Eid Mubarak!

Eid Mubarak, translated blessed Eid, is a phrase we have uttered quite often the past week.  All over the Arab world workers have had the week off of work to celebrate the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son in faith towards God.  This is the time that many of the Arab muslims participate in the Hajj and is known as Eid Al Adha.  This is one of the two great holidays in the Islamic calendar. 

So most people are wrapping up a 9 day vacation, and that includes all the teachers in this part of the world.  Most of Joe's friends at his school and that he knows through Gaelic football are off traveling and experiencing an adventurous week somewhere fun and exotic, but we were forced to stay here in Kuwait due to some residency issues involving the teachers at Lindsay's school.  This is very disappointing for us and for the other teachers because being able to travel is one of the best benefits to teaching in the Middle East.  Oh well, while friends are scattered across the globe in fun places like Zanzibar, Ethiopia, Italy, Maldives, Malaysia, and the Seychelles we were forced to have a nice long staycation.

We have been determined to make the most of our time here, though, and below are some highlights (and pictures) of our Kuwait staycation!

While exploring the desert, we met this friendly Bedouin man and his awesome camel!  Are they not the quintessential Bedouin/camel combo???

This picture was taken at the Saudi border.  Lindsay wouldn't let Joe cross the border, no matter how hard he tried to talk her in to it!

Just your average herd of desert sheep.

Without a doubt the highlight of the week, Joe got to hold a falcon while we were out in the desert!!!

He was very proud to show off his prize possession!  Joe says that the falcon had an amazingly strong grip and that he could feel the talons digging in, even with the leather glove on.  That is how sharp they were!  This was such a cool/awesome/surreal moment!!!

This Kuwaiti man pulled off of the highway while we were taking pictures of wild camels and asked Joe if he wanted to hold his falcon!

While exploring we came upon the Chevron compound, but they wouldn't let us in.

This is one of the few water clocks of its kind in the world, just chilling in one of the malls here in Kuwait.

Joe is so happy to be coaching baseball here in Kuwait, he really enjoys working with boys from over 25 nations all in one program!

We finally got a chance to dress up, as we were invited to a party at the British Embassy.  Here we are with our friend Emily, who is also an IU grad!

We also enjoyed an extraordinary Korean meal with one of Joe's Gaelic Football teammates, Justin, and his wife.  They are from Seattle and we really enjoyed our couples night out with them!

This is our building harris, kind of like a doorman/concierge combo.  His name is Mahaboob and Joe and him have become buddies.  He is from Bangladesh and sends his money home to support with wife and the baby they have on the way.  He can only afford to fly home every two years to see his family.

We got to spend another day at the Hilton Kuwait resort, and it was awesome!

Joe went for a run at the beginning of the break, as temps are finally cooling down enough to run outside.  We have the run Kuwait 10K coming at the end of November.

Sunset in the desert.

Is it really October?

The weeks are really starting to fly by, so here is a quick little update on the past two weeks.

The highlight of the last two weeks was the celebration of our 6th wedding anniversary!  We celebrated with a nice meal at Olive Garden and a relaxing evening at home.  Six years together and our adventure is only beginning, who knows where in the world we will be in six more years!

Olive Garden Kuwait!

Joe had this necklace custom made for Lindsay as an anniversary gift.  She has always wanted a necklace that had his name, so he had one made that says "Joseph" in Arabic.  She loves it and has received many compliments!

Last weekend we went down to the marina and met an old friend of Joe's, Matthew, and his wife.  Joe led a team to Serbia to do Baseball Outreach in 2008 and Matthew was one of the players, while Ruth was on the team and did some teaching.  Lindsay had never met them, but Joe had a fun time catching up with them (they got married since he last saw them and have lived in Taiwan teaching together) and exploring Salmiya, a very fun and popular area downtown.  Matthew is teaching at another school here in Kuwait and arrived a couple of weeks after we did, while his wife arrived a couple of weeks later.  We look forward to hanging out with them regularly the next two years!

