Independent Consultant with a Hawaiian Shirt

I am amazed how every time I step into a church on this trip, it seems that the sermon is custom-written for me in my current life-situation. This morning, the chaplain spoke from Philippians 4:10-16 on the subject, "Learning to Be Content." He mentioned five (5) Enemies of Contentment: Unrealistic Expectations Unrealistic Comparisons Unnoticed Blessings Uncontrolled Ambitions Running from God He then showed from the text how Paul taught others how to be content based on his own life-example: 1. Have an Attitude of Gratitude v. 11 - "I have learned to be content..." means we're not born being naturally content. Paul had to learn to be content; we will need to learn that as well. Circumstances don't make us what we are; they reveal to us what we are. 2. Seek to please God first v. 10 - "I rejoice greatly in the Lord..." v. 13 - "I can do everything through him (God) who gives me strength." 3. Love people, not things v. 10 - "...you ...

Today we wrapped up the first week of classes with the second group of students. Because of the upcoming month of Ramadan we moved the class field trip up to this afternoon. After class we headed out to the malls of Kuwait, enjoying the finest window shopping and people watching. We all walked around for a while before eventually all going our own way. I found myself sitting at a Starbucks (one of six in this mall!) with a cup of coffee in a very comfortable chair and a view of all the passers-by. It turns out that my people-watching experience turned into a them-watching-me. As I sat in that chair, I lowered my eyelids and took a nap right there in the mall. I wonder how many people walked by wondering, "I wonder what happened to him?" Periodically I would wake up and wipe the drool off the corner of my mouth, only to allow myself to be wrapped by the warm sleepiness of naptime. I did this for almost an hour before meeting up at the rally point which, ironically enough, was ...

After work today I went exploring around the airport area. I made my way to The Avenues, the newest and biggest mall in Kuwait. It had the usual array of clothing stores as well as a food court, arcade, Carrefour (French supermarket) and of course, Starbucks. This was the first mall I've been to that had six (6) separate Starbucks locations, in addition to two Columbus Coffee places, a Paul place (featured in the photos) and Zaatar w Zeit (where I had lunch last Friday in Dubai with my brother and his family after church). My motivation was to scout the place out in advance of tomorrow's field trip. Yes, tomorrow after class I'll be taking half my class out to the mall for a breather. Many of my students work in Iraq and Afghanistan, and you can imagine that they don't get a chance to go out much. If walking from their rooms to the office is an adventure, you can bet they don't go to the mall much. After we do the mall thing, we'll head over to the Kuwait Towers...

Today I barely made it 1/4 of the way through the prescribed workout when my arms gave out during pushups and I fell flat on my face. I can't remember ever working my arms so hard that they turned into jello. So I hopped on an elliptical trainer and ran another 1.5 miles to keep my heart rate up for a period of time. It actually felt good in a strange way to be so tired, but my arms took a while to rejoin my body. I treated myself to a grilled fish dinner. If you ever happen to go through the Gulf, you simply must try hammour. This fish, found in the Gulf waters, is one of the tastiest, heartiest fish you'll ever eat. I enjoyed every bite of that fish which, sadly, didn't last long on my plate. After running an errand on the town I came back to the room for the evening. As I settled in, the noise from the next room was something else. Apparently a group of people decided to party next door. This meant a lot of loud music and smoking, the smell of which came through the wall...

Today was very routine. No major surprises, just work, home, gym time and bed with food stops in between. But as I was driving to work this morning I was struck by a rather powerful thought. Jeremiah 31:34b reads, "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." Here God is talking about the kind of forgiveness that he offers - a complete, all-encompassing forgiveness designed to give the highest assurance to all who call on him that he loves them thoroughly and perfectly. I began to break it down. Can God really forget anything and still be all-knowing? A closer look at the verse shows that God isn't promising to forget; he promises to not remember any more. That's a huge difference. God knows, has always known and will always know everything. God knows all about our mistakes, our slip-ups, our disasters. But in the interest of relationship God chooses to not hold it in our faces. He steps beyond the problems to get back to the business of ...

