year four begins

Here I am, back in the desert for the fourth time (really, year four! I know, it’s insane and time flies).

I’ve been wanting to write for a while now, and tell of all the fascinating things I’ve seen and done this summer.  But when I finally sit down to write, it seems to negative or too plain or too cliché.

Although I FEEL physically fine and awake, I know that jetlag is playing with my emotions and thoughts and nothing really feels clear right now.  An idea may seem acceptable at the moment it arrives, but a while later I realize how ridiculous it really was.  Give me a week.  Then my ridiculous ideas can just be pegged as me being me and I’ll write them anyways ;)

 

When I left my parents at security in Toronto, it was almost like the feeling of when I left 3 years ago. A whole lot of unknown. Upon accepting the job in the Spring, the unknown was exciting.  Now, it’s…overwhelming. My prayer right now is that it will be exciting again.

 

But on the plane to Frankfurt, I sat beside Vlad, a guy from Kyrgyzstan who is living in Toronto. He was probably the most chatty person I’ve ever sat beside on a plane, including close friends!  But he restored my faith in overseas living.  So far, he’d lived alone in Israel for 12 years and Toronto for 5. His family lives in Southern Germany, and he’s finally visiting them after not seeing them for 3 years. It really puts my 4-9 month separation from family into perspective.  Of course, he doesn’t have 8 (almost 9) nieces and nephews who grow significantly each year…

 

On the plane to Kuwait, I sat beside a man who, for the first 20 minutes of the flight, seemed to be crying. He kept covering his face and sniffing…and raced to the washroom once the seatbelt sign had been switched off. But, seeing as it lasted the entire flight, I’m pretty sure he was just sick and booger-y.  I hope he feels better soon, he’s in the US Army.

I arrived in Kuwait on Wednesday night, and my flight was 15 minutes early. Early flights give me a small thrill. It’s nice to be ahead of the game.

 

I opened the door to my apartment, which had been closed for 2 full months.  This is always a fun game.  What will it look like inside? 

There were ants on the floor, tiny flies in the water tank of my toilet, and dust EVERYWHERE.

 

The dust, I’m used to.  The bugs…not so much.

Note: the ants are pretty much cleared up with a little Raid (although I’ll still go and pick up a few ant traps), the flies in the toilet tank are gone thanks to my mad butt hose skillz (and a lot of flushing)…and I cleaned up as much dust as I could without using the vacuum cleaner.  All between the hours of 11:30pm and 2:00am on Wednesday night.

 

Yesterday, Katie G. drove me to the Toyota dealership so that I could lease a car. Of course, silly me, I didn’t look up the directions before we left and just relied on memory…but here’s a small equation that one should always remember:

memory + jetlag + sleep deprivation + everything in Kuwait is brown = absolute disaster

We drove around for a good 45 minutes (to an hour) before we finally found the place…in a completely different area than I had anticipated.  Turns out it’s about 10 minutes from our building, in the opposite direction.

I so smart.

(“Meskina” is Kuwaiti for “poor thing”. Meskinaaaaa….I haven’t seen her since she dropped me off, but…hopefully a few cookies will make it okay…)

But the dealership won’t give me a car until I’ve been approved, and seeing as it’s Ramadan, this could take up to a week.  So I’m renting a small white Yaris until they call.  I named it Schubert and it’s very cute and drives well.  And most importantly, the air conditioner is fantastic. 

And when it’s 42C in the shade, that’s a little bit important.  Imagine what it’s like inside a car with the windows shut, in the sun.  Just like a sauna.  Except hotter.

Here’s a few pictures of my apartment the way I left it in June. Now, imagine it all covered with a layer or two or six of dust and you can imagine what I saw when I opened the door.  It’s almost back to normal and that makes me very happy.

Now…off to church, the place that really makes this country feel like home :)