Entry #41 Christmas in Prague

We were lucky enough to get connected to a family living in Prague through mutual friends (thank you Sarah!). It turned out that Maylia and Jeff, along with their two little ones, were going to Rome for the holidays so they offered us their apartment. That's given me the chance to keep track of our daily outings while we're here in Prague.

December 20th: We left Kuwait!!! YIPPPEEEEE!!
The flight was uneventful and it amazes me how great the kids are at traveling. I'd like to think it's because we are awesome parents and we've taught them to be patient, self-sufficient individuals who are able to entertain themselves for long periods of time, but really we just let them watch A LOT of movies! (Zoe looked a bit bug-eyed as we exited the plane)


We only had one bump on our trip and it is proving to be a challenge; British Airways lost our stroller! We are trying to cope with this as best we can but Prague is a walking city and we're not sure that Isaac is up for the challenge. Perhaps this is a sign from above that it is time to get rid of the stroller?

December 21st: The Kindness of Strangers!
Our generous neighbours helped us out tremendously by loaning us their two seat stroller for the day. This gave us the chance to hike through Letna Park and walk down to the Old Town Square where we visited the Christmas market. We discovered a yummy Czech treat called Trblo (which Zoe loves), and then enjoyed wandering through the narrow streets to Wenceslas Square. There was another market at the bottom of the square, but it didn't live up to the Old Town market. We went to the National Muesum to get out of the cold and the kids had a great time looking at dinosaur bones which Isaac found "very scary!" On the walk home we stopped for our very nutirious lunch of hot wine and crazy big sauages. (We have to get our fill of wine and swine before heading back to Kuwait.) Then we walked back to Letna Park where we finished the day with some time playing in the snow and romping around in the playground.


Zoe and her trblo...very yummy!
Zoe and the biggest hot dog ever!!

Some hot wine and a sausage!

December 22nd: Day two without a stroller! (and this time I mean it!)
Our friends from Kuwait, the Johnsons (Seth, Christie and their two year old Lewis as well as Seth's parents Helen and Doug), are visiting Prague as well, so we met up with them for a few hours.

We went back to Old Town Square to visit Tyn Church. The kids were fancinated by the ornate paintings and statues depicting the different stations of the Cross. Then, for something completely different, we marched off to the Communist Muesum. Now I was the one facinated by our surroundings. Call me a nerd but I loved reading all about the country under the communist regime and seeing how the people ended communism in a series of peaceful demonstrations, refered to as The Velvet Revolution. Communism only ended here in 1989 (20 short years ago) and walking through the streets you would never guess that this country was effected by such a repressive system. Isaac's favorite part of the museum was the huge statue of Lenin that he kept calling "the big man".

After the Muesum we headed off to lunch and had more wine and swine! I had a traditional Czech dish called vepro-knedio zelo and Jamie had a gulosh of some sort. Very yummy!
Our last stop of the day was Charles Bridge. Those of you who have visited Prague know what I mean when I say that it is specatular. The view, the statues, and the atomphere were all awesome. I hope my pictures capture how we felt about Charles Bridge.

A guard on Charles Bridge. Isaac isn't so sure about this guy!
There was always different enterainters on the bridge. Zoe liked giving them money.

The view from Charles Bridge
Another view from Charles Bridge!

One of the many statues along Charles Bridge

December 23rd: Day three without our stroller and still no word about its location.

On a side note, on the British Air web site our stroller is listed as a black "phido and bill" umbrella stroller. When in reality it is a green "phil and teds" two seater stroller.

The neigbhours came through again and lent us their one seater stroller. Today was zoo day and we thought it was a good idea to walk. In hindsight this was not a good plan, but we survived. It took an hour and Zoe was miserable. (FYI: knock off Ughs from Payless are not waterproof) Jamie and I took turns carrying her. When we finally arrived (to meet up with the Johnsons) Zoe's socks were absolutely soaked. Luckily, Christie had an extra pair of socks and we stuck some plastic bags on her feet and we were ready to rock and roll. (The plastic bags on feet took me back to my childhood) There were wagons at the zoo for use and Zoe was quite happy to be carted around. The zoo was very impressive but it was a wet damp day.

My favourite part of the day was actually on the way home from the zoo when we witnessed a Czech Christmas tradition. Carp is the meal of choice here and it is bought fresh...as in alive. You get to see it knocked on the head with a hammer and gutted right in front of you on the street. One man we saw preparing a carp was smoking a cigarette over the fish with a bloodied bandage on both hands. Apparently, a lot of people end up taking them home alive and letting them swim in the bathtub until dinner.

December 24th: No word on the stroller but Jamie was hung up on twice by British Air after waiting on hold for 20 minutes.

We celebrated Christmas today. Santa came through with a Jessie and Woody Doll for the kids.
We met up with the Johnsons for a walk around the castle area. Most things were closed today as the 24th is the big day in the Czech Republic.

