When Irish Eyes Are Smiling

Dia dhuit!
Connas ta tu?

...nothing huh?

The answer to that would be Dia is muire dhuit. Ta me go meath.

*cricket noises*

Okay, moving on!

The Irish Society semi-formal was, to borrow the two biggest compliments from the Old Country, altogether brilliant and grand!

It really was great. Great place, great food, great dancing (who'd have thought I'd learn Irish dances in the Middle East?) and great friends (old and new).

I think we're going to go whatever function is happening every month...we really really need something to do.

We (Amanda, Dawn and I) took a cab to the Hilton (fancy!) and then hung out until Amanda's friend Lloyd and his friends got there. We were introduced to most of the guys, I think I missed a few of them though. They brought some of the best homebrew I've ever had. :)

Dinner was an amazing buffett that included local dishes as well as Irish stew (naturally!), Yorkshire pudding and roast beef...don't even get me started on the dessert table!

Then is was time to DISCO! And we did my friends, we did. Whilst belting out the words of course (why do I know the words to so many disco songs anyway?!).

Next came Irish dancing lessons. The first round I sat out thinking I was going to be horrible at it and look like an idiot. Then I was two things that made me change my mind: 1) no one was any better at it than I would have been and 2) it looked like a hell of a lot of fun!

So Mike, one of my new friends, and I learned two dances and quite frankly I think we did pretty damn good. Who really cares how good you are at something or what you look like so long as your having fun? Live a little, right?

Then it was time for more non-Irish dancing and some more drinking (for me anyway).

We left at midnight because Cinderella (Amanda) had to be at school ON A WEEKEND at 8am...boo! Do you hear me Amanda?! Boo! And thanks for making me leave my apartment for some fun times with friends..I owe you.

Here's to cheating, stealing, fighting, and drinking.
If you cheat, cheat death.
If you steal, steal a woman's heart.
If you fight, fight for a brother.
If you drink, drink with me!!
- Irish toast

When I'm havin' fun ya know I can't conceal it

I'm sorry but if my train of thought veers off it's track it's 'cause the kitty wants to play fetch...seriously.

Dawn's birthday was awesome, great food, great friends...some "juice" when we got back to her place.

My birthday is tomorrow and all I get is the kindergarten teacher from hell bringing her class to the library, a staff meeting after school and another iron drip/injection....lovely...oh well, c'est la vie


We had costume day during "spirit week"...I've never seen so many Hannah Montanas in my life! I was a hippie...wore a wig and everything. LMAO

Still missing the music scene from home but limewire will get me through the rough patches.

Does anyone out there know how to sinc an ipod to a laptop when the ipod is in fact already synced with a desktop that I left in Canada without erasing all the music?

I'm drawing again....I found art supplies! SO HAPPY!!!!!!

When we get paid I'll finally get to paint my apartment!

Also, I'm going to the Irish Society's semi-formal Thursday night...so, I'll look great but there's no way I'm covering my tattoos.

And so ends the random update.

Well, three more...

I found out the kitty is 6 months old not 12 weeks (she's just super stunted).

I've developed an addiction to watching pro-wrestling. Go Matt Hardy!

And I've stopped cutting my hair...so growing it out again.

Fin

Getcha a 3-piece Wall Street smile and son you'll look just like me

Okay, so it's been awhile since I posted...but not much has happened.

Until today, that is.

I woke up at 630 to get ready for our Halloween day at school only to get a call saying school was canceled, could I please pass the message along to the other teachers that work in my section of the elementary school?

Turns out one of our generators blew last night and was leaking oil. They worked on the generator last night but school was still canceled. Parent teacher meetings, however, are a go tonight and tomorrow...so for 3 hours tonight and 3 hours tomorrow I'll sit around my library wondering if anyone is going to bother visiting me...I'm taking a book.

The OFFICIAL sequel to Dracula that is based off Bram Stoker's notes and is co-written by a direct decedent of Stoker.

Then it's off to Dawn's birthday party tomorrow night!

