Random Thoughts on a Saturday

BEACH PARTY
I got to go to another beach area in Kuwait to hang out on on Friday afternoon. This one was at the very "posh" al Corniche club here. Our neighbor has a membership so she asked if I would like to go along.
It was exactly what a beach should be...clean, great sand on the bottom for walking, secure area seperating the swimmers from the Skyjets (and vice versa) and there were lots of people in Bathing suits. Just bathing suits...no hijabs or dishtashas. It was quite amazing.
I even wore my swimming suit -for the first time-without a coverup. Scandal, scandal.

SERIOUSLY, it was a little liberating to be able to hang out just like back home.Although I did have to shave my legs which is something I haven't had to do a lot of here. (NOTE to those of you who are saying "euwww"...Oh stop it, you'd do the same thing if you were me!)

Beautiful Tylene in her fabulous Australian-New Zealand Ball Gown

PRAYERS
We've made some good fast friends in our 10 month period here. Monday morning our dear friend TDF undergoes exploratory surgery and potentially more for thyroid cancer. She's a dear dear woman and so if you're in the praying mood, say a couple good words for her. She'll take all the good vibes she can get on any continent.



SORTA MADE MY DAY
Twice in two days we've had compliments extended to us from former students. One was directly said to me by a 6th grader I taught here last fall. She performed in an all Arabic show Thursday evening that I attended (nope, didn't catch a word!) She told me that if I hadn't given her an opportunity to perform in November, she couldn't have performed in this show. Sweet
The other was from a former PRHS student...my Seymour...great words of thanks to David and I for helping him in Theatre.
Teaching isn't always easy and some days you just want to pull out your hair--and the hair of the student who is frustrating you at that moment.
Then something like this comes along and you say
"okay I'll go back to school tomorrow".

WONDERFUL CHILDREN

I received electronic email greetings from both of my children this year. Ben sent an email two days ago to tell me he couldn't call me on Mother's Day because he was working. Anna sent me a wonderfully sarcastic card from a website somecards.com ("when you care enough to hit send")
Both were sincere sentiments completely expressing the thoughts of my wonderful children. Thank you Ben and Anna for being who you are--unique, quirky, caring, borderline sarcastic, completely darling(except when you p@#$ me off!)
I'm a lucky mamma. I wonder what the cat will bring me...

SUBSTITUTIONS
This week was the birthday of my father, brother and father in law, all on May 4th. I tried to call my brother but was unable to connect. David talked to his dad who is safely back in Wadena.
I miss my Daddy and only wish I could talk with him.
Recently I found an Iranian man at the local flea market who is ,walla (translation: "I swear" in Arabic) a reincarnation of my Father Howard. He looks a little like my daddy, he has the same mannerisms, he'd sell you a piece of junk with a smile but not try to haggle with you too much.This guy also has a great collection of junk like my Daddy.
Today I went to the market and sat at his booth sifting through his junk just to think about my dad. It was great fun. He seemed to know what I needed (again like my daddy) because he just let me look for a while without coming up to me and haggling me to buy something (like many of the merchants do). In the end, we talked a little and I found a great picture of Kuwait in the 50s. And he didn't charge me much money for it. If I am smart enough to figure out how to scan it, I'll post it soon. (don't hold your breath)

In Pelican Rapids, I have my daddy Ben (Mr Mayor to most of you). He reminds me lock, stock and barrel of my father. Maybe because they are both 100% German, and stubborn and underneath the tough exterior is a true heart of gold.
I'm thankful for my substitutiondaddies. I'm glad to find another one here.


FAREWELLS

Working in the International Teaching environment means that in the spring you're always saying goodbye to someone who is moving on. I will be losing my BFFs who are moving on to Seoul, South Korea for "greener pastures". They have been a godsend for us in helping us get orientated. And, thanks for DRBFF, I will have a new job here next year as Activities Director at the HS.
Also "leaving" me (and thousands of other readers) is my favorite Kuwaiti blogger, Intlxpatr. Though we have never met, I feel I know her well because of her excellent writings, fabulous photos and deep insights into life in Kuwait and beyond.

My long time 4H friend "T" once told me
"people come into our lives for a reason, a season or a lifetime.
Once you know what it is, you know how to deal with them".

I've had friends who fall into all three categories. It was initially hard for me to handle people who just came into my life for a season but now I understand their value. No man (or woman or child) is an island. Especially overseas.


HAPPY MOTHERS DAY TO ALL YOU MOTHERS
And finally I'm trying to send a Mother's Day bouquet to my AuntiE who, at age 95, just moved into assisted living. She made the decision to go herself, packed up all her belongings (with the help of her wonderful children, my cool cuzB and G,) and moved into a very nice place "with a little more action than her own apartment". AuntiE is my heroine and I hope to be just like her when I grow up!
Here's to her, and all other Mothers, Aunts, Sisters and Wonderful Women out there.
Give yourself a hug.
(PS to all you Men--you get your day in June. Now go take care of the women in your life)

Singing a Song of Good Health

Picture of DRBFF, Anna and I taken last October

Kuwait 'free' from flu
Published Date: May 04, 2009

KUWAIT: The Public Health Sector Department at the Ministry of Health examined about 2,000 people who arrived at the Kuwait International Airport, since last Wednesday from countries in which the swine flu is reported to have spread, said Dr Yousef Mandakar, head of the Department. He said proudly that the medical team is available in the airport around the clock to provide its services. He pointed out that Kuwait is free from swine flu as of now. He added that according to reports from the World Health Organization, about 500,000 passengers travel from one country into another daily and such an activity may be a major factor in contributing to the spread of the disease, reported Al-Qabas.

