Enjoy this preview of The American School of Kuwait’s 2008-2009 Yearbook. The total publication is actually 220 pages long but was shortened for easier viewing.

The cover is a hard cover with a duplicate dust jacket. The title is embossed on both and the school name is embossed and stamped in silver. The cover raps around the bind continuing the cityscape mosaic but also includes a silver stamp of the school emblem center back.

This book was directed by me, Paulo Valenza and Patrick Cauley. 2 classes, 33 students both from the middle school and the high school collaboratively working together.

Click here  to view “Finding Your Face” full screen

By the way, really glad I found this Calameo site. It’s works just like YouTube but for publications. It’s the only site I could find that would do a flip book for free. Very nice!

Also our big ticket item is our valenzamobile, our 2003 Pajaro. Wonderful for battling the traffic here in Kuwait and off-roading in the desert. This vehicle is selling from 2700 KD to 3200 KD on www.Q8car.com, the only used site for purchasing automobiles in Kuwait. Actually the 2 Pajero’s currently listed are for 2700 KD and they are only 3 door, unlike our 5 door we are selling. Just so you know the Pajaro is the equivalent of a Montero in the US.

Scroll under Pages in the top main menu to find out more information about our sale and feel free to look around our site and maybe get a better feel for your new home here in Kuwait.

In preparation for Cousin Kiira’s 1st Birthday, we got all of the Kuwait Cousins together to take some pictures. It was quite the fiasco trying to get all four kids to stay still long enough to take a picutre. It actually took two mommies, two nannies, and one fantastic, fast-action camera to get these pictures. It was the first time I used Paulo’s fancy camera for something like this and am quite proud of how the pictures turned out. Now I understand why child photographers make so much money!!!

Special thanks to Amira & Tate Valenza, our nanny Mina, Kiira Ghosn, her nanny Chintha, and Aidan Cauley for being such willing participants. And also to Jennifer Cauley and Paulo for all of their help.
Click here to view the embedded Valenzalife video

As one who knows his way around Photoshop, I gotta admit - I think selecting and altering color just might be easier on the iPhone. This of course is all because of the wonderful touch screen. Simply toggle between what you want gray or color and use your finger to color! You can zoom in as close as you’d like to get the fine details.

If you are unaware, there are many rumors out there about Apples new product, a touchscreen tablet. Well ColorScheme makes me real excited about the potential of product.

– Post From My iPhone

I still believe in iWeb and think it is an amazing tool that Apple has created. For a simple page it is the way to go. Once you start adding pages of content however, it is a very risky investment as I have found out. After the last update to 3.0 I found many problems with publishing and spent hours trying to figure out how to get my content back up. Well, I’m now ready to move on.

Thanks for all your patients and hope you enjoy the new layout.

Amira was extremely gentle and well behaved - thank God - as she held Tate for the first time. Enjoy these photos of Amira as she meets her baby brother for the first time. We’ve even included a short video for you to watch.

Even though this video is all about Amira meeting Baby Tate, half way through this song you’ll hear a great song called “Son of Mine”. This provides a perfect backdrop for a very tender moment as I hold Amira and Tate in my arms. Everything this song says is true for me and my new son. Thanks Ralston Bowls for such a great song!

Ralston is a personal friend of mine and you can learn more of Ralston’s great music by heading to site.

After much thought, we decided on two names that carry significant meaning to us. Paulo’s close friend way back from High School is Mike Tatu. He has really been there for us all the way and is a creative and godly man. It is with great honor that our son’s name is inspired by him.

Laurence is the first name of Paulo’s favorite Jazz piano player, Laurence Hobgood. He plays for Kurt Elling, Paulo’s most favorite singer ever. If you really know Paulo, you’ll know Elling and Hobgood! Larry is also the name of Karin’s step-dad who has been there for her throughout the years.
Click here to view the embedded Valenzalife video
Born March 24, 2009 10:40 am

Weight: 3.18 kg

Height: 50 cm

Blue eyes, brown hair

Yeah, I had a great idea of having a party at a local park near Fintas. Lot’s of trees, green grass and a playground area. I wish I knew when the cleaners picked up all the garbage around the park. One would hope it would be constant - but I guess they had the day off or something. I just happened to swing by the park in the morning and discovered it was a landfill! Garbage everywhere! So I quickly went to the store and bought some cleaning gloves and trash bags. I managed to kind of clean the area where I thought we would be hanging out the most and then roped off our piece of land.

