Refreshing?

Here in Kuwait we had a nice and mellow Friday (American Saturday) evening. We had gone out with friends the night before so we thought that it would be nice to lay low, cook a nice meal in, and watch a movie. We decided to go with a classic for dinner, make your own pizza. After careful consideration of toppings and thoughtful preparation of ingredients, we were ready to enjoy. The only thing that was missing was something to wash down our delicious meal.

We literally have been drinking water like we have an unquenchable thirst. Not only is it hot here but in reality, unless you are a soda drinker, there are not too many options. Now here we are, a great meal, a movie lined up, and faced with a huge dilemma. We talked and agreed that desperate times call for desperate measures. With the nerves brewing in us, we went to a place we have never gone before...non-alcoholic beer. How could we not want to have a beer with our pizza??? Was it the best beer of our lives? Not by a long shot. Was it a good beer? That would also be questionable.

Even if our "malt beverage" did not meet our Pacific Northwest beer expectations, it was nice to have something other than water for a change. We have a strange feeling that we may see that "malt beverage" again sometime soon.

That is a look of excitement.

Adam is all geared up for non alcholic beer and a movie night. Man, do we know how to get crazy or what???

Quick Fix

This summer at Heidi's sisters wedding, Heidi gave a nice maid of honor speech where she focused on comparing and contrasting stubbornness and determination. Yesterday on our walk home from school we saw a situation that reminded us of the toast that Heidi gave at the wedding. Instead of stubbornness and determination being the competing factors here, we witnessed a curious competition between resourcefulness and stupidity. The case: A bus has a windshield that is falling out of place. Before said windshield can be replaced, the owner/driver has used large amounts of masking tap to hold it in place. Voila! Resourcefulness or stupidity??? Either way, kind of funny.

Will this windshield hold?? We will let you know if we see lots glass in the road within the next couple of days.

Slowly But Surely

In the previous post we told of our grand adventures to Friday Market to outfit our bare, bare home.  Despite spending about four hours total in our apartment each day due to work, gym, and more work, we were excited to make this place comfortable and ours.  Hey, even it is only four hours, let's make it a pleasing atmosphere during those four hours!

It is amazing how just adding a few pieces of decoration changed our apartment from bare to inviting.  We no longer have to sit at our kitchen table at all hours of the day, whispering to one another so that the echo off of our walls did not disturb the neighbors.  Instead, we can sit on our well-loved, mystery stained, still covered in the last tenant's cat-hair dusted couches which slope you slightly forward so that your calf muscles are in a constant state of working out, and smile at the littlest things that can change an "apartment" into a "home!"

From the most empty room in the house to one of the most furnished.  We have yet to find time to sit and relax but soon, soon.

Our "end-tables" are some sort of Iraqi decorative piece.  We liked 'um, so we bought 'um.  The birds traveled with us from Thailand and are named Phuong and Tuan after two dear Vietnamese friends.

Our elephant traveled from Cambodia and his name is Benjaporn after a good Thai friend.  (Note how the throw so perfectly compliments Benjaporn!!)

Can someone say "rug deal??"  We scored on cheap, machine manufactured rugs.  Don't tell Ali and Hussein! The table was here already. 

Even our drying rack has a lovely carpet to stand on ... for now.

Our bedroom is getting pulled together, as well.  We really enjoy our pillow collection so far.  If we get lost while sleeping, we simply have to look at our pillow map to get back on course.

And ... of course, the best decoration of all.  Once a Husky, always a Husky!

Making it a Home

When we arrived in Kuwait our school was nice enough (and organized enough) to take us directly to the apartment where we would be living for the duration of our time here. While the apartment has been great in every way that we could ask for, it did come virtually unfurnished. Since we have now been here for a month, we decided this last weekend it was finally time to outfit our house and begin to make it more of a home.

We had been to IKEA plenty of times by this point in time to realize that we in no way could afford to deck out our apartment in a Swedish style. So instead, we headed out to find things that were more affordable and might have a bit more character.

