Holiday houseguest...

The first term of school has ended, with a big party to finish off the last day of school. I had a ball playing games and getting my kids all sugared-up with candy canes before sending them off for their holidays!

Meanwhile, at home... Last minute preparations are in full swing for the upcoming trip for Sri Lanka, for the whole household here! And amidst all this, a new houseguest has recently appeared in our apartment. A small lizard/gecko was discovered this morning and was thusly named "Fred" for the movie 'Drop Dead Fred', which we were watching at the time. Fred was met with a much warmer welcome than our usual houseguests (the cockroaches), and we're hoping that roaches might be in his diet and would be so kind as to help us out with that.

Fred hangin' out

Fred's spot in the kitchen

Wishing a very merry Christmas to you all and a happy 2013! I'll be sure to update with photos and stories of Sri Lanka when I'm back in Kuwait in the new year!

Bahrain adventure...

In the last few weeks, my time has been consumed with the crunch of Report season at work. However, recently, my roommate and I had a the pleasure of a last-minute trip to Bahrain for some much needed visa processing. Bahrain is a rather small Gulf Coast nation about an hour-long flight from Kuwait. I was surprised upon arrival at the temperature in Bahrain. While the weather in Kuwait has cooled down to a “chilly” 20ºC average daytime highs, Bahrain was a noticeable few degrees warmer. 

The other big difference between Kuwait and Bahrain is the fact that you can legally buy alcohol in Bahrain. After 3 months without a pint, Serena and I made a special trip to JJ's Irish Pub for some quality refreshments and a surprise edition of Bahrain Idol karaoke. 

Although my excursion was stretched out to a full work week away, it wasn’t quite a proper holiday as I was writing Reports while I was there. Therefore, it just made me even more excited for my upcoming trip to Sri Lanka for Christmas and New Year!

For now, I’ll leave you with some parting shots from Bahrain. Enjoy!

No matter how many warm and sunny Christmases I have, it still strikes me as odd to see snowmen and palm trees in the same place

My first delicious beer after 3 months in Kuwait! Excitement abounds!

View of the city from my hotel window

I encountered a curious little caged bird on this balcony, who quite accurately mimicked random car noises from the busy street below

The new Bahraini "Coolio", a little Gangsta's Paradise anyone?

Scientific adventure…

During my time off for Eid Mubarak, after the customary shopping and eating, Serena and I ventured to The Scientific Center. We got there just in time for the shark feeding, which consisted of a scuba diver and a bucket of fish food for the various creatures in the tank, including three sharks. The aquarium also had a variety of animals from otters to penguins and owls.

Also included in our pass was a trip to the Discovery Place. Despite the fact that we asked beforehand about the age limit, we were clearly the only adults not accompanying small children. Nonetheless, we had some hands-on fun with magnets, memory, measurements and the like.

After our scientific adventure, we explored the coast line of the city. Up until now it’s been a little on the hot side for walking during daylight hours. It’s finally cooled down to tolerable levels. We walked to the Kuwait Towers but unfortunately were informed that they are under repairs until next year.

To follow are some pictures of the Scientific Center and the Kuwait City waterfront. Enjoy!

Peek-a-boo! This big guy didn’t want to come out for a good picture

Rainy day…!

There is rain in the desert! I was dismayed this morning when I woke up to hear that I had missed an ever so brief episode of rain. However, Serena and I were excited to say the least when we heard thunder after lunch today and looked out to see the first drops of rain! It only lasted a few minutes, but we soaked it up ;)

Here’s some video evidence, complete with Serena’s squeals of joy!! Enjoy!

Desert nights…

As I’d heard before coming to Kuwait, this is a country that unfolds slowly to newcomers. Thankfully, I’ve met lots of great people here so far who have helped to open up some of the cool experiences Kuwait has to offer. Amongst the best and most recent was a dance party in the desert. My roommate, Serena, and several of our friends rented a bus to drive out into the desert, to a location about 20km from the Iraqi border. We arrived at dusk to a group of buildings that had been heavily bombed during the invasion of Kuwait. It was a surreal experience to stand in a place that had been in conflict in my lifetime. It was also crazy to be standing out in the middle of a fairly decent desert.

The party was complete with a DJ and light projectors (although these did go down for a bit in a short blackout), with a dance floor on the cracked cement slabs that made up the floor of what was once an intact building. One downfall of a party in the desert on a humid, windy night was all the sand. Every time the wind picked up I was invariably caked in sand.

One fairly unusual sight compared to parties back home was the gas plumes lighting up the horizon from the oil fields along the border. This one was definitely a new and very refreshing experience for me compared to all the shopping malls and fast food around me here.

