The souk, gulf, and desert for now

I will start by saying I have so many pictures that I want to share, and I am utterly frustrated that our internet will not let me upload pictures! I will update the blogs at a later day with the pictures, and hope you go back to check them out.

On Saturday, Mark and Nathan were supposed to take a tour of the Grand Mosque. The pamphlet said the tour was every Saturday at 9:30am. That really meant the tour is given Sunday - Thursday, and be sure to call ahead to make sure the tour guide is working that day. Inshallah. This meant they could explore the souk (market) earlier in the day. They visited meat and vegetable souk, a place to buy nuts, carpet shops, and much more.

Afterwards, they went to lunch, took a drive down the coast, and ended with a trip to the desert. They said the desert was very barren, windy, hot, dusty...so miserable they did not take a single picture! Desert camping is an activity here, but one we will wait to try when the winter arrives.

Sunday was Mark's last day with us, a day we were sad to see come. We greatly enjoyed the last couple of weeks with him, and are so thankful for his help as we moved overseas and got the boys settled. The good news is we found childcare the week he was here, and I stayed home on Sunday to spend time with our new care giver, to get her acquainted with the boys. Caleb and Ben both took to her right away, and we are thankful for finding the help.

Mark and I popped out for a couple of hours to try to get better internet and to go grocery shopping. The people in the phone store spoke no English, and we can't speak Arabic, but there was a man who knew amlittle English and we left with an address of a shop that should be able to establish the service.  Grocery shopping was a great success. There is another co-op close to our house, and it was a very nice grocery store, also known as a jamiya in Arabic. Almost everything is in Arabic in this store too, but thankfully food is a universal product, so we did just fine.

 

We had to say our goodbyes to Mark on Sunday evening. We were all sad to see him go, but very thankful for his visit, and the time we spent together. Will miss him very much already, and can't wait to see him again soon! We love you Grandpa Mark, thank you for being you!

 

Good but frustrating....

The boys have had a great week with Mark, he has helped us out so much these past few weeks and months, and we are really enjoying the extra time we get to spend with him. We are thankful for God's timing with how things have worked out. The last couple of days, we have explored quite a bit, and we are learning our way around the city.

The frustration has been the slow internet! I have tried to blog the last few nights, but our internet is so slow I cannot even upload one picture at times. I have so much to tell you about, so I am going to blog for now without pictures and hope to get some up soon. We should have better internet once we get our country ID cards and can sign up for a better plan. Until then, thanks for your patience :). Here is what we have been up to...

Caleb and Ben are having a great time with grandpa. They go on walks, play outside in the sand garden, color, read, go to the park, play inside, and cuddle. Caleb has become so independent the last couple of months, and he is starting to use his imagination. He is curious about everything and he has a lot of new things to explore here. Ben is very content playing by himself and with Caleb, and he gets himself into the crawl position at times. We have tile floors, and grandpa caught him scooting across the floor the other day. Caleb is becoming more gentle with Ben and he likes checking in on him. They are having a great time, and we are thankful for his help and the time they are getting together.

The main reason Mark came with us was to help watch the boys while we found full-time childcare. We interviewed and hired someone to provide temporary care for the next month, and another woman starting full-time starting in July. That is a big relief to Nathan and I. We have also been looking at pre-schools, and we found a few really great options for Caleb.

After looking at preschools on Thursday, our weekend began. Weekends here are Friday and Saturday. First we went to a local park. It was a very nice large park with a walking trail, open sand and grass areas, and play structures for kids of many ages. It was 110+ degrees, so we were the only ones at the park, and it was hot!  There is a McDonalds at the park, so we enjoyed some cold sodas, milk, and french fries. The local culture is very kid friendly everywhere we go, and  people like to interact with the boys. One of the workers picked Caleb up when we got inside, and brought him behind the counter to look at the french fry machine, and then gave them balloons.

 

Then, we went out to dinner that evening at a traditional Lebanese restaurant, and it was delicious! We all enjoyed hummus, pita, spiced potatoes, and a few different kebabs. We could not understand the menu, but the waiters were understanding though they spoke little English, and they brought us an amazing meal! Afterwards, we played around the beach area for a bit and enjoyed some cooler weather once the sun was going down.

 

 

On Friday, Mark, Caleb and I went exploring. Ben woke up during the night with a fever, so Nathan and him stayed home to rest and get more unpacked. We left early in the morning to find a church that we had been looking at online. Let's just say that maps are different than I am used to. We got a good tour of downtown and now know the Gulf Road pretty good:).  Eventually we did find the church, Mark was a great navigator, and Caleb was very patient.