*** Pictures are up! *** Here are some pictures from the past week or so: Class field trip: http://picasaweb.google.com/khalaf.writes/ClassFieldTrip Day trip to Muscat: http://picasaweb.google.com/khalaf.writes/DayTripToMuscat Today was another full day of work. By the time 4:00pm rolled around I was ready to go home. But I had a workout to do, and so I dutifully dressed for success and headed down with my hand-written workout guide. Amazingly, I managed to get through the entire routine. This in large part to the fact I didn't put too much weight on the bar. But my shoulders and arms felt the burn nonetheless. Afterwards, my brother and I video Skyped for a while. His DSL line was installed today and we had fun catching up. On a whim I pulled my parents and my sister into a call and soon we had a quick family reunion online. My parents are in Pismo Beach this week, and my sister was in Los Angeles getting ready to go to Palm Springs to visit our cousin. This technology is remarkab...

It was nice to get back in the rhythm of work. I met my new group of students, and it will be interesting to see the group dynamic develop. Part of the attraction of teaching to me is the experience of getting to know a group of individuals both at the personal and at the corporate level. There is a challenge to understand what each group needs and what will help each individual maximize their potential in the classroom. After work I grabbed a salad from the grocery store on the way back to the hotel. After checking messages I suited up for a new adventure in workouts: InnerFight ( http://www.innerfight.com ). My brother mentioned it to me and I decided to look into it. Apparently he and a few of his rugby mates (rugby buddies in American English) have been using this program to shape up for the upcoming rugby season. I figured out today's workout and went down to the gym to execute it. I managed to get through one set of exercises, but my 4 minute rest period extended longer as I ...

This morning was a bit subdued. Today I'd be returning to Kuwait to go back to work. After breakfast my brother got up and headed out the door to work. Shortly afterwards my sister-in-law took my niece to a doctor's appointment for another one of those infamous baby shots. And so I was the last one to leave the house today. I packed my suitcase, locked the door and walked to the airport. Once there I checked in and went up to the lounge to wait an hour before the flight boarded. Again, we were bussed to the airplane and we all trudged up the stairs to our assigned seats. After an uneventful flight which found me alternating between sleeping and reading, we landed in Kuwait. Knowing the routine I had taken two copies of the visa application before leaving, and I had filled it in prior to landing. When I got to the visa counter, the officer couldn't make change for my KD10 bill and instead sent me across the hall to a bank. I got my KD3 for him, took my passport and visa and ...

Today was a relatively quiet day. My brother had some work to catch up on, so I took the time to catch up on reading. We met up for lunch, caught a movie, watched the Olympics, went out for sushi dinner before calling it a night. Driving around Dubai gave me time to think about some things. When you look around and see all the construction, it boggles the mind. The extent to which they can build out here is simply amazing. The Dubai Creek is being extended, a canal system is being built between the high-rise towers, indoor snow skiing in the middle of the desert and the world's tallest building brings one word to mind: Unbelievable. Now of course, I have to believe what I am seeing. Its mere presence in front of me identifies its reality. I cannot close my eyes and wish a shopping mall to not be there. The Palm Islands are here because I can stand on them. But is sight the only way to perceive reality? And what is reality? I remember years ago seeing written on the back of a car in...

I rolled out of bed this morning, still feeling some of the aches of being in the car for 10 hours yesterday. As I stretched my hands upward I felt a sharp pain in my left shoulder. Apparently I slept on my side for too long last night, and my shoulder was carrying more weight through the night than it should have. I fought through the pain, got dressed and had breakfast. Today is Friday, the "off" day in the Gulf. Offices are closed, stores open later and families take time with each other. For us, Friday means that we're going to church as Sunday is a normal work day around here. Like I said yesterday, I was looking forward to going to church. When we first came here 25 years ago, the only churches in Dubai were house churches. Soon after our arrival a house was rented in Jumeirah, converted into a church and shared by several congregations. Over the years the church continued to grow, to the point that it was no longer reasonable to have hundreds of people converge on ...