Joe is still enjoying Gaelic football.  Some of the members of the team are heading to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in a week for the annual Asian Gaelic Games tournament, but Joe passed on this year because he doesn't feel like he has a good enough grasp of the sport to be an asset to the team.  Well, that and the fact that Lindsay doesn't want to miss out on another of Joe's international adventures!  The team has multiple tournaments in the gulf region next semester and Joe is excited about playing in them!

Joe's Gaelic football teammates.  They have men's and women's teams and Joe loves the international diversity of the club!

In addition to Gaelic Football, Joe has started up baseball.  He has been giving private lessons to some of the boys the past two weeks and last night he ran the try-out for the senior league, where he will coach a team of 13-17 year old players.  The senior league has four teams and Joe will be coaching the Kuwait Dodgers.  They start practices after the Eid break, in two weeks, and the season runs through April.  Once that is over, the all-star teams begin international tournament play and Joe will be coaching the boys in several international events.  He is enjoying getting to know the boys, which he says are comparable to a good high school JV team in Texas, and he is excited about the start of the season!  Additionally, there are a group of 25 or so young men that have weekly baseball workouts at American School of Kuwait and Joe has been asked to help out.  He went this weekend and really enjoyed it!

During little league registration

Weekly Baseball Workouts at American School of Kuwait

ASK hosts about two dozen aspiring ballplayers every Friday morning!

 The school days are starting to pile up and we are excited to have a 9 day break starting next Friday.  Joe is challenged by his rambunctious middle school students and Lindsay is still really enjoying her class of 3rd graders, but we are both really excited to have some down time to explore Kuwait a bit more and have some adventures.  Speaking of adventures, Joe will be flying to Dubai for a couple of days during the break in order to renew his visa stamp.  Lindsay is bummed to not be joining him, but she will be teaching a two day class during her school's "Eid Camp", which includes an extra stipend for teaching her class on the Harry Potter series! 

Lindsay's school music teacher, Eric, has a friend that is a member at the Hilton Kuwait Resort and Spa and we were given one-day passes today to enjoy the club.  So we spent about four and a half hours swimming in the Arabian Gulf, sunbathing (Lins), and throwing some of the other teachers' children around the resort swimming pool (Joe).  Joe was doing such a good job of launching the kiddos into airborne missiles in the pool that some of the Kuwaiti kids asked him to do the same!  It was a very fun and relaxing day and we are seriously contemplating a membership at the Hilton or another of the beach clubs.  Lindsay needs her down time, ya know!

This was how we spent our Saturday morning, on the beach!

Joe swimming in the Arabian Gulf with our friend Eric and little Colby, who is from Houston.  Joe launched him and his brother around the swimming pool all afternoon, while trying to get them to see the light and stop cheering for the Texans!

Lindsay and some of her colleagues during their in-service day outing to KidZania.

This is one of many humorous, but informative, signs posted around Kuwait!

Our friend Ginger near the sign posting the name to our community.  We live in Mahboula, which translates to "crazy woman", so we do, in fact, live in crazy town!

Speaking of crazy, Joe was walking with some of our friends a couple of weeks ago and stumbled upon this Cheetah inside a Porsche Cayenne.  Apparently it is perfectly legal to have exotic animals as pets here in Q8!

Joe took this screenshot from his phone yesterday.  Two things to point out, #1 it reached 108 on October 5 and #2 cooler weather may actually arrive this week!

After some research, we found the best burgers in Kuwait.  The ingredients are all organic and enviro-friendly, but Joe likes the place because they have Cholula hot sauce!

Yes, we did have a taxi drive from Afghanistan that was wearing a fitted cap, backwards, that said 2PAC!

Finally, some encouragement to all who read this blog.

Weekend Update - 21 SEP 2013

Our second week of school seemed to pass by a bit quicker as the temperatures are slowly beginning to decline and the nights are now actually very pleasant outside.  When we arrived temps were in the 120s and now the highs are around 106-109 each day, which may sound hot but we compare it to the feeling of a mid to upper 90s day in Houston, but with less Humidity - so it really isn't too bad.  Joe takes his kids outside for PE classes and the survive just fine.  We are, however, ready for the temps to drop into the 80s and 70s and the days to feel awesome, for what we are told will last several months!

