Chocolat

Monday 9 April
1930

I had a very nice Easter Sunday. It was the first full day off I’ve had in about a month. Between various projects we’ve had going on, I’ve been in every day for quite awhile, and it was very nice just to have a day to myself.

By and large it was a housekeeping day, which I spent doing laundry, cleaning my room, cleaning my boots, and cleaning off my hard drive and backing up my computer. I was down to less than 15% free space on my hard drive, so I had to move some files to my external drive, and then reorganize everything and conduct a backup from scratch.

I also spent quite a bit of time reading James Michener's book "Hawaii", which is fascinating. Not only is it a very good book, but I have a personal connection to it as well. Since my girlfriend was born and raised in Hawaii and is half native Hawaiian, I feel as though I am getting to know her better in addition to enjoying an entertaining historical novel.

The only frustration of the day was getting on the internet. We recently got an internet connection in our barracks, but it was acting up yesterday and wouldn’t let me stay on for more than a minute at a time, all day and night. So I never got to talk to anyone or chat with them on the internet as I’d hoped to do. I managed to squeak out a couple of emails, but that’s all. I’m not sure if it was just too much traffic, or stupidity or carelessness on the part of whoever’s running it. Given some of my experiences with TCN contractors lately, I’m inclined to believe the latter. I am guessing that something went down and nobody bothered to fix it.

But notwithstanding that, it was a very nice day. I have noticed lately that things have become greener than I have ever seen them here. There are more flowers and plants cropping up here and there, and the cultivated plants look very green and vital, as opposed to their usual dusty greenish-tan color. I suspect that it is because we are at the juncture between the rainy season and the hot season. We’ve had a fair amount of rain over the past couple of months, and now it has just begun to get hot again. A couple of days ago it hit 95, and I’m sure it will be over 100 and climbing before much more time goes by. So this is probably the height of Springtime in Kuwait.

I have taken to walking down the median between the rows of bushes and palm trees when I walk to the main PX. It’s not much, but walking on wood chips (chopped-up cargo pallets) between rows of green plants beats walking on the concrete sidewalk between concrete barriers and bare sand. Yesterday I actually even caught an elusive “green” smell. When I closed my eyes as I walked I could almost imagine I was in the woods someplace. There must have been some pollen in the air or something. Anyway, it was nice.

I topped the day off by watching one of my favorite movies, “Chocolat”. This is my official Easter Movie. If you haven’t seen it, you should – it’s delightful.

The Cliff Notes version is that a woman comes to a small French village to open a Chocolaterie during Lent. This offends the town’s mayor, and they get into a battle of wills for the hearts and minds of the townspeople. The movie operates on many levels, but essentially it’s about people’s view of life and how they approach it. She is vivacious and unconventional, whereas the townspeople, under the influence of the mayor, are very conventional and closed-minded.

I love the sermon by the town priest at the end of the movie, when he says: “I don’t think we can go around measuring goodness by what we don’t do, by what we deny ourselves, or by who we exclude. We’ve got to measure goodness by what we create, what we embrace, and who we include.” The movie ends with a Chocolate Festival in the town square on Easter Sunday, with all parties reconciled and the village experiencing a “lifting of the spirit” and a renewed sense of life.

Watching this movie always has exactly that effect on me as well. How fitting is that for Easter, or for springtime in general? :-)