Simmons GSLIS: Dispatches from the Field

Nice dinner last night at Qasr Nakheel, Palm Palace. The evenings of sharing meals are a big deal here, as there isn’t much else to do and these serve as R&R sessions for us all. I’ll miss this gang – good people trying to do good work in an environment that needs a great deal of rehabbing.

The past few days quite a few students have stopped me and said “heard you were leaving, sorry for that, and good luck.” Several have also said I know you only know me because you throw me out of the library, but I like you anyway – sweet, I think. I don’t teach here, so my contact with students is mostly as “library hall monitor,” trying to keep the decibels down to a reasonable level. For the most part, the students here are like those anywhere else but less experienced in an environment where they are responsible for their own work and behavior - good kids, mainly, just in need of a little discipline and guidance.

Today is last day at work. AUK will close down for Eid and then a winter break. Several colleagues already have traveled, with almost everyone else bugging out – and why not! I’ll make the rounds later today to say “bye” – I’ll still be around until 2 January so I’ll be able to tidy up office and leave stuff organized for Amna.

Posted by Simmons GSLIS at 01:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Hiiiiiiii,

I am Thana, one of group that participated in the Amman training sessions that started on 18th, Nov. that Simmons College is responsible for.

I want first to thank Dr Michele, Dr Harvey, and Meaghan about the big efforts they did to succeed in geting this training, and many thanks also for each one who shared and supported this training program.

I like to talk about the name of our 2 group - for our group work , we choice this 2 names - 1. Chula College and 2. Lala College.

When we call anyone chula in Iraq that means he is a trouble maker. A chula is a small cooker that works in ceirouseen (kerosene) and almost all Iraqi use it in cooking because of gas and power problems. Using a chula is always boring and exhausting and needs a long time for cooking.

Lala is a lighter - we use it for lighting because of electricity problems. If u forget lala at night, you will find your face at morning like aubergine. (This was all done in good fun and made each group – each team – compete with each other in a productive way. Harvey)

At training we enjoyed our lessons and discussion and also the time for fun and shopping was wonderful.

I hope we will meet again, and we wish another meeting that will be in Iraq. We pray that Iraq will be safe to meet our american friends and make them show how much Iraqi people are generous and how much Iraq is wonderful place.

(Note: the above only lightly modified by Harvey Varnet, who was asked by Thana to do so and send to the blog.)

Posted by Meaghan O'Connor at 02:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

T arrived yesterday and is already on the go – surprise? Not!! She of course served as courier/Sherpa, so several people get some goodies – books, keyboard, etc.

My library colleagues are hosting a “goodbye social” for me today at 3pm in the Library – people to drop by and offer… okay, I’m prepared for anything, though expecting mostly some additional warm fuzzies!!

We will have a busy next several days – dinner at Kym’s tonight, concert and perhaps adult beverages tomorrow evening, a brunch (ours) on Saturday, followed by dinner at Ralph’s. On Monday, “the gang” of university co-conspirators takes us out to dinner at Palm Palace – last swan song before most folks bug out for the winter break. Oh, btw, the Eid holiday got even longer – government declared it all to start on Tuesday and not next Wednesday.

We had what will be my last American Corner event yesterday afternoon, again with Chris’ students making a presentation on “Will Muslim Women Ever Be Liberated?” The topic had potential to be controversial, but wasn’t. The discussion danced all around the hard issues, and eventually evolved into a discussion about religion, the Quran, what is culture vs. religion, what lens people look through when they see ‘others’ and how hard it is to really understand any society without studying it in depth. All in all, the American Corner has (I trust) raised the bar ever so slightly for intellectual discourse on issues that are deemed ‘sensitive’ yet are essential to discuss if you really want an educated student (the jury still undecided on that score for AUK).

Posted by Simmons GSLIS at 01:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Yin, Yang, Boomerang!!

