Mom and I just got back from a little surprise birthday party we quickly through together for our new Filipino maid. We share our neighbor's maid, Cheryl, who lives just around the corner. Today was her first time to come, but she will soon be working three mornings a week for us. Already she has been such a blessing. She cleaned the entire downstairs of our big house which allowed mom to work on her nursing program, and plan for upcoming events with Operation Hope. This morning when I came downstairs for breakfast I felt so akward walking around Cheryl who was busy humming along to Mama Mia and cleaning my kitchen. She was cleaning up our mess! That was just so strange for me. I think it will take a while for me to get over the mentality of "it's my mess, I should have to clean it up!" When mom asked if I wanted Cheryl to clean my room I said "no way!" It's not that I don't trust Cheryl, I trust her completely. It's just that well, it's my space, my mess, and I should be the one who cleans it up. Emily on the other hand rejoiced when she learned Cheryl might clean her room on Wednesday.
This afternoon when Juliette was talking to Cheryl she inquired as to when her birthday was. Cheryl replied that today was her birthday! Juliette called mom and we organized a mini surprise party. Dad happened to randomly walk in with a cake, and Juliette had ice cream in her freezer. Both of us put together a little gift bag, and hurried to have a party. We walked around the corner to their house and Juliette scurried to finish getting the food together. Cheryl was totally unsuspecting and tried to help Juliette in the kitchen, so Juliette made her follow into the dining room where we were. Everyone started singing, and hugging her, and after a round of hugs Cheryl ran off crying. She was so touched by this little act of kindness it took both Juliette and mom to coax her into coming back for cake. She kept saying "I am shy. I am so shy," but she stayed and made a wish on her candles. Cheryl is 27, but she looked like a little 16 year old girl sitting there so touched by her party with tears in her eyes. We talked and laughed for a while, but when it came to presents she just couldn't manage to open them there with us and hugged us, gave us several kisses, and walked off into her room still teary eyed.
I couldn't believe the impact this short, little, quickly thrown together celebration had on her. Cheryl's story is just one of so many women who are working here in a foreign country in order to send money back home. I thought about it and wondered if I could ever move to a strange land where I didn't speak the language and toil endless hours in a random family's house, not knowing how they might treat me, just to send money back to send my siblings to college? I don't think I am that strong. I would like to think I am that selfless, but that is not something I can say. So here's to Filipino housemaids who may be ignored and mistreated, I could never endure half of what many of them have seen.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Love
Love is a topic that everyone here seems to want to discuss. We’ve had lunch with different neighbors on several occasions, and each time love, marriage, or dating comes up in the conversation.
We have learned that here it is unacceptable to marry for love. Love is something that exists between only a very few lucky people, and even then it is hidden. I asked my Kuwait friend if she would marry for love, and she said yes, but it would be complicated. She and her mother explained that if she was in love they would have to ensure he was a suitable match, and then conceal the fact that they were in love from everyone, even the fathers! They would have to pretend to have met in college or something and that the match was arranged by the fathers. The culture here follows tradition so strongly that few rarely go against it because they are so concerned about their image.
Another one of my friends is 24. She complains that her circle is too small to meet Mr Right. She has been looking for him, but it is difficult to pursue a man when she is limited to meeting men in her work or college. Her mother believes that Lulu will soon be too old for a man to want to marry her! They said Kuwait men want young women, around 21, to marry because they are more beautiful, and will give them healthier children. If Lulu waits much longer the men will think something is wrong with her since she has not found a match yet. Few believe in waiting until the right man comes around. Miriam explained that the reason so many women marry young here is because if there is a suitable match, and the man is wealthy, educated, and pleasing to her father, they will make the daughter marry so that he won’t slip away, because he won’t wait for the right timing.
Mom jokingly said that perhaps Miriam, Lulu’s 19 year old sister might marry before her. They explained that rarely would a younger sister marry before the eldest. The younger may marry first only if she has permission from her older sister. If the youngest marries first then the eldest will be shamed and men will question what could be wrong with her. All of this just sounds so insane to me! Mom and I told them to ignore tradition, and society, and what other people think and just wait for God’s timing. Apparently they wish they could, but their image is so important here that they must respect tradition.
I asked Miriam how her mother and father met and if they were in love. She replied that no, they weren’t in love, but they knew each other because he was her mother’s girlfriends brother. They hadn’t talked much, but had made eye contact and he was pleased by her beauty.
Here it is also the norm to marry cousins. I thought okay sure, maybe 3rd cousins or something. But no! It is not unusual for first cousins to be married! Someone asked me if I would marry my first cousin. I sat there and tried hard not to laugh out loud. I love my cousins. But they are my cousins! I could never see myself married to one of them.
