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.

Being Patient

No news is good news, right? From, us you can pretty much expect that. We have done two days of orientation now, pretty much a lot of sitting and waiting, with a few little signatures here and there. Apparently there is a nice mall that is shaped like the Titanic in Hawally (the area where we live), so we might check that out this afternoon.

We are in one of the computer labs in the school right, just waiting for the minibus to take all of us newcomers back to the apartment buildings. I'm feeling a little crazy, like I want to go to the beach or bungee jumping or something today, but I doubt that will happen. Maybe we'll just try to get some lunch first! Tomorrow we are supposed to get our room assignments and our materials. In reference to my last post, that will hopefully happen. We've found that people are fairly fluid in their scheduling. Someone can say that something will happen tomorrow, but it will probably happen in about a week. We laugh because everyone says that they will see us in 10 minutes, or something will happen in 10 minutes, but it really happens in a few hours. We are learning to be patient!

10 minutes

Ten minutes here usually means about three hours or the following day, and forget about an hour from now. You're looking at two days. We've had a few funny experiences waiting for things.

+Photo by quitelucid

another day

I'm spending some time at the cafe while Chris and the boys are having poker night, complete with a recently purchased hookah. I had fun tonight making pizza in my new pan for dinner, and then kettle corn for the guys. I also came to the conclusion that I will never be able to make it like my friend Krista. If only I had a Whirly Pop!

We have tried some new foods lately, like garlic pickle for spice and are now using powdered milk. It seems more economical and can last longer; just add water and go! I don't really drink milk, and Chris seems to love it, so I think we'll stick with that for awhile. We also ate freshly made shwarmas at the market the other day. Check out all the juicy details about them on wikipedia.

I know that we've done a lot lately, but I feel like there isn't too much to tell. Last night, Chris and I took a long stroll through our block and walked through many of the local shops. It was interesting to do at night because they all have these wacky neon signs. I'll try to get a picture up soon. On Sunday night, we wanted to go to a church service and it took about 2 hours to figure out where we were going. They sure don't make them easy to find...Alas, we made it after walking through a construction zone, and actually met up with a really nice lady who was the information officer of the American Women's league here. She's also a teacher at a different school, and she plays the French horn, so she and Chris hit it off. We are all supposed to do something tomorrow night, but I can't remember what. I'd better call her!

Thursday is our first orientation day at school. I'm really looking forward to having something to work on consistently. Surely, I enjoy being able to do whatever, whenever, but I like routines, too. We'll keep you posted.

-Photo from the rail trail near West Boylston, MA

Coffee, anyone?

Thanks for your comments! Also, thanks for being patient as we don't quite have the internet yet. There's nothing better than running down the street to hop in a smoky, pink 3 feet by 3 feet cubicle to type away, so I'll try to it more often. Seriously, I enjoy doing this, but we haven't been able to get here too much.

Someone asked, "Why is everything white tile?" Well, to the best of my knowledge, I think it's to keep things clean and efficient. Due to the excess amount of sand laying about outside, it's really easy to clean and also doesn't absorb the heat of the sun throughout the day. Actually, there are three different shades of tile, but you'd never be able to tell unless you're standing on it. (hint: Come visit!)

The past few days have been kind of a whirlwind. Everyday, we awake at one of the calls to prayer around 3:45am, which is still somewhat disorienting. Each mosque has a minaret, a tall tower with louspeakers hooked to it, from which the mullahs (muslim priests) announce to the neighborhood that it's time to wake up. Right now there are 6 calls each day, and we are usually getting out of bed by the 2nd (around 5:30). Despite getting used to that, I'm on a somewhat regular sleeping schedule, though it seems I can't stay up past 9:00 or so. Anyone who knows me well may have already guessed that I am getting about 8-9 hours a night and holding a regular sleeping pattern. Chris still doesn't sleep...

We are having a lot of fun with the new teachers moving into our building, and it makes for quite a group. There are six of us- I'm still the only girl- and we hail from Boston, Detroit, the UK, and good ol' Indiana, PA. My imitation of a middle-class British accent is steadily improving.

For anyone who's wondering, we now have a lime green shower curtain. I intend to accent that with a lime green wall clock :)

Cheers,
Stephanie

The 10th floor

Our HUGE bed
We have a dresser and two wardrobes
the white aparatus on the wall is a water filter
the stove and into the laundry room (where the refrigerator is)
Our friend T McK adorns the fridge
Bathroom- still needs a shower curtain
Living room and balcony complete with Chris on the computer
Our windows are reflective to keep the sun out during the day. I'm standing about 3 feet away from the balcony doors looking "in."
The view by day with the city center in the distance
The view at night; I'll try to get some better shots.