Home again, Home again

Alicia here. We've made it back to Dubai, and BOY does it feel luxurious to have air conditioning. Not only that, but every single bathroom I attend, public or private, is stocked with toilet paper. Not only that, but the electricity stays on 24/7 and the tap water is potable. What kind of wonderland is this, exactly?? This, friends, is what 7 weeks on the road in India will lead you to appreciate.

I went to the college today to pick up my mail and check out the library, and, with a full week of vacation left yet, fully relished the opportunity to look in the new books delivery and bug the HR department about the impending arrival of our new librarians. Yessir, I've got two whole entire librarians coming to join me on Sunday, and I'm so, so, SO glad, because I really wasn't ready to die yet, and I really would have had to kill myself if I was facing the prospect of being the sole librarian again. God bless my boss, she really tried to keep us offering full services with only 33% staff. Have you ever tried to do 3 full-time jobs in under 55 hours a week? It's actually impossible. For those of you in the library biz, can you imagine trying to be a public services manager, and a collection development librarian, and a teacher-librarian, and a reference librarian, all at the same time? I am soooooo glad to get some help.

I'm newly resolved to start teaching myself Arabic and have already learned 11 letters and all the vowels and can recognize them on paper. Dan and I are gearing up to take the GMAT and see who gets a better score. Place your bets now, friends, he's going down on the quantitative AND the essay. It could be closer on the verbal.