This blog is no longer operating

Just a reminder, if you want to keep following along with our posts look here:

http://jkcadd.blogspot.com

We will not be updating the Kuwait FTW blog anymore.

Last day at work

Since this is my last day at work and we'll be canceling our Internet service tonight, I figured I'd better make that "longer" post I spoke of earlier.

So...leaving Kuwait...the final chapter.

It's been 3 years, almost to they day, since I arrived here. It's been quite the adventure! I recommend the experience to anyone. Kuwait is a great place to live in the middle east, and it's centrally located for lots of additional travel opportunities.

Once I began my interview in earnest with my new employer (Northrup Grumman), I notified my superiors that I might be leaving soon. I began to arrange everything to ensure that departure could occur speedily once I had the final details in place. First, we needed to cancel Kerri and Rowan's dependent visas as ITT/KRH couldn't cancel mine until that was done. As posted earlier, this was pretty easy.

Next, we began to check into closing down local accounts. Our bank account would be simple, just have them transfer the money to our US account (bring blank check to help out) and then they close it right down. We changed our post-paid cell phone plan to pre-paid (cost less then canceling the post-paid account and we can leave anytime). Our internet needs to be cancelled at the last minute.

We also sorted through our stuff and decided what we were taking and what we weren't. We decided we wouldn't take advantage of the relocation service from my new company and opted to ship base-to-base (MPS) which is free for us. We bought 6 or so "tough" boxes from the PX at $25 a pop and packed them up to 65lbs. I brought one in each day for the last week and mailed them on base. Keep in mind all mail must be inspected at the mail room before it is shipped, so you can't fully pack it up. Batteries are not allowed, along with unfinished wood and miscellaneous weapons/ammo. They have a list of the stuff you can't ship. The rest of our items have been slowly sold off to friends and last night we pulled the plug on our main computer system (last to go!).

Meanwhile at work, once I officially resigned and gave notice I was given a de-mob packet which has all of the stuff I'm supposed to do before I leave. It's a checklist and pretty easy to follow. Of course my passport and civil ID were taken and I got the passport back in about 1 1/2 weeks.

I'll be heading to Ali Al Salem (yuck) one last time (yay!) on Thursday where my passport will be stamped out for the last time. We hopefully fly out sometime Saturday and will be back at Ft Benning for CRC again. This time it should only take about 1 1/2 days to turn in my gear and sign out.

Then I will hopefully make my way to Atlanta GA and fly out to Frankfurt. We'll be put up at a hotel with a rental car while we search for a place to stay (up to our total relocation package). Kerri and Rowan will be joining me a day or so after I arrive, flying direct from Kuwait.

Well, that's pretty much it...I've mailed the last package, officially turned in my base access badge so when I leave I can't come back.

This marks the end of this blog, as our time in Kuwait is over. We will miss it, but are glad to be moving on.

We are moving to Mannheim, Germany!

...in 3 weeks!

We accepted a position at the Europe TNOSC doing the same thing we are doing here!

The gig will be for 2 or 3 years, depending on how long til they shut down the base (eek!).

Still, we are really looking forward to it and hoping it will be an enjoyable time in Europe.

For friends and family reading (all 2 of you), we are hoping to be back in the US for the first two weeks of December (Kerri will be coming back sooner and returning with me).

I'll write up a more detailed post about the process of leaving Kuwait as a contractor later.

-JC

How to cancel Kuwaiti Family Visa/Residency

I discovered recently that before I can be out processed from Kuwait, I must first cancel Kerri and Rowan's dependent (family) visas. As we are not certain of when this might occur, we figured we had better get it done. This was the process:

Went down to the local immigration department (in our case Ahmadi) and to the copy/application area. Paid a few KD to get copies made and the applications filled out in Arabic. Then to the reception area and we were told to go into the office in the back where a gentleman asked us how long until they left. I asked for 60 days and he gave it to us. A few circles and stamps and then proceeded into the labyrinth of the Immigration office and located the civil ID cancellation office. Here the civil IDs were taken and not given back. Then it was upstairs to the visa area where we waited for quite some time before our number was called. 2 x 2 KD stamps needed to be purchased from a machine (bring lots of 1 KD notes!) one for each passport. These were given to the lady behind the counter along with passports, then I signed two forms and dated them.

Voila, residencies cancelled. It took a couple of hours.

Finding a new apartment

We decided a while back that if we are to stay in Kuwait for a while longer we needed to change things up a bit. This meant basically finding a new apartment. We've been living in Mangaf at the lovely Warba Beach Resort (not really a resort), but it's gotten a bit old, the area that is. Anything of interest is further down town, so we thought we might find a place in Salwa to be nearer all the stuff. It would mean about 15 minutes longer of a drive for me, but hey, no big deal.

Anyway we spent several weekends driving around Salwa looking for "for rent" signs, but came up with nothing. There was one apartment complex but it reminded us too much of the same situation we had in Warba and we didn't want to repeat it. Also, we couldn't find anything for cheaper rent than we are already paying (500 KD) and we felt we really wanted to save some money especially as we are now renting a car. Since we couldn't find what we wanted in Salwa, we decided it would be good enough to find a place in Mahboula which has tons of apartments and is a little closer to town.

We found some good candidates online at Justlanded.com and called the agents. We made arrangements for a couple of viewings the next day and were very pleased to locate a two bedroom unfurnished apartment for only 260 KD. In addition it did not require a deposit and there was no penalty for breaking the lease. This is quite unusual in general in Kuwait. We put our money down and were told the contract would be drawn up the next day. BTW, the usual fee for an agent is half one month's rent.

Unfortunately due to some other news we decided we had made a mistake the next day. We are still attempting to get our money back, but I'm told Kuwaiti law is on the side of the landlord in this type of matter. If we get our money back it will be a surprise.

