Aunt Terri Came to Visit!

Terri and Melissa (her roommate from law school) came to visit me this past week!  She is only the second person from our family to be brave enough for the adventure, the first being my mother in law who came a year ago.  It was so much fun getting to spend a little time with her.  Though the week went quickly, we all felt like they got to sight see some and yet relax a little.  They even threw in a 2 day trip to Dubai where they got to spend the night on the 69th floor or the Burg Khalifa (tallest building in the world)!!  The pictures looked amazing and I think they were a bit more impressed than I was with Dubai.  Then again, I didn't get to spend the night in the Burg Khalifa and was running to and from the baseball fields.   I guess that might have put it in a different perspective.  I'll let you  know what I think when we have a second go around at it in the Spring.

Norma, you need to come back now that we have the scoop on what to do here.  We enjoyed lunch at the top of  the Kuwait Towers, toured the Embassy, went to the Heritage Souk, listened to the Call To Prayer every day,  showed them where I used to live/kids school/etc, ate some local food, toured the Grand Mosque, searched for camels in the desert, watched the kids practice a little baseball, and ended the week by staying up (for most) of the Razorback vs. LSU game - we all went to bed about 2am and then were up for the airport at 6am.  Yep,  I'm dragging a little today and am guessing they got a little sleep on that long flight back to the good ole' USA.

During our tour of the Grand Mosque.

 Terri & Melissa chillin under the Kuwait Towers while we waited for the lunch buffet to open.

 See our car in the background?  Jordyn is crying and refuses to get out for fear of the camel getting her!

 Family shot, minus Jordyn.

 Melissa got a little spooked when the camel decided to get a little closer to her head, lol!

 A mosque near our house...

 Trying to get the Shisha Pipe in the background - see it between us at the table behind us?

 I told Terri that this is probably the last time she will be able to take a picture with Landen and she is the taller one...  those days are a changing!

 Thanksgiving Dinner....  cute pic of all of them!

Ladies, it was fun and you are both welcome back anytime!  I only shed a few tears (which is good for me!) when I hugged my sister goodbye until next time (which better be in the U.S.!!)  :-)  Terri, I'm ready to visit CA again soon!  Just gotta get Matt to get us back to the same continent.  We can text, talk on the phone easier, there won't be terrible jet lag, spend an actual holiday with the whole family together - I'm giddy just thinking about it.    :-)

Holiday Bazaar

Today Jordyn and I went to a holiday bazaar and I got a little jumpstart on my Christmas shopping.  I wish I had known about them last year!  Matt reminded me that this time last year, things were a little different around here.  We were still trying to adjust to everything and Jordyn was having an especially difficult time.  What a difference a year makes!  Jordyn used to be scared to talk to any strangers and was unsure what to do with all of the attention she receives.  This year, she has learned to take advantage of all the things she gets given to her.  She is going to have a harsh adjustment to reality come this summer!  That being said, I am proud of how she handles the attention now...  even if she is a little big headed.   I took a few pictures of her getting her face painted.  Enjoy!

Marine Ball 2011

After a year and a half, we finally got to dress up and go to a ball!  I came prepared with a few dresses in anticipation of dressing up here, but I  haven't had the occasion to wear one of them until last night.  My co-worker's husband is the head Marine and he and his staff did a fantastic job in preparing for a fantastic night at the Marine's 236th Birthday celebrated at the Marine Ball.  There were friends, food, and dancing and we had a lovely evening.  I'm going to miss all the girls when we move!  (but yes, I still want to move!!)

On another note, guess who is coming to see me in a few days????  This beautiful girl!!  Can't wait to see her.  It's been a year and a half and even then, it was only for a weekend that time so it's been WAY too long since I've gotten to spend any time with me sister.  CANNOT wait and I'm so happy she's making the long, long journey.  I hope I can show her a good time!!!

Halloween 2011

We celebrated our 5th year of Halloween overseas - the only change this year was that a coworker and I were in charge of the entire event!  It was a blast, a lot of work, and we saw a lot of smiles that night.  My only regret is that I didn't get to spend it with my kids.  Thanks to my husband, and several friends, the kids were good about going with whoever would take them and they had a great time.  I have a few (and I do mean a few!) pictures to remember the evening...  now, onto planning for Thanksgiving & Christmas!

Hungry?

One of the most frustrating things to me (minor, I know) when we first moved here was grocery shopping!  It's not that there is a lack of food here.  There's a Chili's, Starbucks, and Pink Berry on every corner.  We have Applebee's, TGI Friday's, McDonald's, Popeye's, Little Ceasars, Papa John's, and of course a million restaurants with delicious arabic food.  Though we have all the above, it doesn't mean it tastes exactly like we are used to in America.  

Ketchup here is cocktail sauce - even though it says Heinz and is packaged like we are used to.  Fruit Loops (even though they say Kellog's) are not Fruit Loops.  If you look at the fine print, a majority of the grocery items say "manufactured in Saudi Arabia" or "Egypt" or somewhere similar.  Yep - if it looks like it and it feels like it, it doesn't mean it tastes like it!  

There are co-ops all over town - and of course some are new and nice and others you wouldn't want to step foot into.  However, no matter how new or nice they are always cheaper than the so called "American" grocery stores.  The Sultan Center and Lulu's are life savers for us, but they sure do put a dent in your pocket!  I go there every 3 weeks or so and can't get out for under about 80KD (about $300!).  All things American (legitimately imported) scream buy me (velveeta cheese, gold fish, and granola bars)!!  Basically, they take the U.S. dollar price and slap a KD on there instead.  So a $3 item become 3KD = $10.50.  Yep! It's expensive!!!

If you see something, you better get a lot of it because it probably won't be there when you go back.  I have learned to make due with what we can find, but it truly makes it stressful for me to cook a lot of things.  I'm not a cook really, so I'm very limited in what to get and substitute for what.   This has resulted in me cooking very little here.  :-)  It's frustrating to visit 5 different stores for one little recipe.  I'm just not gonna do it.  Luckily, my family is probably happy about this because they aren't forced to eat my delicious food as often as I would like for them too.  

Milk comes unrefrigerated and in a box.  You can get it cold, but it expires pretty much the next day or 2 days later so if you don't like going to the store every day to get your milk, you resort to this.  It pretty much taste the same and is not as gross as it sounds.  It just took me a while to get used to the idea, but now I don't think anything about it.

 You can usually only find Honey Cheerios in the local markets, but they are pretty much on target with taste.

 Pringles pretty much taste the same...

 For the low, low price of about $6 a pop, you can have yourself a can of Campbell's soup!  BTW - the majority of these products have English written on the opposite side.

Tuna - I don't eat it because I'm too picky about it, but my maid does.

Guess I should have taken some pictures of actual healthy food, huh?  I must have been hungry for junk food when I took these pictures.  The produce isn't quite as exciting to take pictures of - a carrot is a carrot, right?

I try to buy my eggs at the more Americanized stores because they usually seem to be a little cleaner (like the produce).  I have bought eggs many times with a little bit of poop on them and a few feathers tossed about. :-)  Guess that means their fresh, right?!

Hungry?