Two posts in one day? Harraaam

I could put my laptop away and complete my lesson plans for tomorrow and the following day, but...there are better things to do. Like update my blog. For the second time today.

So I will start off by talking about the weather, like a good Canadian. When I'm home, people often ask about the temperature here in Kuwait, and I say, "oh, it's hot." Which they usually followed with "but it's a dry heat, right?" And, yes, I can say that usually it's a nice, dry, sauna-esque heat. But that's mostly during the mornings.

Late afternoon/evening is an entirely different story. Our sliding glass doors become covered in condensation and don't even THINK about taking a photo outside...the lens fogs up instantly. It is currently 38C here, with a humidex factor of 46C. Although for some reason, 46C in the humidex feels stupidly worse than 46C in a dry heat. But I will say this: it's a cheap alternative to buying a humidifier. And closer than the steam room at the gym. I just walked to the stationary store (about 5-6 minutes away) and my lungs are feeling strangely better.

Just ignore my sweat-soaked shirt...

toad + teenage boy + smelly cat = katie

So I've lost my voice. It disappeared Thursday morning and I have been trying to find it ever since. Unfortunately, nothing I do seems to help. I have been drinking water; drinking hot liquids (from coffee to tea to just plain hot water); sniffing VicksVapoRub in hot water; slathering Vicks on my chest, neck and back at night; sucking Strepsils like there's no tomorrow; sucking some random pill that the Boots pharmacist gave me; and getting lots of rest. (Although I see now that Vaporub is a decongestant which actually counteracts any good that I've been trying to do by dehydrating the throat. Oh joy.)

Last night we decided to finally put our 900$ gym membership to use...by using the jacuzzi and steam room. We arrived at the Holiday Inn and headed for the locker room - past the fitness desk and we did not come out for at least an hour. The fitness coordinators looked at us funny as we left the spa. Hey, 900$ for a year and a half of a hottub, sauna, steam room and pool (opening September 15)? Why not.

I normally wouldn't care so much about getting my voice back except that tomorrow, in 23 hours and 36 minutes, I will be teaching my first class of the new school year. My first class of Art 1. Yes, there is currently only one student registered in this class, but I still need to be able to TALK (at least a little). Or it will be a very quiet 55 minutes.

I have even tried to stop talking so that my voice can heal. But come on. It's like telling a fish not to swim, or a ballerina not to dance. The only way that I can possibly go even a few hours without talking is to actually lock myself in my apartment. Like I am doing right now. Unfortunately the grocery bus arrives in 36 minutes and I need food...can I go 2 hours without talking while in the presence of a few of my closest friends? Can I fake mutism for just a few short hours?

Yes, I will!!
I will make it a game.
I will succeed!

Pictures!

Alright, here are some pictures that I took of my apartment before and after cleaning it...so you can have a taste of what the place looks like...and what the dust is like ;) Next year (okay, if I come back next year), I will hire a cleaner to come in the day before I get home...

Back to Kuwait photos:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=55134&l=6c665&id=508043085

back in the sand!

It's hard to believe that a new school year is almost upon us! We've spent the past week setting up our classrooms, organizing information, cleaning apartments, writing syllabi and planning classes to get ready for the start of school on Sunday morning.

Today I received my class schedules and lists - and it's funny to see my classes. My class lists include 1 student in my first period art class on A day, 4 students in my third class, and 2 in my second class on B day. I can say right now that to start off, those will be some really strange classes :P But...I'm sure after a few days they will rearrange the schedules and add or move around the students. It makes me nervous, though, teaching a bunch of students who expect someone else to teach them!

But we will see. Eventually it will work out...everything will settle down...and the year will go well.

I will say that it's good to be back in Kuwait. I thought it would be harder, but it's nice to be in a place that we know well. Although I have been sick for the past couple of days and even lost my voice today...we're blaming the sand, dust and stress for making us sick! The weekend should be a nice break, and hopefully I will have a good voice to teach with on Sunday!

I wish I could show you the state of my apartment when I arrived on Saturday night - I will put the pictures up as soon as I get around to it ;) Let's face it, I'm not exactly running for my memory card....

*almost* back in Kuwait

We are in Frankfurt! We were supposed to arrive in Kuwait on Thursday night, but instead...Lufthansa overbooked our flight and offered us a nice compensation to give up our seats. Realizing that we didn't need to be in Kuwait until Saturday night, we decided to stay here for a night...which turned into two nights...after we decided to do it again! Hard to resist 600 Euros. Each day.



They've put us up in a hotel, which was very nice for jetlag last night. And again tonight. It's clean and quiet and cute, and they are feeding us rather well. Plus it's Germany! A respectable country and it's rather enjoyable. And we are forced to relax. I love it.



