another day, another dinar

Our first day is behind us. I should be sleeping right now, but a combination of excitement and jetlag forces me up to my temporary living room to complete some paperwork and read some boring information packet to once again set off to slumber.

Yesterday was a full day. And thank allah (the appropriate phrase in these parts) it was. If it hadn't been, we would have had major jetlag issues. A 330 am interruption jolted the Langlands clan awake as we were greeted by our first call to prayer.  This apartment is about 100 steps from the nearest mosque so we are really gettin' it.  

Contrary to what we were told, the building we are taking up temporary residence in is full of only AIS faculty. So we all met downstairs to make the quick walk to the school. (By looking out our kitchen storage room, we can see the school. And if I had a great throw, I could probably loft a rock to it.) Once there, the introductions began. I remember about 4 names (though I was introduced to over 30 people) and I figure, I'm on the 5-a-day plan. Pole, pole... it will come in time!

The school is huge! The elementary section making up 1/2 of the school's population. I met 2 of the other 4th grade teachers who are new this year, making our teaching team of 5 an enormous size. My classroom is small and intimate, but has everything I could need. Next week, I'll really be able to get my hands dirty and see what's under everything, but right now, I'm just trying to breathe.

After school tours, paperwork, and trips to the business office to get our settling-in allowance, we picked up the kids (bad idea) from their new friend Tristan's house and were whisked away to the Sultan Center to do our first bit of lunching and grocery shopping. Had Rob and I been really smart, we would have left the kids behind to nap at Tristan's. Instead, we dragged them with us to what turned out to be an interesting experience. We took them to a restaurant in the hopes that eating would give them energy to keep up (it was 3 am US time and they were wiped out, moody, and reeking havoc). All to no avail. Lunch for the 4 of us was miserable. Anouk tried chicken nuggets and since they are not some 1/2 soy-1/2 processed chicken thing like any American fast-food chain, she took 2 bites, gagged, and ate all her french fries. Likewise, Xavier despised his freshly-made kids burger that tasted like my nama had just pat it by hand. What has happened to these two? AHHH. So, despite our devastating lunch, we bribed them with an ice cream on the next block (in an effort to keep ourselves SANE). By the time we made the 5-minute jaunt, their little cheeks were all red from the heat. We walked in to a mini food-court with: Sbarro Pizza, Hardee's (the east coast version of Carl's Jr.), Baskin Robbin's, and Krispy Kreme. The kids were in junk-food heaven. I bought a couple of ice cream scoops which bought me valuable good-behavior time.

For the next couple of hours we trotted in and out of shopping centers in a routine of get hot, cool down, get hot, cool down. Despite the heat, it wasn't as bad as we thought it would be.

On our way home from this jaunt, Anouk passed out on the bus. The heat, her exhaustion, and the heavy day just took it's toll on her little 3-year-old body. It was amazing to watch us juggle all of our crap off the bus: 10 bags of groceries, all of our junk that we hauled to school in the morning, a sleeping kid, and an even heavier kid who just wanted to play video games. It was a comedy of errors.

We arrived back in the apartment and couldn't have been happier. Xavier played for hours while Anouk slept, and Rob and I read, unpacked, or did a number of other mundane things.

I can't tell you how shocked I am at things here. I had no idea it would be like this. We are just minutes away from the Gulf which is gorgeous. Yachts, speed boats, and wave runners cutting through the water in the hot, hot sun make me feel like I'm on a resort island. Tall, thin apartment buildings pack every block, and silty sand lines the "curb" so sharing the tarmac road with the crazy Kuwaiti drivers is the only option. People are dressed in every type of garb you can imagine: from Western clothing with a lot of labels (D&G, Prada, Gucci, etc.) to a gamut of veiled women and robed men. The wealth here is amazing. And who would have guessed that we would be coming to a place with so much BLING! While local kids speed around the apartment blocks on mopeds sans shoes and helmets, while mom-and-pop businesses are everywhere. Between our apartment and school there is a Lebanese restaurant, dry cleaner, photo studio, bakery, fruit stand, and 3 7-11 type shops. 

I'll tell you what Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore. It's 330 am, morning prayers have just begun. One mosque down, a dozen more to go. That's my call to bed!