Chris & Lori's Adventures in Kuwait: October 2008

If you've been checking out the pics here - you know that Chris and I have been keeping realllllllly busy - but having an awesome time here! Here's a quick update for everyone though - instead of sending out a mass email!

Our apartment is all set up now and painted, and we're in the process of getting Kuwaiti driver's licenses - and probably going to lease a car for the year. We've joined a great gym and some sports teams. Chris plays hockey twice a week, and I'm playing in a volleyball league once a week. Aside from that, we've both started doing tutoring - which is an indescribable experience - but I'm going to try and describe it for you. Ok so - all Kuwaiti families are SUPER RICH - because they get shares of the oil money...so they all live in ridiculously big houses - but actually they don't call them houses, they are "villas". All of the families have Philipino maids and asian nannies and male drivers...who basically take care of the kids and do everything for them. Right now I'm tutoring 2 sisters - and their driver picks me up from the school at 4pm - drives me in a sweet car (all the cars here are unreal - porsches, BMWs, Lexuses, etc) and brings me to their villa. I tutor a grade 8 girl in math for an hour, then a grade 10 girl in math for another hour- while drinking freshly squeezed juice and then the mom hands me 35KD (about $150Cdn) and then the driver takes me back to my apartment. It's CRAZY. And it's not as if I'm charging a lot - that is the expected rate for a tutor here.

Chris is tutoring a grade 6 boy - and his family is so nice - and sits and drinks tea and chats with him afterwards - and has even offered to have us over sometime for a BBQ! On Monday I'm also starting to work with a boy from the royal family here in Kuwait - so I'll have to write you again after that experience - because I'm going to be taken to a palace to tutor him. Sometimes I just can't help but sit back and laugh at some parts of our lives here!

Chris is enjoying his grade 4 class - and he's soooooooo patient with them - it's great. My grade 9 science class has been so much fun to teach - we've been doing our Astronomy unit for 7 weeks now - and my classroom just got a projector installed which will be so perfect to use for my lessons! We also work with a ton of great teachers - and there's so much opportunity to make money (and help pay off our loans) - by tutoring and I've also been doing some volleyball and soccer reffing. We're also coaching the Senior girls Basketball team together too - which starts in a week or so.

We're soooooo excited for Behn and Julie to come visit us in December (only 45 days away!!) and before they get here, Chris and I are traveling to Oman for a week. Then we'll be in Kuwait for a few days with them - and then we're headin off to Egypt and Jordan for almost 3 weeks! It's so nuts to think of all of the travel opportunities that are easily accessible - now that we're flying from here! We're also thinking of doing Europe potentially next summer (for 3 weeks or a month) - and next year we want to do parts of Africa for Christmas and then maybe Australia in the summer - before our wedding!!! (August 14th 2010!)

It's so great to hear from everyone back home - we think about you all so much - and we miss you! Keep checking out our blog - and keep updating us on things back home (i.e. politics, etc) -We need to stay in touch with our Canadian roots!!

Lots of love!

Lori and Chris
xoxo