We workout!

Posted on 7 October, 2013 by Lissa Layman

Life has been crazy around here. We have lots of things to share…however no time to do so!

In the meantime, we wanted to share some pictures from our gym. Occasionally they have a photographer and occasionally we get into some pictures.

Last year I participated in a group ‘personal’ training session. A picture of me made the info page.
A few weeks ago I went to the launch of the Gravity Training System. Here is an album that includes some pictures of me.
Jeff and I went to the Les Mills release last weekend. We did an hour of Grit. Don’t judge us for how tired we look.
You can find all their albums here. We pop up sometimes.

We’re approaching our Kuwait weight and bodies…and working hard to get there!

We made it!

Posted on 11 June, 2013 by Lissa Layman

We made it…
* through our 4th and 5th years teaching.
* through our 1st year in international educations and in kuwait (with lots of ups and downs).
* to the airport (…I started packing approximately 1.5 hours before we left).
* to Frankfurt (even though the plane a a few too many crying babies).
* to Heidelberg and our apartment (after 2 hours in the rain figuring out how to do so…we’re two for two with AirBnB, no phones and rain!).

Yesterday we relaxed a little at the apartment before heading down to Altstadt for some walking, food (read beer) and tourist info.

Can you find the Kuwaiti dinar?!

The weather was nothing like what the weather channel said it would be…

But we made it work 😉

We returned to the apartment, fell asleep on the couch at 5pm and woke up in bed at 7am this morning! Guess we needed to relax and rejuvenate a little!

After a short run this morning (outside, green, wet and gorgeous!) and some yummy breakfast, were headed to check out the castle!

Why we don’t have a TV…

Posted on 4 June, 2013 by Lissa Layman

Siblings in Kuwait – Spring Break 2013

Posted on 28 May, 2013 by Lissa Layman

One of the deals we are giving our 5 siblings is a trip (once) to visit us. Abby is here for the semester subbing and Andrew came to visit for his Spring Break! Shannon was studying abroad in Barcelona so they met up in Kuwait. It was a memorable week for all! (see Shannon’s post for proof)

There was a little miscommunication ..Shannon arrived on Friday, March 22nd and Andrew arrived 24 hours later. Luckily we like Shannon so it worked out just fine 😉

Shannon made it!

It actually ended up being quite an interesting experience: Shannon met a guy from Portugal on the plane. He was visiting friends but they weren’t able to pick him up at the airport. Our friend, Dana, was driving so we all piled into her car and took him to Marina Mall. We invited him to have breakfast with us at Pain Quotidian…and ended up finding out he was visiting some Kuwaiti royalty that he had met on a road trip. Crazy! We ended up hanging out with him all day and had quite a bit of fun being hospitable. Bonus: he’s a great (self-taught) photographer!

The afternoon consisted of coffee and pedicures. Saturday was another early morning to pick Andrew up at the airport.

We had an amazing breakfast (as always) at the Cocoa Room before heading out to the desert!

Full and satisfied, Dana, Andrew, Shannon, Abby, Jeff and I headed out to do some desert hiking. We found some interesting things along the way!

We also managed to do some GeoCaching…

…and found lots and lots of bullets in the process.

It wasn’t the clearest day but we had a great (HOT) time! Check out the entire album for many more pictures 🙂

Before they came, we compiled a list of all the things we wanted to do with them. [As you can see, we take our food very seriously!] It was actually a pretty busy week! We gave them a taste of a lot of things and know we missed even more. Contrary to popular belief, there’s actually a lot to do in Kuwait (if you’re looking). Some of the blogs I use to find goings-on: 2:48AM, Life in Kuwait, The Grapevine Kuwait.

Shannon introduced me to Red Mango…how did I manage to get through the first 7 months here without ever stopping to try it?!

We ventured to Souq Sharq (a first for all of us!).

We made at stop at the Fish Market.

We (finally) tried a nearby bakery and enjoyed some Middle Eastern sweets.

Strolling through the Old Souq.

Dinner at the Old Souq

Our last night, we ventured to one of our favorite restaurants for some Turkish food and shisha.

