Today, the US embassy in Kuwait released a warden's message advising that all non-essential US citizens should leave the country. It is not an evacuation (yet) and it doesn't apply to us (yet). It's an admission that there may be an evacuation, and that an evacuation will be easier with fewer people and without babies and other needy passengers. If such an evacuation were to take place, the embassy says it will take place over a week or two and be done by commercial airlines (KLM, Lufthansa, British Airways, etc). The Canadian embassy in Kuwait, which also issued a warden's message today, is not advising anyone that they leave Kuwait.
This weekend we got a package together with all our important documents and changed some money into US dollars. We have decided not to travel this holiday. Karla has had a sore throat for a few weeks and doesn't feel like moving around too much. We are also saving a bit of money in case we end up taking an extended break. The ministry of education here has said that if there is a military action, schools will be closed for 15 days. And after that a decision will be made to reopen the schools or to close them down until September. (Note to relatives: Who has space for a couple of couch surfers until late August? Does anyone know about any under the table jobs for a couple of non-residents?) (Note to the taxman: Ignore that last sentence.)
These are interesting times (to say the least). We are talking with the school and each other daily to decide what we will do. For the moment, we are going to continue working (which our contract says we have to). If there is an evacuation notice, we will turn our noses up at the rumoured double salary for those who stay and come home. If we leave, it is with the understanding that if the school's population shrinks due to Kuwaiti families leaving the country for the duration of the fighting or longer, we may not be called back until September. We would hope that the evacuation would be brief (How long can Iraq remain a threat?) and that the impact on Kuwait of any combat would be minimal (No surprises falling from the sky). That way our students' families would be more likely to come back and re-start our jobs.
So, to sum up, it's a time to be vigilant (ear to the ground, stick on the ice), but not to be fearful or worried. We are prepared; we are connected; we stay informed. As Jasper says on the Dead Dog Cafe: Stay calm. Be brave. Wait for the signs.
Saturday, January 18, 2003
First day of exams. The students are done at 10 on some mornings and at 8:30 on the others. The teachers still have to stay until 2:30. Happily, the tutoring crush is almost over. It has been exhausting. So far the submissions page is not working. I lack the knowledge to make it work. The books explain how it is possible, but FrontPage won't let me set it up the way it says it should be able to help me do it. I am sure someone out there has written a web page about it. The pop-up windows in the Sri Lankan travelogue are a web learned feature.
Sri Lanka Travelogue
Two weeks in Sri Lanka was just not enough. We weren’t ready to leave the tranquil beaches, the leafy landscape or the friendly people. We left reluctantly already talking about possibly going back to enjoy the things we still wanted to do (or to take up surfing as an alternative to teaching).
It all started with an overnight flight the day school let out that deposited us at the airport (a awkward 40 kms north of the capital) at 5:30 in the morning. Fortunately, our guest house (the Sri Lankan term for a B and B – that offered anything from only the bed to complete room and board) let us check in early and we slept that morning and got out into Colombo for the afternoon. Russ met us and took us around. Wouldn’t you know it. We landed on a poya day (the Buddhist full moon holiday) and there was no alcohol to be had anywhere. Colombo was nothing special. Your average developing country big city: dirty, busy, polluted, but still the center of the country’s business and people.
After a couple days we were ready to hit the road. We followed the guide book to a little hole-in-the-wall travel agent, who walked us to see some friends who were still in the business of cars and drivers. We got ourselves set up with Ari and his white van for 8 days.
We left the capital to find that crowed, narrow, winding roads were the rule all through the country. Thank goodness the country is so small. If you can average 40 km/h you are making great progress. We spent the next three days touring the ancient cities and temples north of Kandy.
Dambulla rock caves, hidden high hill, behind the world’s largest (and possibly gaudiest) gold sitting Buddha, were frescoed top to bottom and filled with statues, many of which were part of the mountain just not chipped away when the caves were enlarged.
Sigiriya was the highlight of the trip. The history goes that the bastard son of the king killed his father and drove the legitimate son into India. He got nervous and spent the next 30 years building an unassailable castle/palace on top an enormous rock.
A metal pathway has been bolted into the side of the mountain to get up to the enormous lion statue who's mouth once served as the starting point for the final sheer ascent.
Only the foundations of the palace are left.
