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Noella's Photo SpaceOctober 12 October UpdateFirst, a huge apology for taking so long to update my site. Summer absolutly flew by, and now its already October. Happy Thanksgiving to all the Canadians- I'm hosting a Canadian Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow for about 40 people!
Where to start... the summer. As usual, summer was absolutly crazy. Once again I travelled with Keri. We staying in Kuwait for a couple of days, then flew to Frankfurt and then on to Istanbul, Turkey. Istanbul was beautiful. We quickly got our groundings in Instanbul and stayed there for several nights. It was World Cup season, so we quickly became familiar with a local bar where the beer was good and cold. No, the trip wasn't about the beer (although with only about 5 beer free days this summer, I have to wonder), we did see the main sights as per the new album uploaded.
After Istanbul, we flew to Izmir where we hired a car. Lucky for me, it was a standard, and Keri was unable to drive standard... so I had the privilage of driving for three solid days. Okay, the fact that I hadn't driven in about a year, not to mention a standard in two years, I did okay. Its like riding a bike. I rented a car while in Ontario, and one night while driving home, I caught myself trying to shift down... I guess when you've driven standard for 6 years old habits die hard!
Anyway, our drive around south western Turkey was amazing. We drove through mountains and visited many beach towns, saw ruins and interesting places like Pamukkale. It was an amazing trip. We returned our car in a port town where we then headed to the Greek Islands.
In Greece, we went to four islands- Samos, Mykonos, Ios and Santorini. Sandorini was my favorite- we rented four wheelers and zoomed around the island and visited the volcano. Breath taking views! Night life was pretty good too.
We were planning on travelling to Athens, but weather cancelled our boat causing us to take a flight to Athens (not seeing Athens again!), where we caught a flight back to Istanbul. We stayed in Istanbul for two more nights- heading back to our favorite local bar. We then flew to our home destinations- Keri to Texas, and me to Toronto.
Summer in Canada was very busy. I was in Toronto for a few days, then home at the farm for a few more before flying to Vancouver and San Francisco for two weeks. After this time, I spent the remaining three weeks home in Ontario visiting friends and family. Now, I'm back in Kuwait.
I guess that would be the quick version of my summer.
Things in Kuwait are a little different this year. Some of my close friends have moved on, but the new teachers are pretty cool. I'm still teaching art and loving it (the kids make the class though!). I've started volunteering at my church which has made a huge difference here. Plus, getting to the gym as much as possible to dump the beer weight from the summer. It looks like this will be my last year in Kuwait, so I'm making the most of the Middle East (travelling to Bahrain for Eid and then Egypt again for Christmas) plus, I need to fully see the Kuwait toursit sites (that will take all of two days!).
Anyway, chat soon... hopefully sooner than later!
Noella June 16 School is Out!The year is over... time to say goodbye to students and teachers who are taking on new challenges next year. Not always the best part of the year, but I do look forward to the summer! The last two months of school have been incredibly crazy. Volleyball season (my under 14 team finished 2nd), the annual art show where this year I added an event "Elementary Arts Extravaganza" where we sold art for charity- The Kuwait Association for the Care of Children in Hospitals. We were able to raise 370KD- close to $1500 CN$, as a first event, we were pretty excited!
Since my last update, I was able to travel to Egypt for spring break. Keri and I visited Cario and Sharm El Shaik for some serious R&R. It was awesome. Over the Easter break, we travelled to Lebanon where we did more sight seeing. Two great trips! Next week we are both travelling to Turkey and Greece before heading to Canada and USA.
Have a great summer!
Noella March 02 Road trip to the Saudi BorderForgot to mention in last blog that we took a quick trip out to the Saudi border! Quite the drive, with lots of desert pictures to add to the site. Its tent season here in Kuwait, so we managed to see a few of those. We stopped for a bite at the lonly Hardie's fast food place. Yum. Obviously, we couldn't go into Saudi Arabia- mostly because we were three uncovered females. Women also can't drive there- another reason. But it was a fun afternoon of driving! Enjoy the flat pictures. Happy MarchHello All,
Its been awhile since I've updated my site, where do I start? For those who have heard from me over the past few months, you already know that CRAZY is ths best word to discribe how things have been going. The moment I got back to Kuwait, I finished my Reading Part 1 course, then dove into work. Between report cards, art competitions, budget and now curriculm, I'm keeping very busy. I should be writing curriculum right now, but well, there is always something else to do to distract me! Things have been so busy that I broke down and got a maid. Yeah, always a clean home on Saturdays
 .Social life in Kuwait has been pretty slow with our Emir passing away, but tonight, finally there is a live school band playing. I think two entire school teacher populations will be there, it should be good.
Haven't done any travelling over the past two months. We had planned on Dubai or Bahrain over our National Day/Liberation Day weekend, but flights were holiday rates... we went to the Spa instead. Definitly an "out of country" experience. Keri and I are going to Egypt for our spring break at the end of this month. Can't wait- its been a country I've wanted to travel to for quite some time.
Other than that, things have been good. Back at the gym, playing squash and hoping to take up soccer in the next couple of weeks on a girls team. Rugby is also a possibility, but I need to learn the game first!
Hope everyone is well, drop me a line when you get the chance.
Noella January 15 Back HomeWell, the Christmas holiday is over. It was quite the three weeks. No one really knew that I was going home, needlesstosay, Mom was extreemly surprised. I think she was a little unhappy that dad didn't take her out for dinner on her birthday, but when I showed up at the house, all was forgotten. Thanks Dad for keeping it a secret! I spent most of my time at my parents and in Toronto. Lynett, thanks once again for letting me crash at your house. Christmas was with my family, and New Years was in Toronto at a house party. Lots of fun. Too much Stella, and likely not enough sleep. Sorry if I wasn't able to catch up with some of you, I wanted to have somewhat of a low key vacation. Back to school on Monday... great, but a short 3 day week. I'm already getting stressed as I have no lessons planned, and I have a ton of course work to finish this week. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas Holiday. No bungee jumping this year, but all was still a blast and I'm happy to be home to get back into a routine!
Love ya, Noella |
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