Once on the topic of marriage and love it was hard to deter, but all of us found it so interesting to hear about the other’s perspectives and traditions. They talked about the marriage contract that is written and signed before the wedding. The groom gives the bride a dowry, but she can refuse to sign it until she is pleased with the amounts. Besides the dowry, in the contract there is also a sum that the groom pledges to give his wife if they ever divorce. Once this contract is signed, they are as good as married though the wedding may be weeks off. After this they are allowed to go on dates alone together because they are officially married. If after several dinners and getting to know each other they realize this is not the person they want to spend the rest of their life with they can get a divorce. I was shocked by this. It’s not socially acceptable for men and women to go on dates prior to being married, but if they have merely signed a contract and then gotten to know each other before the wedding they have to get a divorce if it’s not right. I am so happy I am only a visitor in this country!
We are not the only ones asking questions in these discussions, they love hearing how it’s done in our cultures. The girls love asking me questions about marriage, love, dating… Today Lulu said “I hope this is not too personal, but when will you get married?” Mom and I explained that rather than specific ages or milestones when I could date or get married we had values. I told them mom was 30 when she was married, and if I married at 30 then no one in my culture would think anything of it. The girls were shocked by this, because is someone waited till 30 here then they would never, ever find a match. In response to the question on when I would marry I said that I would probably finish college first because I value education and my husband will have the same values and if he loves me he will wait for me. Miriam said I would be very lucky to find someone who loves me enough to wait for me because Kuwaiti men are too impatient.
Last week when our other neighbors were here they complained about the Kuwait men and how no one in this generation had good values. They said they only cared about themselves and their personal pleasure. Mom replied that then maybe they needed to look elsewhere for a husband because good men do exist. I think that many women here would love to live the Western way and date, fall in love, and marry whenever they want without pressure. But tradition and cultural values are so important here that though I’ve spoken with women who would long to break from it, they refuse to go against the values of society.
I’ve really enjoyed having lunches with our neighbors because they don’t seem to mind asking or being asked personal questions. We each give the other the inside scoop to our culture and just love learning about the other. Today I was asked questions about Halloween, and we asked about what would happen in the upcoming Eid. We were told to be ready, because just like we bring cookies to neighbors, people would be bringing us fresh hunks of slaughtered lamb. Mom and I looked at each other like “what?” Miriam explained the significance behind it dating back to Abraham and Issac and the sacrificial lamb. So I guess we should be prepared to not only see people slaughtering lambs soon, but giving us the raw meat. No way will I be cooking that stuff! Dad likes lamb, he can cook it! Since we’re girls and must talk about clothes and shopping we talked about the malls here. They think the prices are amazing, but I think they’re horrific! They asked what I did in malls then if not shop, so I told them about window shopping, and doing crazy scavenger hunts with friends. They had never seen anyone do a scavenger hunt in a mall except on TV. So I told them about doing it with my youth group and the fun that we had. Lulu said that people here are shy and wouldn’t do that because people would think them crazy and they might have a bad image. I laughed and explained people did laugh at us in the store, they certainly thought we were crazy, but we just smiled and had fun!
I am learning so much here and loving every bit of it. Not only are my eyes being opened to other cultures, but I am beginning to appreciate mine more.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Saturday at Villa 13 = 2 friends, 4 ERs, & 13 stitches
Happy Columbus Day! Currently this is my favorite holiday because the Embassy is closed for the day and I get a much needed rest day. That means only 4 days of preschool this week! One last craft to brainstorm for. So I was hoping that today would be a nice day of relaxing, studying, doing college applications, and just enjoying the quietness of being home alone. Guess not. I woke up to Stargate Atlantis being played in the next room. Seriously, if he’s going to play it, why not watch it downstairs where I’ll never know? Wait, I forgot he prefers the flatscreen TV and surround sound that came with the house. But yes, Ethan is home with me today. He had a rather traumatic and dramatic day yesterday and today he gets to skip school and nurse his big fat lip.
Yesterday my friend and I were just waking up and refusing to move from my bed when we heard this bloodcurdling scream. Julie immediately wanted to know “who’s dying?” Ethan had a friend over and I tried to ignore the wails, not sure if it was because someone was injured, or if it was just another battle cry. Soon I heard Emily pounding on Ethan’s door and screaming at him to open it. Then she ran and found mom, who soon came in to thrust rags into my hand and said “Molly, go scrub up all the blood on Ethan’s carpet, Julie, run get me lots of ice! Now!”
