First week
I have been meaning post more often, but this week has been, well, a whirlwind!
We arrived Tuesday in Kuwait and have spent the past 4 days getting acclimated, getting all the tings needed to get our apartment set up and a few social gatherings with the school. Many fascinating aspects about this so far.
STUFF...
We spent June, July and August trying to get rid of, consolidate and store all our stuff. We could only bring so much here, so we made very specific decisions for special, important items that we didn't think we would be able to access in Kuwait. Since we arrived, we have been accumulating...stuff...to make our HUGE apartment comfortable for when school begins in earnest.
The school recognizes this need for their new employees and has done a great job at organizing shopping trips to grocery stores, malls and IKEA. It has been fascinating to watch newbies like Brigitte and I try to think about and plan for this and that, while we have several teachers that are new to Kuwait, but not new to teaching internationally. They have been through this before and at least knew what to look for in the stores.
The first group trip was to a mall anchored by a grocery store/hypermart called Lulus. We had 4 hours, to look, shop and fill our cupboards. We were very anxious to see the selection, quality and prices for food here in Kuwait.
We walked through the entire place, about the size of a small Hannaford, and found some old favorites and plenty of things we have never heard of. The prices, if you buy USA products, are steep, but if you buy local, it didn't seem too far off shopping at home.
The downstairs of Lulus is kind of like a Target with homegoods, clothes, electronics, etc. Our apartment is big, and they give us the basics, but we need so much to get back to a point where we feel comfortable and have those things for every day life.
We filled our first cart and headed for the bus. 38 people, all having just spent hours shopping filled every open space in the small buses the school has. Once back at the school, it was neat to see everyone helping out, forming a line and passing bags out of the buses, offering to help etc. It is when you do manual things like this outside when you realize you are in the desert.
We got everything inside and then Brigitte and I went out alone for the first time to scope out IKEA and get some basics. There is a taxi company that the school suggests, so we hired him to take us for the 25 minute drive to IKEA. He was super nice, and even stayed there for 2 hours to drive us back.
Thursday, the last day of the work week here in the Middle East, was our first visit to our school. We arrived mid morning and had a presentation by the administration, did a meet and greet with all the new staff, then broke into school level groups for some basic intro material. It was nice to see the school, different layout that US schools, as there are no indoor hallways. The classrooms empty into outdoor, covered walkways around a central courtyard. Each group went out to lunch together, my middle school group went to a Lebanese place at the Marina Mall complex. It was my first glimpse into how the beautiful people(ie. Kuwaitis) live...
Friday was the big shopping day to the Avenues, Kuwait's largest mall which includes IKEA. By now, Brigitte and I had a BIG list and set out on our way. We loaded up on all our IKEA purchases then stored those in the waiting area and explored the Avenues. It is not really a mall, it is a small city. We only had a chance to explore a fraction of it, and were blown away with the size, variety of stores and food options.
360 View of Avenues
Once again, our large group loaded plenty of bags and this time they added a flat bed truck for all the IKEA furniture and rugs we all bought. Once it was all in our place, we set out to get the furniture put together and make our place homey.
Friday night ended with a gathering at our superintendent's house. I was quite sure that he probably had a big place to host 38+ people, but couldn't really envision a private residence here in Kuwait.
It was spectacular! An amazing view of the Sunset and skyline of Kuwait city. The food was excellent and there might have been some libations there as well...
It is now Saturday afternoon and we are finally sitting down and are able to relax a bit in our new home. As you can see in the pics, it is much more comfortable now and we can face the beginning of a full work week that starts tomorrow.
Oh, and just in case you were wondering, the humidity arrived today, making it, well, very hot...(that is 122F)
We arrived Tuesday in Kuwait and have spent the past 4 days getting acclimated, getting all the tings needed to get our apartment set up and a few social gatherings with the school. Many fascinating aspects about this so far.
STUFF...
We spent June, July and August trying to get rid of, consolidate and store all our stuff. We could only bring so much here, so we made very specific decisions for special, important items that we didn't think we would be able to access in Kuwait. Since we arrived, we have been accumulating...stuff...to make our HUGE apartment comfortable for when school begins in earnest.
The school recognizes this need for their new employees and has done a great job at organizing shopping trips to grocery stores, malls and IKEA. It has been fascinating to watch newbies like Brigitte and I try to think about and plan for this and that, while we have several teachers that are new to Kuwait, but not new to teaching internationally. They have been through this before and at least knew what to look for in the stores.
The first group trip was to a mall anchored by a grocery store/hypermart called Lulus. We had 4 hours, to look, shop and fill our cupboards. We were very anxious to see the selection, quality and prices for food here in Kuwait.
We walked through the entire place, about the size of a small Hannaford, and found some old favorites and plenty of things we have never heard of. The prices, if you buy USA products, are steep, but if you buy local, it didn't seem too far off shopping at home.
 |
| Long trip for those sweet potatoes!!! |
 |
| Camel Liver anyone?? |
The downstairs of Lulus is kind of like a Target with homegoods, clothes, electronics, etc. Our apartment is big, and they give us the basics, but we need so much to get back to a point where we feel comfortable and have those things for every day life.
We filled our first cart and headed for the bus. 38 people, all having just spent hours shopping filled every open space in the small buses the school has. Once back at the school, it was neat to see everyone helping out, forming a line and passing bags out of the buses, offering to help etc. It is when you do manual things like this outside when you realize you are in the desert.
We got everything inside and then Brigitte and I went out alone for the first time to scope out IKEA and get some basics. There is a taxi company that the school suggests, so we hired him to take us for the 25 minute drive to IKEA. He was super nice, and even stayed there for 2 hours to drive us back.
Thursday, the last day of the work week here in the Middle East, was our first visit to our school. We arrived mid morning and had a presentation by the administration, did a meet and greet with all the new staff, then broke into school level groups for some basic intro material. It was nice to see the school, different layout that US schools, as there are no indoor hallways. The classrooms empty into outdoor, covered walkways around a central courtyard. Each group went out to lunch together, my middle school group went to a Lebanese place at the Marina Mall complex. It was my first glimpse into how the beautiful people(ie. Kuwaitis) live...
Friday was the big shopping day to the Avenues, Kuwait's largest mall which includes IKEA. By now, Brigitte and I had a BIG list and set out on our way. We loaded up on all our IKEA purchases then stored those in the waiting area and explored the Avenues. It is not really a mall, it is a small city. We only had a chance to explore a fraction of it, and were blown away with the size, variety of stores and food options.
360 View of Avenues
Once again, our large group loaded plenty of bags and this time they added a flat bed truck for all the IKEA furniture and rugs we all bought. Once it was all in our place, we set out to get the furniture put together and make our place homey.
Friday night ended with a gathering at our superintendent's house. I was quite sure that he probably had a big place to host 38+ people, but couldn't really envision a private residence here in Kuwait.
It was spectacular! An amazing view of the Sunset and skyline of Kuwait city. The food was excellent and there might have been some libations there as well...
It is now Saturday afternoon and we are finally sitting down and are able to relax a bit in our new home. As you can see in the pics, it is much more comfortable now and we can face the beginning of a full work week that starts tomorrow.
Oh, and just in case you were wondering, the humidity arrived today, making it, well, very hot...(that is 122F)
Comments
Post a Comment