In general, it all worked out. We ended up having a great time. Ordered McD’s for lunch and just let the kids run around. The weather outside was gorgeous and the company of friends was great! Over all, despite the dirty park, I think everyone had a real nice time - and most of all Amira really enjoyed herself.

Happy Birthday Amira!
Click here to view the embedded Valenzalife video

You’ll find two great short videos I’ve posted. One is video footage taken from our new HD Canon video recorder and the other is a fancy slideshow of all the photos I took with my Canon D30. Hope you enjoy!

So hopefully this video can give you an idea of what life in Shanghai will be like. Unfortunately, I did not take very good footage this time around but it will do. The first half of this video will show you Shanghai. The second part will give you a tour of the new SCIS campus where Karin and I will both teach from. I have included small captions to explain what everything is. Again, SCIS will be making the move within 2 weeks to this new campus! It is incredible.

View Larger Map

So we met our “not so favorite” tour guide who took us on a fairy to see the river at night. Several of us made it to the top deck to take pictures of the beautiful Vltava river by night.

Well, we could have ended our night after the boat ride but come… we were in Prague. So we continued to walk towards Stare Mesto, the famous yet not so impressive apostles clock. This was a great city square with the Church of Our Lady Tyn in the background. Again another massive and impressive church.Also, a huge Christmas tree lit up the square demanding attention.

While most decided to head back to the hotel after some shopping, Paulo and Patrick decided to get a fix of jazz once again. This time they enjoyed a jazz trio (piano, bass, and drums). After the musicians were finished with there sets, Paulo found out that the piano player was a teacher at the conservatory. It was outstanding… who knows, maybe another night of jazz will be in the works! [photos below]

Below you’ll see pictures from our first day arriving in Prague and heading out to dinner where Karin and Paulo both ate a pork knuckle. Paulo could not get over the hard skin that covered it and the dark hairs just waiting to get stuck between his teeth.

Unfortunately, on the way back to the hotel all of us were fined about $40 for not buying a metro ticket. The metro guards appeared out of nowhere and pulled their badges on us as if it was a speed trap. We were not necessary trying to be deceptive we just could figure out where to buy tickets. Oh, well, it made for a good story.

The next day we simply wandered the streets enjoying the many sights. The boys enjoyed taking photos while the girls window shopped - well, the guys wish that’s all they did. At night Paulo, Omar, Mira, and Patrick took in some excellent vocal jazz at one of Prague’s exclusive jazz clubs. It was excellent. Great musicians… we knew we would need to go back.

On our 3rd day, we played it simple. The girls headed to a crystal factory while the boys studied up on how beer is manufactured at one of Prague’s oldest breweries. They gave us free samples at the end of the night. Seriously good beer and very interesting to witness the process.

Download to see it in better detail.
[update] I’ve added some more photo’s of Amira playing at a local park.

Thank you Mina

The best part was when my dad of 69 decided to jump in the water along with the other teachers. Way to go dad!

After that, Grandma and I walked downstairs in the lobby of the hospital. They had a nice Asian lady who was playing some kind of instrument with strings and sticks. She let me sit next to her and color. And then, she actually gave me the stick and I got to make music! It sounded really good.

Later Daddy told me this instrument is called a yangqin 扬琴 a Chinese hammered dulcimer.

To escape the smells we decided to head out into the desert for a real camel experience. For the first time we were chased by an alpha male camel. We had to quick run around the car and jump in for our lives!