Turns out the boys had been sword fighting (with the wooden swords that had been nailed to the wall. Maybe they were there for a reason?) They got into the heat of the battle and Aaron accidentally smacked Ethan right above his lip. He started wailing, and Aaron tried to tend to him when Emily started pounding on the door. For some reason the boys had locked it and it took Aaron a while to figure out how to unlock the door. Emily tended to Ethan whose wound looked so nasty. It was deep, disgusting and still bleeding. Julie and I scrubbed the blood off his carpet which somehow managed to spread all over the room. Ethan walked in and saw us scrubbing one corner and freaked out because he was injured on the opposite side of the room and wanted to know how on earth the blood got there and was Aaron okay? Julie found Aaron and patted him down. He was fine, just still in shock. Mom was soon on the phone with Tricare and dad with someone else trying to figure out what to do and where to send him. Once we managed to get Ethan downstairs to the computer he was distracted for a while, but when mom tried to clean it with Betadine he flipped out.
After lots of phone calls mom and dad ran out the door with Ethan to the hospital and left all of us in a dazed state. Julie kept saying “this never happens in my house! We never have this much drama!” Aaron agreed, the extent of injuries in his house were “bruises and asthma attacks.” Emily and I simply said it meant that those two were now part of the family, one for accidentally sending him to the ER, the other for helping to scrub his blood off the floor.
While Aaron settled down to a movie we started studying for the ACT and waited for news of Ethan. They were gone for a long time, and had some crazy stories to share. The first hospital they went to ended up not having a surgeon on call since it was Saturday, so they were sent across the street. Mom and Ethan used the bathroom before seeing anyone, but mom was so shocked by their lack of hygiene that she refused to let Ethan be admitted there. After more phone calls they finally took him to another hospital. This one was slightly better, and he was admitted quickly. The surgeon cleaned around the edge of the wound and then gave him a shot to numb the wound prior to the stitches. Mom questioned him about not cleaning the inside of the wound and apparently he was shocked that she, a woman, would dare to question him. Though he was irritated by her and told her to “let me down my job,” mom finally convinced him to clean it since she was a nurse. Overall mom was not very impressed with his job, but paid the 15KD and brought Ethan home. He had 4 stitches, and a fat lip.
Dad deemed him well enough to go to Oliver practice, so drove Ethan off to school shortly after they arrived home. Towards the end of practice Ethan was jostled a bit too much in a scene and his wound started to bleed again. When he came home it was still bleeding and just didn’t look quite right. Throughout the evening mom took photos, made lots of phone calls and eventually ended up taking him back to a different hospital. They spent over an hour trying to find the place and were eventually directed by the plastic surgeon himself. The surgeon said that if they had left the previous stitches in, Ethan would have healed with a dip in his face. The man took out the old stitches, repaired the muscle, did a much better job of stitching up the wound and Ethan arrived home late and exhausted. Dad texted his friend, Aaron’s father, about the rest of their hospital experience and the fact that this time they paid 300KD. Aaron’s dad replied, “Should we send Aaron over to do dishes for a couple years?”
Well so much for a quiet Saturday; but 4 ERs and 13 stitches later Ethan is finally repaired and on the mend.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Arab World Festival
Last night we helped the girls frantically finish their history project, jumped in the car, picked up my friend Julie and raced off to the Arab World Festival. We didn’t know exactly what to expect, all we knew was that our church was hosting a huge event that we were told would be fantastic and involve dinner, music, dancing, and glimpses into cultural traditions.
When we arrived with our party of 7, (my family plus 2 friends, 5/7 of us were blondes) we felt very out of place. We looked at the enormous sea of people and the only other blondes I saw was the family of one of the girls we brought. There were few Westerners, and we immediately realized that this was an event for Asians. There were many Filipinos and other Asians that are the workforce here in Kuwait, and this was an enormous event for them that they had been looking forward to.
We were ushered in and though there were bags and purses on our seats we were told to put them under the chairs and just sit down. I immediately regretted wearing jeans and began to slowly die in the extreme heat. It was a huge hall, packed with people, no working AC, and only 4 fans at the very front. Emily and I found our hands were soon stinging, our feet swelling… it was uncomfortable. We walked in during the middle of a sermon and squirmed in our seats, unable to focus on anything but our discomfort due to the heat. We stayed and looked around for a program, but of course there was none. Eventually there was a 30 minute break and we rushed outside to enjoy the fresh air. I met a friend, one of the pastor’s kids who gave me the rundown of the evening. There were to be 18 presentations from different cultures lasting for about 2 hours, and then a dinner of sandwiches was to be served around 9:00. This started to sound like a very long evening, but we kept smiling and chatted with a group of teens who had been there with their parents since 10:30am. I couldn’t imagine being there for so long and enduring the heat and the crowds. But these kids seemed to be enjoying what they were doing and the help they were being to the overall running of the program. Some of them were filming it, others working the sound system; they were serving and organizing things while their parents were preaching. I think these teens appreciated that we were there because I saw few people from our church, certainly hardly any other teens showed up. I think we were good support not only to the teens who ran over when they saw us and gave us warm hugs, but also to one of the new pastors, and even the other pastors who saw us, greeted us, and appreciated us coming out.
