Day 9 - Kuwait
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-down bikes - the ones where you sit in a chair with your legs parallel to the ground - but I don't like those. And then I saw the rowing machine. Perfect, I thought, as I sat on the sliding seat and strapped my feet in place.
I figured I'd try this machine out for 10-15 minutes and hopefully work up a sweat, or at least an appetite. After about two minutes of pushing my body back my shin muscles filled with a sensation I'd not experienced since high school - the sensation of use. At the six minute mark they started to burn. Surprisingly the rest of me was doing fine, but those front muscles on either side of my shin were wanting to be elsewhere. Inspired by the Olympics on the flat screen TVs overhead, I pushed myself to keep rowing as long as the swimmers were swimming. The men were swimming qualifying heats for the 400m freestyle. As one heat finished, I looked at my time - 9 minutes. I thought OK, I'll row through the next heat. Each heat was about 4 minutes, and with replay and commentary adding another 30 seconds, I rowed for two more heats. Looking at my time I had now rowed for 20 whopping minutes! I must have been doing something wrong because my back and sides were rather sore. Maybe that's why I don't do exercise - it hurts. So I stood up to go back to my room. After about two steps my legs wobbled like noodles as I was now trying to move in a way that I hadn't in the last 20 minutes. I grabbed a nearby treadmill to steady myself, take a deep breath and contemplate why my torso was now supported by two towers of jello. It took a few moments for my legs to re-orient to the walking/standing mode, but it really caught me off guard.
I headed back up to my room for a nap and a shower before heading down for dinner. I didn't feel like going out so I wound up going to my breakfast restaurant for a bite to eat. The problem is that they laid out an even more amazing dinner buffet. I didn't want to eat that much, but something happened at the sight of all that food: I developed a sudden determination to try it all.
What unfolded next was both good and bad.
I was happy that I didn't take too much of any one food. And I limited my seconds to a few simple items. I used small plates, and ate slowly while continuing to read the Feinberg text I started yesterday. My problem was that I used too many plates, and there were too many things to try. Even though I chose to leave most of the desserts alone the ones I did try were fantastic, and completely unnecessary.
The best part was the cook-to-order meat station. There they presented lamb patties, chicken breasts, tender beef cutlets and marinated fish portions. I selected the ones I wanted (one of each) and asked the cook to grill them medium well. Each one of those was simply wonderful, but the fish topped them all. The fish is called hammour, and it is the premier fish here in the Gulf. If you ever find your way out here, order it at least once. It was amazing. Yes I had seconds on the fish, and not much else.
Back upstairs I caught up on messaging and placed a call to Keith and Leah, a couple who are like-minded in things eternal. They gave me directions to meet them tomorrow for Bread and breakfast (in that order). It will be nice to be a student and hear somebody else teach for a change.
Looking back at the day I thank God for lightening my work load today so that I could take care of some other matters, and in those giving me grace and wisdom in handling them. And I'm especially grateful for the opportunity to meet Keith and Leah tomorrow, and meet other brothers and sisters in the middle of the sand.
Talk to you all tomorrow. Goodnight now!
Blessings,
Khalaf.
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-down bikes - the ones where you sit in a chair with your legs parallel to the ground - but I don't like those. And then I saw the rowing machine. Perfect, I thought, as I sat on the sliding seat and strapped my feet in place.
I figured I'd try this machine out for 10-15 minutes and hopefully work up a sweat, or at least an appetite. After about two minutes of pushing my body back my shin muscles filled with a sensation I'd not experienced since high school - the sensation of use. At the six minute mark they started to burn. Surprisingly the rest of me was doing fine, but those front muscles on either side of my shin were wanting to be elsewhere. Inspired by the Olympics on the flat screen TVs overhead, I pushed myself to keep rowing as long as the swimmers were swimming. The men were swimming qualifying heats for the 400m freestyle. As one heat finished, I looked at my time - 9 minutes. I thought OK, I'll row through the next heat. Each heat was about 4 minutes, and with replay and commentary adding another 30 seconds, I rowed for two more heats. Looking at my time I had now rowed for 20 whopping minutes! I must have been doing something wrong because my back and sides were rather sore. Maybe that's why I don't do exercise - it hurts. So I stood up to go back to my room. After about two steps my legs wobbled like noodles as I was now trying to move in a way that I hadn't in the last 20 minutes. I grabbed a nearby treadmill to steady myself, take a deep breath and contemplate why my torso was now supported by two towers of jello. It took a few moments for my legs to re-orient to the walking/standing mode, but it really caught me off guard.
I headed back up to my room for a nap and a shower before heading down for dinner. I didn't feel like going out so I wound up going to my breakfast restaurant for a bite to eat. The problem is that they laid out an even more amazing dinner buffet. I didn't want to eat that much, but something happened at the sight of all that food: I developed a sudden determination to try it all.
What unfolded next was both good and bad.
I was happy that I didn't take too much of any one food. And I limited my seconds to a few simple items. I used small plates, and ate slowly while continuing to read the Feinberg text I started yesterday. My problem was that I used too many plates, and there were too many things to try. Even though I chose to leave most of the desserts alone the ones I did try were fantastic, and completely unnecessary.
The best part was the cook-to-order meat station. There they presented lamb patties, chicken breasts, tender beef cutlets and marinated fish portions. I selected the ones I wanted (one of each) and asked the cook to grill them medium well. Each one of those was simply wonderful, but the fish topped them all. The fish is called hammour, and it is the premier fish here in the Gulf. If you ever find your way out here, order it at least once. It was amazing. Yes I had seconds on the fish, and not much else.
Back upstairs I caught up on messaging and placed a call to Keith and Leah, a couple who are like-minded in things eternal. They gave me directions to meet them tomorrow for Bread and breakfast (in that order). It will be nice to be a student and hear somebody else teach for a change.
Looking back at the day I thank God for lightening my work load today so that I could take care of some other matters, and in those giving me grace and wisdom in handling them. And I'm especially grateful for the opportunity to meet Keith and Leah tomorrow, and meet other brothers and sisters in the middle of the sand.
Talk to you all tomorrow. Goodnight now!
Blessings,
Khalaf.