Sayounara, Satoshi Kon

One of my favorite anime directors recently died.

His last blogpost has been translated here. It's a good read and I'm impressed with the way in which he met death.

Antidote to Despair

Wrote this the other day for some reason. It's my personal exploration on this issue of hope and despair, not really meant to convince anyone, just express what I think on the subject. Maybe it will be useful, maybe not, figured I'd better put it out there just in case it is.

****

I was thinking today about why I have so much hope.

I've never been one to despair. Even during the most trying
circumstances of my life (thus far) it has been nearly impossible for
me to release myself to the flood of blackness that seems to lurk
outside the hatch of every human heart, just waiting for the dweller
to open the hatch and let the icy darkness swallow them whole. I'm
not necessarily talking about suicide (one possible conclusion), but
the belief in the overwhelming emptiness of a life apart from God's
goodness, and the acceptance of that belief as reality. Of course,
I'm only speaking from my experience, but it is that kind of despair
that I fear more than any other, and I believe it is the root of all
of its forms.

Obviously, the opposite of despair is hope, and if there is a root of
despair, then there must be a root of hope. People hope in all kinds
of things, and it seems to work for a while, but then the hope fails
and all you are left with is contemplating the embrace of despair.
This leads to another futile hope, and another, and another. In other
words, addiction. It is no wonder that addicts begin their recovery
by facing their own despair head on and accepting it. Once you accept
the despair as real (i.e. I *am* an alcoholic), then you can begin to
hope that there is another way to deal with it, and you can begin to
recover. But this is man made, and useful only in so much as the
human continues to find other "hopes" to keep them going. But deep
down is the truth, the root of all their despair, that has not been
truly faced. They may be able to lead what passes for "normal" lives,
but it will just be a more socially acceptable form of addiction.
Religion, relationships, sex, success, money, fame, honor, family,
entertainment, power, violence. All of these can become socially
acceptable forms of hope that people use to keep themselves from
facing the gaping truth they suspect...that life is meaningless and
God (if He exists) is fickle at best or evil at worst, and powerless
to help. The fools who believe they can face this truth down
eventually find that the human heart cannot survive in this vacuum.
They use the same "hopes" to tell themselves they have something to
live for, but when these hopes vanish, the have nothing left but their
own will to live, and it is ultimately powerless to protect them.

So what is the root of all hope? The Hope that when properly
understood under girds all other "hopes" and gives them meaning? I
believe it is this: God is good, faithful and in control. A good God
loves me. A faithful God does not abandon me. And a sovereign God is
omnipotent. Of course, resolving this belief with our own experience
is the difficulty. Some would call it wishful or magical thinking.
If I believe hard enough...I can make my problems vanish in a puff of
logic! Well, that is the problem isn't it? How can we possibly
believe hard enough...how can we apply ourselves to this problem and
*make it go away*? We lose track so quickly of who really matters in
this picture...is it us, or is it God?

What I am talking about here is faith in the biblical God and His Son
Jesus. This God gives us the faith to believe what he tells us is
true. You cannot force it. I believe AA is right in one sense. You
do have to face the truth. You need to confront the fear of emptiness
of a universe without a loving, omnipotent and faithful God. Allow
the despair to begin to fill up your heart and then cry out to the God
you don't even know if you can believe in to give you the faith you
need. This is a visceral experience that cannot be forced. And you
may not be ready for it yet. But I believe that this deep sense of
helplessness before your situation is necessary to enter into a
genuine life of dependence on God instead of substituting "hopes" for
Him.

But you may not believe. Not yet. That's ok...there is time before
you die. My advice is...try not to act out in your despair too
destructively. Common grace is given to the world that somehow
prevents it from imploding or exploding daily from its own critical
mass of despair. And pray. Even if you don't believe...if you wish
you *could* believe...then that is (I believe) enough faith to pray
on. Tell God you don't believe, but you really want to...no...you
*need* to. You aren't sure how long you can hold on to the splinters
of wood left in the sea before you slip under. Send a lifeline now!
If you have enough faith to pray that prayer, then I know God will
answer it. If you don't...then keep an eye out for it...it may be
there sooner than you know. Ask any friends you have to pray on your
behalf, even if you can't bring yourself to do so.

When you do believe that God is good, faithful and sovereign, it
changes everything. It becomes impossible...unthinkable to despair.
Despair is recognized as the great act of disbelief that it is. A
sin. Yes...it is. I didn't start with that because it wouldn't mean
anything to someone in despair to hear it called a sin.
Great...another reason to despair!

But I would be remiss if I didn't mention sin and repentance. For
those who come to faith later in life, you've had plenty of time to
become aware of your own sinfulness. It is built into our souls, and
often part of what leads us to despair in the first place. It makes
belief in a good, faithful and sovereign God a bit difficult in the
first place, and we often find ourselves believing despite our innate
knowledge of our own repugnance to such a being. That He could love
us, die for us, remove the stain of sin and give us his own goodness
in return...can be a bit of a shock. Some refuse to believe it...and
end up back in despair. Some don't think about it much, get used to
the shock, even complacent, and need to be shaken up now and
then...reminded of how much they were forgiven of. But ultimately
what is needed is repentance. Acknowledgment of our sinfulness, and
dependence on God for ongoing strength to be good. Ultimate
dependence is hard, and it takes a lifetime of practice. Good thing
He doesn't wait for us to get it right first!

