Frappy Hour

It is the weekend here in Hawally, Kuwait.  No ... we are not 24 hours ahead of all you West Coasters in the good ol’ USofA.  Rather, here the weekend runs Friday and Saturday.  So, since yesterday was Thursday we left work to begin our first weekend in our new country.

How do you celebrate the start of a weekend in this fine country?  Obviously you do the following:

1) Cover body with jeans and t-shirts (no V-necks -- a challenge for Heidi). 2)  Fill water bottles and step bravely into the 110 degree heat.
3) Start walking in the general direction of a mall “close” to our part of town -- a 20 minute walk.
4) Stop into small markets along the way to catch a small dose of air conditioning while pretending to peruse items like olives, cat food, and prayer rugs.
5) Walk quickly along a major highway with crazy cars and drivers barreling by at 90 mph (sometimes kicking up broken glass or throwing things out the window along the way).
 45 minutes, loads of sweat, and grumpy attitudes later, stumble into said destination piping hot and hating the country you just moved to.
6) Find a Starbucks with air conditioning and wireless and head to the counter to order 2 Dulce de Leche Frappuccinos (a first for both of us -- not the flavor but actually ordering a frappuccino).
7) Give a half hearted “cheers” as you note that indeed, this has become your new Friday happy hour!!

Something is wrong with this picture.  Somehow the taste profile seems wrong for a Friday night.

We can't even consider this a celebratory drink of any sorts.  All it did was make us feel sick and shaky.

Changes in Latitude ...

After nearly 30 hours of travel, we finally touched down in our new home of Kuwait around 11:30 pm on Friday evening.  We arrived at the airport, tired, bleary-eyed, and also pumped to start the next chapter of our international lives.  We also arrived with about 45 other people who were in our exact same situation -- nervous, hot, and in desperate need of a drink ... water that is.  Our new school was there to greet us, sort us, comfort us, hydrate us, and then quickly throw us onto a bus and into our new life.

Over the past few days we have been VERY busy with new staff orientation.  Our schedule has been filled with time learning about each other, the school, the community, and the culture.  We have also gone on more organized shopping trips than ever before in our lives.  (Prior to coming to Kuwait group shopping trips = 0.  After arriving in Kuwait group shopping trips  > what feels like 100).

So far every person we have met has been kind and willing to chat.  Every place we have eaten has been delicious and satisfying.  Every part of the school seems legit and professional.  Even though we still have to get our barrings about us, we do believe that we made the right choice to come to the desert and settle in at latitude 29.

Sitting at our dining table our first morning.  Our apartment is very big but very empty.  No wonder they are trying to keep us busy.

The school set up our apartment with some basic necessities and food items to hold us over.  They must have known about our PB addiction.

Ikea trips so far = 2.  Ikea items purchased = 83.  Ikea meatballs consumed = 16.

Re-loading our bus with new dishes in hand.

Hanging out with our cartfull of groceries after our trip to LuLu HyperMarket.  And we thought grocery shopping in Vietnam was crazy ...

On another shopping adventure we went to a mall that put all other malls we had ever visited to shame.  This one had 7 Starbucks in it.  We did not know if we were in Kuwait or Seattle!

Putting all those shopping trips to good use, we outfitted our kitchen and cooked our first dinner in tonight.  And, yes, we did have laundry going at the same time.

Away We Go

The time has come. We woke up this morning in Ferndale, have driven to Seattle, checked in eight very heavy bags, said final goodbyes, passed through the always lovely airport security, and are now posted up in the Alaska Airlines boardroom enjoying a bloody mary and waiting to board our flight.

Our travels are pretty straight forward for this trip but it will still be a long haul. From Seattle we fly ten hours direct to Frankfurt where we land and will have a lovely eight hours to explore the Frankfurt airport. We are hopping for a authentic German experience with some sort of very efficient system that can lead us to a nice place to nap and then to a excellent beer. After Frankfurt we hop back onto a plane and fly five and a half hours directly to our new home and job in Kuwait. We should touch down right before midnight Kuwait time which should allow us a few hours of sleep before we start work the next day.

The upcoming hours, days and weeks are sure to be filled with excitement and new experiences. Things are about to get interesting. Here we go!!!

Bloody Mary time. Trying to sneak in the last couple of drinks.

Free lunch, free booze, and a nice view. The boardroom makes Heidi happy.

Away we go!!!

Island Olympics

This past weekend, summer FINALLY arrived in the Pacific Northwest.  In honor of the summer weather, we headed to the beach -- Camano Island Beach, that is.  We had some strict rules for the nice weather:

1)  Spend as much time outside as possible
2)  Drink as much cool, refreshing beer as possible
3)  Do as many different athletic activities as possible (all the while pretending you are competing for Olympic Gold)

We are proud to report that we accomplished all 3 goals and we have the suntans, headaches, and "gold medal waves" to prove it!!

Some of the "events" that occurred this weekend were:  long distance running, tennis, paddle boarding, kayaking, football (both in ocean and out), paddle ball, "walktailing," and monkey ball.  Here, Erica is ready for the "gold medal" tennis match.

Team Erica and Elliott vs Shawn and Kyle.  One team was focused.  The other ... not so much.

Elliott showing the young ones how a proper serve is done.  He took that serve all the way to the podium.

Resting between events.  Football to wine to monkeyballs.

Adam showing his podium wave.  "V for Victory."

For some reason Heidi did not place in tennis.  Something about her game wasn't quite right.

Lake Padden

Right in the heart of South Bellingham there is an awesome jewel of a place to go called Lake Padden. Today we took advantage of some beautiful NW summer weather and took a walk around the 3 mile loop that goes around the lake. It is days like this that really make the NW summer the best kept secret in the world.

"Out-of-towners don't be knowin' about the best-kept
Ain't nothing better than the summer in the Northwest" -- Blue Scholars