to market to market

You want tvs, stoves, cabinets and countertops?? Friday Market GOT YOU! You want watches, sunglasses, purses and bags?? Friday Market GOT YOU! You want custom made clothing of any kind or just yards and yards of fabric?? Friday Market GOT YOU! You want socks, shoes, dresses or jewelry?? Friday Market GOT YOU! You want dishes, pots, pans, tools, furniture, cushions, toys, filters, perfume or paintings?? Friday Market GOT YOU! You want a pink or green baby chick or a baby bunny in a dress?? FRIDAY MARKET GOTTTT YOUUUUU!!!!

Peter snapped the pic too soon, but you shoulda seen some of the hot numbers they had on display...

Friday Market was everything I thought it would be and more than I wanted to see. This place is in the middle of the desert and tables and tables of products line walk ways for what seems like miles! Because it’s outside the sellers are constantly brushing dust and sand off the items with a big brush that looks a bit like a broom… Only to fly up in the air and land on their other items or those of their neighbor… ANYTHING you would possibly buy in a store can be found at the Friday Market (which is actually open on Thurs as well). We browsed for hours and totally got turned around like 5 times. The only thing I really wanted was a rug, they’re freakin MASSIVE and surprisingly affordable! Once we move into our place we’ll make the trip back out there to pick up our dusty ginormous treasure. There are peeps with wheelbarrows that follow you around waiting for you to buy more than you can carry hoping to make a little money by hauling it back to your car. I saw men carrying couches stacked four feet high with cushions on their BACKS… The whole place really is a sight to see… There was one area that we didn’t visit though – on purpose, actually… and that was the animal market. We did venture out to see the birds and bunnies but I was told if I was an animal lover NOT to go see the dogs/pets.

The birds were loud, dirty and in cages that were either round or square. The birds in the round cages continuously ran in circles, squawking, screaming and flapping their wings. When I say birds, I mean fowl: chicken, roosters, ducks, doves, turkeys, geese, eagles, and any bird you would otherwise want to own as a pet or take home for supper. There were some that were so crowded in the cages that others were being trampled. The birds in square cages pecked at each other and you could see several areas on their bodies where feathers no longer grew b/c of the scarring. Seeing the birds caged up was enough to convince me that I wouldn’t be able to handle seeing the pups… I’ve only heard stories about how terrible the conditions are and they’re enough to make you tear up. They had baby chicks and bunnies in the area that we were at. The chicks had been dipped in food coloring and looked like a handful of tropical skittles in their little cages. They huddled together and didn’t move much, same with the bunnies – who were clothed in dresses or little tops and bloomers. I picked up one of the bunnies that wasn’t caged and it just clung to my hand, I asked the man how old they were and he confirmed they were only weeks old… MUCH too young to be taken from their mommas!

I’m not sure why they dye the animals, but my reasoning is that children will see them and beg for their favorite color. They do this with the dogs too. And how am I supposed to resist a poor dehydrated little purple puppy???? We all agreed that we had seen enough and we headed back towards the car… on our way out we passed several dead animals that had been tossed from their cages and left to rot in the desert. A little boy that couldn’t have been more than 11 or 12 sat under a tree holding a rooster by its wings while he squawked about and kicked his clawed feet. He was smoking a cigarette and had a big scratch down his nose, dangerously close to his eye; that was bleeding. I couldn’t imagine living the life of some of the children that grow up around the markets, the things they’ve seen! Most of them are Bedouins and live in tents in the desert, breeding animals and selling them in various markets. We didn’t go look at any of the other animals they had, but there are sheep, goats and many others available for purchase.

After walking around in the hot sun for so many hours, I went ahead and shed my sweater. I decided if I offended someone that much they could just come right up and tell me… no one did, but I caught some stares, well worth it.