We had another great Czech lunch overlooking Petrin Park by Prague Castle. More pork and cabbage for me and Zoe ate a whole trout! These Czech know how to cook cabbage!

We went back to the apartment for our Christmas dinner with the Johnsons. I know this will be a shock to you but we had a pork roast with cabbage! It was a lovely meal with friends!

December 25th: Day Five without a stroller. We didn't even try calling today, though Jamie is sending some outraged emails. I think he omitted all the pleases and thank yous! :)

We headed down to the Jewish Quarter today where the museum and synagogues were open. We were very impressed by the Jewish Cemetery and the Pinkas Synagogue. In the Pinkas Synagogue all the names of the Czech Jews who died during the Holocust were written over the walls. It was overwhelming to see so many names. Some of the other museum and synagogues would have been interesting minus two kids.

Back to the Old town square for some cabbage and Starbucks. And then another walk home over Charles Bridge. It was packed today.

The Jewish Quarter of Prague

The Old-New Synagogue

The Jewish Cemetery

December 26th: Day Six without our stroller and I have given up any hope of seeing it again! Luckily we still are able to use the neighbours stroller.

Today we headed off to Prague Castle which was just three tram stops away from our apartment. It was amazing and the kids loved it. The history is incredible here. There was a whole room on knights and the kids picked out what suit of amour they would wear when they become knights. We continued back to Charles Bridge and grabbed a tram home. It was a long day but a good one.

Maylia, Jeff, Ella and Mattias arrived back from their trip from Rome and we were able to get to know the Parkers. They have lived in Prague for 3 years so it was interesting to get a non-tourist take on the city.

Family shot with St. Viticus in the background.

Prague Castle, which was founded around 880. It is a world UNESCO site.

The inside of St. Vitus

December 27th: Our last day in Prague and still no stroller. Jamie cannot get in touch with anyone. On-line it says we are in Prague until January 2nd! Good bye Phil and Ted!

Today we had a slow day and enjoyed pancakes for breakfast prepared by Jeff. We got out and went to an even older castle that not many tourists make it too. There was a great playground for the kids and a beautiful park area. We had to make it a short day since we had to finish the packing and it was quite cold.

A taxi was ordered to pick us up at 4:15. Jamie ran downstairs to give the neighbours some wine as a token of our appreciation for the stoller loan. The neighbour was quite excited to see him since the courier company from British Airways had just called to say it be would be delievering our stroller in an hour!! Our taxi arrived just in time for Jamie to get the stroller our of the couriers trunk and put it in the trunk of the taxi. You cannot make this stuff up!

Flight home was great. (The kids slept from take off in London to landing in Kuwait)

We are back in Kuwait after an amazing week in Prague and ready to bring in 2010 and all the changes that come with it. We will be home in Halifax in 5 short months and in the meantime we'll try and enjoy all the Middle East has to offer.

I have tried to go high tech by making a slide show with some of our pictures. I hope it works! It is just under four minutes and the quality is not great but it does capture our trip. FYI, Zoe made me put the Christmas graphics on a few pictures.

Entry #40 Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! We are frantically trying to pack for our Prague trip and Jamie cannot believe I am taking the time to blog right now. I wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year. We will be in Prague until the 27th and will spend New Years and Jamie's Birthday in Kuwait.
Here are a few pictures of the Christmas party put on by the school.

Not a great family picture but this was the best we could get.
Zoe and her friend Tristan listening to The Night Before Christmas.

We are hosting Flat Stanley for our cousin Keeley in Winnipeg. He came to the Christmas party and will come to Prague as well.

Isaac with his present from Santa. I am hoping this will be his last hockey stick!
My friend Nadine reading The Night Before Christmas. Her husband was Santa. The day after the party I asked Zoe if she liked her Santa gift. She calmly said, "That wasn't from Santa. It was from Nadine. Her husband was Santa." I was floored and left to come up with a quick explanation. I explained that David was Santa's helper because Santa was too busy to come to every party. She seemed happy with that answer.

Isaac and Flat Stanley.
Zoe and her friend Dana from her class.

Our Christmas tree in the apartment! Sad but true. :)

Enjoy your holidays and stayed tuned for the Prague Blog in January.

Excuse any errors Jamie is refusing to edit this! :)

Entry #39 Observations

Here are just a few random observations about our life here in Kuwait.

While not as bad as Japan for its wacky signage and labels there are a few good ones.
 On a box of pencils: "Educational Healthy Pencil; Easy to Hold"
 A sign on a barber shop for kids: Virgin Kids
 On a barber shop for men: Saloon for Men (Jamie thought he could get a drink here)
 Sign reads, Ministry of Justice: Department of Experts (not sure what they are experts on but it sounds like they know what they are doing.)
 Sign on the side of the highway: Speed leads to Death (unfortunately, no one really follows this advice)
 Sign on a laundry mat: Future Hope Laundry
 Sign on car rental store: Rent: Top Secret Cars
 Sign on car rental store: Exotic Rentals: Cars for Rent (I am glad they have the second part of the sign to clear up any confusion. I wonder what they include in the rental to make it exotic?)

