I see the MOON!!!!

So, tonight is a very nice evening. I don't know what the temperature is, but I have my window open, and as the sun set, and the moon began to show her face, I felt compelled to watch as the evening transpired. I really am enjoying certain aspects here. I don't know how many more full moons I'll be able to see. My goal is to get better and better at shooting them. How interesting will it be to see the moon from Kuwait over a period of 10 or so months!!!!

my lil corner of sand.....

My lil corner of the sand can be quite the litter spot. Of course, since the country doesn't have anti-littering laws or a sense of recycling, there is litter everywhere. The winds are quite good about blowing it all around, too, once it's on the ground.

 

My apartment building from the outside. There's some sort of medical rehab

office in our building, hence the sign.

 

 

 

My girlfriend's rental car that totes us all around!

Driving around subdivisions and construction

Google Earth......Google earth has my apartment building on it. But, it looks so deserted (pun intended) around me. But, this is simply not so. There is TONS of construction going on all around me. There are buildings go up and shops going in everywhere. I am in a little 'burb subdivision. It seems like when I'm off to work the busses of workers are arriving and a bus load is leaving. I wonder if they work all night or in 8 hour shifts. I'd hate to have the day shift.

 

The view from my bedroom.

You can't see it from my floor, but behind all those buildings is the GULF! lol

You have to be on the 10th and 11th floor to have a "view"!



Construction piles of cleared areas.


 The funny thing is, in my lil subdivision, if you're not wanting to take the road you simply drive through the.....oh yeah, sand. *grins* Accidents abound as the drivers are crazy. I can't count the number of times someone has cut off the car I'm in. Last night some of the other school teachers were in an accident. Today, on the way home from school there was a HUGE accident/ almost pile up. Never a dull/slow day driving around here. Soon I will post pictures and explain the subdivisions here. I'm slowly getting the hang of it and getting to know my way around town. Of course, studying google earth doesn't hurt! lol

What else I have learned...

What more have I learned this past week?

Well, I have learned that two of my former students have names I now understand. Shukran means thank-you and Aswad means black.

I have learned that here, like in many other hot countries, things move in their own time. Here, the phrase given before, during, and after any given statement is 'God willing'.....which is a polite way of saying.....well probably...or well, maybe.. *grins* As for everything in life, there are pros and cons. The con to this can be that one never knows precisely WHEN something might happen. But, the pro side includes not being held accountable for something done on time because, well, God just must not have willed it to be so by then. *grins* So, I look for silver linings in everything and try to see what God truly has willed.

There are two sides to my life, not only here, but everywhere: my personal life and my professional life. On a scale of 1-10, ten being the highest, my professional life went from a negative twenty to over a five! I was sitting in this training today for a program called Engrade. This is how/where we store grades and hopefully soon, take quizes, tests, and make educational activities, too. While I had a down moment, I was looking around and thinking to myself, 'hmmmmmm I really AM in Kuwait, aren't I?' From certain windows in my school I can see the Gulf. I like that. I do not expect perfection from this job. I am certainly pleased at many experiences so far.

I had read in my searching before accepting this job that certain places are airconditioned and that having a shawl, long sleeve shirt or light jacket would be adventageous. I only wish someone would have told me that the computer lab at my school was like being in Siberia. There I was in capris, short sleeve tshirt and sandals SHIVERING!!!!!!!! That was about the longest 3 hours of my most recent life! During break times I was ever so happy to find the non-airconditioned part of my school to warm up.

A friend of mine in my apt building has rented a car. So, I got to drive with her to school today. This will really help me learn my way around as streets are not always marked. Also, streets are not always paved. *grins* Quite often cars just drive through empty real estate thus creating driving paths. Since there is nothing but sand, if a lot is empty, people drive through it. The current version of google maps is old and shows my area of town as pretty vacant. While there are many buildings going up there are still multiple empty lots. Why drive the long way around when one can just drive through? *grins*

From what I have learned, sand storm season is in the spring. However, that being said, this last weekend there seemed to be a certain sandy/dusty flavor in the air. As many times as I've had the fortune of being able to visit oceans and beaches, thus staying in beach houses and/or hotels, the sand that's here is different. It's much finer and more like dust than the sand I've experienced at beach locations.

