This evening I trimmed my tree. I invited two friends over to join me, we turned on the Christmas music and had a grand ol' time. It is a perfect way to finish my first day back after my weekend in Kuwait.
I had an absolutely wonderful weekend in Kuwait. Now, those of you who have been faithful blog followers for some time know that Kuwait, in and of itself, can be a little (or a lot) draining. However, I found this weekend, spent with friends, to be a genuinely great time. From the moment we arrived, the simplicity of getting through passport control (we were the only ones in line) to a Thursday afternoon mani and pedi, it was the continuation of a great birthday week. I must go back a ways.
On Wednesday, the office staff threw a surprise party for me. I had gone to the office for a meeting about some NESA stuff. That meeting quickly turned into a "Surprise Tylene and Happy Birthday" party in the office. You see, when I'm not buried in homework or galavanting around the Middle East, I usually take time to bake goodies for the office staff, in addition to my class. Well, they all decided that it was time for me to be honoured. I was very touched by the cake and the gifts. I got a huge bag full of baking supplies and some great baking tins. I am excited to use my tree and snowman cake pans. Christmas is a great time to do a little experimenting in the kitchen, don't you think.
Then, Wednesday afternoon, my students threw a "surprise" party for me. I knew it was coming, but wasn't sure when it would be. They had gone to the work of arranging it themselves. They went and spoke with Brian to ensure that it would be okay and then spent two weeks busily preparing for the party. I was so proud of them and so honoured by them. They had a cake, some other baked treats and gave me a new smart phone for my birthday. It would appear that my old "new" phone wasn't quite new enough to their liking. I now have the Nokia E6 (I think). It's a cross between a blackberry and an iPhone. It is really cool and I have no idea really how to use it, but i will eventually figure it out.
Wednesday evening was another fun night. I had a small gathering for grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. Now, one would think that grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup would be a relatively easy meal. However, finding normal bread for the sandwiches caused a few tense moments. I called Norma's, my little grocery store and they assured me they had 2 loaves of brown sandwich break. Four sub buns is what arrived. Thankfully in the meantime, I walked to Sale Sucre (a lovely little eatery) and found loaves and loaves of white, unsliced bread there. Whoot whoot. Thanks to Cathy and Paul, i had yet another cake. (If you're counting, we're up to three plus a dessert that a student brought). Grilled cheese and tomato soup totally hit the spot. My skill at bread cutting has come a long way. People were AMAZED by my evenly sliced bread. After an episode of Corner Gas we called it a night. I packed for Kuwait and had a wonderful sleep.
Thursday morning was bit of a rush. I had been trying to get in touch with my prof (still hadn't been able to get onto Moodle to do my course work, but those troubles seem to be gone now). I was also trying to deal with some flight issues for my Christmas trip. Getting to London for a nice holiday with friends is proving to be a challenge. However, now I think I have it squared away. Oh right, I should mention, I am spending Christmas (or part of the break) in London. I have three weeks off now. My friends from Kuwait, Mel and Jason will be holidaying there, so it will be nice to spend some quality time with them. So looking forward to it.
The flight to Kuwait is an easy one. I wish I could fly everywhere with such ease. Thursday afternoon, as I mentioned, we went to In style for a mani and parafin pedi. It was just heavenly. My little feet needed a pedi so badly. Then, we went back to Jessie's for pizza, salad, red velvet cupcakes from the Chocolate Bar and a nice evening of visiting. It was a great time...low key and loverly.
Friday morning I got up bright and early and went to Mel and Jason's to bake some brownies for Christina's baby shower. It was nice to have some visit time with Mel. She was busy working on pie pastry for pumpkin pie. After brownie baking, I went to Body Attack at the Corniche. I had wanted to go to combat, but Christina and Nathan were teaching the Attack class and Christina warned me that I might have more fun at Attack due to the instructor teaching combat. So I did it. Attack is brutal, but lots of fun. I am glad I only have that kind of fun once in a blue moon. After combat, we went to the baby shower. It was a blast. Many people turned out to celebrate. Was a nice time and oh so much food (yes, there was more cake).
Friday evening I spent my time working on my course. It was the first time that I was able to get on to moodle in a week, so I worked as hard as I could. Unfortunately, my discussion group didn't have their postings up before I left so I am at the mercy of moodle here. Hopefully we'll not have any issues this week.
Saturday morning we got up, went to Starbucks(which was also a daily occurrence). I enjoyed my toffee nut latte everyday. By the second day, though, my tummy was saying "enough with the milk, already". Regardless I took one for the team and had another latte. Then we went to the Kuwait Towers. After the towers, we took some pictures out by Marina Mall. Finally, we ended our day by spending about 4 hours in the Avenues -a huge mall in Kuwait. Yes, it has IKEA! Yes I did go. I was rather reserved and spent very little money while shopping. I'm a struggling student, and all.
Saturday's outting concluding with dinner at Johnny Rocket's. It was so tasty. Later that evening I went and had a little more visit time with Mel and Jason as well as Nadine and David. It was hard to say goodbye to everyone, and I wasn't quite ready to head back to Damascus, but on Sunday morning, I woke up at about 4:30 to get ready to catch my early flight. I came back to Damascus and enjoyed a day off. I was able to get a few errands done (although I didn't do any baking).
So 7 pieces of cake later (I include my milkshake from Johnny's as part of the count) I would say my birthday weekend was very successful. In all the eating, I only put on a few pounds - now to combat like crazy to get them off again. What could I do? It was my birthday.
And with that, there isn't much more to see. I am looking forward to enjoying my Christmas decorations for the next few weeks. I can't believe we're about 13 school days until the break. I can do it.
Well, until next time, I will be signing off. Please say a little prayer that my devil cat (Ella) doesn't trash my tree!
Talk soon
Ty
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