The Come-Back Kid

Now, admittedly, we’re four weeks into the unraveling of the 2010 resolutions, but I’m trying my hardest to knit and purl myself along and actually keep up with the blog. I considered a move to other blog hosts; however, here I am still hanging around good ol’ Blog Spot.

I suppose since I’m already well into both my spring break planning (Sri Lanka!) and summer planning (Tucson! Mexico! More Asia!), I could entice my readership (I’m counting mom, grandma, and maybe a potential graduate school if I spin some of this into an essay) with some coming attractions. Those entries on which I currently have notes scribbled on the backs of ripped envelopes and boarding passes include our trips to Amsterdam, Thailand, and a series of other top-ten living-and-teaching-in-Kuwait lists. Trust me, coming soon. But before I look back or forward any further (because those who know me best know I never plan anything…), let me tell you where Michael and I have our feet firmly planted at the moment.

We bought a shiny (shockingly shiny after trips to the hydraulic-lift carwash in Fahaheel), red Jeep Cherokee; I believe Michael’s fourth or fifth. He knows these cars inside-and-out and he’s thrilled to have something else to call a hobby. I’m thrilled that we now call grocery shopping a drive to CarreFour or the Sultan Center and not just a walk out the front door to the bakala (read: a convenience store where every item is covered in a layer of dust; however, all the really sweet Bengali men always dust all my peanut butter jars off for me – especially if I go in alone). We made about four runs to the Friday Market the first weekend we had Ginger Cookie. Heh.

We’re committed to Kuwait for at least three years (which means extending our contract by one extra year); the school and students make us want to stay indefinitely, but Kuwait leaves something to be desired. The first six months here felt like an elevator that doesn’t know which floor to which it should deposit you (that happened the other weekend, actually, and resulted in the happy accident of finding some friends engaged in a house party). We loved being abroad, then we hated the frustration of living and working in a proverbial fishbowl; we loved work, but then I got behind because of good ol’ H1N1; we couldn’t stand riding on a bus like we were stuck in seventh-grade hell...you get the idea. Yet, somehow, you find your path. I described it to my principal as finally feeling settled. We have our simple pleasures, our favorite restaurants, and we’ve remembered that home is where you make it when you’re with the person you love.

We have made some amazing friends here; friends quickly become family once you cross over your home country’s border. From my second-grade team (damn, am I lucky to have them!) to some awesome couples in the family building (and more), we are getting to know people and enjoy the balance we create between work and everything else. My team leader also managed to orchestrate having her Kuwaiti husband teach beginning Arabic classes to the teachers once each week; so far, I’ve only attended a few courses, but as someone who revels in and needs the formal structure of learning (especially for a language), I love the way my brain is turning upside-down and inside-out with this experience. I mean, for example, Arabic only has three vowels! Three! Any other vowel sounds are indicated with symbols (really, dots); and my second graders: excellent and excited teachers…ah, how they loving teaching the teacher!

So here we are: January to June and we plan on staying for summer camp. USA or bust in July 2010 – watch out for the 2009 retrospective in the next few days!