Last night on the way home my brother and I kicked around the idea of driving to Muscat for the day. He was there last week on business and he couldn't stop talking about how beautiful the drive is. Not wanting to pass on an opportunity to add to the stamp collection in my passport and the currency collection in my wallet, I agreed to a day trip to Muscat. Muscat is the capital city of Oman, a country to the east of the UAE. The city is about 450 kilometers (270 miles) from Dubai, and the road lived up to its billing. We set out around 6:30am while it was still relatively cooler and found very light traffic on the road. We drove out through the city and into the desert, where the vista of reddish rolling sand dunes was broken up by little green splashes of scrub bushes and the occasional tree. Less than an hour into our drive we found ourselves in the "mountains" of Hatta, the border city. There at the border we paid for our entry visas and continued our journey. My only ...

(Sorry for the delay - I've not been near a hotspot until now.) I landed in Dubai last night shortly after 9:00pm local time. Passport Control here in Dubai is much different than it is in Kuwait. In Kuwait I had to go upstairs, fill out a form and pay 3 KD only to wait for them to process my visa. In Dubai, I simply walk up to the Passport Control counter and, as a Westerner, have my passport scanned and stamped. No forms, no fees, no fuss - just the way it should be. After collecting my suitcase from the carousel I walked out of the airport, across a skybridge, through a parking lot and down the street to my brother's house. I know how strange that last sentence sounds, but that 10 minute walk is true. Dubai is a modern city, and its airport can (and does) accommodate the Airbus A380, the most modern passenger plane in the world today. When the airport was first built on the outskirts of the city, nobody back then foresaw the urban sprawl that would bring entire neighborhoods...

Today was the last day of class for this group of students. It was a bittersweet moment - I was happy that we finished, but sad to see them go. They are a fun group of fascinating individuals, and time spent with them was refreshing for me. I hope those who work around here will take me up on my offer to drop by and say "Hey!" from time to time while I'm still out here. The wind picked up rather assertively today. It blew dust up in the air that I didn't feel as if I needed my sunglasses this afternoon. Normally when I step out of the classroom building at noon or after class I need my sunglasses to keep from squinting. But the dust in the air drew almost like a curtain. It is as if a thick fog rolled in, and visibility is reduced to less than half a mile. Speaking of which I'm at the airport in Kuwait ready to head out to Dubai for the weekend. I checked out of my hotel this morning (packing was a chore!). I am concerned that the reduced visibility will delay fli...

Today was a better day. Class ran well, and I fully enjoyed every moment of it. For lunch I treated myself to a nap in front of the TV which was tuned to the Olympics - men's kayaking and canoeing competitions. After class I made a run back to town and picked up dinner for some of the students who didn't join us on our field trip to the Kuwait Towers. We had a great time chatting over salmon teriyaki, chicken kababs and fried chicken. It was an eclectic menu, but each of us ate what we ordered. Of course there's no better way to follow up an eating session than with exercise. Sure enough, at 7:15pm Leah and David were already at the tennis court. We played some 2-on-1 games which still allowed me to work up a sweat. I commend them both for being so patient with me as I still try to develop a serve. Since I have no formal training in this game, I figure as long as I'm running and sweating I'm accomplishing my goals. Well, they noticed my uncanny ability to chase down...

Sunday is a day of rest. And I needed every bit of it. Facing some discouragements and some distractions I headed out to church. The message this morning was from Psalm 23, and served as a reminder that God the Great Shepherd provides for all our needs. As helpless, clueless sheep we can have total confidence that God will guide us and protect us, providing for all our needs. All that is on us is to follow God obediently. I really needed that encouragement. After lunch, I went over to Keith and Leah's apartment to run a load of laundry. They have been such an encouragement to me, checking in with me and taking care of me. I started a load of laundry and fell asleep for a good afternoon nap. An hour later I woke up and found that the laundry machine hadn't actually started. I guess I didn't set the machine properly. So after some fumbling with the dial on the front it finally kicked in. I plowed through several more pages of reading as the clothes were washed, and then dried...

