Eid Mubarak

Well, today is the first day of Eid al-Fitr, although its official beginning was last night. We were supposed to have only Wednesday and Thursday off of work, but received a text message last night that we didn't have to go in today. Happy Tuesday, and Happy Eid! If you aren't sure what that is, you can read about it here, but it's basically a celebration to end the month of Ramadan. I spent the early hours of Eid talking to one of my good friends until 3am due to the time difference, being sure to take advantage of the day off.

As much as I'd like to say that I slept in until noon and ate cheetos all day, I admit that I still went to school for a few hours. It proved to be a productive, unhurried time to organize and put the last of the fuzzy pink bunnies on my bulletin boards. Just kidding about the bunnies, but I feel pretty ready to go once Sunday comes and brings all of the students. I also had the opportunity to chat with some of the admin., a nice change to the usual hustle and bustle of task-oriented questions. Maybe tomorrow I'll go back and take my swimming suit...but really, the mini-vacation couldn't be more timely. For the past few days, Chris and I have been feeling "squeezed" by the high gear of things. (There's nothing like the task of recreating your lives in a different country- that lets you know what's really inside of you.) God's good to show us his grace in even the smallest of ways.

I do finally have some picture albums up on Facebook, so if you belong to that crowd you can take a look. Also, if you don't know anything about Skype, it's time to learn. Chris and I can make calls back to the States for about .02/min with it, so it's really just the time difference that gets us in a bind. If the people we want to talk to also have a Skype account, we can talk over the internet for pretty much nothing. Though my "sales" skills are lacking, I hope you find this a convincing enough pitch to sign up. We also have the internet in our apartment now, meaning more flexibility to talk!

My alertness is quickly diminishing, so I'll leave you with this final thought: Keep your phones nearby.

Photo: Pepsi Light, for my Dad who will never drink Coke.

Into the Desert

I think it was Thursday night after school that we went into the desert. Now, you may be saying to me, “Stephanie, I thought that all of Kuwait was a desert,” which is very true; however, there is a definite distinguishing between the city and the desert for the locals. If you take a look at a map, you can see an area called “Al Jahra,” which is west of the city and probably 10km south of where we were. Upon invitation, we went out to our friend S’s farm, with farm being a term I use very loosely.

The premise of having a farm seems to be so that one can get away from the city smog, keep some animals like chickens, turkeys, goats, and sheep, take in a good barbecue with friends, and just relax for the weekend. Although they are called farms, many of them are more like desert cabins that have a cement border around them. There are actually dairy and camel farms, but the one we went to was mostly for R&R.

With about six of our apartment friends, our four Kuwaiti friends treated us to a fun evening of grilling, playing sports like volleyball, air hockey, and foosball, and scouting the desert- a new experience altogether. We piled into two large SUVS, and set out for the sand just like we would do doughnuts in an icy parking lot at home. (Did I actually type that?) At one point, our driver got stuck in the sand and we had to wait for the other vehicle to tow us out, an apparently common occurrence. Then, we set out for the nearest camel farm to get up close and personal, after which we went hunting for desert creatures. At this time, I was kicking myself for having forgotten my camera at home, but I will try to get some pictures up from the others.

The highlight of the evening was when we were driving around looking for some critters, and a few of the guys were riding on the sides of the SUVs- standing on the running boards and holding on to the roof racks. I wish I had done it, but at the time we were scouting, and found, a desert mouse. Somebody had to drive once everyone else jumped out of the Tahoe, right?
I think I had enough beef ribs, soda, and falafel to last me the rest of the fall semester, but I think the fun has only just begun.

Photo: At the Fish Market

There's nothing wrong with me

I'm sitting here in the most luxurious hospital lobby I've ever seen. Yep, you read correctly- a luxurious hospital lobby. And, trust me when I say I've seen a few. I'm sure my family would attest that they've seen far more with me than any parent wants to for broken bones, stitches, multiple hornet stings, and chronic influenza among other reasons. But, have no fear; there's nothing wrong with me this time.

The "Royale Hayat Hospital" just happens to be the only place within walking distance of our apartment building that has free internet. At least that's what we think. So, Chris and I have started to make visits where we can enjoy a relaxing, smoke-free atmosphere complete with waterfalls, mint tea, cozy furniture, and free internet. This is what I call surfing the web, so hopefully I'll get to catch up with some of you on a more frequent basis.