PS- this place needs some serious punk rock culture....a punk show, something...anything!

I see you looking at me.

'member those the teens my friends and I ran into a couple weeks ago? The ones that chased us through a shop complex?

The one that was so persistent found me again today. He recognized me from behind, in my work clothes, with my tattoos covered.

I told him off, scared him a little too...chump! Drive away in your mom's minivan with your bad self and your idiot friend!

It's been an uneventful week. took a crying little girl to the nurse yesterday cause she fell outside at noon, took the kitty to the vet 3 days in a row to get shots for a cold, told of a teenage creep and now it's almost the weekend.

Yay!

What's New Pussy Cat?

Not much has happened in the last week...longer work days, less sleep- the usual.

Us teachers have to be "observed" at work next month, oh joy. Guess I'd better over haul my lesson plans and make my teacher friends give some input! Our curriculum is nuts, our facility and student level is okay...there are a lot of 4th graders reading at a grade two level, this makes me wonder what public school must be like.

Dinner at the school superintendet's place tomorrow night. I finally get to see his wife again..I love them both to death. I'm sure if I didn't know them personally, and we weren't basically from the same place back home, I'd have more seriously considered walking outta this place a few weeks ago. It's all good now, stressful, but good. Tina, the middle school librarian tells me what to do when I don't know- which is often.

Got a kitten today, she's hiding under the couch...she's not too sure about me yet, but she was seriously and intentionally injured and is only 2 months old at the most...I'm sure that memory is still fresh for her. She's eaten though and wanders around my place when I stay still long enough, so I'm sure she's fine. If she wouldn't eat then I'd be worried. She's got all day tomorrow to adjust to her new home and all weekend to adjust to me.

Time to read, I'm finally reading Wicked...it's an awesome book.

Birthdays- Dust and Chinese Food

It's Sarah's birthday today! She's 25, from Minnesota (pretty much Canadian really) and one of my closest friends over here.

We went to Noodles, after another roundabout cab ride (he charged US 4KD when HE couldn't find the place and we literally drove right by it), for some of the best Chinese food I've ever had (and the cheapest!) for her birthday and then shopped and wandered around Salymia district in the dark...our running joke is:

"A blonde (Sarah), a redhead (me) and a brunette (Dawn) are walking through the desert...*insert whatever rediculious situation we've gotten ourselves into this time here* Now we get to add an Asian taking photos into the mix (my fellow Canadian Amanda)!

It's really dusty out today, not a dust storm...kinda looks like fog.

We came back to my place to hang out and watch youtube...Amanda and I introduced our American friends to the wonder that is/was Roch Vosine...lmao

Mom and dad called while the girls where here, they all shouted "hi". I filled them in on the latest saga going on in my family (Idiots...you know who I'm talking about).

Then they borrowed some DVDs (I'm the local Blockbuster I guess) and went home.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARAH!

Okay, is it wrong if we're thinking about going to church on the US Army base just to meet guys and maybe get an invite back to the bar??? 'Cause we're seriously thinking about it, really. We outnumber the boys here by, like, a million to one.

We've been warned about some of the local men being idiots towards western women (usually the younger ones) and we've had our first massive dose of that at the Old Souk (I think that's where the cabbie took us...).

We went a couple days ago and a bunch of teenage boys chased us, literally, through the building well after several of us told them we didn't want to be friends. One of them had a tattoo so he singled me out and his friends backed him up. He actually used the line "show me yours and I"ll show you mine."

He wanted me number and I said no, so he offered his to me...and I said no. He couldn't understand why this tattooed redhead couldn't possibly want his bloody number. We left for a different shop and he and his crew followed us...this went on for ages.

Sarah and I (I'm not sure where Dawn and Amanda went) actually had to hide in different shops and all four of us ended up running down several flights of stairs to escape them...we left after that.

I guess we won't go back to the Souk on a weekend...

Tomorrow I refuse to leave my house, a day of painting is what I have planned.