I’ll end with some photos, courtesy of Serena. Enjoy!

 

Souk it up…

The adventure for this week was a trip to the Souk Al Mubarakiya. Basically it’s a big market with everything from fruit and fish to clothing and kitchenware. It reminded me a lot of markets I’ve visited in the Mediterranean with crowded, garage-style stalls, goods stacked to the ceiling, and all varieties of smells mingled in the air. It was a great place for people watching as well. Crowds of men seems to appear around shops and then disperse at random intervals. I never did figure out the rhyme or reason for these curious flash mobs. Five-minute sale, perhaps?

On the whole, there were lots of men (many of them wearing the traditional dishdasha), not too many women (most of them wearing the abaya and/or burqa). I had to be careful where I pointed my camera, as it is considered very taboo to take photos of Arab women in traditional dress. I found lots of other subjects for my photos though. One of the more interesting elements of this souk, which differentiated it from the European markets I’ve seen, was a series of sprinklers at one entrance that spray you with a fine mist of water. Great solution to the heat!

The souks don’t usually open until after 4pm, I’m guessing that’s due to the heat at the moment, so we had a wander through the market before having a delicious meal at a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant my roommate had been to previously. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m loving the food here! And this was no exception. Now that payday has come, I expect I’ll be having many more food adventures this week!

I’ll leave you with some parting photos of the Souk Mubarakiya. Enjoy!

McDonald’s is everywhere

Apparently this is the oldest pharmacy in Kuwait (still in operation now)

The sprinklers

The Liberation Tower

The aforementioned “delicious food”

Sticker shock…

Another week has passed, and another weekend has arrived. It’s been a busy week at work with Meet the Teacher evening taking place mid-week, and finishing the week with the arrival of my first full-on cold of the school year. This weekend will most likely include a visit to the pharmacy to check out Kuwait’s offerings in the way of cold medicine.

Based on this week’s title, you may be expecting a post related to the high prices in Kuwait. However, this week’s story is about a curious little happening at work, and is in reference to another kind of sticker entirely.

In my classes I’ve made charts to reward good behaviour. Everyday I put little star stickers next to the names of students who have been particularly good during the class. The kids are always very eager to get a sticker, and some can get quite upset if they miss out for poor behaviour. At the end of the week, one student who has been exceptionally well-behaved gets to choose a toy from “The Mystery Cow Box” (thusly named for the black and white print on it that looks like a dairy cow, and the fact that only the winners can look inside). The addition of a toy has made for quite a competition amongst some of my students who want to get the most stickers every week and get a peek inside that box.

I started noticing this week that some of the stickers seemed to be missing from names I distinctly remembered putting them by. I figured maybe I was imagining things, and replaced the missing stickers. Today everything came into focus after one of my classes left and I saw that one girl’s name suddenly had a sticker on every day of the week. This was particularly suspect because I hadn’t actually put up the stickers for today so she was the only one with a Thursday sticker. Not to mention the fact that I’m pretty sure she only had two stickers to start with. It also happened that her spot in the line-up order stands her right next to the chart at the end of every class. I had a little chuckle as I was taking down this week’s stickers to start fresh next week. Kids are crafty. And smart! This little girl must have thought this was her sure-fire way to a toy from the Cow Box.

These kids can definitely be a handful, but they can be very sweet and they sure do make me laugh at times. Who knows what my little darlings will have in store for me next week! Here’s hoping this cold clears up so I can enjoy all their quirky moments! Until next time :)

Rockin’ in Kuwait

As I’m getting to know Kuwait, I’m finding many highlights along the way. And one of the definite perks is the abundance of great food! For such a small country, the range of restaurants available is surprising. The recent favourite in the apartment is Lebanese. On average, the prices at restaurants here are higher than I’m used to, but very little is produced in Kuwait and the prices likely reflect the cost of importing goods. Despite the cost, my roommates and I have been making a weekly purchase for take-away.  In particular, I’ve been enjoying the range of Lebanese salads, such as fattoush. Although the apartment comes with a great kitchen (a bonus after my miniature kitchen in Japan), and it’s been fairly easy to find all the ingredients for home cooking, I’m looking forward to exploring more of the culinary offerings of the Middle East.

One of my personal highlights this week was another trip to the waterfront in Salmiya for shopping, and lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe with my roommate and her friend. Although the afternoon heat is still a little too intense to go walking along the waterfront, I got a sneak peak of the beach and a great walking trail that I will no doubt make good use of when the Fall weather arrives.

And of course, here are some photos as promised. Enjoy!