There are also those of us who were never shocked by God's grace for
us in the first place. This was my problem. Growing up as a
Christian, I was always aware that God had forgiven me...and you would
think that would be a good thing! Turns out for me it wasn't. Grace
is meaningless unless you have something that needs forgiving. And if
you don't have a sense of your own sinfulness, why do you need grace?
I think this is becoming more of a problem for Western Culture
generally as more people are raised without reference to values or
morality. If there is no such thing as "wrong" then you hardly feel
the need for forgiveness. But usually even those of us with this
problem live long enough to screw up badly enough to start to get the
picture. We are all evil...deep down inside...and we need help. That
help is only found in Christ.

Back to how this faith makes despair impossible...think about it...if
you genuinely believed that God is good...really, deeply, a bit
scarily...Good...what would that imply? That all things, no matter
how painful, nonsensical, or evil...*can* be used for good. How? I
don't know. That's where the faith bit comes in. Sometimes it is
given to us to see the how of a real life situation unfold and we can
say things like "That experience prepared me for this and I praise God
for it!". But often, it remains only for us to say "I don't
understand how God can use that for his glory, but I believe that He
will." Of course, God's goodness without Faithfulness would be
pointless. A fickle God who is sometimes good, but often distracted
wouldn't be much help. And a powerless God might have the best of
intentions, but be unable to deal with all these crazy free agents he
created. No...all 3 qualities become absolutely necessary to
re-orienting our minds such that despair is impossible: Goodness,
Faithfulness, Sovereignty.

But what about our free will? Won't this lead to fatalism? What
happens happens, and that's all there is to it. It would if that's
what God told us to be like. But that's not the impression I get from
the Bible. God simultaneously claims his absolute power and authority
but then tells us to go out and evangelize, or to believe, or to feed
the poor. This is the simple truth. We are the agents of His change
in a fallen world, but it is His power that changes, not ours. Even
in the hearts of those who believe or do not, if we are honest...
When I am tempted to think I am responsible for my faith...I think
back to the despair...to the hopelessness...and my anguished cry to
God to give me the faith I needed to believe in Him. And He answered.

But what about those who do not believe? However God chooses to deal
with those who do not believe, He will be good, faithful and
sovereign. The Bible says those who do not believe will be condemned
for their unbelief. Some people cannot reconcile this with a good,
faithful and sovereign God, but that's where faith comes in. For
me...primarily in the "good" part, even if I can't understand it
sometimes, I still have to believe it. Regardless, I think this is
usually a distraction from the real issue. What matters here is not
other people. What matters is you. Are you going to act on what
faith you have or not?

So that's it I guess. That's the gist of what I was thinking about.
None of it original of course, but I was just re-thinking it
again...almost as if for the first time. And it just makes so much
*sense* to me from this side of despair. I don't know if it will help
anyone, but I felt like I had to write it all down right now for some
reason. So here it is.

Failaka Island

Apologies about the lack of pictures, but our battery ran out rather quickly.

At last! We visited Failaka Island about a month ago. Finding info on the ferry schedule proved quite difficult. The public ferry is run by KPTC and costs 3KD per person for a round trip. If you want to bring your vehicle it is 17KD. However, it's a small ferry so you might not be able to get on (it was full coming back for us). There is a private ferry that leaves from Marina Crescent, but it's much more expensive (includes a meal and access to the "resort"), faster, and you can't bring your car.

The public ferry schedule is variable because it depends on the tide, so your best bet is to go to the ferry office (it's at the very tip of the Salmiya pointy bit aka Ras al Salmiya) and ask for a schedule. As usual, it's hit or miss if they are open, but if you go during normal hours (9-11am probably) there will probably be someone there. Once you know the schedule, plan to be there 30 - 60 minutes early to be sure of getting on. During good seasons, maybe 1 - 2 hours early.

We were lucky as we arrived about 1 hour prior to it leaving and so we bought our tickets and got on. The ferry isn't super nice, but decent. There are a few indoor sitting areas, but they are tiny and cramped. Most everyone stayed outside for the trip as it was a nice cloudy day. Coming back it was much more oppressive, but got better once we got under way.

The island itself is...well...small, dusty, dirty, composed mostly of bombed out, bullet riddled buildings. There are a few small nice-ish areas, one major hotel/resort with some rather sad facilities. I'm not trying to poo-poo the place, just being honest. We had an ok biryani meal at a restaurant and then tried to walk the open grounds of the resort, but were turned away because we came on the public ferry. Then we met someone we knew who talked to someone in charge and presto...we could walk around. We tried to go to the horse stables to have Rowan ride a horse (he's ridden a camel and an elephant, but never a horse) but they were closed. (at 11am...didn't open til 4pm, but the ferry left @ 3pm????) So we went to the "zoo" which consisted of several enclosures with sad looking, half crazy animals. Then we tried to have some shisha and tea...the shisha was terrible. Rowan played at the post-apocalyptic run-down playground and then we decided to head for the port.

Alexandrian Ruins: So...there are supposed to be some greek ruins from Alexander's time on the island. It's advertised as one of the main things to see on this island, and we were excited to see them. However, turns out the ruins are fenced off and you need a letter from the Museum of Kuwait to be able to access them. Needless to say, we saw nothing.

Got back on the crowded return boat and made it home in time for dinner.

All in all, it was worth going one time, but unless you've got some sort of special event planned (i.e. Paintballing or a covert luau {don't ask}, or enjoy the limited recreational activities offered by the resort) I'd say it's only worth one visit.

Car rentals in Kuwait

We are considering selling our car and renting for the remainder of our time in Kuwait (about 8 months). To get ready for this, today we drove to the Airport where the greatest concentration of car rental companies exists, and obtained the following information:

Budget: KD168/month, several small car options
Araba: KD165/month, lancer
National: KD 162/month, corolla
Hertz: KD160/month, Hyundai getz/accent
Eurocar: KD180/month, chevy optra
Behbani: KD170, corolla
Dollar/Thrifty: KD165, lancer
Rekab: KD150 (partial insurance), lancer/sunny

All prices above are inclusive of basic and 3rd party insurance (accidents in parking lots etc...), except the last one. The partial coverage usually means the insurance covers between 25%-50% of the 3rd party accident.

