Hey everybody, welcome back to our weekly gathering at happy hour!  It’s been a busy/awesome week for us, and we have lots of news and info to share with everyone.

• First, we bought a car!  We’ve spent the last 2 months getting the appropriate drivers license, researching cars, then doing all of the paperwork etc. to finalize the deal.  We bought a used Dodge Durango from an expat from Austria.  We’ve only had it a few days, but have totally enjoyed the freedom it has brought us.  We no longer feel tied down, or in constant search of taxis every time we want to go somewhere.  We’ve been out exploring a couple of times and it is so nice to just go on our own schedule.  It was quite the process to purchase the vehicle, which I’ll explain in more detail in a future post. In the meantime, here is a picture of our new wheels:

You are probably wondering . . . . “what the heck is that big thing on the back?”  Leave your guess in the comments section below, and the first person who guesses correctly AND the person with the most “creative” guess will win a mega-high-5 from me the next time we hang out!

• This week, we celebrated our first major holiday since moving to Kuwait: Thanksgiving.  It was sad not spending the holiday with our families back home, but we still made the most of it, spending it with our close friends here in Kuwait (our new family!)  We were super fortunate that we were invited by one of my student’s families to have a Thanksgiving dinner with them at their home.  So after a day of work, we headed over for an outstanding meal featuring turkey, mashed potatoes, yams, cranberries, green bean casserole, and all of the other typical dishes featured at an American Thanksgiving dinner.  They were super hospitable, and we were so thankful for their generous offering and kind invitation.  Over the weekend, we had another Thanksgiving potluck with a bunch of our co-workers here at our apartment complex. I couldn’t make it to that meal, but Rachel said the food and company were great!

• With our new wheels, I finally made my first trip to Ace Hardware last weekend!  The store here is about half the size of a Home Depot from back home . . . way bigger than any Ace Hardware I’ve ever been to.  Based on the items you can buy there, it’s like they literally picked up a store in the midwest, and transplanted it in Kuwait.  The craziest part was the huge selection of lawnmowers they had, including riding lawnmowers!  Since we’ve been here, i’ve yet to see a house with a yard that includes anything close to grass (everything is either concrete or sand).  I could’ve spent hours in there and about a million dollars in goodies.  However I refrained so that I have a reason to go back there every weekend when I’m bored.

That’s a quick recap of a few of our weekly highlights. I hope all is well, we’ll be seeing you next week!