It is beyond my imagination to envision what a splendid and remarkable place it must have been. The legitimate son did come back. The bastard and his army took a wrong turn and got stuck in a swamp. The army deserted its leader, who killed himself. Also partway up there is the only example of secular ancient art in Sri Lanka. Several women's portraits served as a kind of ancient Playboy for the ruler.
Eventually the palace was forgotten and just rediscovered in the last century.
Later that day we headed out a road (it barley qualified!) that Ari told us had been too dangerous to use in years past because of the separatist movement. An hour got us 20 kms through rice fields and small villages to Medirigiriya.
It was practically abandoned and the guards were having a little swim in the lake when we got there. Words don’t do it justice. The rock of the columns and statues shone like it was encrusted with raw diamonds.
The next day we set out on clunky Chinese bicycles for a tour of the ancient city of Polonnaruwa, the 13th century capital of Sri Lanka.
The city is on the shore of a large lake that is, to a great degree, man-made. It was carved out from the rock by a series of kings (all trying to outdo each other) whose philosophy was that “not a drop of rain shall flow to the ocean until it has been used by man.” A great museum helped to recreate some of the ruins.
We almost got rained on and practiced riding bikes with umbrellas. By partway through the bike tour we were feeling ruin-apathy, the affect of too many ruin visits.
One more stop to see a temple that had been moved due to a hydro project pushed us over the edge and we were happy to get to Kandy where we would spend Christmas. Christmas eve, we visited the Elephant orphanage where they take care of young and injured elephants and train them to be working animals. The keepers have them very well trained (with big metal spears – but I guess you need to show them who’s boss). We were face to face with about 60 of the big guys as they rounded them up to take them down to the river for their bath. We also took a long walk around the botanical gardens – which should rightfully be called the “bat”-tanical gardens due to the huge bats filling the trees and the skies above.
Christmas day was quiet. It is a holiday in Sri Lanka, so most of the shops were closed. We roamed around a bit, made a couple of phone calls home and then spent the rest of the day eating and drinking. The Kandy dancers did some fine footwork and then walked on hot coals at the end of the show to cool off.
We had Christmas dinner at a fancy hotel. A children’s choir came in and sang some carols for us and we got a visit from Santa Claus himself. He came danced along to the carols ringing his single sleigh bell. He wore one of those grotesque rubber old-man Santa masks and his white gloves were latex (we discovered when he shook our hands on his tour of the room).
Boxing day we set out on Sri Lanka’s narrow twisty roads again, headed into the high country. On our way, we passed two men painted a fresh line down he road that gently weaved from side to side. One man guided the other as he held a small can of paint and a paint brush and painted the lines one by one. Ari, told us the line was going to be the new middle of the road when they got around to widening it. We arrived at our small guest house around lunch. We spent the afternoon roaming around the small town getting ready for our big climb to the top of Adam’s peak the next morning. We settled into bed early.
The next morning we got up at 2:30 to be on the peak for sunrise. After a quick cup of tea, banana and handful of cookies, we began the ascent. The path began as a road, lined by stalls selling refreshments as it climbed out of the town. As we walked, stairs began to interrupt the path that was still as wide as a dirt road. As we climbed the path stairs became more and more regular. The last hour of the three hour climb was one winding but continual flight of stairs up to an immense concrete temple perched on the top. The temple houses a footprint that is a pilgrimage site for Christians, Buddhists, Muslims and Hindus. During the peak pilgrimage season, there can be 20 000 people climbing the mountain at one time.
We were five out of about 300 that were at the top for the beautiful cloud-obscured sunrise. We could see green mountain tops poking through the low blue clouds as the light intensified.
Finally the sun broke out above the clouds on the horizon and rose up to cast a shadow the the mountain across the western half of the island.
After a hour and a half on the top, we began the long downhill walk.
That day we traveled to Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka’s most English city. We stayed in a questionable guest house, that definitely had a very different idea about what constituted hot water than we did. We were just down the street from a little hotel where we would have stayed had they had space for us. We took over their bar for dinner while they tried to temp us with their karaoke system. After a few minutes of a BeeGees concert, we talked them into a putting on a few episodes of Mr. Bean. Again we were early to bed.
The next morning came at 5 am. We set out for World’s End.
We got to the park just after sunrise and were lucky enough to make it to the cliff to see the 700m drop (No, mom, we didn’t get to close to the edge) before the mists rolled in. We even saw a few deer munching some dewy grass. No leopards though.
