December WHAT?

I officially have no new pictures, because I didn't use my camera at all during the month of November. Sure, there were lots of occasions when I should have used it, but of course, forgot it. I do have a good number of updates though, and some exciting ones to boot.

First, I am finally a resident of Kuwait! After four months of pushing paperwork and a few less than desirable medical tests, I have three pages of my passport taken up by Kuwaiti stamps and stickers. This will expedite the process of entering/leaving the country, getting my Civil ID card, obtaining a Kuwaiti driver's license, and lets me go to any government hospital for next to nothing in case of an emergency. Chris' residency is also complete.

In order to obtain this piece of gold, I had to go to the Ministry of Something-or-Other last week and have chest x-rays and blood work done. I am apparently free of communicable diseases, so they let me be part of the country. In perfect ESL style, the person that drew my blood could not exactly communicate with me well (sort of laughable now), and left a huge bruise on my inner elbow. The following day, I had to go to the Ministry of Something-Else and have my fingerprints taken. I guess that's in case I ever decide to rob a bank here or something, so I'll have to remember not to do that...

Last weekend, we were able to celebrate Thanksgiving twice. On Friday, we had a luncheon after our church service at the embassy, and on Saturday, we had a potluck Thanksgiving at a friend's house with a number of the Middle and High School teachers from our school. This week, the Social committee (of which I am a part) planned a potluck lunch at the school for in between conferences. I can honestly say that I have never seen so much prepared food in one place in my entire life.

On the same note, Chris and I finished this week with two days of parent/teacher conferences. I found that just like the Americas, Kuwait has a broad spectrum of parent involvement in education. I did end up seeing parents of about 40 students out of the 96 that I teach. Overall, these were extremely pleasant.

Finally, we are going on vacation! Next week, the Muslim world celebrates an Eid holiday and we have the entire week off of school. We'll be making a trip to Jordan (and another nearby place) on Sunday with our friends Kyle and Noah, and then we return to school for December 14th-18th. After that week of school, Chris and I will leave on the 20th to go to Egypt, staying in Sharm el-Sheikh to celebrate our anniversary for a few days, then heading to Cairo and Luxor for about a week. Although it's starting to get a bit too chilly for diving and seaside weather, the views and relaxation time should be beautiful!

We'll, I'm off to the corner store for some ice cream and to buy some minutes for my mobile. Maybe I should get some batteries for my camera, too.

Thanksgiving

So, for what things are you thankful? Do you celebrate Thanksgiving just because of the age-old Pilgrim and Native American story that you don't really know? Because your family does it every year? Because you just HAVE to have enough tryptophan-filled turkey to make you sleep through the football game? I would not only urge you to stop and give thanks for all of the good things that you've been given on the 27th, but to make a practice of reflecting and being thankful throughout the year.

This year we'll have our first Thanksgiving without our families; it's kind of a surreal experience to think that we won't be playing cards and enjoying each others company. On a surface level, we are still going to be doing the same things. On Saturday, we're going to a friend's house with lots of others to enjoy the traditional turkey all-you-can-eat feast. On Friday, I'm probably going to a Christmas party/shopping bizarre, and today when I got home from work, I started to download some Christmas music. I'm also downloading some George Strait, just for a taste of home, though Chris doesn't really know who that is. The only thing we are missing is a tree, but to haul in one of the cedars of Lebanon would be a bit expensive! They do sell fake trees at the Sultan Center...

A few things that I'm thankful for:
- the forgiveness of sin and knowledge of the Gospel
- my super husband, who continually puts me before himself
- my family, who has supported my wild ideas since Day #1
- my long-time friends, who are like my family
- a good church in Kuwait
- a good church in the U.S.
- growing friendships in Kuwait
- good health, shelter, and provision
- music
- my education and the ability to read
- the internet, which enables me to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving

I wish I were Kaguya Hime

...maybe not, but Big Bird in Japan is one of my favorite movies about cultural adaptation.



This is my favorite song to sing with my sister :)

Duck, Rabbit, or Both?

Is the whole really different than the sum of its parts?

Nevermind

I actually found out last week, but I decided to wait on blogging about the Kenya trip for a few reasons. One of the reasons is that I wasn't sure about all of the details, and the second is because things here are changed around all of the time. As of today, the safari trip has been canceled because some of the students decided to change their plans. I'm kind of bummed, but it means that I won't have to miss my hubby or get a yellow fever vaccine. For now.

Photo: Sunset from the balcony

Kenya, anyone?

As of this week, I have been afforded the opportunity to go to Kenya on a safari field trip with the high school girls during winter break. It's pretty unbelievable so far, but I will be with three other chaperons and we're taking eight girls. We fly into Nairobi on the 18th, and we'll return on the 24th at 1 or 2 in the morning (Lord willing, and if we all live!).

Pros:
1. Kenya. Hello.
2. I'll get to go on a cool trip that I don't have to pay for.
3. I've always wanted to go to Africa and see some of the things that Chris has seen (i.e. wild lions).
4. It's a short trip, but it will be long enough to enjoy.
5. The flight is four hours long; it will take a lot less time to get to a different continent than it took to get here.

Cons
1. Chris doesn't get to go.
2. I leave the same day as our anniversary.
3. I am en loco parentis for eight teenage girls on a different continent. I guess that's not any different than a trip to Cedar Point, right?
4. I could get killed by an angry hippopotamus.
5. Yellow Fever vaccine. Yuck.

+Photo from dailymail.co.uk

Happy November!

This isn't the greatest picture, but I thought I'd let you all know we do still exist over here, and we still love each other, by God's grace! We are into a pretty good routine as far as school and activities go, and I'm having a blast. School has its difficulties, as does any other job in the world, but we are quickly building relationships with our students and co-workers. Into Week #5 of teaching, I now have a pretty good idea of who's who when it comes to objects flying across the room or those who ask to go to the bathroom EVERYDAY at the same time.

Last night we had a great time at a friend's house, playing a simplified version of Keno and just relaxing in good company. Many of the homes around here that aren't in apartment buildings are large villas, which could sleep a small army, but usually only hold an average size family; they're pretty amazing. I don't have any very good pictures of them, but I will have some other new pictures up from October if you want to check them out.

The weather now is a temperate 65-80F degrees each day, which is a really comfortable change. It should stay like this for a few weeks, but will go down as we approach the "winter" months. We also saw our first rain last week! I hear that in PA there have been some snow flurries; I am SO not jealous.