*** Another Picture Day!!! *** I slept in until 8:00am today, and had breakfast at 9:00am. After reading e-mail I went out to make good on my photo safari. Here are some shots of the malls: Kuwait Magic: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=146393&l=8f468&id=831715276 Al Kout Piers: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=146394&l=cd660&id=831715276 At 4:00pm I met several of the students and we went to the Kuwait Towers, the most famous landmark in the country. We went up to the observation deck and looked both into the city and out to the Gulf. Afterwards we enjoyed a superb Lebanese dinner at Mais Alghanem located just across the street from the towers. Here are the pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=146611&l=e3f44&id=831715276 After returning to my hotel room I Skyped my dear friends Marty and Rachel. It was fun talking with them and their two daughters, particularly as the girls got all excited with the webcam. After a chat with Basma I decided ...

Since I left home sixteen days ago I've been constantly on the go. I had one day in Dubai to un-jetlag after being awake for about 36 hours straight. The day after I got to Kuwait I was checking in at the office, getting processed for my security badge to get to my classroom. The last three days I've been dealing with a slip-up in the classroom setup. After two days of non-stop downloading I was able to get the right classroom files distributed to all the laptops - by hand. All this to say that I am really tired. Tomorrow is Saturday, and I don't have to go into the office until 3:00pm. A bunch of the students are meeting me and we're going on a field trip (pictures tomorrow). So I'm planning on sleeping in because frankly, I need it. I am as tired as I ever have been. Maybe it's the exercise I'm doing; maybe it's the low-calorie diet I've put myself on. Then again, it could be the heat. I think I'm adjusting to it, and in fact the last few days ...

If ever I had a day that felt routine, today was it. I woke up, had breakfast, went to work, taught class, grabbed some dinner on the way back, ate it in my hotel room, chatted online with Basma and the kids, did some reading, played tennis (0-6, 1-2), took a shower and wrote this blog entry. I go to bed tonight knowing that my family is doing well, and that tomorrow is Friday. I am so looking forward to Saturday. I intend to sleep in until 7:30am and have a slow but meaningful day. I haven't had a real day off in a long time. Today I realized that it's been over two weeks since I left on this assignment. The longest I've ever been away from my family before is 12 days. Surprisingly this trip hasn't created the distance that past trips do. Instead we feel closer together because of our ability to videoconference. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get batteries for the camera and put together another photo report. Be looking for it. Sorry for the short entry - not much out of ...

*** Pictures today! Look for the link below! *** Today's after work adventure involved driving north of the hotel. I had heard there is an electronics shopping district and I thought I'd go take a look. Although I didn't find it, I stumbled across two large and very different shopping malls. The Marina Mall is, as you might guess, right on the waterfront in the heart of Salmiya, a suburb of Kuwait City. It's clean, modern and well built-up. Except for the Arabic signs it could be somewhere on the east coast of the United States. Its shops were varied, and had many of the western brands - Aldo, H&M, Claire's, etc. The food court was equally impressive with its selection of American brands as well as some that could only be found around these parts. There were some of the usual suspects - Starbucks, Burger King, KFC, Domino's, TGI Friday's. But I decided to take my dinner business to Kurdo, a shawarma stand run by Kurds from Iraq. (Yes, the name had more t...

Today the wind was blowing rather well by my classroom. Every flagpole I walked past had a perfectly extended flag fluttering at the top. The sand and the dust picked up and left a thin coating on vehicles, buildings and yes, my teeth during the lunch smoothie. Sand was everywhere, and in everything. Visibilty was greatly reduced. As I placed my hand on my head there was a noticeable grittiness to the sweat as the dust stuck to it. I've been told that this year was a dry year, which in turn makes the dust bad. Apparently twice a year (spring and fall), a good rainstorm comes through for a few days and floods parts of the region. The effect of the massive amounts of rain that fall is not only does the dust get compacted and stay closer to the ground, but small plants grow bigger which helps to trap more of the sand from blowing around. The rains didn't come as they normally do, and thus the higher incidence of dust blowing around. The other day I saw a mini-twister of dust movin...

