Some photos, for those of you without Facebook.

And so it begins, this was our crew leaving ROA - Me, Cory, Emily, and Meredith (we are minus Justin as he traveled separately).

This is a view from our apartment windows where we spend PLENTY of time watching the street and city below.  We can watch the progress of the Dunkin' Donuts going up, people running to the mosque on Friday, and see the skyline of the city on a clear day.

Here is the same view, but on a not-so-clear day.  I think this was on the day of the sand storm.

My favorite is watching at night.  There are neon palm trees that light up the street below. Pretty fancy!

The apartment from the inside.  Very spacious and plenty of room for two people.  I didn't realize how much I miss having a dining room table until now.  Our TV has several American channels, but hardly worth watching most of the time.  I miss watching reruns of Friends and the Golden Girls.

On my birthday, Cory (with assistance of others) made me a chocolate birthday cake.  Well done, my friend!  We invited two other AUK folks (Americans) living in our building to celebrate.  And yes, I am in my pajamas.  When we're not outside or at work (which is all other time) I'm in comfy clothes.  I haven't altered my attire too much since being here.  I dress a bit more conservatively at work making sure to cover my shoulders and wear skirts below the knee, but otherwise, it's just about the same.

Ah, my desk.  My name printed on a sheet of paper, but my title is more impressive: Adjunct Professor.  This is my space for the summer.  I share the office with Cory, Justin, and two others.  It's cozy.  

Last but not least, I had to share just one example of how Americanized everything is.  Even Dr. Phil has made his place over here.  Not real comforting.  Fast food I understand, but Dr. Phil?

That's it for now.  It took me longer than I thought to upload photos.  Now that we have Internet in the apartment, it's much easier to keep up and communicate.  

Nothing too exciting on the agenda for the week.  Tonight is the big "football" match between USA and Brazil.  Our taxi driver on the way to school was making quite a big deal about it.  I go to bed too early to have watched it downtown.  I'll catch the recap tomorrow morning on the news.  Yes, I'm THAT exciting.  

Mourning MJ, even in Kuwait

You know, it was a toss up to see what to title the blog today.  Shall it reflect my last week here or should it reflect the devastating news we all woke up to this morning, of Michael Jackson's death?  You can see which took priority.

The runner up was "Summer in the City".  I keep singing that song.  You know, the one that goes, "Hot town, summer in the city, back of my neck getting dirty and gritty".  That was today. Our first day to travel to "downtown" Kuwait City. 

A view of the Liberation Tower - downtown Kuwait City

But, first things first.  I was informed that I was not including enough detail in my descriptions in my blog.  Read on if you wish, but this next paragraph is for you, Mrs. Schierling.

When I say it's "hot", I mean that it feels like I've stepped into a dry-heated sauna.  Or, as I put it to Emily the other day as we walked to the coop, it feels like someone is blasting me with the world's largest hair dryer on HIGH HEAT.  Like at the salon when it gets too hot and you start flinching when it burns your ears.  Yeah, it's that kind of HOT.  Secondly, when we got in the taxi today after being outside in the sun, I could feel the heat radiating off of our sweaty selves as we crammed four of us into the back seat.  I don't think you want the full detail of where my sweat was collecting.  I'll stop here for today.

Back to our Friday in the city.  We tried the "local" thing by heading out to the Friday Market.  We were, of course, the only caucasians there.  It's held at the fairgrounds.  You can buy everything from clothes, parts to a faucet, rugs, cloth, live birds, puppies, oh yeah, or a monkey.  Didn't need to stay too long to realize we didn't need to take any of it home with us.  But most definitely a cultural experience. p.s. No photos from this excursion as we felt this would be highly and culturally insensitive AND we would probably draw even more attention to ourselves.   

Next, we tried our hand at the Kuwait National Museum.  It should have been a sign when the cab driver had never heard of it, or rather, couldn't get us there without the help of the Lonely Planet guidebook (thanks, Justin).  We finally make it there to find a rather deserted place with a security guard.  Now, a quick Google search will inform you that the Kuwait National Museum used to be much more, however, during the Iraq invasion, the place was looted and much of their artifacts destroyed or stolen.  Kind of a sad story.  Kind of a sad museum.  

Pretty much the coolest thing at the museum. . .the sign.

Everything else on our list to visit was closed for the day, as it is the holy day and all, so, we did what any local would do in such a case.  We went to the mall.  A walk down the Gulf Road, past the Seif Palace and the Grand Mosque, we came upon the uber-smelly (not a good smell) fish market and then finally the mall, Souk Sharq. Like any good Americans, we made a bee-line for the McDonald's for a LARGE Coke Light.  The walk was a bit dehydrating in the 40+ degree heat.

Although we couldn't visit the palace, we can still see the Emir's (King) face on just about everything.