Lindsay continues to enjoy her class and Joe is adjusting to his three non-PE classes with middle schoolers.  It is hard to believe that October is just around the corner, and with it the Eid holiday break.

Eid al-Adha (Arabic: عيد الأضحى‎ ʻĪd al-’Aḍḥá, IPA: [ʕiːd al ʔadˁˈħaː], "festival of sacrifice"), also called Feast of the Sacrifice, the Major Festival,^[1] the Greater Eid, Kurban Bayram (Albanian, Bosnian, Turkish: Kurban Bayramı), Eid-e-Qurban (Urdu: عید قرباں), Eid al-Bakr and Bakrid,^[2] is an important religious holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide to honour the willingness of the prophet ʾIbrāhīm (Abraham) to sacrifice his young first-born son Ismā'īl (Ishmael)^a as an act of submission to God's command and his son's acceptance to being sacrificed, before God intervened to provide Abraham with a Lamb to sacrifice instead.^[3

We have the entire week off to celebrate this holiday and we have been planning on traveling somewhere like Jordan or Turkey, but Lindsay has not received her residency yet and the Kuwaiti government still has her passport for the process.  So no travel for us - at least no travel for Lindsay.  Joe might visit a couple of old friends in Turkey for a few days.  Regardless, it will be nice to take a breather and gear up for the rest of the fall semester.  In the states we get a long break for Thanksgiving, so the idea of our fall break being over a month earlier here is different and we are curious to see how it impacts the rest of the semester.

The big news of the week is that we are celebrating our sixth wedding anniversary!  Tomorrow is the exact date, but since we will be teaching we are celebrating with a trip to The Avenues mall today for some delicious lunch and shopping.  We will have a more fitting holiday celebration once we can travel (Joe has an idea up his sleeve) but look for another post soon about that!

Not quite as wonderful, but awesome still, is the fact that Joe met with the people that run Kuwait Little League last night for over two hours.  It appears he will be heading up the senior program and might possibly be taking the team to international tournaments in Dubai, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Singapore, and even possibly back in America next summer!  He is really excited to be able to live out his passion of coaching baseball while we are here and is even more excited because baseball starts in October!  He already has a couple of private lessons starting up in the next week or two!!!
Be on the lookout for some updates and lots of pictures from Joe's coaching here in Kuwait.

Well, that is about it for now, but we are sure that there will be some fun things happening regularly now that the temperatures are cooling - so keep an eye out for more updates!

Joe with one of the other PE teachers!  This is his daily wardrobe, which he loves!

Our local taco joint provided free food for teachers this past Tuesday night!

Check out this awesome McDonald's located in downtown Kuwait City!

We celebrated one month in Kuwait by finally trying McDonalds.  It was delicious!

This is the sign at the entrance to the Kuwait LL complex!  The set-up is very nice and they have Major League quality lighting on the fields!

No need for a cake to celebrate 6 years of marriage, we've got Sprinkles Cupcakes here in Q8!

Finally, here is the video that Kuwait LL created to recap/celebrate last year's season.  They are wonderful people and Joe is excited to be joining them!

Kuwait Fun Facts, Volume 1 (Courtesy of our friend Laurie!)

Below are the first collected fun facts about our little life here in Kuwait.  They were/are created as little comedic nuggets of gold in the form of facebook status updates by our friend and sister, the very witty/clever/genius Laurie Rohm!

Kuwait Fun Fact #1 (AUG 14) A group of American women walking down the road = EVERY taxi honks and pulls over, trying to give you a ride.

Kuwait Fun Fact #2 (AUG 16) *Deleted due to classified national security implications*

Kuwait Fun Fact #3 (AUG 16) The Kuwait government gives it's citizens money. They get money for housing, money for getting married, etc.

