The Canadian Embassy issued a stage two evacuation notice today, matching the US who announced stage two on January 30th (the Canadian Embassy has already announced that a stage three announcement will be done together). Hans Blix makes his statement in about 5 hours from now. School resumes tomorrow for the staff and Sunday for the students.
For the moment, we intend to stay and watch how things develop. Important decisions will likely be made in the next few days. We are going to try to make a airline reservation to make getting home that much easier if and when we make that decision.
It is true that three of the schools in Kuwait have closed for extended holidays until the end of February up to the end of March. These are schools that serve the American and diplomatic communities and are more effected by the US's evacuation of families. Those schools are scheduled to restart classes and run on extended hours until the end of June.
Like anywhere in a time of change or uncertainty, Kuwait is awash in rumors. We laugh when we listen to the American news, especially the reports from Kuwait. There is an increased police force on the streets and military vehicles posted around the palace, but otherwise things are nothing like the crisis situations that they describe. This weekend at the mall, the parking lot was full, there were inflatable jungle gyms for the kids to play on, and even when a fire alarm was set off by one of the restaurants in the food court, the line-up at Starbucks hardly stirred. This is hardly the war-ready state that the news would have you believe Kuwait is in. Nevertheless, Jamie and I try to remain alert and ready to get out should it seem warranted.
Posted by Jamie Hide at 5:20 a.m.