Well it's hard to believe it but we are starting our third week here in Kuwait. Even though we spend most of the day in the hotel we have progressively been exploring the different areas around us. We went to the open market last week and that was quite an experience! There are vendors for everything you can imagine. It happens every weekend and literally you can buy anything from fresh produce to furniture. I can't wait until we are actually in our home so that I can buy instead of just looking. There are all kinds of booths for persian rugs at amazingly low prices. We didn't actually buy anything this time but I got lots of ideas for our new home.
Our sponsor thought we should look at some other villas before we signed our lease to be sure we were happy. So we went to see what they had in mind. The first villa was crazy big and not even a consideration. It had 12 bedrooms plus separate quarters out back with two apartments for the maid and driver. We told them we weren't interested of course. The next day they took us to see a villa that belongs to an ambassador here. It is in a very nice area and a quiet neighborhood. This one had only seven bedrooms and was much newer. It was really nice with an outdoor pool. But it is still way too big for our purposes. We decided we would just get lost in a house that big so we are back to the apartment. But we did find out that we will be the first tenants in the building so we will have the whole place to ourselves. I think we will be much happier and if after the first year we decide we need more room we can look at villas again then.
In the meantime, we have discovered that the sponsor company is not one that meets the right requirements so he has to start the process over again. Not really that big of a deal but it does mean that he will have to do his medical again and he is not looking forward to having more blood taken. The biggest downside to it all is that it will be at least five more weeks before he gets his work permit and then he can apply for his base pass. If it all goes well he should be going to work around the end of October. So we may have to work in some vacation time between now and then. We are going back and forth on either France/Italy or Thailand. We have around 10 days to use before the end of the year so we have a few options.
We haven't really been doing too much other than stitching and hanging out in the spa. I am going to my first coffee morning with the British Ladies Society on Monday. Hopefully I will make some nice contacts and get lots of tips on living here. It's very quiet here right now because most of the residents are on vacation. They should start coming back at the beginning of September and then it will turn into a much busier place with people and lots of cars on the road.