Our last official inland stop was an old tea plantation set up by the Thomas Lipton. We toured the factory from where they pay the pickers a couple dollars for the 15kgs of tea they collected while walking up and down the steep hills where it grows to the sorting area where they collect all the good tea to send overseas and save all the second rate tea to sell in Sri Lanka.
Then we hurried down to the coast, making our last inland stop to receive a speeding ticket (78 in a 60km/h zone – fine $4C). We arrived in Tangalle where we spent a couple days relaxing on the beach. Near our simple little cabana was a secluded little beach where we spent a couple days body surfing and generally enjoying how unlike Kuwait our surroundings were.
December 30th, we headed off to Unawatuna, a more popular beach town. Our hotel reservation turned out to be in a dive, but after a little searching we found a beautiful hotel just out of town looking down the coast. The beach was sheltered by a coral reef, which proved some interesting snorkeling and the beach was lined with restaurants with comfy beach chairs set up to attract customers. We were attracted.
New Year’s we had dinner on the beach. After dinner we walked along the wide bay past the picnics and tens of restaurants all serving celebratory meals. We returned to our restaurant for a little news year’s boogie. At midnight everyone stood out on the beach as all the bay reflected the fireworks that filled the air all along the beach. Out at sea, fireworks flashed above the glowing lights of the ships at sea.
The next day we headed back to Colombo for the next day’s flight home. Even though New Year’s Day isn’t a holiday, all the places we wanted to go in Colombo just happened to be closed. I did buy some alcohol and get it all repackaged and disguised in my bag.
It all started with an overnight flight the day school let out that deposited us at the airport (a awkward 40 kms north of the capital) at 5:30 in the morning. Fortunately, our guest house (the Sri Lankan term for a B and B – that offered anything from only the bed to complete room and board) let us check in early and we slept that morning and got out into Colombo for the afternoon. Russ met us and took us around. Wouldn’t you know it. We landed on a poya day (the Buddhist full moon holiday) and there was no alcohol to be had anywhere. Colombo was nothing special. Your average developing country big city: dirty, busy, polluted, but still the center of the country’s business and people.
After a couple days we were ready to hit the road. We followed the guide book to a little hole-in-the-wall travel agent, who walked us to see some friends who were still in the business of cars and drivers. We got ourselves set up with Ari and his white van for 8 days.
We left the capital to find that crowed, narrow, winding roads were the rule all through the country. Thank goodness the country is so small. If you can average 40 km/h you are making great progress. We spent the next three days touring the ancient cities and temples north of Kandy.
Dambulla rock caves, hidden high hill, behind the world’s largest (and possibly gaudiest) gold sitting Buddha, were frescoed top to bottom and filled with statues, many of which were part of the mountain just not chipped away when the caves were enlarged.
Sigiriya was the highlight of the trip. The history goes that the bastard son of the king killed his father and drove the legitimate son into India. He got nervous and spent the next 30 years building an unassailable castle/palace on top an enormous rock.
A metal pathway has been bolted into the side of the mountain to get up to the enormous lion statue who's mouth once served as the starting point for the final sheer ascent.
Only the foundations of the palace are left.
It is beyond my imagination to envision what a splendid and remarkable place it must have been. The legitimate son did come back. The bastard and his army took a wrong turn and got stuck in a swamp. The army deserted its leader, who killed himself. Also partway up there is the only example of secular ancient art in Sri Lanka. Several women's portraits served as a kind of ancient Playboy for the ruler.
Eventually the palace was forgotten and just rediscovered in the last century.
Later that day we headed out a road (it barley qualified!) that Ari told us had been too dangerous to use in years past because of the separatist movement. An hour got us 20 kms through rice fields and small villages to Medirigiriya.
It was practically abandoned and the guards were having a little swim in the lake when we got there. Words don’t do it justice. The rock of the columns and statues shone like it was encrusted with raw diamonds.
The next day we set out on clunky Chinese bicycles for a tour of the ancient city of Polonnaruwa, the 13th century capital of Sri Lanka.
The city is on the shore of a large lake that is, to a great degree, man-made. It was carved out from the rock by a series of kings (all trying to outdo each other) whose philosophy was that “not a drop of rain shall flow to the ocean until it has been used by man.” A great museum helped to recreate some of the ruins.
We almost got rained on and practiced riding bikes with umbrellas. By partway through the bike tour we were feeling ruin-apathy, the affect of too many ruin visits.
