I'm Official!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My Civil ID arrived today. A Civil ID is like a Birth Certificate, Passport and SIN card all rolled into one.  You CAN NOT DO ANYTHING WITH OUT IT.
I can now get my own internet, cell phone plan, Driver's License and other things.  I can't even begin to explain to you how much this means to me.  It's like I finally exist.
I will take a picture of it and try to post it later.  But I am now OFFICIAL.  Yippee!!!!!!!

Thanksgiving Kuwait Style

 Although I was not home for Thanksgiving, the staff who live in my building, the Blue Building, celebrated in style.  Lisa, one of my floor mates, collected the money for the celebration,  and Lisa and I opened up our apartments and hosted the party.  The menu consisted of chickens from the seller by the school, mashed potatoes and fresh steamed vegetables, prepared by one of the grocery stores, salad, buns, and to finish things off, pumpkin pie and lemon meringue pie.  The potatoes were, to quote several people, to die for.  I must admit that they were incredible.

Everyone was very pleased with the dinner and we remembered our Canadian families, who would be celebrating on Monday.

To all of you in Canada, Happy Thanksgiving.

Our Drink Station, right outside my door.

Our appetizer station.

Our fancy table cloth! on the table in my apartment.

Above and below, our feast.

The guests gather to partake of the Thanksgiving Feast.

The Camels of Failaka Island

9 month old camels.  I was surprised at how inquisitive they were - and they didn't spit!

The Camel Herder

Check those eyelashes out.

The adults ambling over to check us out.

Me, with my feet in the Arabian Gulf

The Tank Graveyard Failaka Island

This is the Tank Graveyard.  It contains tanks and other weapons of war that the Iraqis left behind when they fled from the island.

 

 

 

 

Finally - Pictures of Failaka Island

Chess Pieces outside the Museum

Above and the two below are what an old Diwaniya would have looked like. Diwaniyas
have existed in Kuwait since time immemorial. In the old City of Kuwait it was the reception area where a man received his business colleagues and male guests.

Above and below are the insides of a Bride's Room.

What the kitchen would have looked like.

An old cannon that stands in front of the Museum.

Houses used for target practise.

Above and below - mortar holes in the sides of homes.

Above are still more signs of how this island was decimated by the Iraqis when they invaded.

Musings

How do I begin to describe this place that I will be calling home for at least the next two years? 

I see skyscrapers and incredible architecture, but my internet doesn't always work, and the chances of me having a land-line for a phone are slim to none.  

The major roads are beautiful and the Gulf Road runs parallel to the Arabia Gulf aka Persian Gulf, but sidewalks are almost non-existent.  I can take a taxi to a shopping area for roughly $3.50, but to buy a head of iceberg lettuce (not shipped from America) I have to spend close to $5.00.  And finding out when I went to use some of my bargain hamburger, 4 for the price of 3, I discovered that I had instead bought lamb.  (The spaghetti still tasted just fine.)

And the dates - I have never seen so many different ways to sell dates.  They are dipped in honey, chocolate, sesame seeds, stuffed with coffee beans, peanuts, almonds, and those are only the ones that I have sampled.  And they are all so fresh.  

I may not be eating my 6 to 8 servings of fruits and vegetables, but I can honestly say that I am definitely eating close to 6 servings of fresh fruit.  The apricots and plums are so tasty.  The other day when I was at the mall, I had a cup of chopped mangoes in their own juice.  It was SO GOOD.  My mouth is watering right now as I think of it.  And a side note, in 6 weeks, I have only had ice-cream twice.  We won't talk though about the date cookies.

And the other evening, while walking to the school to catch the school bus to go some where, the local chicken delivery man stopped his moped to ask why I hadn't called for chicken in the last 2 weeks.  I have his number on my phone.  He was adamant that I take his phone number and call him if I wanted a chicken.  This is even though the chicken place is right across from the school.  A small chicken that has been stuffed with a pepper, garlic and lemon, is placed on a spit and roasted.  When you order a chicken, you get it with at least 4 pita bread, two containers of a garlic yogurt, pickles and fries - all for roughly $5.25 - and that's delivered right to the door. And to top it all off, this will do me 3 to 4 lunches/suppers.  Not a bad deal, eh?

Since my arrival here, I have had several people point out that they were Christian - and more specifically Catholic.  At times I feel as if we are exchanging secret signs to acknowledgement, although not being Muslim here is not a big deal.  I have also discovered that several of the people who are employed at the school are Coptic Christians.

And the kids.  I haven't heard a swear word and no one has dropped an "F" bomb.  That on it's own makes this a little piece of heaven.  The students call Miss Mary, Miss Rawleigh, or Miss. I even have students thank me at the end of the class for the lesson.  They are polite, albeit chatty, worry about their marks, or not, and follow the lesson just like kids in Canada.  The bottom line is that they are just kids.  Okay, I must also admit that some of the students do have entitlement issues although I have not really had to deal with this - YET.

