Still bad

You know it's bad when the Arab Times website has a pic of it. Not too many of those I've noticed. Anyway according the article I just read online this Bawareh should last until July 30th. The ports have had shorter hours due to this weather and there were 30 accidents on Saturday. (Of course there are numerous accidents everyday anyway due to poor driving so when you throw in a bunch of dust it makes for a very bad combination.) Hospitals and clinics are reporting a high number of people complaining of breathing problems. People with asthma and other conditions are advised to stay indoors.

Two more weeks, actually 2 weeks from yesterday, we'll be in beautiful Lebanon! My plan is to hit the beach every weekend. I might even be persuaded to hit a beach on a weekday if the kids don't have camp (unless it's a holiday and then we'll avoid it like the plague). The sand in Lebanon is where all sand belongs, on the beach. Except for the playground at camp, most of which ends up in the twins' shoes. But I can deal with that.

This past weekend the Boss had a party to celebrate the end of exams. I had 6 (including him) 10-11 year-old boys in our apartment. They were pretty well behaved and had fun. They would go downstairs and play on the giant sand pile from where they're doing construction. What it is about big piles of dirt and sand that's so appealing to boys?

The twins had asked earlier if they could have their friend over, but the one they were probably thinking of has already left for the States with his mom. Luckily I saw the little boy across the hall poking his head out and so I invited him and his sister to join us. He's 6 and his sister is 4, the same age as the twins. They had a blast! The Little Prince liked having a boy closer to his age to play with and the Diva kept pushing me out the door and telling me to go out so she could play with her new friend without being bothered by a grown-up. It was so cute. We're going to be in such trouble.

The friends who came for the Boss's party were a real mix. Two of the boys are Indian, though one claims South Africa as his home, though he hasn't lived there for quite a while, I think. One boy (who's from our church as well as the Boss's school) is from Holland, one boy is a Christian from Egypt, and one is from one of the few Christian families here in Kuwait. You'd wonder how such a mixed group of boys could get along so well. It's because they speak the one truly universal language. No, I don't mean English, although they go to the same English school. The one truly universal language they all speak...video games. It doesn't matter who the kids are. Be they Muslim, Christian, Hindu, whatever. Give them a video game system and you have a group of friends. Maybe the next time Israel and Syria meet in Turkey they should throw away the treaties and just break out the video games. It would certainly be more fun and they'd probably get a lot more accomplished. Palestinians and Israelis...same thing. Give a bunch of (overgrown) boys a game system and watch the magic.