What’s that, you say? That is me, beginning the ‘processing out’ process here in marvelously-undecipherable Kuwait. AUK has its own mini-bureaucracy – had to get each department head to sign-off that I wasn’t absconding with anything the university owns, including my desk (desk?), library books (and no, I didn’t sign for myself – was tempted to but…). This morning, I was escorted to an office in Kuwait City where my sole task was to tell the Labor Ministry official that “all was okay, no problems” with processing out – 5 seconds, tops. It seems there are many problems here, and this guy’s job is to ask just that – one wonders what happens if you say ‘yes’ and there’s a kafuffle… do you have to stay? Eeek!! Now, my residency visa will be cancelled and my Civil ID returned. I am on the road to exit-ville…

The past few days have been relatively quiet. Only one trip to Electricity Ministry to get my deposit back – a miracle (took 3 trips to get them to take the deposit in the first place). I am getting lots of ‘warm fuzzies’ from people on campus – nice to be acknowledged as a kindred spirit. I also dropped by the bank to deposit my ‘exit check’ – you don’t think I do this for fun, do you? NBK is an excellent bank – remarkably efficient, as one would expect and hope for in a country gushing with money from oil !!

Posted by Simmons GSLIS at 12:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Amna back at work this morning – seems okay – life goes on… She will be Interim Library Director after I depart, so we’ll spend some time together so I can help her as much as possible before bugging out – 8 more work days!

So, what have you been up to, Harvey? Much eating, of course – dinner with Chris Gottschalk last Tuesday evening at the hot Thai restaurant – food gets your nasal passages unclogged. Chris is very dramatic – fun to be with. He has managed to stage one production here and has other good things going. Also ate out with Simon, Rena and the ‘duke’ Adam at the club they joined, the Al Corniche Club. This will be good for them, as it will get them out and about and have them meet non-AUK people – healthy for the mind. They have also been bringing over stuff for the apartment – they’ll move in the day we depart Kuwait. On Thursday evening, went to Embassy for fun – there was a DJ – food and of course adult beverages – vin rouge pour moi! On weekend, went with Marjorie to the annual Christmas bazaar sponsored by American Women’s Society. It is always a trip to find so much “Christmas” here in the Middle East – seems so culturally out-of-place, yet great fun. Of course, bought some ‘stuff’ – one has to do her/his bit. Shopping followed by (you guessed it) a buffet lunch at the newest Movenpick Hotel, right on the water – hey, life is hard here!! And yesterday, did the “clean the apartment trick” from top to bottom – ah, the joys, the excitement, cleaning to Arabic music, merrily dancin’ around the place, vacuum and dust cloth in hand – feel the beat, feel the clean (this guy is totally whacko, eh!).

Work – oh, yeah, that… The Dean finally did announce that Amna would be Interim Director – about time! The faculty Library Committee held its first meeting of the year – all pleased with the top-notch library service (humbly reported, of course). One long-term issue is the proposed design of a new building – book capacity scheduled to be 40,000 volumes – ridiculously small for a university! One hopes someone ‘gets it’ but hey, it won’t be my problem…

Posted by Simmons GSLIS at 09:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

8 a.m.: Bumping along towards the 18th when things come to a halt here for winter break. The university will close, as the 3-day Eid at the end of the Hajj month and the Christmas holidays converge together this year. Most folks are bugging out – they get 19 free days, a real bonus. T (who arrives here the 12th) and I will be staying put until we depart on 2 January. I’ve begun the phasing out process – as much bureaucracy to get out as to get in! And, our social schedule once T arrives will be jam-packed until the 20th – “we must get together before I go on leave….”

At work: We installed some DVC (digital video conferencing) equipment Sunday in our conference room, courtesy of the US Embassy Kuwait. This could be a real plus for AUK, both educationally and administratively, if used well. Yesterday, Chris and his students held another American Corner session – this one on “Understanding Islam – What Americans Don’t Know.” Chris slogs along, trying to get these students to think critically – small steps and worth the effort.

Posted by Simmons GSLIS at 09:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Time flies when you are having fun… or not! I am now in my last month here, with three weeks left of work – seems odd some how – not good, not bad, just odd.

Yesterday was a pleasant day. Ray & Dina, John & Frances and I went to the island of Falaika, about 10 km off the coast, an hour boat ride. The weather yesterday was perfect – 70s F, very light breezes. Falaika is an island on which have been found Greek ruins, so it has a long history. On the ‘history of Kuwait’ in maps it is the first place identified in this area. Now, the island is pretty much uninhabited, post the Iraqi invasion of 1990. The Iraqis cleared the island of Kuwaitis, made it a military post and then, when run out of Kuwait, pretty much destroyed everything they could. The houses etc. are still left ‘as is,’ in ruins – a very spooky feeling, to be sure. Our day pleasant, though, as there is a small ‘heritage village’ and then one can take a ride around the island and see an ancient burial site and a camel farm.

Posted by Simmons GSLIS at 09:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)