Noteworthy November....

I know what your already thinking...... another post in November that's crazy talk!!! Well I am trying to be more attentive to my blog and update a little more often so here is some noteworthy news for November.

So about a month ago I met a gentleman named Dan Massoth and his Wife Kris who are also brand new to Kuwait but teach at AIS (American International School) They are the middle and high school band directors. They are super nice people and have very helpful to me in getting my instrumental program going at my school. 2 weeks ago I met up with Dan in Hawally and we took a tour of the music stores in Kuwait. We went to the only authorized Yamaha dealer in the country, and ironically they don't sell band instruments. Only sound equipment and guitars. I mean not even reads or valve oil. We then went to some local string stores which was really cool. They have guitars and tons of Lutes. In one store we even found some band instruments in the basement. (good to know) I also was asked by my principal to purchase a guitar for her daughters birthday which was cool and it was nice she trusted my opinion.

Our short vacation last week.... one day was a nice way to break up the week. This week is our full and busy week. I was contacted last week by a woman I work with about having some nursery students visit my classroom as a field trip. The nursery school has been studying musical instruments and wanted to see if they could visit the music lab. I was more than excited to have them visit. I was also supposed to go for my medical testing this week for my civil ID....YAY!!! Well just my luck that the day we had to go for medical testing was the same day as the nursery school visit, and since we were unable to cancel the visit I had to miss my medical tests. It's a wicked bummer since I have been waiting for months to go, but it is what it is and I was promised I will go later this week Inshallah (means god willing in kuwait everyone says it).

Here are some pictures to break up the writing..

    

    Sunrise from my balcony!

So last week my friend Brandi and I were at the grocery store and she had to pick up some toilet paper. We were looking for some brands we recognized and we found Scott and Contonelle but we found one brand we had never heard and we had a good laugh about it take a look.

Recently there has been a lot of drama and negativity at my school and with all those bad vibes it's hard not to let it affect you, but I have decided to not let it. I have come to the realization that being negative will never accomplish anything. Sure it might make you feel better for like 2.5 seconds and it's okay to vent and bitch about things from time to time but move on. I mean what good does it do to sit and moan and groan about the same things over and over and over again. So I have decided that I am moving past all of the drama and the negativity and I might get bummed or upset for a bit but I am moving on. I am going to embrace each and every day and look at each day as new. Today is a new day and yesterday is the past.

So good news, this past thursday I finally went for my medical testing and fingerprinting for my civil I.D. It was a long day but overall was not that bad we waited for about 90 minutes to get our fingerprints done, after we had about 4 hours to kill before our medical tests. So we went to the bank to sign a paper so we can transfer money home online which is great. We then grabbed lunch, picked up our Mandoub (mr.fix it) who helps us get our numbers for medical testing. So it took another 3 hours for the blood work and chest x-ray and I was home at around 5. I am so glad it's done now to just wait a few weeks for my I.D.

Last night we went to the Kuwait vs. Lebanon soccer game. It was a lot of fun to do something different and get out of the house. The game was not to exciting since the final score was 0-0. But we did get to be under the Kuwait flag to welcome the players onto the field.  Overall it was a fun night, here are some pictures from the night.

This coming week the kids have 2 1/2 days off for parent teacher conferences. It should be a productive week as I will have only a few meetings since most parents don't want to meet with the specialists. It should be a nice and easy week. After this week it's 4 weeks till christmas vacation. Time is sure flying bye. Stay tuned for the next installment!!

November is here....

Well november is finally here. Wow time is sure flying here in Kuwait. It feels like yesterday that I arrived in Kuwait and was settling in for the next year and adventure in my oh so boring life. 

Several weeks ago we had a 9 day vacation called EID. It is a holiday to celebrate the prophet Mohammed who was asked to sacrafice his son Abraham. Instead God saved his son and sacraficed a lamb instead. A lot of of us at school were hoping to travel on EID vacation due to having 9 days off well..... boy were in for a surprise. Since we still do not have our civil ID's we were not able to travel. Techincally we could travel but it restart our civil ID process and we all don't want that to happen. So... with that being said we had to stay around the country. We spend one day at the Hilton Beach club which was lovely.