I’ve been looking for a pumice stone for a while now, in my opinion, they should hand you one immediately upon landing in Kuwait. Everyone here wears sandals and no one seems to care that their heels are cracking and dry!? I finally found one and could not WAIT to get home and use it! I had no idea that while using this treasure I would experience a very real brush with death. Let me just note that I don’t even use the hot water here, the ‘cold' water is hot enough right now so I shower with the faucet on ‘cold’. While I was showering Peter was outside by the pool enjoying a cup of coffee and some shisha with our neighbor and one of his coworkers. I was really taking my time and enjoying the pumice on heel action when I lost my footing… I threw the stone in the air and wildly began flapping my arms in order to regain my balance. I swear this all happened in slow motion (again, a GREAT place to insert some background music). I grasped on to the shower curtain and hugged it tight. I slid down the curtain slowly and was able to regain my footing before we had noggin to porcelain contact. WHEWWWWW!!!! Two things went through my mind: (1) That is sooooome shower curtain! It’s made of fabric and it did tear a bit where it’s suspended from the rod, but it held my weight! (2) I am never showering without Peter IN the apartment again!

so they all rolled over and one fell out...

I’m still having probs sleeping at night. In fact, I’m pretty sure I only slept about 2 hours total last night. We have a king sized bed here at the corporate apt – which I’m definitely going to miss… but even with the larger bed, Peter still manages to crowd me out of the bed! I woke up with one arm and one leg hanging off the edge of the bed… yeah, it’s hot here, but we have A/C people! No reason for any limbs to be uncovered much less suspended from a bed! I looked over to see Peter lying on MY side of the bed and like 4 feet of empty bed on the other side of him… REALLY? I know when Peter’s cold he’s going to snuggle me, I’m his little piece of charcoal… but I was borderline snuggled out of the bed! I thought about getting up and walking over to the other side of the bed and enjoying all that empty space, but then I knew it would totally creep him out to find me on the other side. So… I just lay there in bed and thought about what I was going to do for the next few days…

Today is Thurs, our Friday – so when Peter leaves the office at 4PM today it’s officially weekend! We don’t have all that much planned except for going to the Friday Market ßso pumped!!! I’m going to take picts b/c I hear it’s bonkers! I guess it’s the equivalent of our ‘Trader’s Village’ back home… but we’ll seeeeee! J I’m also getting a mani/pedi on Saturday – which is much overdue! I have no idea what to expect in the way of salons here, but a friend assures me it will be just fine! ;-)

OH! I found out what the second bowl is for… I know I must have sounded like a complete ding dong, but I had to ask… I mean, I’ve thought of a few purposes on my own. For example, I thought maybe that should be Peter’s toilet – you know, like a his and hers, since the second bowl is missing the lid naturally that would be Peter’s! OR maybe it’s for washing my feet? I mean, I know my dogs need a bath after walking around in this sandbox, and it’s in the PERF spot. I could sit on the 1^st toilet with the lid closed and plop my feet in bowl number two for a little hose off!? NOPE… People, this is why Europeans think we’re disgusting! The second bowl IS the bidet! All the dirty stuff goes in toilet number one and then the second bowl is for cleaning…. Hmmmm, makes sense because there is no water in the second bowl, only a small drain – also, no flush. This bowl is slightly smaller and not as deep as the reg toilet bowl. If you have more questions, feel free to ask. This is as much info as I feel comfortable posting… being this IS the World Wide Web… Should you care to hear about my first experiences I’m happy to share as I do NOT recommend using the hose over the second potty… not until you’ve learned to tame it, which… I have not.

Appliance Update: I have still not learned how to use the oven OR the dryer, we grill every night or eat out and our towels are crispy from the drying rack (sorry Peter).

Since my last post I’ve eaten at several fab restaurants and have seen almost all the malls here. Mall hopping is the thing to do… I say ‘mall hopping’ and not ‘shopping’ for a reason. The 1^st rings true for me b/c I’m having difficulty ‘shopping’… don’t get me wrong, I can put miles on plastic quicker than you can blink an eye, but I’m finding it hard to pull the trigger here. WHY? B/c I’ve trained my mind to do the conversion rate for EVERYTHING that I look at and the prices make me a little sick to my tum tum!! BLAST our weak dollar!!! Not to mention, sales transactions make me nervous! The Kuwaiti Dinar (KD) looks like Monopoly money to me… It has absolutely no value to me… I’m like oh, how much did you say? Ummm, ok… (me fumbling with said monopoly money and coins) I give them my biggest bill so they can make change. What?? You need fils? (there are 1000 fils in a KD and coins are rare, making it difficult for vendors to make accurate change) UH OH! This is where I dig in my change pocket and hold out an extended palm, hoping and praying I have the right coin… There are only Arabic numbers on these coins and I don’t know why my stupid brain refuses to retain such important information… but since I rarely have to use these coins, I guess that info gets the boot to make room for other useless info, like the current pros and cons list I’m keeping track of in my head…

