***WARNING: THIS POST IS EXCESSIVE IN LENGTH***
:)
I do apologize for taking my time on getting another post updated. As I was telling my dad yesterday, "It's a perfect example of Kuwait." You get really excited and get your hopes up, and then wait, and wait, and wait, and finally.. like the blink of an eye things happen! Your day is MADE! Anyhow, again sorry for the length, but, you can't say you weren't warned. :)
I've mentioned on here that there are phases in culture shock. It's so fun for me to read back on previous posts throughout the year. In case you were wondering, I'm still normal and following the phases of culture shock. I'm realizing that the things that I got so excited about when I first arrived in Kuwait are now things that I am used to and think of as "normal." Some things I didn't notice about my home in the states, I have truly grown a new appreciation for.
I will do my best to keep all of this in sequential order. :D
March/ Spring break trip to Jordan, Petra, and that 'holy land'/ that country that must not be named: (that's March of last year btw)
Israel in a nut shell:
This was certainly a trip to remember. We started out in (Israel) or the 'holy land' or the kuwait/arab-approved 'Occupied Palestine.' This country is beautiful. It really wasn't on the top of my list of places to see (mind you, my list is quite large), but, I am so glad I went!
Petra in a nut shell:
Petra is an ancient city carved into the rock of the mountains. It is actually a city, like, it goes on and on. One of the most fascinating things about Petra was that these structures were built years ago, and many of them have almost a classical look to them.
This is a picture from Petra. It was truly beautiful.
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The Dead Sea and Beyond.....
    Ah... Mazing!   This is a picture from an old city called Jaffah near Televiv (Israel).  A Picture from the top of the Bahai Gardens (Israel still)!           
Rose and me riding camels!
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End of The Year Stuff....
Teaching: (in bullet point form)
-Final "student-led conferences": nailed them, survived them.
-last day of school: nailed it, survived it.
--Only real thing to say is "Woah, I made it!"
Life in Kuwait: (also in bullet point form)
-After the trip with renting a car.. low and behold, I am now the owner of a 2003 Nissan X-Trail. I've got a registered vehicle, but, no license! Ahhh the logics of Kuwait. I could write a series of long essays explaining the whole license situation. :/
-I've developed a new found love.. I mean LOVE of country music.
-*** NOTE: Weekend trips to Bahrain help with sanity purposes.
-Farewell dinner and Muttlah Ridge: Dinner= free food and bitter sweet goodbyes and Muttlah Ridge= the greatest contrast in land that Kuwait has.
-Fancy (paid) music gigs: I've been trying to upload a video of a couple of pieces from the concert, however I am having issues figuring that out. To put it simply, or perhaps not-so-simply; it's the most unprofessional- professional event I've ever been involved in. It was also possibly one of the greatest nights of my life.
-4 hour teaser after my year-long awaited apartment as well as 4 hour teaser of what it's like to actually have my cat Germo.
-Over 40+ hours on planes and BAM, I was home in the wonderful WY.
SUMMER!
South Korea + Layovers in Shanghai and Frankfurt:
I loved literally every single second that I was in South Korea. Amazing friends mixed with lots of green scenery, and great food will do that for ya! Click My Interview! to see the interview I took with Mag's (one of my best friends from Korea) company about U-Stream!
All of us are standing with the night time view of Seoul behind us!
Walking around Seoul after visiting the Palace. I was slightly confused at first about if I was in Seoul or Kuwait because I saw a man in a disdasha walking around. I thought it was really neat that they were doing an advertisement thing to support Syria. Go Korea!
At the Palace. It was HUGE, and I am sure we didn't see all of it, but good to experience none the less.
A taste of your not-so-traditional pingsu. MMMMMMM
I am taking the interview here about U-Stream. Check out the link above to see it!
Cold noodle and chicken meal. Actually quite good. :) YOLO
Riding bikes... stopping for ice cream... amazing view of the Han River.
So, so beautiful! So green, too! Sensory overload after living in Kuwait for a year!
