Daily Life in Kuwait

We have been in 4 months now and time seems to be flying.  We are headed to Oman this week for our Winter Break and I can't seem to remember how we go to December.   As is to be expected, we have settled into our daily lives in Kuwait and things that once seemed so strange like the calls to prayer, or that smell in our neighborhood, or watching ladies with a veil eat, now just seem normal.  It's amazing to me how different our life is here, but so similar at the same time.  I think that from afar, our life may seem glamorous in some way because our families and friends don't see into our routines, but our life here is actually pretty typical. We go to work every day, but instead of driving, we take a bus.  We teach, then we go home to eat and relax.  Instead of a house, we live in a high rise apartment building filled with other teachers. Typically, we both fall asleep (sometimes on the couch) around 8 pm if we are lucky to make it that long.  The next day (so early!!) we get up and do it again.  We've made our home comfortable (thanks to Ikea) and we even got a cat.

This is Gus, who is the sweetest animal to have ever lived.  The only thing he wants in life is to have a soft lap and to be petted.  He was a street cat and had an infection in his throat, so he can't make any noise.  My favorite part about him is that he loves to follow me around the house like a puppy.  He sleeps on our bed every night.










There are some things about our new home that we are loving!  After living in a food wasteland for the last 3 years, we are overjoyed to be living somewhere with food from all over the world.  There are at least 5 Indian restaurants on our block-all of them delicious. We live within walking distance of good Thai food and we've been out to breakfast to at least 4 different legitimate breakfast joints. (My friends in PY can appreciate how amazing this is!).

Homemade Ramen with crispy duck skin from AlMakan

Kuwait can be a little boring, so we are realizing we have to learn how to make our own fun and that has to include other kinds of fun besides eating or we'll be in trouble.  One thing that is exciting is that there is a running community here.  I ran my first race with some other teachers in November and made my best 10k time ever!

A HUGE benefit to our lives here has been purchasing a car.  The adventures began very quickly after we bought it and we got stuck in the wet sand at the beach.  We've driven to the border with Saudi Arabia just because. We then took it camping over night in the desert, which was definitely one of the most fun things we have done here so far.   It was freezing at night, but we were able to build a fire.  It was nice to see the stars after not seeing them for several months living in the light polluted city. 

 

There are many herds of tame camels out in the desert. These ones were very curious about us!

Of course, one of the best things that we have going for us here is the people.  We work and live with people from all over the world, who make us laugh, challenge us, and commiserate with us on the bad days.  Our colleagues are hard-working, sincere, adventurous, and fun people.

 Dressed up for Halloween

    

Shopping at the fabric market

 

There are many challenges that come along with moving to a new country, a new home, new friends, and a new job all at the same time.  We miss "home" which means a lot of things, depending on the day.  We miss the comforts and ease of living in the US at times, but love living away from the political disaster that is happening as well.  We miss our families and we miss our friends in the US and those who are now scattered around the world-literally.  Some days, I just wish for things to be "easy" (like how on Earth does it take 6 months to get a driver's license!?!?) while other days I'm grateful for different ways of doing things.  I miss the mountains and green things, but I also appreciate how amazing it will be to see those things again while traveling and I'm looking forward to the sense of gratitude I know I'll feel in those moments. Now, four months in to our 2nd international teaching post, I can also truthfully say that it is much easier this time around and that I'm looking forward to the challenges and adventures of the next few years living in Kuwait.