Feels Like Home

Well, my apartment FINALLY feels homey......after literally 2 weeks of shopping! Addie, Gillian and I bought out Ikea one night and miraculously fit it all in Gillian's TINY compact car, along with two other people!!!

After hitting up some of the big malls and then A LOT of the local markets such as Al Mubarakeya (which I recommend taking someone with you who knows the place, else you will definitely get lost amongst the hundreds of stalls...), my place feels like a home instead of a hotel. I bought a bunch of different textiles, a lamp, some pillows, and a bookshelf - what a difference! :) Before and after photos........

Alright on to answering some questions.......for those of you who have been asking for my mailing address: DO NOT send any type of package through the regular mailing system. The postal system here is, well quite simply, corrupt. It takes weeks and weeks to arrive in Kuwait, and then sits in the post office until one of the workers decides to finally sort through the mail, goes through the package and then takes whatever is in it. It will never arrive at its final destination = I will never receive it. If it is just a letter or a card, then the regular postal system is fine, but if they feel anything other than a letter or card, it will disappear. The ONLY way to send packages, is through either FedEx or DHL. It will cost a fortune though, so don't feel bad for not sending it! My mailing address is:

Miss Lisette Lively

c/o American Creativity Academy

Al Muthana St, Block 6, Hawally

PO Box 1740, Kuwait, 32018

Onto questions about my school.....well, the whole idea of Kuwait "time" holds true to my school as well!


Yes, that is a picture of my Arabic clock. LOL! As of right now, I still have a completely empty classroom, and no one seems to care, not even slightly! No desks, no chairs, no teacher desk & chair, no shelves, no whiteboard, no bulletin boards.......just four walls and a tiled floor. So HOPEFULLY ("insha'allah" as they say here....meaning 'God willing') there will be furniture by Sunday, our first day of class! LOL! One can only laugh at this point.....this year will definitely be an adventure for sure. A huge positive - It's soooo nice to have windows in my classroom that open, and the building is a very open-air concept because it never rains here, so the halls are open to the courtyard. It's a bit hot right now, but once winter comes, the cooler, fresh air all the time will be great! :) I'm hoping to post some pics of my school, but I need to first gain permission.

We had the beginnings of a sandstorm yesterday, but it quickly blew over. I was greatly disappointed. I am holding out for a big one to come and then I'll post some pics and maybe video if I can figure out how to get the battery back into my camcorder. I took it out, but for some reason, it will not go back in! Oh and for all you Mac users out there.....if anyone knows and can email instructions to me on how to import a Quicktime video clip from a regular digital camera into iMovie, I will be forever indebted to you!!!

That's all for now! :)

Seeing Some of the Sites Around Kuwait City!

I have learned the importance of having patience in this country already! LOL One really must be able to go with the flow and let things roll off the ol' back in order to make it here. It's funny how much North America is governed and run by "time". Granted it makes for structure and solid schedules, but over here there doesn't seem to be a lot held to "time". And maybe there's something to be said for the more laid-back approach to life! Perhaps we are too caught up with time....

Yesterday, we had to begin the resident visa process by getting finger printed, have our work visas approved and then get more blood tests and another chest x-ray. We were told to be at the school by 10am to begin the process and we were going to be done in a couple hours. Well when we got to the school, no one was there to meet us and after waiting an hour and a half, someone finally did come and off we went across the city to get finger printed at this shady looking place (I think it was actually a police office) that we entered through a sketchy back alley entrance. After that we then drove back across the city to the government visa office and waited in line for awhile before being issued a stamp. We were then rushed off to get blood tests done. Next we needed to go to yet another building and have our chest x-rays done. All-in-all, we got home at about 3:30, making the adventure 5 1/2 hours long! To top it off, there were three people who didn't get to finish the process because the airport visa desk forgot to stamp their passports, therefore making them invalid for this whole registration process! I was thankful that my passport did get stamped. :) Here is a good shot of us sweating it out in a very sketchy and dirty bus. We wanted to take a pic to remember how smelly it was in there! LOL

After we were able to rest for a bit, we were off to the world's largest Dhou to take a look. It was pretty big! It was right on the Gulf, so again the view was beautiful and the woodwork inside was stunning. They had some interesting pictures on the wall. This one is of all the past Amirs (Kings) of Kuwait.

Today was a lot less exhausting.....we actually did some touring around and saw a few sites! Our first stop was The Grand Mosque. It was quite beautiful! As women, we had to don abiyas (long robes) and hijabs (head scarves) to enter the mosque. Our tour guide was quite informative and spewed out loads of facts while he intermittently talked on his cell phone! LOL The interior of the mosque was quite cool and the interior architecture was beautifully crafted. We had fun attempting to take pictures of the inside of the dome by laying on the carpet and looking up. Don't worry, the guide told us we could do it! We had a lot of fun wearing the traditional coverings and taking pictures. This one is of Addie, me, and Stacey. :)

The next stop was The Kuwait Towers. These are one of the most famous symbols of Kuwait. There are three of them. The main one is the viewing sphere with a two story observation deck that has a rotating deck on the second level. It also houses a restaurant and many pictures of what the Iraqi Military did to it during the Invasion. Sidenote, they refer the the Gulf War over here as "the Invasion". The second tower is a water tower and the third is for electricty/lighting. The view from the top was breath-taking as you could see a lot of the Gulf coastline and all the buildings along it. We could even see a bunch of sheep in what we assumed was some sort of slaughter house. It was pretty hazy today so you couldn't see very far out into the Gulf. Looks like a possible sandstorm trying to roll in!

