Lately...

Censorship in Kuwait is huge. 

I was perusing this People Magazine in the airport the other day, and snagged this picture...

 Every magazine here looks like this. I keep waiting to meet the person whose job this is. 

"What do you do for a living?"

"Oh, I sharpie out Kim Kardashian's cleavage."

The kids and I had to make a follow up trip to the Government Health offices to have their PPD tests read, to confirm they do not in fact have TB, so that we can finally obtain their Civil ID cards. 

Inshallah, of course.

Dave's work sends a Mandoub with us (someone with Wasta) and in addition to helping us with the process, he is also our driver.

One our way back home, we encountered our first Police Road Block, where they were stopping every car and checking IDs. Having someone with Wasta with you is such an interesting experience...the police just glanced at whatever papers he showed them, and then sent us along our way. Didn't even hardly look at the kids and I in the back seat...

(You may have to click on the picture to make it larger to see the police inspecting the vehicle in front of us)

Storm Troopers have Wasta as well, naturally...

And I'm not sure what clout this little lady has in Kuwait, but in our kitchen, she's a master Sous-chef. She assisted me in making a gigantic batch of french toast this week...

We popped in to visit David at work, and caught him near the end of one of his classes. I snapped this picture of him explaining a homework assignment to a few students and never missing a beat, even though our daughter was trying to lift him...

I arranged a gingerbread house making party for our homeschool co-op this week. Everyone brought supplies, we met up at a park, and we had a blast decorating houses and eating candy and playing at the park and eating candy and talking and laughing and eating candy.

Because I arranged the playdate, I was in charge of explaining the process to all the kids. Here is me giving my official gingerbread house making tutorial...

 I know...I am very fancy here.

About half the group was able to attend, and the kids did a fantastic job being creative with their houses!

After the houses were constructed, the kids made their way to the play equipment...

When all was said and done, we ended up being there over four hours!

The twins had so much fun playing with the other kids, and I had such a great time talking with the other moms. They are such an eclectic group, and I'm fascinated by so many of them and their stories...how they ended up in Kuwait (there is only one Kuwaiti in the group), how long they've been here, where else they've lived, and how they ended up homeschooling. We talked and laughed, and it was SO good for my soul. 

The kids and I did some Christmas baking (and by "baking" I mean adding crushed candy canes on top of from-a-box brownies, as I have yet to buy a mixer or several other kitchen utensils/tools here) and also tried out our new camera...

And lastly, David and I got to attend a Christmas Party at the British Embassy last night! Our friends - we met through Tball - both work there, and were able to get us in. My sister Emily is here visiting (Hooray! and more on that later!) and so we snuck away to party on British Soil. We ate bacon and had alcohol. I have exactly zero pictures because we had to turn in our cell phones at the gate. But today when we were out we happened to drive by the Embassy again so we snapped these...

Looks inviting, no?

=)

But seriously it was really, really fun. We met some great people from all over the World and talked about everything from parenting to politics with them. 

So...there's a glimpse of Life Lately in Kuwait from our family ;).

Two videos that have absolutely nothing to do with one another

We went to "Opening Ceremonies" for the Kuwait Little League over the weekend, and it was a whole Middle Eastern scene. Ornate rugs covering the sand where chairs were. Men in thobes walking around passing out Arabic coffee (which I love, it's like a chai tea flavor). And an important Sheikh in attendance, who the announcer kept referring to as "His Excellency".

It was pretty cool.

And while I know the Dodger Blue hurts for us Giant fans, our kids sure make it look good ;).

(Another team parent took this video - our two cuties are towards the end of the line, obediently still maintaining the "train" formation the coach had put them in before they entered the ball field)

And completely unrelated, but Dave and I were watching this episode of "Friends" the other night, and I felt so bonded to Chandler in this scene.

This is how I feel about so many of the names I am attempting to learn here....

Miscellany

To follow up on my last post - sure enough, it was someone else's fault, no matter where we turned.

 Dave went into work the next morning and emailed Housing Guy, saying that he'd lost a ton of sleep because his wife had lost her ever loving mind and ranted and raved well into the wee hours when the apartment tried to catch on fire.

Housing Guy's response was that I should not have allowed Super to attempt to fix heater (and I was supposed to know this how exactly?) He said he called our building management company (we are not in college housing, but off campus in a separate apartment building owned by others) and told them to send a technician. 

They clearly did not.

Apparently I was supposed to refuse his service and demand a professional. 

Now we all know.

But I still say, as our Housing Liaison, with us being here barely over 90 days,  he should have notified us of what to expect and what to accept.

And I still say the management company should be in trouble for trying to cut corners (and by "corners" I mean "cold hard cash") and not sending a professional.