After class today I headed back to the hotel to find that somehow my computer at home is no longer Skype-ing with any measure of usability. We had grown to accept the fact that they had to type instead of talk and that was working fine. But the video became choppy and suddenly, things went haywire. Being 6500 miles from home meant that I couldn't just duck around the corner to fix it, so I tried to fix it via Remote Access. In the process, I lost remote access. What a nightmare. I gave up and took a nap, waking up at 7:00pm, in time to meet some new friends at the tennis courts. Remember Keith and Leah? Well, as it turns out Leah and a few others gather regularly here at the hotel to play tennis twice a week. Seeing how it wasn't far for me to go, I accepted the gracious offer to join. After warming up, we started keeping score. Ten minutes later, it was 2-0 in favor of Leah. Casually she called across the net, "Do you want some water?" I was thinking to myself, ...

Once again, Basma called at 5:25am, before the alarm went off. Because it was Sunday I wanted to sleep in. But instead I enjoyed the conversation before she graciously sent me back to bed at 6:00am. Oops. Moments later I sat up, looked at the alarm clock and, to my dismay, read 9:15am. Nuts! I was going to be late for church. And this after Keith and Leah called to confirm it the night before! I threw on my Sunday best and dashed out the door without breakfast (again). I got to church about 10:25am and slid in through the back door. Thankfully the auditorium was large enough that I wasn't too conspicuous. That and I arrived at the same time as two other latecomers. After church the entire congregation were all invited to have lunch together across the road. There I caught up with Keith and Leah and thanked them for helping me get to church. After lunch I excused myself to go figure out how to get my laundry done the most economical way possible. It's not one of those things you...

The moment I start talking about routine, something happens to bump it around. I suppose that is life's way of keeping me on my toes. After breakfast I went to the car only to find I needed to buy some gasoline. Fortunately the filling station was easy enough to find, and easy enough to pay for. Gas is about 85 cents a gallon here. Now before you tar and feather me, you should know that milk is about $5.50/gallon. Returning back from class today I decided to put in some work on a cardiovascular machine. I tried the treadmill but I must have been too heavy for it. I'd take a step or two and somehow manage to trap the belt. This in turn would cause me to lurch forward into the control panel and smack my stomach against the handle. That was not going to work. So I hopped onto an elliptical trainer. I couldn't seem to adjust the stride to fit my longer legs, and I found myself tripping on this machine in an entirely different way. Hmmm, not looking good. There was a row of sit-...

It seems I've developed a daily routine which flows pretty well. I start by turning off the beeping alarm clock at 4:30am and rolling over. I then spring out of bed at around 5:27am at the sound of an incoming Skype call from Basma. We chat for about 45 minutes before I get ready to walk out the door for the day. I have an OPEC breakfast (Omelet, Pastry, Emulated bacon made from turkey and Cereal) before making the 25-minute drive down to work. Class runs smoothly, during which time I consume about 6 or 7 half-litre bottles of water. There is a sign in my classroom that strongly encourages me to drink a bottle every hour, but I let one go because of the lunch smoothie. Ah, the smoothie. Just when you thought you heard the last of my liquid lunch, here we go again. I finally figured out how to have a sand-free smoothie for lunch: I don't take it outside. Today, I sat down by the counter and drank it while watching a cricket match between India and Sri Lanka. Now cricket is about...