Once it became closer to an appropriate lunch time, we were excited to try a highly recommended eatery (thank you Wikitravel) named the Burger Hub.  Greasy deliciousness of hamburger and french fries.  Again, I'm sure many of you are disappointed I'm not venturing out and trying more local fares, but I tell you, the Kuwaitis LOVE them some American food. We cannot escape it, therefore, we shall embrace it!

http://www.theburgerhub.com/home.htm

Got a bit sidetracked. We've been entertaining ourselves on Youtube, now that we have internet at the apartment.  Kittens Inspired by Kittens, Bon Qui Qui, Flirty Girl Fitness, and every Michael Jackson video we could think of were more important than getting back to my computer.  You can see we have really busy lives here.  Consequently, I have reached my extent of posting for today.  Tomorrow I shall post a few more photos of our apartment, my birthday cake, and other riveting events that should be documented.   

Back to School

I had a great birthday here in Kuwait. Thanks to those both here and at home for the well wishes and making me feel special. Once I upload some photos, you'll be able to see my fabulous birthday cake.

I'm not real organized, yet, with my thougths for blogging even though Kerry got me this great, small journal for the purpose. With the start to the offical first week of school, I now promise to do a better job at structuring my time and keeping organized.

Some highlights from our existence here:

SAND STORMS! You know how you can anticipate a thunderstorm coming? It is NOT the case with sand storms. We experienced our first the other evening while in our apartment. Luckily, we have huge floor-to-ceiling windows to watch it all unfold. Trash flies everywhere and sand slowly seeps into the apartment and leaves a nice film of dust on everything.

Window watching. I now know how my Grandma Casten passed so many hours watching out her window on 8th Street in Quenemo watching the neighbors come and go. It is so addicting! Our apartments have HUGE floor-to-ceiling windows that span the entire length of our living/dining room. A favorite pasttime is watching people and the city change from day to night. The blinking neon palm trees are our favorite. Also, Emily and I couldn't help but watch everyone scramble for the mosque on Friday trying to make it in time to pray.

Food. All we talk about is food. The conversation can start very innocent, but ALWAYS gets around to something tasty we miss from home. It's the scarity principle, I assume. Even though we have plenty of options at the Sultan Center (my bean burritos I made were amazing, BTW) and even the local coop (small grocery), we still dream of food. We managed to make a pretty tasty meal with limited ingredients as "family dinner" night and I did love every minute of eating my birthday cake, too. There is EVERY American fastfood chain imagineable here, but it seems to be quite spendy, not to mention unhealthy. I'd rather just talk about food anyway. However, Emily and I are scheming our first trip to Taco Time. We've eaten out a couple of times. The first was for my birthday. We went to a place that looked eerily like Panera, located at the mall. The second was last night at an Indian/Chinese restaurant where I had my first hummus experience in Kuwait. Next time I'll just order that as my entree with bread. . .it was so good.

Agricultural Education. Starting with our fellow Hokies, Cory and I have had many hours to share the wealth of knowledge we have of agriculture. My personal favorite was informing Emily that sheep really do have tails! "Like dogs or rats?", she asks. Luckily I had a photo of Moroccan sheep with their tails and Cory shared photos from a proficiency award application of a student docking a lambs tail. I think we put her over the edge with talk of artificial insemination. Maybe that's a July conversation.

Taxi cabs are my friend, now. We got a 200KD advance on our pay and have since been taking taxis to/from places. My life seems much happier now that we aren't walking in the heat. It increases my "cost of living" to pay for transportation, but definitely worth every penny/KD.

Oh yeah, we had our first day of school today. I'm teaching the four-week public speaking course for the English department. Cory gets to teach the female section and I the male section. Seems a bit backwards, but I think it will work out fine. Overall, the 13 students seemed pretty attentive and laughed at my attempts of humor. I introduced myself and told them my home was in Kansas. My "favorite" student (as I'll call him from here on out) said, "Manhattan?". I was so surprised to hear that! He went on to tell me his cousin attends Kansas State. I told him that makes us family. Anyway, only 19 more days in the term. First speeches are this Thursday.

Still no Internet at the apartment. That means no Facebook and no attempt at Skype. Email and blogging are it for now.

I promise to have some photos on the next post!

Yeah for Birthdays in Kuwait! (Day 2)

I don't think I've ever woken up wide awake at 6:00 a.m. on my birthday. No, it's not out of excitement, folks. It's out of fear of the 50 minute walk to school in the heat. I am determined to survive this day without heat exhaustion. (Yesterday I took a 3 hour siesta after our return walk from school in the middle of the afternoon.)

Cory tells me it is currently 99 degrees and 38% humidity. We have just arrived to school. I look like I've ran a marathon with sweat/red face when I arrive and meet the dean, head of the department, etc. today. Real nice, Jill.

Blister count = 2. One from yesteray and one from today.

New AUK email account and access to the Internet in my office is set up.

Big win for me. . . .the "call to prayer" wakes me up at 2:40 a.m. but I am able to fall right back asleep.

Western grocery store, the Sultan Center, has an entire aisle dedicated to Old El Paso brand of food. I will not lack for Mexican!

The best part of the day will be seeing the product of Cory's baking of my chocolate birthday cake. I cannot wait!

HOT HOT HOT!

I keep singing that song involving the words. . HOT HOT HOT. No other way to describe it. My pale-faced, easily reddened skin is not adapting well. Thank goodness for hats!

