Just Another Day in the Desert

Yes, we are still here!

Day to day life has taken over. We mostly go to school and back. We socialize a bit with a few of the couples in our building. On weekends, Alan and I try to get out to someplace new. The big news is that winter is here. It actually rained for 2 days straight – enough to wash off cars and make a real mess of everything. It’s the most rain anyone could remember. The temperature has dropped down to the high 60’s. (My feet are cold right now.)

School is what it is. We are actively checking out new prospects for next year. It seems early, but schools want to know now before they go out to the recruiting fairs. One school will interview us by Dec. 19 if they are interested. At this point, we are looking in the Mid East, Northern Africa (Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia), and the Far East. (Both Pakistan and Afghanistan are hiring!) Europe basically isn’t viable because of the local taxes. Central and South American just don’t pay well. We’ve learned quite a bit that should help us make a decent decision – or at least a better one.

We essentially are looking to leave Kuwait. The lack of history and culture and … leave a rather bland country. The people are nice enough but their social life revolves very much around their extended family. They don’t even socialize with each other, they’re not going to invite us in.

But day to day life is still amusing.

We have finally turned on the hot water heater. When we arrived the hot water heater was off because it is inside the building and therefore cold water. The cold water tank is on the roof, and therefore very hot. So you have to remember to work backwards.

Grocery shopping is actually fairly normal. Everyone shops at large supermarkets. We can find most everything we need except pork, although there are many replacements. I just bought turkey bacon today. There are very few specialty markets except the lamb butchers. Not high on my list of places to go. We just visited the one large fish market. It was huge and very clean and bustling. Almost made me want to learn a bit more about fish.

Alan and I are thankful we were never tempted to buy a car. This place is crazy at warp speed. It’s a country full of foreigners, but I don’t think they follow any rules. Obviously, a three lane road is made for five cars; three in the lanes and two straddling the lines. On and off ramps I would assume are one lane – meaning two cars. Round-abouts are the scariest. Cutting off three cars is the norm if you need to exit. Luckily, the school provides transportation to and from school and a once a week shopping trip!

The very best thing to happen to us is Kayliane. We wanted to hire a maid for once a week. Kayliane works for others in our building and came highly recommended. (In fact she still had a key for our apartment from last year.) She decided that instead of once a week she would just stop in and do what ever needs doing. How much you may ask - 25 KD, about $80. A week I ask, no, no, a month. My underwear have never been folded so neatly. She cleans, changes beds, does laundry and irons. Now she is even cooking for us!

At this moment, Alan is busily brewing tea, a euphemism. So far, apparently being from Napa somehow rubbed off on us. Everybody is asking us for advice because our “tea” is actually drinkable. We will spare all of you and not send any home.

Thanksgiving was nice. The main apartment building held a pot luck that really looked like most Thanksgivings. However, a Thanksgiving without family and football is just odd. This year Thanksgiving coincided with a major Muslim holiday, so we too had a 5 day weekend. We didn’t go anywhere, but it was a nice break.

We are greatly looking forward to Christmas. Both kids are flying in and we will be spending 10 days in Jordan. Last year, Christmas was horrible – jobless, broke, in Florida without family. We’re counting down the days.

I'm still having trouble with this set up. I will try to add a few photos to my facebook page - might be carol50little - not sure. And I have to learn how to do that. Enshallah.

As always, hope all is well with everyone.

End of Ramadan

Carol has been doing a wonderful job of keeping the blog alive. Thought I should weigh in and add my two cents worth today.

I am collecting what I call Toto experiences. As in Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz. Life in Kuwait can seem so “normal” for us at times. We live in a large, nicely furnished apartment with most of the conveniences found at home. We commute to work on a nice modern highway system and work in a new building with a group of teachers and students who behave so much like teachers and students at home it is uncanny at times. Often we get so focused on our work and living situations that everything seems “normal” just like life in good old Napa, CA. And then something happens that snaps my attention back to the reality of living in foreign country, and I say to myself, “Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore.” This is usually followed by a smile and the thought, this is cool.

