Happy New Year!

Wow, I can't believe it's already January and it's not 2014. I am sure most of you already know this but I surprised my parents and came home for winter holiday. I left Kuwait on Saturday 12/21 at 11pm and arrived home on 12/22 at 10:30pm. It was a really long journey home with some missed flights and lost baggage but I am so glad I came home.

So we had our winter concert the week before we left for vacation and it went beautifully. The kids amazing and the back drop looked great thanks to Eileen the art teacher. I got a lot of compliments from both parents and staff members saying they loved it and how great it comes out. This is why I teach because of how much fun the kids had and to show off their hard work. I love to see students succeed and have fun while learning!!!

So my flight home was long and tedious. I flew from Kuwait at 11:00pm and took a detour south to Dammam Saudi Arabia to pick up more passengers. We then took the 6 hour flight to Amsterdam arriving there around 6am. Not too bad so far. I then had a short 1 hour flight from Amsterdam to Heathrow at 7:15am so I boarded the plane and we were all ready to go when the captain came on..... uh oh what does he want we all said. " Ladies and Gentlemen we are just waiting for some more passengers whose flight just landed"...... 40 minutes later..... "Ladies and Gentlemen we are trying to get the door unlocked and it looks like it has been opened and the emergency button on the outside of the door was pushed by a passenger and it looks like we might all have to deplane and go through security and get back on the plane but I will keep you posted."..... 30 minutes later "Ummm I have some bad news we are all going to have to deplane and go through security again and re board I am really sorry about this." So we all deplane go through security again and finally get on our way 2 hours later at 9am. My flight from London to Boston was at 9:30am so I knew that was never going to happen. We land in London at 9:30 because there is an hour time difference and I race to the other terminal to be told nope your plane left and you need to go back to your original terminal to re-book. Fine I go back and they had already re-booked me on the 4:30pm  flight to Boston arriving at 6:50pm So I sit around the airport for 6 hours and relax. I finally board for Boston and our flight is going to be an hour late because of tail winds. So I arrive at 8pm go through customs and go to get one checked piece of luggage and uh oh it's not there. So I do the claim and finally at 9:30pm I take the hour drive to Hooksett arriving to surprise my parents at 10:30 at night. Yes they were surprised and so glad that I was home and were so happy to see me. As you can imagine I was exhausted and jet lagged so I crashed. Oh and I received my luggage 4 days later.... :-(

The rest of vacation was a whirlwind. My mom rushed out to buy me Christmas presents since I had none and I spent vacation trying to squeeze all my friends and family into the 10 days I was home. I honestly think the only meal I ate at home was Christmas dinner with the family and my last night at home. I went to all the places I can't go to in Kuwait; Portland Pie Pizza Company, The Red Arrow Diner, The Farm (twice), Friendly's, British Beer Company, Denny's, Uno's, Olive Garden (you can get this in Kuwait but I haven't been there yet), and Chelbys. I never thought I would see the day that I would be sick of eating out. I also went bowling with some people from my old team which was a lot of fun. I did way too much shopping, I got 6 new dress shirts, 3 new sweater vests, 4 new bow ties, 2 new pairs of shoes, some DVD's, books for my kids in Kuwait, a Ukulele, and my favorite thing my Christmas gift to my self my brand new Oakley Sunglasses!!!! Hallelujah!!!!!

I thought I was going to turn into a Popsicle it was so cold at home. I mean hello I know it's NH and it's winter time but remember I am used to being bundled up for 50 degree weather and being cold. People think I am nuts when I say I am freezing at 50 degrees but I am like "Hello remember the temperature 2 months ago was averaging 120 degrees... so yeah just a bit of a change." Thank god I had all my winter clothes at home in NH. One of my favorite days being home besides spending time with the family was New Years Eve. My friends and I kept it simple we had delicious crock pot chicken and pesto and then ice cream with homemade chocolate whipped cream while we had a twilight marathon. We only got through the first 3 of them and yes I know what your thinking that I have the movie taste of a 15 year old girl...... and you would be correct!!



