a good room, we found another place to stay. Because it was coming on Easter and Passover, it was a very busy tourist time in Israel.

Finally, we rested for part of the afternoon then went out in the early evening.Here is one of my first pictures, near the old city walls.


As we were walking into New Jerusalem (the happening part of town), we had this haunting feeling of being in a recently evacuated city. It was the start of Passover and every business was closed. The were very few people walking, cycling or driving. As there were so many tourists,this was quite surprising. After walking along the main road for a while, we decided to walk back. We stayed in East Jerusalem- the Palestinian (Muslim) quarter- so more businesses were open there. After a few moments, I suggested we walk off the main road and in some of the little side streets with more character. Forturnately, this path led us to what appeared to be the ONLY open pub/restaurant in the area. We ate a glorious Greek salad and drank cider and visited with the lovely manager, who charged us about half of our bill. We went back the next two nights. Each subsequent night was busier- the first night we were the only people there for a good hour, then in total about 4 other people showed up.

The next day we went ot Masada, a fort by the Dead Sea. It was originally built by King Herod and later occupied by Byzantine hermits. It was a gorgeous day!





The next two days, we hung out in the Old City. The old city is surrounded by walls and gates. The interior boasts Temple Mount (Dome of the Rock), The Wailing Wall and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the stations of the cross and many churches. There are many little shops and restaurants as well. I could have spent much more time there and in Jerusalem in general. It was amazing and I do feel different now that I've been there. All those verses I memomrized at school and AWANA have been revisiting my brain.

More pictures to follow- there is a different feature I have to figure out so I can get them the correct way on the screen.

Anyway, I am soaking my feet and should go. I have to pack for the school trip to Doha which leaves a little later on today.

shalom...

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Things to do when you get home

I need a break from these trip updates and I imagine you do, too. The reality of coming home from the trip involved laundry, grocery shopping, a long shower and a haircut. I wanted to get my haircut on the trip but there was no convenient time. Since moving here, I have taken to cutting my own hair. If you note the pictures from the trip and then the ones on this page, you will see the difference. I love playing with self portraits on the digital camera. I suppose one could say I'm a little bit vain.




By the way, this is a caption of Debbie, Karen and me. We are the three women in the Desert Cats Jazz Band- notice the matching shirts and SHOES! Dorothy goes disco! I love it! This was taken a couple days before spring break at our sneak peak performance.

Friday, April 13, 2007

Luxor and Cairo continued

Things are swinging along in Kuwait. The three day school week was busy and in one week I am going to an arts festival in Doha, meaning I have plenty to do this week to get ready to miss 3 days of school. Good times.

Our jazz band (the Desert Cats) was supposed to play at the U.S. Embassy on Wednesday at Happy Hour but was postponed due to weather. The weather consisted of- dust storm and rain together, creating mud rain; high winds; thunderstorm and hail. Very odd. I still got to go to Happy Hour (hurray for knowing the right people) and the extra week of rehearsal will be good.

Here are some more Luxor pictures to enjoy. these are taken near the Valley of Kings and Valley of Queens. (Tombs)



This is from Cairo, me and Jenna at the Nile..it was super windy!


And near the pyramids


So that's all for now. Stay posted for "When do we ride into Jerusalem?"

Sunday, April 08, 2007

Since last week...

Our trip felt like a lifetime! I have been home in Kuwait for 24 hours and still feel I am reeling in the many moments of experience. It was a challenging trip- note to others- do NOT go to Israel during pesah (passover). It is not a good time to be there, but we had no other opportunity to go so we did what we could. More on that later. For now I will finish with Luxor.

I will update over the next while though school is pretty hectic until, well, the end of the year, so I cannot promise anything. I may try to get a photo account online so I can upload the photos and folks can look at them easily. Again, the whole time in front of computer will determine the end result.

Luxor Temple


























Karnak Temple





and the most important part of the day...