On another note, activities at the school have calmed down a bit. I believe I mentioned in a previous post that all of the teachers were scrambling to submit a syllabus and tentative year plan for each class. Although my schedule changed again today, I don't feel much pressure to complete everything. My principal has been extremely gracious (seeing as he's the one changing the schedules around), which helps. Currently, Chris is teaching four sections of English 8 and two sections of English 6, while I am teaching two English "7s," one English 8, and two World History classes for 10th grade. I was praying that what I teach would be exciting; God has a sense of humor.

Having been in Kuwait for over four weeks, we've had the chance to go on some good excursions. Two nights ago, we went to the Aqua Park with four others and had a blast. Although we went on a school night, we were catching the water slides and the lazy river until about 11p.m. Surprisingly, we were chilled once we got out of the water. The week before last, we went to an amazing local restaurant, where we were served traditional Kuwaiti food by traditionally dressed men. If there are two things to do in Kuwait, they are eating and shopping.

Chris and I are picking up some Arabic, which is rather easy to do conversationally. Reading it is an entirely different story. We plan to take some classes in the future, but for now we are making due with what we hear people saying around us and what the other teachers at school are telling us. Maybe by this coming summer we'll dazzle you all with our skills.

Convinced by several others, I am now creating a Facebook account. I can't believe I'm finally joining, but if you're on, make me your friend. Also, I decided that it would be easier to upload my photos through Picasa web albums, so I'll let you know when you can see them. For now, Happy Monday.

Kuwait Towers: Revised

Sorry that I posted some random pictures the other day. Everything became a hurry all of a sudden because our principal told us on Sunday that we would need to turn in the rough draft of our curriculum, year, semester, and quarter plans, as well as introductory parent letters by Thursday. Needless to say, we are busy now, but I only have three separate classes for which I have to write a syllabus. Praise God! I will be teaching five classes total, but only three different preps. I will probably have to cover a few other class occasionally during my break periods, but I think that won't be too much extra work. It's always kind of fun to be a substitute.

As far as the pictures, they are pretty much self-explanatory. It was fun to go at night and see all of the city lights, though we can't do too much during the day anyway because of the heat. REad about them here: http://www.kuwaittowers.com/indexEN.aspx
Playing in the grasses
From the bottom
You can see: the central rotary- (at 4 lanes wide but usually six cars across, things get interesting), the Sheraton, Mariott, and other hotels, the Liberation Tower
You can see: a spot on my camera lens, the main gulf road (far right) that runs along Kuwait Bay and Arabian Gulf, and the tip of the 3rd tower
Inside the largest tower
From far away

Ramadan Kareem

Yesterday was the first day of Ramadan for the Muslim world, and it makes this country look very different. Of course, I'm making a lot of generalizations, but from what I can tell a number of things change. Everyone changes their business hours, that is if they don't go on vacation for most of the month, and many stores and businesses aren't open until around 8pm. Supermarkets appear to stay open all of the time, and we are still going to school for training from 9am-2:30pm, but virtually everything is closed during the day. According to their religion, muslims do not eat, drink (even water), smoke, chew gum, or consume anything during daylight hours, so it is important to get home for the feast! The insane rush to get home and break the fast makes the traffic here even more scary than it usually is, affectionately called "Ramadan rush hour," but the freeway that we live next to was bare right after the sun went down yesterday.

The city was even more brilliantly lit last night, as it appears people hang lights and celebrate in a fashion that we do during the Christmas season. The culture also seems more generous to give bargains and courtesies during this time. Hopefully, that will continue past Ramadan. Last week at the supermarket, some of the management was having a pre-Ramadan celebration by cutting a HUGE cake and passing it out to many of the customers. The Arab world sure knows how to do pastries!

We have a good number of teachers living in our apartment building now, about 15, and one of them is good friends with a family in the area. "A" came to hang out with us last night and share his Ramadan chocolates at our pizza party- maybe part of his "zakat," or charity. Who knows. But, it was really interesting to talk very personally with someone about his family's customs for this season.

Thanks for continuing to check in with us. I know the blog hasn't been updated too often, so if you subscribe to it via RSS feed or through your email (I recommend the Yahoo Beta or Google Reader versions), you won't have to check back all of the time. If you need to know how to do that, there are plenty of web tutorials. We still don't have the internet- a bummer- but hopefully we will shortly. Check in later this week for a post on our visit to the Kuwait Towers.