One month in Kuwait

When in Rome

I went on a Grand Mosque tour. We had to wear a head covering, long skirt and long sleeved shirt. I was dressed like I normally dress (capris and a tee), so I needed to cover with an abaya (long black covering) and a hijab (head scarf). They had free ones available for tour go-ers to borrow.

Very sweet, cute, sincere man explained Islam to us from his point of view. 

THIS is What I'm Talking About
Then we went to the towers.  I was hoping to eat lunch in the rotating cafe in the top of one of the towers, but it was still closed for renovation. So, we took pictures and ate lunch on the waterfront (at Chili's- my first time eating American food at a restaurant here.)

We also got a personal car tour by another teacher. By the end of the day I was feeling like I'm actually seeing Kuwait now!

Also returned to Al Kout mall to buy groceries and eat dinner this week. 

We ate at an Iranian restaurant. Huge pieces of bread and teeny strong cups of tea, at the end.  

BTW- feta cheese and soda are cheap here. Feta is only $1.80 for 18 oz. and a can of sodas is less than $0.50, even at convenient stores. I also discovered store bought fatayer (fa-thai-ya) that I mentioned a week back. Not as good as the stone oven-baked version, but I regular shopping item nonetheless. Also cheap- about $0.50 each.

School Stuff

2 weeks into school and we had a parent only Open House. I had to give two, 15 minute presentations. I was a bit nervous beforehand but it was fun. Less than half of my parents showed up but I have met most of them by now. 

I had 2 new students this week but I'm still waiting for 2 more.  

Exploration

So happy to say I have explored my area a bit more. I can now add Starbucks, Lebanese and Thai food to my repertoire.  

Going to a new (to me) shopping mall today. Marina mall . Planning to see my first movie in a theater here.

Can't wait for the weather to cool down a bit so I can stroll the corniche. 

Corniche- a road (in this case they refer to the walking trail) running along the coast.

Next Weeks Goals

- Planning to start Arabic lessons next Saturday. They will be 2 hours a week for 6 weeks.

- Another mall to want to visit, the 360 mall.  

- Want to walk to the gulf from my house, at least once. 

I did not meet my last week goal to exercise... full stop.

Up and Coming Breaks

We have a week off of school in October but I can't leave the country until I get my civil ID, so I may just get to know Kuwait better, which would be okay too.  

But, I bought my ticket to BUDAPEST for Christmas break. 

Bridge walks, trolley views, subway pastries and goulash- here I come.

Christmas Market, mulled wine and outside ice skating- HERE I COME.

Classroom Absorption, International Groups and Extracurricular Activities

Classroom Absorption 

Cannot believe it's the weekend again.  Had some ups and downs in the classroom. "Chatty culture", so I've been told. It's hard to get their full attention. Patience needed. But, I love my students and, almost all of the time, I am truly having fun when I am with them. 

Random no power, no internet or projector problems were surprising. 

Wow. Parent communication is a big deal here. I am emailed daily. I am also required to send out a weekly newsletter. Not that I can complain. Parent involvement is key. It's a partnership, right.

I find it interesting that none of the kids in the school wear head scarves or coverings, unlike in Nebraska.

It's common for kids to be absent: sick, tired, trip to Abu Dahbi. 

New English Word 

Someone mentioned Spain today, I said I lived there for a time. They said "Really, we have a house there."  Hmm.

I've discovered a new English word. Chalet(sounds like shall-A). After a couple mentions of chalet in our summertime shares, I asked, "Where is Chalet?". The student told me where their chalet was. I later asked another teacher.  Turns out it's a vacation home, often by the water. I've heard it almost daily since then. 

Let me just say summertime share is a bit different here as well. In the past, some of my students didn't have much to share about their summers or write about in personal narratives because going to the local pool or the state fair was the extent to their travels, but here.... You would be blown away. 

Most have maids, drivers and cooks. 

Nike socks for our whiteboard marker erasers.

Normal sweet, humble kids. Really.

International Groups

Still waiting for 3 more students.  They will bring my girl-boy ration a little more into balance.  I now have 2/3 adorable chatty boys and 1/3 adorable and only rarely catty girls. 

They will also make us a much more international group. Bringing us up to a 6 nation group.  If they come.

There is a church just down the road. I walked. It was very international. Love seeing people from all different nations coming together. It was also really long. An hour of singing and then an hour of speaking.   In the classroom, we are building our reading-to-self stamina. I need to build up my church stamina. 

Also went to a small group, which was not within walking distance. Drove with a few other teachers.  Great group of westerners.  

