A lot of things happened today. We began with breakfast as we have every day during our time here so I thought I'd mention that in at least one blog post. The breakfast has a variety of food to choose from but now that we've been here for over a week I believe I have tried everything twice. I'm not saying that I'm tired of the breakfast but I will say that it's good that breakfast is the only part of the trip that has become monotonous in nature. Lunch and dinner and snacks are always an adventure. For lunch today we actually ate at Carino's which is a chain Italian restaurant available in the states. We all chose to visit Carino's because of its prime location on the gulf, and you can see several of my photos in the slideshow below that I took from the pier near the restaurant.
Sadly I do not have any photos in the slideshow from our visit at the US Embassy as they do not allow cameras or phones on the compound premises. While I was not able to capture any photos for Instagram I was able to meet a US Ambassador for the first time and listen to him talk about his job and duties. Ambassador Tueller has served in his current role since 2011 and before that had a long career in the senior foreign service. He is a BYU alum but I couldn't find an appropriate time to ask him if he's keeping up with Cougars football this season. I did however ask him how it feels to be confirmed by the US Senate. He said that it was a humbling experience but that he really just appreciated being able to witness the workings of our constitutional form of government firsthand. Ambassador Tueller also mentioned that he's been in the Oval Office before and that's certainly something that I wish I could say.
After visiting with the Ambassador we spoke with several officers at the Embassy and listened to them talk about their experiences working in the foreign service. I'm not really sure what information they'd feel comfortable with us divulging so I won't say much.
Lunch at Carino's followed our visit to the Embassy and directly after Carino's we traveled to Al Rai TV for a tour and to be interviewed and followed by a camera the entire time. It was an awesome afternoon that I'll always remember as we were able to get a behind the scenes look at the day to day operations of a major television station. Al Rai's building also houses a major newspaper of the same name and we were able to talk with the managing editor of the paper about his experiences working in print in the Middle East.
Al Rai has permanent sets for most of their shows. We saw the sets for a children's show, legal show, game show, and talk show. We sat on the couch of the talk show and were interviewed for what I assume will be a documentary or show on the station about the American students who toured Al Rai. After our tour was over each of us were interviewed by our tour guide and during the entire tour a camera followed us as we visited each different room. The archive room stood out in particular. Overall it was a great trip to Al Rai and I hope we can see whatever video or film is made about our visit.
When we left Al Rai we went to find the football practice for the Kuwait Gridiron National Football team coached by James Williams, an A-State football alum. We were unable to find the practice but we will be meeting up with James tomorrow at the City Center in Salmiya. I'll have photos and a recap about that experience tomorrow night. We're halfway across the world and get to meet a fellow Red Wolf so that's a pretty unique opportunity.
I have photos from Al Rai and the coastline near Carino's below. Again, no photos from the Embassy due to national security rules or something of that nature
Sadly I do not have any photos in the slideshow from our visit at the US Embassy as they do not allow cameras or phones on the compound premises. While I was not able to capture any photos for Instagram I was able to meet a US Ambassador for the first time and listen to him talk about his job and duties. Ambassador Tueller has served in his current role since 2011 and before that had a long career in the senior foreign service. He is a BYU alum but I couldn't find an appropriate time to ask him if he's keeping up with Cougars football this season. I did however ask him how it feels to be confirmed by the US Senate. He said that it was a humbling experience but that he really just appreciated being able to witness the workings of our constitutional form of government firsthand. Ambassador Tueller also mentioned that he's been in the Oval Office before and that's certainly something that I wish I could say.
After visiting with the Ambassador we spoke with several officers at the Embassy and listened to them talk about their experiences working in the foreign service. I'm not really sure what information they'd feel comfortable with us divulging so I won't say much.
Lunch at Carino's followed our visit to the Embassy and directly after Carino's we traveled to Al Rai TV for a tour and to be interviewed and followed by a camera the entire time. It was an awesome afternoon that I'll always remember as we were able to get a behind the scenes look at the day to day operations of a major television station. Al Rai's building also houses a major newspaper of the same name and we were able to talk with the managing editor of the paper about his experiences working in print in the Middle East.
Al Rai has permanent sets for most of their shows. We saw the sets for a children's show, legal show, game show, and talk show. We sat on the couch of the talk show and were interviewed for what I assume will be a documentary or show on the station about the American students who toured Al Rai. After our tour was over each of us were interviewed by our tour guide and during the entire tour a camera followed us as we visited each different room. The archive room stood out in particular. Overall it was a great trip to Al Rai and I hope we can see whatever video or film is made about our visit.
When we left Al Rai we went to find the football practice for the Kuwait Gridiron National Football team coached by James Williams, an A-State football alum. We were unable to find the practice but we will be meeting up with James tomorrow at the City Center in Salmiya. I'll have photos and a recap about that experience tomorrow night. We're halfway across the world and get to meet a fellow Red Wolf so that's a pretty unique opportunity.
I have photos from Al Rai and the coastline near Carino's below. Again, no photos from the Embassy due to national security rules or something of that nature