Count Down!

We are down to the last month of school. Hard to believe.

We had a wonderful Spring Vacation in Sri Lanka. We spent a week at a beautiful little beach town apparently well known for its surfing - Hikkaduwa. We were at the very tail end of the season. It was fairly deserted, and we had a pick of rooms. We started at El Cheapo - $18/night. Unfortunately, the fan somehow didn’t move any air, and it was just too hot. We moved two doors down and got a room right on the ocean with AC and breakfast for $45/night. This room was quite small, but the view, the sounds, and the AC were well worth it. We ended up traveling with a delightful young couple from our school/building. Without any coordination, we were on the same flights, and they also moved to our second hotel in search of AC. We did our own things during the day, and tended to meet back on the beach for Lion Beer that only came in liter bottles for a buck and a half. We introduced them to Phase 10, played pingpong, wandered down the beach, and found some place to eat. Once we ordered, we are pretty sure they went looking for the chicken to throttle. It seriously could take an hour and a half. Thank goodness for Lions.

We had several incredible storms roll through, but they only lasted a few hours. The lightning was spectacular, although I did feel for the fishing boats that looked awfully dang close to the strikes.

We only spent one day in Colombo. We discovered we definitely will spend more time there next time. We think there will be a next time because it is a cheap vacation and a great get away from the desert colors. We marveled everyday about the greens.There is a lot more to see on the island, so maybe next time we’ll travel around a bit more. On the other hand, if you’ve seen our photos, that beach will always be beckoning us!

Both kids had a tough month. DeYette got stranded in Athens thanks to the volcano. She finally made it back 10 days late. Luckily, she’s now laughing about it. Ellen, a friend of my from college, and an exboyfriend’s cousin of one of the other girls, absolutely saved them by providing places to stay. Rome and Paris were mad houses. THANKS AGAIN ELLEN! To say the least, no hostels or cheap hotels were available. There also is a chance that trip insurance may come through for some of the costs. Hallelujah! Neill broke his collarbone playing flag football. It didn’t just crack; it broke and overlapped that required surgery to fix. HMMMM a 23 year old male working part time in the restaurant field, what are the chances of insurance. Well, lo and behold, the football league did end up covering him. It took 3 ½ weeks and many frantic phone calls, but it did all work out. (Yes, he has been bombarded by advice for the future.)

SUMMER vacation is coming soon. We fly back June 13. We leave at a reasonable hour and arrive late in the afternoon, but of course it will have been about 18 hours. We will switch planes in Heathrow, my first visit to England – a whopping 1.5 hours. (I hope all goes well!) Then a single flight to SFO. Our summer ends Aug. 1 when we take a nonstop flight from SFO to Dubai – 16 hours, 1 flight. DeYette seems to be employed once again at Candy and Kites. (thanks David and Fiona) So, we know we will be in the Bay Area most of the time. We’d love to catch up with everybody.

Alan finally received his birthday present – a good camera, so we are posting lots of photos on Picasa. I know that some of you get emails allowing access, otherwise I’m not sure how it all works. Yet. Soon, there will be more photos of the Kuwait we really live in.

Hope all is well.

Love,

Carol and Alan