Extracurricular Activities

Must. work. Out. I'm on my feet all day but it's nothing compared to my mostly daily Nebraskan walks. 

Day 3- One workout room down.

Ran the stairs in my apartment once during week 2. Worked out once at ritzy health spa at end of week 2. 

Now nearing end of week 3 and... that's all folks. My goal is 3 times before this time next week. 

I went to the Aware center last week. There was a cultural presentation about Kuwait from a Kuwaiti who went to university in America. And great food. Great free food.  The whole thing was free. 

On my To Do List: 

- Mosque tour and hopefully cafe visit in the towers, tomorrow, Saturday. SO, MORE INTERESTING PICTURES TO COME. I'm still really happy with my pictures last week (the previous post) if you haven't checked them out yet. 

- Go to a movie theater in Kuwait. Maze Runner and The Giver come out soon. 

- Visit the Marina and 360 malls. 

- Go to a Souk (traditional market).

School's in Session

Independence

Tried to establish my independence last weekend. The school has guards 24/7 so we can go in whenever we want. So I did. 

I hailed 2 taxis alone(before I'd only called the taxi driver I knew to pick me up). One from the street outside the school. Uneventful(a good thing).

The second one was a guy standing outside of Ikea. He took my bag and walked me(the weekend before we did the same, and I was super-paranoid-suspicious girl, but the guy was legit) to an unmarked car(not a taxi!) and when I resisted(wrestled my bag out of his hands), he showed me his civil ID(I think) saying it was his taxi card. 
Yeah... no. 

I don't think he was trying to harm me. I think he just wanted to get paid for being my taxi driver. But... no. 

It all ended well.

I've hailed several taxis by now- can't say it doesn't cause some stress, but I always feel safe. One of the last ones asked if I was a wife(broken English), I tried to lie but he asked more questions and I fessed up. He went on to tell me I was beautiful and he didn't have a wife. 

Went to the mall again. Thankfully there was this British guy doing some funny magic shows. 

Well, I watched the guy a couple times and I never saw him do anything magic or funny, but he had a crowd.  I say thankfully because it gave me free range to take pictures without being obvious.  Lots of people had phones out.  Love the zoom on my camera.

I was even part of the show for a few moments. As I walked by one of his smaller venues, he changed the music yada, yada and everyone watched me and smiled. So, maybe I stand out a bit.

I don't think I get stared at though. I admit I don't make eye contact much, nor look around a ton, so I may notice more as time wears on. I should appreciate that I'm not younger and my hair isn't longer and lighter. 

I've ordered from Talabat, the online food service, several times by now. Not a cheap habit to form. I recently prepared lots of food and snacks so I won't be tempted to order online all the time. 

I have discovered the most wonderful paneer. If you haven't tried Indian paneer, you must. 

Random Stuff 

We went to have our blood drawn and a chest X-ray. I had to do all the same tests I was required to do before I came, here. It was slightly traumatic, as it was in the states but for different reasons. 

Okay, the drawing blood part was distressing for the same reason. Needle. in. my. arm. 

But, here we needed to stand in line forever with other foreigners taking over our personal space inch by inch.

Went to a fancy health club with beach access. Membership is equivalent to 1,750 dollars for 9 months with a 10 dollar cab ride each time(if you go alone). I'll make do without. Access to the water and the freedom to wear normal attire was nice. 

Swam in the Persian gulf. It was warm, nice warm and I thought it got pretty deep right away.

Fa-thai-ya love. It's this dough filled pocket yumminess(they seem to have variations of that all over the world. This one is oven baked and filled with cheese, spinach or meat. There is a shop close to the school that sells them for cheap. 

Syria (I don't know his real name).
Our Fa-thai-ya maker.

Trying out all the chocolate bars I can buy in the little bakala(little shop) downstairs.

The bakala right outside my apartment.

Got more free stuff. An electric kettle, drying rack, microwave(for cheap), etc., etc.

One of the new teachers is a fellow YWAMer. 

The Countdown

SUNDAY, 3 days before school started

My classroom is coming together slowly. 

Laminating is unlimited. Paper to cover my bulletin boards is available. There are helpers to put up my bulletin boards!

But, on the other hand, there is no supply closet. Things like a stapler, scissors, sticky notes, etc. I don't have them (You fill out a supply list. I eventually got some of the stuff on my list). If the last teacher in my room didn't leave it, I'm out of luck or, more likely, I go buy it myself. 

The students bring a ton of supplies themselves and if we need something for the class I can ask them for it.  