The second half was better than the first. We got separated from my family as we tried to find the bathroom which was backstage past throngs of people, and ended up giving up on getting our cokes from Ethan and just found some seats. In the process of finding seats an Asian man came up to us and requested a picture. So, Julie and Emily jumped in for some ridiculous pose and we laughed and moved on. Once we were seated though there was a group of about 8 young Asian men in front of us who wanted endless photos with us. Even after we stopped doing goofy smiles for them the kept taking pictures of themselves and trying to get us in the background. Apparently a group of blondes is pretty popular.
Mom and I both noticed the lack of fire exits, or well any exits for that matter. The only entrance was through a door on the far left, and even that led to another room and flight of stairs you had to meander through to exit. I took notice of a door that looked like it led outside that was backstage and through the stall in the ladies handicap bathroom. But those were the only visible ways of exiting. It was scary to think of what on earth might happen if there was a fire in that place. There is no way that building would pass so many safety regulations in the states. Only one exit for an insane amount of people, bathrooms located way backstage that were flooded, no air conditioning or windows, and no aisles between the chairs. The only way to get to another side involved walking around front or at the very back. It made maneuvering around very difficult.
At one point we were sitting in a dazed state waiting for something interesting to happen when the microphone blew. Emily had previously been creating stories about what an opportunity this was for terrorists, and the loud boom made all 3 girls jump and panic. I sat there laughing at them as they appeared to have a heart attack at what they thought was a bomb. It was pretty entertaining.
The culture events started with the soccer teams coming up on stage for prayer before the upcoming games. I was somewhat confused by this, but oh well. After that was of Asians performing various dances. One group appeared in traditional outfits and did a fan dance, and then another group was a bunch of toddlers and kids jumping around on stage and dancing. Another group sang in their language, and then came a group in traditional clothes dancing with tambourines. The most entertaining was an Asian rapper. It was hilarious to listen to him with his accent. One group took the TLC Vision and adapted it to a song and flashed the lyrics up on screen. This music was upbeat so we started clapping, swaying and trying to sing along. The more ridiculous we acted in joining the others in singing and swaying the easier it was to forget about our discomfort and just have fun.
We left far before the other cultural presentations were over and enjoyed leftover Lebanese food at home. The entire event was an eye opener. I had no idea what to expect, and it was really interesting. It was definitely an event for Asians, mainly run by a bunch of Asians with Western pastors, but it appeared to really minister to the Asians there, which was well almost everyone. This is a big event for them and they flock from all over apparently to come to the events. Not only was there the event last night, but there were also sessions today by guest speakers. I’m really glad that so many could benefit from it in a way that was similar to them and thought it was a very different experience and though I did not appreciate it the same, I’m glad I went for the experience.
When we arrived with our party of 7, (my family plus 2 friends, 5/7 of us were blondes) we felt very out of place. We looked at the enormous sea of people and the only other blondes I saw was the family of one of the girls we brought. There were few Westerners, and we immediately realized that this was an event for Asians. There were many Filipinos and other Asians that are the workforce here in Kuwait, and this was an enormous event for them that they had been looking forward to.
We were ushered in and though there were bags and purses on our seats we were told to put them under the chairs and just sit down. I immediately regretted wearing jeans and began to slowly die in the extreme heat. It was a huge hall, packed with people, no working AC, and only 4 fans at the very front. Emily and I found our hands were soon stinging, our feet swelling… it was uncomfortable. We walked in during the middle of a sermon and squirmed in our seats, unable to focus on anything but our discomfort due to the heat. We stayed and looked around for a program, but of course there was none. Eventually there was a 30 minute break and we rushed outside to enjoy the fresh air. I met a friend, one of the pastor’s kids who gave me the rundown of the evening. There were to be 18 presentations from different cultures lasting for about 2 hours, and then a dinner of sandwiches was to be served around 9:00. This started to sound like a very long evening, but we kept smiling and chatted with a group of teens who had been there with their parents since 10:30am. I couldn’t imagine being there for so long and enduring the heat and the crowds. But these kids seemed to be enjoying what they were doing and the help they were being to the overall running of the program. Some of them were filming it, others working the sound system; they were serving and organizing things while their parents were preaching. I think these teens appreciated that we were there because I saw few people from our church, certainly hardly any other teens showed up. I think we were good support not only to the teens who ran over when they saw us and gave us warm hugs, but also to one of the new pastors, and even the other pastors who saw us, greeted us, and appreciated us coming out.