First off, it's nice to see the concern about sand getting in my lunch smoothie. Several of you asked whether I had a lid on it. I did, but the sand is so powdery and plentiful that it can get into just about anything. This morning I woke up to the beeping of Skype as Basma called to say hello. The way the time difference works she wakes me up so I can tuck her in. After a pleasant chat without the kids climbing all over her, commandeering the keyboard and pulling the camera (that's mostly Samuel), I managed to get dressed and have breakfast before making the 30-minute drive into the desert. I'll never forget how I was taught to remember the spelling difference between barren wastelands of sand and a sweet, after dinner treat: You want more dessert and less desert. Clever, isn't it? That's what higher taxes in Canada can get your child in terms of an education. The road to the office is, for the most part, a pleasant drive. After leaving the hotel I drive about a mi...

I woke up this morning right where I left off last night - on video chat with home. Basma and I chatted for about an hour - me talking, she typing. Although it would be easier if her microphone was working, her typing is getting faster each day. Not long after we ended our chat, my father called me and on my cell phone asking for Skype directions. Within minutes we were chatting Skype to Skype, and the call quality was much better than phone to phone. Also the call was free! If you want to find me on Skype my Skype ID is khalaf.haddad (yes, there is a dot between the first and last name). Best times to call are still between 10:00am and 3:00pm EDT. After the second phone call my head start on the day had evaporated - it was 6:10am. Today was a shaving day (I shave every other day because I'm genetically only half-Arab.), so I rushed through the three morning "sh"-s: shave, shower and shoe shine. Running out the door at 6:27am I once again missed the fresh pineapple that h...

The alarm went off at 5:00am this morning. I turned it off, rolled over and when I sat up in bed it was 6:15am. So much for breakfast! I quickly dressed, grabbed my bag and dashed off to the car for the drive into work. Twenty-five minutes later I was in the parking lot catching a ride through the gate to the classroom building. I stopped on the way and grabbed a breakfast sandwich from a fast food place. No fresh pineapple today... The students seemed rather tired today, so I gave them an extra break or two throughout the day. Having slept in myself I was in no mood to criticize. But if they were caught napping in my classroom they would have gotten into a boatload of trouble. It's what their employer calls "dereliction of duty." I'm here to help students, not to bust them so I made sure that if any of them were starting to check out the inside of their eyelids, we'd all take a quick stretch break. At lunch I was not sufficiently motivated to forage for a full me...

Wondering where the pictures from the mall in Dubai went? You can find them here: http://picasaweb.google.com/khalaf.writes/ScenesFromAMall And here's the narrative that went with them. Enjoy! ----------------------------------------- Going to the mall in Dubai is much like any other city. You have the same shops except that the signs are in Arabic as well as English. Some signs guide you to new places. Instead of wrestling with a stroller on the escalator stairs, here the escalators are flat – like a conveyor belt. What a great idea! Some stores you wouldn’t think would be found in a conservative, Middle Eastern country while others you aren’t used to seeing in a mall. Need an energy boost while you’re shopping? How about ice cream? Or donuts? Mmmm…donuts… For lunch there are the old stand-bys at the food court and other flavors to try as well. This French boulangerie looks promising, but it kind of reminds me of the movie, “Remember the Titans”. See what I mean? No wonder the Fre...

Before I get into today’s events I want to thank all of you who have been writing me. It really means a lot to hear from you, and it reminds me that while I might get lonely here in Kuwait, I’m never alone. Today started a bit earlier than most. I woke up at 4:00am (on purpose) and got myself ready for work. I had a 5:00am conference call for The Grapevine Project ( http://www.thegrapevineproject.org ) which went really well. For the rest of the team it was 10:00pm Eastern/9:00pm Central. After an hour on the call I excused myself to grab some breakfast before Leo, my escort to the office, arrived at 6:30am. I finally got to the classroom at about 7:50am with class scheduled to start at 8:00am. Lo and behold, all the laptops were still in boxes. No problem, the first lab exercise was to unpack and set up laptops. The rest of the class went rather smoothly. For lunch I walked across the street to a mini-mall of sorts. There was Chinese, Subway, pizza and a donut shop. I skipped all thos...