Roasted Culveys in Kuwait - Apr 2009

Hello all, remember us! The Culveys!!?? We ARE still alive! 

After nearly 6 months we are finally getting ourselves together and thought it was time we gave everyone an insight to the fun we've been having! In fact it was July when we last updated the website! Sooo much has happened since then! 

We had a great time back in the UK last July for Grannie's 90th birthday party, incredible weather, 'relies' from all over, and Grannie did a great impression of the Queen Mum!! 

And if that wasn't a big enough event, then on the 5th August, Les and Zoe brought little Tristan into the world, Lyra was lucky enough to go and see them and meet the young lad along with our sproglets, but I had to wait until Christmas for the pleasure!

In August Chris hosted a KNOCKOUT Curry and Softball birthday bash, BASH being the operative word, maybe softball (it really should be called hardball) and beer don't work so well together ;-) Clearly a day to remember, everyone loved it.

Of course Tan had just got married when last we spoke and shortly after that we all celebrated the marriage in Izmir with a great party at the Kordon Hotel, it truly was a fab night, and one to remember for Tanya and Gunay I'm sure (the question is CAN Gunay remember it....!!)

Following this night of celebration we knuckled down to sorting out our move, yes I (well we) decided to leave Tesco and try something new, and boy what a move it was! All the prep went ok, we were given a fantastic send off from Turkey, the best yet, in no small way down to the wonderful Ebru and friends, we were very touched by the whole evening. 

Tanya left us after Four and a Half LONG, LONG years (was that all it was  ;-) Seriously, it was quite bitter sweet, we were all so sad when Tanya left but knew it was to start her own wonderful family so of course we shared in her happiness too. Thankfully the very wonderful Auntie Laura came to stay to help tame India and Kai whilst Lyra orgainsed the house move. She was also a great support in ferrying the kids back to the UK as well - we really appreciated her patience.

So then we got on the plane complete with animals (the kids went back to the UK for a couple of weeks as kids and pets was a nightmare we could not contemplate!). We had become quite nervous about the move, the world was heading into turmoil financially and although the extent was not clear then, it was enough to give us a wobble. But we spoke to a few people and got enough confidence to head to Dnepropetrovsk.

It started ok, got there in one piece, so did the animals, moved into a very odd 'mansion' as our temporary accommodation, which was some ex business centre with a ballroom, 6 bedrooms, but no lounge or what you could really call a kitchen, but hey it was only for a few weeks, we would cope!

Those few weeks turned into a couple of months as housing was very difficult, we did find a place eventually, but never got to move in as it was unfinished, and other things conspired against us.

My job was getting more and more difficult to accept, the financial situation was pushing the company in a direction that I was not willing to go, by the middle of December we made the difficult decision to walk away as the company and the country were in such difficulties we were not confident of our safety or security.

Before we left though we did have some joyous news, Tanya gave birth to Kyra on the 7th December, both did great and we all enjoyed seeing her over Skype!! It also made the desire to get home all the greater.

So on the 20th December we started the long journey home, the pets were in boarding, our spare luggage in storage, and we couldn't wait to get out! Personally I have never been so excited to get back to the UK!!

And that was the end of our Ukrainian adventure. It was much shorter than expected, an experience we have learnt from and our map of the world will never be the same. We take away some positive memories, an understanding of how lucky we really are and we've also made some lifetime friends along the way, we are so appreciative to our assistants Val, Tatyana and Sasha our driver for their unfaltering support.

Christmas in the UK was absolutely wonderful, 1st one in the UK for Lyra and I in 7 years, first one ever for the kids! It was great to be amongst family both in Northampton and in the West country, even had a fab few days in Weymouth. We also finally managed to go back to Ansty Hall (after years of trying to schedule it in). We celebrated our Seventh wedding Anniversary there and had such a good time, we'll definitely be returning. 

