December - January
Hello friends. 
One of the things I’ve dreaded while living 8,000 miles from home is the day that I received notice of the death of a loved one. That day came the first week in December when my beloved Uncle Bob succumbed to a stroke. I so wish I could have been there with Aunt Helen, Barbara, Paul, Tom and the rest of the family.
Robert Cornwell was an amazing husband, father and servant of all. The fond memories are many. From my youth at the Paulsrud reunions in Slater and Hayward to the many recent Fourth of July reunions in Menomonie, every moment spent with Bob was a treat. If you never knew him, you could learn from his life. Read what others thought of him here.
It was a little surreal going on with my normal life as my family in the U.S. was going through the first Paulsrud family loss in years. But go on it did.
Our school’s December break began on the 16th with me still in Kuwait. Normally I hit the road as soon as possible. But this year my traveling buddy Chris and I decide on a more relaxed approach to vacation. 
I spent our first five days on menial tasks like renewing car insurance, grading Calculus and Algebra tests and (gasp) doing laundry (my maid was on vacation). We were also lucky enough to spend a night at the Canadian embassy for a CIK (Canadians in Kuwait) party with tasty treats including beer and booze which is rare in this otherwise dry country. Sadly as the night’s driver, I only allowed myself two Heineken’s during the 4-hour event.
Canadian embassy security is decidedly less stringent than that at the U.S. compound. At the U.S. embassy, one needs to pass through several layers of security starting a couple hundred yards from the actual entrance, passing through turnstiles and more just to get out. On Canadian soil, though, after-hours doors are propped open to allow easy entrance and exit for visitors. So friendly and welcoming, those Canadians.
But I did get out for a week in Bangkok, a Wednesday-to-Wednesday trip of blissful relaxation, 90% of which was spent on or near Khao San Road, the backpacker/tourist Mecca of Thailand. Pad Thai was on the menu at least once a day at the local restaurant/bars and sleeping until almost noon wasn’t uncommon. But when one works as hard and long as we do in Kuwait, relaxing long and hard in Bangkok seems well-deserved.
We saw all kinds of people, hawkers and products (including Christmas Fruit Cake) on Khao San but I’m pleased to announce that I have no new body modifications, tattoos or ill-gotten diseases (which are abundant in Bangkok).
Christmas Day found us cooking out with our good friends Matt and Chelsea on the campus of the International School of Bangkok. With salaries and benefits significantly better than ASK (and typically more serious students), it’s risen on my list of potential new schools to consider. I’d bet that I could even get people to come and visit in an actually cool location.
Chris and I were in Bangkok a few years ago and saw the first (new) Sherlock Holmes movie. As luck would have it, the second installment with Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law came out as we arrived. We were able to see the show in the same theater we were visited in 2009. Now as then, the show opened with a 5-minute tribute to the King of Thailand, regarded by the Thais as no less than a god. The clip, backed by a song extolling the accomplishments and dedication of the beloved leader shows pictures of him at a variety of times in his life from his youth to the present. Sadly, the beloved king, the longest serving royal in the world, is in declining health. With any luck, he’ll still be on the throne when Sherlock Holmes III comes out.
After just a week in Thailand, Chris and I packed up our bags and headed home. I did manage to do some shopping and finally picked up some things to update the look of my living space. 
I had grown weary of the floral paintings I picked up in Chang Mai a few years ago and much prefer the look I have now. The (old) pick on the left has been replaced by the (new) pic on the right featuring a bas relief carving of elephants, a Thai Buddhist prayer bell, Sri Lankan batik and Greek paintings. Yessir, the life of a traveling teacher is all good.
So, now we’ve returned to school for the long slog between Christmas and our spring break in April. In between, Chris (who shares my birthday) and I are looking for a weekend getaway in February. I’m hoping to talk him (or others) into flying to Dublin to catch a Joe Pug concert and see some of Ireland. Joe’s there the same weekend as Kuwait’s National/Liberation Days celebrating the country’s founding and the 1991 liberation of Kuwait from the Iraq invasion. With any luck, we’ll have an extended weekend allowing for some more sight-seeing in the Emerald Isle. I tell you what; if you have a chance to see this guy or hear his music, don’t pass it up.
As always, I’m missing you all and long for a reunion.
Peace to you, my friend,
When the end of 1st quarter rolled around on November 4th, Chris, Aaron and I boarded Kuwait Airways flight 361 and flew that silver bird down to Sri Lanka. Having been there three times previous and checked off elephant riding, temple visiting and multi-city travel, we took this week to just sit on the beach, read some books and relax in the Sun. Oh, and have a beer or two.