Cost of living..
Expensive
Pumpkins (see last entry)
Groceries
Going out for a coffee or tea

Inexpensive
Cars
Tailors (to get a pair of dress pants lined it will cost me around $5.00!)
Nannies and Maids
Pedicures/Manicures
Gas

As you can see this gas run cost us 4.75 KD for a 73 liter fill up. That equals roughly $16.00 to fill up our SUV. The workers at this gas station thought I was nuts taking this picture.
Sadly, the items in the inexpensive list are often services offered by the Pilipino, Indian or Bangladeshi workers. If we paid our nanny what some families pay their help, we could afford two live in maids.

Our Address
Our address here in Kuwait is a bit of a mystery. There are no street addresses as we know it. When we order food for delivery the conversation can go two ways...
Conversation 1
Resturant: Where do you live?
Jamie: Do you know the teacher buildings?
R: For AIS
J: Yes, we are in the blue building.
R: Okay sir.
Conversation 2
R: Where do you live?
J: Do you know the teacher buildings?
R: No
J: Okay, we are in Salmyia, in Madian Hawally near the police station and traffic place, across from the blind association in the blue building. There is construction across the street from our apartment.
R: Okay sir.
And no matter the conversation, the driver usually calls to say he can't find it. However, we always get our food.

Zoe’s Observations
Zoe is starting to notice that she is a minority in her class. She does not articulate it as such, but there are a few little things that she says that surprise us. She wants dark skin and dark hair and when I ask her why she says that it is beautiful. She is also noticing that some women cover their hair, or their hair and clothes, or everything all together. On night we went to Kim and Blair's house for dinner and she insisted on covering her hair. She has only been a minority for a year and a half and already she feels she is different and her skin and hair are not good enough. It makes me wonder how minorities feel in Nova Scotia who live there for their whole lives!!

Temperature
For the record I felt cold on November 17, 2009. I think it was 23 degrees. It will start getting cold now in our apartment since we have no central heating. When we complain about the cold we always hear the comment "but you are from Canada!" Which we answer with, "yes but we have central heating!" We will soon get out the four little heaters we have to try and keep us warm.

I will stop my babbling now...

Entry # 38 Divine Intervention...oh and Halloween

The powers that be, have intervened in my addiction to chai lattes. Last weekend we took the kids for a walk along the Gulf and, of course, there was a Starbucks convinently located on our route. Little did I know that my life would soon change. I ordered my fix from the lovely Phillipino worker and she said sweetly, "Sorry Ma'm that was just a promotion. How about a toffee nut latte?" I think she was a little startled by my reaction and in hindsight I am embrassed. I don't think anyone in that Starbucks has witnessed a grown woman crying over a change of menu. Jamie talked me through it and I have accepted my fate. We can now continue with our plan of saving for a house.

On to Halloween...

I was prepared this year with both the kid's costumes so there was no running around gathering supplies. Isaac was going to be a pirate (as Zoe was at 2.5), Zoe was going to be Mulan and I was going to be a pirate as well. Zoe was allowed to dress up on the Wednesday before Halloween and we woke up early to ensure that we were ready to go. I did her hair and she was allowed to wear a little bit of make up. Needless to say, she was very excited. So when the call came at 6:45 from my head of department telling me school was canceled due to a power outage I had a sobbing distraught little girl on my hands. Jamie and I were still required at school so the only way we could get away was letting her watch the Mulan movie in her costume.

On Thursday, we, the parents of small children, had a halloween party. The "we" turned into me and Jamie when the orginial host family, Kim and Blair, had two members hit with H1N1. So after a morning of parent teacher meetings we headed home to host the halloween party. Thankfully, Kim had everything prepared and it only took a few trips to transfer everything to our place. We had 17 adults and 12 children in the apartment. After the party we headed out to trick or treat at four of the teacher apartment buildings. Getting a group of kids in costumes in and out of elevators and up and down stairs is a whole other blog entry (which I won't bore you with). Overall, the kids had a great time and we were exhausted so I believe that equals a great halloween.

I have included a lot of pictures! Enjoy

This display is Kim's creation. The pumpkins are squash since real pumpkins can cost about $30.00.

Most of the kids!

Mulan and her pumpkin.

Flora and Zoe.

Maquire (Kim and Blair's son)

A blurry but cute Mulan!

Flora and her son Floyd. I think they were confused by the Halloween tradition but Floyd had an excellent time and Flora says he still wears the duck costume.

My babies. Isaac was in costume for most of the party and then changed into his bathing suit and became a surfer dude.