Naturally when it was time for me to come back to Kuwait a major snow storm hit the northeast and the night I was flying out was supposed to get 12-18" of snow. My flight was at 6:50pm and surprisingly enough my flight did get out and was only about an hour late due to de-icing. I arrived in London and had a 2 hour layover and then with no problems hopped on a plane to Bahrain. Arrived in Bahrain no problem grabbed a quite bite to eat and then waited for my flight to Kuwait. Boarded my flight an hour late not too bad then arrived in Kuwait at 10:30pm Friday night 1/3. Of course because my flights had been nice and pleasant something had to go wrong it's the law of Ericphysics. So Gulf air lost not only one but my 2 pieces of checked luggage. Thankfully It was only lost for a short time and I got it back Sunday afternoon.

The other great news is that on Monday I finally received my civil ID which is awesome and means I can get things I need in Kuwait and I don't have to bring my passport everywhere I go. 

Settling back into life in Kuwait has been very easy and I have many places I want to visit on the current list are; Istanbul Turkey, Jordan, Greece, Cyprus, Rome, Spain, Paris, London (outside of the airport), Amsterdam (again outside of the airport), Ireland, Prague, Thailand and many more.

Stayed tuned for the next installment of Eric's adventures in Kuwait.

Delightful December

So December had finally arrived, when I first got here in August I never thought December and the cold weather would ever arrive. Things are starting to become more and more routine here in Kuwait. Grocery shopping has become less of a chore and the little things that used to frustrate me ( still sort of do), I have let go of. I am really enjoying job even if at times it is stressful. If you know me very well then you know that I am a pretty easy going person.

Last week the good news came in the form of my passport. After a week after my medical stuff was done I received my government medical card which means I can go to the public hospitals and get treated for 1KD ($3.50 USD) instead of like 300KD, so that's awesome. A few days later I received my passport back with my one year resident visa in it, which means I am now just waiting for my Civil I.D to come but I am free and clear to travel and leave the country now. WAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!


Back at the end of November we were invited to the Kipco Family day 2013 since our school is owned by Kipco. This even is held at an amusement park in Kuwait City and runs from about 10am- 12 midnight. We went earlier in the day which was great because it got super crowded later in the day. It was a typical amusement park/ Carnival type place with rides and games. The rides were free but the games were not. They also gave us vouchers for free food which was cool. Another thing they do is have 2 different raffles each raffle had about 40 prizes. Everything from gift certificates to restaurants, a free year of internet to ipads and even a vacation for 4 anywhere you wanted to go. Of course I won nothing but it was a nice day out and I had a great time with my friends. Here are some of the pictures from the day.

Another big event that took place in November was Thanksgiving. Now I will admit that this was the first major holiday away from my family back home. It was a little rough but we had an american Thanksgiving meal at school which was nice. After we decorated ornaments for our school Christmas tree.That night I got to facetime with my family back home since they were all in the same place. It was 4am my time but I didn't care. We had some..... technical issues with the internet but I got to see them for brief moments and got to talk to them all which really was the best part. Even if it only was for a little while it was nice to hear there voices. Now on friday we had a Thanksgiving potluck in our apartment building. My friend Brandi and I made mac&cheese together. We had all the staples, two turkeys one was smoked and it was amazing, mashed potatoes, and lots of other amazing food. It really was a great night and made it almost like home and here are some photos from that....

Last week I got the great opportunity to go on a field trip with the Pre-k and Kindergarten students to Kidzania. This place is a kids dream. The students are given money and give the chance to explore and try out different careers and make money or do different games and activities and spend money. I was assigned 3 Kinder students and we visited 8 different professions and we had such an amazing time it was great.

This week is our first annual winter concert and the first performance of the year, so I am a little stressed because I want to make sure it is perfect and goes off without a hitch. The kids have been really hard and I know that they will do amazing and the parents will love it. After this week it's just next week then winter vacation which is 15 days. Where am I headed you ask?...... well if you want to know then you will just have to send me a message on facebook!!

Overall I am really settling in and loving it and just living the adventure and enjoying every minute of it. Stay tuned for the next installment of the journey.

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. :-)

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!!!