Back in the sandbox!!!!!

"It's been a long time, I shouldn't have left you without a dope beat to step to."

Well I'm back and ready for another exciting year in this place called Kuwait.  Technically I've been here for close to two months but never found the time to update my blog.
It was another tough summer for me, dealing with paperwork and costly medical procedures but with prayer and persistence my paperwork is done and I have Kuwait Civil ID. With all the hassle it took me to get it, I may stay in Kuwait longer just to get my money's worth.

To my friends and family that actually ready post, I miss you and hope that you come visit me one day. I have plenty of vacation days open for next year. I'm booked for this school year. I waste no time getting my travel plans in order. Adventure awaits! I love the movie Up.

I'm not going to waste time talking about work and my new students because it's the same no matter where you teach and who you teach. Plus between the NSA and Kuwait's Misintry of Communication program I don't want to say anything to jeopardize my freedom or my money.

I'll do better at posting on a regular basis, Inshallah. This message was brought to you by a special request.  I didn't know what to write but I promised the reader that I would post and I'm a lady of my word.

Peace in the Middle East!!

Almost famous

A friend from my old morning news days reached out to me and wanted to share my story with others. I hope my journey inspires someone to step outside of their norm and do what they love. My loves are teaching and traveling. 

http://www.shetrippin.blogspot.com/2013/08/from-tennessee-to-kuwait-journey-of.html

Don't ask because you won't get the answer you want to hear.

The first question I get from friends and family is "when are you coming home?" That question is easy, my flight lands June 21st. The question that I can't answer is "how long you plan on staying overseas?" If I give a true response some people may take my answer the wrong way. For some reason my truth hurts other people's feelings. If I give a lighthearted response, that will give people false hope that I'm not staying long.

OK people here is the deal. I plan on staying overseas as long as I can. When Kuwait gets tired of me or when I get tired of Kuwait, I will begin a search for another overseas teaching position. Don't get me wrong, I miss the hell out of my family and friends and I guess they miss me too. But truth be told, I don't miss teaching in America. These Kuwaiti kids and system ain't all that either but it's a work in progress.

What's back home in America?
Of course my family is there. I've lived with or near my family for at least 26 years of my life. My immediate family lives in one state. I want them to branch out and explore a section of the world and if it takes me living overseas then that's what will happen. I want my little brother to be able to say he's been "XYZ" before a certain age. I want my parents to see Paris or Prague. I want my future children to know more about the world than the state they were born in, that's if I have children in the states anyway. You can't blame me for wanting that and if you do blame me just know that I don't really care  :)
My friends are also in America. Yes I love my friends to the Moon and back and I hope they love me enough to get where I am coming from. Hopefully one day we can meet at an "only seen on TV" spot and vacay together.
Husband??? Didn't have one and I wasn't close to getting one. I'll find one along the way. He might be here already, Inshallah (God's will). Same with having children.
My house is in America but truth be told I'm over being a homeowner. That is an overrated experience if there ever were one. As long as I keep a tenant, I ain't got no worries.

Anyone that claims to truly know me knows that I am a Travel Channel junkie. I love to travel and learn new things. Being here puts me a short and cheap flight away from whatever I want to see. I've seen just about everything in America and you only need to go on a few cruises to see the islands. Because we all know that  you don't have to see them all. At some point they all look, sound, and feel the same.

I am suppose to be over here saving money instead I'm paying off debt I stacked up while in America. So whenever I do make my triumphant return home, I'll be debt free except Sallie Mae and my mortgage company. It's also kind of hard to save when I'm getting a different passport stamp every other month.

My fingers are getting bored so I must say Good Day...I said Good Day!!!!

Overseas Bubble

Note to readers: I started writing this post on February 8 but delayed the posting.

I think that everyone that travels away from home has a list of fears. My list consisted of mostly "what if" type of questions. What if I don't like it there? What if I get fired? What if my house catches on fire? What if...? You know a long list of things that rattled around in my head that kept my mind occupied. The last and seemingly most important question was "What if someone in my family dies while I'm overseas?" Of all the questions I've asked myself, that was the one I never really wanted to find out the answer to.

