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Saturday, March 27, 2010
Saturday, 27 March 2010 - It was a very eventful week here in Kuwait. First of all, we have officially been here a month. :-) We are settled in, have met really wonderful people and both of us like our jobs very much. The CSA contract officially expires 31 March, so there has been a lot of uneasy feelings at work while people wonder what is going to happen to everyone next week. That was answered on Thursday, when we all received 6 month extension contracts...so we will definitely be here working for CSA until 30 September.
The other big event was a horrible accident that impacted BJ's department. The dog of an employee in BJ's area was hit by a car, and while he was tending to his dog the employee (Jesse) was hit by another car. It was a really bad accident, and Jesse is not expected to survive. That honestly is the biggest safety hazard about being here...the driving. Many of you have gotten emails from me about that, and now there is proof (terrible proof) that I wasn't exaggerating...the people over here can NOT drive, and they drive way, way too fast. I am infinitely more worried about my safety when I am in a vehicle than I am about terrorism or being in a war zone.
Other than that it was a regular ol' work week. We bought a grill, so today will be our first official Kuwaiti cook out!! And we tried the bar-b-que restaurant owned by a CSA employee that is from Texas...thank God it was really good, so we have our Jim N' Nicks substitute! Now if we could just find somewhere that makes good sweet tea we will be set.
Oh, before I sign off, let me describe what a "regular ol' work week" is over here. Kuwait has a mandatory 48 hour work week. So both BJ and I are up at 3:30 am. It is painful. BJ leaves about 4:05 because he starts work at 5 am...I leave at 4:45 and start at 6:00. It takes about 25 minutes to get to the base, and then another 30-45 minutes to get through security check points before we are on base. That is the worst part, but obviously it is a necessary evil. I get off at 5:00 and BJ gets off at 6:00, but because of traffic I only beat him home by about 20-30 minutes. Then I walk on the treadmill and he swims. We eat cereal for dinner most nights because we only have an hour before bedtime at this point, so we don't want anything heavy to eat. We fight over the computer for that hour trying to keep up with emails, then it is time for bed so we can do it all over again. Now I only work 5 days a week most weeks, but BJ does this 6 days a week so he has it worse than I do. It definitely makes for long days, which means we are pooped and sleeping like babies when it is bedtime!!
Tomorrow's Blog will feature our Friday Market adventures from last week...stay tuned!
Saturday, March 20, 2010
The First Month in Kuwait
Well, we have been so-so about keeping everyone updated on our progress in Kuwait. We are hoping that with the creation of this blog, we will have created a central database for updates on our activites and adventures in the Middle East. Also, HOPEFULLY we will be able to get more pictures to everyone!! Our internet connection at the apartment is soooo slow that we haven't been able to get more than one or two pictures to upload before the entire system crashes.
Some of this information will be repetitive for many of you, but we haven't been able to fill everyone in so bear with us. I will give a brief rundown of the first month in this posting. Then BJ and I will update periodically with what has happened that day or week.
THE BEGINNING: We headed out of Birmingham, Alabama on February 16th at 6:30 am. This meant we had to be at the airport by 5am. Being the true procrastinator that I am (have always been...probably will always be), I had only slept 3 hours in the previous 72 hours before the trip to the airport. I had also still not finished packing, which left my wonderful parents with a beautiful home littered with my piles of crap everywhere. I know, I don't know why they didn't kill me a long time ago either.
We arrived safe and sound in Kuwait at 6pm (Kuwait time) the 17th. We were taken to a hotel that night, then picked up and taken to our new home the next morning. We were now in our new home where we don't speak the language, don't have a car, don't know exactly where we are, etc. So we pretty much stuck close to home until we were picked up for orientation three days later.
Orientation lasted 3 days...our company does a really good job of trying to make the transition to life in the Middle East as easy as possible. On the 4th day we finally actually went to the army base (camp actually, but for ease of reference I will continue to call it a base...) for the first time. We work in a very large, tan, sandy desert environment.
We are pretty settled in now...I have replaced the sheets and comforter that we are provided with better thread-count Egyptian sheets and a down comforter, so all is well in the world. The rest of the apartment is great. We are located in an area with lots of restaurants close by, and we have an amazing view of the Persian Gulf.
We work a lot, so most of our time is spent getting ready for work, getting to work, being at work, and coming home from work. We are only awake for 1 1/2 to 2 hours each night, so we are doing a better job of time management with the limited amount of time that we have here.
Our off days are spent exploring the offerings of Kuwait...the first two weekends we were fortunate to have someone (wonderful, amazing people) that took us around and showed us the layout of the city and where the major attractions were. The next weekend we checked out the Friday Market (stay tuned to future Posts for the description of the Friday Market), and last weekend we drove out to the desert to take pictures of the camels. They are almost as tame as dogs here, they will run right up to your car and stick their heads inside if you aren't careful!!
It is starting to get hot already. We have had a week of 100+ temperatures...and it isn't even April yet! I will admit I am NOT going to get used to the heat here, so just know in advance that there will be plenty of whining in future Blog updates.
Take Care...more to come!!! We miss everyone, but we are doing well in our new home!!
Some of this information will be repetitive for many of you, but we haven't been able to fill everyone in so bear with us. I will give a brief rundown of the first month in this posting. Then BJ and I will update periodically with what has happened that day or week.
THE BEGINNING: We headed out of Birmingham, Alabama on February 16th at 6:30 am. This meant we had to be at the airport by 5am. Being the true procrastinator that I am (have always been...probably will always be), I had only slept 3 hours in the previous 72 hours before the trip to the airport. I had also still not finished packing, which left my wonderful parents with a beautiful home littered with my piles of crap everywhere. I know, I don't know why they didn't kill me a long time ago either.
We arrived safe and sound in Kuwait at 6pm (Kuwait time) the 17th. We were taken to a hotel that night, then picked up and taken to our new home the next morning. We were now in our new home where we don't speak the language, don't have a car, don't know exactly where we are, etc. So we pretty much stuck close to home until we were picked up for orientation three days later.
Orientation lasted 3 days...our company does a really good job of trying to make the transition to life in the Middle East as easy as possible. On the 4th day we finally actually went to the army base (camp actually, but for ease of reference I will continue to call it a base...) for the first time. We work in a very large, tan, sandy desert environment.
We are pretty settled in now...I have replaced the sheets and comforter that we are provided with better thread-count Egyptian sheets and a down comforter, so all is well in the world. The rest of the apartment is great. We are located in an area with lots of restaurants close by, and we have an amazing view of the Persian Gulf.
We work a lot, so most of our time is spent getting ready for work, getting to work, being at work, and coming home from work. We are only awake for 1 1/2 to 2 hours each night, so we are doing a better job of time management with the limited amount of time that we have here.
Our off days are spent exploring the offerings of Kuwait...the first two weekends we were fortunate to have someone (wonderful, amazing people) that took us around and showed us the layout of the city and where the major attractions were. The next weekend we checked out the Friday Market (stay tuned to future Posts for the description of the Friday Market), and last weekend we drove out to the desert to take pictures of the camels. They are almost as tame as dogs here, they will run right up to your car and stick their heads inside if you aren't careful!!
It is starting to get hot already. We have had a week of 100+ temperatures...and it isn't even April yet! I will admit I am NOT going to get used to the heat here, so just know in advance that there will be plenty of whining in future Blog updates.
Take Care...more to come!!! We miss everyone, but we are doing well in our new home!!
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