This night, I will never forget. It was so much fun! Dancing... Korean BBQ (with pork)... drinking good drinks... amazing friends.. the list goes on.
xxx
Korean BBQ and Soju :)
The fish market, where I tried a LIVE octopus! Again.. I've got a video but someone out there has gotta help me figure out how to upload it! Seems as it shouldn't be this difficult, but, hey I only teach first grade!
Here is a picture of the traditional pingsu. Pingsu is a desert that has shaved ice with a creamy flavor and redbeans and rice cakes. It's really tasty.
Korea <3
Nighttime view of Seoul.
Layovers in Shanghai and Frankfurt:
Shanghai isn't a place that I would die to get back to. It's nice to have seen it. Some of the architecture reminded me of Kuwait. It was VERY busy and crowded.
Frankfurt was so lovely. I literally stayed at my hotel all day.. took a couple of showers and ate a couple of meals. Of course, I hit up happy hour too.
South Korea + Layovers in Shanghai and Frankfurt:
I loved literally every single second that I was in South Korea. Amazing friends mixed with lots of green scenery, and great food will do that for ya! Click My Interview! to see the interview I took with Mag's (one of my best friends from Korea) company about U-Stream!
xxx
Layovers in Shanghai and Frankfurt:
Shanghai isn't a place that I would die to get back to. It's nice to have seen it. Some of the architecture reminded me of Kuwait. It was VERY busy and crowded.
Frankfurt was so lovely. I literally stayed at my hotel all day.. took a couple of showers and ate a couple of meals. Of course, I hit up happy hour too.
Wide Open Spaces/ "Home in Gillette, Wyoming" reverse culture shock:
First of all, there is something to be said about wide open spaces and genuine mid-west kindness. I had forgotten that it was okay to smile at people, until I returned to the oh-so-hopping Gillette, Wyoming Wal-Mart.
It's also extremely hard to beat a good ole' Wyoming sunset. Check out the youtube link below. Yeah.. because I am pretty guilty of most of the things they are making fun of. The most important one to note that I am guilty of is taking about a million pictures of sunsets! You don't realize what you've got until it's gone. I miss seeing clouds in the sky in Kuwait- so sue me!
Instagram Parody
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| See? Beauty... |
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| Goodbyes never get easier. |
Cornhole:
Many a good hours were spent playing cornhole this summer at the Thorne residence. We got some siding in, too, but cornhole was the prominent hobby. This past summer marks the grand beginning of the First Annual Tiffany T. Cornhole Tournament.
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| Lot's of work, but well worth it! |
Basket Weaving:
So... I took a basket weaving class during the summer with my mom. I LOVED it. They say that they have crazy people do it because of how people can get so focused. Don't dodge it until you try it! And hey, everyone is at least a little bit crazy.
Also, I have gotten a few "teases" for:
1) Washing my clothes in fabric softener- How could I tell.. the writing was in Arabic! Who knew it was so hard to find liquid detergent here?
2) Blowing off a few stop signs after driving in Kuwait- Well, this is fair. I should probably stop at stop signs.. but, honestly, there really aren't many in Kuwait!
3) Call it what you want... but, I've lost my filter. See Wedding in San Deigo section below. ;)
South Dakota:
We got to see the beautiful Badlands in South Dakota as well as hike in the Black Hills.
Wedding in San Deigo and some pre-wedding Vegas time:
I got to be in a good friend of mine, Arielle's wedding in July! Her wedding was in San Deigo as a destination wedding. A fun fact is that this was her first time flying on a plane. How neat? Makes me want to do a destination wedding someday.
I was fortunate to bring along one of my best friends to the wedding. OF course, Leslie and I decided to get some quality Vegas time in before taking MY first Greyhound to San Deigo. Vegas.. what else is there to say about Vegas other than it's AMAZING?!