Jeff getting fancy with shisha

Abby’s friend from high school (Lance) was in Kuwait for a couple months working on the oil fields and joined us…small world!

Andrew’s turn 🙂

It was a great week!!

Check out the rest of our pictures plus all of our iPhone photos 🙂

Guide to Kuwait Visitor Visas for American Citizens

Posted on 1 April, 2013 by Lissa Layman

When Andrew and Shannon came to visit, we wanted to make sure they knew exactly what to do when they got to the airport. Although it is free for Americans to obtain a visitor visa in Kuwait, we do in fact need them. So for future family members that come visit here is a how-to guide! Thanks bunches to Bryn and Dana for helping put this together (I didn’t actually do much work)!

View this document on Scribd

And we’re off!

Posted on 21 February, 2013 by Lissa Layman

Today at school…we celebrated! It was probably one of the best days that we’ve seen since coming here. 99% of the students were dressed up in some way for the upcoming National and Liberation holidays (February 25th & 26th). The elementary school students all stood in the courtyard before school started and sang the national anthem. It was just fun! The rest of the day was filled with parties and more national fun 🙂

We got in the spirit too!

Accidentally cut off the top of Jeff’s head!

Since we’ve been told the country gets a little crazy for these holidays, we decided to get out (we have Sunday through Tuesday off). Jeff and I haven’t traveled since coming to Kuwait (we don’t count going home for Christmas) and this will also be Abby’s first travel since arriving. In a few short hours we’re heading to the airport, then to Doha (Qatar) for an hour layover before we reach our final destination of Athens (Greece) just before noon! None of us have been and we’re pretty excited to explore the city for 3 full days.

Happy weekend everyone! xoxo

Authentic Kuwaiti

Posted on 9 February, 2013 by Lissa Layman

Last weekend we went to the AWARE Center for a traditional Kuwaiti experience. We started with dates, ate a delicious Kuwaiti meal and ended with a presentation about Kuwaiti culture. It was great to finally have the chance to eat REAL Kuwaiti food! Most of the restaurants here are from other Arab countries.

We didn’t take pictures, but click over to Crazy in Kuwait’s post to read more about it 🙂

We live in the desert.

Posted on 28 January, 2013 by Lissa Layman

Update: I found this post of a Kuwait blogger who went “behind the scenes” at the camel races. Jealous!

Saturday we had one of those moments where we realized that we live in Kuwait. In the desert. Seriously!? We joined 250 other people at the AWARE Center, climbed on buses and headed into the desert.

The ride out was pretty uneventful but it gave us a chance to watch out the window. We were completely surprised by the amount of trash. It was everywhere. Probably the hardest thing for us to see is the complete disregard (by some people) for their surroundings. Kuwait could be much more beautiful if people used trash cans

After about 45 minutes we arrived at the camel races…in the middle of nowhere.

We had just under 2 hours to explore and relax before the races started. Luckily they fed us treats…

…dates, camel butter and camel milk…

…and tea.

We had the opportunity to ride camels. We decided against it. NOT!

(We did not edit the sound so you might want to turn the sound down. Also, sorry for the orientation of the video. Blame the camera man – Jeff. 😉

Abby and I made Jeff go first – it was just a little intimidating! The camel grew more unhappy with each rider – it refused to stand up fort he rider after me. We did notice that my camel ride was recorded by Al Watan TV…maybe I’ll become famous 😉

We went back to the diwaniya to watch the start of the camel race on TV. The older the camel the longer the race. The races on Saturday were 6k and 8k. They start far away and finish at the grand stands. The whole time there are cars following along on the outside of the tracks. Luckily people don’t ride the camels (except for this crazy guy), robots do! The people in the cars control the robots and their little flexible arm that spins around and slaps the camel. It’s crazy to watch!

Although we didn’t start our watch (what kind of runners are we?!), we think the camels ran 6k in 10-15 minutes. The weather was pretty decent (not too cold, not to hot and cloudy) the wind did pick up and we got to taste some sand. The Kuwaiti men had the right idea covering their mouths!

After the last race (there were 3), we headed to a ‘farm’ in the desert for the typical buffet spread.