All I own is my story...

Lots of fun things have been going on as I explore my new home over the last month.

I've had bizarre cabbies, expensive apples and awesome bootleg dvds.

Cabs: will pick you up and tell you they know where your going even if they haven't understood a word that has come out of your mouth.

Last week I took a cab to work (I'm not THAT lazy, but I was still weak from being sick). I told him AIS Kuwait, he said "in Hawalii" I said yes...I live in Medan Hawalii district. Ha ha Hawalii and Medan Hawalii are two different districts. I saw parts of the city I'd never seen before and that I haven't seen since. He ended up trying to drop me off at what appeared to be a rather shabby and suspect school of American dentistry...I told him this was not my school and told him, again, where to go. Eventually I got to work (only five minutes late!).

Last week Sarah and I wanted to get home from The Avenues (biggest mall in Kuwait, Jackie will LOVE it!) A cabbie got us and our stuff loaded into his cab and began taking us home.

His English was better than most cabbies you meet on the street (pun intended) so he would talk to us when we were stuck in traffic...he told Sarah she smelled good (I'm sure that wouldn't sound as creepy if he were fluent in English or we spoke Arabic). And later told us that we were "24 hours happy"...apparently we laugh a lot. who me? never.

Friday night a bunch of us were meeting up at the Hardrock Cafe and we tried to flag a cab down in front of my building. The first cabbie was honest enough and fluent enough to say he had no idea where we wanted to go. Okay, fine...here comes another one.

We shoulda stuck with the first guy. This guy spoke no English that I'm aware of and had no idea where the Hardrock was. But we didn't know that until we were off and away in the cab. As we drove downtown I pointed out Mark's and Spencer's to the girls....cabbie thought we wanted to go there...uh no, thanks mate. Eventually, Sarah found a desert card from the Hardrock that had the address on it...we still barely made it. From now on, unless it's to The Avenues and back, we're calling our cabs not picking them up on the side of the road.

On to the expensive apples...a couple weeks ago I went to the little shop behind my building with some friends, but when I went to pay (there are no posted prices) I was the only white person in there. For 125ml of ice cream and 3 apples I paid 7KD...roughly $7CDN and apple....the last couple times I've been in there I've either been visibly sick, had a black eye or both and haven't been overcharged since (yeah, I bought the bloody apples)...perhaps he was being nice to me? Next time I go in I'll let you know how it goes down.

I've seen no straight up dvd stores since I got here (aside from the Virgin Mega Store which I'm sure is deadly expensive), so I've been wondering what to do when I want new dvds. For new dvds there is a solution...every tuesday a guy comes door to door in our building and sells dvds for 1KD ($3CDN) each! Last week I got three and this week he's bringing me the entire 3rd season of CSI NY for 7KD! I'm planning on getting satellite TV soon too. The kiosk dude at The Ave wanted me to pay 6 months at one time (146KD) yeah...no. But Danielle says she got her's from the store itself in the Marina mall and only had to pay 2 months in advance...guess where I'll be going.


BTW if you get the chance to watch the movie Australia, although it's long, do it. It is singularly the best movie I have ever seen...and I've seen a lot of 'em.


Work has been going well, the library is back up on it's feet. Still some stuff to do but the main thing is that books can be checked out and books can be checked in.

Had my first story time today with about seven 5 year olds...they're really good kids. We read Curious George Goes to the Library, the first Madeline book (with the doll sitting at my feet), and half of Arthur's Halloween.

In between stories I let them play with the toys that are in the library...several of which are bug puppets that they "attacked" me with...I've got me some new best friends.


....speaking of new best friends, last week I ended up watching three 3 year olds while their teachers had a meeting for and hour and a quarter. 3 and 4 year olds aren't officially coming to school, by order of the gov't, until December. There are, however, staff's kids here...and I got them.