The Greyhound. The story of the Greyhound goes a little like this: 1. Tiffany and Leslie are VERY tired from staying up late and indulging on Vegas. 2. Our bus leaves around 8 AM. 3. A homeless guy asked us for some of our Doritos (yes.. Doritos.. breakfast of champs). 4. A he/she character joined us on our first leg of the trip. 5. Leg #1 went over pretty uneventful all things considered. 6. Then, leg # 2 happened. 7. Tired Tiffany and a bunch of poor Mexican's do not mix! 8. While on our 5 minute wait for our other bus, a lady with about a million kids- who were all quite out of control I might add, were standing right in front of Tiffany and Leslie. 9. Tiffany very discretely turns and whispers to Leslie "Some people should not have children." 10. The ladies friend was behind us and yells, "SOME PEOPLE HAVE A LOT OF KIDS... AND THAT'S OKAY." 11. I tiredly/obnoxiously nod along and here's the ridiculous part... I do a part two of discretely looking back at Leslie and whisper, "Yeah, that's what comes out of my paycheck every month." *** WOAH... filter.. where are you filter!?!
Whoops.. so, I lost my filter a little bit while living over seas. Good news is.. we lived!
Year Two in Kuwait:
My furry loves:
Buster
Germo
As you can see, I spend a good portion of my time at home commentating for me pets. Someone's gotta do it! (Or maybe... I really am insane?)
A Real Live Apartment..... *insert surprised/ Wallah face (arab word for "for real?"):
Having an actual apartment has made an unreal difference to my over all well-being. How did I survive living in a hotel for a year?
Teaching with...ehem ehem... experience:
So, that first year's a doozy eh? It just sucks that you have to go through it! Woah, I truly learned a TON. Let's just write that first year off, k? hahahaha
Anyways, as any experienced teacher (I just love saying that) would say, "The first year's hard." Now that I've returned with that experience, teaching seems significantly easier.
Rescuing Stray Dogs:
So, Yousef and I were on a mission trying to find a Cowboy Hat (What?, it was a costume party) at the LuLu Hypermarket, and we found this cute and amazing little puppy just laying there in the sand between the parking lots. We couldn't just leave her there, so she was a guest in my apartment for the evening! Then, Yousef took her out to an organization that helps with stray animals. Now I understand why so many people here become cat ladies. It's just too hard on your heart to leave them out and helpless.
Eid Al Hadha:
EID Murbarak everyone! EID is an Islamist Holiday where they sacrifice lambs or camels to help support the poor and feed families. There's more to it, but that's all I remembered when the information was given to me on the last day of the school week (Thursday), which is also, coincidentally the best day of the school week!
Sheesha:
Thanks to our lovely friend, Khaled, this is my very own and first sheesha! He was even nice enough to show me how to do it.
I know what you're thinking, but please don't judge this Wyoming girl for lack of sheesha experience.
First Night at The Proms/ Ahmadi Choir Group:
Reason # 1 for participating in this event: THREE.. I repeat... THREE free evenings in the British Embassy. We're doing some songs from the musical Carmen, so it's a good time. :)
Jazz Band.. the old Desert Cats and the New we don't know yet:
We are still in existence and thriving. No gigs last year.. but think of it in Kuwait terms.. we may actually get a gig this year! *holds breath and has fingers crossed*
AIS Jazz Band:
Attempt.. crap I forgot how many attempts on uploading videos, and fails!! ahhhh! Anyhow, we have new band directors this year and they got a group of AIS staff and students involved. We've got a good group and played in the elementary principal's welcoming assembly. The kids thought I was famous!
It's true! Tom and Kris Thorne.. and inshallah Katie Bennington.. get your saddles ready! :D
Yousef and our special Kuwaiti poor version of joining a private gym... dun dun dun... ladies and gentleman.... we present to you- The Holiday Inn:
Yousef, if you didn't already know is my boyfriend. He and I met at that fancy and paid music performance. He's been heavily involved in acting and singing his whole life. He's actually got a show coming up soon!
Yousef and I managed to squeak in to getting a "married" discount at the Holiday Inn. We are important people now. :)
Wow.. I told ya it would be long! Happy EID Murbarak to all and Happy Canadian Thanksgiving to all (yesterday)!
Ciao for now xxx
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