Back to the land of Sand and Sun

We just got back a few days ago from a month stateside. It was a very difficult thing to come back. Although, I was tired of living out of a suitcase, we had a wonderful time visiting most of our family and we also had a real vacation.

The return flight was interesting. Philip was sick with a fever. The rash that came out after the fever broke has us pretty certain that he had Roseola. But the fever actually made the flight go smoother. Philip just slept or happily looked at books. He wasn't his usual super active self. That said he is a remarkably good traveler, but it was nice to be able to read my Kindle for a while instead of his train book over and over and over again.

There was an interesting family on our flight with us that just seemed to sum up Kuwait. The mother, father, and son had first class seats; the six daughters sat in front of us and in the middle row next to us. One of the daugters was about 2 years old. When she woke up she began to scream. She wanted milk or possibly her mother. One sister chatted with another sister while the child screamed very loudly. Another sister held the baby, but didn't make any soothing noises or attempt to calm her in any visible way. Finally one of the younger daughters made her a bottle of formula. At no time did any of the girls go and get the mother. Later when the mother did actually come back and check on the daughters she in no way interacted with baby. It left me feeling so sad for these children. At the time I was mostly annoyed, as the daughter, although not outwardly rude, had the entitlement attitude that frustrates me so much. They all changed their clothes a few hourse before landing. Because Philip had a seat, but was on my lap, they stuck their suitcase in one of our seats. They didn't ask. They then just left it there for like an hour, while they jabbered with each other. When the plane landed, but was still taxing to the runway, of course, they were all up and moving about the plane chatting with each other.

The House Part II - Upstairs

We have 3 bedrooms on our second floor as well as a computer nook. Again, way more space than we need and yet somehow we seem to fill it up easily. What the homes here seem to lack is good storage space. There aren't closets in the bedrooms, so we have lots of armoirs.

The master bedroom is quite large. It is wide enough for two bedside tables, a king sized bed and Philip's pack n play, which we've now switched to a mattress on the floor.

We use what would have been a bedroom for Philip as a big closet for Aaron as well as for storage.

With my parents coming soon, we've gotten most of the boxes out of the guest bedroom.

Funny Translation...

...which amuses me everytime I see it. I don't know what the Police Consuming Society does, but I certainly hope that they don't actually regularly consume Police. Although, it would explain why very few people obey traffic rules.

We're all going to the zoo

A few weeks ago, we took Philip to the Kuwait Zoo. It was definately a mixed bag. There was some lovely green space. Unfortunately, the cages are smaller than you'd see in the States, but for Philip this was an advantage. It's much easier to see the animals when they are so close.
Also, quite sad was how the Kuwaiti visitors treated the animals.



Although there were signs all over discoraging feeding the animals, the animals were clearly fed often by the visitors.







We saw people feeding them at most every cage at which we stopped. Aaron overhead one elderly women telling the young girls she was with that it is forbidden, but they just giggled on kept on feeding them. This father had brought an extended fork to be able to feed carrots through the cage. At least his food was healthy. Most people were just tossing in cheese puffs which the hyenas and monkeys were clamoring for.




An elephant trying to snag a peanut someone with poor aim threw.










We thought the elephant almost might be able to get out of its enclosure. Philip loved watching the elephants and even learned the sign and mimicked the elephant sound while we were at the zoo. He also really got into monkeys after the monkey cage and mimicked their cries as well.

Yum!

One of my favorite dishes in Kuwait is Kuwaiti Rice. It is usually served with fish or chicken and a tomato sauce.

I love the rice which is made using basmati rice with golden raisins mixed in it and amazing crispy, fired onions on top.

Not the best picture ever, but this is the head of the balool (sp?) fish that came with emy dinner.

Gifts in Jordan

I was amazed by how generous the Jordanians were. Everywhere we went they wanted to give Philip a little gift. He aquired many new toys and we ended up eating a lot of chocolate bars. After our visit to the first desert castle, I let Philip have just a taste of chocolate. For him is was a day at the Dessert Castles.

Churches & Mosques in Amman, Jordan

Life has gotten a little hectic here in Kuwait and I'm only now updating more from our trip to Jordan.
One of the things I loved about Jordan was how easily Christians and Muslims lived cheek by jowl. This church is across the street from...












the mosque where the king goes to prayer.









I'm always amazed at the beauty present within the geometric patterns that Muslims use to decorate their home and worship spaces. If you were to look at any of my notes from school you would see a plethora of star shaped patterns similiar to this ceiling.






This clock lists the call to prayer times each day. Something I didn't know before visiting a mosques is that Muslims do not have to pray at the moment of the call to prayer; instead, they are required to prayer once between each call to prayer.









Where the Imam leads the call to prayer during services. He stands in the small alcove and his voice projects up and over his head. Sadly they also use modern amplification techniques as well.

The interior dome of the mosque.