We also checked at the no-name place across the street from us and they were around KD150/month, but we were not impressed with their fleet.

Most leases are for 1 year minimum to 2 years, so that's not an option for us right now.

We have one guy interested in our car so far, which I bought for KD1750 and am selling now for KD1500. It's a bit high, but we don't really need to sell it right now. so we can afford to wait and maybe get more out of it.

New post

Just a reminder that we are posting our trip info on our new blog http://jkcadd.blogspot.com

There is a new post up on our trip to Beirut.

Cultural Associative Dissonance Disorder

We started Kuwait FTW with 2 primary intents:

- Provide a way for family and friends to keep up with our lives so we didn't have to send out mass emails (or join demonic websites such as Facebook).
- Record our experiences working as contractors in Kuwait for others who might benefit from the knowledge.

Since we've been here now 2 1/2 years, it seems most of our recent posts are more about our travels outside of Kuwait than anything to do with actually living here. This is natural I'm sure as we've grown so used to it that nothing really seems unusual and there are no really new experiences to relate. It's not that we don't like it, it's just not new anymore.

Enter the new blog: Cultural Associative Dissonance Disorder

The URL is http://jkcadd.blogspot.com/

This will be primarily a travel blog, though it's generic enough I think we'll transition everything not specifically about Kuwait to it. I've copied over all of our trip posts from the past couple of years and will new travel posts will go there. So feel free to bookmark or subscribe to the RSS feed if you want to keep up with us.

Eventually, we will phase out the Kuwait FTW site completely when we leave. We haven't decided whether or not to create a new on for each new country we end up living in, but we'll figure that out later.

Ethiopia Trip

Hello! We are not dead, just traveling. We hit Ethiopia for 8 days and had a great time! Kerri knew some folks from the Sonlight homeschool user forums who live in Addis Ababa, so we brought over some stuff that might be hard to get over there. We travel light, so were able to cram a lot of extra stuff into the additional baggage allowance that we usually never take advantage of. They were really nice and took us to lunch and we got to experience taking public transportation back to our hotel (Adot Tina again).

The next day we found a travel agent and asked about flights to local destinations. Ethiopia is twice the size of Texas, so you really need to fly around. Luckily flights were easily booked in the standard tourist triangle: Addis to Lalibella, Lalibella to Gonder, bus to Bahir Dar, and flight back to Addis.

Lalibella was our favorite I think, very pretty and clean, and just seemed very real. Not the crazy tourism of Bahir Dar or the icky pollution in Gonder. Anyway, the rock hewn churches were neat, but I just liked the feel of the place. We were only there for one night, then on to Gonder. Gonder has some old castles and a "swimming pool" which is a big bath that was used by an old king, but is now used for a baptism ceremony during the festival of Timkat. We were there the week before and so got to see it filling with water. The castles are oddly european looking and nicely kept. We splurged and stayed at the nicest hotel up on a hill over looking the city.

Our taxi driver convinced us to take a minivan instead of the bus to Bahir Dar, which was a good choice I think. A little more expensive, but not much. The trip was a nice way to see the country-side some more. Kerri and Rowan were lucky enough to sit up front, although they did attract a lot of attention as we drove, and especially when we stopped! Poor Rowan was constantly being pinched, petted and prodded, something he is not very used to. I didn't like it either much. I guess tourists don't travel with their kids much in Ethiopia, so he was an unusual site. Even worse when the local word for "kid" translates to "baby" in english. He was not a happy camper with that stuff.

Bahir Dar was the most disappointing. It was partially our fault, we were done being tourists and just wanted to walk around town, but it's not a very nice town and we were constantly being pestered by men wanting to take us on the lake and beggars. On our last evening there we stumbled upon a very nice path that stretches for some kilometers around the lake and found some nice views and pleasant places, but it was too late to really enjoy it.

Our flight left that evening, so that morning we happened to walk past the local Ethiopian Airlines office and we thought we should check on it. Well...turns out there was a schedule change. So we got called later and told it was canceled! We were not happy as we had only enough cash to last out our time there and unlike more remote areas like Lalibella and Gonder, our hotel did not take visa. Luckily Ethiopian paid for another night and dinner, which was appreciated. That night we got a call from the front desk saying that our check-in time at the airport would be 5:30am the next morning, so the hotel shuttle would leave at 5am. Our shuttle driver was late and kept saying, "too early". We agreed that it was way too early, but what can you do. When we got to the gates of the airport, cars were lined up and a bunch of other "westerners" were standing around looking foolish. Turns out the airport doesn't open until 6am and our driver was trying to tell us that we were too early. We had to get out and wait by the side of the road for the guards to let us in the airport. It was pitch black out and really cold, so the guards had made a fire for those of us "too early".

We made it back to Addis and had one more night and day to kill. Not wanting to spend more money, we pretty much stayed close to our hotel (had to move to a different one as Adot Tina was full).

Forgot to mention, I got sick 2 days before we left and was under the weather pretty much until we got back to Addis. Then Kerri started getting sick. We were pretty pathetic. Most know I am a very adventurous eater, but I really didn't feel like it this time (I blame the sickness!!!!). So we ate very conservatively when we could, which didn't stop a couple of interesting surprises from sneaking through, like the time I ordered a club sandwich and got a 4-layer surprise with egg, fried fish, processed meat and heavily spiced cooked chicken on the bottom. The best thing though was that last couple of days, I went walking up the main road and came across Peony Garden, a gen-u-wine Chinese restaurant, complete with nearly incomprehensible menu and plenty of local Chinese patrons who were there to eat good food and smoke continuously. We ate twice there (no I did not eat the pork pizzle).

