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.