Hard Rock Cafe, Salmiya

Salmiya waterfront

Jet skis

More waterfront

The beach

Streets of Kuwait

First week of work…

Good morning from Kuwait! It’s officially the weekend here and I’ve finished my first week of work with the kids! I have 3 lively groups of kids who rotate hourly between my English class and their Maths and Arabic classes. I must say I was surprised and excited when I learned that Reception classes are capped at 18 kids, after my time in England where most classes topped out at 30 kids, but 18 kids, in a completely ESL environment, keep me on my toes just the same!

Although this isn’t my first year of teaching, it is my first time having my own class and I’m definitely enjoying that. My classes are adorable, even the naughty kids are ridiculously cute and tiny. One of the more rambunctious boys in one of my classes reminds me daily, “Teacher, I love you!” Of course there are challenges inherent in teaching abroad and teaching ESL, but I love a good challenge! 

Unfortunately I don’t have any new pictures to share today. My free time this week has been filled with many dips in the pool, watching a ridiculous amount of TV with my roommates, and several trips to the local Starbucks. I’ll try for some photos next time. Until then, chao for now!

We have a pool!

Well, the first week of work is finished! And although my kids don’t start until this coming week, it was a busy one. My biggest task of the week was setting up my classroom. I was a bit overwhelmed at first, walking into a fairly bare classroom and trying to figure out how I was going to make it presentable by the end of the week. But thankfully, with the help of my classroom assistant (and a lot of creative thought), we managed to get all the necessary bits up and even make things look half-decent in the process.

The other part of my week was doing cover work for a Year 1 class. This being my first experience with Kuwaiti kids, I had a few observations. First, some of these kids are super-cute and obviously get away with absolutely everything at home. That ended pretty quick, with the help of the broken-record approach. Also, kids here seem to have a much smaller personal bubble than back home and in England. On several occasions I noticed a child playing with another child’s hair, or at one point patting another child’s face. In each case, the child being touched was usually sitting nicely and paying perfect attention to the lesson. I can’t help but recall numerous occasions where I’ve had students screaming bloody murder because someone simply sat too close to them. Despite the fact that I obviously won’t be hearing those same cries from children here, I still put a stop to the distractions.

And now I’m anxiously/excitedly awaiting the arrival of my own classes next week!

Now to the pool business… there is indeed a pool in my building! One of my roommates took me on a quick tour of our building to see the outdoor patio/pool area the other day. During the afternoon on the weekends it’s usually filled with screaming and splashing children. But I managed to have a relaxing swim the other night, once the temperature had dipped below 40C. I have a feeling I will be making good use of the pool in this hot weather!

Before my swim, I went on a rather adventurous walk to find the seaside. Those of you who know me well will know of my love for oceans, lakes and all things water. A visit to the water was inevitable. However, the area around the water is fairly built up with hotels and such, so I took a little detour down a side road and between some buildings (probably not where I was supposed to be…) and finally found a little slice of beach. I snapped a few photos, and here they are. More to come next weekend! Enjoy!

The outside of The Springs (my apartment building)

Building on my walk to work

The walk back home

Interesting building along the water

A little slice of beach!

Welcome to Kuwait!

From one foreign locale to another, I’ve moved from Japan and on to Kuwait.

Leaving Japan was a bittersweet time, as I’d made so many friends there, but I was happy to be coming back to Canada for the summer. After a whirlwind summer, including Maid of Honour duties at my friend’s wedding, I’ve packed up once again and taken myself half way across the globe to teach in Salwa, Kuwait.

On arrival at the Kuwait airport, I realized that families treat airport pick-ups as a formal affair, complete with explosive confetti contraptions, fancy dresses on all the little girls, and a variety of musical instruments in tow! I must say, this was a bit on the sensory-overload side of things after spending the previous 24 hours in relatively quiet airports and airplanes. But it definitely put a smile on my face to see families so enthusiastically welcoming home loved-ones.

Since arriving late Tuesday night, I’ve had two short days of work meetings, and many hours of much needed sleep. And in my short time here so far, I have determined two things: the outdoor temperatures here give a whole new meaning to the phrase “It’s so hot, you could fry an egg on the sidewalk” (if only they had sidewalks here); and, there is nothing worse on your first morning in a new place than meeting your freaky-fast housemates, aka the cockroaches!

Besides these amusing side-effects of living in the desert, I’m settling into my new home and will be settling into my Kindergarten teaching position through the coming weeks.

I’ll leave you with a few photos of my apartment and nearby shopping centre. Enjoy!

My room

Kitchen

Living room

View from living room window

The local Starbucks

Mosque across from Starbucks