I’d love to regale you with fabulous tales of adventure. 
But on this trip, it was pretty much the same each day. Get up and watch the sun travel from the left to the right. Watch the boats carrying fishermen and divers to and from the beach. Buy some shirts or sarongs from the beach salesladies. Stop at a neighboring resort for lunch. Finish the day with a beautiful sunset and a fresh seafood dinner. Maybe a nightcap and friendly conversation before turning in for the night.
Our neighbor has a section of his yard full of clover and they seem to enjoy dining there. Unfortunately, they also enjoy just about every manner of flower and leaf, having devoured several gardens worth of blooms around the West Hill. They look so kind, gentle and harmless. But beneath that doe-eyed face is a heartless, herbavacious eating machine willing even to take the last three leaves off of dad’s 12″ maple seedling. Oh, the unkind words I’ve heard around town about this three-deer herd.
Just after the Fourth, my brother Phil and his son Jacob arrived from South Carolina for a long weekend. While Phil and I spent many a summer night in a tent, Jacob had yet to experience nature in, well, nature. So we along with dad spent three glorious days up at Luther Woods, a 320 acre retreat near Birchwood, Wisconsin. The property has a lovely new pavilion with miraculous properties. Walking through the woods, flies would form an unbelievable cloud around one’s head. They were everywhere. But there seemed to be some anti-fly force field around the pavilion because as soon as we stepped inside, the flies seemed to simply disappear. Unfortunately, it seemed that the bugs had not gotten the “Keep Out” memo for our tent. Honestly, I think all of us would have liked to get a little more sleep on Friday night. Luckily Eagle-Eye Phil noticed that the back door to our tent had been left wide open all night welcoming in all manner of blood-sucking flying n’ere-do-wells. Saturday night was much more comfortable either because we had closed the tent door or because we were so exhausted that we were oblivious to the feasting bugs.
Shortly after, I was able to fly out to California to spend a week with Susan’s family. While I was lucky enough to be able to arrive on Amaini’s birthday, the true highlight of the week was taking my first ever trip to Vegas with Susan and the kids. We stayed at New York, New York, saw a Cirque du Soleil show and several other sites on the strip. I felt so bad for Tyce who was just a few inches from the required height for the roller coaster. But seeing M&M World, Le R
I’ve never gotten tired of the drive from Chippewa Falls down to LaCrosse, LaCresent and on to Decorah, Iowa. Particularly in the fall when the leaves are changing color, the drive through and around the Mississippi River Valley is beautiful. And so it was with great joy that I drove my parents’ van (with mom and dad of course) down through Western Wisconsin and across the Mighty Mississip to meet Aunt Mary and Uncle Gary at the historic St. James hotel in Red Wing, Minnesota. The St. James is a grand ol’ hotel and a highlight of our time there, after the conversation and catching-up, was visiting the hotel’s library to see the history of the hotel and area.
OK, truth be told, I started this post in the breezeway but didn’t get it done until I got back to Kuwait. Here’s the rest: all too soon, it was time for me to pack up and head back to Kuwait. In the past, I’ve smuggled bottles of booze (shh, don’t tell anyone) but this time, I thought I’d risk a public hanging (yes, that happens here but, umm, don’t worry mom) by sneaking in two white pine seedlings. Right now, I’ve got them in a couple little planters by my window looking out to the Arabian Gulf. With any luck they’ll survive the winter and leave the sweet scent of pine wafting through the air.
We spent the first few days seeing the sites. The hike up to the Acropolis was taxing: hot, with a blazing sun on a cloudless day and vending machines sold out of bottled water. But what’s a little dehydration when seeing ancient Greek architecture? The remaining structure of the Parthenon was something to see and the statues surrounding Erechtheion, the temple of Athena (seen to your left) were amazing. Just as interesting was our tour through the Acropolis Museum at the bottom of the hill. Inside was a replica of the Parthenon with many of the original marble bas-relief sculptures from the frieze and dozens of centuries-old scupltures of incredible detail. The hundreds of works of pottery panstakingly reassembled from small pieces were a testament not only to the original artisans, but also to those spending countless hours putting them back together.