The second half was better than the first. We got separated from my family as we tried to find the bathroom which was backstage past throngs of people, and ended up giving up on getting our cokes from Ethan and just found some seats. In the process of finding seats an Asian man came up to us and requested a picture. So, Julie and Emily jumped in for some ridiculous pose and we laughed and moved on. Once we were seated though there was a group of about 8 young Asian men in front of us who wanted endless photos with us. Even after we stopped doing goofy smiles for them the kept taking pictures of themselves and trying to get us in the background. Apparently a group of blondes is pretty popular.
Mom and I both noticed the lack of fire exits, or well any exits for that matter. The only entrance was through a door on the far left, and even that led to another room and flight of stairs you had to meander through to exit. I took notice of a door that looked like it led outside that was backstage and through the stall in the ladies handicap bathroom. But those were the only visible ways of exiting. It was scary to think of what on earth might happen if there was a fire in that place. There is no way that building would pass so many safety regulations in the states. Only one exit for an insane amount of people, bathrooms located way backstage that were flooded, no air conditioning or windows, and no aisles between the chairs. The only way to get to another side involved walking around front or at the very back. It made maneuvering around very difficult.
At one point we were sitting in a dazed state waiting for something interesting to happen when the microphone blew. Emily had previously been creating stories about what an opportunity this was for terrorists, and the loud boom made all 3 girls jump and panic. I sat there laughing at them as they appeared to have a heart attack at what they thought was a bomb. It was pretty entertaining.
The culture events started with the soccer teams coming up on stage for prayer before the upcoming games. I was somewhat confused by this, but oh well. After that was of Asians performing various dances. One group appeared in traditional outfits and did a fan dance, and then another group was a bunch of toddlers and kids jumping around on stage and dancing. Another group sang in their language, and then came a group in traditional clothes dancing with tambourines. The most entertaining was an Asian rapper. It was hilarious to listen to him with his accent. One group took the TLC Vision and adapted it to a song and flashed the lyrics up on screen. This music was upbeat so we started clapping, swaying and trying to sing along. The more ridiculous we acted in joining the others in singing and swaying the easier it was to forget about our discomfort and just have fun.
We left far before the other cultural presentations were over and enjoyed leftover Lebanese food at home. The entire event was an eye opener. I had no idea what to expect, and it was really interesting. It was definitely an event for Asians, mainly run by a bunch of Asians with Western pastors, but it appeared to really minister to the Asians there, which was well almost everyone. This is a big event for them and they flock from all over apparently to come to the events. Not only was there the event last night, but there were also sessions today by guest speakers. I’m really glad that so many could benefit from it in a way that was similar to them and thought it was a very different experience and though I did not appreciate it the same, I’m glad I went for the experience.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
A Day in the Life of a Preschool Teacher
My preschool is crazy! Some days I wonder why on earth I’m doing this insane job. One mom recently told me that I had to be none other than a saint to even contemplate running the preschool. Today was so bad that the other mom assisting me was doing a countdown to when it would finally end! I am clueless as to what set it off, but something about today just made everyone go nuts and nearly drove me mental!
I’m struggling to teach the kids how to share. We’ve done the Rainbow Fish and other similar stories on sharing, talked about it, and tried to implement it. Some of the kids get it and will walk over and share their toys, others flip out and refuse to share. I had one girl who cried for 3 days in a row anytime she didn’t get something she wanted. And it wasn’t little bouts of crying either, it was full on inconsolable crying for 30 minutes if she saw something she wanted and couldn’t have. Yikes! I’m also trying to work with the nannies; some of them are more helpful now and will assist the other kids. But I still can’t get one nanny to stop bringing this little insane little toddler who gets in the way of everything. And I don’t have the time to prevent him from eating the marbles or beads we’re using. This same nanny lets her little two year old throw temper tantrums that disrupt the entire class. I’ve had girls come up to me and complain that “my ears hurt teacher! Her crying hurts my ears!” So what do I do? I talk to the nanny, request she please take her girl outside, but of course she doesn’t do anything. One day it got so bad that a mom who was helping me ended up kicking them out and making them go home. It’s hard for me because though I may be in charge of the preschool, I’m only 17 and I don’t like to have to stand up against adults and tell them to please get rid of their bratty child.
