Simmons GSLIS: Dispatches from the Field

It is early morning, just before 8 a.m. when we open up the Library. Very quiet.
Temps in the a.m. these days hover in low 80sF – very pleasant.

I took Bill & Elaine Wadden out to Bait 7 for dinner last night. They had not been in this area of “old” Kuwait. Bait 7 has excellent food, and we enjoyed a pleasant dinner outside. The streets are all torn up, however – progress – harrumph!

I’ve been working on some “strategic planning” materials to use for our training session for the Iraqi LIS professors in later November. John Rutland (faculty AUK) has been helpful in sharing materials. With the exception of getting the 2nd half of the grant money shipped here, I’ve done just about all I can to prepare for this. I am hopeful it will work out well – how about ‘cautiously optimistic!’

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The usual suspects ate out Thursday evening, but at a very swishy Persian restaurant at the Sheraton Hotel called Shahrayar. Excellent food, and as usual the chatter was fun. Ildiko, in honor of the one of the Hungarian revolutions, bought for all – a pleasant surprise. Did I say the food was excellent – yummmmmy!

Saturday, Marjorie and I decided to try and find the bridge to the island of Bubiyan, up towards the Iraq border. We had heard that you could see Failaka Island from the top of the bridge, so what the heck... One turns off the main road at Jahra (about 20 miles northwest of Kuwait City)) and heads northeast. The area is very uninhabited, and the further you get from Jahra the less there is - that is, with the exception of camels. We must have seen around 1,000 camels, many of which were albino. The camels all looked well-fed, so no problem with food. The road out to Bubiyan is being re-done in a way which is hard to imagine - a new, 4 lane highway with bridges and overpasses is being built, yet there is no there there - it is very strange, to say the least. Even if it is a military road, it is way overdone. Money and brains are often strangers.

We drove for about an hour and came across a pink (yes, he did say pink) mosque in the middle of nowhere (picture attached to this diary edition). Wonders and surprises are a large part of the joy of knocking about this region. We drove past the mosque on up to the military area near the coastal border, turned around and then went south a bit and finally found the bridge. But... it is now a military area, and you can't go on it. I tried, asking the armed guard if we could drive up or walk on it – “La, mafi, no,” he said. It could very well be that the way on up to Iraq for ships is via this channel, rather than on the east side of the island which is much closer to Iran - that could account for the military presence. Did I say surprises are fun - hmmmm. Anyway, the ride was fun, Marjorie good company, lots of miles of 'nowhere' to be seen - at least you had the feeling you were in a desert country.

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Last night, Marjorie and I went to AWARE'S program about Failaka Island. On maps of this region, Failaka was the first identifiable Kuwaiti area. Digs have found samples of Greek pottery, so the island has been of historical and academic interest. Last night’s chat was done by the son of the owner of the Tareq Rajab museums, Dr. Ziad Rajab. He spoke without notes – very well informed and engaging. His family has been visiting Failaka since the 1950s and they’ve seen great changes there, and especially so after the Iraqi invasion when all Kuwaitis were removed from the island and it became a military base. Failaka has up until now a long inhabited history. What was very nice was that they exhibited pictures from the 1950s and 1960s so one could get a flavor of the life there – pretty darn isolated and simple. The Kuwaiti government is schizophrenic about Failaka – develop it – leave it alone – make it a national park…

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I’m uninspired in starting up this diary after the return from Greece, but… let’s just call it post-vacation syndrome!

The campus remains fairly quiet. Now that we are back to a “normal” schedule, things have really settled down. Chris Ohan is getting his students all set for a series of American Corner events. He is having his AUK students interview American students about their perceptions of the Middle East, Islam, Arabs, the war on terror etc. – then they’ll report to their peers on what they’ve learned. The goal is to teach oral history/information gathering skills in a structured way. There will be 7 sessions – an ambitious project.

I’ve been making further plans for the Iraqi training program, which will now definitely occur in Amman, Jordan – the teaching will be on 18-22 November at ACOR. I’ll get there ahead of time and depart a couple of days after it finishes – taking care of all the business details. I’m also planning to take a brief trip to Beirut – AMICAL business and perhaps gather some useful information for the training program from my Lebanese counterparts – will be there first week of November. One thing for sure that I’ll miss is the travel that has come along with this job.

Last night the Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah kicked off its cultural season with a lecture entitled “Masterpieces of an Unknown Iranian Metalworker.” The speaker, Professor Geza Fehervari, is the 85 year old curator of the Tareq Rajab Museum. Tonight on campus we are having the former president of Costa Rica, Jose Maria Figueres Olsen, talk about “Mitigating Climate Change: Our Responsibility with the Next Generations.”

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