The Culveys and some of the Pecks spent a top night celebrating Jo's birthday, it was so lovely to spend some quality time with such a together family, Jo's of course ;-)!

Another great bonus about being in the UK for Christmas was that we finally managed to spend some time with Steph in her lovely pad in London. We "attended" her knockout New Years bash and all had an amazing time. Once the kids were in bed we nipped out just before Midnight . Whilst Watching some mad fireworks over the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben we said goodbye to the year - it seemed so in keeping with recent experiences ;-)

Once into the New Year we were immersed in sorting out our lives, both removing ourselves completely from Ukraine and looking for work, although the first few leads ended in disappointment.

We took some time to visit friends we hadn't seen in a while, spending a great couple of days with Claire, James, Libby and Katie in Yorkshire, and had some fun with Auntie and Uncle in Nottingham. We were also lucky with our timing as Mel, Leah and Kyan were in the Uk and we managed to meet up for a quick reunion, the kids were so lovely together.

Early into the new year we knew we needed some stability for the kids and were so pleased to get them into the local schools. Indi started at Lyra's old school in Heyford, Bliss Charity, and Kai joined the local nursery for one day a week in the village too. They were so adaptable and fitted in immediately, India made loads of friends with her great tales of travel and recent adventures.

Being jobless back in England was tough, but we had great support from the family, and friends, those Sunday dinners are the stuff of legend now Jane, you were a true star to us, you and the boys played a big part in keeping us sane over those weeks, we miss you terribly. At least we got to spend her birthday with her and friends in the new and exclusive Jamie's in Oxford, it was almost as lovely as the very special Sunday roast - BUT not quite xx

After a month of searching, and just as I was starting to worry, I got a call from Kuwait, asking me if I would be interested in joining the biggest franchiser in the Middle East called Alshaya. I had a successful phone interview and made plans to visit Kuwait the following week. 

We managed to catch up for a great afternoon over in MK with Anita, Alan and Dan, Caroline and the kids SO that turned into a riot (kids and Champers, say no more... ;-)  During all this I had to focus on the pre-work they requested and completed psychometric tests during the party - WHO SAID MEN CAN'T MUTLITASK?? 

Over the coming days England was gripped by the biggest snowfall in years! The country ground to a halt, schools were shut, not even Pecky could get to work! What a day we had with the kids, making snowmen and having snowball fights, unsurprisingly, India insisted on having her own special snow in Uncle Chris's garden, she didn't want to share the snow on the green with the masses (and of course all the doggie presents - this comment was added by Lyra as I am sure you can guess)!

We had a great time celebrating India's 5th birthday with family and friends at Pizza Hut and then bowling. As normal she loved the spotlight and all of the kids (and adults!!) were on their best behavior. 

Despite all of this fun, I had an interview to go to, and the following week, I jetted off from the snow to the sun in Kuwait, didn't get to see it much as I landed at 7am and was into my first interview at 8:15!! It was with the COO (now my Boss), it went brilliantly, and would set the tone for the whole trip. I had 6 interviews and a market tour, despite losing my voice completely at the end of the first day, it went really well, and I was very impressed with the company. Before I left, I had an offer in my hand!! To say I was pleased was an understatement, in the current environment, I knew just how fortunate I was to get myself into this position. I was now Logistics Director for the Middle East covering 10 countries! 

Things moved very fast from this point and in just over a week we were in Kuwait! Stability at last, well not quite, the journey was great, and we settled into a nice ground floor apartment, I started work, and really enjoyed it from the start. A week after we arrived, we were reunited with Izzy, Pilgrim, and Haz after their two month saga alone in Ukraine, then we found that the landlord had not agreed to pets, in fact he hadn't even agreed to kids! We had to move out, thankfully, Paul, the guy I was replacing offered to put us up for a couple of weeks while we sorted out some furniture for the house we had rented.

