Mary Nell’s Secret
“I’m coming in tonight,” says AdventureMan, “but not on my original flight. My flight from Denver to Chicago was cancelled, so I missed that flight. I’ll be on the flight coming in at around 10.”
“Oh, I’m so glad you called; I would have been waiting at the airport!” I replied.
“There’s an e-mail waiting for you – I had (our son) send you an e-mail to let you know,” AdventureMan continues, “I was lucky to get a flight at all – they had re-booked me for tomorrow night! I used Mary Nell’s technique, and they found me a seat on another flight.”
I laughed in delight.
If we are very very lucky, we learn from our friends. I have several friends who are flowers of the South, but Mary Nell takes the crown as the Queen of the South. Mary Nell and I would be on the road to France in a heartbeat, any excuse would do. We had our favorite stores, we introduced one another to new favorites, new villages, new restaurants. Even better, our husbands liked each other, too, so now and then we would hit a very lovely restaurant, the four of us.
Mary Nell is polite and well-mannered. Always. Polite and well-mannered, and she always gets her way. When someone gives her information she doesn’t like, she pauses, gathers her forces, looks them directly in the eye and says the magic words: “That won’t do.” She shakes her head sadly as she delivers the words.
She follows up firmly, “No, that won’t do at all. We have a problem here. (Names what she wants, like the shoes she likes in a color not available in that shop) What are we going to do?” and she looks deeply into the other person’s eyes.
She uses the same techniques on the bullies she counsels in the guidance office, the out-of-control parents, the crazy teacher. They all back down in the face of Mary Nell’s relentlessly polite confrontation.
AdventureMan and I could only watch in absolute astonishment as Mary Nell worked her magic. After a while, we tried it, too. It took a few tries, but – it really does work!
Again, at the airport, as the ticketing guy explains that with the downsized plane, they have had to put my husband on a later flight. “No! That won’t do!” says Adventure Man. “People are counting on me! We have to fix this problem!”
The ticketing guy thought he had it fixed, but this technique forces him to search out new possibilities. Once again, Mary Nell’s technique prevails.
She never gets aggressive. She never raises her voice. And whoever is working with her knows, with utter conviction, that she is not going to go away until this problem is solved to her satisfaction. Woooo Hoooooo, Mary Nell.
Animal Welfare League Seeks Your Help
From a public service ad in today’s Kuwait Times:
Summer is upon us and with this time of year comes the seasonal abandonment of dogs and cats all over Kuwait. As we rush to bring these animals to safety, we need your help in doing so. In addition to having many wonderful dogs and cats up for adoption, we are always in need of shelter volunteers, foster homes, and donations from our wish list:
Wish list:
Clorox
Canned Dog and Cat food
Dog and Cat toys
Tide
String Cheese
Peanut Butter
Frozen Chicken
Large Capacity Garbage Bags
Extra Large capacity Washer / Dryer
Animal Friends League of Kuwait
“Saving One Animal at a Time”
TEL: 700-1622
Email: info@animalfriendskuwait.org
Website: http://www.animalfriendskuwait.org
Ministry Cracking Down on Porn Sites
A little over a year ago, May 18th, 2007, I remarked on an article in the Kuwait Times called MOC Bans Porno Film Sites. I had no idea that even over a year later, that blog entry would continue getting countless hits.
In this morning’s Kuwait Times, it’s like they say – deja vu all over again.
KUWAIT: Communications Minister Abdulhahman Al-Ghunaim has ordered the establishment of a committee to improve Internet services by finding ways to stop the spread of pornographic websites, which contradict local cultural and religious values.
The committee will reportedly be headed by Engineeer Ali Al-Zibin, the ministry’s Assistant Undersecretary of Information Technology, and will include representatives from the Interior, Awqaf, and Information Ministries, as well as Kuwait University.
A Communications Ministry official said that the committee will coordinate with and supervise the country’s Internet service providers in order to formulate a strategy to limit this phenomenon, by strengthening their supervisory role in this field.
It will also work continually updating the country’s systems to ensure that they are on a par with the latest technological developments to put an end to the spread of pornographic sites, in addition to establishing a map for joint coordination between all ministries.
You can live in a country a long time and barely scratch the surface. I honestly try to figure out what is going on, and even so, I get surprised often. I feel so encouraged when I see people tackling a problem, but then, so often, it turns out to be just meeting, just talking – no fixing.