I Didn't Make This Up!

The local newspapers here in Kuwait are always fun to read. For a serious (!) Journalist-trained person like myself, I had to get over cringing at the grammatical errors real quick or I would have been in permanent spasm. The pictures can be quite graphic--for example, we got to "see" the bloodied face of the man who recently ran into the Dutch Queen's family during her birthday (Sorry JC & Johanna...and on her birthday yet!!)

The papers almost ALWAYS identify the nationality of the people, as if that makes a difference. Well, actually here it does. One of my recent favorites was
"Lebanese Lesbian Woman allowed to go free...". What would they say about me?? (oh the mind boggles)

Here's a recent clip from the Kuwait Times. This is NOT made up.

Idiot Apprehended
A drug-user was caught thanks to his own stupidity after pulling over to gawp at a traffic accident scene on the Salmi Highway. Police at the scene were suspicious of his demeanor and asked to see his ID card. on producing it, police found a piece of hashish stuck to the back. He has been referred to the relevant authorities.


As my bloghero, Intlxpatr comments:
The Kuwait Times has made a major improvement; the police suspected the idiot’s demeanor. They used to say the police “suspected” the idiot, but did not say what drew their suspicions - this is a major breakthrough. Also, red handed was only used once, and it was used very cleverly.

Here's another one
Prostitutes, Punters arrested
Four Asian prostitutes and three of their customers were arrested ‘red handed’ when a vice squad team raided a brothel in Hawally. The officers acted after receiving a tip-off from an informer about the goings-on in the flat. The three customers confessed to paying KD10 each for the women’s services. All have been referred to the relevant authorities.


NWB comment: I would think the women could have asked for more than 10KD (about $37.50US)?!!

Bathing Beauty of Kuwait

We took an opportunity to go to the Beach on Saturday. It was our first time actually swimming in the Persian (oops!) I mean, Arabian Gulf (remember an earlier reference to the fact that, in Kuwait, one does NOT refer to the Gulf-or anything for that matter, as Persian). It was fun and it was true, one really does float better in salt water than fresh water.

My girlfriend Gorgeous asked me (on Facebook) how one swims in all those clothes? (assuming that I did in fact have to cover up on the beach). It's HARD to swim covered up!! I wore pants and a beach coverup over my swimsuit for modesty and respect to the other women at the beach in full cover. It takes a lot of work (makes for a better workout, that's for sure!)

The pictures below show just how unfair it is...Men can be in their full SKIN and women are expected to cover up. This was a public beach however. When we stayed at the Palms Resort a while ago, it was very common to see women in their bathing suits.

Oh well, just another way to stop from getting skin cancer!!

PS Contrary to what you may be thinking, we will NOT be returning to North America with Tans. The sky is so filled with dust here that the rays of the sun don't produce a tanning effect unless one is out in the sun alot! David's photoray glasses don't even work here! So I'll be a white whale just like the rest of you!!


This is not me, but an unknown modest Muslim woman sitting by the beach

Do You See What I See?

Look at this picture really close and you will see my newest Great Great Nephew, Braden Putoff. I LOVE this picture, especially since the Great Grandma (my sister) loves to read books.
I am glad to see that Braden's mom, the Beautiful BrittBabe, is introducing her son to our Wacky Family in the right way.

Kids these days, they are just so darn smart
(Please forgive me. This is an inside Joke for the Wagner family. You'll know the accent to use when saying this!)

Pictures worth 1K words...or more: The "art" of conversation

My friend JC posted this picture of a Somali pirate on his wonderblog, 56572. I loved the picture, how it captured the features but also had a piece of soul attached.

I also love student artwork. Partially because I was never able to complete an artwork myself (guess my art is piano and theatre) and partially because I like the perspective that young people show.

Notice how the picture and the black/white ink drawing below are very similar. It's not an image we are used to seeing in North America, but it seems to be a common "pose" from the Middle East. As if the eyes told the whole story.

Anna's hardest and most in-depth class here is Art. She thinks the teacher "stays awake all night just to think up projects for us to do". The International Baccelaurete program is very intense, and in addition to complete works of art, Anna also has to keep up a daily Developmental workbook describing her work, her reflections and her self-criticism. This teacher really challenges Anna, and it's a good thing.


These three selections are not Anna's work but are rather from the recent Grade 12 Artshow here at AIS. I enjoy their different interpretations of three very familiar Kuwaiti sights.

Me and the Lil Sweetpeas

Recently I worked with these two lovely ladies on a 5th grade Exhibition piece on Nutrition. They were really fun to work with, they were all "on fire" about the big assignment and they did a nice job.

The taller one definately will be a force to be reckoned with when she gets older. Although the lil' one stood her ground quite effectively. Women are learning to be assertive here in this country where they just earned the right to vote in 2006. If these two are any indication of the future, Kuwait is in good hands.

PS yes I did get my hair cut. It's my "it's soon going to be hotterthanhell here" haircut.