Every day in the past month started with a Toto moment. And yesterdays was a big Toto moment. During the month of Ramadan, the muezzin calls Muslims to prayer before dawn so that they may eat a meal before the fast starts at dawn. He then calls again at dawn to signify the beginning of the fast. Every neighborhood has a mosque so the calls to prayer are heard everywhere, even in bed in your own house. Our apartment is well insulated so the calls from the mosque down the street are very muted. The calls (http://www.balaams-ass.com/alhaj/calltoprayer.htm), a sonorous droning, have gradually become background noise and we have become accustomed to them, very similar to the grandfather clock down the hall at Carols parents house. Now we usually sleep right through the early morning calls. Then yesterday the muezzin started his call earlier than usual (was it really 5:00 am?), lasted longer that usual, (still going strong after 30 minutes) and it had a happy, joyous flavor. Now I am awake, questioning what is happening. Oh yeah! Ramadan is over. Fasting is over. It is now Eid al-Fitr, a three day celebration of fast-breaking. That explains the joyous chanting. Not a bad way to start the day, eh Toto?

Also, yesterday we went grocery shopping. I wanted a little honey to put on my peanut butter sandwiches. I went to the jams-jelly-honey section in the store and noted a larger than expected variety of honeys. I decided not to buy the American Sue-Bee brand of honey. Let’s get something local. Imagine my surprise when I saw this jar of honey sitting on the shelf.

That price is not American dollars. It is Kuwait Dinars. One KD equals $3.50. Do the math. No, Toto, we are not using that honey on our PBJs.

And finally, we walked though a little carnival last night. Typical carnival atmosphere; tilt-o-whirl, wild mouse, cotton candy, bumper cars and lots of families out having fun. And it wouldn’t be a carnival without live goldfish and baby chicks, right? Yep, those are yellow, orange, purple and green chicks in the foreground. Hundreds of them. And in the background? Yes, Toto, those are baby rabbits in tu-tu’s.

Teaching is going well overall. Actually, it is life as usual in world of education. Some things are great, others a bit challenging. I am teaching 4 sections of grade 6 math and 2 sections of Algebra to 8th graders. The students themselves are great. The sixth graders are the normal, bubbly, enthusiastic young adolescents, testing limits, overwhelmed by the new middle school experience (they moved up from elementary, first floor, to the middle school, second floor) and generally just fun to be around. The eighth graders have seen it all and are much more subdued. Part of that may be that I have them first period so they are still half asleep when I see them. Their favorite challenge right now seems to be to trying get Mr. Little off topic, hoping he will forget about assigning homework. Not too much success, but they are still trying. Not sure who laughs more when I call them on it.
Most of our students are Kuwaiti with the balance from other Arab nations. Almost all are from well-to-do families. They all wear uniforms so the outward appearance of wealth is not there. Listen to their stories though and oh my goodness! Maids, cooks, nannies and drivers are the norm, as are trips to Europe, Asia and even California. And then seeing the cars in the parking lot for after school pick up is a sight to behold.

One item that I absolutely cannot complain about is class size. UAS has made it a priority to raise their math scores. To remedy that, two changes have been instituted; block scheduling and reduced class size. Sixth and seventh grade classes are only moderately reduced. Eighth is very reduced. My largest sixth grade class is 16 students and Algebra tops out at 8 students. Wow! Grading tests and quizzes takes no time at all.

Some of the challenges? UAS has adopted California’s standards and benchmarks. And we are using the Stanford 10 as our program assessment tool. Suddenly, Carol and I are the resident experts on standards and high stakes testing. How is that for irony?

Got to go now. We are in the middle of our week off for Eid and are learning how to get around town using the bus system. On today’s agenda…the antique souk in downtown Kuwait City.

TAIT is our new moto.

