Entry #42 Dust, February Blues, Spray Foam, Desert Trips and Testicles

I have not had a chance to update our blog in almost three months so I will now try and sum up three months in a condescend yet humorous summary.

Dust: As I write this, I am looking out our window and can see the dust in the air. It gives everything an eerie orange hue and you can actually taste it when you sallow. There has been dust storms on and off for two weeks and it makes me miss our rainy Nova Scotia even more. Yes, I miss rain! Please remind me of this statement this summer when I complain bitterly about the rain!

February Blues: Through February I was tired all the time and even went for blood tests to rule out any medical problems. Everything came back fine, so I have self diagnosed myself with homesickness! There are so many things I miss about home, but the element I have been missing most is the familiarity of home. Living in a foreign country is an exercise in frustration and a test of one’s patience. We are still finding out where things are and why things happen the way they do. There is never a moment when your subconscious can just be. I feel like I can never truly relax. So, despite the fact we are in place that is almost always sunny (minus the dust storms), one can suffer from the February blues!

Spray Foam: Once again we were in Kuwait to celebrate Liberation Weekend (see entry #24). Many teachers try and leave for this long weekend to escape the crazy traffic and party goers. We stuck around and, like last year, we went walking along Gulf Road. I took both Isaac and Zoe this year and we had a great time. Not sure where the foam spraying came from but it is a lot of fun and the kids love it. Isaac was a little upset when he got foamed but he liked spraying the cars.

Isaac had trouble pressing down hard enough to get the foam to come out. In this picture he is using all his strength.

The day was a bit windy and dusty.
Desert trips: I am assuming that people can figure out from the title that we headed out to the desert a few more times. The temperature has been awesome here so a few families have gone out to enjoy the nice weather in the desert. Unfortunately, the spot we go has become more popular and we now have to compete with quads, dunebuggies, and fully built compounds for Kuwaiti campers (complete with satellites). The campers here have not heard of cleaning up after themselves so the beautiful desert is completely littered. It really is hard to get my head around people camping and leaving all of their food and garbage rotting in a spot they might return to the following month. We made the best of it and the kids adore climbing up the dunes and sliding down them. The campfire, complete with marshmellows, is a big hit as well.

Our friends Kim and Blair

Marshmellow fingers!

The boys being goofy!

Testicles: If my son wasn’t so cute I would return him (plus I can’t find the receipt!) Isaac had his second surgery this year on March 4th. This time it was for an undescended testicle. We were called into see the doctor on Tuesday at 5:00 pm and were told we would have the surgery the next day! Things move fast here. We quickly arranged our sub plans and headed to the hospital early the next morning. Everything went smoothly with the surgery and he was back in our room within an hour. I was calmer then last time and he was calmer too…not sure which caused what! I took the next day off to keep an eye on him and besides trying to keep him somewhat still he has recovered nicely. In my other entry about Isaac’s adenoid/tonsil surgery I included a cute picture of Isaac showing off his tonsils; I have decided not to include a picture this time…enough said!

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!