But again, today was a nightmare. I had 13 kids, 1 baby, 2 toddlers, one parent, and a couple nannies. The nannies were no help today; they were the ones disrupting story time so badly we had to tell them to please stop talking so the children could focus. During music I was dancing around and leading about 6 kids in the hokey pokey while 2 were fighting and tackling each other, one was trying to escape, 4 were trying to use the toilet at the same time, and another just kept running around in endless circles. What am I supposed to do? If I had stopped dancing with the 6 kids they would have turned around and gone crazy too. My parent helper stayed in the bathroom with the 4 kids, and I had to shout to the nannies to please break up the fight. Right as I thought I was going to lose one child to the patio my friend came in and swooped up the child. Thank goodness! I forced my friends Julie and Kate who had originally just came by to say hi to sit on the floor, grab a child, and paddle together to row row row your boat. My friends had to leave shortly after music time sadly, so I started the craft. We were using popsicle sticks to construct treasure boxes, stars, and whatever they could create that would hold their attention. Everything was sopping in glue, and I had my hands in about 4 construction sites at once. It was chaotic, but it kept them entertained for a while, though I had to pronounce them done before the glue spread to anything else.
Story time was difficult with the nannies chatting, kids running to the bathroom, and of course me pausing for minor interruptions like stopping kids from killing each other and inquiring about Josh’s potty dance. “Josh, do you have to go to the bathroom?” “No teacher.” “Are you sure Josh?” “Yes!” “Then Josh, why are you doing the potty dance?” “ ‘Cuz it’s fun!” “Can you please stop and sit down?” “No.” “Why?” “Because I have to go potty now!!
Before they painted we put each child in an enormous men’s t-shirt and used clothespins to keep it from falling off. They stayed amused until their boxes were done, and out of desperation I grabbed my friend who returned to help me and we began assembling star ornaments as fast as possible so they could have something else to paint and stay busy.
Of course that didn’t last for too long, and after cleaning everything from shoes, to hands, to eyelids they were ready to go outside and play. I started chucking balls, Frisbees, chalk, anything I could find outside to keep them entertained. It took 2 adults, 4 nannies, me and my friend to keep the children on the patio. I chased after several kids on numerous occasions who tried to run home. By 12:05 when the nannies were still sitting on the patio relaxing and watching their kids run wild we started handing out the craft projects and trying to nudge them to leave. I guess they eventually got the hint and finally took everyone home. My parent helper agreed it was the craziest she has ever seen it get. Thank goodness it’s finally the weekend!
Kate and her mom stayed to help me clean up and I went out to lunch with her family. It was nice to pause and relax with friends after a stressful morning. As they were getting ready to take me home her mom mentioned maybe taking us by the Co-op and a purse store upstairs. Of course we couldn’t resist some shopping therapy and we headed off with high hopes. Kate’s mom had recently purchased a knock off Coach purse from this place. In fact, I had been admiring it earlier and had no clue it was fake! It was really beautiful and well made. Who cares if the knock offs don’t last a lifetime? I figure if they are a good price, look nice, are good quality, then why not buy one even if it only lasts a couple years. I’d rather buy lots of fun knock offs than one expensive one that lasts forever.
As we walked through the grocery to go up the escalator to his little shop the vendor saw us and followed us upstairs to open up for us. I was amazed at the vast expanse of purses he had. He had the most unique styles of purses, wallets, baggage, and jewelry. It was fun to look around, and very therapeutic too. I found a Chanel purse that I absolutely loved. It’s black and silver and looks fabulous! The man kept coming and saying “you like? You buy now. No think, just buy.” I inquired to the price and he replied “no think price. No price. We find price.” He finally told me the original price and that “I make special for you!” Luckily I had Kate’s mom there who reminded him of the price she had paid last week and he let me have it for that. It was about equivalent 2 hours of working at the preschool, and I figured after all the stress and chaos it caused me, the least I could do was use some of that money (I save just about all of it)to buy a therapeutic purse. And I love it!
I’m struggling to teach the kids how to share. We’ve done the Rainbow Fish and other similar stories on sharing, talked about it, and tried to implement it. Some of the kids get it and will walk over and share their toys, others flip out and refuse to share. I had one girl who cried for 3 days in a row anytime she didn’t get something she wanted. And it wasn’t little bouts of crying either, it was full on inconsolable crying for 30 minutes if she saw something she wanted and couldn’t have. Yikes! I’m also trying to work with the nannies; some of them are more helpful now and will assist the other kids. But I still can’t get one nanny to stop bringing this little insane little toddler who gets in the way of everything. And I don’t have the time to prevent him from eating the marbles or beads we’re using. This same nanny lets her little two year old throw temper tantrums that disrupt the entire class. I’ve had girls come up to me and complain that “my ears hurt teacher! Her crying hurts my ears!” So what do I do? I talk to the nanny, request she please take her girl outside, but of course she doesn’t do anything. One day it got so bad that a mom who was helping me ended up kicking them out and making them go home. It’s hard for me because though I may be in charge of the preschool, I’m only 17 and I don’t like to have to stand up against adults and tell them to please get rid of their bratty child.
