I know I promised photos and I will deliver but unfortunately not this time. However it has been a few weeks since my last post so I thought I might just fill you in on what's been happening in Old Kuwait town!
Firstly I moved to the apartment which will be my home for the next 2 years. Thankfully it's a magnificent place! It is a brand new building and in a nice clean area (well clean in Kuwait terms any ways). It certainly doesn't smell as bad as the area I was in before and the streets are less congested with rubbish, (it is still socially acceptable to litter here in Kuwait). Any hoo back to the apartment on the 8th floor that has a fantastic view of the city and lovely brand new everything from toilets to knives & forks. I have moved in with Madlena who is a new instructor at The Little Gym, she is from Bulgaria and I have learnt that just about all national dishes from Bulgaria include Cucumber and Tomatoes!
I am also lucky that my fab new home is only a short walk to work and now that the weather is settling into a very pleasant Autumn I am happy to wonder to and from work with out having to think about risking my life on the Ring Roads! Also I have come accustomed to the stares and attention from the ever palpable Arab men so I feel much more comfortable walking about! Other than moving further news from Kuwait is that I found some friends hahaha! This is always good news!
I actually meet Steve through the Lonely Planet website when I was searching for information about Kuwait before I moved here. He also offered to help me get settled by introducing me to some people when I arrived. Thankfully Steve was not some weird creepy freak from the internet and instead a wonderful friendly Aussie. Along with his equally lovely girlfriend Sherry who is American they hosted a BBQ at their amazing apartment that over looks Golf road and the ocean. They invited some of the Aussies that they have meet here in Kuwait so I was able to meet and talk with lots of other mad Aussies who have moved to the Middle East. Most of whom have been here for at least 2 years, but a few for longer 5-7 years! They all had some wonderful information and tips about living here and it was great to hear about their experiences. I also had my first alcoholic drink in a month......ok not one but quite a few hahaha! As you all know it is illegal to consume alcohol here in Kuwait. So this means that there are no bars, no bottle shops, and no legal way to buy or drink alcohol. Most ex pats have their ways around this but it's not really easy especially when all you want is a glass of good red wine!! Surprisingly after a month of not even a drop of booze I actually didn't suffer to serverly the next day!
My social coordinators Steve and Sherry also invited me out for dinner last night where I had the pleasure to meet Jaiver an American who has just arrived in Kuwait after 22 months working in Iraq! As well as a Dina and Tarq a Kuwaiti couple. Well actually Tarq is from Jordan but grew up in America and Dina has been living in Kuwait for most of her life after having to flee Palestineine. We had a fantastic night and I was spellbound by even more fascinatinging stories. Everyone I meet is so interesting I could talk to them all night. However it was not a late night as we all had work today and had come to the end of Sherry's lovely home made wine, which mind you rivals many cheap cask wines in Oz!.
Work is going really well and now that Ramadan is FINALLY coming to an end we should be really busy next month. I say finally as I am looking forward to being able to go out for a coffee at lunch time or being able to eat on the run to and from work. We actually get a public holiday to celebrate the end of Ramadan it is called EID and most business close down for one or two days, we are still waiting to hear if we get two days! I would like to use the opportunity to either go to Dubai or Bahrain but due to the fact that I am still waiting for my Residency visa to be approved I can not leave the country until after 3 months. So I will spend it here in fantastic Kuwait. Maybe I will use the time to get out and get some pictures for you all :) Till then....
Saturday, October 29, 2005
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
More Middle Eastern Madness!
Things are going quite well now, am finding Kuwait a lot less daunting and more interesting. It is difficult to explain the differences here. There is a lot of similarities with the western world that I am starting to discover but I thought I might just jot down a few observations that have had me wondering about this unique place.
Empty Sky: It took me a few days maybe a week to actually notice but there is nothing in the sky! During the day there are absolutely no clouds....Not one, not even a wisp of cloud, it's just a blue dome with a haze ball for the sun. Sometimes it's not even very blue as all the dust and sand gives it this hazy look. And at night time it's the same not one star is visible. Once I thought I saw a star but then realized it was just a plane! Ha! The moon does look fantastic when it is full though. But it's just strange that there is just nothing up there!
No Camels just Cats: I am yet to see a camel or even a dog for that matter, I have seen one bird but their are thousands of skinny stinky ferral cats. They are every where and they look scrawny and sick. It's awful, they are out the front of my building on the streets, just everywhere. I just hope they don't end up in some of the Indian restaurants!!!
Road Works!: I don't know when they started the road works here in Kuwait but I have a feeling it may have been back in 1978! It's not because they don't do any work, unlike at home where you have gangs of men all standing around leaning on a shovel. It's because there are only 2 guys working on each project. It seems at one end is a scrawny Indian guy with his pick axe and at the other end is the Egyptian guy working with a tool that I am sure was used to build the pyramids! Slowly they chip away hoping to meet in the middle! I hope they recruit some new guys with some heavy duty equipment soon cause there are so many road works going on. Ok I do exaggerated a bit here they do have some trucks and things but still they don't seem to be making much progress. They just dig big ditches create a huge mess and have all the traffic going bananas around them, and I think I have already mentioned the smell coming out of those ditches!