Ethiopia has some ok beer and pretty good local wine. We ended up liking the Meta beer best. The absolute best though was the coffee. Everywhere there are cafes with cheap but excellent coffee (50c per cup). It's all espresso in tiny cups and very very good. We loaded up our now empty luggage with coffee for the return trip.

All in all a fun but fast run through Ethiopia. I think we could live in Addis someday. It's definitely a big stinky city, but has character and isn't totally homogenized with the Western industrial hegemony yet (i.e. no chain restaurants, period). The history of the country provides a strong cultural glue that seems to knit its people together closely. Who knows, we may be back this way sometime.

Edited to add: The pictures at the end of the slide show are some of the offerings on sale at one of the "duty free" shops at the Addis Ababa International Airport. Maybe you had to be there, but we laughed and laughed.

Jordan Trip

We went to Jordan a few weeks ago for a 4 day weekend. It was a lot of fun! We rented a car in Amman and drove down to the Dead Sea. There was a sign just to the north pointing towards the supposed baptism site of Jesus (by John). We figured we could check it out. A pleasant hour and a half walk later and we had seen the spot that early christians believed was where Jesus was baptised, and also visited the Jordan river, directly across from the big Israeli visit site. Very interesting.

Then we headed back south as originally planned and found a the publicly accessible Amman Beach (costs to get in, but not too much). This has showers and towels and a changing area. We dipped in the Dead Sea for an hour or so, which was a blast (though personally, I couldn't stay in long...certain orifices began to burn....). It's like sitting on a basket ball in a regular pool, your feet keep wanting to float up more than usual. They recommend staying on your back and not trying to swim normally because lots of people drown when they can't turn back over. We didn't have any trouble with that though.

After that we drove back through Amman to get on the Desert Highway and drive south to Petra. Arriving in the evening, we took our time checking out hotels, both our usual backpacker types and the ultra nice Movenpick and such. We were willing to pay more for a nice stay, but when we saw the rooms at the "nice" hotels we just couldn't justify the price they were asking. Instead we found a really nice medium sized place called the Silk Road Hotel. It was walking distance from the entrance to Petra, right down on the main road where all the restaurants and things are. There was even a Turkish bath in the same building that Kerri visited. Our room was a very reasonable price and much larger than the expensive hotels. Free breakfast upstairs and the bathroom was good too. We did check out some other "cheap" hotels in town and were shocked at how expensive and nasty they were. Silk Road was a good compromise (at least, the room we stayed in was).

Next day we got up early and walked down to the Petra entrance, got a day pass and started in. Wow...we were all blown away by how incredible it was. The geological formations alone are stunningly beautiful, but the amazing part was of course just thinking about how people made this area into a fortress and had thriving civilization for several hundred years, holding off the Romans as long as they could. The Nabateans were their name I believe. It was pleasantly cloudy in the morning and we walked the several kilometers in just fine, making our way through the kilometer long canyon and then investigating the many rock-hewn dwellings that came after. About noon we found ourselves as far in as we were willing to go...and there was plenty more to see! We ate lunch and made our way back, thinking to take an alternative route back through a gully that the Nabateans had redirected the local flash flood waters into. When we inquired of the locals as to the direction to take, they warned us not to go that way as it was likely to rain that day. Seeing the dark heavy clouds above, we took their advice and were glad of it as it began to rain very soon after. We walked all the way back in a light drizzle, which turned into a downpour that lasted all afternoon. It was still going strong that evening when we went out to find a restaurant that served local Jordanian food. Mind you, we were not put out in the least as we don't get rain like that in Kuwait ever. As most people here say, it doesn't really rain here...it "muds." Literally, when the drops of rain dry up, there is left behind a splotch of dust. Ick. Anyway, the restaurant was quite cozy and we had a yummy Jordanian stew-like dish that was perfect for the weather.

The next day we slept in and then departed back for Amman, this time taking the road heading west of Petra towards the southern part of the Dead Sea. The road was really windy and there were incredible views as we wound through the hills and eventually found the Dead Sea and headed north. It is an incredible site. There is a Dead Sea Center built on the top of one of the cliffs by the road that we were able to stop at and peruse for an hour or so. Then it was all the way back to Amman to our hotel (finding it was kind of fun!). We spent one more night there, didn't really see anything though as we had turned our car in. Then it was back to Kuwait the next day.

All in all one of our favorite trips that we've taken, I would recommend Jordan to anyone looking for a pleasant short trip with some amazing sites. And there were tons more things to see and do that we didn't have time for, so multiple trips are certainly a possibility.

Christmas was a few days ago, but as I was working we decided to postpone our celebration til the weekend which is now. Today is Christmas Eve, tomorrow Christmas Day, and the day after is...well...the day after Christmas!

Our next trip will be 10 days in Ethoipia, starting Jan 10th. That should be fun!

Pictures of Yvonne

A little while back my aunt Yvonne died. She had been fighting breast cancer for the last several years, and when I said goodbye to come to Kuwait, I knew it was unlikely that I would ever see her again in this life. Kerri and Rowan were blessed to be able to visit with her one last time in the U.S. this summer (the pictures with Rowan in the hospital beds with her are included above). She was surrounded by family and I know she is very happy right now to be rid of her body (at least until she gets her new model). We are all going to miss her until we are able to meet up again in a few years.

Above is a collection of every photo we have with her in it, in case someone doesn't have one of them. I particularly like the one of her looking in LuAnne's ear with Grandma and Carolyn looking on.