I go to a store, and I am waited on, called Ma'am and thanked for making a purchase at their store.  I have been warned that I will find it difficult, when I return to Canada, dealing with the attitude of the clerks in the stores and people in general.

 I also have to admit that I have never had such a busy social life.  During this past week, I ate at the Superintendent's house - he hosted all the administration/directors/heads of departments, went to a supper provided by an organization called AWARE (Advocates for Western-Arab Relations) and had attended a supper club, hosted by my principal.  The theme this month was Mexican and I prepared a Tres Leche Cake - a three milk cake.  The cake was a hit. Not bad for a first attempt baking and doing it in a gas oven. And just an FYI, vanilla extract can not be bought for any amount.  Because it has an alcohol base it is not allowed in the country.

I guess the bottom line is that Kuwait is just like any other country - it has it's good and it's not so good points, but all in all I must admit that I am happy here.  

I think I am still in the Honeymoon stage, so stay tuned for more musings.

My Trip to Failaka Island.

September 16, saw me skimming across the waves to Failaka Island.  In my reading, before going to the island, one source mentioned that it was the most important island in Kuwait.  After visiting the island, I also read that it is considered to be  Ranked #70 of 71 things to do in Kuwait by Lonely Planet travellers. (I am not using  the list provided by Lonely Planet to determine what to see next, but I must admit that it is sort of nice to know that I am visiting all the right places.  :)

The island is approximately 20 km from Kuwait City and 50 kilometers from the southernmost tip of Iraq.  It is because of its close proximity to Iraq that it was the first Kuwaiti territory to be invaded by Iraq.  During 1990 and 1991, the invading Iraqis depopulated the island, expelling all of its residents to the mainland. The Iraqi military mined the beaches and used the island's facilities and buildings for target practice.

Failaka Island is also important for another reason. At some point following Alexander the Great's initial advance through the region in 331 BC or in the period 324/3 BC when he returned to Mesopotamia, the ancient Greeks colonized the island, which they named Ikaros after the Greek island in the Aegean Sea.  

I have included a map of the region so that you can see where the island is in reference to Kuwait City (Kuveitas)  and Iraq (Irakas). 

It took our group (about 40 school staff and their children) roughly 45 minutes to travel by an air-conditioned catamaran to the island.  I couldn't get over how even on the island, you could still see the sky-line of Kuwait City.     

Once we reached the island, we were taken by bus to the one of only 2 hotels on the island.  There we were able to partake of a buffet that was provided.  

We were then able to walk through a museum that contains many artifacts from days gone by and walk through a series of rooms that gave us a glimpse into what it was like on the island, probably around the late 1800's or early 1900's.  Dates where a bit hard to understand and/or read.

After the museum, we were able to walk done deserted streets, where once beautiful homes had been used for target practice when the Iraqis invaded.  These homes have 100's of bullet holes piercing their exteriors  and an occasional mortar hole tearing open a wall.  Over time these houses have been looted and what remains inside is basically just garbage.  It is an incredible feeling to actually be in a place where a piece of history that you remember, has actually occurred.  It is also quite a feeling to see up-close and personal, what war looks like.  This picture, taken from an internet site, gives you sort of an idea of what we were looking at.  I am including the site's address if you would like to look at more pictures of the island. 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kimprint/sets/72157626165358700/

Next, we boarded busses once more and drove out to the tank cemetery.  We were able to see tanks and artillery guns that had been left after the Iraqis left the island.   If one was so inclined, you could climb right inside one of the tanks.  I decided that I really didn't need to feel any hotter than I already was.  That, and although the Kuwaiti army has tried to make sure that any landmines, etc that had been planted were disarmed, I wasn't going to test that theory out.

Our next stop was to see a camel "farm".  The Sheik, who owns a lot of the land on the island, raises these camels as a reminder of their importance to the history of the people.  We were able to get up close and personal with a group of 9 month olds that were in a pen.  The adults, who are free to roam around, decided that we were rather an interesting looking lot, and ventured over to check us out.  The camel herder was very insistent that we understand that these adults are wild and could hurt us.  I have attached a picture of this herder and one of his camels that I found on the above site. 

Our day ended with a swim in the Gulf.  I dipped my toes into the water so that I can say that I have touched the water, but I spent my time looking for seashells and enjoying the cooler temperatures.  When the guide came to collect us, it was with the understanding that we were to get on the busses, right now.  The reason being that the tide was on the way out, and if we waited too much longer, we would not be getting off the island.  Needless to say, we made it.

This is definitely a place that I will visit again.  My understanding is that Spring is a nice time to go.  I guess my job, between now and March is to find out what the people here consider Spring, since most of the locals will tell you that there is only two seasons - Summer and Winter.  I will keep you posted on this.

By the way, the reason this post has taken so long and there are no pictures of mine is that between my computer and the internet I lost the original post, and now my memory stick has decided that it doesn't want to share any pictures, with anyone except my desktop.  If and when I get this figured out, I will add pictures. (Bah humbug on all technology).