All the ladies here say you just have to suck it up and buy what you want… But I shop at Banana Republic back home and I know what those tops are supposed to cost!!! So, I have not yet purchased any items for myself… I can’t wait to visit the souqs though!!! Those are the shops in the streets that you can bargain in! Then I can exchange my monopoly money for things I don’t really need! It’ll be just like the game!!!! :-D

The volcano in Iceland has delayed our air shipment and it doesn’t look like it’s going to get here anytime soon. It’s stuck in Milan… lucky air shipment… I really can’t stop thinking about having our things here and making our little home! AHHHH, it’s going to be so nice to sleep in my bed and lay on my couch!!! I dream about it! Speaking of dreams… now, my friends KNOW I have odd dreams… most of the time they’re not worth mentioning, but my friends always listen! Wellll, here in Kuwait, I just have Peter pants…. LOL! You should have seen his face the other morning while we were brushing our teeth; I was telling him about this dinosaur-giraffe-faced-crocodile that I had just dreamed about. I mean, I’m sure it sounded scary what with pasty foam creeping from the edges of my mouth while I was telling the story, but his face was PRICELESS!! Perhaps I should just begin journaling my dreams for further analysis at a later date…

it tastes so good when it hits ur lips!

I went to my first party Thurs night ANNNNND I paid for it ALL day on Friday… It hardly occurred to me that I hadn’t had a cocktail in two weeks… I have to say, I do miss a nice glass of wine or three with dinner – but GOD BLESS AMERICA, I do NOT miss hangovers!!! L Since booze is illegal over here the only place you ever really see it is at a social gathering in someone’s home. It just so happened that this past thurs a couple was having a going away party – and lucky me, my husband knew someone who knew someone and we sorta tagged along. Peter’s friend from work and his wife had just come back from Holiday so he scooped us from our apt before heading to the party to have a brief meet and greet at their villa (which is ginormous – I want one!). First thing’s first, he brought me a bottle of vodka during pick up – I already heart this guy! Peter was like, ‘it’ll be gone in a week!’ Ummm, NO SIR! I’m happy to just sit there and look at it. Just knowing it’s in the apt actually makes me feel more at home. I’m treating this stuff like GOLD! Like LIQUID GOLD! Ok, so after lots of hugs and thank yous and more staring at my pretty bottle, we loaded into his car and off to the villa where I met his lovely wife and their ADORABLE 2 little boys! Cocktail numero uno was served as we chatted and got to know one another – I haven’t had a soda in years but I had a vodka and coke and it was YUMMMMsicles! Mmmmm, down the hatch!

Yay! Party time! All four of us rode together to another villa not too far away and I was a little nervous on the car ride over. I mean, I was super excited to be out of the house and socializing with new friends, but I felt bad crashing a stranger’s party. As soon as we got to the party we were greeted by a super sweet woman who kissed me on both my cheeks and welcomed us into her home. For the love I wish I could remember her name! But she’s also married to a Peter – I DID remember that! ;-) There were probably 8-10 other peeps already inside and she pointed us to the bar. I did a little jig on my way ova… WOW! They had everything! Beer here runs about $250 a case and don’t even get me started on how much liquor can cost… It’s a black market folks. People try to bring it in at the airports all the time, and when they get caught it’s confiscated… and VOILA, it’s now available on the black market… I had another vodka and coke b/c I don’t like to mess with a good thing. Butterflies were gone and I was ready to meet some people! I spoke to Peter’s wife for a long time, we talked about having pets here (I was so curious why I haven’t seen any dogs – they are thought of as unclean animals here, partially understood…) and where she was from (Denmark) and what she did here (housewife and proud mother of 1 dog and 2 cats). EVERYONE I met was from somewhere cool and had super interesting stories and awesome accents… I felt so vanilla. Oh well, I yam who I yam!! I even spoke to a guy named Mohammed Ali, but he said I could call him Joseph ß Great name! ;-) I was telling him how Peter and I were just married a little less than a month ago and… then just like that he was in the middle of one upping me by telling me how he rescued a girl from drowning when he was only 15, ran into her 30 years later and they fell madly in love. He went on about the trips and the spoiling and I felt like my cheeks were starting to cramp b/c I had perm-a-grin, THIS is what movies are made of!!!! (Insert super cheesy romantic melody here). Sadly, she was crazy and things didn’t work out so much… Tough luck Joseph… He exchanged numbers with my Peter so hopefully we’ll revisit this character later… We left after cocktail number??… and HOME!