Now I am face to face with a complex and painful answer. Most people would easily say they would jump on the next flight out and be with their family during this time. I said the same thing 2 months ago when my coworkers and I had a similar conversation and we each came up with a short list of people that would travel home for in the event of their passing. Most of our list were pretty standard: mother, father, grandparents, and siblings (depends on which one). Seriously, someone said that it depended on which sibling it was that passed away that would warrant a trip back to the states from Kuwait. But when you are thousands of miles away from home and money is not stockpiling in your account you have to make such concessions and that is a brutal part of life overseas.

Since September, I've been living in an "overseas bubble". That simply means I've been living my life not really to concerned about what was happening in the states. I would call home once a week, email family and friends, send messages on Facebook, and G-Chat but didn't have a real connection to what was happening because I wasn't there. So nothing that occurred in the states shook me to the core until Thursday (Feb 7th) morning.

Thursday (Feb 7th) was a typical end of the work week day for me. I always start the day the same way each morning with music, so my headphones were still in my phone when I walked away from my desk for a few minutes. When I returned, I saw that I had four missed calls from Mom. My heart dropped because I knew that something horrible was waiting for me on the other end of the phone. As I tried to call her back, I got two emails from her saying "Call Me". At that point I don't know which was moving faster, my heart or my fingers. After several unsuccessful attempts to call her back, we finally spoke to each other. Her first question was "Have you been on Facebook?" I was shocked by the question but quickly replied no, but that was not completely true. Just moments before arriving to work I logged on only to post "Question of the day: Where should I see Mrs. BKC?" That was me being in my overseas bubble again. If only I had taken a few minutes to scroll down FB after posting I would have seen my cousin's post related to what my mother was seconds away from telling me. "Well", she said in a tone only reserved for sad news, "momma passed away earlier today." I held back sobbing long enough to hear the details of what happened then I broke down crying like a baby. All the while two of my students stood near my desk in shock that their teacher was balled up in a chair crying. And just that fast my overseas bubble had popped.

More on the aftermath later, I gotta watch Scandal now.

My Eid al-Adha Stay-cation

It has been a while since my last posting so this one is going to be long. Get your popcorn ready!!

Since my last posting, I've been able to actually be a tourist in Kuwait and see a few sights. Instead of leaving the country during my first Eid al-Adha holiday, I decided to do a stay-cation. For those that don't know what a stay-cation is, it's a vacation spent at home and involving day trips to local attractions. 

Oh let me explain what Eid al-Adha is. Eid al-Adha, also called Feast of the Sacrifice, is an important religious holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide to honor the willingness of the prophet Abraham to sacrifice his young first-born son Ishmael as an act of submission to God's command and his son's acceptance to being sacrificed, before God intervened to provide Abraham with a ram to sacrifice instead. Affluent Muslims who can afford sacrifice their best halal domestic animals as a symbol of Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his only son. The meat from the sacrificed animal is divided into three parts. The family retains one third of the share; another third is given to relatives, friends and neighbors; and the other third is given to the poor and needy. The regular charitable practices of the Muslim community are demonstrated during Eid al-Adha by concerted efforts to see that no impoverished person is left without an opportunity to partake in the sacrificial meal during these days. 

It was a true culture shock to see trucks full of sheep or rams on the road headed to various households. All I could think was poor little baby sheep. 

The school's elementary students did an awesome job depicting the annual Hajj.

Now to my stay-cation!!! I checked into Hotel Ibis in Kuwait City so that I could be close to the two things I love about the city, the seaside and the architecture. 

The skyline is beautiful at night. Below are pictures from one of the many malls in the city. I truly believe this country has more malls than any place I've ever traveled to. 

Me and a few other teachers took a guided tour of the Grand Mosque of Kuwait. The art and woodwork inside the Mosque is beautiful. The pictures that I took provides no justice for them. The calligraphy art pieces are very intricate and has great meaning. There are no images or statues inside a mosque. They are decorated with patterns and words from the Qu'ran, hence the calligraphy. 

 Yes, I had to wear a hijab while touring the Mosque. I thought it was going to be heavy and hot but it was actually rather cool and free flowing.