MONDAY, 2 days before school started

I got my class list. 23 students. And only a couple names I can pronounce.

The classroom is as good as it is going to get. I learned a little about myself in the process. Things don't have to be perfect, BUT I will do whatever I can to get them perfectly how I planned them. In other words I can deal, but I won't if I don't have to.

TUESDAY, the first day of school

The latest I can leave for school is 6 am because I must be there by 6:45, but I want to get to school a few minutes early so I am taking the 5:15 bus.  Which means I am planning to wake up at 3:00 ish. Okay, that's insane but the thing is I haven't even been here for 2 weeks yet and my sleep pattern isn't very set. And I'm excited to start school year.  I'll survive. And I'll go home right after school.

Today was a blur.  I didn't know school supplies could cause so much chaos and confusion.

Finally met some locals- students and their families. I'm still figuring out the particulars but I my class is mainly middle Easterners(1 who just came from living most of her life in North America), one European and 2 North Americans(who have spent most of their lives in the Middle East). 

Totally skipped my first school meeting, unintentionally. #badfirstimpression #actuallynobodynoticed. 

WEDNESDAY, second day of school

DAY 2 done(and awesome), but only 16 of 23 students have shown up so far. 

Maintenance is super speedy. My whiteboard fell off the wall the first day of school while I was teaching. The kids loved it. It was back up in a jiffy.

THURSDAY, third day of school

First week done. Check. Love my students! Still haven't met 5 of them yet. Was still, on day 3, excited to get up, even at, 3:10 to start the day. I've been going to bed at 8.

Random School Stuff

Happy that in a 3 layered school, I am on the first floor and close to the bathrooms and recess field. There is no playground equipment and it's over 100 degrees and they are fine.

Working with a famous Pinterest teacher. She has over 4K followers to my 246. 

Also big score that she is married to embassy. Can someone say shipping.

Upcoming

My big weekend plans: Orientation to Kuwait by a local nonprofit organization(with a free meal), homework for my UNK classes, lesson planning, guitar and church(for the first time).

Around my Neighborhood.
It's not all glamorous.

New Experiences

The Heat, Observations and New Experiences
It's really too hot to do much exploration, but I'm experiencing new things daily. As I'm typing it's 97 degrees Fahrenheit(9 pm). I checked at 4, one morning, and it was 99.  The high today, at 11 am, was 115 degrees. Some days are unbearably humid and some are dry. I guess the hot weather of my recent Haitian summer was foreshadowing in my story.  I don't sweat here though because I just run from one air-conditioned place to another.

What I have seen:
- Sand colored high rise apartments covering the desert landscape.
- Most things seems to be in a state of construction with lots of scaffolding, surrounded by piles of sand. 
- It's hazy, but I'm not sure if it's sand or pollution.
- Bits of green here and there, increasing as you go towards the city center. 
- Some areas are quite well done and maintained, but overall there is very little landscaping. Sidewalks, in general, are scarce.

Shopping

I checked off a few things from my To Do list. I took my first taxi ride with friends. We called a suggested driver who is trusted by our fellow teachers. He took us to a fancy mall right on the gulf, in Al Kout. It has a music and light fountain show that is especially pretty at night. It is only about a 15 minutes drive from our apartments. 

It was a good thing I had that taxi experience and the driver's number saved in my phone because I needed it again very soon. On our third day of meetings, I missed the bus the school provides to school. For the record I was, at the most, 1 minute late. I wasn't stranded though, because I called my taxi driver friend and he knew where to take me. 

I also went  to The Avenues, an even more extravagant shopping center, twice this week,

got a few household items at Ikea,
 

ate a doughnut at Tim Horton's

and checked out my favorite clothing store from Hungary, H&M (I know it's actually Swedish)(as is Ikea). Not surprisingly, they have lots of high end stores at the affluent mall, but also Payless shoes, Claire's and Texas Road House.

Marked off things on my To Buy list, too. I now have a local cell and internet in my apartment because of the generous help of a veteran teacher. 

Food

My new favorite food may be Lebanese. We tried out one such restaurant at an all-new-staff dinner out: falafel, hummus and baba ganoush(a spread made of mainly eggplant) are among my favorites. There was a really good arugula salad, too.

I tried the Indian restaurant across the street, too. It's cheap and also good.

I still haven't ordered my food from the food ordering app yet, but I want to try it soon.

I did however call Caribou from work and they delivered. My small hot chocolate with skim milk and no whip tasted exactly like it does in Nebraska. A school security guard calls me when it arrives.  Pretty sweet.