Eye spy a little caeeeeesar’s!! YESSSSHHHHH!!!! My sweet husband indulged me... FYI, I plan on trying all the pizza joints here – but I will NEVER order Little Caesar’s again! While this chain is one of my favs back home – their Kuwaiti location is in need of some serious quality control. There was loads of cheese, no complaints there, but the SAUCE… HAD to be ketchup. And so I went to bed, disappointed. Only to wake up and waste the entire Friday in bed – where I normally spend my weeks. :-( SO ANGRY! I felt so terrible that I actually ate a piece of leftover pizza. I use the word ‘ate’ loosely, more like I tore a piece off the slice with my teeth and let it dissolve in my mouth – sound gross? It was… I made it out to the couch at one point and managed to stay awake through the movie ‘Fred Clause’. Peter had a soccer game and promised to be home to take me out to dinner. In case you haven’t noticed, going out for meals is the highlight of my day. We went to a little Japanese place up the road and we had some miso that didn’t quite taste like miso and some very delicious mixed fried rice and teriyaki chicken. I pretty much only order chicken out now… I found out why the beef tastes different.

All the meat here is ‘halal’, meaning that it has been drained of blood. Halal means ‘lawful or permissible’ in Arabic, and means that the meat may be eaten. Blood, among pork products and alcohol, is forbidden in the Qur’an and may not be consumed according to the Islamic law. The food here is delish, but I knew the beef was missing something, particularly when I cut into my big fat steak. I’m learning something new everyday…

Saturday was a new day and the last of our weekend!! We made breakfast and loosely planned our day. First stop, new shoes for Lydia – YAAAAY! I’ve only had heels and flip-flops and my dogs have really been taking a beating walking around in this sand box. I found some that were PERF but they had a stain on the left shoe. You can’t buy new shoes that don’t look new, sorry. I already had my heart set on them though! L We looked a few more places and then found the same walking shoe but it was in patent leather. PASS. I love patent, but not on a WALKING SHOE! ßThese shoes are necessary, not an attempt to be fashionable.

Looks like new shoes are on the shopping list for this week. Hmmph! We stopped and ate at a place on the water. We eat a lot, huh? ßThat makes me happy! Pat, if you’re reading this – it is at this restaurant where you will find a tower of fish MUCH larger than the one we ordered in Chicago – serves a group of like 6 peeps, we would have ordered it if you were here! After lunch we walked it off at the Sultan Center (grocery store). We did much better this time and YUP - I rode the magnetic escalator again! HAHA! I love that thing!

Final note – our house hunt has come to an end!! We are still in the town Mahboula, which I was hoping to leave… only because the translation of the word is ‘crazy lady’. It’s funny b/c I was really liking the way that sounded until Peter told me what it meant… All kidding aside, this crazy lady has found a place to rest her noggin and I could NOT be happier! Our freight shipment won’t arrive until May 22^nd and then we have 10 days for it to pass through customs, so were lookin at beginning of June to be in our new place… No bathtubs, but we DO have a dishwasher! J It’s a 3BR/3Bath plus room for Joseph (the bro-in-law, not the heartbreaker I mentioned earlier). We’ll have plenty of room for guests so please consider Kuwait for your next Holiday destination! ;-)

can i borrow some ZZZZs??

Well, this is my 1^st night without Tylenol PM… I’ve been sleeping in this week and then napping sometimes during the day so I’m never ready to go to bed when Peter is. Soooo I normally just pop a few of those magic little beans to make me drowsy. I decided tonight that I was going to wean myself off of them and now I’m wide awake, boo!

Peter and I took one of his coworkers out to dinner tonight in Salmiyah and we ate at this AMAZING Arabic restaurant in Marina Mall. We had some appys and then ordered a ton of food! It was so delish and I was so happy to be out of the apartment and OUT!!! When I go out I normally wear jeans with a baby-t and a wrap around my neck. OR, my newest combo, a long dress with a cardigan… and if I’m going somewhere with lots of people, I’ll tote the wrap to cover my chest by twisting it around my neck. I mean, it’s not like I have cleavage dumping out all over the place – not sure what the big deal is about covering up the chest, but I’m sweating my tooter off so I hope they’re happy!!!

