Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

I'm a little behind in wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving, but I sure hope everyone had a fabulous day. I was a little bummed about having to work all day. However, after it was all said and done I decided that's the way to go. I worked all day, then we all went over to a friends house for dinner. There was tons of delicious food and I wasn't in the kitchen all day! Nice!

I complain so much about the stresses of overseas life, but I truly have so much to be thankful for. My family is all together and I know that is the most important thing for our children. My children are healthy. I am thankful God gave me a job to keep my mind occupied. I am thankful my children are loving it here. I am thankful my husband has a stable job and is so supportive of me in everything I do. I am thankful my mother in law came to visit us for 2 weeks. That's truly brave of her to hop on a plane by herself and I have much admiration! I am thankful I have money and more than I need. We are not rich in American standards, but compared to the rest of the world and what I am seeing first hand, you would think we are millionaires. I am thankful there is a swimming pool right outside my door. I am thankful there are restaurants that I can go into and feel a little more "at home." I am thankful for the internet so that I can stay connected with my family. It's a little difficult to talk on the phone because of the 9 hour time difference between here and AR, but I can email anytime of the day and wake up to a reply on most days. I am thankful for the people I have met here in Kuwait. So many families can relate to how we feel because they are experiencing the same feelings. We can laugh together about it and that seems to help us all get through this. Living overseas has taught me to be thankful for things like Target, deodorant, freedom of religion/speech, rules and laws, and countless other things...

We had International Day at the school I work at on Thanksgiving day and I took a little video clip. Each class represented a different country. At the end of the assembly, they played the song "We Are The World." It was really a neat experience for me as I looked around at the people I work with from so many different countries (USA, England, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, India, Sri Lanka, Australia, and many more) and all the different children. It was a beautiful moment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6tu9JhFVzU

Baa....Baa....

I will forever have a new image in my head when I see or hear a lamb. Thankfully, I was given a heads up by some neighbors that today is the day the Arabic community sacrifice sheep in honor of their loved ones who have passed away. I was informed that it happens early in the morning and I might want to keep the children indoors.

Well. Apparently it happens throughout the day! My mother in law is here visiting and wanted to go over to the gym this morning. I walked her across the courtyard with my oldest son and on the way we saw a little more than we bargained for. Blood, heads, and other body parts were scattered in one area of the courtyard. We could tell the men were very uncomfortable with our being there so we quickly got inside the gym. I left Norma and Landen and went back to my house thinking that would be the end of that. Later, I went back to check on them and found them trying to get out of the gym via a different exit. While exercising, they had witnessed a new, live sheep about to meet his demise. This was about 11:30pm. I quickly gathered the kids inside as I really didn't want them to witness it. There were several other children running around and I made a few quick phone calls to parents.

I really thought we had fooled them until a little girl who is 6 came and knocked on our door. Jordyn answered and I heard her tell Jordyn, "there's a dead sheep outside!" Yikes. My stomach has been turned the rest of the day and so has Norma's. I don't have any pictures of it, but I really don't think it's something you would want to see.

Norma did, however capture this one yesterday. Little did they know what was going to happen to them today. Chalk this one up to more "memories."

Privileged

Hayden's class picture at the "American" School of Kuwait. :-)

Just to give you an example of names of some of the children: Abdulaziz, Mohammed, Rakan, Nasser, Faiza, Dalia, Hamood, Shaika, Dhari, Walaa, Hala. These are not necessarily the kids names in the picture. I'm just pulling the names out of a hat from the children I am around at the school I work at.

One of these days, I'll take my camera and get some pictures of the girls I work with. They are all very nice, for the most part. The school I work at is staffed with 1/2 Arabic and 1/2 Westerners, though I think it's really more like 3/4 and 1/4. The majority are Muslim and wear head scarfs every day. Some are dark and muted in their dress, but many are bright and colorful. They are friendly and kind and love the kids. I work with people from South Africa, Egypt, Lebanon, England, America, India, Sri Lanka, and many other countries. It's really amazing if you think about it.

Most of the women are very friendly. You very rarely see a woman out without her maid (or maids) following close behind her. They send their "drivers" to the school and the "nanny" hops out of the car to take the child in. When the bell rings, it's a rush of women (mostly from the Phillipines) in maid uniforms coming to collect the children from their class and take them home. Kuwaiti women are very "privileged" and flaunt that when they are in public. As a westerner, here in Kuwait, we are treated as one of the "privileged." I don't like feeling that way. I am called "madame" and treated like a queen with open doors and servants. It's like we are better than the others, and let's face it... In God's eyes, we are all equal. We are SO very privileged to be born in America where things may not be perfect, but it's a million times better than what the majority of the world is living.