One more stop to see a temple that had been moved due to a hydro project pushed us over the edge and we were happy to get to Kandy where we would spend Christmas. Christmas eve, we visited the Elephant orphanage where they take care of young and injured elephants and train them to be working animals. The keepers have them very well trained (with big metal spears – but I guess you need to show them who’s boss). We were face to face with about 60 of the big guys as they rounded them up to take them down to the river for their bath. We also took a long walk around the botanical gardens – which should rightfully be called the “bat”-tanical gardens due to the huge bats filling the trees and the skies above.
Christmas day was quiet. It is a holiday in Sri Lanka, so most of the shops were closed. We roamed around a bit, made a couple of phone calls home and then spent the rest of the day eating and drinking. The Kandy dancers did some fine footwork and then walked on hot coals at the end of the show to cool off.
We had Christmas dinner at a fancy hotel. A children’s choir came in and sang some carols for us and we got a visit from Santa Claus himself. He came danced along to the carols ringing his single sleigh bell. He wore one of those grotesque rubber old-man Santa masks and his white gloves were latex (we discovered when he shook our hands on his tour of the room).
Boxing day we set out on Sri Lanka’s narrow twisty roads again, headed into the high country. On our way, we passed two men painted a fresh line down he road that gently weaved from side to side. One man guided the other as he held a small can of paint and a paint brush and painted the lines one by one. Ari, told us the line was going to be the new middle of the road when they got around to widening it. We arrived at our small guest house around lunch. We spent the afternoon roaming around the small town getting ready for our big climb to the top of Adam’s peak the next morning. We settled into bed early.
The next morning we got up at 2:30 to be on the peak for sunrise. After a quick cup of tea, banana and handful of cookies, we began the ascent. The path began as a road, lined by stalls selling refreshments as it climbed out of the town. As we walked, stairs began to interrupt the path that was still as wide as a dirt road. As we climbed the path stairs became more and more regular. The last hour of the three hour climb was one winding but continual flight of stairs up to an immense concrete temple perched on the top. The temple houses a footprint that is a pilgrimage site for Christians, Buddhists, Muslims and Hindus. During the peak pilgrimage season, there can be 20 000 people climbing the mountain at one time.
We were five out of about 300 that were at the top for the beautiful cloud-obscured sunrise. We could see green mountain tops poking through the low blue clouds as the light intensified.
Finally the sun broke out above the clouds on the horizon and rose up to cast a shadow the the mountain across the western half of the island.
After a hour and a half on the top, we began the long downhill walk.
That day we traveled to Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka’s most English city. We stayed in a questionable guest house, that definitely had a very different idea about what constituted hot water than we did. We were just down the street from a little hotel where we would have stayed had they had space for us. We took over their bar for dinner while they tried to temp us with their karaoke system. After a few minutes of a BeeGees concert, we talked them into a putting on a few episodes of Mr. Bean. Again we were early to bed.
The next morning came at 5 am. We set out for World’s End.
We got to the park just after sunrise and were lucky enough to make it to the cliff to see the 700m drop (No, mom, we didn’t get to close to the edge) before the mists rolled in. We even saw a few deer munching some dewy grass. No leopards though.
Our last official inland stop was an old tea plantation set up by the Thomas Lipton. We toured the factory from where they pay the pickers a couple dollars for the 15kgs of tea they collected while walking up and down the steep hills where it grows to the sorting area where they collect all the good tea to send overseas and save all the second rate tea to sell in Sri Lanka.
Then we hurried down to the coast, making our last inland stop to receive a speeding ticket (78 in a 60km/h zone – fine $4C). We arrived in Tangalle where we spent a couple days relaxing on the beach. Near our simple little cabana was a secluded little beach where we spent a couple days body surfing and generally enjoying how unlike Kuwait our surroundings were.
December 30th, we headed off to Unawatuna, a more popular beach town. Our hotel reservation turned out to be in a dive, but after a little searching we found a beautiful hotel just out of town looking down the coast. The beach was sheltered by a coral reef, which proved some interesting snorkeling and the beach was lined with restaurants with comfy beach chairs set up to attract customers. We were attracted.
New Year’s we had dinner on the beach. After dinner we walked along the wide bay past the picnics and tens of restaurants all serving celebratory meals. We returned to our restaurant for a little news year’s boogie. At midnight everyone stood out on the beach as all the bay reflected the fireworks that filled the air all along the beach. Out at sea, fireworks flashed above the glowing lights of the ships at sea.
