care for a cup of corn?

There's this weird food phenomenon in Kuwait- the corn stand. We had one in our school cafeteria until the ministry came in and shut down most everything in the canteen. Rumour has it there was some scuffle with the US embassy and the ministry got angry so they came in and closed down most of the food operations on our campus. That's another story.

Anywhere you go, you can find a corn stand. It is usually a small cart, like a moveable hot dog stand or some such thing. The corn stand offers corn heated in a slowcooker, then put in a bowl and mixed with butter, lemon juice, salt, pepper and cayenne pepper, if you like. Then it's scooped into a styrofoam cup and off you go with your cup of corn. It's a great snack to tide you over for a couple hours. I love this stuff for whatever reason. Oh, butter and salt, that's why.

Here is a more elaborate version of a stand, as it's in the cosmopolitan area near the corniche by the Scientific Centre:

Lucky number 17

When I was a kid, I won a cake at my Elementary School Fun Night. I was on the number 17 in the cakewalk when...I cannot remember what happened...the music stopped???

Today, when I was thinking I could not take it anymore (work, not life), I started to count down the school days up to and including December 17, our last day before winter break. 17. I think I can make it. I only have to do the following things: run one more department meeting, do purchase orders for myself, check over the purchase orders in my department, assist in organizing the Winter Festival of Songs (the happiest concert of the year), take 20 kids and 2 more coaches to Cairo for the Forensics and Debate tournament...work tooth and nail to get some of my students debating consistently with knowledge, passion and conviction. And progress reports. And teach and plan what I am going to teach.

And start applying for jobs. That will involve completing my cover letter. Blast. And a philosophy of education. Double blast.

As you can tell, I have little time for procastination. 17 school days. help!

I went to Thanksgiving Dinner with American friends last evening. Fun. I loaded up on dessert. Tara makes this ridiculously delicious pecan pie...wow.

Okay, well I think I have to go now to get some work done.

Peace be with you all.

recently...

I have discovered a nostalgic appreciation for The Tragically Hip. Sort of like Dire Straits, the Hip is a part of my subconscience that evokes memories of times past. Dire Straits takes me back to some of my earliest memories, whereas the Hip takes me to late High School and early university days. My current favourite Hip songs are Fiddler's Green and Wheat Kings, which I listened to about 5 times in a row yesterday.

I have been working on my resume and cover letter lately. It's important to keep up to date. As much as I like my job, I am pretty tired of Kuwait. I miss being able to hop on a bus with all my band kids and go somewhere. I miss public transit and SEASONS! I miss live music and pubs and libraries, people interacting in meaningful ways. I miss anonymity. That said, I have some fabulous friends here. There is a true sense of community among many people.

The other day, I was looking after my friends' 9 month old daughter. I took her over to some other friends' apartment and we all just hung out and played with the baby. It takes a community to raise a child, right?

Yesterday, I hosted a clothing swap and some nice gals came over and we had a really fun time trying on eachother's clothes. Everyone was so nice and so happy to pass their ill fitted clothing on to friends. The leftovers will be donated to embassies for women seeking amnesty and to the U.S. troops for soldiers heading home requiring civilian clothes for the ride home.

I baked some Lemon Lavendar Blueberry muffins tonight. Whenever we have a department meeting, I give reminders (usually with food) to my colleagues. They seem to appreciate it.

I am reminded of the preciousness of life and the importance of treating others with love and respect.

So, take care out there.

Arg! (how things go in Kuwait)

A couple days ago, I decided to get a few more tapes for the department vidoe camera. No problem, right? Right. I went to the nearby electronics shop. Here is the procedure:
1. Select the items you want to purchase.
2.Provide your phone number to the sales rep.
3. Go to the cashier (in this case, downstairs) to pay for the item.
4. Tell the cashier your phone number, pay for the item, take the receipt.
5. Go pick up your item (sometimes there is a designated pick-up point) in this case. the location wherein you first saw, touched and selected the product.

Can you understand how this may be a little frustrating?

keep in mind to get anywhere, you must go further than the designated location, complete a u-turn or a traffic circle, and return halfway back from where you came. Hence, ARG!!!\

Let's not even talk about traffic, lights, accidents, misuse of emergency lanes and spending over an hour getting home from work when it's normally under a half hour.

builds character, right? hope so.

Bloody Brits!

As per usual, life has been pretty hectic here in Kuwait. A couple days after my trip to Beirut, I came down with a nasty stomach flu and was unable to eat anything but rice, toast and rice cakes for several days. I had to go home from school- my second sick day in 6 years of teaching! All I could do was sleep and figure out where I could be in closest comfortable proximity to the bathroom. How fun...

After 6 days, I felt brand new again. Then I started having some sort of allergic reaction/cold in light of the changing season. I have been exhausted lately- spent most of yesterday sleeping on the sofa.

Thursday at school we had a morning of parent conferences and an afternoon of working on unit plans. At night, we had a jazz band gig. We were playing at some British ball, a Remembrance Day thing. They called it a Poppy ball. Some folks from the organization came to one of our rehearsals a few weeks ago to see if they realyl wanted us to play, and they decided that they did. So Thursday, we hauled music stands, a keyboard, speakers, etc. to the Hotel Ball Room in which we were playing, set everything up, did a sound check before guests began to arrive, waited to play (we started an hour late) then were sent off three songs into our second set as the people prefer dancing to the top 40 remix of Saturday Night Fever, Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go, Grease Mix, etc. The music you hear at any crap dance party in the world. Maybe don't get a big band in then.

We spent a total of one hour playing, about one and a half hours on set up and take down, plus driving over and moving stuff there and taking it back, plus waiting for nearly 4 hours between the sound check and performance. Sure, we get paid for the gig, but it was so annoying. One of the guys in the band (who is English) rolled his eyes and said," Bloody Brits. Sometimes I wish I weren't one of them." One of the organizers came out to thank us and went on about how some tastes were just more plebian than his while he smoked his cigar in my face. Whatever.

The week was good otherwise. Tai Chi class on Sundays followed by yoga in my apartment. Monday band practice, Tuesday meeting and a walk with a friend/fellow Saskatonian,





Wednesday a trip to the Chocolate bar with all four of us in pink shirts. The trouble with the Chocolate Bar is everything is so high in sugar and caffeine that I was shaking afterwards and seriously depressed the next day from the subsequent sugar low. It was fun while it lasted, though.




I think that's all for now. The next two weeks will be very busy as the first school band concert of the season is coming up, plus all sorts of meetings. Just under a month until I'm back in Cairo for the Debate tournament. That will be my fourth time in Cairo. Crazy!

be well...I'm off ot bed.