The church was interesting. It was in a complex with several other churches, and packed with people. The people in the complex and in our churcongregation at our church was mostly third country nationals, and I could probably count on one hand the number of westerners there. Caleb enjoyed the music portion, but once the service started he wanted to get out and explore. Mark stayed for the service, and Caleb and I wandered around the campus, and talked to people.

After church, we were going to find a place to eat lunch, but Caleb passed out, so we ate drive-through KFC and enjoyed a view of the Kuwaiti Towers from afar. After lunch, we drove to the towers and Mark got out to take pictures while Caleb slept. The towers have been closed for renovations for a while, maybe next time he visits we can go up to the top.

We then drove by the souqs (markets) downtown, but it was so hot outside and decided it was best not to take Caleb since mom forgot his sunblock. We drove down the gulf, stopped at a store to pick up some odds and ends, showed Mark the hotel Nathan and I stayed at during our visit in March, and headed home. That evening, Nathan took Mark and Caleb to the Embassy to show them around and play on the playground. They had a fun evening and we all crashed hard last night.

Today, Mark and Nathan are going on a tour of the Grand Mosque downtown, and to explore. Stay tuned for more updates, hopefully sooner than this last one.

Have a great weekend!


 

First Week

We are getting settled in our new home, and we really like it here. The city is divided into small neighborhoods, and our neighborhood is a quiet residential area with many traditional homes. Each neighborhood has a local co-op where you can buy groceries and do some shopping. We also have a  nice park (with real grass) within a few blocks from our house. People in our neighborhood are friendly and we have met some sweet children at the park who enjoy playing with Caleb (and Grandpa Mark). Earlier today, a man down the street gave Nathan a bag of fresh mint from his garden.

 

And speaking of gardens, we have what I call a sand garden that Caleb loves to dig and play in.

He gets dirty every day and he loves it! There is certainly enough sand here to go around. Every day we have to sweep our porch to get rid of the sand.

 Grandpa Mark is having a fun week with the boys. This morning they went out for a walk before it got too hot...our high today was 111!

When it gets too hot, they play inside.



 We are thankful to have been able to ship a good amount of toys in advance. We received the shipment a couple of nights ago, and the boys were happy to see some familiar toys today.

It has been a good first week!



We are here!

Hello from Kuwait! We had a great trip over, everything went smoothly in the airport and the boys were great travelers. They enjoyed the excitement of the airport, both slept great on the flight over, and stayed pretty well-entertained when they were awake. Twix was a good traveler too, I did not hear a peep out of her the entire trip. Even the adults managed to get a few good hours of sleep.

We arrived on Wednesday evening. It was a bit warmer than back home, but there was a nice breeze. Our sponsors met us at the airport, and brought us to our home. They have been a tremendous help to make our transition as easy as possible. They had groceries in our fridge, beds made, and the next day took me grocery shopping. A friend also brought us a bunch of baby items and lent us their vehicle for the week. We really appreciate everyone's generosity.

On Friday we went exploring. In the morning we went to the Gulf to walk around. The water is a pretty greenish blue color, and there were a lot of people out and about. The Gulf is a progressive area of the city, and there are many western restaurants and shopping malls.

Caleb found a couple of playgrounds to explore with grandpa, but the sun wore him out fast. He will soon realize that hats and sunglasses are his friend! Ben was pretty content looking around and just soaked it all in.

We ate lunch at a restaurant overlooking the marina, and the local food was great.

Thankfully many people speak English here, which is good because we cannot speak Arabic. We do want to learn and hope by the end of our time here we have become conversational.

 

After lunch we walked across the street to the mall to get Internet service, then we drove to the Kuwaiti Towers. The towers symbolize Kuwait's economic renaissance, and they are a major landmark in the city.  We wanted to go up into the observation tower, but as the day went on, it was getting hazy and dusty, so visibility was not great.

For some reason, I cannot remove the bold font on this paragraph...Later that day, my friend Susan came over and Caleb made a new friend with her son, Nick. We had dinner and let the boys play. It will be fun for them to become buddies over the next couple of years. Grandpa Mark was busy most of the time being a human swing, and as usual the kids loved him!



We are getting settled, and enjoying our new home. Grandpa Mark is a big help to us, we are all enjoying the time we get to spend with him. We know it will take a little time for everyone to get back into a routine, and overall we are doing great.