Oh, so I arrived safely to Kuwait yesterday evening. Our flight from Atlanta was a little over 12 hours. I have never been on such a deserted international flight. So very empty. Consequently, it was the BEST international flight I have ever taken. Plenty of room to stretch out. No screaming children. Nice.

So, with less than 24 hours I feel as if I have nothing to report, yet EVERYTHING to report.

Living conditions: GREAT! Our apartment is brand new. Construction dust is covering everything. Emily (my roommate) and I had to put together our new IKEA lamps, shower stuff ,etc. There is a gym (bonus) downstairs in our building, so there should be no reason I am not more fit when I return.

Food: Nothing to report as I have not eaten a full meal since my arrival. Thank you for the Cliff bars I packed.

Internet: Not yet ready at the apartment. Not yet set up for my account at AUK. Using a temporary pass in the library.

Tomorrow is my birthday. We are brainstorming ways to celebrate that involve airconditioning. This could be my most unique b-day yet!

Oh, there is also rumor that Skype has been banned in Kuwait. DANGER DANGER! So sorry Mom.

Thank you Rick Steves!

To sum up my European adventure, I must give credit to Mr. Rick Steves.  Sheepishly I admit that I have long been a closet-fan of Rick.  Scanning PBS to catch an episode of his travel shows or adding them to my Netflix cue, I enjoy the slightly nerdy, yet practical traveler and his advice.  

In preparation for my trip to Switzerland and Italy, I quickly purchased his books on the two countries and referenced his website for packing tips, train travel, etc.  I was relieved to find out that I was not alone in my admiration.  My fellow traveler, Amy, quickly pulled out her copy of "Rick Steves Switzerland" as we began to navigate Zurich.  He soon became a part of our trip. . ."Well, Rick says. . ." or "Rick suggests. . ".  There were a couple things he got wrong, like the beer garden by the lake in Zurich.  Not as exciting as he might think.  We walked by at 9:00 p.m. and it was closed!  Rick's not exactly the reference guide to nightlife.  However, in his defense, he gave us great suggestions for local cuisine, lodging, maps, historical details, and most importantly, what to do if a piegon poos in your hair.  Now THAT was a great piece of advice!  In all, Rick saved me some money as he served as an all-purpose guide for the spots in Zurich, Venice, and Cinque Terre.  If you are considering a trip to Europe, I suggest picking up one of his books.

Now, back to my trip.  The boring details are as follows.  I arrived in Zurich on May 15.  We began our "study" by visiting two universities, the University of Zurich and ETH.  We took another day trip to visit the University of Basel (the oldest in Switzerland).  Our group headed south to the canton of Ticino.  Our train ride through the Swiss Alps was breathtaking.  We had a visit to the youngest university in Switzerland in Lugano.  From there we enjoyed our time in Riva San Vitale and the Virginia Tech villa.  We also visited campuses at Politecnico di Milano and an architectural school in Mendrisio.  The "study" ended on May 26 and a few of us took off for Venice on the 27th.  After Venice we spent some time in Cinque Terre on the northwest coast of Italy.  Again, it was apparent that Rick Steves has left his mark on Europe.  Everyone had a copy of his book. . .in Venice. . .in CT.  I finally departed from Zurich on June 1 with a long day of travel back to Kansas.  I've got a few days before the real adventure begins in Kuwait.  Until then, here are a few things I loved about my trip to Europe, not necessarily in any order.

A night view of Zurich

1. Switzerland!  The place is a fairytale land.  It's clean, people are nice, and everywhere you turn it's a postcard.
   
2. Buying bread and sausage off the street in Zurich.  The best lunch ever!
3. Buying wine, chocolate, and bread from the Coop (grocery store) for cheap meals. 
4. Beer on the train. 
5. Gelato, or in my case, Limon sorbet.
6. White Merlot from Ticinco.  Amazingly fresh. 
7. Clocks everywhere.
8. Strong coffee.
9. Church bells.
10. Vino!  Wine!
11. Swimming in the lake in Riva during free time with a view of the snow-capped mountains in the background.
12. The VT villa and all of it's glory!
13. The pizza of Lucifer, "The Lucifero"
14. Cinque Terre's foccacia bread and pesto
15. Two words. . . pizza donut
16. Hiking.  Even if I was out of shape.  My physical therapist would have been proud of my improvements!

Photo taken of my "pizza donut" - The crust of a donut with the inside like a pizza.  Yum-O!

And because no trip is all sunshine and roses (which were abundant in both Switzerland and Italy), I must share a few things that didn't inspire me.

1. Piegons
2. Hostels and sharing bathrooms with strangers (it was like summer camp all over again, but worse)
3. Dirty trains
4. The over-tourist-crazed Venice
   

Here are a few other photos to enjoy from my travels!  

Hiking just outside Zurich

The church (and bells) in Riva

A view of the lake above Lugano

In front of St. Mark's in Venice

On the hike between the villages of Cinque Terre

Enjoying a bottle "to go" at the beach on the last night in Cinque Terre