First we checked out the National Cinema Museum. Truly amazing. It was built inside the tall dome looking building (the one in the picture above), which Torino is known for. What’s so incredible about this dome is that it is completely hallow. The museum surrounds the outer walls of the building and then the a glass elevator with no shaft takes you up the center to the top for a birds eye view of the city. This elevator ride and the view is just as impressive as the museum itself.

Next we visited the Egyptian Museum, which my mom was real excited to see. Great place but they really need a/c throughout the place. The rest of the day we wandered the streets and took photos of all the amazing building and plazas. Definitely a nice day.

We pulled in with the goal to see as much as we could in one evening. So, right after parking the car we grab a sight seeing bus that gave us a quick look at the major sights in Rome. Karin and Amira listened to the history lesson provided by the buss while Frank and Paulo took as many pictures as they could. What a fascinating city. It was so worth the quick glance.

After leaving the city we drove back to Torino. At 3:30am with two hours left in our journey, we were blessed with a flat tire. Gotta love road trip!

We enjoyed taking pictures of the great architecture and incredible statues which surrounded the city. Artist drew perfect replicas of Mona Lisa on the sidewalks and orchestras performed free concerts for the public. carousels gave children rides and opera singers sung arias as if they had just been written.

While we did walk through the famous art museum, we really were not that impressed. If you are into seeing two stories of art with Mary in it, than it’s the place for you.

And how could we leave out one of the greatest moments in the city was being able to hook up with Geoff and Erica Moulton once again. We went out to a great Mexican restaurant. Unfortunately after our night with them in Florence we ended our stalking of the Moultons.

Anyways, were are some great pictures from this sight.

If you are ever in Italy, make sure you check this place out. Especially if you enjoy being out around nature. What made the leg of this trip real special was that we were able to hook up with our friends Erika and Geoff Moulton, former teachers at ASK in Kuwait. They now are in Hong Kong and love it. While Paulo was in London, he was able to hook up with them for dinner while they were traveling through Europe. During the dinner, they discovered that Italy and Cinque Terra were both on the couples agendas, so why not hook up! What a great time! We are hoping to stock them a bit more along the trip, maybe we can meet up in Florance.

Geoff kept saying how impressed he was with my Mom and how she could walk so well with just haveing had a dual hip replacement this year! And she did. She can put some speed on those things!

Antonelo and his girlfriend, Donatella, were so kind to us. They bought all the food and wine and stayed past midnight chatting with us.

Today Grandpa and Grandma gave me two gifts. A big yellow tent with a tiger on it and a tape player with two microphones attached. I love playing with both. It took me a while to figure out how to use the tent and that I can put all of my other toys in it. And I love singing into my mics. It’s fun being at my grandparent’s place.

The weight of its history was mind boggling, consider all the turmoil Berlin has seen since the beginning of its existence. I wised up and took advantage of a free tour that is commonly offered in Berlin. Because of this, I was able to hit almost all of the important places in one day. I even walked over the parking lot which laid over the Hilter’s bunker. The one he committed suicide in. My tour guide was great and really new his stuff.

After 4 hours of walking tour, I still hadn’t seen enough. I decided to go far into the East, just to see if there was still a difference from the West. I heard in some places, it was very obvious. Well, I think I found one of those places! I got of the most east point and boy, I thought I was in a concentration camp! Plus there were a bunch of young punks surrounding me. Well, my walking disease kicked in again and I chose to walk all the way back into the center of town. I think I walked for another 3 hours. I can’t say I saw much but I really just enjoyed being around the city.

The next day I got up early and headed off to Turin, Italy to visit my parents and reunite with Karin and Amira. I had a flight out of Frankfurt so I took the train down from Berlin to Frankfurt. That alone was an amazing experience. Sorry Amtrack. You’ve got nothing on Germany!

Check out my photos below. I think I was able to capture some great ones! Hopefully soon I will have a shortfilm of my trip as well!