Thank Allah its Thursday. Friday and Saturday are now what we call our virtual Saturday and Sunday. We have been back to school with students for a week and a half. My first two days I only had 12 out of my expected 26. It makes it very difficult to teach anything , but a lot easier to learn names and faces. I have 3 Ahmeds, 2 Yousiffs, 2 AbulAziz with an AbulRaman thrown in, and 2 Danas. Twenty of the students last name start with "A". Although some don't consider the Al when alphabetizing names????We are half way through Ramadan. Fasting is not required of us, and finding a way to eat and drink really is not that hard. I still have 2 students who have not come back to school. Nobody is sure if it is due to Ramadan or the insane scare that is going on here over H1N1. Nursery school and kindergarten have not been allowed to begin classes. Nobody is quite sure when they'll be allowed back. In the meantime, I have a full time kindergarten teacher helping in my class. At this point she is organizing all the supplies students bring to school. She has asked if she "may" organize shelves and such and has ordered me more furniture. (The school has carpenters, and they will make it!)

Universal American School is interesting. It seems that there is a group of teachers who live here permanently and a larger group that come for two years and move on to the next place. There is push right now to align teaching to standards and to the Stanford 10 test which is given in April. The established teachers have seen these new ideas come and go with each new principal or superintendent. The new American teachers have been doing this for a couple of years and are wondering what the issue is. The new Canadian teachers are just ducking. The brand new curriculums don't match either the standards or test exactly, but it's all we have. Aaaagh, the beginning of a new year. TAIT. (Big thanks to those of you that are scanning things for me. It's hard not to have my own files and "stuff". )

"97 but feels like 93!"

Alan walked in this morning and greeted me with this info. Of course it's obvious to all that we should go out for a walk. Something we have yet to do during day light hours. At 8:30 we head out our apartment door and for a second or two actually try to convince ourselves that it's not that hot. Forty-five minutes and 1.5 miles later we came to our senses. It's bloody hot here. We are still glad that we took the walk (water would have been nice - remember Ramadan, no water). We saw the Arabian Gulf (not Persian) and know that we will take this walk often after the heat breaks - probably around October.

We are slowly getting to know our way around. Kuwait City is actually quite small because all the attached areas are considered to be their own cities. We live in Salwa; our school is in Hawally; a nice shopping area is in Salmya. All of this is within a 15 mile radius. I would compare it to Noe Valley, Union Street, and South of Market in San Francisco. We are not going to buy a car. We have gotten to know one taxi driver that we like. Alan is checking out the public bus routes. The buses we've seen look new and air conditioned. I think we would have to sit apart - women in front, men in back. Our school supplies a bus to and from school and picks us up on Monday evenings to go shopping. Outings are also arranged. Next week I'm going to the Fabric Souk. I'll pay 1/4 Kd, just less than a dollar. Sounds a lot better than driving to me.

I've included a few photos. When it has cooled down a bit, we will take more. These are of the Kuwaity Towers and at the Fabric Souk.

We'd love to hear from you as well.

Love

Carol and Alan

Kuwait

Wednesday, Aug 12

The next phase of our journey has begun. With a bit of angst, Alan and I were able to fit a year’s worth of possessions into four check-in bags, two carry-on bags (prepared to help us survive for three days), and two computer bags.  Robin’s (my sister and chauffeur) shocks may never be the same, but we sailed to SFO without a hitch. Our ticket taker was very generous and did not weigh our bags. We knew we were 20 pounds overweight, but that fee was cheaper than bringing a fifth bag – exceedingly cheaper when not charged. So, Alan and I are now waiting for our flight. Alan is guarding luggage while I get my computer recharged.

After a quick 5 hour flight to Washington, D.C., Alan and I found our gate for the final 12.5 hour leg of our journey. Here’s where the fun begins. As United started to call for passengers, Alan reached for his passport, but it was gone. We searched through bags, retraced steps to no avail. United was not about to let him board without a passport. We know he arrived with it in Dulles, and although we could speculate as to its whereabouts, it made no difference. At this point, we agreed that I would continue on. I would be met by school officials and hand delivered to our apartment, so I felt very safe.

Off I flew, and Alan spent the next 24 hours getting a replacement passport and barely, barely, barely getting on the next flight. Meantime, I arrived and picked up the two bags that traveled with me. Unfortunately, one was Alan’s and the other one was my secondary bag. Good thing I packed my carry on carefully.

