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 :)