Back to dinner, we were sitting outside by the water enjoying our meal and then it started sprinkling. No big deal, it hardly ever rains here and when it does it passes quickly. There wasn’t much left on my plate but the sprinkles forced me to devour everything that was left quickly. It really started dumping just as soon as I finished my food and we moved under a covered portion with some couches. Peter and Mark talked shop most of the time, but I didn’t care – I was just enjoying the food, the music and watching everyone scurry around in the rain. The men hold hands here, which I find very odd and affection between men and women in public is frowned upon. No kissing in public… SO, let’s review – no alcohol, no revealing clothing, no public displays of affection (unless ur a guy and u want to hold ur bfs hand) – yet still, I love it here! I think I’m just learning how to appreciate different things. Back home I was so busy all the time – doing what?? Work, running around crossing things off my ‘to do’ list, socializing, trying to keep up… and I miss it, but I have time here to dooooo, welllll, I don’t know what I’m going to do yet. But I’ve definitely reverted back to childhood… I watch cartoons and eat my cereal in the mornings, I think about what I want to be when I grow up, I splash in the pool and I HATE bath time. Not b/c I like being dirty – trust me, if I get sweaty I’m fighting Peter for the shower 1^st, but we haven’t received our shipment containing the GINORMOUS converters that I’ll need to use EVERY appliance (such as my hairdryer) over here. Instead of purchasing all new appliances we opted for buying 5 converters (each weigh 38 lbs and are a complete eyesore!) but I can’t wait til those suckers get here so I can blow my hair out proper… Instead I have to walk around the house with a towel on my head and then let it air dry, which is super sexy in this sandy hot box. EWW! So, bath time sucks… The apartment that we’re staying in DOES have a tub, but I’m pretty sure if I tried to take a bath in it that Peter would have to lube the tub to get me out – it’s EXTREMELY narrow, if you can imagine. Some of the other showers I’ve seen are just over a drain in the floor with a piece of glass in front of the toilet so you’re partially enclosed. Some have no glass partition at all – sooo, I guess if you wanted to take a seat on the toilet while showering, one would have the option. Suppose that could speed things up in the morning… We’re looking for a place with a tub, but I’d rather have a dishwasher to be honest!

I laugh at myself a whole lot more too – I’ll catch glimpses of myself in a mirror during the day and I’m like REALLY?!?! Make an effort woman! But it’s hard to get up and get ‘ready’ when I know I’m not going to see anyone or leave the apartment. Today I thought, ‘WOW, my life would be SOOO much more interesting if there were music playing behind everything I do.’ Example uno: I was making a sandwich in the kitchen this afternoon in my bowl (the plate was dirty) with my big knife and started eating it right there at the counter. Just as I had my mouth full a maintenance guy knocked on the front door and opened it at the same time. He knows I don’t speak any Arabic and I know he doesn’t speak any English. So there we were - me in my pajamas, holding a big knife, eating over a bowl with my mouthful and he, well, he was BLATANTLY in the wrong apartment. So he mumbled something in Arabic and then shut the door. I paused, swallowed my food, and then turned back to my connwich. I thought nothing of it at all, but then wished there had been some type of circus themed music playing in the background, yes, that would have been appropriate. Example dos: The driving here is MAD! I feel like there should be some kind of ‘fast and furious’ jam playing while I’m riding in the back of a cab – b/c I’m not just living, I’m surviving! I still don’t see myself driving here – but I won’t say ‘never’. I’ve just always considered myself a courteous driver, I let peeps over when they have their blinkers on and always wave people on in a lane that’s merging… but there’s none of that here. These drivers would eat me alive… you have to see it to believe it!

I’m SO ready for the weekend to be here and Peter to be home for a few days. We’re going to get out looking for places again, so wish us luck! ;-) ALSO… DRUMROLL… we’re going to a party Thurs night!!!!!!! That’s reason alone to lose sleep over! WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! J

if ur happy and u know it, CLAP UR HANDS!!!