 The picture below is the Prophet Muhommad's name using calligraphy.

  "Bismillah Allahu Arbar" meaning God is the Greatest. This one was my favorite of them all.

 A minaret is a tall tower the muezzen climbs to call the Muslims to prayer.

During my stay-cation, I took a ride to Failaka Island. 

 Failaka Island is an island of Kuwait that was attacked by Iraq during Desert Storm. There is an area of the island that is left in ruins with a few of our tanks and other machinery.

 Here is a bank that was attacked and robbed during the attack. Kuwait had to change their official currency because so much of their money was stolen by Iraqi Troops.

 Beautiful sunset view from the island. It was so impressive in person. We were able to see the skyline eclipsing the sun as it set. Priceless if I say so myself.

Thank you for taking the time to read about my adventures in Kuwait. Please feel free to post a comment in the section below. Hopefully there isn't a huge gap in between my next posting. 

As-salamu alaykum

Church in Kuwait

So, I went to my first of many church services in Kuwait. It was far from what I expected. For all my Memphis folks, it was like a scaled down version of a service at Life Church.
They have multiple services and locations. They even have a little area for youth services.

The Kuwaiti Praise and Worship Team were on it. They had the monitors with the words scrolling on it, dude in the back was rocking on the Bass, and the drums reminded me of Brother Scott (congrats on the wedding).

I went looking for a word from God and I did receive it. The congregation was mostly American teachers from a few of the schools in Kuwait. I was amazed at the number of Kuwaiti Christians in attendance. The pastor and his wife are from Virginia and she enjoyed talking to me and the girls from North Carolina because we were probably the only ones who understood her southern accent.

No matter where I go to church, there is always something that stands out or make me laugh and I found it at Lighthouse. There were two Kuwaiti men sitting behind us during service that had some golden voices. I wanted to turn around and just stare at them. Those baritones were lifting their voices to the high heavens. It made me chuckle at bit.

I look forward to attending the Harvest Festival in November and worshiping with them again.

Until next time...

KL

Kuwait Quirks

A quirk is defined as a peculiarity of behavior; an idiosyncrasy, an unpredictable or unaccountable act or event. This country has many!!!

1. No tissue in the public restrooms. If there is tissue, it's one big roll on the wall outside of the stalls. Don't be in a rush to go cause you gotta stop and grab some tissue or you will be in TROUBLE. 

2. Speaking of tissue: don't put it in the toilet when you are done. Apparently their sewage system isn't quite ready for tissue yet. WTF!!!! I keep forgetting. Oh and why is there no Cottonelle over here? I don't think I can get use to not having Cottonelle. I was told that I am an official "Bougie A$$" Hey I like what I like. 

3. (Ladies Only) They don't sell tampons with applicators. Again, WTF!!! You would have to go to the pharmacy and get them. With that being said, why is there a huge section of "liners" and a small shelf for DIY tampons?  

4. Tattooed eyebrows are a big thing here. I've never seen so many perfect thick black eyebrows in my life. These women don't play when it comes to their faces. I didn't think they would be as fashionable as they are and I'm talking High Fashion honey. Don't let the hijabs fool you.

5. Traffic signs are merely a suggestion. Today the cab driver was driving into one way traffic to merge onto the highway. I was so scared I let out a silent scream. I think Kuwait holds the world record for most accidents. I will not attempt to drive while I am here. 

6. Hygiene is another unpredictable event here. Umm, you never know what you are going to get standing next to someone. And they are not afraid of germs by any means. I had to make my students stop sharing food because they are so gross with it. I couldn't look at them touch and share food another day. 
Today I was in the meat department about to get a cut of beef and the butcher let out the loudest sneeze without attempting to cover anything. The spirit of  Suzanne got in me but the Lord held my tongue. My co-worker and I looked at each other  like "I know he just didn't do that?" We went straight pass his nasty meat section. 

I've been here close to a month and these few things stood out rather quickly. There will be more to come as I explore more of this sandy nation.

P.S. If you want to send a care package, you know what to put in it based on this post. No DIY Tampons Please!!!!