After our first two days in Athens, we boarded a flight to Crete where we spent a few days on the beach taking in the sun and surf. The resort staff were bemused by us typical North Americans who come and stay for a few days while their European visitors usually book a vacation for weeks or more. While there, Lindsey and I were “lucky” enough to be one of three couples (no, we’re really not a “couple”) called up on stage for a friendly competition that was the night’s entertainment for guests. The culmination was an event where we needed to go backstage and trade clothing. Now, many of you don’t know Lindsey, but she’s about half my weight and wears tighter clothing than I do. I looked like 100 pounds stuffed into a 50 pound sack. She looked like 50 pounds…oh well, you get the idea. Needless to say, we won that competition hands down. Unfortunately (for you, not so much me) we were on stage and neither of our cameras was able to capture the moment (sorry).
The next day we were back on the plane to Athens and off to Olympic Stadium where we saw a most amazing U2 show. They had this crazy, expanding tubular video screen above the stage ensuring that everyone had a great view of the show. Bono and the boys didn’t let anyone down as they played songs from throughout their nearly 30-year career. The show also had a most European feel as there were folks on the floor burning flares and lower aisles were packed with people from nosebleed seats looking for a better view, not the kind of thing your local fire marshal would approve.
Our resort in Matemwe, Zanzibar was a beautiful, eco-friendly collection of thatched roof buildings apportioned with spacious rooms complete with open balconies, local artwork and the necessary mosquito netting surrounding the comfortable bedding. Being south of the Equator, it was the hot season, but the constant breeze and frequent dips in the pool kept things comfortable. While on the island, we enjoyed visiting Stone Town and the Forodhani Food Market (thanks for the tip, Peter) on the culminating night of Eid Al Adha, the Muslim holiday commemorating Ibrahim’s (Abraham to Christians) willingness to sacrifice Ismail (Isaac). There was quite a crowd at the market with everyone dressed up in their Sunday (well, Friday, as they’re Muslim) best. The grilled meats and fish were tasty but didn’t hold a candle to the pressed sugar cane juice we drank to wash down the treats. Yummm.
The highlight of the trip, though, was my snorkeling trip to the atoll surrounding Mnemba island. Our boat dropped us off in front of a pod of dolphins and we thoroughly enjoyed watching them swim under us, just feet away. We then rode to the atoll where the water was clear, the fish were amazing, and the diversity of size, shape and color of everything was awe inspiring. Finding myself in the middle of a school of blue and yellow felt like being in an Imax film, except actually being there.
Upon returning to Kuwait, I mentioned to some students how spectacular I thought it would have been to be eaten by a reef shark while snorkeling. My students, of course, were dismayed “Sir, we would be so sad and who would teach us?” I appreciated their sentiments and agreed that they would, indeed be sad to lose such an outstanding teacher and mentor. “But”, I pointed out, “eventually you would all get over my death and really, a few years from now when you’re in college, wouldn’t it be cool to be able to say ‘I had this really great math teacher in high school, but he got eaten by a shark’”. Some looked at me like I was crazy, but a few chuckled and Khaled admitted “Well, yeah, that would be a great story”. Khaled is now my favorite student. 
Well, that’s about it for now. We still have a few more days here in Sri Lanka. But I wanted to get this out to you all before the end of the year. I am blessed to be living in a community surrounded by good friends who care deeply about me as I do them. I am grateful for technology such as this blog, email and Skype which allow me to stay close to friends and family around the world. It is my Christmas wish for you that you find yourself similarly surrounded by friends and family that are dear to you.
It’s not that I feel like I need beer and bacon. But when you can’t have something, it often leads to a craving. So it was nice to spend December break in Thailand where we could enjoy bacon-wrapped shrimp washed down with local Chang beer just about any time we wanted.
Arriving in time for dinner, we dropped our bags in our hotel room and headed downstairs to Khaosan Road - a bustling hub of restaurants, bars and tourist shops. A plate of pad thai sustained us as we strolled around, scouting out the wares for purchase. Cheap and colorful clothing, artwork and jewelery was everywhere we turned and it was with some reluctance that I avoided buying everything in site. Over the course of our vacation, though, I picked up enough to need the extra backpack I brought for our return trip. During the next few days we visited several sites including Buddhist temples and the king’s palace. One night we even caught up with two ASK couples also spending the break in Thailand.