Ummmm, so I finally went to layout by the pool (which I now do daily) and meet the two women who I had seen enjoying themselves for the past few days. I don’t know why I didn’t come out before because they are DOLLS! They’re both from London and had the most adorable accent! Emma and Judy! Judy is Emma’s mother and they were here visiting her husband who is working out here for the time being. YAY! I had pool buddies! I was so excited to visit with them! They invited me out the next day and I had the best time! Shopping, lunching and sunning by the pool… only thing missing was Bubba Keg!! Sadly, my new friends are leaving today… L

Looks like I’ll be holding the pool scene down solo… I’m going to miss them! Peter even said I started talking with an accent… really? I don’t know why I do that – but I just love their accent! It makes everything sound so much more interesting!! I’m sure I sound like a ding dong when I say ‘what are y’all doing later?’ but everything that comes out of their mouths just sounds like poetry! And I’m totally adding the word “blatantly” to my vocab! Thanks Emma! ;-) Come back soon! I promise to have my wine biz booming by then! J

I’m starting to think I can be really happy here… I mean, of course I can be happy living with my precious Peter Pie, but I spend the majority of my time alone for the time being and the place we’re staying in doesn’t exactly feel like home. For starters, we only have one plate… I eat most of my meals out of a bowl – which isn’t a big deal, but come on! There’s no dishwasher here, wait, yes there is – her name is Lydia, and she’s not very thorough!!!! STILL haven’t learned how to work the oven or the dryer… So we pretty much grill every night, which is awesome! We both have to use these ginormous knives from the knife block in the kitchen b/c the only other knives we have are butter knives?? We’ve started looking for places and I think we’ve found one that I really like (pssst, it’s the only one with a dishwasher we’ve seen).

And guess what? I’m Peter’s golden ticket, yesh I yam!!!! Most places will only rent to Westerners – which Peter is, but his beautiful tan leads them to believe otherwise… Every single apartment has maids’ quarters in it and their own bathroom (I refer to this area as Joseph’s room), and most families have a live-in maid or one that visits twice a week. Since I’m not working, I’m pretty sure I can handle our little household chores, but I’ve been enjoying the maid service that Halliburton treats us to daily. They come every day except Friday; they make the beds, straighten the house and vacuum and mop all the floors. Since it’s REALLLLY dusty here you have to dust often and they give everything a once over to keep it clean. All the bathrooms and kitchens have drains in the floor, weeeeird! All of the floors that I’ve seen are tile or marble. Most places have a pool and gym, but people, these places are NOTHING like back home. The layouts are odd and most of the kitchens are UBER tiny and have zilch storage space. Bathtub??? What’s that? Hmmmm… so we’re still looking. Every bathroom has a bidet, even public bathrooms have these, I’m always scared to use them b/c I’d be the girl who sprays water all over her pants and walks out with a soggy bottom… :-/

The place I love is not near any shopping, but it’s very close to a STARBUCKS (shocker, they’re EVERYWHERE!) and a few fast food joints. I also spotted a spa and a pilates studio – coincidence? Or is this FAAAAATE?! J

The malls here are RIDIC!! They’re WAAAAAY better than the Galleria and have more than you can imagine. They have everything we have back home plus a ton of places I’ve never heard of… only prob is that since most stores have imported goods they’re much more pricey (POOOOP!). I find it odd that all the stores sell skimpy little sundresses and tanks and generally decorate the mannequins like we would back in the states. WHO WEARS THIS STUFF??? Everyone I see is covered from head to toe and I for one have never worn more clothes in such a hot temp! I’m not expected to wear a veil or anything, but if you don’t want to be stared at then your shoulders, chest and knees ought to be covered. Even then, people stare… probably wondering where I came from and why I’m here… and people don’t wear bathing suits here! They get in the water in their clothes. If you have a membership to one of the hotel’s resorts you are permitted to wear a bathing suit, but even then it should be a onesie… Currently, I’m rocking my two-piece under a big cover up until I can find something suitable…

The food here is DELISH and there are tons of options. LOTS of Indian places and of course Middle Eastern food, but you’d be surprised with the amount of American restaurants available! They just opened a PF Chang’s too… YUMMM! Speaking of food, I’ve been doing A LOT of eating. It helps the time pass. Peter and I started doing a P90/Insanity combo workout at home to battle the bulge and it’s KILLLLLING me! I’m always so impressed that he finishes the workout… I’ve gotten really lazy, what with being so busy during the day and all…

I’m getting really excited to meet more people and get out more! There’s an American Women’s League that I’m going to look into and I know once we move in to a place I’ll meet some neighbors. One of Peter’s good friends from work returns from vacay tomorrow with his wife and they’re having us for BBQ and COCKTAILS!!!! YESSSSSSSSSS! I sat up straight in bed this morning when I realized it’s only a day away!!! Soooo, I’ll be singing IF UR HAPPY AND U KNOW IT ALLLLLL DAAAAAY LOOOOOONG!

baby steps...