Again, we had success with the kids, as they went to an English nursery temporarily while we got everything sorted, they loved going to Twinkle Star and it really helped for them to settle. The biggest hurdle they had was the start time - 07:30!! Didn't take long though, and now they jump out of bed at 06:00 even at weekends!!!!

I had probably the quietest birthday in history, as we were so caught up in sorting housing and getting into the new job that we really didn't do much celebrating, but to be honest, being here and having a great job, was all the birthday presents I needed. We did get to gatecrash some friends 50th & 60th Mama Mia birthday, at which they bought me a cake too, I didn't do the Abba thing, but it was a fun night!

By the end of March we were ready to take on our house, Lyra had done a fantastic job at making contacts and begging, stealing, and borrowing furniture so we could move in as our things were still caught in a mountain of red tape in the Ukraine (don't get me started on this one!). We moved in, and immediately started to feel settled, the space was great, the area is nice, and we even had a garden, which is rare in Kuwait due to the intense heat in the summer.

Now we really don't have much in the way of furniture, but one achievement has been to finally buy my nice big TV!!! Yes I have my LCD, 46"s of pure beauty!!! What with that, an internet connection, satellite TV, and the Wii, we just didn't know ourselves!!

Over the last few months I have been going through the rigmarole of getting, work visa's, residency, civil ID's, Kuwaiti driving licenses and all, it has cost too much, I have had too many medicals, blood tests, and eye tests, and we have still got to do it for Lyra and the kids, to say it's a palaver would be an understatement! This makes the Turkish process look quite reasonable! 

Still, it is all part of the fun, I can now travel and have had a couple of trips to Dubai, with many trips lined up to get around all my markets coming up in the next few months so plenty to look forward too. Lyra and the kids also went back home for Easter and had a great week with Crazy Nana and all. Sadly diary clashes meant that they couldn't catch up with Nanny and Grumpy but at least we get regular video calls with them!

Princess India passed her assessment in April for her place in 'The English School,' which is a really great school, she has been amazing, she simply loves it, in fact we had tears because she was going to miss a few days while we are in Dubai!! She is really coming on well with her reading, in just a few weeks we have seen incredible progress, she gets to swim every week, and really enjoys PE!! Kai too has settled into a brilliant nursery called Happy Chappies (see photo's Monkeys photos's in Term 3 - at www.kodakgallery.com/happychappies) it is very close to home and he is, we are told an angel, not at home he isn't!! Kai is deep into his testing us phase, lets just say he spends a fair bit of time in the naughty corner at home!!

The other great success we have had is finding some help, with Lyra trying to get Beloyal off the ground it was important that we found someone we could really trust, it didn't look good as we saw many disappointing people who were only interested in money and/or visa assistance, but just as we were giving up and going to call on Tanya again, Padema came into our lives, she is from Sri Lanka, and has been in Kuwait 10 years, she has been brilliant, so helpful and kind, the kids love her, and she cooks a mean curry too!!

We are now at the stage of our furniture arriving immanently and the final pieces for the residency for Ly and the kids, then we can go and buy a car and really enjoy the fuel prices (about 10p a litre!!!)

This weekend we are heading to Abu Dhabi and Dubai for a few days to catch up with our friends Jo and Matt, who I haven't seen since Korea! Then a couple of days with Ben and Saada, who have been hiding from us for a good few years too!! Really can't wait, we are going to have a great time.

So that pretty much brings us up to date, it has been one of the most difficult 6 months of our lives, but we really feel that we are on the up and getting back to the life we love. I am settled and enjoying work, Lyra is getting there, she really needs our furniture and office to get settled, and well the kids just love it!!

So the plan now is, I'll get my beloved iMac back soon and we will put this up on to the website with lots of photo's, but for now, please go to this link and see a few (well lots actually) of our favorites of the last 6 or so months http://gallery.me.com/sungbukdan#100199

Below are our contact details, so get in touch....We miss you all!!

Much love, 

Dan, Ly, Indi, and Kai!

xxxx