Here the whole world (stars, water, air,
And field, and forest, as they were
Reflected in a single mind)
Like cast off clothes was left behind
In ashes, yet with hopes that she,
Re-born from holy poverty,
In lenten lands, hereafter may
Resume them on her Easter Day.

- Joy's Epitaph, by C.S. Lewis

United Arab Emirates

About a month ago we visited UAE. We haven't posted about it because I lost the cable for my camera to transfer pictures to my laptop. Also, our left fan on the macbook pro started making horrible noises and then stopped spinning in general. I managed to fix it using the website ifixit.com and ordering the parts from them (though I made a mistake on the first fan and had to re-order). Now it's up and running and I have a card reader, so we finally got the pictures loaded and synced to the web.

We had to go to Dubai anyway as I needed to take a test for work, so we figured we'd make a trip of it. Abu Khaled, my Kuwaiti friend who I met way back when I first arrived, has always wanted to show us around UAE, so we let him know we were going to be there for 5 days or so. He proceeded to bargain us up to 10 days.

Arriving in Dubai, we stayed at a hotel that was on the campus of the school where I needed to take my test. We spent about 2 nights there, not really seeing much. We did manage to take one day and go down to the new mall that is right below the Burj Dubai (freaking tall tower). They have a gorgeous aquarium in the mall, absolutely huge tank full of large fish and sharks. Also, we paid to go through the other aquarium section which has some amazing freshwater fish from around the world. While in the tunnel under the big shark tank, Rowan so impressed the local expert with his knowledge and enthusiasm that she gave him a tooth from a Ragged-toothed Shark (much to his delight).

A couple of days later, Abu Khaled and a friend of his arrived and picked us up in a rented (small) car. We then drove north along the coast, passing through rapidly changing landscapes (City to yellow sand desert, to red sand desert, to rocky desert) til we arrived at Ras al Khaimah. RAK is one of the poorest and least developed emirates in the UAE, but it's where Abu Khaled likes to base out of. We found a hotel there and from then on we went out on day trips and ended up back at the hotel at night. The next 5 or so days were spent driving around northern UAE and Oman (which has an odd separated section at the northern tip of the horn of land that forms one pincher of the entrance to the Arabian/Persian Gulf. We traveled through Al Fujeira, Sharjah, Umm al Quawain and of course Ras al Khaimah. Sometimes it was just with Muhammed, sometimes with some of his local friends.

Some of the more memorable moments:

- Sharjah has some wonderful museums and we went to the Natural History and Wildlife museums. Rowan was in heaven.
- Al Fujeira is on the Indian ocean side and it was a very pretty nicely laid out town. Kind of wish we had more time there.
- Oman was beautiful. We stopped at a resort called the Golden Tulip for lunch and a swim in the ocean. Lovely spot that we might return to some day. There are lots of things to do in the area including taking boat trips into areas you can't get otherwise, swimming with dolphins, great diving and snorkeling, etc... It's definitely a bit out of the way though.
- Some interesting cultural incidents that were mostly interesting for me, but rather difficult on Kerri and Rowan as we were hanging out with Arab men mostly and it was a bit uncomfortable at times. Mainly as we kept stopping and having shisha and leaving them in the car. They kept inviting her to come in, but she just wasn't comfortable with it. We were invited to a meal at one of Abu Khaled's friend's farms, and I went along. It was an incredible meal of 2 boiled baby goats on a literal bed (Rowan could have laid down on it, head to toe) of saffron rice. Abu Maen was kind enough to crack open the skull so I could have some brain and the eyeballs.
- The crazy crowning moment occurred after the full day of driving through Oman. We arrived back at RAK and Abu Khaled mentioned there was a wedding going on that evening and we should stop by and shake some hands just to see the culture and the singing and dancing. Of course, Kerri couldn't come in to the area proper as she was a woman and they do their thing separately, but Abu Khaled wanted her to stay in the car so she could at least see it. We went along thinking this would be a short affair, say hello, and then leave. Ummm...no. After arriving and going down the line shaking hands, we sat down and became part of the line, shaking the hands of every arriving visitor. My legs were very sore the next day from standing up and sitting down. I was not at all dressed for this as I hadn't planned on going to any *weddings* on my trip! I told Abu Khaled that I really needed to go see about Kerri and at least take her back to the hotel. He said ok, but just wait for Abu Maen to arrive and then I could slip out. Just as Abu Maen arrived...so did the Sheikh of RAK! Well...now I couldn't just leave. I had to be sent directly up to shake his hand and mumble some kind of "hi there". Then we had to sit about for a while longer. Finally Abu Khaled told me to follow Abu Maen, which I did thinking now was the time to escape, but instead we ended up following the crowd into the banquet hall where we ate more delicious goat and camel and other yummy stuff. Finally we came out and then couldn't find Kerri or Abu Khaled. At last, he showed up and said he'd gone over to see about Kerri and that she had taken the car back to the hotel. We hung about a bit more listening to the incredibly loud music and singing and dancing (lines of men, holding canes, doing a kind of head-bob), and then left. Luckily, Kerri wasn't exactly furious, but certainly not happy about the whole event, which from her point of view and been one of the most miserable waiting experiences of the day (following on from 4 or 5 other times of being left in the car to wait that very day). Rowan was about to lose it. But we were safely ensconced back in the hotel and could decompress.

Events like that and others prompted us to cut the stay in northern UAE short a bit and head back to Dubai to have some "just us" time. We are very grateful to Mohammed for all he's done for us and shown us, but there is a point at which we just need to do our own thing.