OK, so the first few days I did NOT leave the apartment… pretty lame, I know. I slept in, watched TV, read and just waited for Peter to come home and feed me. I felt like a little puppy; I’d hear Peter’s keys in the front door and I’d come flying out of the back room… He was the only person I saw for 3 whole days. Not the worst thing in the world, but I’m sure he got super annoyed with all my questions: What did you do today? Oh, just work? What’d you eat for breakfast? What’d you have for lunch? Indian? Was it good? Will you go there again? Will you take ME there???? Poor Peter…

After my 3 days of general solitude, I did venture out to the pool, which is quite nice. I just brought my laptop outside and sent an email and then I took a huge raindrop to the face – back inside!!!! I’ve got to get better about reading the weather around here…

I neglected to mention that on day 2 I saw two ladies out by the pool. They looked American and were listening to their ipods and reading mags. I proceeded to creep them through my window for the next several days. I don’t know why I didn’t go outside, I guess I wasn’t ready… but don’t ask me what I was waiting for, I still don’t know!

OK, my first outing was to the grocery store! ßYAY! Until now I’ve been eating Pizza Hut and Dawat, which is an Indian food restaurant right outside my back door. You would not believe all the American food they have here! I bought Kashi cereal, Hellman’s mayo, Wishbone dressing and even found Dove shampoo and conditioner! Almost everything we bought was from somewhere other than Kuwait. Our tomatoes were from Lebanon, the lettuce was from Saudi and even our “American” items (like Kraft and Hillshire Farms lunch meat) were from Australia. The grocery store that we went to is just up the street and it’s not the largest one, but had everything we needed. It’s two stories and the 2^nd floor is like WalMart, they had futons, dishes, fishing gear, bikes, random stuff... There was a magnetic escalator that you can just push your cart on to and it will ride all the way up with you – I really liked that… ;-) I’m sure everyone else on the ride could tell it was my first time.

The total for our little shopping trip was 90KD, which is 315 American bucks!! WHAAAA?? I mean, we only got sandwich stuff, breakfast items and some chicken and steak for dinners!!!! Our dollar is pretty weak over here and I haven’t adjusted to doing all the quick conversions in my head yet, so I wasn’t shopping with price in mind – just plucking familiar items and loading up the cart… OOPS! I’ll do better next time?

There’s no pork over here, since this is a Muslim country. You can still get sausage and pepperoni, but it’s made out of turkey or beef. NOT the same, but a good substitute.

Everything is different here, the washers and dryers (I JUST figured out how to do laundry, still haven’t learned how to make it dry though), the ovens have the numbers 1-8 – how am I supposed to know when it’s 375 degrees? Oh, and they don’t do Fahrenheit here, it’s Celsius. The metric system is new to me and I know I have to learn it – but I DON’T WANNNNNA! :-P

are we there yet?!?

WOW! Baby’s first blog! Here it goes...

April 5^th, 2010

Dear Diary,

Today Peter and I left Houston, Kuwait bound! Our flight left IAH at 6:45pm and we took at 14 hr and 25 min flight to Dubai. I really haven’t had any anxiety about the move but was a little worried that I would lose it on the flight. The plane was GINORMOUS! I don’t know what kind of plane it was, not really into that kind of thing, but it was definitely the biggest plane I’ve ever been on! We flew Emirates, which is based in Dubai. I got on this monster and immediately realized WHY it was so freakin huge…. Ummmm, the seats are HUGE, I’m talking twin bed style here people, and they recline ALL the way! There are dividers between each seat so you have complete privacy and each seat is equipped with a 12 inch flat screen tv! The flight attendants were already serving wine and mimosas and there was a luxurious blanket and pillow neatly folded and fluffed in each seat! OH WAIT… that was 1^st class… keep walking Lydia…

We passed through business class, which I would have totally settled for! Wonderful accommodations on a slightly smaller scale, keep walking Lydia… There she is, 34K, window seat SCORE! Wait, not so fast, Peter called window = DANG IT! I sat in between Peter and a very sweet large man with a healthy mustache. Poor thing, he chewed nicorette continuously for FOURTEEN HOURS!