Most things are expensive here. For example, the small hot chocolate cost 1.5 KD, which sounds cheap, right? But 1 Kuwaiti Dinar is equal to 3.50 dollars. So the small drink cost me 5.25 USD. My taxi ride to school on that lesson learning day, cost 3 KD, or 10.50 USD.

School Stuff
The school did a really great job of creating opportunities for us to get to know the other new teachers. And now that the returning teachers have arrived we are getting to know our teaching teams.  My third grade team consists of 6 Americans.

Meetings are going well.  I'm working on my classroom. 

Students come next Tuesday.  I wish there was a little more technology (though I do have an interactive whiteboard in my class), but they make up for it in other ways. I'm overall impressed. The administration seems very professional, organized and approachable. 

For my teacher friends: 

   -The school is on a 7 day rotation, which is new to me. In that rotation, the students go to the following specials: Art, PE, Music, Reader's Theater(it's a special!), Arabic(45 minutes everyday), Spanish or religion and technology. 

   -We use the Reader's(including Daily 5) and Writer's workshops. 

   -We have NO standardized testing. We do, do MAPS to monitor progress.

   -We use Common Core standards for Math and Language Arts, Arrow standards for Social Studies and Next Generation for Science.  

We were told, "They have never had a new group of teachers laugh as much as us."

Random Things
I love how most things are written in English on one side and Arabic on the other.

The mosque next door is under construction, so that is why I don't hear the call to prayer.

My apartment is the short one to the right.

The water that comes out of the tap is hot. (BTW it is not brownish anymore and I have a filtered tap in the kitchen) I don't have my hot water heater on. The water is stored on the roof so it is just hot from the sun. Even the water in the toilets is steaming hot. You can not get cold water, in fact. So, you can't wash your clothes on cold and the filtered drinking water is hot.  It will cool down here in a few months and then I'll turn on the hot water heater.  I hear I will use my central heating, too.

Transitions

Travel
Travel went as expected. The 12 hour flight seemed unending. I love the way they have it set up to watch movies now.  I started one on the flight from Chicago to Dulles and watched the ending of it on the long flight.

All of my bags arrived and I was allowed to take my guitar though I had to ask flight attendants to help me figure out where to put it on each flight. Once in my life, I want to fly first class, but now I can say my guitar has, twice. I better keep practicing with all the effort I put into bringing that thing!

When we arrived it Kuwait, it was not unexpectedly hot, but s-super humid. Supposedly this is not normal, but eye glasses and iPads were fogging over.

I have already met some open and friendly people. What an experience! At least 30 of us were getting to know each other as we waited in line to have our passports stamped. Porters were scrambling to gather and load all of our luggage. Busses took us and our stuff to our apartments.

My apartment
There are 3 large apartments for teachers and I knew ahead of time I was in the oldest of the three. Still, I admit my first impression was that it isn't as nice as I'd hoped. But after some changes, it is already feeling more homey. My changes have, essentially, just been to take out furniture. It feels larger and more balanced already. It reminds me of an older European flat. All tile with a tiny kitchen including a gas stove you have to light with matches.  I do have 2 bedrooms but one is pretty full(for the time being) of all the unnecessary furniture they put in this place. The furniture the apartment is furnished with, are new and attractive though not top quality.

Still just getting settled but, a couple pics:

The other 2, newer, apartments are right next door. I can move into one next year if I want to. They have a pool, game room and workout room, which I can use now, too.

Seemingly weird apartment facts:

- Way too much furniture, as mentioned above.
- No electrical outlet in the bathroom, at all.
- Only one electrical outlet per room (er, minus the bathroom).
- The water in the bathroom sometimes runs brown. (I have filtered water in the kitchen)
- There are these raised ledges going into the bathroom and kitchen. I've tripped once.

Sweet things:

- They furnished us with a couple cheap pots and pans, cutlery and dishes and a little water kettle, cereal, COFFEE (Hallelujah), tea, eggs, fruit, bread, PB&J, water, etc. As well as simple, new linens.
- I control my own air conditioning. This is nice since it is so hot. Today the high was 113.

Today we will meet for breakfast together and go shopping for food and household things. Tomorrow we leave at 7:30 to head to the school and begin new teachers meetings. And, I hope, to see our classrooms.