On December 22nd, we packed up and took a taxi south to a marina where a boat took us on a 30 minute ride out to Ko Samet Island and the Silver Sands Resort. While it was quite warm, the near constant breeze and shade trees made our stay quite comfortable. Lazing on the beach, reading and just enjoying the view became the default activity of the day. An afternoon ATV tour of the island provided beautiful, panoramic views of the island and the mainland in the distance. Christmas Eve was spent on the beach for dinner and entertainment including fire dancers.
On Christmas day, we packed up again and headed back to Bangkok to fly up to Chiang Mai, Thailand’s second largest city in the mountains to the north. Here we toured silk, umbrella and lacquerware factories as well as a Buddhist temple on the highest point in the country and an elephant ride and show. It was also in Chiang Mai that two of us got sick after eating pizza. We had used the “if there are a lot of westerners eating there, it’s probably safe” yardstick when looking for meals. But this apparently isn’t a stringent enough standard in Thailand. So Lindsey and I spent 30 hours in the hotel, tag-teaming it to the bathroom every half-hour or so. Thankfully, Chris was well and willing to run out for water, Gatorade and food as we recuperated.
A couple days later, we flew back to Bangkok for a few more days of shopping and sight-seeing. At the MBK mall, we took time to see the new Sherlock Holmes movie. Interestingly, before movies in Thailand, the audience stands for an anthem-backed video honoring King Bhumibol Adulyadej showing the King from his childhood to the present. They sure love their king in Thailand. His birthday is the biggest holiday in the country and there are posters, billboards and shrines everywhere.
Before I leave, though, I have a few things to wrap up. Last Thursday night, a bunch of us guys headed down to Fahaheel for Shisha on our last “Guys Night Out”. Shisha is a sweet flavored tobacco smoked in a tall water pipe popular in the Middle East. The Vee Club is our favorite shisha joint as they have comfortable sofas, great drinks (I love the lemon with mint) and flat-screen TVs with the latest shows. So we hung out for a few hours, talking about the year gone by, summer plans and ideas for fall trips. It was a much needed night of relaxation and decompression after a stressful week. The night’s camaraderie, drinks and a brownie sundae was just the thing for me to put the week behind me and start thinking about the next.
On Friday, I headed out to Avenues Mall to pick up a few things to bring home and my last pound of Dean and Deluca coffee. While there, I checked out the latest offerings from local auto dealers. I’m thinking about getting a car in August and I figured as long as they had cars on display, I’d check them out. As it happens, the malls here don’t usually show Buicks or Chevys. While you see them on the road from time-to-time, the cars displayed in the mall here are more often Feraris, Lamboughinis or Land Rovers. The three cars on the left are Maseratis. One of my students drives one priced at around 32,000KD. Sounds just a little expensive until you hear that one Kuwaiti Dinar is about $3.45, making that high schooler’s car worth around $110,000. Did I happen to mention that Kuwait has one of the world’s highest per-capita incomes?
cabbage salad and cranberry sauce having a beer and editing pictures from the past week. And so it is with a little guilt that I remember the residents (what word do you use for them?) of Auschwitz and Birkenau (Auschwitz II). For many of them, as slave laborers, their daily caloric intake consisted of weak coffee or tea, a few small pieces of bread and (sometimes) a very small piece of sausage. Most lasted less than three months before succumbing to starvation.
Auschwitz and Birkenau, two of the most infamous Nazi death camps, were responisble for the death of well over a million people - 90% of them Jews. The numbers are simply staggering. Hell, they could kill as many as they wanted. That wasn’t a problem. But disposing of the hundreds of thousand bodies was a real challenge. Their best engineering efforts in buiding coke-fired furnaces could only keep up with a couple dozen an hour. Soon, they began piling and burning the corpses in the open fields.
Birkenau, 3km from the original Auschwitz, was built by mostly Jewish slave labor, at first using the brick of demolished homes in the former Polish neighborhood. When the bricks ran out, they built dozens of wooden horse stables, roughly converted to bunk houses packed to the gills with up to 1000 each. Today, the remaining chimneys look like a forest of well-spaced trees, not unlike the pine plantations common in Northern Wisconsin, though more widely spaced.
Again, the numbers are just staggering. I stood in the gas chamber in Auschwitz where up to 1000 people, naked, assured of a fresh shower were instead efficiently dispatched with gas pellets dropped down through the roof. Just feet away was the furnaces which, over the following day or two, would dispose of the remains. Before cremation, though, the dead would be shorn of their hair which was sold to be woven into jacket linings. The museum still holds a bolt of this “cloth”, hair visible on the edges. The whole process is a study in efficiency.