The plane had 3 seats on each side with a row of 5 in the middle (in my section, first class had 2 on each side and 2 in the middle so that should give u and idea of how large the seats were). I said a little prayer for the person in the middle of row five. They served drinks first, alcohol is FREE! Oh, except for champagne, which I don’t normally care for but since I had just seen 1^st class get served I especially wanted one… what’s that? US$8, I’ll pass… I opted for a glass of white wine, she gave me a baby bottle = ADORABLE! They fed us right after and I have to say I was impressed with every meal they served. One of the snacks was a cheese and pickle sandwich, which I balked at, but then ate out of boredom. Ummm, it was DELISH! The seats were OK and I did have my own 10in TV with over 100 channels with On-Demand movies and TV. There were a TON of movies to choose from and I watched movies for the duration of the flight, minus the 45 mins that I snoozed.

I couldn’t believe how fast the plane ride went. I only went stir crazy once, for about 25 mins after I watched Twilight: New Moon (which I totally blame for my foul mood). Peter and nicorette neighbor were both snoozing and the whole plane was lights out. ‘Am I the only one awake,’ I thought? I couldn’t feel my butt, my knees hurt and I couldn’t stretch out my legs b/c my loving husband was so sprawled out. My neighbor’s blanket was tucked into the seats between us and was taking up AT LEAST an inch or two of my seat and on a flight like that = NOT COOL! I started to feel squirmy and hot and then immediately began to panic about restroom access… I had already had 2 baby bottles of wine, 3 small waters (they’re like 3 oz, served in little plastic cups like the kind your mom packed in your school lunch with a peel off lid) and 2 cups of coffee. I made a couple groaning noises followed by some deep sighs hoping to wake Peter but I had no luck. POOOOOP! Ok, I’m going to take a nap… 15 mins later, I woke up and decided to watch another movie…

I have to give my bladder some serious props on this trip, only ONE bathroom trip people!!!! ONE! This trip was the ONLY time I left my seat for almost 15 hours and I walked there in my socks b/c I could only find one flip flop. Big deal, I mean, it had to be on the plane SOMEWHERE!

We landed in Dubai and the airport was SOOOOO nice, I wanted to take picts but I was trying to blend in and not look like a total tourist… I immediately suggested cocktails and we found a super nice little bar where I ordered some wine – figured this was my last opportunity to enjoy alcohol of any kind for a long time soooo… had a couple. Peter had water… Note: My husband is no party pooper, but he had to work at 7 in the am while I get to sleep all day…

Our layover was only about an hour and the flight to Kuwait was only about an hour and a half. Just long enough for me to watch 500 Days of Summer. It was already 9pm there and AS SOON as I got off the plane I immediately felt I was in a foreign country. I mean, I knew this was where I was headed but come on, I’ve never been ANYWHERE!!! My head was on a swivel looking at everything and Peter had to keep an eye on me to make sure I was keeping up. EVERYONE smokes, didn’t matter that we were in an airport… It was a little overwhelming in the airport. Peter and I went to get our visas – which was an ordeal b/c these peeps have never heard of lines, you just get in where you can fit in! I’m going to get REALLLLLLY good at this, no worries!

We got our luggage and a man from Halliburton was there to pick us up and take us to the house. I didn’t see much from the back seat b/c it was already almost 11pm. Oh, and people weren’t lying when they said the driving here is NUTS. Will go into more detail about that later! Peter noticed that my feet were SUPER swollen, sick!! My toes looked like little cocktail weenies! L

Once we got to the house we hauled our luggage in and I figured I should eat again, I’ve been served meals almost every 3 hours for the last day or so and I have to say, I’m a huge fan! We ordered some pizza from Pizza Hut, that’s RIIIIIGHT! We got supreme thin crust (pepperoni and sausage were both made from beef but I couldn’t tell) and we settled in and watched some SNL reruns. All in all, not a bad trip at all!