When this is your mission, and you are in Kuwait, there is only one place to go. That place would be the famous Kuwaiti Friday Market. The Friday Market in Kuwait City is essentially a GIANT flea market where one can buy anything they ever needed, or didn't need. To make the shopping easier, when you arrive at the Friday Market you are immediately followed by a new team member, aka, a man and wheelbarrow. This new team member and his wheelbarrow will follow you for as long as you need and will stack everything that you buy. OK, ready, set, shop!

We got right to work at the market. We haggled with carpet salesmen, made friends with old men selling coffee tables, and did our best to not buy engraved golden peacocks that were "handmade in a beautiful small village in Iran." After some serious work, we walked out of the market successful. We have graduated from a barren apartment that echoed to a space that is looking much more like a place that we would like to hang out in for more that 30 minutes.

Shopping in 110 degree heat and still smiling.

The market is huge. Each of these pavilions are organized by theme. Maybe you would want to go from the curtain pavilion, to the power tool pavilion, to the fake Nike pavilion. Why not???

People here are not that tall. We found it funny that they built crazy tall benches.

Market Success!. Three "authentic Persian rugs", a handmade coffee table and two side tables. Good thing we picked up the new Jeep.

Wheels

We are back to being a two car family!  As of early evening, we officially purchased a car in the great nation of Kuwait.  The process went a little something like this:

1)  Walk to your gym every day and while darting cars screaming at you, notice a "For Sale" sign written in Arabic in the window of the car.
2)  Take a photo of said Arabic sign
3)  Rush to the school to connect with a staff member who speaks English and Arabic and ask if he would mind calling on the car
4)  A day later, go with staff member to look at the car where the owner nochalantely hands over his keys and says "take it around the neighborhood"
5)  Back the car out onto one of the busiest roads of Kuwait in rush hour traffic, praying that some crazy Kuwaiti driver does not take you out right in front of the owner
6)  While you are out test driving (Do we take a right or a left at the falafel stand?), the staff member negotiates the price down on the vehicle
7)  Pull safely into parking spot, wipe sweaty palms on pants, and have the staff member tell us the final asking price while asking in front of the owner, "Do you want to buy it?"
8)  Agree to price and then staff member tells old owner he will return with our money in a few days -- God willing
9)  The next morning, get to work only to find the car has been purchased and the money has changed hangs and now the car is waiting at said staff members house for us to pick up
10)  Drive to the house of the staff member, drink tea with the family, watch 15 videos of his daughter's wedding, agree to tutor his two younger sons in English FOR FREE, and then collect keys and be on your way.

Who ever said things in Kuwait were not easy!!

Our new ride ... a 2002 Jeep Cherokee.  It was the wife's car and she only used it to drive the baby, unbuckled in the front seat without a car-seat, around the neighborhood.

Our first foreign car purchase.  A grand success.

Oversided Produce

We knew we had purchased long beans but this one far out-did any other legume we have ever seen!

This is not a trick of the camera.  We suppose Pakistan just knows how to grow these suckers!

Fit to Print

We were told, prior to moving to Kuwait, that certain things were "off limits" in this country:  pork products, alcohol, showing shoulders, maps with Israel showing, and discussing topics like religion and politics.  Fair enough!  So, we were careful to follow the rules and adhere to Kuwaiti guidelines.  Heidi only wears shirts with sleeves and Adam has given up his morning-beer-and-bacon routine.

We had heard stories about text books with certain pages glued together, sentences marked out, and even pictures or sentences cut out.  We respect this as the Ministry must have a difficult job reading hundreds upon hundreds of school texts. (We do wonder if they are extremely versed and knowledgeable scholars, though.  And, if so, could they impart some of their reading skills to our students??).

Still we were a little surprised the other day to purchase a foreign newspaper and to find that a picture had been scribbled out.  Obviously we had forgotten that "women-in-bikinis-partying-in-Vegas-with-British-Royalty" also was on the list!

The scene of the censorship.

Prince Harry might be smiling but there is nothing funny about these shenanigans.  Nothing to see here boys.  Nothing to see here.

The Grandest of Them All

In light of all of the violence spreading across the Middle East region in reaction to a video that does not portray Islam in a positive light, we thought we might share our story of trying to lessen the gap of understanding between Islam and the West.

