Posted on behalf of Harvey Varnet
14 April 2007 ? Saturday
Well, classes are back in session and everyone seems to have benefited from the week off for Spring Break. All four of us are in the office ? me, Amna, Hana, Reham. One of our evening colleagues, Ajitha, has yet to return from India where she organized a wedding for her daughter ? otherwise, all on track. The classes end on May 30th, so not all that long before the semester is over.
One odd weather-related thing to report: On Thursday, we had an actual hail storm here! Go figure!! The sky was a white-out and for about 15 minutes it hailed liked hell ? very odd and very surprising. Apparently this has happened before, though it is rare. We have had rain almost every day for a week.
Terrie got into a cooking frenzy and made an enormous amount of food for our Friday brunch. She can cook, that is for sure, and she loves to entertain. Joining us was Shoma and her mother Ruma and father Anil, Margaret Combs, Ralph and two of the Kostopoulos kids, Lydia and Andi. On Friday evening we trekked up to floor 11 and had dinner with Larry & Barbara Dawson. They also had another Canadian couple over, Bernie and Ellen ? we do manage to eat well here.
Tonight I will try to find the site that LIAK (Library & Information Association of Kuwait) has in Kuwait City. It is in an old school building ? with no street addresses or numbers; this will be a challenge. (However, it is near the souk, I am told, and I am a ?souk maven? and know this area fairly well.) I have convinced the US Embassy here and in the UAE to send up Helmi Noman from Abu Dhabi who will talk to LIAK on Tuesday evening about ?intellectual property and copyright and the internet.? Helmi is very dynamic, of Yemeni origin, and he knows his stuff. Working with LIAK has been a challenge ? very laid back group ? let?s hope we have an audience for Helmi? Ah, the ol? inshallah spirit reigns supreme!!
15 April 2007 ? Sunday
Well, it was a good thing to hunt out the site for Tuesday?s speech. With no street signs or addresses, this proved to be quite the challenge. The school is very close to the souk ? it is a nice, old renovated place and LIAK is lucky to have some office space there.
One spin-off benefit of traveling to the souk often (Mubarakyia) is to find new areas of it. T & I discovered a whole new underground section we had never seen before ? a series of many shops under ground level. Now I?m even more curious to go a-hunting to see what else I?ve missed.
17 April 2007 ? Tuesday
Yesterday afternoon we had one of our most successful American Corner events. Dr. Andy Terrill of the U.S. Army War College spoke on Iraq and Iran and US foreign policy. Andy is brilliant! His position is the General Douglas MacArthur Professor of National Security Affairs at the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College. He knows his stuff cold, and he has been involved in discussions about this part of the world at the highest levels (he was an advisor to the Iraq Study group).
We emptied the main floor of the Library and had him stand in the center with students on 3 sides. The session went extremely well, as Andy has both an ability to present a balanced point of view regarding US foreign policy and interests and then present his own thoughtful and thought-provoking viewpoints. If I were to sum up his presentation, it would be ?pragmatic? in the Teddy Roosevelt don?t let ideology get in the way of international relations approach (his patience for ideologues in foreign policy was extremely thin ? you guess the rest?). Some times things just work well and this one certainly did!
18 April 2007 ? Wednesday
Last night I was at LIAK (Library & Information Association of Kuwait) for a lecture on intellectual property, copyright and the internet by Helmi Noman. Helmi is a US Embassy employee in Abu Dhabi and I convinced the Embassy here to bring him up to speak to LIAK. Helmi knows his stuff, is dynamic and engaging, and is fluent in English and Arabic. The audience was small, as LIAK did PR way too late, but? the presentation was first-rate and it allowed me to get to know some of the LIAK people better. Always good to make more in-country connections.
Tonight we?ll have dinner at Shoma?s with her and her folks. Ruma and Anil will celebrate 50 years of marriage soon ? they are nice people and good company. T is off to show Sita Higi the Sears store this morning and then to tea with Kym Suffi this afternoon at the English Room at the Sheraton ? all so very proper. Tomorrow evening dinner with Ralph and others at Mughal Mahal ? ah, this is the tough life.
Yesterday we learned that our Dean for Admissions and Registration is leaving AUK. He (along with his wife who runs our Student Success Center) is heading off to Qatar (where they are doing great things in education). This is yet another defection: our finance executive director leaves in August, we have had no academic dean for a year+ now, no admissions director since last August, and then this one. In addition, several faculty is leaving and most people I know are job-hunting. AUK could very soon be at a critical juncture in its life very soon?
22 April 2007 ? Sunday
There are themes in these messages ? food, food food and ?the travails of AUK.?
Last night T got into her hostess mode and we had Sita & John, Larry & Barbara and Elaine & Bill Wadden over for dinner. John is a US foreign service employee and Bill is dean of continuing education at GUST (the Gulf University for Science and Technology). It appears GUST suffers from the same challenges as AUK ? not always good to know that, I?m guessing.
On Friday, T had George & Zoe in for lunch, along with Ralph. George & Zoe are departing AUK at the end of this semester, so T wanted a chance to say goodbye. The good part of working overseas ? meeting so many new and wonderful people and the travel. The bad part ? saying goodbye so regularly? What, you can?t have it all ? harrummphh!!
23 April 2007 ? Monday
In to work very early, as I dropped T off at the airport this morning. The apartment seemed way too quiet upon return.
We took a walk over to the tailor?s last night ? took them half an hour to turn around a sewing request by T ? service service service! We then sauntered over to the local gold souk where T had seen a bracelet she liked that afternoon. Being the incredibly clever guy that I am, I suggested she look at it again ? yes, Mother?s Day is fast approaching ? and we got it for her. Yes!!
Well, FOH friends, time to send this off. Here?s hoping you are all well. The ?warm? season has begun in Kuwait ? 90s F during the day and each morning the patio is at 80F ? no problem keeping that complexion glowing!
Best to you all!