24 May 2009

back to kuwait.

on june 14 to be exact. and i am pumped. for the second summer i have the privilege of teaching cultural anthropology at the american university of kuwait. it's a great gig that i'm still not sure how i landed. many thanks to those of you that journeyed and supported me last summer. some of you may wonder why i would venture to kuwait for one, let alone, two summers. well, one of my favorite books, high fidelity, is notorious for a little thing known as the top 5 list. so, here's my top 5 reasons i'm excited about returning to kuwait. 

5. language. maybe i'll actually learn some more arabic. to date, i know approximately six words. ridiculous. 
4. culture and history. there is so much more i've yet to learn. 
3. challenge. not always pleasant, but necessary. living in another culture facilitates this process for me. 
2. side travel trips. i'm going to prioritize these this year (turkey, jordan, india, perhaps?)
1. people. specifically, adnan's family (my friend from virginia tech whose family pretty much adopted me last summer), students from last summer,  random adventures with jill, emily, cory, and justin (fellow graduate students teaching as well), and all the new faces i'll meet along the way.  

i can't wait to begin the journey. until then, asalam alaykum.