None of them spoke English, I don't think, but we had a lot of fun. We played with blocks, toy food, dolls, cars, dinosaurs and had a Lilo and Stitch movie playing in the background. I know they like me 'cause by the end of it all 3 were bringing me plates of play food with cutlery and the little girl was pouring me "tea". She was cute! She's hold up some of the play food and, I assume, name it in Arabic and I would tell her the English name.

When Layla came back from her meeting we were playing with castanets...something she couldn't get them to do herself.

Those have been the high points of the last couple weeks, the low points consisted of my being sick with Salmonella and using up my last paid sick day for the year. *shrugs* oh well, what can you do?

I'm going grocery shopping with Sarah tonight....hopefully nothing blog-worthy will happen!


There's a quote I love from Australia that goes something like this:

In the end, all you own is your story. So make it a good one.

hello again my friend...

It's been a long week and a half...

Dinner was at the Marina Crescent Hotel (dessert was the best part!). That friday night I went shopping with friends and we ate at Ruby Tuesdays...

I missed the entire first week of school because of salmonella poisoning (which I'm still fending off). My boss was pretty cool about it and my library magically reassembled itself while I was out.

I spent a week lying in bed watching nearly every DVD I own...sounds great right? It wasn't...I still can't eat an actual meal...but my friends say I look a little thinner...

My biggest problem is that I've managed to use up 5/6 of my paid sick days for the next year. The good news is that in a week and a half we have a week long holiday!

I'm back on my feet now and at work. We're still putting things away and cleaning up but at least our computer system is up an running.

I'm off to go shopping with Sarah...I'll update if anything fun happens...

no updates today...

I'd update, but I'm sick...

Food and Furniture

Okay, so I never went to the Palm Palace and no one went to the Old Market...plans change.

What I have done over the last couple days is learn more about our curriculum (I have to know mine and everyone else's from pre-kindergarten to grade 4!) and attack my library which is now starting to look like more than a jumble of junk in a room.



A bunch of us went to the Hardrock Cafe over the weekend...it's like going home for an hour or two! And for the month of Ramadan all prices are half off! I knew it was the place for me when I saw a guitar from the band Rush (go Canada!) up on the wall. Also on the walls are Richie Sambora's guitar (he's from Bon Jovi's band) and Elvis.


I went grocery shopping with Gabrielle last night. I got food and a new pillow and matress pad...my bed feels like a bed again! We had a really patient Bangladeshi cabbie with whom we had one hell of time finding our way home...in our defense, Kuwait has no civic numbers and everything looks the same. Good times...


We have an Iftar dinner tomorrow night to "break the fast", I think it's at the Crown Plaza or some such fancy place.


Right now I'm about to go over the different curriculum (what is the plural form of curriculum anyway?) I have meetings for tomorrow afternoon.

We have a lot of catching up to do...

This is what it takes to run my laptop in Kuwait...














Moncton to Montreal:

The trip was cramped but uneventful...it was only and hour and twenty minute flight so not much could happen even if it wanted to.

The Montreal airport is HUGE...you could walk for days and never have to leave for anything.

I was hoping to find a McDondalds or something quick and cheap....what I found was quick but not exactly a $3 value meal. Chicken fingers and plum sauce: $10, the conversation I ended up having with a Guatemalan woman and her kids who now live in LA who were on their way to Paris: priceless. Those kids had SUMMER HOMEWORK! What's up with that?



Montreal to Frankfurt:
I caught my flight to Frankfurt fine, it was much less cramped but very cold...BTW Air Canada, your food sucks. Your male flight attendant that had the jump seat in front of me? Not sucky at all. Yeah, I had the emergency exit seat...in case of emergency...find someone else, I'll be saving me, myself and I!

We flew over night to Frankfurt, where I am while I write this, everything hurts- there is no way to sleep on a plane without hurting- not that I slept anyway.


Now, I'm waiting to see what gate I leave from in a couple hours (it boards around 3:30 pm and it's 9:30 am) apparently they (and I) wont know what gate it is until an hour and a half before it boards...I'm going to go find some place to sleep.

