Life in Kuwait

I know that some people have this somewhat preconceived notion of what day-to-day life is like in the middle east. I did too before I came here for the first time. I have to say that it was very little like I had envisioned beforehand. So, I thought I would share a little of what our social life is like when we are here. Before we came out here the first time Andrew had told me that the most important thing I could do was to develop our social circle as the key to surviving in a new culture was having a social outlet. So, I started going to the British Ladies Society coffee morning and once in a while to the American Women League and of course to the quilt group meetings. There are so many amazing people here of different nationalities once you get out and meet them.
We spent our anniversary here this year and couldn't figure out how we would celebrate it. But on our actual anniversary we were invited to a reception for Prince Andrew (British Royal Family) on the HMS Richmond which was in port here. That was nice and we were out on the town so very unexpected as well.
Then that weekend the Irish Society was hosting a St. Patrick's Day Ball. These are always fun because we get to dress up for the black tie occasion.

It was at the Hilton with a nice plated dinner and a band that played 70's-present music.
During this time period our friends the Dishongh's had their parents out visiting from Hot Springs so we had a lot of fun hanging with them. Frank and Johanna decided to host a party for Ray and Daisy(the parents) and asked Andrew's band to play for the evening. Here is the guys at their best.

And of course the "groupies" some of the ladies having a good time! There was a house full of around 50 that night and everyone had a great time just mingling and relaxing as you would anywhere else.

Other than that we have our couples cards night about once a month and that is always great to see the guys relax and have fun without talking about work. None of the guys work at the same company so the conversation usually stays very lighthearted and it gives them a break from the stresses. We ladies love to watch them just relax and enjoy a fun night.

Ignore the look on Andrew's face! If you see the clock on the wall it says 10:15. That's about two hours later than we are normally in our room already. :)

And of course, there is always my quilting. I will dearly miss many of the wonderful ladies that I have had the privilege ofmeeting here that have now moved on to different parts of the world. My closest and dearest quilting buddy is Betsy. She left before we returned this trip. (Don't feel too bad for them. Their next assignment is Vincenza, Italy!) Betsy, the one sitting at the sewing machine, is truly the one that inspired me to try quilting and held my hand pretty much all the way. She worked full-time for the last two years but stopped working at the end of 2008 so she could enjoy the social scene in Kuwait before she left. She started a very small quilting group on Wednesdays which I was part of and had a great time. I am hoping to start the group back up with the ladies that are still here now.

So, you see it isn't really that different from life anywhere else. Of course, other than I have a lot more opportunities to meet great people and experience all sorts of things that I might not otherwise get a chance to do.
One last thing....the shopping. Here is one of many, many shops that sell those wonderful handbags and other items that I get to bring back from time-to-time.