But again, today was a nightmare. I had 13 kids, 1 baby, 2 toddlers, one parent, and a couple nannies. The nannies were no help today; they were the ones disrupting story time so badly we had to tell them to please stop talking so the children could focus. During music I was dancing around and leading about 6 kids in the hokey pokey while 2 were fighting and tackling each other, one was trying to escape, 4 were trying to use the toilet at the same time, and another just kept running around in endless circles. What am I supposed to do? If I had stopped dancing with the 6 kids they would have turned around and gone crazy too. My parent helper stayed in the bathroom with the 4 kids, and I had to shout to the nannies to please break up the fight. Right as I thought I was going to lose one child to the patio my friend came in and swooped up the child. Thank goodness! I forced my friends Julie and Kate who had originally just came by to say hi to sit on the floor, grab a child, and paddle together to row row row your boat. My friends had to leave shortly after music time sadly, so I started the craft. We were using popsicle sticks to construct treasure boxes, stars, and whatever they could create that would hold their attention. Everything was sopping in glue, and I had my hands in about 4 construction sites at once. It was chaotic, but it kept them entertained for a while, though I had to pronounce them done before the glue spread to anything else.
Story time was difficult with the nannies chatting, kids running to the bathroom, and of course me pausing for minor interruptions like stopping kids from killing each other and inquiring about Josh’s potty dance. “Josh, do you have to go to the bathroom?” “No teacher.” “Are you sure Josh?” “Yes!” “Then Josh, why are you doing the potty dance?” “ ‘Cuz it’s fun!” “Can you please stop and sit down?” “No.” “Why?” “Because I have to go potty now!!
Before they painted we put each child in an enormous men’s t-shirt and used clothespins to keep it from falling off. They stayed amused until their boxes were done, and out of desperation I grabbed my friend who returned to help me and we began assembling star ornaments as fast as possible so they could have something else to paint and stay busy.
Of course that didn’t last for too long, and after cleaning everything from shoes, to hands, to eyelids they were ready to go outside and play. I started chucking balls, Frisbees, chalk, anything I could find outside to keep them entertained. It took 2 adults, 4 nannies, me and my friend to keep the children on the patio. I chased after several kids on numerous occasions who tried to run home. By 12:05 when the nannies were still sitting on the patio relaxing and watching their kids run wild we started handing out the craft projects and trying to nudge them to leave. I guess they eventually got the hint and finally took everyone home. My parent helper agreed it was the craziest she has ever seen it get. Thank goodness it’s finally the weekend!
Kate and her mom stayed to help me clean up and I went out to lunch with her family. It was nice to pause and relax with friends after a stressful morning. As they were getting ready to take me home her mom mentioned maybe taking us by the Co-op and a purse store upstairs. Of course we couldn’t resist some shopping therapy and we headed off with high hopes. Kate’s mom had recently purchased a knock off Coach purse from this place. In fact, I had been admiring it earlier and had no clue it was fake! It was really beautiful and well made. Who cares if the knock offs don’t last a lifetime? I figure if they are a good price, look nice, are good quality, then why not buy one even if it only lasts a couple years. I’d rather buy lots of fun knock offs than one expensive one that lasts forever.
As we walked through the grocery to go up the escalator to his little shop the vendor saw us and followed us upstairs to open up for us. I was amazed at the vast expanse of purses he had. He had the most unique styles of purses, wallets, baggage, and jewelry. It was fun to look around, and very therapeutic too. I found a Chanel purse that I absolutely loved. It’s black and silver and looks fabulous! The man kept coming and saying “you like? You buy now. No think, just buy.” I inquired to the price and he replied “no think price. No price. We find price.” He finally told me the original price and that “I make special for you!” Luckily I had Kate’s mom there who reminded him of the price she had paid last week and he let me have it for that. It was about equivalent 2 hours of working at the preschool, and I figured after all the stress and chaos it caused me, the least I could do was use some of that money (I save just about all of it)to buy a therapeutic purse. And I love it!
Monday, October 5, 2009
Sunday, October 4, 2009
"City Center"
Just got back from an evening shopping with my parents. We had heard rumors of a bunch of 100 fils stores, the equivalent to a dollar store. After calling around we finally got directions and took off to find the City Center shopping complex that was definitely not located in the city center.