So not sleeping, even though I want to...there's a lady next to me listening to music, they're called headphones lady, use them!

Ohhh, just saw two guys from the UN walk by in their uniforms, cool.


Frankfurt to Kuwait:

I spent upwards of 7 hours alone in an airport/country where I don't speak the language. I was super tired and trying to rest without sleeping, so I didn't miss my boarding call, and this lady has like 5 kids under 12 running around yelling...nice.
Anyway, I eventually found out what gate my plane was leaving from (B23) and went to wait at the gate...almost every white kid there works with me. I ended up sitting with Andrew, he teaches grade 5, with 3 other co-workers in front of us.


We got in at around midnight Kuwaiti time, I think...we were all zombies. Russ (our Superintendent) and a whole host of other staff met us at the airport with snacks and vans for us and a truck for all of our stuff...there was a lot of it.

I finally got to bed around 1:30 and was up again at 7:30...yawn.


Day One:

Got up EARLY...and made it outside just in time to walk with the others to school.

We met each other (again...last night wasn't nobody remembering no names), got introduced to the main staff and had an ice breaker activity. We each got a frame from a Calvin and Hobbs comic strip (YAY!) and had to find the other couple people who had the rest of it- then we had to act out the strip for the rest of the room. LOL

We got our Ministry photos taken, signed our contracts and got $300 KD (about $1000 CDN) and got a tour of the elementary part of the school...heh heh my library is a mess because they've been renovating all summer and I get to plan and put it all back together again...at least they left all the books on the shelves!



Next we went out for lunch and then grocery shopping. I got a cart full of stuff for $42 KD...about $120 CDN...I'm not sure how I feel about this money thing. Tomorrow were going to IKEA...its rough I want to save as much as I can for bills and such since we dont get paid until
the end of September but there's a ton of stuff I need- like a desk, chair and bookshelf to fill the empty room in my apartment. Yeah, I have an empty room and an empty walk-in closet, but no dreser yet. I have a full size kitchen (complete with propane stove O.o) TWO balconies, a full bathroom, a laundry room, a combined dining-living room and a bedroom that has a king size bed. Oh well, it is a settling in allowance might as well use it for that...its not like Im blowing it on comic books and CDs.
I got a step up & down transformer so I could finally run my laptop, I don't do well with silence...no internet yet...tomorrow I believe, phones and such as well.

I still haven't unpacked.

Shopping was...an experience. Sarah and I got all the normal stuff wed get at home (including familiar brands) and I got a guys phone number...and I didn't even have to try! I passed him half a dozen times, the 1st time he smiled, the 2nd he mumbled hello, the 3rd he mumbled and asked if I had a phone number- I didn't really hear what he said but when I did, I said no...so he gave me
his, sans name, and told me he'd call my number when I called him...I've been in this country less than 24 hours! LMAO

My power converter freaks me out. To run my laptop I plug the converter into the wall, plug a European plug into it, and into the European converter I plug the converter that turns my 3 pronged laptop plug into 2 prongs...it looks crazy...I wonder if its still grounded. Maybe I should get a surge protector and plug IT into the prong converter and the laptop into it...IKEA, I need you!



Im going to unpack and hang EVERYTHING up...lots of wrinkly clothes...I'll throw what I can in the dryer with a wet towel as I don't have an iron yet.

We are being treated to supper tonight by Building #2's host which is good because I'm starving...again.

FYI: There are pigeons in Kuwait.


Day Two:

We started training today...it was alright.

I have a problem...'member how I was happy 300 KD went so far? It doesn't...I have maybe half of what I need and I get my Canadian money into a bank account, so about 500-700KD to live on untill the END OF SEPTEMBER- I'm planning on 265KDs (or less) of expenses between now and the end of Sept (25KD for internet and 20-40KD a week for food/supplies for six weeks.
Keep in mind that I have bought very little and only what I really really need. I'm hoping to get mom to send me a Visa for backup...not that I don't already owe her $500

...what the hell have I gotten myself into? We can get advances from work, but I'd rather not. My cell phone is nice but expensive 60KD (250CDN) just so I could be sure it would work in Canada too...at least the bill comes directly out of our pay...don't have to worry about the bill so much.


