Busy, Beirut, Blah and Back

I do not know why I must always alliterate my titles, but that is how it goes.

Since the start of school, I have been super busy. Work itself is a little busier each year as I have more classes and students each year. Department chair takes some time and effort since I want to do a good job and not have it be simply an empty credit to add on my resume.

Forensics and Debate is taking more time because I am the head coach. This is only by default as the other two coaches are new to Kuwait, ASK and coaching. It's been good though a whirlwind. And only another 7 weeks to go.


As our school is continually growing, we discovered that between the Elementarty school and Middle school we had more students in band than we had functioning instruments. So, I have spent about a day of my life working (successfully) on that problem. It's just more time than I would have liked to have spent on it. On the other hand, I made better contacts with my favourite music store in Kuwait. You know how it is, when it's just one more thing on top of many others.

Then I participated in the Kuwait Little Theatre as I did my first year here. It was very fun and I got to be in a small group that sang I Feel Pretty while wearing full abbayas. Ha. As soon as that ended, it was Eid break and I was off to lovely Lebanon with some friends.

The story begins with a minor panic attack since, unbeknownst to me, my online reservation was not confirmed with the airline. The moral of the story is it pays to check online banking and credit card statements. I was able to purchase the last available seat on the plane to Beirut and had to rush to the gates as last boarding call had been announced for the previous 10 minuts. My friend and I arrived to discover that everyone was still in the gate area, not actually on the plane. At this time, I still had not purchased a ticket for the way home. When we arrived in Beirut, I attempted to complete the transaction, but due to Eid, the office was closed. We were unable to get ahold of the airline until the morning I was to leave, and I was able to purchase a ticket just before the flight. Ha. It ended up being the same price as my initial booking was to have been. How funny.



Beirut was lovely, despite its recent strife. We travelled to the Roman ruins of Baalbek, which is in Hezbollah territory. There were very few people there, which seemed a litte haunting as most tourist attractions I have visited in the region have been well attended. Here are a few captions:






It was interesting to see some of the after effects of the recent attacks on Lebanon, including the bridge to Damascus that had been bombed and still has not been repaired. It is a tall bridge, the highest in the region, and is therefore both very difficult and expensive to fix. We were also offered to buy Hezbollah t-shirts, which I found a little funny. Not many would appreciate the irony of me, a pacifist, wearing a terrorist t-shirt. Ha. I did not buy one, do not despair.

Jessica and I went to the town of Byblos, which is an old port city, most beautiful, where we enjoyed the day, the beach and an adorable Mexican restaurant.






And that's all for now as I must be off to band practice. We have a gig soon! Hurray!