In Kuwait

Hello people who are reading this blog...

So here is the story of my time in Kuwait thus far. :) I arrived in Kuwait August 17th and had a fantastic orientation for the first week with the 29 other new teachers that arrived with me. The administration did a phenomenal job of taking us to various shopping centers to buy supplies, furnishings, food, etc. for our apartment, giving us time to get to know each other and our surroundings, time to set up our classroom, etc. The second week was for all staff, new and returning, and we kept working on classroom preparation as well as whole grade planning for curriculum.

The apartment that I'm living in currently is really nice, but it is only temporary, until I can move into a new, even nicer one! I've seen the new building, which is complete and ready to go except it doesn't have electricity yet. In order to get electricity the builders need to get permission from the government, and that is a process that could be finished tomorrow or could be finished in six months, we just have no idea. So until then I'm staying semi-packed and without decoration, since the more work I do here the more I'll have to move. My apartment has a giant living room/dining room, bedroom, bathroom, maid's room, and kitchen, and is more than enough space for one person. As you can see from the pictures, it's almost too big, especially without decorations to make it feel more homey.

Isn't the brown provided blanket lovely? :) But it's more than enough for now, and it will be fun to decorate my new place once I move in.

To celebrate the end of orientation we had a delicious Lebanese meal with all of the new teachers and administration at a posh restaurant, complete with hookahs!

Thus far I'm really enjoying Kuwait and being back in the Mid. It's currently extremely hot-it's been between 112-118 degrees every day so far-but I think I'm starting to get used to it. Everyone keeps telling us that by mid-September it starts to cool down, so I'm looking forward to that. It's air conditioned anywhere inside, from taxis to tiny corner shops to government buildings, so it's just a matter of getting from one air-conditioned spot to the other. You can definitely tell we're in the middle of a dessert because there is sand everywhere, but I'm loving living in the middle of a city and seeing all of the Arabic everywhere.

It's about a ten minute walk from my apartment (the building in the middle of the picture below, tan with green balconies-my apartment is on the first floor on the left) and while it's not the scenic stroll I had in Mussoorie it's not a bad walk.

Technically I'm not in Kuwait City, I'm in Maidan Hawally, but Kuwait essentially is one city that is spreading out from the Gulf, and it's only a twenty minute cab ride from where we are to the middle of downtown, as long as traffic is good. We're also only about a five minute drive (and twenty minute walk once it cools down) from the Gulf, which is really beautiful, especially at sunset, and has lots of nice restaurants with water views.

<-The Liberation Tower, built at the end of the Gulf War

One thing that will make life in Kuwait very easy is it has tons of American food chains, and you can get anything, down to specific brand (we're talking Cheez-it Twists, Tostito Salsa, Wasa Fiber Crackers), at the groceries stores here. I've seen what feels like hundreds of Starbucks, McDonalds, and other chains everywhere, and while there many things around to remind me that I am in Kuwait, no craving will be unsatisfiable here!

My past week has been consumed with classroom preparations for today, the first day of school, and I think everything more or less came together. I have 24 students in my class, 13 boys and 11 girls, all of whom are Arab. They seem like a very fun bunch, very energetic and talkative but also quite excited about school. You can see the layout of my classroom below, and special thanks to my awesome cousin Tony for helping me to pic out some of the decorations and name tags!

There are so many more stories and pieces of information I could tell you, but I will save those for another post, as I am ready for a hard earned nap! If there's anything you'd like me to write about please let me know, and hopefully these posts will get more and more interesting as life gets busier here!

Until then,

Jessie