The next day we headed back to Colombo for the next day’s flight home. Even though New Year’s Day isn’t a holiday, all the places we wanted to go in Colombo just happened to be closed. I did buy some alcohol and get it all repackaged and disguised in my bag.
Sunday, January 12, 2003
Thursday, December 12, 2002
Saturday, December 07, 2002
Chirstmas Letter 2002
Dear Friends and Family,
This year we began a new phase in our lives. Karla finished her Masters degree and returned to the class to teach. I finished an unsatisfying job teaching in Canada and am enjoying grade 6 in Kuwait more. Kuwait is a satisfactory place to live. The quality of life is very mixed, but we are achieving our goal of saving some money.
The first half of the year is old news, but here is a brief reminder. January to June we enjoyed the Canadian winter and spring. Karla worked her butt off finishing up her thesis and doing a bit of executive English teaching. She wrote about Willa Cather and the relationship between the artist and her fans. In February we went to Kingston to look for a job teaching overseas. After a couple of anxious weeks waiting we were offered a position in Kuwait. The school was one of our first choices and we took it, even though the job was in the middle school, instead of the high school. To celebrate we spent the spring break on a little tourist island in Cuba gulping down the complimentary Pina Coladas. It was relaxing, but after a week we had had enough of “the good life” and were eager to get back to the real world.
In June, we bought a trailer and packed up the car to a seriously unadvised degree. Our last day in Montreal began with a final delicious breakfast at Cosmos and a flurry of packing. Despite a rough start, a few delays, several bouts of despair and a few soggy boxes, the whole enchilada made it to Humbolt (bikes thanks to Phillip and Greyhound!) where is it safely stored. Karla’s sister, Lianne has the brave little vehicle since we left. We hear they are taking very good care of each other.
Just before the trip across county we made a weekend trip/visit to see Mallorie, an old friend of Karla’s (someone she had spent a lot of time with in Costa Rica) who now lives in downtown Manhattan (New York City). This was one of the year’s highlights. Not only was it a great visit with an old friend, but we walked until we were ready to drop and managed to see the Metropolitan Museum, The Empire State Building, Central Park, Time Square, a play on Broadway (called Metamorphoses – it was awesome), Little Italy, Chinatown, The Brooklyn Bridge, The Statue of Liberty, the remnants of the Twin Towers (sad) and East Village (where Mallorie lives)! The weekend was gorgeous – sunny and hot. I’d recommend a visit to New York City any day!
The summer was the usual visiting marathon of family gatherings, folk festivals, weddings and garden tours. The highlights here include wing night, bacci ball, riding up Honey Bee, getting down with Michael Frani in Calgary, watching the northern lights in Winnipeg, getting a new passport for Karla (in record time!), Slurpees in Edmonton, picking huckleberries, checking out the new homes of friends in Winnipeg and Saskatoon (it was the house purchasing year), eating sushi in Saskatoon (a highlight for Karla as Jamie hates sushi), barbequing in Tom’s home-welded fire pit, and of course, spending time with family and friends.
In August we headed off to Kuwait. Our flight to Frankfurt was delayed by a big dog barking in the cargo hold. We barely made it to Frankfurt in time to dash across the airport to make our flight. It was a good thing we made it. The one teacher who missed his flight had to wait 8 or 9 days to get another. Everyone leaves Kuwait during the infernal summer, (even the locals) and so the flights back in August are very full. I was surprised to see the passengers. We could have been on just about any flight. There were all different races and ages of people and lots of families.
Several of our bags didn’t make the quick connection with us. After filing the paperwork, we breezed through the bag x-ray check without a single question and were in Kuwait. It’s hot and it’s mostly modern. We spent the first week getting all the paperwork done for our new residency. All the tests and forms we had to fill out before we came, were all done again when we got here. You need to get a blood test before you come, another for your residence visa, and yet another for your civil ID.
The school is well serviced and the kids are mostly very polite. The Kuwaiti approach to child rearing depends to a large degree on hiring someone to do it. Even to the point of the parents living on one floor of an apartment and the kids and maids living on another (in extreme cases). In the elementary school there is one family that lives in the Sheraton. On a grade seven science test, one question was: “The __________ ant: this kind of ant feeds and nurtures the young.” Several students guessed and wrote the answer “maid”. So a lot of the kids are used to one-on-one attention. What they don’t get at school, they pick up with their tutor.
