Today is my last full day in Kuwait – T & I bug out tomorrow morning early on the BA flight to London, then off to Boston and home. In the past week, we have visited with friends, hosted dinners and lunches, enjoyed the Embassy party hosted by John Berry, ate Christmas dinner at the AUK Diner (food was superb) and walked a lot. Yes, things get real slow here when the Eid and Christmas holidays occur simultaneously and everyone bugs out. I did take T to see the Red Fort in Jahra and the pink mosque out innowhere. Like many of you, she reads about these adventures but hasn’t been able to share… at least she has seen some of the interesting things Kuwait has to offer.

Last night, Ray & Dina hosted a small New Year’s party – small group, but food enough for an army. The mix of people I have come to appreciate so much – we were Yanks, a Brit, a Palestinian/Lebanese, a Chinese and a Kazakh – not sure how much of that I’ll be dealing with back home. I just dropped Marjorie Kelly off at home (3pm here), as we had her over for lunch. MK and I have seen just about all there is to see here in Kuwait – she’s been a fun traveling partner.

So, now I’ll finish this up, tidy up the office one last time, and head back home to finish cleaning the place up for Simon, Rena and Adam.

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Okay, time for some thinking about this whole experience.

As usual, you learn more about yourself than anything else when you live abroad. Some of it ain’t pretty, but, hey, you are who you are and you learn to deal with that. I know for me, as I get older, my tolerance level for anything less than maximum effort is close to zero! Performance is one thing – effort another. I see so many with so much talent who are on cruise control, yet they want something – grades, respect, rewards, whatever. These people move straight to my B list (it used to be called something else, but censors and all that). Give me a colleague or student who tries, gives their best – that makes such a difference.

Similar to Nigeria and Oman (previous overseas experiences), I know that I am resourceful enough to live just about anywhere. My facility with language is mediocre, but a smile and an effort to say a few words in Arabic (or Efik) works wonders. I have grown very fond of the Middle East, and hope some day that things settle down so that every day people get to live every day, normal lives (if I prayed a lot, this is what I’d pray for). I’m not nuts about Kuwait – too many people spoiled and expecting too much for too little effort – but I love exploring this region. We Americans have so little history, and I for one feel that a long history does affect how people view their world. New countries want too much, too fast.

As all you FOHers know, I have grown very fond of the Iraqis we have worked with. They live in hell! How they do it is beyond my comprehension, yet they maintain their dignity and sense of humor in the midst of everyday chaos. Some day, I’ll get there – I want to see for myself this amazing country, visit its wonders, and do what little I can to be of assistance. I love their perspective – they can differentiate between ‘governments’ and peoples – and thank god for that. In this region, we (the US gov’t.) have used up 100+ years of good will (even my dearest friends say this, including those very pro-American and educated in the US) – but, the people still like Americans – wow!!

Leadership! It scares me to see so little in education. Any d— fool can manage, but so few can lead and inspire!! What seems to be true (remember, this is my personal perspective) is that leaders get in trouble because they lead – they get ahead of things, push issues and institutions, people. My own library mentor, the late Dick Palmer, was fond of saying “you can’t make progress and be comfortable!” The longer I live, the more I see this, and the more I fear that managers get rewarded and leaders get sacrificed – no wonder education is so PC, politically correct. It is okay to feel uncomfortable, to not have your prejudices confirmed, to be learning and not preaching…

I’ve been very lucky in my career, and each new place brings its pluses and minuses. One constant for me has been my good fortune to meet compatible and friendly people at each stop – can’t ask for more than that. I’ve also been lucky in that ‘locals’ have been willing to feed my curiosity and educate me about their area. Unlike many of my AUK colleagues, I think I’ve seen most of what Kuwait has to offer, from border to border, and I have some sense of its history and people. Lucky, indeed.

This diary – this is my 60th message – has been a personal indulgence, and you FOHers have been very tolerant. I hope it has been entertaining and informative for you. I know it has helped me gain some perspective on my time here, and it has kept me in touch with many of the people I’ve just mentioned above that I’ve known from each place we’ve lived. I know this is not the last time you’ll hear from me (eeeekkk, you say!) – but this type of entry only seems to make sense from this kind of distance. Perhaps an epilogue…

Ma salaama – goodbye for now!

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.

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).

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 !!

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…

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.

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.

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!’

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.