Summer Vacation

Well... I have not posted or updated the blog for quite awhile, I decided to step back from the blog and just enjoy my summer vacation with family and friends. So with that said now that I am back in the desert and settled here is the recap on my summer vacation. I left the giant sandbox on Friday June 13th, and took a short 6 hour flight to London. My friend Kecia and I took a mini vacation and spent 4 days in London seeing the sights. We did all the major tourist attractions, Westminister Abby, London Eye, Buckingham Palace, Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Wax Museum, and a couple others. It was an amazing trip and I had so much fun, I loved London and can't wait to visit it again. Here are a couple of photos from the trip.

After a nice and relaxing but busy filled vacation in London, I was off to NH to see my family and friends. It was so nice to see my family and friends. My family waited to celebrate father's day a week late so I could be there which was great.  Summer vacation was filled with lunch's, and dinners and just hanging out and relaxing with family and friends. I got to go to canobie lake park which is an amusement park which was a lot of fun.

I continued to play in summer band that I always play in every summer, and it was so fun to play my tuba again, and see people from the band. I also spent a good amount of time seeing my doctor, and my dentist getting those things situated. Before I knew it 7 weeks had flown by and it was time for me to come home to Kuwait. I could not believe how fast the summer had gone or where the summer had gone.

So on Friday August 8th, I boarded a plane for London once again, and after arriving meet two good friends Kacie, and Kecia and we had planned a 12 hour layover so we could go explore and see Hampton Court Palace where King Henry VIII lived. It took us a bit to find it, but once we got there it was nice. There was gardens, and a maze and was just neat to see where he lived. We then schlepped all the way back to Heathrow to get something to eat, and then to wait for our flight back to Kuwait.

Naturally our flight to Kuwait was delayed by 45 minutes big shocker there, and because of the war zone in Iraq we had to fly another 45 minutes out of the way. We were supposed to land at 6:35am and Instead landed at 8:05am. Well after getting through the visa line we then proceeded to wait about 45 minutes for our luggage, which thankfully all arrived in Kuwait. By the time was all said and done we arrived home at about 10am and had a meeting for work at 12 noon so by that point why even sleep. I settled in and then started prepping for the new staff to arrive.

We have 13 new teachers arriving today and right now they are arriving at 5:30pm and 9:30pm Our first batch of TA's arrived at 6:15am which means you guessed it I was up at 5am to greet them at the airport. So now I am updating the blog, unpacking and napping before we head back to the airport for the evening.

I am going to finish unpacking and take a nap. That's all for stayed tuned for an update real soon!! Thanks for reading.

A Year in Review.....

Wow, I can't believe that I have been in Kuwait for 10 months. Where has the time gone?!?! Well this my last post from Kuwait, I thought I would do a review of the past year, and of my most recent adventures into theater.

10 months ago I was crying my eyes out like a small child as I got ready to uproot my entire life, and everything I knew to move to Kuwait for my career. Don't get me wrong I was so excited to start this new adventure as this is something I have always wanted to do. But I was terrified of moving so far away from me entire life and support system. After a lot of tears and many long hours of travel and missed connections I arrived to start my life in Kuwait. It was blistering hot but I quickly adjusted and as most of you know I made friends fast.

Being the first music teacher here at AUSK was and is the coolest thing I have done in my professional career. Having someone trust you as a educator and an expert in what you do was and continues to be the most refreshing and exciting part of my job. I am respected and trusted which is wonderful.

The beginning of the year was a bit rough as opening any school can be, but with a little teamwork we made it happen. September came and went and flew by in a flash because so much was going on and were still getting settled. Once October rolled around we started to get settled and got into a routine, this was when I first got homesick. I didn't expect it to happen as I am a very adaptable person. But I just missed home and missing things like my mom's birthday and Thanksgiving was hard for me.

Once Thanksgiving came and went (which we did not have off from school) December was here and going for christmas was insight. Now If you have been reading my blog then you know that I told my parents I was not coming home for christmas and that I was traveling, when in fact that I was surprising them for christmas.

Needless to say my parents were very surprised and excited to have me home. It was way too short and the 10 days flew by in a flash. I arrived back in Kuwait in January ready to tackle the second half of the year with excitement.

My next big adventure came in February came as Kuwait celebrated Liberation Day and National Day. Some friends and I took an amazing trip to Jordan and saw some of the most beautiful sights. I had some amazing company and it was one of the highlights  of the year. After spending 4 great days in Jordan we had to return to Kuwait.