The third point of interest today was the famous Souq Sharq - a really nice shopping mall. There were MANY Western stores and places to eat in this mall and a really neat fish market across the street! I finally had time to have my first Starbucks coffee in Kuwait. I even have photographic proof! LOL It didn't cost quite as much as I thought it would. 1.2 KD, which is equivalent to about $4. Granted I had an iced coffee and those are usually less than $2.50 back home! Ah well, it was definitely worth it! :)

Anyways, that's what has been happening these last few days......busy, busy, busy! I am looking forward to getting into a routine and starting school. Tomorrow is the first day of actual school meetings where we will finally get to see the curriculum and the classrooms. Can't wait!

Goodbye Canada, Hello Kuwait!! :)

I have officially landed in Kuwait! The past few days leading up to my flights are simply a blur at this point. So many things to do and people to see, but all were done and my send off at the airport was touching with so many people coming out! :) I am truly blessed by the friends and family I have.

My flights were pretty good. I had an "intersting" issue arise 15 minutes before boarding my first flight...apparently when they say you can take on 2 pieces of carry-on luggage, British Airways means that you can have a laptop bag and a purse - no more! Needless to say I had just that plus a backpack. I ended up having to check my backpack in a mad rush at the last minute and had to pay a whopping $171 for it!!! Can we say ridiculous!?!? Anyways, there really was nothing else I could say or do to change the rules, so I just paid it and made a mental note not to bring 2 pieces of carry-on next time! LOL

The 9 hour flight from Calgary to London was pretty bumpy with a lot of turbulence, but that don't bother me, so I was ok. It took a long while for me to settle down and go to sleep, but once I did, I was out for a few hours. London Heathrow is immense! I had no idea that an airport could be that large. I guess that's why it's the largest/busiest airport in the world! lol The 8 1/2 hour layover there was pretty long as I decided not to venture forth from the airport into London......but next time I definitely will. I did manage to find a Starbucks and enjoy a good coffee! LOL

The second lag of my journey was fairly uneventful as well. It took just over 6 hours to fly from London to Kuwait, and again I slept. In fact, I was quite annoyed with myself after waiting around for supper to be served on the plane, I fell asleep and didn't wake up again until after it had been served. I sat hungry for awhile before once again falling asleep! My moment of surrealism came when I awoke to my first Middle Eastern sunrise and I looked on the flight map to see where we were at that present moment. We were flying over Iraq, just north of Bagdad. It finally hit me that "I am really half-way across the world in the Middle East!" As we were landing I got to really see the landscape of Kuwait and it is flat! I thought Southern Alberta was flat!? Nope, Kuwait takes the cake. I didn't expect to see so much sand either. I assumed there would be some green spaces or trees around, but I guess those don't belong in a true desert environment!

After landing I had to wait 40 mins in line at the visa counter at the airport. I was warned that the people at the counter are normally quite rude and abrupt, but the man I had was very kind and inquistive once he found out I was a teacher! He also had taught English some years before, and was excited for me to experience Kuwait! It was awesome. While standing in line at the visa counter, it struck me odd that after looking around, hearing Arabic being spoken left, right and centre, seeing all signs in Arabic and me being one of the only white people in the crowd, I did not feel out of place or uncomfortable. I felt like this was where I belonged! What a great feeling. :)

After claiming my baggage, I met another new teacher (Addie) and she and I were driven to our apartment building. We were introduced to Bill, a teacher who has lived here for a bit already, and he hooked us up with loads of useful information, bottled water, and the most important part - the internet!!! :) We chatted for a long while and then as our eyelids were starting to close on their own accord, he sent us off to get some rest! I couldn't go to sleep until things were unpacked, so I unloaded my luggage and attempted to make it neat and tidy. Then, I decided to have a little nap.....7 hours later when Addie called and woke me up......LOL. So much for a little nap! We decided to venture out and get some food. As soon as we opened the building's doors, we were assaulted with a blast furnace! Well, that's what it felt like anyways! The sun had set a few hours before and it was still 41 degrees!!!! Thankfully, this place was only 2 blocks away and was semi-air conditioned. We ordered 2 completely different dishes, but ended up being served the same one only Addie's had a deep fried fish and mine had a side of deep fried chicken! LOL We had to take a picture of our first meal in Kuwait. Geeky, I know, but still! :) Anyways, there's an update of the last few days and my arrival into this intriguing little country. I will post some more pics later showing my apartment and the view I have.