Days of the week have now become blurred. We are 10 hours ahead here. I flew for 20 hours. And, I was emailing back and forth to Alan who technically was on a different day. All too confusing!

Thursday, Aug. 13, 8:00pm

Soooo, I arrived at our new apartment and played with our new Flip camera. The video is my first attempt (ok, it took me three tries) at capturing our life here. I now know that the video is way too large, so I will try again later. The apartment is very nice and large with 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, a dining room, living room, and extra space. It includes a maid's room and a laundry room as well. We have plenty of room for anyone who wants to visit. We are in the family building. I think there are five other families here. Unfortunately, we are easily 20- 30 minutes from school and town in a very residential area. There is a bus to provide transportation to and from school and to the grocery store once a week. We have found a corner store and a few Indian restaurants around the corner. One of our neighbors is returning here, and said he would show us around some more.

Friday, Aug. 14

Yesterday morning, we headed off to the other main apartment building to meet other new staff. There are 21 new teachers, however, several are returning teachers from several years ago. Many have other overseas experience. At this point, it seems that many are Canadian. After breakfast, we received an advance on our salary and they took us off to a grocery store. It was fantastic - western enough to be very clean and efficient, but foreign enough for me to walk around for an hour just staring at all the different foods! I must admit that $100 later my basket looked basically like what I would have bought at Safeway.

Alan arrived last night thanking that poor late plane with 6 passengers who could not make the connection to the Kuwait plane. He was the last one let on the plane. He too was able to sleep, so the transition to Kuwait time has been easier than expected. Unfortunately, our other two pieces of luggage are AWOL. Luckily, it really doesn’t matter for a bit. Thank goodness we actually paid attention to our packing.

Saturday, August 15

Today, we return to the school for more introductions, and then we are off to take pictures. We need a government ID card and apparently many other official papers with photos. We will be taken to another shopping center. They are trying to show us our options.

At this point, I am not taking pictures. It is definitely stricter here, and I would rather learn what is allowed versus learning the hard way. Dress is definitely more relaxed than I thought. Some of sleeve is necessary, but it doesn’t matter how long or short. I’ve seen plenty of skirts above the knee but not much more. The clothes I brought will do just fine

Enough already. Pretty soon this will just be another day. So far, so good! 

Hope all is well with everyone. We'll be glad to field questions. Our email seems to be more reliable than the comments section

Soooooo, does this look like the South Pacific?

Although there is a long story, I'll keep it shortish. Alan and I lost confidence in the owner of the boat, and he lost confidence in us. It became very obvious that our sailing/cruising styles were not going to be compatible for a week, let alone a year or two. So after refitting, or refurbishing, much of the boat, we left (actually fired, but we agreed) the boat before it sailed from Vancouver to San Francisco. A new captain and cook came aboard, and we drove back down to Washington to recuperate. We eventually drove back to the Bay Area trying to decide what the hell to do now.

So what's with the photo? In our last week or two of working on the boat, Alan reconnected with a principal with whom we had discussed teaching overseas positions. He believed that we would be able to find teaching jobs even at this late of date (around June 10th). Alan found a website and posted our resumes. After a few offers, we have taken jobs teaching in Kuwait. We have signed a one year contract, so we'll see what happens.

Alan and I are currently hanging a bit in Bodega Bay with DeYette, heading south to San Diego to visit Neill, and figuring out what to take to Kuwait!

Hope all is well with everyone. I guess we will keep up this website because apparently our next job is a bit of an adventure as well. Love to hear what you're doing.

South Pacific here we come!!!!

Alan and I have been in Vancouver about a month working hard on our (?) new boat. Mustang, a Camper Nicholson Ocean 83, is our new home. It's been hauled out for 3 weeks and has 1 more to go. It feels like we are rebuilding every system inside. What's not being replaced is being cleaned and organized. We have a fabulous crew of 4 helping us; a very amusing Kiwi who is a wizard mechanic; a quiet Finnish young lady who works way to hard and makes me feel like a slacker; a Jamaican fellow who helps the wizard; and Matt, Neill's best friend since middle school. It's quite a crew! Much/all of this is tedious, dirty work. At least we'll know we're good to go when we take off.

