Liberation Lights

I'm posting a few pictures from the houses and buildings around the city.  They really don't do it justice and are blurry, but you get the idea.  We were driving fast and I couldn't figure out the night settings on my camera.  It's like Christmas here - decorated with the flag and the Amir everywhere.  I passed a bulldozer yesterday with flags hanging off of it, so that gives you an idea of how big this is for Kuwait.  The following picture you have to look hard at the back window.  I'll try to get a better picture in daylight hours this weekend, but it's a picture of the Amir if you look...

Check out this picture.  It's a busy corner at a big intersection with a small triangle of sand/shrubs in between. See the little boy?  He is playing with another little boy - traffic surrounding them on all three sides at a busy intersection.  You see stuff like this all the time here.  No safety concerns...  no seatbelts...  4 wheelers with no helmets...   These little boys were probably about 7 and 5 or something around there.

I think most of the people who read this are friends with me on FB.  I posted a bunch of pictures from work yesterday on my profile.  I'll post a couple of more on here just in case you aren't a facebook fan.  We had a huge celebration at school and I love seeing the little kids all dressed up.  They really go all out!

Off to the Liberation baseball tournament that Landen was chosen to play in this weekend.  Today, his team plays Quatar.  Yesterday, his team played Saudi Arabia and won by 2 runs!  I was at work and sick that I missed it, but Matt got to go and sent me lots of text messages to keep me updated.   He has one game today and 2 more tomorrow so we will be at the fields all weekend.  I'll get pictures from that this weekend....  provided we make it to the ball fields.  Road closures and traffic are terrible.   We've been told to just stay home this weekend and Matt has to work quite a bit.   Happy 50/20 Kuwait!

Kuwait is Westernized...

I was reminiscing on my old blog tonight and can't believe how little the kids were when we moved to Germany. They are literally growing up overseas.  I got so tickled at a few of the videos I had on that thing.  I'm going to try to be better at posting about our experiences here in Kuwait.  It's so much fun to look back at and I know I will regret it one day if I don't.

I took a few pictures around town of common american fast food restaurants.   So much of Kuwait is westernized.  There malls are continually packed and so are the restaurants.  There is almost everything you can think of (except Chick Fil A, Sonic, and Mexican food.)  The ketchup is different, which I find strange.  It taste more like a coctail sauce.  Other than the menus being a little different, it is basically the same processed food as we are used to getting in the good ole' USA.  There is a Subway, Papa John's, Shrimpy's, Charley's, Pink Berry, and Taco Bell just opened up in one of the malls.  I hear Cheesecake Factory is going to open at some point, but I'm not sure when or where yet. You get the idea.  One day, I will have to take some pictures of the 2 story ones that are actually on Gulf Road overlooking the water.

We're going to try and go "Liberation" light looking this weekend with the kids one night this weekend.  It's like Christmas around here with all the lights.  Next weekend is the BIG weekend....  Landen is going to be playing in a baseball tournament with teams coming in from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Dubai, and Qatar.   Should be fun!

More About Work

As most of you know, I am working full time again.  I've struggled with whether or not this is the right thing for my family, but I truly believe it is helping me get through these two years.  There are days I long to be home with Jordyn and feel so guilty for not being there when my boys get off the bus.  But, overall I think I am happier and so are they.  I look at my time here in Kuwait on a week to week basis.  I live for the weekends and spending time with the kids.  Since we have Kumari, I don't have to spend the weekend doing laundry and cleaning house and I am thankful for that (although it does have it's own set of challenges.)

Back to work.  The link below is a commercial that was filmed at my school.  I was busy bringing the KG kids to and from filming for a few days, juggling lunch boxes back and forth and jackets.  It's a tough job, but somebody has to do it.  ha!  Usually, I'm busy with birthday parties, field trips, and updating the bulletin boards.

Thought you might be interested in seeing a few of the children I work with.  I'm assuming this commercial is on the local TV channels, but I honestly don't even know!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1p79z-FZ_s