We found a hotel in an older section of Dubai (Deira) right next to an underground stop. From there we discovered we were near several *real* chinese restaurants and had some fabulous food (Kuwaiti chinese food is not real chinese food). We wandered down to the Gold Souk area and were impressed. Next day we took the underground/lightrail all the way to the mall with Ski Dubai and were impressed again (no, we did not partake).

I think we found Dubai more fun than we thought we would, so who knows, maybe we'll go back again some day to take more of it in.

We are leaving next weekend for a short trip to Jordan, not going anywhere else til the second week of January when we'll be going to Ethiopia for 8 days. We're hoping to hit Beirut also. Next year we may go to South Africa for summer (somewhere cold!!!!). We're trying to hit those areas of the world that it will be difficult to come back to when we move on.

Speaking of which, we are hoping to finish this final year in Kuwait and find something somewhere else. Our preferences right now are Japan or South Korea (in that order), something in Eastern Asia. We've also been thinking about getting into the DoD employee system, which I'm told is easy to do in Washington D.C. Someone at work recommended doing a year in DC and then moving on to other international options from there. We're not exactly thrilled about going back to the states so soon, but it might be better for the long term. Also, Rowan would be about to start US history in homeschool and I hear DC might be a good place for that.

Ok...finally got that post out of the way. I'll try not to take so long to get the Jordan post up.

New Delhi Trip

Ok, I have been meaning to get this post up for months now, but for some reason just haven't been inspired or something.

While Kerri and Rowan were in the States I got word that my aunt Luanne would be in India doing a crazy trekking trip in the mountains.  She was going to be in New Delhi for last few days, so I thought it would be fun to hop over there and hang with her for a while.

I ended up able to take about 10 days off for this, which was my first mistake.  It would have been better in retrospect to just spend a few days, but somehow it's always hard to think of flying some long distance and only spend 3 days...when I *could* spend 10...I mean, why not?  Anyway...

We stayed downtown near the train station in an area with lots of tourist hotels (the cheaper kind).  Ours was quite nice which we were grateful for, as the sweltering heat made going out a short-lived proposition.  The Hotel Grand Godwin was the name, and if you do have to stay in that area, I can recommend it.

So, I guess the bottom line was that it wasn't a very enjoyable trip from a typical travel perspective.  It was miserably hot and humid, absolutely stunningly dirty, and the "touristy" things to see in New Delhi are not all that interesting (in my opinion).  That isn't to say I wasn't glad I went...the experiences I had may not have been "fun" but they were good to have had.  The poverty there is simply unbelievable...and this coming from a person who grew up in and around Manila.  Lu and I both felt somewhat chagrined at our reactions to the heat, poverty and dirtiness of it all given our past experiences.  But truly, it is beyond anything either of us had ever seen before.  Sure, there were pockets in Manila that bad, but the general presence of it *that bad* everywhere you went?  Not so much.

We did take the train out to Agra to see the Taj Mahal, which was...y'know...what you have to do, was kind of fun.  Nice to see something other than unrelenting downtown.  Requisite photos will be posted.

I think when we go back (Kerri and Rowan also), we will spend one night in Delhi to experience the sheer reality of it, then take the train to Agra, see the Taj, maybe spend the night, then take the train to Jaipur (which I hear is nice), then back to Delhi, then fly to the southern tip of India where Kerala is (which I hear is nice also).  Then fly back to Kuwait.  If we go while here.  I know Rowan is dying to see the Taj and has been since he was a toddler.

Anyway, it's been too long now to give any scintillating descriptions, so I'm afraid the crummy photos will have to do.  If Lu let's me know the URL, I'll link to hers also.

Netflix Blu-ray Service: Hello goodbye

With the advent of the aforementioned PS3, I enabled blu-ray access on our netflix queue, which by the way has worked great for us the entire time we have been over here. After a phone call to set up our APO address, and bumping up to the 8 at a time plan to balance the long shipping times, we've had no complaints about Netflix's regular DVD service (streaming is another matter...we can't stream because our IP address comes from Kuwait...stupid movie studios and their stupid licensing rules). I can't remember the last damaged DVD we got from them.

Blu-ray, however, is another matter. Since I started blu-ray access about a month ago, I have received 3 cracked blu-ray disks. The first one wasn't noticeable til it got to a certain point on the disk, then it refused to play. I then looked closely and could discern the hairline fracture starting on the edge of the disc and running about a quarter of an inch directly towards the center.

Since then, I started checking each blu-ray disc as it comes in, and I have found and returned 2 more. The latest one was the worst: the crack was so pronounced that there is no way it could even have attempted to play.

I have returned the previous 2, but this 3rd one made up my mind: no more blu-ray from Netflix til they figure out a safer way to ship them. I cancelled the blu-ray access and called to politely complain (very nice customer service btw, located in Oregon!). I was informed they are working on a solution.

The long dark night of the blog

Wow...it's been a long time! The main reason for that is there hasn't been much to report. I'll try to summarize things that have happened since our trip to Turkey:

- I got LASIK surgery and can now see pretty darn good without glasses (still occasionally need reading glasses, but that just goes with getting older I guess). The experience was fine, though filled with the occasional hilarity that goes along with doing things in a different country. Total cost: 400KD (about $1500). About the cost of a new computer...not bad really. The procedure went without a hitch, though it did take about a month for the full healing to take place and my eyes to start learning how to use their muscles to "auto-focus" which I've never had to use before because I had glasses.

- Got a PS3 in preparation for Kerri and Rowan leaving. I figured even I would need a break from WoW now and then, so it's been good to have other options. Much as I am a Sony hater, I have to say I've been pleasantly surprised by the PS3, especially the online store which is sooooo much more responsive than Nintendo's. Even in the US with cable internet, the Nintendo store was like molasses. The PS3 store is zippy and best of all does queued background downloading. Been playing Bioshock, which is something of a sci-fi horror game, and it does its job well! I have to play with the lights on, and even then I can only handle it for short bursts. Started Resistance and it's very enjoyable. In WoW news I finally got all 4 of my characters to 80 and am working on gearing up my hunter to join my rogue in epic awesomeness.

