A Roller Coaster Adventure

Sorry it took so long for an update on the blog things have been a little hectic at school and get the students settled and what not.

So by now all of our students have arrived and started including 1st grade, kindergarten, and Prek. It has been a busy and fun couple of weeks. About a week ago two of our containers with our materials arrived at school. It was christmas in September as we all had been waiting for our much needed resources. I was extremely fortunate enough to receive about 90% of my materials where as some other teachers were not so lucky. I spent several days unpacking and going through all my materials and spent another few days having workers construct all the cabinets and things for me. (That's right I didn't have to do it myself) Here are some pictures of the fabulous resources I get to use every day.

My classroom has completely transformed from when I first got here. Here are some more pictures to show you the transformation.

    Before

    Before

    Before

    After ( and yes I know the piano keys are wrong)

   After

In our down time I joined the Ahmadi Music Group and will be singing in a concert on October 23rd- 25th at the British Embassy, which will be quite exciting. I also attend weekly music nights at a restaurant called Organica where 3 musicians play/ sing live music while you relax and eat and enjoy each others company. This has been a great escape mid week from the hustle and bustle of school. We have also enjoyed quite a bit of shopping and I even got to go bowling and play pool the other night with some people from school.
Last weekend a new local friend of mine named Helen got the teachers from my school a free pass to the Hilton for the day. It included gym, workout classes, beach, restaurants, pool, and spa. It was a great day and we have a wonderful brunch in the morning then I went for a ride on this inflatable bouncy chair being pulled behind a speed boat, and even swam in the Arabian Gulf. (check that off the bucket list) A membership to the Hilton fitness club is 600KD which equals out to be around $2,200 U.S dollars for the year. So I don't think I will be joining anytime soon, but we got another free pass for this saturday arranged by our school so that will be cool.

I have been in Kuwait just shy of 2 months now and I am really enjoying my time here and the adventure. But there are times that I do get homesick and miss home and my family and friends. It's the times when I am relaxing in my apartment by myself when I start to think and miss home. Don't get my wrong this is an amazing opportunity and I so thrilled to be there and don't plan on leaving anytime soon. Someone once told us when we arrived that there would come a point where the novelty of being in a foreign country would wear off. I thought that would never happen to me, and it is starting to a bit. The frustration of not being able to just get up and go somewhere without having to hail a cab is not fun, but it's also nice not having to pay for a car. I just think this is a roller coaster of an adventure and I am just starting my journey up the big hill before the big plunge downward. I have made some amazing friends here and we are definitely our own little family here and support each other which is great. Also to make my apartment and my life here a little more friendly I have decided to adopt some kitties. Yes I know what your thinking. "Are you nuts to adopt not one but 2 cats in a foreign country?" But I plan on being here for awhile and It will be nice to have someone to come home to. I will picking up my new room mates later on in the week. I have not decided on names yet but there is one boy and one girl so please let suggestions as to names for them. Here is a picture of them.

I know they are freaking cute and that's why I could not say no to them because they need a good home. Well starting on friday we have 9 days off for a religious holiday called EID. It is the first of many vacations, unfortunately we don't have our civil I.D's yet so we can't travel but I am sure we can find something fun to do. 

Well I guess that's it for now. Please let me comments for name suggestions for the little ones. Hope to hear from you!!!