Bite of Home

Our grocery store in Kuwait is pretty amazing.  To get there, head out into the desert for about 15k.  Look for the large neon sign that screams "Lulu's Hypermarket."  Then, scramble to grab a cart and fight the multitudes of locals and expats alike who fight for products like feta cheese, roasted almonds, Raisin Bran, Jif Peanut Butter, and goat's testicles.  Whatever your palate desires, you are guarenteed to pick it up at "Lulu's in the Desert."

We were very happy to find that the apple selection at Lulu's was as diverse as the rest of the merchandise.  Recently, as we began to price compare for the apples that were the most cost effective, we began to smile.  Why?  All apples shipped from our home state!  It seems that no matter where you are in the world, you never seem that far removed from good ol' Washington Apples!!

That sticker says "Washington grown!"  So does that smile!

Race Season

'Tis the season of racing in the middle east.  In the past few weeks, everywhere you go you seem to notice an advertisement to come root for your favorite horse, formula 1 car, or camel as it makes its way around a track.  We can't help it that we, too, have the racin' fever.  After a long, 4-month-and-many-frustrated-tears-setback of Heidi's hurt foot (which was officially diagnosed as "having flat feet" ... and it takes 8+ years of medical school to stumble across that revelation!?!?), we are both back up and raring to race.

We have joined race season in full stride (badambum) and signed up for two up-coming races:  The Dubai Desert Dash 10k and the Singapore Run350 21k.  We are glad to have more of a focus at our time at the gym and have had fun planning the travel to accompany our runs.  We might not have anyone betting on us at our races but we will do our utmost to finish strong, regardless.

A scan of Heidi's feet.  The doctor laughed after looking at the scan and quickly ordered her into custom (read expensive) orthodics.

Adam's new running kicks.  Thank you clearance sales because the original price-tag of $180 US was a little out of our price range.

With the cool weather we just did our first run outside since AUGUST.  It was a great day to run on the Arabian gulf.

Heidi felt a little grumpy after the run.  All that time lost = a very challenging 5 miles.

Pure Cold

We had heard it many times prior to moving -- "Pack some warm clothes.  Kuwait gets cold in the winter."  Right (said sarcastically).  A country that hovers around 40 for 8 months of the year cannot possibly get cold.  Well let's just say that we have been eating our fair share of humble pie as of late.  IT.IS.FREEZING!! 

This desert oasis that we call home has been in a bit of a cold streak and this past week has dipped down to 0 on a few occasions (that's 32 degrees Celsius for you Americans).  We have been scrambling to put together warm outfits and set up a heating system in an apartment that has no central heat.  Let's just say we have been very creative with layering and forced air fans.  As we shiver our way through the day we dream of our winter clothes in storage in Washington and pray for the 40 degrees to return soon.

Adam all ready for work.  Thank you H&M for winter sales of sweaters, scarves, and hats - oh my!  Now, if only the school could figure out how to turn off the A.C ...

 

Get It While We Can

Oh, the desert. Living somewhere that is 98% sand presents a variety of challenges. One of the challenges faced by us (and the entire country of Kuwait) is the ability to obtain fresh fruits and vegetables. The Kuwaitis have done a good job of adapting to their environment. We are actually able to find a variety of vegetables that are grown (somehow...thanks Allah) locally in Kuwait. The thing about the vegetables though is that you have to be quick, super quick, in snatching them up. Vegetable seasons last maybe one month. Ok, maybe two weeks.

After a lengthy conversation with the high school secretary in regards to this local vegetable dilemma we decided to take action. Last time we headed out to our favorite grocery store (again in the desert, surrounded by sand) we bought obscene amounts of the local broccoli. Since the broccoli is grown here and not flown in from say, Tibet or Inner Mongolia, it is actually affordable. Maybe we got some strange looks as we loaded close to a pallets worth of veg into our grocery cart. Upon returning home we blanched the heck out of that green goodness and crossed our fingers that the price would dramatically increase making this adventure worth it.

The first of many large pots of broc. It is good that your pee does not turn the color of green that the water changed to after blanching. That would be weird if it did.

Some of the fruits (or veggies) of our labor. Hopefully it still tastes good in April.

RUN 350

Vacations can make you do crazy things. While in Sri Lanka we kept talking about how bad we wanted to run another half marathon. Well, talk has led to action. We are now signed up to run in the Run 350 half marathon in Singapore in April. We are excited to train again, but maybe even more excited for a good excuse to head back to SE Asia for a bit. We are now running for Singapore.

They probably did not use our picture for the race promo as last time we were in Singapore we basically just stuffed our faces with food the whole time.

 

First Dust Day

Since the day that we arrived in Kuwait we have been told two things about the weather.

1. Wait for it to get cold in the winter. 
2. Wait for the dust.

Well, it has been "cold" for a little bit now, and today we officially got our first dust day. By no means was today's dust like anything that is supposedly to come. However, it was still crazy to go throughtout your day moving through a fog of dust. Crazy times.

Here is the view from our apartment today. The dust settles in like fog. Spooky.

Just for some perspective, here is our view on a normal day.

Panorama

We recently returned from the magical land of Sri Lanka.  As we were reminiscing and scheming about our next trip (yes, we might have been home less than 24 hours before this occurred -- don't judge!!), we looked through our many photos that we took while traveling.  We got to laughing about Adam's addiction -- taking panorama shots of wherever we might be.  Thank goodness for a 99 cent iPhone app because trying to line up all 5-7 shots on a point and shoot after a few (6) beers is always the challenge.