We don’t have to worry about guns in school, or keeping track of 40 students at a time. We do have a few wealthy and quite learning disabled students to look after (but at least with the help of their tutors). Besides working at the school, Karla and I are both tutoring a couple kids a few times a week. Tutoring is often just playing a parent: sitting with a kid and helping him or her get through the day’s homework and maybe doing a bit of reading. So although we work a lot, it’s not arduous.
We make enough extra money tutoring to pay the day-to-day bills so we don’t really need to touch our salary. We are living pretty low-class lives compared to most here. We don’t have a car yet, but when we do it will be an old one. We don’t have satellite TV, a fancy home entertainment unit or a mobile phone. We don’t go out to eat at the fancy restaurants very often. We do have a maid that does most of our cleaning. She comes twice a week, and if we time it just right, we don’t need to do the dishes at all! We do eat out quite a bit. We can get dinner for two, Indian or Lebanese or unusual pizza for about 5 or 10 dollars.
Leisure time for us is pretty limited. With 6 or so hours a week of tutoring (for each of us), plus keeping on top of classes, there’s not a lot of time left. And when there is, we just take it easy. We haven’t been out much – no museums, no movies. We go out with friends for a meal, or over to someone’s place to have a sip of homemade wine or beer. A couple times we’ve gone out to a chalet –which in Kuwait is a condominium by the beach where the less well off families go on the weekends. It’s not very nice, but at least it’s out of the city. We are definitely feeling a lack of a natural world around us. The time we enjoy, we enjoy less than we do in Canada or we did in Turkey.
Kuwait City is built around a system of ring roads and freeways. It is designed for cars. Since everything is flat and sandy, there are no impediments to urban sprawl. The city is spread out far and wide. Without a car, you really are very isolated. It is like being confined to a small town. The local grocery stores and restaurants are handy, but don’t have the selection of the larger ones in the other areas of town. Hopefully, once we have a car things will improve a bit.
We are spending Christmas in Sri Lanka, off the southern tip of India. A friend of ours that Karla went to high school and university with is visiting his girlfriend, who is working there. So we won’t be alone for the holiday. It will be wonderful to be somewhere that is green (and hilly!) after being here in the flat land of beige.
Wherever you are and whoever you are with there are wonderful things to be celebrated and to be thankful for.
Merry Christmas and happy holidays to you and yours.
This year we began a new phase in our lives. Karla finished her Masters degree and returned to the class to teach. I finished an unsatisfying job teaching in Canada and am enjoying grade 6 in Kuwait more. Kuwait is a satisfactory place to live. The quality of life is very mixed, but we are achieving our goal of saving some money.
The first half of the year is old news, but here is a brief reminder. January to June we enjoyed the Canadian winter and spring. Karla worked her butt off finishing up her thesis and doing a bit of executive English teaching. She wrote about Willa Cather and the relationship between the artist and her fans. In February we went to Kingston to look for a job teaching overseas. After a couple of anxious weeks waiting we were offered a position in Kuwait. The school was one of our first choices and we took it, even though the job was in the middle school, instead of the high school. To celebrate we spent the spring break on a little tourist island in Cuba gulping down the complimentary Pina Coladas. It was relaxing, but after a week we had had enough of “the good life” and were eager to get back to the real world.
In June, we bought a trailer and packed up the car to a seriously unadvised degree. Our last day in Montreal began with a final delicious breakfast at Cosmos and a flurry of packing. Despite a rough start, a few delays, several bouts of despair and a few soggy boxes, the whole enchilada made it to Humbolt (bikes thanks to Phillip and Greyhound!) where is it safely stored. Karla’s sister, Lianne has the brave little vehicle since we left. We hear they are taking very good care of each other.
Just before the trip across county we made a weekend trip/visit to see Mallorie, an old friend of Karla’s (someone she had spent a lot of time with in Costa Rica) who now lives in downtown Manhattan (New York City). This was one of the year’s highlights. Not only was it a great visit with an old friend, but we walked until we were ready to drop and managed to see the Metropolitan Museum, The Empire State Building, Central Park, Time Square, a play on Broadway (called Metamorphoses – it was awesome), Little Italy, Chinatown, The Brooklyn Bridge, The Statue of Liberty, the remnants of the Twin Towers (sad) and East Village (where Mallorie lives)! The weekend was gorgeous – sunny and hot. I’d recommend a visit to New York City any day!