ARRRRRRRGGGH!

Assessing the haul!

Entry #37 HUGE NEWS!!!!

Starbucks is now serving chai lattes!! This is a mixed blessing for me. I love them so much and I am thrilled that I can now get them here in Kuwait. However, it is not good for the future of our savings account! I am trying to limit myself to one a week. I should be working on my intro at chai latte anonymous "Hi my name is Heather and I have an addiction!"

Besides the chai latte news nothing much is new with us. Isaac is doing well after his surgery and Zoe continues to enjoy her small class. Jamie is starting to coach the school's soccer club two days a week, which is something that he would do at home but it is a paid position here. I will start to tutor a grade 11 student this week. Life is busy and the time is flying by.

I have included some pictures of our adventures. My friend (Kim) and I took the kids to the camel market again this year. Last year Zoe and Isaac would not get out of the car but this year they were both excited to feed the camels. Zoe was so excited that she almost lost a hand..apparently camels don't care what they chomp on and Isaac still talks about it.

This is Hudson, Maguire and Zoe is standing behind them.

There was a bit of a stink!

Last year Jamie and I took the kids to the Grand Mosque and of course did not get to hear any of the tour as we followed a 1 and 3 year old around. So this year Kim babysat our kids and Jamie and I were able to go and actually listen, learn and take our time looking around. As you can see from the pictures it is quite grand. Apparently the main hall can hold up to 10,000 men and the women's pray room can hold up to 950 women.

I have also included a few random pictures.

had her face painted at the mall and was quite happy for the rest of the day.

Isaac contemplating his sucker at Starbucks.

That is it for now!

Entry #36 Isaac's Adventure with Kuwaiti Health Care

Little Isaac is always keeping us on our toes! From head injuries to enlarged tonsils we never know what to expect.

We noticed Isaac's enlarged tonsils last April and they have just been getting bigger and bigger. He was becoming more irritable and his appetite was almost non-existent. We were recommended to an ENT Doctor (trained in Germany with excellent English) by a friend. We phoned on Wednesday September 23rd in the morning and got in that night at 6:30.

We went to the appointment and he examined Isaac. We knew it wasn't good news when both the doctor and the nurse said "Oh My!" when Isaac opened his mouth. He then sent us to the first floor for an x-ray of his adenoids. There was no line up so we got right in and then waited 10 minutes for the report. Then we went back up to Dr. Attia and he saw us within 10 minutes. He looked at the x-ray and saw that the adenoids were enlarged and obstructing his airway. He recommended surgery with radio frequency. He looked at his calendar and booked us in for the 28th. We asked a few questions and then left with his x-ray and a picture of Isaac's tonsils. This whole process took 2 hours. In the car Jamie commented that I was being very calm. I told him that we have month to get used to this idea and he pointed out that it was on SEPT 28th, not Oct. 28th! Then I started to freak out!

Over the weekend we drove to the hospital to make sure we could get their without getting lost. It ended up being only about 10 minutes from our house. We went to see the doctor on Sunday at 5:00 for blood work and check up by the anaesthesiologist. (Did I spell that right?!?)

Friends took Zoe to school on the day of the surgery (she was not happy to be missing out on this exciting event!) And we headed off to the hospital with a very hungry and cranky little boy. It is hard to explain to a two year why they can't eat. We had no troubles getting admitted and we found out that our insurance would cover the procedure and the hospital room. Isaac had to take some medicine to relax him and we saw a glimpse of what Isaac is going to look like as a drunk teenager...drooling, giggling and droopy eyed. (Also a little violent!) He took a serious disliking to the gown they wanted him to wear and put up a solid effort to take it off. I was hit several times and it took two people to take him away from us and into the OR. I am not sure what injuries they incurred. And, of course, by this time I am weeping hysterically as my son is pulled from me. Good times, good times!

We waited in the hospital room for about 40 minutes when the doctor called to say everything went well and his adenoids were huge ("the size of dinosaurs"....who knew dinosaurs had adenoids??!) He was wheeled up to our room and looked so tiny in that big bed!! As soon as he saw us he wanted his blankie and promptly fell asleep for two hours.

When he woke up, the doctor came to talk to us and told us we could go. We gave Isaac just enough jello and apple juice for a good vomit all over Jamie and later in the car. (Just an FYI, vomit in a car when it is 40 degrees is not cool!) He was pretty quiet for the rest of the day but in good spirits. I stayed home with him on Tuesday to make sure he was okay. His voice seems higher and I guess that is normal (based on my googled information).

All this has happened in less then a week. Talking to friends at home I think this whole process for some could take close to 8 months! So besides us being away from our mom's during this time and sometimes not having a clue what people were saying to us due to language barriers (either lack of English or very heavy accents) it was a great experience and we are very happy that Isaac will be breathing easier now.