- Kerri and Rowan (as mentioned earlier) are in the US for 2 months. They are visiting friends and family for the first time since they came out here in Jan 2008. It's been almost 1 month since they left and they'll be back in about 1 more. They are doing well, though very busy with everything. They did get to visit Kentucky where my father-in-law is now living and went to the Mammoth Caves which are going to be the highlight of the entire trip for Rowan I'm sure. He regaled me the other night on Skype about it.

- Night shift begins! As of right now, I'm switching to night shift again for 2 months, 1 of which while Kerri and Rowan are gone, which is good. Also, I believe I'll get at least a few weeks of Ramadan while on nights, which is excellent. Much better to be in sync with the rest of the populace.

- Towards the end of next month, I'll be heading to New Delhi to hang out with my aunt Luanne for a week and half or so. She'll be wrapping up a trekking trip in the mountains and I'll have some time to kill, so we're just going to hang around New Delhi and maybe make a trip out to the country side or two, nothing fancy. Getting the visa was interesting though. You have to purchase tickets first, then go to a private company here in Fahaheel (link from the embassy's website) which processes visa applications to India. You photocopy your passport, residency, and itinerary, fill out a form, provide two passport style pictures, and pay around 12KD to start applying. It takes around 10 business days to process total. Then they call you back to submit your passport and pay the rest (another 20KD or so), then another 3 business days and you can come pick up your passport with your new visa to travel to India. What a pain! But hey, now I know.

Well, that's it really. I'm going to head out now, it's around 4:30pm, so everything is just opening up for the evening after the heat of the day. I might head down to IKEA and see about finding some kind of darker curtain backing for keeping things nice and dark during the day.

Istanbul

What did you do for Memorial Day weekend? We went to Istanbul! We made a vow that we would never again spend a holiday weekend in Kuwait when we have so many places to visit close by. There is a discount airline that runs out of Kuwait and they have some pretty good deals for places in the region. The one problem with traveling around the Middle East this time of year is, well, it's hot. Lucky for us they also fly to Istanbul where the weather is fine.

We left early on a Wednesday and came back Sunday afternoon. It's only a three hour flight with no time change. When we landed the sky was cloudy and the air was cool. It was like landing in heaven. We saw green trees and real grass and cows! And that was just on the ride from the airport. We rode a public bus into town and the people on it must have wondered what cave we've been living in as we exclaimed about all the green (and I yelled "COWS" really loud before I could stop myself). The public transit system was wonderful. We took it everywhere and it worked great.

The first thing that struck me was how clean everything was. There was no litter, no trash heaps, no nasty smells, no dust. The second thing that stood out was hills! I know that sort of sounds silly, but the desert is really, really flat and Istanbul is really, really hilly. Then, of course, it was the amazing buildings everywhere you look. They truly don't make them like they use to. The first picture is of the Blue Mosque and all the other mosques are patterned after it.

We did a lot of walking and, while we did sightsee, we didn't have a big schedule to follow. That made it a lot more relaxing than our Egypt trip. It was fun just wandering up a street to see what was there. We ate a lot of street food and sat in a lot of beautiful parks.

We took one day trip out of the city. We went to Nicea (now called Iznik). We got to take a ferry and then a local mini bus. The drive took us through olive orchards and then beside a lake. Nicea is a little town now but it use to be the capitol so there are a lot of historic sites. The main reason for going there was to see the place that the Nicean Creed was writen. Rowan memorized the creed this year so it was really great to be able to take him to the place that it came from.

Another thing we did a lot of was drink tea. Turkish tea is really strong and really good. It seems to be a national obsession and there are tea gardens everywhere. They drink it out of small glass cups with no milk but lots of sugar.

We came away from the trip with a real sense of discovery and excitement. We really didn't know what to expect and we ended up falling in love with the place. It had a really nice feel about it that made us want to stay a while. If the chance ever presents itself, Turkey would be high on the list of place we would like to live. Since we only saw a little part of it, we have a lot more to go back for.

Kerri

Wafra Trip

Yesterday afternoon our friend Muhammed (abu Khaled) Failakawi (the guy in the yellow shirt in the pictures) dropped by to pick us up for a trip south to Wafra. Wafra is in the southwestern corner of Kuwait, just north of the Saudi border. It contains mostly farms that use the brackish water in that area to raise a surprising number of different crops. If it says "from Kuwait" in the grocery store, then it probably came from Wafra.

Muhammed's friend Mubarrak has a small grass farm down there, along with some camels and goats that he raises primarily for milk. We were privileged to spend some time in his tent (next to his house) lounging on the ground, drinking coffee, tea and eating dates. Then he showed us his camels, and proceeded to milk one of them. Apparently, you can't milk a camel directly...you have to fool it by letting one of its babies drink, and then you can milk it simultaneously. We then took the huge bowl of warm milk into the tent and each had a bowl...well...Rowan had 3 bowls. He digs the camel milk.

Afterwards, we walked around his property, which is lovely and green due to the grass he grows for sale elsewhere in Kuwait. He also had a pen of many goats, which we had some fun with as you can see in the pictures above. We also had a delicious meal of kebab and shish tawouk afterwards before bidding him good night and heading back to Fahaheel where we live. It's about 1 to 1 1/2 hours depending on which road you take, so we were home in no time, which was good as I had to crash having stayed up way past my usual bedtime (7 or 8pm).

Such a good time had by all, once again Muhammed has shown us a lovely time in Kuwait.