The summer was the usual visiting marathon of family gatherings, folk festivals, weddings and garden tours. The highlights here include wing night, bacci ball, riding up Honey Bee, getting down with Michael Frani in Calgary, watching the northern lights in Winnipeg, getting a new passport for Karla (in record time!), Slurpees in Edmonton, picking huckleberries, checking out the new homes of friends in Winnipeg and Saskatoon (it was the house purchasing year), eating sushi in Saskatoon (a highlight for Karla as Jamie hates sushi), barbequing in Tom’s home-welded fire pit, and of course, spending time with family and friends.
In August we headed off to Kuwait. Our flight to Frankfurt was delayed by a big dog barking in the cargo hold. We barely made it to Frankfurt in time to dash across the airport to make our flight. It was a good thing we made it. The one teacher who missed his flight had to wait 8 or 9 days to get another. Everyone leaves Kuwait during the infernal summer, (even the locals) and so the flights back in August are very full. I was surprised to see the passengers. We could have been on just about any flight. There were all different races and ages of people and lots of families.
Several of our bags didn’t make the quick connection with us. After filing the paperwork, we breezed through the bag x-ray check without a single question and were in Kuwait. It’s hot and it’s mostly modern. We spent the first week getting all the paperwork done for our new residency. All the tests and forms we had to fill out before we came, were all done again when we got here. You need to get a blood test before you come, another for your residence visa, and yet another for your civil ID.
The school is well serviced and the kids are mostly very polite. The Kuwaiti approach to child rearing depends to a large degree on hiring someone to do it. Even to the point of the parents living on one floor of an apartment and the kids and maids living on another (in extreme cases). In the elementary school there is one family that lives in the Sheraton. On a grade seven science test, one question was: “The __________ ant: this kind of ant feeds and nurtures the young.” Several students guessed and wrote the answer “maid”. So a lot of the kids are used to one-on-one attention. What they don’t get at school, they pick up with their tutor.
We don’t have to worry about guns in school, or keeping track of 40 students at a time. We do have a few wealthy and quite learning disabled students to look after (but at least with the help of their tutors). Besides working at the school, Karla and I are both tutoring a couple kids a few times a week. Tutoring is often just playing a parent: sitting with a kid and helping him or her get through the day’s homework and maybe doing a bit of reading. So although we work a lot, it’s not arduous.
We make enough extra money tutoring to pay the day-to-day bills so we don’t really need to touch our salary. We are living pretty low-class lives compared to most here. We don’t have a car yet, but when we do it will be an old one. We don’t have satellite TV, a fancy home entertainment unit or a mobile phone. We don’t go out to eat at the fancy restaurants very often. We do have a maid that does most of our cleaning. She comes twice a week, and if we time it just right, we don’t need to do the dishes at all! We do eat out quite a bit. We can get dinner for two, Indian or Lebanese or unusual pizza for about 5 or 10 dollars.
Leisure time for us is pretty limited. With 6 or so hours a week of tutoring (for each of us), plus keeping on top of classes, there’s not a lot of time left. And when there is, we just take it easy. We haven’t been out much – no museums, no movies. We go out with friends for a meal, or over to someone’s place to have a sip of homemade wine or beer. A couple times we’ve gone out to a chalet –which in Kuwait is a condominium by the beach where the less well off families go on the weekends. It’s not very nice, but at least it’s out of the city. We are definitely feeling a lack of a natural world around us. The time we enjoy, we enjoy less than we do in Canada or we did in Turkey.
Kuwait City is built around a system of ring roads and freeways. It is designed for cars. Since everything is flat and sandy, there are no impediments to urban sprawl. The city is spread out far and wide. Without a car, you really are very isolated. It is like being confined to a small town. The local grocery stores and restaurants are handy, but don’t have the selection of the larger ones in the other areas of town. Hopefully, once we have a car things will improve a bit.
We are spending Christmas in Sri Lanka, off the southern tip of India. A friend of ours that Karla went to high school and university with is visiting his girlfriend, who is working there. So we won’t be alone for the holiday. It will be wonderful to be somewhere that is green (and hilly!) after being here in the flat land of beige.
Wherever you are and whoever you are with there are wonderful things to be celebrated and to be thankful for.
Merry Christmas and happy holidays to you and yours.
Wednesday, December 04, 2002
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