As I have said before – I hate pornography. It isn’t part of my country’s values, either. It is certainly counter to my values. And yet, when I think of spending a country’s resources on trying to fight pornography, which we have had with us since probably the earliest times, I just feel tired. I don’t think you can win a fight against pornography. I think, to eliminate pornography, prostitution, alcohol and drug abuse – you have to change the way people think. Haven’t you noticed? You restrict something, it only makes it more attractive. Look at the countries that brutalize people arrested for possession of pornography – Saudi Arabia and Iran – have they been successful in eliminating access to pornography – on the net, or elsewhere? Where there is a demand, there will be suppliers, or that is how it seems to me. How do we eliminate the demand?
Who accesses and downloads porn the most, do you think? My bet would be on the 15 – 35 year old male, the most technologically savvy group in any population. How long do you think it will take them to break through any barriers you can place? And how many nanoseconds before they spread the “fix” all over the internet?
There is another article today, one on the air conditioning breakdown at Ibn Sina hospital, patients keeling over from the heat and humidity and then sewer-dwelling insects swarming into the children’s ward. How disgusting is that?
Attack the problems you can solve. Put people first. Fix the infrastructure – the roads, the hospitals, government services, licensing, visas. Make Kuwait state-of-the-art in communication accessibility. Kuwait is RICH, Kuwait can do anything. I hate pornography, but I don’t think any nation has the capacity to stop it.
Operation Hope News Flash
Those of you who read regularly know I am a great fan of people who see a need and have the courage to tackle it. One of those people here in Kuwait is Sheryll Mairza, who feeds and clothes the poorest of the poor – mostly laborers who are not paid. With her vision and enthusiasm, she has provided for – literally – thousands in Kuwait. Provided warm clothing in cold winter months, provided meals, provided basic necessities. Her most recent quest is below:
Operation Hope Kuwait would like to promote a used shoe drive to benefit farm-hands working in Abdalli, Kuwait… preferably sports shoes and/or work boots. Last Saturday a small group of dedicated volunteers went to Abdalli to deliver used clothing, which was collected by AGILITY LOGISTICS. While there they noticed that many of the workers had barely any sole left on the shoes they wore.
Currently am hoping a local private school will open its doors to receive donations from August 1 – 10. If you’ll stay in touch with me I can get you the final drop-point details.
Again ~ many thanks for your support! God bless, Sheryll
I don’t know about you, but I tend to buy new athletic shoes often – I like a fresh springy step :-). She probably isn’t looking for your daintiest 4 inch spikes from last season, but shoes with some life and some support left in them. As she gives out further information, I will keep you informed. Meanwhile – gather your old shoes and save them for Operation Hope!
Seasonal Change Sunrise
More clouds! Beautiful Tiepolo clouds! A Turner sunrise! And look, you can see almost all the way to the horizon. That nasty yellow-black band of (whatever it is) that hangs over the horizon on some days is gone!
It is 91°F / 33°C at 0530 in the morning – and it was still 98°F at 0300 this morning – imagine! No wonder most of the flights take off at night!
Qaatteri Cat’s Sunrise
The Qatteri Cat had the cat crazies as the sun came up this morning. Racing around the house, coming to our bed and saying “day has started! You don’t want to miss this!” and by the time I am up, I have to laugh, every carpet in the house is rumpled up from his scampering and racing about.
He was right. The humidity has disappeared, even if temporarily, my windows are clear (too clear, as you will see!) and it is a gorgeous sunrise.
Isn’t that GORGEOUS! No, not the photograph, the sunrise! Blue sky! Clouds! A hint, in the middle of summer, that winter is coming!
But this photo is the do-over. I took a previous photo. When I uploaded, I laughed out loud, and immediately took another – you can see why:
It is 97°F/36°C at 0700.
Steamy Sunrise
Last night, I was working on a project, and was wondering why sweat was just streaming off me – I wasn’t working THAT hard. And then I noticed the windows – it was as if we were in the middle of a rainstorm, only it wasn’t raining.
Ahhhh. . . . the humid days are setting in. Good for settling dust. Bad for getting anything done. Generating tons more laundry . . . two minutes outside, and you are soaked, from the inside out. Your sunglasses fog, cameras fog . . . not my favorite time of year.
This morning, WOW. It’s as if it were Seattle fog rolling over the water, except it is Kuwait steam – this is what sunrise really looked like – it’s hard to photograph steam when your lens keeps clouding. What looks like waves – you can’t even see the Gulf this morning, that is steam/fog, rising off the waters. The whole area is covered with rolls and wisps of steamy fog.
