No Use Crying Over Spilt Lip Stain

Firstly, I sincerely apologize for not blogging lately. At the end of last week I was proctoring and marking exams, then it was 60 oral presentations to observe and grade (observing: complete; grading: not quite), and lastly, it was trying to teach a weeks’ worth of material in a one hour and forty minute session…Sigh. There just aren’t enough hours in the day. Yesterday was the last day of classes before the holiday, Eid Al-Adha, a long weekend-five days to be exact. I’m a VERY happy girl right now! The holiday will see me lounging at coffee shops with my book and, if I’m ambitious, grading-the operative word being “if”.

I NEED this break. Last week I was “off,” and I realize that my body is not happy with the fact that it was just getting used to the weather and climate here when, BAM, all of the sudden it became a lot cooler and, surprisingly, more humid (and when I say “a lot” cooler I mean the temperature dropped from the 40-something ^oC to 30-something ^oC, or roughly 104 ^oF to around 86 ^oF for my American friends). It’s also gotten a bit humid…My skin is not happy. In addition, all the construction in the Mahboula area has made walking extremely unappealing. The sand in the air fills my lungs and gets in my eyes-not an enjoyable way to begin the day, so beginning last week I acquainted myself with the gym downstairs, and so far it’s going really well.

Although I’d solved my drab workout routine problem, I still had problems breathing after a gas explosion occurred near The Avenues Mall. The gas did make its way into our area and we were scared because of the toxicity of the gas. We were told NOT to go outside, to shut all windows and not use the air conditioner. Lovely. We didn't want to go to sleep in fear we might not wake up. Sheesh. All was okay, but it was not what we needed the night before the students’ exam.

My Polish flatmate and I had to do some running around, so it was off to 360^o Mall to buy groceries and  a blender so that I could make us healthy smoothies (my favourite breakfast and something I ended up making for dad and I A LOT before I left Canada). We purchased a nice blender and then went to LUSH so I could buy some moisturizing body bars and soap for my parched skin. We were there all of five minutes before I accidentally broke a glass bottle of lip stain. The display case is poorly designed and I have fat hands! I felt horrible and apologized, but the store clerk told me I would have to pay for the broken item. I was very agitated and upset since I didn't break the product on purpose. I angrily paid the 8.5kwd (about $30 CAD), and decided LUSH in Kuwait is not a company I will be supporting in the future. I decided to try and salvage the lip stain (even though it’s a colour I would NEVER wear). Luckily, the break was clean and I put the stain into a different container. Check out the bright hue!!! I am going to wear this because I don't want my 8.5kwd to go to waste! I'll snap a shot and post it once I do :)

Now, this story would just be annoying, but it’s actually more funny since when we got back to the apartment my Polish flatmate was sooo excited about the smoothies that the first thing she did after we put the groceries away was get the blender set-up. I was in the kitchen making tea when I heard the familiar sound of glass shattering on tile floor, HAHAHA! She dropped the blender! Oh, man was she upset. I, on the other hand, couldn’t stop laughing because only an hour earlier I’d broken the lip stain at LUSH! It was coincidental, ironic and hilarious! I shrugged it off and spent the rest of the weekend reading. I LOVE my book! I read this wonderful quote and really wanted to share because it's a brilliant theory: “A woman’s dress is a struggle between modesty and majesty: by the treasures it reveals it must hint at the pleasures it conceals.” (Capella, The Various Flavours of Coffee, p. 126, ©2008). That's a good note to end on.