Welcome to September in Kuwait, where it's still 115 degrees!

 Happy September everyone!  Now that the calendar has changed to the ninth month of the year we are excited about the first day of school, which is exactly one week from today. We have become fairly familiar with our neighborhood and with the Kuwait City area, at large, but we have yet to find our rhythm because all we have done since we arrived in Kuwait is prepare for life after September 8.  We really enjoy our place and our new friends and coworkers and we have already learned a lot about being an expat here in the GCC region.  The biggest frustration thus far has been lack of reliable internet in our building.  We moved in days after the construction was final and, since we live in a new building in an up-and-coming area of the city, the infrastructure is still catching up!  

So bear with us, we will be posting much more often in the coming days - once we are able.  Here are some pictures from the past week or two, along with some hopefully enjoyable anecdotes!

  

Lindsay's school had a huge opening event this past Thursday with a large throng of reporters who took thousands of pictures!  This was the coverage - a full page - from just one of the local papers!

Lindsay outside her classroom with her teaching assistant, Beverly

  

 Some of the other teachers in our building decided that we should have monthly pot luck dinners.  This was a fantastic idea and the start of a great tradition!  Here is a picture of the spread (it was more impressive in person) and another of the folks digging in!

 

  

We were delighted to find out we have, among many others, a Smashburger less than a mile from our house.  One of the malls, well actually THE mall, here in Kuwait City has a Texas Roadhouse!  (And we ate there and it was just like home!!!)

 

 

 About 1 kilometer from our building is the only authentic Mexican food restaurant in Kuwait!  How fortunate for us!  The Lord knew! :)  It is pretty good, but we will still miss our Pappacitos!

  

 The biggest and grandest mall in Kuwait is named The Avenues.  It is over a mile long and has many British and American stores, from all ranges of fashion and fair.  You can find dozens of American restaurants and stores ranging from H&M to Fendi, Prada, Louis Vuitton, and Ralph Lauren.  Kuwaiti's love to shop and The Avenues is their top of the mountain,

  

As we mentioned before, Lindsay was ecstatic when she met the three other Hoosiers on her faculty!!! Here is a shot of them - Kyle (4th Grade), Jessica (4th), Emily (2nd), and Lindsay(3rd)!

 

  

About a five minute cab ride form our building is a great little mall, built right on the sea with an infinity pool and fountains that dance to music.  It is a beautiful and nifty little area and houses our go-to grocery store.  We plan on spending a lot of evenings here sitting outside some of the cafes once the weather cools down starting next month.

 

Joe has already dove head-first into Middle Eastern food.  Zaatar is the main option, found all over Q8, and it is delicious!

 Lindsay's school took us on a trip to the Kuwait Aquarium.  It was nice, but once you have been to the Georgia World Aquarium in Atlanta the bar is high!

 

Here is a couple of pictures from Joe's school.  He is exited to be a part of a faculty with teachers from 27 different countries!

 

  

Finally, we have a beautiful little beach about five minutes from our building and Joe snapped these pictures on a couple different morning runs.  The first is his shoes in the waters of the Arabian Gulf and the second was just after sunrise, when the morning is calm and a beautiful 80 degrees!

 If you've read this far we know you are pretty special to us, so know that we love you!!!