But what I still say matters very little.

In any event, the next morning I had two professional electricians, our Super, my neighbor's three year old,  and my two kids in our apartment for several hours.

Three of us spoke English.

(that would be me and my two kids)

It was a bit of a cluster with them having to keep shutting on and off our power, and me having to get Housing Dude on the phone because they kept saying "Khalas" (finished) and I was like nope not yet but couldn't communicate what else needed done.

Alas, we now have a working, safe heater.

And that is hopefully the end of all fire related stories while we are in Kuwait.

Wednesday the twins and I called one of our reliable drivers (with seatbelts and everything!) and hired him to take us to The Avenues for the morning. We'd only been there once before and hardly seen a tenth of all the stores and attractions held there. 

Also, I was on a mission for Christmas Jammies, because it's just not Christmas until I've grabbed a picture of my cuties in their festive PJ's near the Christmas tree =).

Checking out shoes at Mothercare...

Picking out some goodies at Dean & Deluca...

Tons of beautiful restaurants to choose from... 

Viewing the water feature...

Dancing on the light up squares...

Gorgeous palm trees throughout...

Cute kid waiting for our driver...

We were there a little over two hours, and still didn't get everything done we'd intended to! But seriously we walked around forever and we were all three kicked. 

(and we did find Christmas Pjs ;) yea and hooray!)

I think I've mentioned before, there is a lot more Christmas stuff around Kuwait than I'd imagined there would be. There isn't a manger scene or even an angel in sight, but that is to be expected.  But there are plenty of trees, wreaths, lights, bows, Santas, and snowman to be found. 

I picked up a tree, some lights, some cheapy ornaments, a small tree skirt, and two little decorations (a little 1 foot tall Christmas tree and a lighted snowman) at stores around the area, and we hung our stockings we brought from home. 

That should do us just fine for this Christmas and next year =).

We also made these decorations for some homeschool crafts...

(Handprint Christmas trees with fingerprint lights...idea stolen from Pinterest Told Me To)

(and because I'm a sucker for all things time-stamped...like how big my babies hands were during Christmas of 2015...we made these on canvases so we can take them home with us when we leave and keep them forever ;) )

We're listening to Christmas music any chance we get, and I'm so grateful Dave downloaded all our CDs to the laptop before we left so that we could listen to Michael Buble croon Christmas Carols while we eat dinner...

(L was SO over having his picture taken during dinner)

Also, when your kid can't sing "Jingle Bells" without starting out:

"Merry Christmas ladies...Merry Christmas Mr. Buble...Are you ready to sing a little Jingle Bells?...Yesss...."

Then it *might* be time to switch CDs and let ol' Bing have a turn.

This morning we attended a birthday party for one of our Tball friends. We've been so lucky to get to know this wonderful family! They are just as new to Kuwait as we are (they arrived the week before we did) and are both employed at the British Embassy. It was fun to meet a handful of new expats at the party - including the Australian Ambassador - and discuss life in the Middle East. Our kids had a blast too...

Happy weekend to you =).

This too.

I know...three posts in a week?!?

But I'm up and I'm fuming, and I need to vent.

Ya know how I told you about several of the things I don't love about living here?

Well I have a BIG FAT NEW ONE to add to that list.

Let me paint you a word picture...

Yesterday it was cold here. Like, cold enough to turn your heat on.

I know, I didn't realize that happened in the Desert either, but it does.

Dave went to plug in that heater I joked about never needing to use. That one that the college's Housing Department provided for us.

Well it didn't work.

So this morning David informed the Housing Dude (I have no idea what his official title is) about it, and he said he'd send someone over straight away to fix it.

Mid-morning our Super knocks on the door, explaining in his minimal English he is here to take a look at our heater.

The Super? Is he an electrician? 

I have my doubts, but when in Rome...

In my non-existent Arabic  broken English, I invite him in and show him the heater. He messes around with it, while the kids and I work on Homeschooling.

After a bit, he tells me he'll be back.

After a bit, he's back.

He has in his hands a bunch of tools and a new socket-head-thingy. 

He fiddles around with stripping the original head from it's wires with tools - and at one point, his teeth - and ends up jimmy-rigging a new head to the existing wires. He plugs it in, sees it's working, and declares it's fixed.

I check, and heat is in fact coming out of it.

Ok then.

Cut to 11:30pm tonight when I'm up late writing on a blog post I've been working on, and all of a sudden the power goes out. 

Like, it's pitch black in here.

I had my cell phone next to me, so I use the flashlight feature to lead me to our bedroom where Dave is already asleep, and I wake him up to ask him what I should do. 

Should I go get our Super?