So tomorrow we are most definitely returning to Kuwait (barring all unforeseen complications) on Qatar Airways. Which is apparently a half decent airline. The flight is 3.5 hours longer as there is a stopover in Qatar, but we don't really mind. It arrives in Kuwait 30 minutes earlier (if everything goes well).



So this was a nice mini vacation adventure, and we are feeling better and less jetlagged! I may consider to add a buffer day to every flight I take from now on....just to help out the airlines a little bit :)



Back to Kuwait tomorrow, back to school the following day. Life is about to start another roller coaster ride of teaching a new subject, new students, and new adventures!

4 sleeps and counting

My summer at home is coming to an end, and the end seems to be coming quite quickly! But I have really enjoyed my time at home and I have not once (sincerely!) missed Kuwait during the past 8 weeks. This does not mean that I am not ready to return, but it is a little bit difficult to say goodbye to the peace, the quiet, the green, the rain and the nice cool weather that we've been having this summer. Although I may be one of the few who has really enjoyed this weather! I know now what awaits me back across the world.

I will also miss my family, but that's a given. It's hard to be so far away when the kids keep on growing and I know that there are (at least!) two on the way, ready to be born during the time that I'm gone. But I also know that I will be home again in less than 4 months (3 months and 2 weeks, give or take a few days) and wherein there will always be this incredible world-shrinking device called the Internet. Sweet, sweet internet. I can only imagine how difficult it was for people to be away before the invention of digital photos, email, instant messenger and webcams. It's kind of like being across the country instead of across the world.

Jump on a plane in Kuwait one day, fall asleep, and wake up in Toronto a while later. Isn't that how it works? The airport is really just a portal to another world...a teleporter that just hasn't quite figured out the "tele" part yet...it's still a little slow, but it is just as capable of bringing us closer together relatively quickly and generally safely. Now, to only bring down the price a little...

Tonight Mom and Dad took me out to see Anne of Green Gables: the Musical, to commemorate my last weekend home. It's the third time that I've seen it on stage, and one of the best performances (although I could tell that many of the players hadn't seen the original play in Charlottetown...which you notice when when you have the soundtrack completely memorized! It's a blessing and a curse :P *cough*) But it was very well done and I had a good cry. They played the characters extremely well and you really feel for Marilla and Anne at the end. If you don't know how it ends, then I highly recommend reading the book! I was sucked into (*cough* twist-my-rubber-arm) buying the prequel "Before Green Gables" which, although not written by Lucy Maud Montgomery, is strongly supported by her family. So I'll give it a whirl and read it on the plane!

Other news: possibly a new job assignment? But I'll wait to give more details until that's a little more definite. Give me a week...wow. or 4 days.

4 very short days.

absolutely ridiculous

Alright, it is absolutely ridiculous that i haven't updated this all summer! it is also ridiculously early in the morning. okay, yes, it's well past the time I normally wake up in Kuwait (5:25) but my sleeping habits in the summer in Canada are quite different than those during the school year. But after finally falling asleep sometime past 1am, I've had a terrible sleep. So instead of fighting the inevitable, I'm on the internet, facebook, email, blogs etc just to do something until I feel a little bit more sleepy and my brain might accept that it can stop thinking for a few minutes and get some rest!

So what's new? Well, first off, there are only 10 more days until I leave for Kuwait. What happens after that, I'm not sure...but we'll figure that out when the time comes. School starts August 31st, but it's Ramadan schedule, so who can complain about that!

I was in Ottawa when I last updated. Since then I've seen my nephew Mason for 3 weeks straight! I think he's finally gotten used to me...just in time for him to go home and me to go to Kuwait. Ah well. The kids will get used to it and I'll be the forever-gone aunt who lives at the airport. Just ask Cole. "Where does Aunt Katie live?" "The airport!" Pretty nice location, I'd say. Arden does keep asking why I'm always gone, though. Part of me hates myself for working at the inn this summer because I hate having to tell her that I've got to go to work. "Work" must be this terrible word for kids. The adults always have to go to "work" and not stay and play. She never fights it when I say it. She just says, "Oh."

But I only have one more shift at Ste. Anne's - so about 30 more loads of laundry - and then it's Vacation Bible School! So Arden and I will get to see each other every day.

What else has happened? Well, I've been nominated for this:

by One Step Away - Sonja V., who was one of the teachers at my elementary school when I was a kid. So thank you! Of course, now I feel that I should update more frequently and be possibly more amusing - but no worries. When I'm back in Kuwait and the internet is faster (albeit sporatic at best), I might even add a few pictures to my posts.

My mission now, that I've chosen to accept, is to nominate someone else for this award. So I choose Rod and Bec at the Voice Room because I love their style of writing and the pictures that they put up! And Andrea, who has started a new blog about her adventures working at a school in Hungary! and finally another whose I won't link just in case, but I will mention: Stephanie and her Double Double. There are so many more that I love to read, including Sonja's, but I don't feel right nominating them just yet.