Here in Kuwait there is a cultural center called AWARE. The mission of AWARE is to build bridges and understanding between Westerners and Muslims. They host a variety of activities, classes, and excursions to help anyone who is interested, in better settling in to Kuwait and the Gulf region. One of our friends had seen in the AWARE newsletter that they would be giving a free guided tour of the Grand Mosque in Kuwait City. Since we love free fun so much and were curious, we immediately signed up.

We ended up having a wonderful time at the mosque. We had a wonderful tour guide who had lots and lots and lots and lots of information to share about Kuwait. Hopefully in the future we can be good representatives as Westerners living in a Muslim country. It is sad when people disrespect others and equally as sad to have violent responses.

Heidi and some of our friends looking good in local fashion.

Adam in the ladies prayer hall. It is located behind the men's prayer hall. Our guide informed us that this was to make sure that the men could focus on praying and not on the behinds of the ladies. Good thinking.

There was awesome tile work throughout the whole mosque.

Out in the "overflow prayer courtyard". This square holds up to 10,000 people.

It is hot here. Proof.

The New Staple

Hello Fal-full!!!!!!!!!!! Get it???

So excited. Only her 17th falafal of the week.

It seems that every country and culture around the world has their staple food. Mexico has the burrito,Vietnam has Pho, and Germany has brats. Kuwait is no exception to this rule of the staple food. We have quickly realized that when you are in a pinch for something to eat, there will always be a falafal stand. Falafal is a fried ball of chickpeas and herbs. Throw a couple of those into a piece of flat bread, add some veggies, and maybe a little bit of hot sauce and you got yourself a meal. In reality you have yourself any meal regardless of time of day. It seems that these guys are consumed regularly by expats, locals, and stray cats.

Geo Wizards

We are all about free fun.  Yes, we like our activities to be cheap yet highly entertaining.  Thank goodness for some of our new friends in Kuwait who had time to introduce us to another free activity!!  Last weekend, while strolling on the Arabian Gulf, they told us they are quite into GeoCaching.  Then, as they explained the vocabulary (micros and macros and muggles, anyone?!?), we thought, "Cool, but do they have that in Kuwait?" 

Not even two minutes later we were in a wifi zone using Adam's phone to find that not only is there in fact GeoCaching in Kuwait but one cache was only 1/4 of a mile away from us!!  So, we quickly headed out in search of the loot.  Our friends knew what they were doing and in a mere matter of minutes, we had located the cache, signed the log, and given each other high fives.  Heidi was a litte unsure what the "point" of it all was but like Adam reminded her, it did not cost a cent to participate.  Since there are thousands of caches located all over the middle east, we are certain that this "free fun" (and in turn, our money) will stick around awhile.

Using GPS, we tracked the cache and ended up at this crazy location where Jeff, with skill, quickly found the loot.

Adam was stunned that we actually found it.  Jeff a little more smug.

We quickly formed our team name and then re-placed the treasure.  We like to think of ourselves as Geo Wizards!

 

Arabian Nights

Just another summer evening on the Arabian Gulf.  Thanks for the sunset, Kuwait.

What a way to end the weekend.

 

All on a Thursday Night

Yesterday at about 4:30 pm, we were quite excited to welcome in our first official weekend off in Kuwait.  It was a long two weeks of straight work since arriving and an even longer first three days of school.  So, when the quitting bell rang, we were happy to head out to ..... um .... our no plans!!

As we walked the short three blocks back to our apartment, we felt a little down wondering what we would do with ourselves with no car, no public transport, no furniture, and no idea what people do for a good time on the weekend in Kuwait.  Imagine our joy and surprise when one of our building mates (who was here last year) called to invite a group of us to explore the Old Souq (the old market), grab some dinner, and get out of our homes.

A hairy cab ride and a little sweat later, we arrived to the massive old market in downtown Kuwait.  We stuck out like a sore thumb as we were the only ones not in their abayas and dishdasha's (and perhaps we were the only ones walking around with our eyes big and mouth's agape as we were slightly awe-struck at the market).  We promptly sat down to enjoy a delicious and enormous Iranian meal of kabobs, rice, hummus, bread, and of course, french fries.  It was good food and good times as the owner decided he needed a group picture of all of us enjoying his food!