Kuwait Fun Fact #4  *This nugget was lost to the interwebs.*

Kuwait Fun Fact #5 (AUG 22) Kuwait is an extremely safe place to live...until you attempt to cross the street.

Kuwait Fun Fact #6 (AUG 22) The Kuwait Dinar is the highest valued currency in the world. However, I have no idea how to count the coins and at the register I just hold out all my change and let the cashier take what he/she needs. sigh

Kuwait Fun Fact #7 (AUG 22) There is an area of Kuwait City called Salmiya and another called Shalmia. I confused the two much to the distress of my poor taxi driver. But the good news is I made it to Bible study tonight.

Kuwait Fun Fact #8 (AUG 26) Kim Kardashian's visit to Millions of Milkshakes in Kuwait was quite an event with camera crews and paparazi everywhere. My arrival at Millions of Milkshakes last night was not quite that spectacular.

Kuwait Fun Fact #9  (AUG 27) When the receptionist at the hospital uses your passport to copy your name she may just rename you...United. United Rohm. That was my name today.

Kuwait Fun Fact #10 (AUG 27) The city I live in, Mahbulah, means crazy woman in Arabic. I literally live in crazy town.

Kuwait Fun Fact #11 (AUG 31) In the States I had to clean the lint filter in my dryer. Here it's called the fluff filter. I filter my fluff.

Kuwait Fun Fact #12 (SEP 02) There is no Labor Day in Kuwait. But rest assured I will let you know when we are enjoying the Kuwaiti sunshine while you are hard at work in the US.

Kuwait Fun Fact #13 (SEP 03) A liter of water in Kuwait is $1.05. A liter of gas is 25 cents. But before you buy your ticket to Kuwait, consider that in Venezuela gas is 2 cents a liter.

Kuwait Fun Fact #14 (SEP 03) Every year Kuwait imports 35,000 tons of what? Hint: It's not 35,000 tons of American teachers.   (Kuwait's sand is too salty to support buildings- it cracks the mortar overtime. So Kuwait imports their sand from Norway, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. I live in a desert that has to import it's own sand. oh the irony.)

Kuwait Fun Fact #15 (SEP 04) The average temperature for this week is 115 but inside our school is feels like 65 degrees. And we were told it could not be changed. I do push-ups to stay warm. I could be really buff after my contract is up.

Kuwait Fun Fact #16 (SEP 09) Now that school has started and summer vacation is over the traffic to and from school reminds me of 285 in Atlanta. ahhhh....just like home.

Kuwait Fun Fact #17 (SEP 13) A falcon is a popular pet choice in Kuwait. I had my new kitten at the vet today for shots and the falcons in the waiting room outnumbered the cats and dogs.

Kuwait fun fact #18 (SEP 17) This spice is banned because it is considered a drug. Any guesses? (Answer = Nutmeg)

Kuwait Fun Fact #19 (SEP 20) We heat our soup on a hob, not a stove top. Please pardon me while I go heat up the hob and filter my fluff- in the same room.

Kuwait Fun Fact #20 (SEP 20) Remember when I told you that falcons are a popular pet? Apparently so are cheetahs. 

Kuwait Fun Fact #21 (SEP 21) Church is on Friday morning and overlaps the call to prayer. Sometimes the preacher has to get a bit louder to be heard.

One Week of School complete!

We have been unable to blog the past couple of weeks due to a lack of internet service in our building.  Tonight we have a signal, be it a very slow one, for the first time in a long time so we will attempt to fill you in on the past couple of weeks.  We boarded our flights toward the Middle East exactly one month ago today and we have settled in here in Kuwait.  We both finished up in-service (Or pre-training as they call it here) and school officially started on September 8th.  We are happy to say that week #1 is officially complete and we enjoyed it! 