Dad somehow managed to understand the layout of the complex, he claims it's similar to the streets here, in block formation. I was totally confused though. To me it was a labyrinth of shops. There were lots of little boutiques, and many were color coded. There were stores only selling yellow dresses, or purple, or black and grey, or blue... Some of the styles were just laughable. A lot of the stack was simply tacky and dirt cheap, but there was some cute stuff in interesting designs that of course was about 20 KD, 60+ dollars.
I saw so many knock offs tonight. There was Armani and Lacoste ugly underwear, and Burburry sweat pants. I was impressed to find perfume at cheap prices. I recognized lots of the nice name brands, and tried some of it. Dad immediately thought it was some knock off, and sure enough the perfume wore off in less than two minutes. Another store owner later explained to us they keep the knock offs in the front on display, and the shelves are filled with the real stuff that was of course outrageous prices.
Mom was running around in circles and Dad and I occasionally got left in the dust, so we enjoyed perusing the shops together. We were tempted by the Kuwaiti version of Cinnabon, but instead choose mango ice cream that was topped in pomegranate seeds. The pomegranates themselves were amazingly sweet, and the combination oft that and the delicious and refreshing mango ice cream was superb. Not only did it taste better, but I am sure it was much cheaper and healthier than the Cinnabon.
While we were shopping I made sure to check and look for any other Westerner. Nope. We were the only Westerners, and of course the only blondes. I'm still not quite totally used to being singled out. I was thankful that i wore my favorite ankle length skirt that is appropriate for almost everything here. Several times this evening we would be looking at something in a shop, and I would just get uncomfortable because all the nearby shopkeepers would be staring at me that dad and I would just keep walking. If I can keep walking I notice the staring less. It's just something I'm trying to get used to, but it's still pretty hard. We joke here that if any girl wants a self esteem boost she should just go out to a mall or something because of all the stares and smiles she'll get. But it's still uncomfortable.
The 100 fils shops were great. There were lots of them scattered about. Sure, there was tons of cheap toys and ridiculous little things but there was also lots of cute scrapbooking stuff, magnet strips, marbles, and lots of little things I picked up for my preschool. We also manged to find some really nice lipstick and eyeshadow for gifts.
It was a nice evening out and about. Much more fun than planning for preschool tomorrow, but I suppose I should get on to that soon. I love my kiddos, but they can be so much work!
Dad somehow managed to understand the layout of the complex, he claims it's similar to the streets here, in block formation. I was totally confused though. To me it was a labyrinth of shops. There were lots of little boutiques, and many were color coded. There were stores only selling yellow dresses, or purple, or black and grey, or blue... Some of the styles were just laughable. A lot of the stack was simply tacky and dirt cheap, but there was some cute stuff in interesting designs that of course was about 20 KD, 60+ dollars.
I saw so many knock offs tonight. There was Armani and Lacoste ugly underwear, and Burburry sweat pants. I was impressed to find perfume at cheap prices. I recognized lots of the nice name brands, and tried some of it. Dad immediately thought it was some knock off, and sure enough the perfume wore off in less than two minutes. Another store owner later explained to us they keep the knock offs in the front on display, and the shelves are filled with the real stuff that was of course outrageous prices.
Mom was running around in circles and Dad and I occasionally got left in the dust, so we enjoyed perusing the shops together. We were tempted by the Kuwaiti version of Cinnabon, but instead choose mango ice cream that was topped in pomegranate seeds. The pomegranates themselves were amazingly sweet, and the combination oft that and the delicious and refreshing mango ice cream was superb. Not only did it taste better, but I am sure it was much cheaper and healthier than the Cinnabon.
While we were shopping I made sure to check and look for any other Westerner. Nope. We were the only Westerners, and of course the only blondes. I'm still not quite totally used to being singled out. I was thankful that i wore my favorite ankle length skirt that is appropriate for almost everything here. Several times this evening we would be looking at something in a shop, and I would just get uncomfortable because all the nearby shopkeepers would be staring at me that dad and I would just keep walking. If I can keep walking I notice the staring less. It's just something I'm trying to get used to, but it's still pretty hard. We joke here that if any girl wants a self esteem boost she should just go out to a mall or something because of all the stares and smiles she'll get. But it's still uncomfortable.
The 100 fils shops were great. There were lots of them scattered about. Sure, there was tons of cheap toys and ridiculous little things but there was also lots of cute scrapbooking stuff, magnet strips, marbles, and lots of little things I picked up for my preschool. We also manged to find some really nice lipstick and eyeshadow for gifts.
It was a nice evening out and about. Much more fun than planning for preschool tomorrow, but I suppose I should get on to that soon. I love my kiddos, but they can be so much work!
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