We find the lantern I recently purchased and get ourselves some better light. 

I open our Living Room window and peek my head out to see if anyone else in the building has lights on. Sure enough, the lights in the lobby are on.

We head back in our bedroom for me to grab a sweater to throw on to go get the Super.

And that's when David smells it.

Electrical burning.

Right away, he knows. 

He shines the light down on the socket the heater is plugged into and finds this...

Actually, the plug part was on the floor. The socket must have spit it out. Ya know, WHEN IT EXPLODED.

I completely and totally LOSE IT. 

I throw on my sweater and march myself out in the hallway and press the elevator button.

Dave comes out after me and suggests we take a picture with my phone so I have something to show him in regards to what I'm speaking about, since communication is minimal. 

He takes the picture, and I go back to storming outside.

I fume the entire seven floors down to ground level.

I bang on his door and when he answers show him the picture, and then say "AND our power is out"

He puts on his shoes and follows me up to our apartment.

He flipped a few breakers, and nothing happened. He stepped outside.

I fumed some more.

He disappeared, and then our lights came back on.

He reappeared and checked a few more breakers, and then had some verbal exchange with David (can't tell ya what they said - I was in the corner FUMING) and he left.

Oh I am SO MAD. SO FREAKING MAD.

I mean, what the hell?!?!? 

HOW is it possibly OK for someone to put people in such danger?!?

Ok, fine, so it didn't actually cause a fire. 

But ya know what?? WE DON'T HAVE A SINGLE SMOKE ALARM IN OUR APARTMENT.

They say it's because the majority of the walls are cement.

I say I don't care.

SO. MAD.

We said something needed to be fixed and THIS is their response?!? 

Unacceptable.

FUMING.

I came thisclose to having David plug that heater into the twin's room tonight. But since they had warm, fleece, footie pjs to sleep in, I decided against it.

Oh I am just SO DAMN ANGRY. 

And part of the reason I'm furious is because I already know nothing will come from this. David will yell and make a scene tomorrow, and everyone will apologize and they will deliver us a brand new heater and that will be it.

Because there is ZERO LIABILITY here. 

I mean, if we didn't have a VPN I was typing this from, I could even get in trouble for badmouthing this place.

NO liability.

None. Non-exsistent liability, and honestly? Very minimal responsibility.

And tonight, I hate that about it here too.

And you guys, I'm also angry at myself. 

Because I KNEW.

I knew...I just knew...when I watched him use his teeth to strip those wires...this was a poor plan. Perhaps even unsafe. But I didn't want to be that loud, brash Westerner demanding higher standards for herself and her family. So I said nothing. He said "it works" and I said "ok"

And I knew better.

I put my family at risk instead of speaking up because I didn't want to be a burden.

Dammit. 

We've made friends that are from the US that have lived here seven years. They say "never ask why" here, because the answer is "it's just Kuwait!" and they laugh. And perhaps in time I'll learn to roll with nonsense like this too, but not tonight. 

Tonight - even though it's now after 1am - I'm wide awake...my righteous indignation firmly stuck in place and no rest coming anytime soon.

Gah. Just SO ANGRY.

Lately...

Sweet baby girl waiting for our pizza to cool...

I could not love this cheesy mug more...

Nor this one...

Seriously, I don't mean to brag, but I'm pretty sure I am Momma to the most adorable kids on the planet...

The twins and I went to lunch with Reem and little S last week...

My cuties waiting for our driver to take us Tball...

Bedtime stories by Dad...

Little A randomly told me the other day, "Momma, I need to find inner peace" and stuck this pose...

Thank you, KungFu Panda.

Skyping with some of our favorite friends back in Portland...

The twins and I trekked around Kuwait earlier this week checking things off the never-ending list to get our Civil ID cards.

We started at a local hospital getting our blood drawn for blood typing... 

After braving blood draws, we decided ice cream was in order, naturally...

We also had to get their photos taken on blue backgrounds. The photographer told them NOT to smile...which is harder than you think when you're a very silly five year old. 

We ended up with these...

Lord, please let this be the only mug-type photos I ever see of my sweet children.

Some feeding our little neighbor snacks...

We had some rain earlier in the week, and I actually broke out the raincoats I had added to our suitcases at the last minute when leaving Portland. I honestly didn't know if we'd ever need them, but turns out we did =). 

We learned what a "jack fruit" is at the grocery store that day...

We ran into our littlest neighbor in the lobby when we came back from the grocery store. These three have a blast together most of the time...

Our little sweeties on the way to their Tball game yesterday...

Hope you all are having a great week! It's *kinda* beginning to look like Christmas around here, and we're doing our best to get in the Spirit of things around here =).