You would think after all of that walking I would just go back and pack for my journey the next day, but I wanted to say I to Karin so I jumped on the tube one more time and took it a couple stops down to the Apple store. They have nice theater chairs available and free wi-fi. Well I closed with store and realized it was time for some food. From my last trip to London, I remembered a little Brazilian buffet just a couple of blocks up from the Apple store. Even though it ended up being much further than I remembered, it was worth it for the 2 coxinias and guadana I had. Plus, I need the energy, cause once again, I just continued to walk, walk, and walk. Basically all the way back to the dorms in Islington. I had blisters all over my feet. But I really had a nice time.

Beyond enjoying the TTC content and material learned, I have also really enjoyed sharing experiences and connecting with other teachers. It gave me a new level of anticipation and confidence for beginning the search for a new school Karin and I can teach at. I have meet so many teachers from so many different countries. Some near and some far. Shanghai, Hong Kong, Switzerland, the Gambia, Japan, Lebanon… you name it! And there was even a Brazilian teacher from the school that Karin and I interviewed at three years ago in Campinas, located in the state of Sao Paulo. Many possibilities for our near future!

The craziest connection was when I was sitting next to Noriko, a Japanese teacher who spoke flawless english. In between our school work, we were chatting about Japan and the USA. She proceeded to tell me she attended college in Michigan and was esthetic to find out that was where I lived. When I mentioned Grand Rapids she about fell over! She said she attended a small catholic college in GR named Aquinas College. So I whipped out a paper and drew a map showing her how we had lived a block away from her on Mayfield Avenue! Crazy! Of course the conversation digressed as we talked about all of our favorite places in GR such as Kava House, Eastown, and Reeds Lake. What a small world. From London to Japan to Mayfield Ave.

I had a great time even though I started off my trip very poorly. I had just left a pub with some teachers from the TTC, where we were having a conversation about the iPhone and how it could be a disadvantage to have everything important on one devise. Of course I would disagree. Well, arriving at the buss station, I realized how my laptop, with a dead battery, had my confirmation number for my eticket. My mobil was also dead with Fiona’s number in it and even if I had a charge I had just ran out of minutes! There was no where in the station to get a charge and everyone I talked to that day was really rude. Obviously everything worked out but I really had to work to find an outlet to get my “life” back up and running and in time to get on the bus!

Once in Wales, I made my way in a taxi to meet Fiona at her friends house in the city of Newport. Her friends, who where extremely hospitable to me, had a great chicken dinner prepared for me on their backyard patio. There, I was educated by her friend of the differences between being Welsh and English. From their accents, governments, different english word meanings, to yes, even their beer, wine, and cider. It was a great evening of meeting new friends.

Wales was beautiful. So green and peaceful. Fiona said I was lucky that the whole time I was there it was sunny and bright. I guess this is not the norm. We spent most of our time strolling around her village, looking at the local castle (Raglan), taking a buss to the nearby town of Manmouth and having a picnic in the park with Fiona’s favorite UK food, Mark & Spencers.

On our second night I had the best chicken pie I’ve ever had at the local pub. To top it off, we watched “The Man that Went Up a Hill and Came Down a Mountain” staring Hugh Grant. A classic movie that depicts Wales and what I had been seeing and “hearing” all day.

The best part of Wales was simply reconnecting with Fiona. We had many great talks over such a short visit. It was definitely a nice change of pace from the course work I had been doing.

Thanks Fiona!

After 5 months of having our friend David with us, he has now left Kuwait and headed back to the States. We had a really great time showing him around the sandy desert and watching him dive into understanding the Middle East culture. He kept himself busy by tutoring, subbing, co-directing play productions, traveling, and meeting new friends. We will all miss you!

Edited for Karin’s 2nd Mother’s Day, this footage and our little girl celebrate 14 months. With the excitement of her entering this earth, every day we are even more in love with who she is becoming.

While this short film maybe should have been placed under Amira’s website, this is more so a reflection of Karin’s love and dedication as a mom and as a wife. A Mother’s Day gift from Paulo and Amira to express how much she means to us.

Just some more of the same thing!

Well, there’s nothing to say. You just gotta watch it for yourself.

Amira Walks

While I am not one for posting blurry photos, I thought these were too cute to pass up! And there are definitely some keepers in the mix.