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

50/20/5

Any ideas what these numbers symbolize?   50/20/5

50 year anniversary of Kuwait's Independence
20 year anniversary of Kuwait's Liberation
5 year anniversary of Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah's Rule










  

February is a big month in Kuwait.  There are lights going up everywhere, decorations, events, and things we don't even know.   The Amir has declared some more holidays (so far I get the 17th and 27th of Feb. off work - woo hoo!!)  You never know, the few days before we may find out we get even more.  The big weekend of celebration is February 24 - 26.  The Amir has also granted Kuwait citizens 1000 KD to be distributed to each.  Too bad we aren't considered Kuwaiti!  That's over $3500 each.  With a family of 5, we could really be bringing in the dinar.   The Kuwaiti citizens are also allowed a food ration for the next 13 months.  13 Months of free groceries!! I guess we will miss out on that, but believe me when I say I would prefer to miss out and still have the choice of living in America.



Hopefully I will get some new pictures this month.  We have been stuck in a cycle of work and baseball.  I hear the week of all the festivities that it is best to stay home.  They say the celebrations are wild and you are much better off avoiding them.  I would LOVE, love, love to see some of the events.  However, Matt will be working a lot that weekend and I will be at the baseball field for the Liberation Day Tournament.  I'm sure we'll still manage to see a few things whether we go looking for them or not.  Stay tuned!

Kuwait Little League

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLLZktGrWRM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ll6t70sNr_0

The boys have been practicing baseball since November and they finally had the opening ceremony yesterday!  It was a fantastic ceremony - complete with the US Ambassador, the son of the Martyr that paid for the ballfields, a DJ, and parade of teams.  I've attached a couple of video clips for you to get the idea.  Keep in mind I was messing with Jordyn the whole time, so it's all a little shaky, but better than nothing.   You really can't see much of my boys, but they were out there on the field and so was Matt.  He actually got some better pictures from the field side without the fencing.

Landen has already found out he was selected to play in the Liberation Day Tournament at the end of February.  That particular tournament will be held here in Kuwait and teams from other countries will fly in to participate.  There will also be a tournament in Dubai and Poland that he could also be a part of.  We won't know that for a while and it depends on how he performs this season.  He has his heart set on going, so we will just have to wait and see.  Landen LOVES baseball and it is definitely his best sport.  I'm so thankful they have a good baseball program here.  It helps take the sting out of him not getting to play football this year.  He was simply devastated when he found out we were moving to Kuwait because he had his heart set on getting to the US to play football.  Unfortunately, it's not offered overseas.  This baseball program is a million times better than what he experienced in Germany.  Hip, hip, hooray for that!

Hayden is playing too.  Honestly, he's not crazy about baseball, but he does really well.  I think he's more of a soccer and basketball boy.  Maybe he'll end up being our football player.  Who knows!  Matt is doing a great job assistant coaching all of these teams...  a big kudos to him.  I wish he was sitting with me in the stands so we could spend a little time together.  He was pretty much "voluntold" he would coach.  :-)  He's really doing a fantastic job though...  Deep down, I think he enjoys it.   After all, it is definitely in the Rowland blood!

More Camels...

Bought my first set of camels tonight, so I thought I would share them with you....    I never would have imagined decorating with camels, but I love them!  They were on clearance, which makes them even better.  :-)

Happy 2011

It seems like just yesterday we ringing in the year 2000, right? Amazing to think it's already 2011. Time really does fly the older I get. We managed to have another fun day here in Kuwait. I promise you, the boys are never going to want to move. It's just one big party to them.

Below is a picture of some wrecked cars we passed on the highway. This is a really common sight here in Kuwait. These people drive like absolute maniacs. Matt has already witnessed a wreck with several bodies thrown from the car and lying all over the highway. They do not wear seat belts and their children hang out of the sun roofs, sit on the side of the doors, and babies sit in their mother or maids laps and crawl around the car as their driver drives and text at the same time. Scary! Obviously, the seat belt law has not done much good as it is not enforced.

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We went with some friends out to the desert to day camp yesterday. The kids rode dirt bikes, explored in the desert, rolled in the sand and played with friends. We had a bonfire and grilled hot dogs and hamburgers for dinner. We even had a little fireworks show which the kids enjoyed. We left the desert about 7pm then headed over to another friends house to ring in the New Year. This year, all 3 kids managed to stay awake until midnight. Impressive!

Now, it's back to reality and our routine of school and baseball. We've had a fun break but I think we are all ready for our normal routine again. Welcome 2011! We wish everyone a safe and blessed new year.