August catch-up

Don't get your hopes up - there's no way I can go into details about my activities over the past few months. But I can give you some of the highlights.

School ended on a messy note. Next year will be my last year in Kuwait, and although I didn't get to switch to French or Spanish as I requested (denied again! grrr...), come September I do get to switch to English 9 while also teaching one section of French I. I get bored easily, so a little change is better than no change. Granted, this means that I get to spend this summer preparing lesson plans, but it's all new material for me, and therefore worth it. The only major downside: I had to move to a new classroom on the last day at work, which means that when I get back, I have exactly two days to transform the war zone the former teacher left me with into something that resembles a place of learning.

In personal news, I broke my left arm right at the start of the summer holidays. It was a stupid accident, and made life annoying (I was in the process of reorganizing my apartment, so only having one functional arm was trying). But, on the bright side, it happened after the end of the racing season, so I didn't have to sail one-handed like Captain Hook.

So what am I doing this summer? Aside from hating the hot, humid weather with the burning passion of a thousand suns? Relaxing as much as I can, to counteract the cruel and unusual punishment that was last year. Catching up on reading. Writing quite a bit. I'm currently finishing a magazine article and taking advantage of the awesome libraries here in London to conduct some research for the historical non-fiction book I'm working on. I'll tell you more about it some other time.

I confess, I'm a little freaked out by the fact that it's now August. The summer is flying by (as usual), and I'm trying desperately not to ruin what's left of it by counting down my last days of freedom. But who am I kidding? Time is constantly ticking by in the back of my mind... Curses!!

And finally, I miss Andrea, Anita, and Kirsten, who left Kuwait for good in June. I just can't imagine being back there without them. I don't care if I meet perfectly lovely new people in September; they couldn't possibly hold a candle to my three friends.

So I guess I'm suffering from a bit of panic, with some sadness thrown in for flavour. I just really hope that between sailing, writing, and the relocation project, I'll be too busy to dwell on the fact that my life in Kuwait is definitely changing.