Whats on my short list of To Do's:

- Post this. (Check)
- Workout.
- Explore the area on foot.
- Call and take a taxi somewhere, anywhere.
- Wouldn't mind twisting someone's arm to go with me on foot to find the nearest Caribou. I knows it's close. Caribou, ironically, was the first thing I saw when I got off the plane.
- Ordering my dinner to be delivered. It is common and cheap to order in your food and I just want to try it.
- Find and go to a church.
- Visit the big mosque.
- Go to the rotating cafe located at the top of one of the Kuwaiti towers.

My to short To Buy list:

- Phone and internet (probably will be a couple days though).
- Extension cords and plugs.
- Food.

I haven't heard a call to prayer yet, but I'm not sure why because I think I see a mosque right across the street.

Temporary free internet is set up for us in the game room of one of the the nicer apartment buildings. Picture from where I am posting this from: 

Commencing the Journey

Blogging my Experience

I'm the first to admit I'm not sure what the balance should be. What is interesting, entertaining or simply BORING? I needed to land somewhere on this issue because I am commencing the journey this morning. I have decided that this blog is mainly for me (and my dad). But I'm happy for you to follow along, too. 

I will try to not be too wordy and include lots of pictures, but no doubt I'll include unnecessary details that I, only I, find interesting. Planning to write about culture shock to Kuwait, teaching in an International school and my travels from Kuwait (on breaks from school). I'll try to post once a week. 

I won't be putting a link on FB every time I post. If you got to this blog through Facebook but you'd like to follow my journey you can "Follow by Email", which is located on the right column of the home page.

Traveling
The trip is off to a rocking start. They serve hotel Belgium waffles AND biscuits and gravy, on the same day, here at my airport shuttling hotel.

I will arrive at the airport at 8:30 am Central time, this morning, with my 5 'bags' & guitar and I'm scheduled to land in Kuwait at 12:00 pm Central time tomorrow, with the same luggage. Hoping they let me carry on my guitar, because it's not worth 200 dollars to check it. But what will I do with it if they don't let it be my carry-on?

Arrival
Kuwait is 9 hours ahead of Central time (scheduled to land at 9:00 pm local Kuwait time). So, flying out Monday morning and arriving Tuesday night. 

This and That for the Interested

I know I have written a lot about Kuwait, and I'm not even there yet. I'm just excited and it's all in my head to share. I'll won't be arriving in Kuwait until the end of August.

This and That

Bags

I've been asked what I will do with all my stuff. Will you store it? Well, remember I've only been back in the good ol' USA for 4 1/2 years and I've had the intention of moving back overseas. And I love simplicity. So, I don't have a lot of things. I have accumulated some stuff, but not much of any value. I will be giving away most household items. I'm stoked for the chance to de-clutter my life.

The majority of the stuff I do have is books. I have assembled a large classroom/I'll-read-it-later library, mainly from my one-stop book shop, Goodwill. I will definitely be taking some of those, but I haven't figured out how many.

The school does pays for me to take 4 large, 50 lb. suitcases and my guitar. I moved to and from Spain and Hungary with only 2 suitcases so 4 is a luxury. I am foreseeing the others to be filled with classroom materials.

Housing
A furnished apartment is provided and my utilities are paid for. I will live near other teachers, but have my own, secure apartment.  I'll live 25-30 minutes away from the city center and the school, but transportation is provided.

Transportation
I'm not sure if I'll buy a car. I hear that driving in Kuwait is craa-zy and there is good public transportation, but I have to admit I am considering getting a car. I want to take advantage of that .80 a gallon fuel. They do drive on the right side of the road and all road signs are in Arabic and English.

Arabic
I'm totally going to study Arabic. I have never studied a language that didn't use Latin script. Arabic script is also written from right to left. I can't even get my head around starting to learn it, but I'm gonna study it.

Flights
This may be the longest flight I've ever taken. I did fly from Istanbul to Nebraska to go to my sisters wedding, but this is a tad farther.

My flight to and from Kuwait is paid for, as well as the round trip flights back to the states for summer break.

Break
The school follows a typical American school calendar. I'll have 11 weeks off in the summer, 2 weeks off for Christmas (called Winter Break) and a week for Spring and Fall break.

I am already day dreaming about the places I'll visit ...Italy, Greece, India, Africa, United Arabs Emirates, Egypt...

For summer breaks I assume I'll come back to Nebraska and California. Hungary will also be somewhere on the travel itinerary. 

Blog Dormancy
This may be the last post for a while. Could be a bit of dormancy until I pack my bags.

Fast, Fascinating, Farewell Facts
Desert camping and riding camels are typical Kuwaiti excursions. Dust storms are common. Most people employ maids to clean and/or cook for them.