Farewell, Kuwait

 

When we moved to Kuwait in 2016, we never thought we'd be there for 5 years, When we accepted the jobs from our home in Paraguay, we knew that living in Kuwait may be a challenge. We took the risk, hoping it would afford us more options the next time we decided to move on.   Kuwait turned out to be a great place for professional learning and Kristi's opportunity to sign on as the Middle School Principal was too good to pass up.  

Cata with her nanny, Atu. 
Atu has been with us since Cata was born!

It's truly difficult to summarize 5 years of life, especially since the birth and first 3 years of life for our daughter defined so much of the experience.  We're especially grateful for the work-life balance that came from the ability to hire a full time nanny. 

While Kuwait is not a dazzling place on the surface, we did find things to enjoy and make life fun.  We traveled to 13 countries in those 5 years, including many that we may never have experienced had we not lived in the region.  

The MS office crew.  2020 was an insane year to be an
educator and these ladies helped make it a little easier.

Like any place we've ever lived, we made connections to people and that makes it hard to say goodbye, but the amazing thing about international teaching is that those connections have the ability to continue to blossom over thousands of miles.  We have met a surprising number of folks that are from the PNW as well and love to catch up over a beer in the summer.

Moving from the Western Hemisphere to Kuwait is possibly the largest cultural shift we will ever experience. I think we arrived with many of the ingrained biases that many people would bring to the Gulf with them. I don't think we knew any Moslems or many Arabs before arriving. People expressed concern about our safety, although Kuwait is very safe. 

We are grateful for the experiences we had in Kuwait and appreciative of our host country. We learned a lot, but also learned that even 5 years is not enough time to navigate the nuances of a culture and nation based on values that could be mysterious and at times uncomfortable to us. I think it is fair to say that Islam is central to life in Kuwait and I left with an appreciation for the beauty and sense of peace that seems to emerge from the connection of God and  identity, family, language, costume, food and architecture. I also left unable to reconcile feelings about the treatment of foreign workers, the limited opportunity for locals seen as some type of other, and a level of misogny that is difficult not to pass judgment on.

Already we miss our picnics in the desert, boat trips on the Gulf, and taking Cata to the beach.

                            Mudskipper at Sulaibikhat Bay

                                    Farm Stand in Abdaly

                    Getting caffeinated for a trip out on the boat.

This mid-afternoon dust/thunder storm turned the sky dark and the rain to mud.

Gus the Persian cat looked grumpy, but was the sweetest pet we have ever had. He slept a lot, had a very flat face and seemed indifferent to constant toddler hugs.

        The mosque across from the teacher housing in Mahboula.

                Kristi covers up to visit the National Mosque

        The Roots and Shoots club rallies to clean up a beach.

Chasing around the queenfish with a flyrod was one of Matt's favorite pastimes. 

     Dav was really seasick this day, but he reeled in a nice barracuda

                                        Goodbye Kuwait

Kuwait Birds

 

Our travel blog has been pretty quiet lately. I thought I would add some bird photos I have taken over the last year.

For me, the restriction of the global pandemic led to a renewed interest in bird watching and bird photography. 

Kuwait can be a challenging place to live for people who are especially outdoor oriented. We definitely struggled to beat the heat, dust, and pollution when trying to enjoy the outdoors in a tiny country with limited things to do outside and no real option of crossing the land borders. It turns out however, that Kuwait has some great bird biodiversity and seeking out Kuwait's birds provided a fresh perspective and appreciation of what the country has to offer. 

Kuwait has some resident birds that can be found year around. Others like these European Bee-eaters show up on their migration between Africa and Eurasia.

Coastal areas often have an abundance of shorebirds. The Greater Flamingo is an especially appealing photography subject.

Eurasian Curlew

Little Stints

Wood Sandpiper

Juvenile Lesser Crested Terns

Black-winged Stilt

Common Moorhen

Curlew Sandpiper

Terek Sandpiper

Whimbrel

Western Great Egret

Gray Herons fight over a mudskipper in Sulaibikhat bay

Black-crowned Night Heron

Squacco Heron

Cattle Egret

Western Reef Heron (dark morph)

Western Reef Heron (light morph)

Little Egret

Little Grebe

Common Ringed Plover

Crab Plover snacking on a crab

Another Sandpiper

White-throated Kingfisher

Pied Kingfisher

Much of Kuwait is fairly barren. Most good birding locations required areas of expansive vegetation and proximity to water. White-eared Bulbuls however were an attractive bird that could be found all over Kuwait City.

Similarly, a variety of pigeon species like the rock dove, Laughing Dove and Eurasian Collared-dove could always be found close to home and are decent photo subjects in the right light.  

Eurasian Collared-dove

Namaqua Dove

Western Yellow Wagtail (black-headed)

                   Western Yellow Wagtail (yellow-headed)

                                            Gray Wagtail

White Wagtail

House Sparrow at a Jahra farm

Spanish Sparrow

Eastern Black-eared Wheatear

Northern Wheatear

Desert Wheatear

Red-tailed Wheatear

Common Kestrel

Severed ties on the ankles seem to indicate an escape of the falconry trade.

Masked Shrike

Red-backed Shrike

Woodchat Shrike

Red-tailed Shrike

Southern Gray Shrike

Lesser Gray Shrike

Spotted Flycatcher on the left and 
White-throated Robin to the right.

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater and a 
Scops Owl.

European Roller

Stonechat

Crested Lark

Graceful Prinia

                                        Great Cormorant

                                                    Warbler

                                        Common Redstart

Common Black-headed Gull

Whiskered Tern

Eurasian Hoopoe

                                            Common Myna

                                                Bank Myna

                                    Eurasian Golden Oriole

                                                More Bulbuls

                                            More Flamingos