So far, that's what I have learned. I hope to learn more.........God willing........*grins*

YUM YUMS for my tum tum!

Pat took me to a wonderful restaurant that serves Kuwaiti food. We sat on the family oriented floor. After a short wait we were escorted to our booth with a door. There's a switch on the inside to flip on when you want your waiter.

This is PAT!

Here we are, in our booth, eating some wonderful tasting food!

After dinner coffee...it's a white bean coffee, but since I don't like coffee, I didn't like either...

The view from Pat's place.

The famous sites behind me.



Same drink, different can.

 

 

Around town

Around Kuwait City, there is much to see. Thing are familiar and things are unfamiliar. There are palm trees and tons of construction, there are billboards and deals being advertised everywhere. There is sand EVERYWHERE! So far, life in Kuwait is very similar and yet, very different. So, since a picture is worth a thousand words, here are thousands of words!!!

 

Where I live

So, Kuwait City is huge. The roads vary from pure sand to 6 lane highway. If you go to google maps you can find the area of Mahboula in the city. That's the general area where I live. I walked to the gulf today with friends and collected some of THE most perfect and beautiful shells I have ever picked up! Now some of you may know that I love collecting things from the seas/oceans where I visit. Well, there are no fields of grass here, just fields of sand. Imagine the self-restraint I had to use to leave it all outside! lol....As future pictures will show, I am in a developing area. There is a lot of building construction going on. If I strain hard and on a clear moment, I can see PART of the gulf water between the buildings outside my window. I don't think that even can be considered a "partial" view. I see it daily, though. As you can imagine the Hiltons and the other posh hotels charge a fee to join their beautiful beach places and gym facilities. Speaking of being POSH, I learned that this is truly an anacronym for Port Out, Starboard Home. So, that's where all the good seats are, evidently.

My kitchen in the sandbox.

So where do I live? IN a HUGE HUGE HUGE sand box. There's sand EVERYWHERE! grins....and gulf warm warm warm water......and for now, I'm ok with that!

 

What have I learned?

I have learned that while things are not easy, they can be attained. It was so scarey leaving Chicago. It was scarey landing in a new country, but so far it's been worth it. What amazing people are here! I have just under two weeks until students arrive, but I am getting a clearer idea of what my assignment will look like in terms of curriculum and such.

I have learned that the best hummus I've EVER had is here in Kuwait. I'm so sorry I didn't take my camera along when I went out to dinner my first night here. My school, A'Takamul, is part of 4 schools that make up a group. One other school is the Gulf School. THEY follow the British curriculum. However, they are housed in the same buildings as my school. Simon (a teacher from my school) and I were graciously allowed to join the Gulf School at their big intro dinner at a wonderful Lebanese restaurant.

I have learned that people are wonderful and helpful. I live in an apartment building. Each floor has 5 apartments. There are 11 floors. The top floor is inhabited by "Gulf" teachers....floor 10 has 4 Gulf and 1 A'Takamul....floor 9 (mine) has 3 Gulf and 2 A'Takamul and floor 8 has one A'Takamul and who knows who else....*grins*

This is very much like a dorm lifestyle in that we keep our doors open when we want company and when we want to visit someone we just go upstairs or down! Mostly, I'm the token Yank among us. The other guy on my floor is from NY but hasn't really interacted with us. Among the Gulfers we have a Scot, an Irishman, a Welshman and the rest are just regular Brits! grins.... After dinner they put their dinner tables side by side and put tissue boxes in the middle and played some table tennis. It's great to be among such wonderful people!

I've learned that it's really HOT here and there is a difference between humid hot and not so humid hot. If I have to have hot, I'll take the non-humid hot, please.

I've learned that there is just about anything and everything here...McDonald's, TGIF, Hardee's, KFC, you name it, I've pretty much seen it...except for Wendy's. Haven't seen that yet!

I'm learning a lot and I hope to have pictures up soon of what I've learned.