I have no money and literally no idea what I'm doing at work...I don't know my curriculem, I have to know the whole crriculum for K-5 and my library has ben dismantled! Well...the books are still on the shelves but it's not a pretty sight...they might have warned me.

I'm tired, jet lagged and cranky...and super stressed AND I have to be at school by 6:45am tomorrow so that we can get the blood work and chest x-rays we all had done at home done again to get our Civil IDs...and I still don't know how to use my propane stove.



Dinner was good- BBQ. Had a great time with my friends.


Day...? I have no idea what day it is...I think it's Thursday.

Okay my melt down from Monday is over...yes, my library is still a mess but my assistants (I GET PEOPLE TO BOSS AROUND!) are coming in on Sunday so I'll have some direction in what I'm doing.

The money sitch isn't as bad as I thought (so long as the KD doesn't fluctuate too much) and I know what I'm doing (mostly) in terms of curriculum.

AND I have the internet, at a 3rd of the cost it would be if I hadn't split it with my 2 floormates!

What have I done in the last couple days...?

LOTS!

I've had my blood work and x-rays done (the same one's I did at home before I came here). I've learned a lot from a DVD by Harry Wong (no, you're not immature to laugh at his name, we all do too).

In addition to the phone number I got in the supermarket I had a guy pull over to the side of the road and offer me a lift...yeah, I know it's hot out, but no.

I've learned a lot about the curriculum and what I'm supposed to do...not the every day routines but in working with the teachers and coordinators.

Today we were fingerprinted (I think I got all the ink off). The fingerprint guy liked my tattoos...i think when they found out I was Canadian it suddenly made sense to them...they may also have called me crazy...I'm not sure.

Tonight we're eating Lebanese food at The Palm Palace, tomorrow is grocery/supply shopping and Saturday we're going to the Old Market.

A Side Note- Non Kuwait Related

Okay, I admit it...I love wrestling, especially the WWE.

And since I'm moving to Kuwait tonight was my last Monday night RAW and to add to teh awesome, it was live from Calgary...but it sucked and crossed a few too many lines.

Sgt Slaughter guest hosted, which should have been my first clue things were about to go down hill fast.

It was in Calgary which, despite being a rocking place, should have prepared me for Vince's hatred of Bret Hart (Calgary is Bret's hometown) to come shining through.

Anyway, the whole night was one big bash on Canada. The WWE even faked the audience, live and TV, by playing Bret's entrance music...even though we all know Bret will never set foot in a WWE ring (see his Wikipedia entry for the backstory) again, we all got out hopes up...but the music switched to Hacksaw Jim's (another old timer) and he came out.

That sucked, but on the OFFICIAL WWE chat one of the official WWE employees made an thinly veiled comment about Owen Hart- Bret's youngest brother who accidently fell to his death in one of Vince's rings...something that could have been prevented had the saftey regulations actually been adheared to.

CC made the comment after The Calgary Kid (actually The Miz, an American, came out to win a contract match after losing his the week before) came out in a mask...Owen used to wear a mask when he played the Blue Blazer...a role he hated very much and the one that killed him.

I guess even though it's my last RAW for a long time, I won't miss the show THAT much.

I really don't know why I expected more from Vince McMahon, really...

Hello out there...

Well, you've found me...how and why we may never know.

In 6 days I, your humble metal addled narrator, will be moving to Kuwait to become the head elementary librarian in an American private school...am I nervous? Well, yeah...I really have no idea what it is that I've gotten myself into.

I guess you could sum me up in a few lines from my favorite Poison song (Fallen Angel):
"Just a small town girl with her whole life
Packed in a suitcase by her feet."

Started packing today...how is it that I own this much stuff?

Anyway it's 2 am right now and there isn't much to tell until the fun really starts next week...so I'll see you then!