Our plans are to be back in the water next week and start testing the work that we did. Blake and a bunch of people will be joining us, and we will set sail from Vancouver to San Francisco. I think the plan is to leave around June 18 and sail a few days around Puget Sound and then head south. (Of course, all is dependent upon the weather.)

The rest of the family, Melissa, Spencer, Parker, and Blakie, will arrive in San Francisco by airplane and help us get ready for "the passage." We'll let everybody know when we're expected to arrive. You can come out and watch us sail under the Golden Gate Bridge, or visit with us at the dock. There will probably be lots of loose ends to tie up on the boat and lots of provisioning for the boat. I think the plan is for us to be in the Bay Area 7 - 10 days.

Around July 7, Alan, Blake, another bunch of sailors, and I will sail out of the Bay and head to the Marquesas in French Polynesia. We hope the trip will take about 2 - 3 weeks. (What have I agreed to? A lot better deal than the original explorers.) The rest of the family will visit some of their family for a bit and then fly down and meet us in the Marquesas.

We plan to sail around the Marquesas, Societies, and Tuamotos for about 90 days. Then we will continue heading west through other islands. (My geography will improve.) Eventually, late next fall, we will head down to New Zealand for about 6 weeks and Australia for about 6 weeks.

We'd love to hear how all of you are keeping busy, and what your summer plans are. Hope all is going well.

Love,

Carol and Alan

Perfect jobs take time

Lots has happened in the last month. About two weeks ago, we received word that Alan's father had cancer and was not doing well. Alan hopped on a plane and flew out to Seattle immediately. DeYette and I packed up our little abode and followed two days later. Alan was able to spend some time with his father, swap stories, and say good by. Unfortunately, by the time DeYette, Neill and I arrived, Ron was having serious difficulties and passed away a day later at home. It was very quick and quite a shock. We are very thankful to have been able to be here. The thought that we might have been in Timbukto and not been able to get home leaves us a bit shaken. Meanwhile, I am staying with Nancy and trying to be of help around the house - at least I can cook.


Filling in the blanks -

It was great getting home last month. Alan and enjoyed a week with my family with DeYette and Neill bopping in and out. We were able to get our taxes done, visit Napa, and grab a few things we had left behind. We then flew up to Seattle and helped Alan's parents start moving into their new home. As with most construction, it wasn't quite done, but Neill and Alan were able to move over a lot of the heavy stuff.

We returned to Ft. Lauderdale to wait for word on a boat. Both Alan and I were able to start researching a lot of things, but we wanted a boat. I took a class entitled Medical Person in Charge. While at sea, I am now "qualified" to administer shots, place IV's, put in catheters, suture (I know 3 different stitches) lacerations, CPR, and loads of other things. I'm counting on the addage that if prepared, I won't need it!

We finally received word that Blake, our boss, had put in an offer on a boat in Marmaris, Turkey. Alan was on a plane two days later to join the surveyor in inspecting the boat. Unfortunately, 10 days later it was determined the boat just had too many things wrong. Alan boarded the plane back to Ft. Lauderdale, about a 28 hour journey.

Robin and Mark made a quick overnight stop in Miami, so I hung out down there (about 25 miles south) for a bit. Then DeYette and Annie, our neice/Robin and Mark's daughter, arrived for Spring Break. As fun as that may sound, remember they are with Mom/Aunt, and it was drizzly weather. They did get a day or two at the beach, and we went on a very entertaining alligator viewing boat ride in the Everglades.

Alan arrived home midweek and then basically took off for Seattle.

Fortuitously, Blake has made another offer on a boat. This time in Vancouver Canada, about 2 hours from here. Alan is up there right now with the surveyor. For a lot of reasons, this boat should be in a lot better shape, and we believe this is the one. If so, we will probably be in Vancouver or Seattle for the next month or so. We really appreciate how well this is working out.