The five provinces of Sri Lanka seen from our hotel in Haputale.

Sunset over said 5 provinces at the amazing Melheim Resort.

Beach dunes at noon, Arugam Bay.

Lake Tissa after a much needed Christmas cocktail in Tissamaharama.

Golden afternoon in Mirissa.

Not a bad viewpoint, day after day -- Mirissa.  Thanks, Ad, for all the 180 degree memories.

All Sorts of Haram

Yesterday was our last full day in Sri Lanka.  We spent the morning walking through the streets of Colombo checking out what the city had to offer.  As we explored parks, drank milk coffees, ate Sri Lanka street stall lunch, and checked out some art to take home for our very white walled apartment, we embraced the sticky-sweat and smiled at our new lover for this city and country.  We quickly realized that Colombo is a big-small city -- while it is the capital and has the hustle and bustle of commerce it is able to be walked and explored in about 3 hours time.  So, as we looked out our watches and realized we had "done it all" before 1 o'clock we headed back to our hotel to decide how to fill the remainder of our day.

Thanks to the helpful hotel manager, soon we headed out for our afternoon/evening of sin.  In Islam, "haram" refers to anything that does not fall within the accepted practices of the Muslim faith.  You have a tattoo -- haram.  You drink alcohol -- haram.  You show your shoulders in public -- haram.  You think Kanye and Kim Kardashian's baby is great news -- haram!!  But back to our afternoon of haram:  soon we were in a tuk-tuk heading into the "don't know if tourists have ever been seen in this part of Colombo" for a 90 minute Ayurvedic ritual.  As we had sticky oils poured over our bodies and were rubbed down by traditional Hindi healers, we smiled and reflected on the crazy opportunities we have had in our lives (we also wondered how on earth we would remove said oils from our hair, which we are still working on).  

On to the next step of sin -- dinner at a Bavarian beer hall where we consumed large liters, not pints but LITERS of beer.  And, to put the haram nail in the haram coffin -- we ordered pork for dinner.  Lots and lots of pork.  While we know that we are not getting any points in Allah's book, we did fully enjoy our experience and asked for forgiveness along the way.

 

Adam in a Bavarian beer hall with, gasp ... not one but two beers in hand.

That's our salad with, gasp ... real bacon.  Oh, how good it was.

Heidi cursing the dry country of Kuwait.  Good thing there was a beer for her to cry into.  (No, that's not wet hair -- that's oil).

What?  More pork?  Yes, please.

How did Adam embrace his sin?  Pork schnitzel wrapped in BACON.  Delicious.

Change of Scenery

Today was the first day of our transition back to real life, work, and Kuwait. We packed our bags this morning and said a heartfelt goodbye to the beautiful beaches of Southern Sri Lanka and headed to the capital city, Colombo.

We have never been to Colombo. Actually, we have not even heard too much about it, so it was a bit of blank canvas for us. After wading through some pretty crazy traffic we arrived at our awesome hotel. After a hour long talk with the hotel owner all about Sri Lankan politics, culture, and history, we set out to explore Colombo and all that it has to offer.

It did not take long for us to realize it, but we really like this city. There are tons of trees, parks, smiling people, open sidewalks, great museums, and tasty places to eat. Even though we know that the end of our vacation is near, at least we have a cool city to hang out in until our time comes to an end.

In the doorway of our hotel on the beach. All smiles but still sad to leave.

Upon arrival to Colombo, we got right to work on finding out what to do. 

Luckily we found a great coffee shop where we could fuel our minds with caffeine as we researched.

We headed to the National Museum of Sri Lanka. It was sweet.

Buddha greeted us at the door of the museum. It was a good sign of things to come. 

After a big day of travel and new locations, we opted for pizza delivery and beer.

Surf n' Safari

** Note:  We wrote this blog 3 days ago and just found enough internet to actually upload pictures and post.  Sorry for the delay!**

After a much anticipated safari in Tissa where we were lucky enough to see wild animals galore (and we had the creepy/unique experience of standing on the ruins of an old hotel that was annihilated and where 47 tourists died at 9:20 am 8 years exactly to the day that the Boxing Day Tsunami hit SE Asia), we said our goodbyes to hill country and headed to our next destination in Sri Lanka -- the beach!!

We like to take pride in how well we can "do the beach!"  We have spent years honing our skills of lying in the sun, reading books, swimming in the water, eating cheap sea food, and drinking even cheaper beer.  Mirissa, Sri Lanka now gets to see our skills put into action as the next week we post up and enjoy all that beach life has to offer.  The location is post-card worthy.  It is an idyllic little town that offers palm trees, surfers, and coconuts for sale (opened for you via the sharpest rock).  It has taken us about. .5 of a day to settle into our beach routine.  We are grateful for some down time and time to just be.  And, as 2012 rolls to an end, it is the perfect location for some reflection on where we have been and where we would still like to be (note:  Heidi has made a rule that deciding the "where we want to be" part can only be taken seriously if beer consumed > 2)!!

Happy campers on the beaches of Mirissa.  Goodbye Jungle.  It's been real.

Not a bad way to spend the day.