Then, the excitement continued as we weaved our way through the stalls to enter a well-renowned, but secret, carpet shop.  There, the owner greeted our building mate and then led our group upstairs where he proceeded to sit us down on carpet stacks and provide a 2 hour lesson on carpet, his life, and Islam.  It was a memorable and fascinating lesson and we felt awed that this man took so much time to share his stories with us -- no carpet buying needed.  Finally, he shooed us out of his shop and we took one more death-defying cab ride home with smiles on our faces about such a wonderful start to our weekend here in Kuwait.

Seated in the Old Souq deciding what to get for dinner.  How about one of everything on the menu!

The new favorite -- baskets of Iranian bread.  They keep them full with fresh, hot bread.  Our rice bellies are getting switched out to flat-bread bellies.

This was only HALF of the meat brought out to us.  Yes, there was an identical tray at the other end of the table.  Good news -- we brought enough home for another meal for all 7 of us.

All talking stopped the minute the food was brought out.  *Note the french fries -- often considered the "vegetable" in this country.*

Who's happy to be out of the house on a Thursday night?  These two!

Getting our lesson on carpet weaving and the stories told in the carpets.  This was about 45 minutes into our "15 minute lesson."

Some of the hundreds of carpets this shop carries.  I cannot provide its name because they work by friend referral only.  It is "The Shop that Shall Not be Named."

Some rugs were large.  Some were small.  Some were new.  Some were all.  All contained a fabulous story.  Thanks for the great evening, Kuwait.

New Places, Old Faces

When we signed on to work in Kuwait we talked between ourselves of how all places in the world Kuwait seemed like a funny place for us to end up. Not that Kuwait isn't proving itself to be a very nice place to live, but it was not at the top of our list as we were thinking of new destinations to go to.

Not long after we had signed our contract with our new school, we talked to our friend Crystal, who we have known for years, who was also thinking about working internationally. She had told us that she was signed up for the  job fair and was excited to she what opportunities came her way. To our absolute surprise and amazement the next time we talked to Crystal she told us that she had signed with a school in Kuwait too. Now all of a sudden we are in a country that we had never planned on being in not by ourselves but with one of our best friends. The world is small and sometimes works in crazy ways. Kuwait gets better by the day!

Adam and Crystal hanging on the Gulf.  A little Seattle in the Middle East.

Sweating on Purpose

Kuwait is a very hot country. When we landed we actually hit the tail end of the "hot season" which entails daily temperatures of around 115 degrees. The nice thing is that for the most part the heat is dry but that does not mean that we don't sweat. Walk to school...sweat. Walk to lunch...sweat. Hang pictures on a bullitien board...sweat. Since living in Vietnam we have adapated the mantra of "embrace the sweat" because you have to realize that no matter what you do you are you to sweat and probably stink a little.

Yesterday was still hot and we still did sweat, but for the first time since we got here we actually sweated on purpose. After a week of inactivity we bit the bullet and joined a health club here in Kuwait. Gym's are limited here in Kuwait so we actually got more of a gym than we have ever had before. We now belong to a the Kuwaiti equvialant of a country club. Like we said, options are limited. It was good to move again and actually sweat on purpose for a change. Hey, now we have to also live up to our goal of learning how to play tennis.

Adam with his I just worked out or really have to poop face.

Two big thumbs up from Heidi

We Fancy, Huh?!?

Last night the owner of our school treated all of the school staff to a welcome dinner.  The dinner was held at a local country club called the Sahara Club.  We were told to dress nice as it was a swanky place.  As we rode our buses into the desert, we couldn't help but wonder what kind of club we would find. 

Enter heaven in Kuwait.  Beautiful does not seem sufficient enough of a word to describe the setting.  There, among the sand, was a stunning golf course with lush, green, REAL grass.  The setting was amazing and for one second, you forgot you were in the middle east.  (Then, you thought about the cost that it must take to keep that grass o-so-very green and you quickly remembered, "Oh yeah!  We are in the middle east!)  Oh yeah, the dinner was spectacular, as well.  Shrimp, lamb, and caviar, anyone?

All dressed up and on the bus.

A group of friends all eagerly awaiting the dinner to come.

We had our hair done, nails done, everything did.  We fancy, huh!?!

The outside of the club.  Sponsored by Mercedes.