Day 29 - Kuwait
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 for a bit of tourism. And we'll end the night at that fine Lebanese restaurant just across from the towers.
I got back to my hotel room feeling rather blue. It's been over four weeks since I left Michigan on this work-related adventure, and I really missed my wife and kids in a very direct way. Walking around the mall I saw a lot of families and their children, young couples walking hand-in-hand. And I was overwhelmed by the realization that I haven't hugged my wife and kids for nearly a month. I love my brother, but he's no substitue in the hugging department. With him, it's more of a struggle to survive. One Christmas he hugged Basma and put her neck out for two days. Basma's hugs are soft, Jeaumanneh's hugs reflect the ambivalence of a teenager figuring things out, Benjamin's hugs are tight showing his enjoyment of the security and Samuel's are downright constricting on the neck, and often involve his legs around my midsection as well. Oh well, at least my deployment is only for 9 weeks. Some of the folks around here won't see their loved ones for much longer than that.
I made it through half of a rather brutal workout session today. The workout called for four sets of a group of exercises in increasing repetitions. I made it through one and a half sets before my arms began to shake badly. I pushed through and finished the second set before deciding to call it a night. My brother has been a great encouragement. While he can breeze through these things he realizes that I need to build up to that level. And as long as I keep pushing harder and trying to go past where I stopped the day before I'll continue to improve. I couldn't help but take a look at my arms in the mirror, and I can't remember them ever looking this big or this good before. I've only been hitting this workout regimen for five days and already I'm encouraged by what I see. I know that there will be a plateau at some point with regards to the bulk, but right now I'm looking to continue building the stamina as well.
I'm turning in now. Tomorrow will be a very full day. Drop me an e-mail - I'd love to chat!
Blessings,
Khalaf.
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 for a bit of tourism. And we'll end the night at that fine Lebanese restaurant just across from the towers.
I got back to my hotel room feeling rather blue. It's been over four weeks since I left Michigan on this work-related adventure, and I really missed my wife and kids in a very direct way. Walking around the mall I saw a lot of families and their children, young couples walking hand-in-hand. And I was overwhelmed by the realization that I haven't hugged my wife and kids for nearly a month. I love my brother, but he's no substitue in the hugging department. With him, it's more of a struggle to survive. One Christmas he hugged Basma and put her neck out for two days. Basma's hugs are soft, Jeaumanneh's hugs reflect the ambivalence of a teenager figuring things out, Benjamin's hugs are tight showing his enjoyment of the security and Samuel's are downright constricting on the neck, and often involve his legs around my midsection as well. Oh well, at least my deployment is only for 9 weeks. Some of the folks around here won't see their loved ones for much longer than that.
I made it through half of a rather brutal workout session today. The workout called for four sets of a group of exercises in increasing repetitions. I made it through one and a half sets before my arms began to shake badly. I pushed through and finished the second set before deciding to call it a night. My brother has been a great encouragement. While he can breeze through these things he realizes that I need to build up to that level. And as long as I keep pushing harder and trying to go past where I stopped the day before I'll continue to improve. I couldn't help but take a look at my arms in the mirror, and I can't remember them ever looking this big or this good before. I've only been hitting this workout regimen for five days and already I'm encouraged by what I see. I know that there will be a plateau at some point with regards to the bulk, but right now I'm looking to continue building the stamina as well.
I'm turning in now. Tomorrow will be a very full day. Drop me an e-mail - I'd love to chat!
Blessings,
Khalaf.
