Amna back at work this morning ? seems okay ? life goes on? She will be Interim Library Director after I depart, so we?ll spend some time together so I can help her as much as possible before bugging out ? 8 more work days!
So, what have you been up to, Harvey? Much eating, of course ? dinner with Chris Gottschalk last Tuesday evening at the hot Thai restaurant ? food gets your nasal passages unclogged. Chris is very dramatic ? fun to be with. He has managed to stage one production here and has other good things going. Also ate out with Simon, Rena and the ?duke? Adam at the club they joined, the Al Corniche Club. This will be good for them, as it will get them out and about and have them meet non-AUK people ? healthy for the mind. They have also been bringing over stuff for the apartment ? they?ll move in the day we depart Kuwait. On Thursday evening, went to Embassy for fun ? there was a DJ ? food and of course adult beverages ? vin rouge pour moi! On weekend, went with Marjorie to the annual Christmas bazaar sponsored by American Women?s Society. It is always a trip to find so much ?Christmas? here in the Middle East ? seems so culturally out-of-place, yet great fun. Of course, bought some ?stuff? ? one has to do her/his bit. Shopping followed by (you guessed it) a buffet lunch at the newest Movenpick Hotel, right on the water ? hey, life is hard here!! And yesterday, did the ?clean the apartment trick? from top to bottom ? ah, the joys, the excitement, cleaning to Arabic music, merrily dancin? around the place, vacuum and dust cloth in hand ? feel the beat, feel the clean (this guy is totally whacko, eh!).
Work ? oh, yeah, that? The Dean finally did announce that Amna would be Interim Director ? about time! The faculty Library Committee held its first meeting of the year ? all pleased with the top-notch library service (humbly reported, of course). One long-term issue is the proposed design of a new building ? book capacity scheduled to be 40,000 volumes ? ridiculously small for a university! One hopes someone ?gets it? but hey, it won?t be my problem?