As some of you know right before I left for Jordan I auditioned for Shrek the musical, and got a part in the ensemble playing Papa Bear and general ensemble. I had never auditioned and was super nervous but I have always wanted to do it. I had my first rehearsal after my Jordan trip and was welcomed with open arms. My birthday also happened to coincide right after vacation. Usually I would go to dinner with some friends, and then go bowling. This year I did go to dinner with some friends but it was low key and while it was a lot of fun. It was my first birthday away from my family.

So the last 3 months have been spent tutoring, having play rehearsal, and working. It has been a whirlwind 3 months and I can't believe that June is here. I have made some amazing new friends from the play and it was exhausting and tiring and fun and just a roller coaster.

Which brings me to the Shrek. I spent 9 days in a row in tech rehearsals and performing. We did 5 shows 2 weeks ago and 5 shows last weekend. There were so many complications, and long nights. Most nights I didn't en up getting home between 11-12. And still had to go to school the next day. The first 5 shows went well, and we even took 30 students from school to the show. They loved it and had so much fun. The last 5 shows went well also, and we capped off the run with a wonderful cast party.

Here is a link to a website of some pictures from the show.

http://stagedinkuwait.com/archives/2507/shrek-in-pictures/

Which brings me to present day. This year has been a lot of ups and downs, some good things and some bad things but it was definitely an adventure. I have 3 days of school left then I am off to London for 4 days with a friend before my final stop in NH for the summer. I can't wait to be home and see all my family and friends.

I want to say that I am so thankful each and every day for being given this amazing experience. I would of never been able to see all these amazing places and meet such wonderful people. Stay tuned for next post from the good ole U.SA. Thanks for reading!!!

Spring Break Part Deux!!

Ok so some time has passed so I thought that I would post part two of my spring break adventure's . Now let me see where was I?......... Ah yes here we go. After our lovely stop in Naples we took the short boat ride over to Palermo also known as Sicily. Now in Sicily we decided to do our own thing and not book a tour. We had no idea where we were going but by chance we encountered one of those hop on and hop off buses, where it does a loop of the city stopping at famous land marks and you jump off take a few pictures then hop on the bus again. It's really cool since we buses come every 7 minutes. So we did that around Sicily seeing all these beautiful places. Here are some pictures from the different stops.

At the end of the tour before hopping back on the bus we had the most amazing watermelon gelato ever!!! It was divine. We then went and had lunch... I know we did it backwards dessert before lunch. Then found an awesome little bakery where we got the most fragrant, and delicious canoli's. We then headed back to the boat for our Jaunt over to Tunis, Tunisia.

Now I knew going to Tunis is was going to be similar to the middle east, but let me just say I was not impressed. We took the shuttle bus over to the Souk or Market as we call them in the U.S. We had a tour guide with us, and take us around this big huge souk. I have seem many souk's in Kuwait so I was not impressed. At one point we had some free time so me and my friends looked for a bathroom, which seemed like an impossible task. Well we ran into a gentleman who said he would show us the way. He was ducking, weaving, and going in and out of all these alleys. So we go into this store and climb to the roof where we use the bathrooms and take pictures of the market. The man then proceeds to tell us we owe him 10 euros for taking us and letting us use the toilet. I was so angry but what can you do? So we payed and he showed us the way back, which we almost got lost twice.  Here are a couple pictures from Tunisia.

Our last day on the cruise was the day at sea. We had intended to sleep in and enjoy a nice leisurely morning.... Um hold the phone I don't think so. We had a mandatory disembarkation meeting at 9am which means we had to have breakfast earlier which means no extra sleepy time for Eric. So after the boring and somewhat informative meeting we decided to just lay on the deck and relax and enjoy the sun. We took a break for lunch and then we spent the afternoon playing Rummy and lounging. We did go to the talent show which was awesome and the people performing were great.

That night we had our formal captain's dinner where everyone was dressed up and formal. It was nice to get dressed up one night. I have to say that overall I was not impressed with the food selection on the ship. Now look who this is coming from Mr.Selective when it comes to food, but I just would of liked more options. Friday morning we arrived back in port in Barcelona and getting off the ship was super easy and pain free. We hopped in a cab and sped off for our hotel. We had decided to spend a day in Barcelona before heading back to Kuwait. We arrived and checked into our hotel had a quick change and then headed off for the day in Barcelona.