    It was a perfect day and a perfect start to our vacation. The rest of vacation was spent relaxing and catching up my beauty sleep, it's hard to look this good....lol just kidding. Some of went shopping and took a few trips to different parts of the country that we have not seen. I intended to do a lot more work then I actually did but oh well it was vacation.

At the tailend of vacation I added to members to my family here in Kuwait. Jasper and Nora. I needed to add some love to my life here and they were just too cute to say no to. Jasper is very friendly and is always loving on me and sleeping on while Nora just hides and will creap out sometimes. It's ok I understand she's shy and will come around.

We came back from vacation and had 2 weeks until Halloween and our supossed next vacation. In that time I had my first concert experience in Kuwait.I joined the Ahmadi Music Group about 6 weeks ago and we had our concert "Last Night of the Proms" at the British Embassy on October 23rd, 24th, and 25th.  I had a really busy week concert week. I had rehearsal on sunday, dress rehearsal tuesday and concerts wednesday, thursday and friday. It was busy but fun. We were not allowed to take pictures inside the embassy but I do have a picture of the program. 

One of the nice parts about having a concert at the British Embassy is the Adult Beverages that were allowed. Now most of you know that I am not a big drinker or a drinker at all but I had to have a couple of drinks just because even though it was allowed it felt illegal being in Kuwait, it was thrilling and fun!!!

The overall concert experience was a lot of fun. Our choir concert included a full orchestra and we performed on the lawn of the embassy it was a lot fo fun and I look forward to more performances here in Kuwait.

This past week was a whirlwing because on thursday we had a "Falloween" day. Technically they do not celebrate Halloween but we had an all day celebration of different activities for the students. My friend Kecia and I dressed up as Thing 1 and Thing 2 from Dr.Suess. 

The activity I ran was Mummy Making contest. The students were given 7 minutes to make one person in their group into a mummy using toilet paper. It was a lot of fun and the kids had a great time and they look great in their costumes. Here are a few pictures from the day.

So next week is when Kuwait celebrates the new year. On our school calendar we were supposed to have sunday and monday off for the holiday, well the new year is based on the lunar calendar and the holiday now falls on tuesday. So school made the decision that they were taking back our two days off and now we only have tuesday off. Good thing we didnt plan on traveling.... bummer but oh well thats the way it goes. Next week is the end of the quarter for us then we have one full week of school and then the following week we have 2 days off for parent teacher conferences. Then three 3 weeks then we have 15 days off for christmas.

So for some good news. We have been waiting and waiting and waiting to go for our medical exams to get our civil ID's. Well our medical exams have been scheduled and I am in group 2 for medical exams. Group one is going on sunday which means I will be going either monday or wednesday. Once the medical is done then its about a 2-3 week wait and then I will have my civil ID and will officially be a resident of Kuwait and free to travel and really enjoy. I can not wait for that day. 

So I have been waiting to have my cats fixed and the woman I got the cats from gave me the name of her doctor and told me that he would come to my apartment to fix them. It seemed kind of odd to me but I went with it. I finally set up a day and he came this past wednesday. First of all he did not come until 10:30pm.... yes you heard me right 10:30pm!! He was very nice and fixed both cats in an hour. I sat in the room with him and he set up in my spare room on my desk and just went to work. It was extremely odd but hey whatever works. Now my cats are both fixed and are back to their normal selves. It was definitely one of the weirder experiences in Kuwait but things are different and everyone does things are night.

Today I also got my second haircut now my first was kind of a diaster since the man spoke no english but this one spoke a little more english and was much better. For 3KD which is about $11 american I got a haircut, my nose trimmed, ears trimmed, and a coffee/tea like drink. It was great and I found my new local haircut stop.

So that's all for now, but life is good and I'm enjoying the ride, feel free to leave a comment. :-)