Nadia and I attended a reception hosted by the Kuwait Embassy on Thursday evening at the Hyatt Regency Ballroom. We have several Kuwaiti families at the school, and it was nice to connect with them on their special day. Kuwait marks February 25 as the National Day. It marks their independence from British Protectorate Status in 1961 and the accession of the Amir (Ruler) in 1978. It has become the primary holiday to celebrate Kuwaiti sovereignty and identity. I always invite my friend and TIS teacher Ahmad, to any Arabic language event, as he is a native Arabic speaker and is a good representative of the school. Nadia usually doesn’t attend these events with me, but came because one of her students really wanted her to come to the party. It was a special evening for us.
I was a chaperone for the grade 10 ski day on Friday. Unfortunately, the snow conditions were not great. The slopes were very icy with lots of bare spots on the lower slopes and choppy conditions on the upper slopes. All of us were cautious to avoid injury. I fell once and feel it in my shoulder today, but I am glad all of us avoided anything serious. It felt like the end of the season, with temperatures in the mid-50s in the city and snowmelt all over the resort. I noticed some mud slides covering the road, depositing an inch or two of mud on the pavement. There were heavy rains in the city last night and I wonder if they had rain or snow at the resort. I belong to an English language Amirsoy channel and it looks like the upper slopes are OK and they have the groomers out.
I still enjoyed myself challenging ourselves with the students. The views of the Ugam-Chatkal Mountains are spectacular regardless of the snow conditions. The mountains feel a world away from the city! I will certainly miss the snow-capped peaks next year.
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