Again we decided to do the hop on hop off bus as we enjoyed it in Italy. We first stopped at a chocolate museum which was neat. We stayed on the bus in Barcelona all day and only got off once or twice since it was a long route. One stop we did make was the Sagrada Familia. It was stunning and they have been working on this church for over 100 years and it's still not done so cool. We capped our day with a beautiful dinner in Barcelona close to our hotel.

Our flight home on Saturday was at 6:30am. Which meant we had to be up at 3am to be at the airport but 3:45ish. Well we stood in a line at the airport for like 45 minutes while the check in clerks milled around and got things "ready." After checking in we grabbed a little breakfast and we were off. The trip home was much less eventful, as we made all of our connections no problem. We arrived in Kuwait at... wait for it...... 9:30pm Yes you heard me right we traveled for over 12 hours to get home, and yes I had school the next day. So 4 exhausted Americans dragged ourselves through baggage claim and customs and back to our apartments in Kuwait.

Overall it was an amazing trip. I especially enjoyed being able to see all the different places. It makes me want to go back to Europe so bad and I am already planning trips in my head. So I hope you enjoyed part deux of the spring break adventure.

Spring Break Part one.....

So I recently had spring break. Now normally that would consist on sitting around the house doing nothing and relaxing so to speak but not this spring break. This year I had the amazing opportunity to go on an amazing 7 day Mediterranean cruise. Now since I saw so much stuff I am going to break this post into two parts so I can adequately describe the vacation and add pictures. So Part One.......

If you have been reading my blog than you know that when I travel nothing is every easy. So I decided to only check one bag so If they lost my bags then I will still have some clothes. So the adventure started in Kuwait where we were taking three planes and 12 hours to get to Barcelona where our cruise was leaving from. Our first leg from Kuwait to Abu Dhabi was 90 minutes late leaving. We only have a 90 minute layover in Abu Dhabi, but thankfully since there was so many people on our flight to Rome they held the plane for us which was great. So since our first flight was late it caused our second flight to be late. So once we arrived in Rome we had to sprint through the massive Rome airport to barely make our last connection to Barcelona, but we made it.

Once arriving in Barcelona you will be shocked as I was when my one checked piece of luggage actually made it Barcelona. After a series of confusing trains we make it to the ship and board, which didn't take too long. First order of business after 12 hours of travel was FOOD!!!!!!!!! We settle into our rooms and relax before exploring the ship and dinner. Our first night on board was good, we went to a show which was less than impressive. Our first stop on the Journey was Marsaille. France. Instead of booking an excursion we decided to take a shuttle into town and just explore ourselves. We ended up going on a little train ride which took us too Notre Dame de le Garde which was beautiful check it out.

Then we had lunch at this charming little restaurant. You would think since I was in France I would eat french food but nope, I had Gnocchi which was to die for. After a long day of exploring we headed back to the ship for dinner. We were seated with a couple from Alabama which was great and ended being so much fun to sit with.

Our next stop of the tour was Savona, Italy. Instead of staying in Italy my friends and I decided to take an excursion and go back into France and go to Monaco and Monte Carlo. It was a 2 hour bus ride each way, but it was well worth it. Monaco and Monte Carlo was amazing!!!! We got to visit the famous Hairpin turn from formula one racing, which is the sharpest turn in the world for racing. We also got to visit the Monte Carlo casino which was beautiful. My friend Laurie who was traveling with us was unforunately horrible sick. She didn't know she would get sick and was throwing up sick all day, and was miserable sorry Laurie. Here are some pictures from the day.

That night we decided after dinner go to the chocolate bar on the ship. This beautiful italian man named Luca was performing on Guitar. He was amazing and we ended up spending the next 5 nights going to listen to him perform. It was one of the highlights of the cruise. I was even lucky enough to get a copy of his CD which is AMAZING!!!!!

The last part of this post will include our next stop on the adventure which is the amazing city of Naples. Italy. Now this is the highlight of all the cities for me. We booked an excursion to Pompeii. I know what your thinking Pompeii?!?! Yes I got to see the ancient roman city that was covered in ash by Vesuvius . It was completely and utterly stunning. We took a 2 hour tour of the city and then got to eat amazing Pizza. It was by far the best pizza I have ever had. Here are some pictures from the day.

So thus completes part one of the adventure. Part two coming to a theater near you real soon!!!