Bad Dream
Do you ever have a bad dream at night and you can’t shake it off? No more coffee for me after dinner!
The Qatteri Cat also had a restless night, and it was nearly dawn before we both drifted off into deepest sleep.
I dreamed I was living in a new place, a very spacious place, and then the doorbell rang and people came to deliver new furniture. It was like when I was an Army wife – I had no notification, and had not made any arrangements for where the new furniture would go. And yet the furniture was here and I had no choice and had to quickly make a place.
The furniture was awful! Awful! Stuff I would never have chosen in a million years, and I felt so depressed thinking “how am I supposed to live with this furniture? I don’t like this furniture!” And I wanted to send it all back.
Now that I write it down, it sounds absurdly funny, but I woke up feeling powerless and angry and sad all at the same time. Now what’s that all about?
One Step Beyond: Baan Sabaidee
We all have our limits. When it comes to food, my limits are farther out there than most – I like taste. I like most cuisines, or at least most of most cuisines. I do have my limits.
One limit is okra / ladyfingers/ bamyi:
One time, at a buffet in Jordan, I told my husband I was going back for something I found totally delicious, and he laughed and said “You know it is okra?” No, I didn’t know. I did go back and get a little more anyway, but it no longer tasted the same – I knew it was okra. It’s the texture; okra is, to me, slimy, gooey, in my mouth it gives me shudders. It’s like raw oysters. Shudder.
Deep fried okra in a spicy tomato sauce was OK – until I knew it was okra.
I was visiting with a friend, working on some projects and we decided to order out from a nearby newly opened Thai restaurant for lunch. She’s a crazy woman, like me. We are not alike – she says “tomahto” and I say “tomato” and somehow we get along just fine. We decided to order things we have never ordered before.
We ordered two safe things – the first was Gai Sate (chicken sate). It was gorgeous and delicious. The sauce is one of the best sauces I have had with Thai food, hot, sweet, and sesame. Delightful.
The second safe thing was Pad Thai, which was also beautiful and tasty:
We ordered Pad Ka Phrao, because we had never heard of it, and because it has basil leaves in it:
It was delicious.
We loved the way the food was packaged. The green curry and the soup was packed in sealed plastic sacks, inside the normal plastic containers. Not a single drop was spilled in the bag. I’m impressed. I love soups, and I hate the mess when soups spill in the bags:
This is the green curry (Gaeng Khew Wan). It is totally delicious.
You know me. I love fish. We had never tried the Tom Kling (smoked herb soup) so we ordered that, with grilled smoked fish. It came beautifully packaged, like the above curry. When we went to eat the soup, however, although it was delicious, I had to fish out the fish. I am not normally squeamish, but their little fishy eyes were too much for me:
AdventureMan and I later made a trip to find the restaurant. It wasn’t easy, but it was worth the trouble. Tucked back behind some of the behomoth apartments on the Southern Gulf Road, it only has maybe six tables, but it is tiny and exquisite. Someone went to a lot of trouble to make this little place beautiful and serene. Although it is a new restaurant, it was already packed when we got there, but a table opened up just as we arrived.
We asked for recommendations, and tried the Tod Mun (shrimp cakes) and a dish I loved. Pad See Ew, which was vermicelli noodles stir fried in soy sauce with shrimp. We also had the chicken sate again – delicious. We were busy watching other people with big pots of something in front of them, shared by groups. We have to go back and try that, whatever it was.
Their take out menu has a nice feel to it – heavy paper with good photos so you can guess what you are ordering:
And- the bonus – it has a map of how to get there on the back, so I don’t have to confuse you trying to figure out the directions:
If they are full, I noticed across the street is another branch of China Queen, one of the best kept secrets in Kuwait for Chinese food with authenticity.
Strange Bird
It’s the strangest bird. He settles on the balcony off my kitchen around dusk. It doesn’t bother him that I am inside moving around, preparing dinner. It doesn’t bother him in the least that the Qatteri Cat is jumping at the window and miow-ing wildly. When I bribe the Qatteri Cat to leave the kitchen, and I shut the door and take some bread pieces out to the bird, he doesn’t fly away.
He’s still there when I go to bed. He is there at 4 in the morning, when I can’t stand not knowing if he is there or not. When I get up – after dawn – he is gone.
I am glad he felt safe enough to spend the night on the balcony. I am also glad he was able to fly away the next morning – I was afraid he wasn’t well. Maybe stunned from flying into a window or something. Maybe (gasp) bird flu. It was a relief to know he flew away on his own power, and that he he was just spending the night on my balcony.
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