All sorts of Lebanese food.

On our way back to the the AWARE center we got to see desert camping for the first time. There was even more trash, but this time we saw where it was all coming from. From November to March people are allowed to set up tents in the desert (leave them there) and go out to their camp whenever they want to. They practically make tent cities! We had no idea! But we’re pretty excited to try it for a night or two 🙂

Sorry for the crappy iPhone photos!

Yes…those are blow-up slides!

Just another day in the life of Lissa, Jeff & Abby! To see our entire photo album, click here. Or watch the video below!

We hang out with kids…voluntarily

Posted on 26 January, 2013 by Lissa Layman

Our Friday started out quite foggy again.

The day also ended quite foggy! Luckily it turned out to be a gorgeous day in between. We don’t really follow the weather here so we don’t know why it has been so crazy (we’ve heard it hasn’t been like this in past years) but it’s foggier by the Gulf so it has to do have something to do with the water being warmer than the air. We’re practically meteorologists!

I forgot about our dessert on Thursday evening! It was at the Chocolate Bar by Dana’s place. We had dark chocolate fondue…no idea how I forgot about it!

Friday morning we got up WAY too early for a weekend and headed to a ‘yard’ sale. Abby got a few things for her classroom and Jeff and I picked up a pizza paddle. We also came home with 3 Disney movies! We had about 10 that we wanted to buys but narrowed it down to Fern Gully, Mary Poppins and the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Abby and I had a great time reminiscing about our childhood 🙂

After the yard sale I made a breakfast that was ALMOST as good as the Cocoa Room…pumpkin pancakes 🙂

We did buy the movies and pizza paddle for a reason. After a workout and a chill evening, we voluntarily hung out with 3 cute little girls (ages 4, 6/7, & 9). Even though we don’t really want kids of our own, we do enjoy hanging out with other people’s kids! You can’t call it babysitting when we volunteer to do it, don’t get paid and have fun! The girls played with our kittens, made their own pizza, played with balloons and watched Fern Gully. Pretty sure the 3 adults in the room enjoyed the movie more than the kids!

Next up…camel races!

Happy birthday!

Posted on 26 January, 2013 by Lissa Layman

This long weekend is in honor of prophet Mohammed’s birthday (PBUH). We’re taking full advantage of the extra time to have fun, eat good food and relax!

Treats from the Arabic department for Prophet Mohammed’s birthday.

The excitement started on Wednesday morning when we booked tickets for Andrew to come visit during his spring break! His girlfriend, Shannon, is studying abroad in Barcelona and will be meeting Andrew in London for a layover before flying together to Kuwait for a week! We’re all pretty excited 🙂

Wednesday night we enjoyed Turkish food and shisha at Afendim with some friends that we took Arabic classes with. It was a great time had by all…even though the three of us think we have had some side effects from shisha (feel slightly sick).

Thursday morning Abby and I joined some other friends for breakfast at Cocoa Room. It was amazing as always. We shared the cinnamon roll French toast, eggs menemen and hash browns. As we were finishing up our meal, a server came over with an order of peanut butter pancakes. We told him they weren’t ours…but a few minutes later another server came over and told us they were on the house. We were all full, but could you pass these up?!

Peanut butter pancakes!

After Abby and I recovered from our sugar coma, we decided to take advantage of the day and head outside…for some geocaching!

Thursday’s weather

Jeff, Abby and I walked a couple miles along the Gulf in the gorgeous weather and logged a 2-part multi-cache.

Geocaching…in Arabic!

Along the way we found a palace that we hadn’t noticed before. we thought about exploring but decided against it 😉

No one’s going in there…

We weren’t the only ones that were out enjoying the day…there were tons of people grilling and having picnics!

Picnicking on the Gulf.

Thursday evening we met up with our friend Dana for dinner and drinks (strawberry juice and 7up sans alcohol, obviously) at her place. We then headed to City Center for bowling! Jeff and Dana were styling 🙂

It was the first time we’d been to this mall which is known for it’s cheap shops and shoe outlets. I found 2 pair of Nine West boots for 22kd before we headed upstairs to bowl.