Here are some of the highlights of the past couple of weeks:

*On day three of in-service, which is over two weeks long here, Joe was told by his principal that (in addition to his fully loaded PE schedule) he would be teaching two sections of 6th grade science.  He also learned that he would be developing an entire curriculum for the 7th grade health course.  This entire process is a huge adjustment for him, as his sweet spot is working with college students and older HS students that are driven and ambitious.  Here at his new school Joe primarily works with 6th and 7th graders.  Please pray for him.  He is learning what it is like to work with younger students who are not as driven/motivated/focused as those that he had at Houston Christian, but he is enjoying it!

*Lindsay's school is a very amazing place, but is still located in Kuwait, where things don't always happen as efficiently or as smoothly as we Westerners (particularly Americans) are used to.  Despite school being fully in session, there are crews of workers working during off hours to continue to build out the campus.  They experience internet outages and other delays that come with construction in a country without a highly developed infrastructure, but all in all she has really enjoyed being a part of this start-up school.  They are building it from the ground up and doing it the right way!  The technology they are using is amazing and the faculty is top shelf!  They are building a very special place.  The actual building itself is one of the most amazing and beautiful schools you could ever step foot in and Lindsay loves the fact that her, a co-teacher, and teaching assistant only have ten students in 3rd grade!  They are all awesome kids and she loves working with them!  They are polite, intelligent, kind, and fun and they all really want to learn.  They readily help each other out and Lindsay is enjoying teaching kids like this!

*Joe has joined a local sports club, the Kuwait Harps Gaelic Football Club!  Gaelic Football is the national sport of Ireland and Joe has enjoyed training with the team so far.  He even got a couple of Lindsay's coworkers to join the squad.  They train twice a week and will play in tournaments in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, and Malaysia, just to name a few.  He is excited to be a part of a sports family with a vastly international flair.  The club has members from Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, Australia, Canada, the U.S., Kuwait, and more!  They are a fun group of friends and they have regular social events, which Joe has already experienced and enjoyed!  Expect to hear more about this as Joe learns how to play a game that is completely foreign to him!

*Every classroom at Lindsay's school has a triumph board.  This thing is amazing.  Joe wants one for our home, but we can't afford it.  Think SMART board/touch-screen computer/78" HD TV and more, all in one.  It is an awesome teaching tool that allows for 6 students to be using the touch-screen at once!  Truly amazing - if you have the means, we highly recommend picking one up!

*Joe is excited to be a part of the faculty at his school, which consists of teachers and staff members from 27 different nations.  He misses his good friends and coworkers at Houston Christian more than we can explain, but he is blessed and excited to be immersed in such a culturally diverse work environment.  He is making fast friends with some Irish and others from exotic locales like Sudan, Romania, Hungary, Pakistan, Bangladesh, North Dakota, and California!

*We miss our good friends back in Houston.  While not exactly a highlight, we are blessed to know that there are some loved ones back in the Houston and Baytown areas that we miss very much.  Good friends are a huge blessing and we are thankful for all of them!

We are gonna wrap this up before we lose internet connection, but here are a few pictures for your viewing pleasure:

Lindsay during in-service

The best school in Kuwait!

Lins with the other 3rd grade teacher and their teaching assistant

The view of the sunrise from our bedroom window

This is a picture of Joe at his school on the 1st day of school

Lindsay on her first day of school

Joe took this panorama shot during one of his PE classes this week

Joe negotiating the cost of a real Persian carpet

This is what we took home, for about $35 cheaper than what the locals said would be a good deal!

Lindsay and two of her coworkers, 3/4 of the Hoosier connection, unknowingly showed up at pre-training representing their alma matre!

This is the official crest for the Gaelic Football Club that Joe has joined!

The hallway at American International School, where Joe's Gaelic Football club trains

This is a picture of the pre-K through 2nd grade swimming area at Lindsay's school, complete with Finding Nemo murals!

Lindsay loves it!

Joe took this shot of Lindsay working in her classroom while he watched baseball highlights on her Triumph board!

A shot of Joe's school

Lindsay's faculty/staff picture from their opening ceremony

While enjoying ice cream with friends at a local hangout, this mask floated up out of nowhere!  Can you say creepy???

Joe snapped this shot to represent the end of week #1 teaching in Kuwait