Day 6 - Kuwait
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 has been calling me each morning at 6:00am. Since Leo missed breakfast too, we both grabbed breakfast sandwiches at Nathan's, which is just around the corner from my office. Yes, the same Nathan's that made Takeru Kobayashi a household name. They do sell more than hot dogs, and certainly at 7:00am.
As we sat outside eating breakfast I noticed that the day wasn't as hot as the previous two. I mentioned that to Leo, and he said that it was only 35 degrees Celsius (95 F). Strange, I must be adapting to the heat. The absence of humidity helped keep it relatively comfortable.
Back at the office we wrapped up the first of the five classes I am teaching in this sequence. I'll be running this sequence three times while I'm over here. Lunch was another strawberry/banana/kiwi smoothie. (Why bother writing it anymore? I think I'm going to have the same smoothie for lunch every day I'm working.) Some people suggested that the grit between my teeth could be the kiwi or strawberry seeds. I made a point to check it out myself a little more carefully. Yes, there were strawberry seeds, and the kiwi seeds were finer and grittier. But somehow I'm getting sand in my smoothie. There is a distinct grittiness that is neither kiwi nor strawberry. The wind wasn't blowing today, so I'm thinking that the sand is either in the water or the strawberries aren't washed as well as they ought to be. Don't worry, it hasn't killed me yet. And what doesn't kill me can only make me stronger or, in this case, more regular.
Back at the hotel room I started catching up on reading from class. I was pleasantly surprised by an e-mail of encouragement from my professor. Yes, it was encouraging. Yes, he's probably reading this. And no, I don't need to score points by kissing up. As another professor, Dr. Jelinek, classically stated, "Salvation is by grace, graduation is by works." But with the amount of grace I've been shown, I'm beginning to think differently.
Leo sent me a text message offering me a ride back to my car at the end of the work day. Since his weekend is Thursday/Friday, I suggested we go to dinner together. He agreed and I was able to interact with a real, live person during a mealtime for a change. We went to Wasabi, a Japanese restaurant a couple of miles up the road from the hotel. When we were seated, Leo gave me a souvenir hat with my name embroidered on it! Totally cool. I don't know how much more my scalp is able to take, or should have to take for that matter. So the hat came at the perfect time. After enjoying wonderful conversation and a surprisingly good meal (who'd expect Japanese in Kuwait?), we parted ways, and I retreated to the hotel. A couple of Skype calls to friends and family, and a video chat with my lovely wife, and back to getting ready for tomorrow's class.
Today was a pretty busy day. Every minute seemed to have three things for me to do. And as I'm getting ready to go to bed at a quarter past midnight, I haven't finished what I set out to do. It seems that work is a never-ending proposition.
But did I do the important things today? What are the important things? Paying bills? Earning money to pay the bills? Generating bills? No, life is about relationships - with God, with family, with friends and with others who aren't yet friends. These are the important things in life. So I go to bed tonight with a to-do list longer than when I woke up, and thankful that I spent time with God, my wife and kids, my family and friends. After all, no tombstone ever read, "Wonderful Worker, Dear Supervisor, Loved by All Who Reported to Him".
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 has been calling me each morning at 6:00am. Since Leo missed breakfast too, we both grabbed breakfast sandwiches at Nathan's, which is just around the corner from my office. Yes, the same Nathan's that made Takeru Kobayashi a household name. They do sell more than hot dogs, and certainly at 7:00am.
As we sat outside eating breakfast I noticed that the day wasn't as hot as the previous two. I mentioned that to Leo, and he said that it was only 35 degrees Celsius (95 F). Strange, I must be adapting to the heat. The absence of humidity helped keep it relatively comfortable.
Back at the office we wrapped up the first of the five classes I am teaching in this sequence. I'll be running this sequence three times while I'm over here. Lunch was another strawberry/banana/kiwi smoothie. (Why bother writing it anymore? I think I'm going to have the same smoothie for lunch every day I'm working.) Some people suggested that the grit between my teeth could be the kiwi or strawberry seeds. I made a point to check it out myself a little more carefully. Yes, there were strawberry seeds, and the kiwi seeds were finer and grittier. But somehow I'm getting sand in my smoothie. There is a distinct grittiness that is neither kiwi nor strawberry. The wind wasn't blowing today, so I'm thinking that the sand is either in the water or the strawberries aren't washed as well as they ought to be. Don't worry, it hasn't killed me yet. And what doesn't kill me can only make me stronger or, in this case, more regular.
Back at the hotel room I started catching up on reading from class. I was pleasantly surprised by an e-mail of encouragement from my professor. Yes, it was encouraging. Yes, he's probably reading this. And no, I don't need to score points by kissing up. As another professor, Dr. Jelinek, classically stated, "Salvation is by grace, graduation is by works." But with the amount of grace I've been shown, I'm beginning to think differently.
Leo sent me a text message offering me a ride back to my car at the end of the work day. Since his weekend is Thursday/Friday, I suggested we go to dinner together. He agreed and I was able to interact with a real, live person during a mealtime for a change. We went to Wasabi, a Japanese restaurant a couple of miles up the road from the hotel. When we were seated, Leo gave me a souvenir hat with my name embroidered on it! Totally cool. I don't know how much more my scalp is able to take, or should have to take for that matter. So the hat came at the perfect time. After enjoying wonderful conversation and a surprisingly good meal (who'd expect Japanese in Kuwait?), we parted ways, and I retreated to the hotel. A couple of Skype calls to friends and family, and a video chat with my lovely wife, and back to getting ready for tomorrow's class.
Today was a pretty busy day. Every minute seemed to have three things for me to do. And as I'm getting ready to go to bed at a quarter past midnight, I haven't finished what I set out to do. It seems that work is a never-ending proposition.
But did I do the important things today? What are the important things? Paying bills? Earning money to pay the bills? Generating bills? No, life is about relationships - with God, with family, with friends and with others who aren't yet friends. These are the important things in life. So I go to bed tonight with a to-do list longer than when I woke up, and thankful that I spent time with God, my wife and kids, my family and friends. After all, no tombstone ever read, "Wonderful Worker, Dear Supervisor, Loved by All Who Reported to Him".