We're taking it a day at a time.
Hugs to everyone.
Carol and Alan

When it rains, it pours.

Patience and perseverance and karma and luck and right time and place and possibly being especially qualified has landed us the job of a life time!!!!!!!!

To back up a little – December was a tough month. Being away from the family when we weren’t doing anything here was hard, but since not working we couldn’t justify the expensive plane ticket back to California, and DeYette and Neill already had plans to go to Washington. We also didn’t quite realize how long the down time between Christmas and the first Monday after New Years would be. Everything combined for a low period. Somewhere during that time, Alan and I realized we better get serious about an exit plan – both short term and long term. Unfortunately, these two would often conflict. Ultimately, we decided to put our efforts into teaching overseas. After a little research, we decided to attend the University of Iowa’s overseas job fair. We updated our teaching resumes, wrote essays about our teaching philosophies, and asked for letters of recommendation. We also called relatives to borrow sweaters, boots, and coats to survive this weekend. UNI suggested we contact schools we were interested in before the fair. (Thank goodness for email. And to the best of our knowledge, we did attach what we said we would.) So we pony up the $340 for the fair that is to take place the last weekend of January. Then the phone starts to ring, literally the same. First, we get a call from Ann, a boat broker, whom Alan knew because he had been crew on her boat 25 years ago in the Virgin Islands. She is in the process of helping a family find a boat to sail around the world. They need captain and crew. Would we be interested in meeting them? Then, I get offered a fifth grade job at a private school here that is losing a teacher midterm. I had applied as a substitute. Alan gets a call from the merchant marine union hall for a 120 day job. Unfortunately, nothing is happening in a linear fashion. We meet with the couple on a prospective boat, but they have several other boats in the Med to look at. The meeting went very well, but they’re still looking around. On a leap of faith, I turn down the teaching job. Alan has to turn down the shipping job because he wouldn’t be around for the job fair. We get a nice note from the family stating that they would like us to meet the boys, but they are busy with the inauguration and will get back to us. Time moves along, and we start hearing back from schools. OK, we needed this boost. UNI stated not to expect much. Schools from Kuwait, Shanghai, Casa Blanca, Cairo, Saudi Arabia, and Belgrade all ask us to please contact them before the fair because we are just what they need. (And to add a little color, a school in Thailand said we do not meet their mission of having integrity and social values and do not expect them to contact us. ??? Through the computer we could see that they filled their math position.) We actually end up having an interview/sales pitch from a school in Kuwait and get offered a contract. Now it’s truly decision time. We defer and agree to meet him at the fair first thing. So, now it’s crunch time. We need to make plane reservations, etc. for Iowa, but we really want the sailing job.

To try to make this a little shorter – Alan emails the family and explains our situation. An hour later the phone rings. Yes, you need to come up and meet the boys but I do need to discuss this with my wife. Two minutes later, next phone call, and then we were on the plane the next day.

We have just arrived home from a four day visit with the family. There are three boys ages 5, 9 and 11. The boys are rambunctious and bright and happy. We seem to fit well with the couple. After several business talks, we were offered and accepted a job. One slight hitch, they don’t own a boat yet. Actually, they are in the process of negotiating for a great boat and have a second and third back up. So, this is a go!

The big plan. Sometime around June we will head down and transit the Panama Canal, visit the Galapagos, put kids and Mom on a plane, cross the Pacific to the Marquesas (South Pacific), get mom and kids back, and eventually land in Sydney or New Zealand around New Years. Then, we need to stay around there until March to let the Western Pacific hurricane season pass. From there, we can head up to Micronesia or Papua New Guinea and/or Thailand. Nothing is set for now except they will be sailing someplace, and we will be there crew. (AND we get paid for this)

We are off to buy champagne! We’ll be toasting to all of you and your encouragement and for keeping some of your thoughts to yourselves.

Love Carol and Alan

(Names have been left out just for the time being due to boat purchasing negotiations. Believe me, you’ll get pictures when they are available.)