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.

a

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.

18 Months To Go

Today is one of those days when I can't wait to move back to America....

* to not be constantly stared at by men

* for my kids to blend in - mainly Jordyn

* to feel comfortable in public

* to drive where people obey the traffic rules (generally speaking)

* to not come home to a house where there is a foreign woman living with me (as sweet as she is)

* to pet my dog (who is so old now, we will never live with her again)

* to get a new puppy! ha!

* to go to the grocery store where I can get products I am used to

* to be able to drive to see family and talk on the phone without such a time difference

* to be comfortable in a doctor/dentist office

I will be so appreciative of all the little things if we ever get back to America. 18 months feels like an eternity to me right now. I'm trying hard to stay busy, busy, busy. It probably doesn't help that I'm a little sick and have a throbbing headache. I'll get it over it - just felt like whining to make me feel all better!

The Grand Mosque

I have found yet another reason to be thankful I am a Christian woman born in America. I am pretty confident I prefer this look (yes, I know I needed to change my purse):

Over this look:

Any votes?

Landen and I got to tour the Grand Mosque in Kuwait today. We both found it very interesting and were glad we went. Matt was at work, so he didn't get to go. I chose to leave the two smaller kids at home with Kumari to spare them boredom and allow me to be able to listen. We began the tour with tea/water, went on the tour, then ended with crackers and juice. The tour guides were extremely nice. They joked, allowed any questions, encouraged us to take pictures, and spoke English really well. I learned quite a bit of information about the Muslim faith which I found to be fascinating. The Mosque was beautiful inside. I got a million pictures, but am going to try and load a short video clip I took so that you get the idea. Norma, when you come back to visit we have it all figured out now. It's really simple and something you will want to see. Plus you'll get to dress up and look as lovely as I did!

If you are interested:

* The Mosque holds approx 11,400 people with as many as 970 women allowed in the balcony.

* Men and women do not pray together or attend church together.

* Women must be covered and all must remove their shoes before entering the Mosque.

* The lines are on the floor so that everyone is seen equal in the sight of God (no one better than the other).

* The semi circle at the front of the Mosque is where the prayers are spoken and is caused to echo off the dome of the ceiling so that all can hear. However, when they are not praying the man stands at the podium with a microphone.

* The Mosque was completed in 1986.

* The Amir (Ruler) enters through a separate entrance and comes to the Mosque about twice a year to pray.

* Muslims believe Jesus was a great man, a prophet, but is not the son of God as we Christians believe.

* Muslims do not believe Jesus died on the cross as Christians do, he was taken to heaven by God in the same form he came.

* The Quoran is the sacred book of Islam. They believe it was revealed by God to the prophet Mohammad.

I learned many more interesting things, but those are the few that came to my mind. Most of you reading I know are Christians and knew most of that anyway.

Christmas at the Camel Races!

I never thought I would be blogging about spending Christmas in the middle east at the camel races, but after the last 4 years you would think I wouldn't be surprised. I could blog about our Christmas morning, but that seems a little boring compared to our afternoon.

Yes. Camel races is where we spent our afternoon. We took about a 30 minute drive from our house into the desert to find the camel race track. Talk about seeing A LOT of camels. Now, we know where they all are if we have anymore company come to visit us. We saw white camels, brown and black. I posted several pictures on Facebook so these may be duplicate to some of you.

There was no betting or anything like that to speak of where we were. I'm sure it was going on in some form or fashion or there wouldn't be so much interest in having their own camel win. It was all men and only a handful of us western women watching the event. There were stands at the finish line, but we didn't go in. Instead, we headed to the starting line and watched the races begin. As soon as we arrived, the main man who begins the races came over and kissed Jordyn and tried to pick her up to take her to the camels. Matt grabbed her and followed, but she would have NOTHING to do with them and cried. :-) We could have had a great picture and the men were so friendly, but it didn't happen this time. I think if she had time to warm up a little bit, she might of agreed but those camels were big and intimidating when we first arrived!

Back to the races. The race begins and the men run for their life in order to not get trampled by the camels. Some camels begin quite quickly in the right direction and others, well... don't want to cooperate. The camels all have mechanical robots on their backs that their owner has a remote control to whip the camel during the race. Think PETA would approve? I'm guessing not. The final camel carries a human who rounds up the camels along the track who lag behind. After the start, the men and spectators run and jump in the car to race along with the camels during the 5K and 6K. I was glad Matt was driving and not me! They began about 30 mph and slowed to 20 mph as they got tired and their necks began to droop.

We watched several take offs and drove alongside 2 races. It was really a lot of fun and something we will never forget!