Speaking of Roads: I was warned about the drivers but holy cow they are just indescribable! These people didn't even get their license out of the weet bix box they just got off the camel into a Merc and planted the foot down! It seems that the only rule that applies is that if you abuse someone you have right of way! Unfortunately everyone is abusing everyone so it always ends in a jam. I must say have seen some pretty interesting 45 point turns!
Shoe Shop Heaven: Unfortunately I have never been a shoe girl I usually own 4 pairs of shoes and at 2 of these will be some thongs (flip flops for you Northern hemispheres), however if I was a shoe girl I would be in heaven. I guess because for a lot of the women the only accessory they can show off is their shoes! This is due to the fact that the rest their body is covered up, they also lay the eye make up on pretty heavy as this is the only other part of their body you see! But there are sooooo many shoe shops it's madness, and so many different types every style is "in" here in Kuwait. The other shops are also pretty good I can buy just about anything I would at home except vegemite of course!
Mosques: At the moment it's the holy month of Ramadan. (Just a note; I lasted a day of fasting then thought nah bugger this I need some water!) However all Muslims are refraining from eating or drinking and pray it seems every chance they get, I wonder if they are praying for the road works to end? hmmm...But any way the mosques, which mind you are situated like Starbucks in America, on every street corner! Have this thing about calling people to pray they all have loud speakers attached to them and just about every hour some guy starts moaning over the air ways. It is probably fairly disrespectful to say the guy actually sounds like he is constipated but that's just what it sounds like! Although there is a little tune in his voice that does sound like he is enjoying him self a little, but he moans on and on if only I could understand what he is saying..It's probably like what Mum said when we saw the Pope speak at the Vatican. They are probably giving out their favorite recipes, ha especially during fasting time that would go down really well!
So there is just a few things I have observed of course there are many more strange things that go on in this city, my plan this weekend is to take some pics so fingers crossed I can put them up next week...I know I keep promising but I will try this weekend oh yeah which by the way is Thursday and Friday. Business starts here on a Saturday. I am now learning to hate Saturday's and Monday is hump day and Wednesday has the Friday feel....It's all very confusing I dunno what day of the week it is just another thing to add to the madness of the Middle East!
Empty Sky: It took me a few days maybe a week to actually notice but there is nothing in the sky! During the day there are absolutely no clouds....Not one, not even a wisp of cloud, it's just a blue dome with a haze ball for the sun. Sometimes it's not even very blue as all the dust and sand gives it this hazy look. And at night time it's the same not one star is visible. Once I thought I saw a star but then realized it was just a plane! Ha! The moon does look fantastic when it is full though. But it's just strange that there is just nothing up there!
No Camels just Cats: I am yet to see a camel or even a dog for that matter, I have seen one bird but their are thousands of skinny stinky ferral cats. They are every where and they look scrawny and sick. It's awful, they are out the front of my building on the streets, just everywhere. I just hope they don't end up in some of the Indian restaurants!!!
Road Works!: I don't know when they started the road works here in Kuwait but I have a feeling it may have been back in 1978! It's not because they don't do any work, unlike at home where you have gangs of men all standing around leaning on a shovel. It's because there are only 2 guys working on each project. It seems at one end is a scrawny Indian guy with his pick axe and at the other end is the Egyptian guy working with a tool that I am sure was used to build the pyramids! Slowly they chip away hoping to meet in the middle! I hope they recruit some new guys with some heavy duty equipment soon cause there are so many road works going on. Ok I do exaggerated a bit here they do have some trucks and things but still they don't seem to be making much progress. They just dig big ditches create a huge mess and have all the traffic going bananas around them, and I think I have already mentioned the smell coming out of those ditches!
Speaking of Roads: I was warned about the drivers but holy cow they are just indescribable! These people didn't even get their license out of the weet bix box they just got off the camel into a Merc and planted the foot down! It seems that the only rule that applies is that if you abuse someone you have right of way! Unfortunately everyone is abusing everyone so it always ends in a jam. I must say have seen some pretty interesting 45 point turns!
Shoe Shop Heaven: Unfortunately I have never been a shoe girl I usually own 4 pairs of shoes and at 2 of these will be some thongs (flip flops for you Northern hemispheres), however if I was a shoe girl I would be in heaven. I guess because for a lot of the women the only accessory they can show off is their shoes! This is due to the fact that the rest their body is covered up, they also lay the eye make up on pretty heavy as this is the only other part of their body you see! But there are sooooo many shoe shops it's madness, and so many different types every style is "in" here in Kuwait. The other shops are also pretty good I can buy just about anything I would at home except vegemite of course!
Mosques: At the moment it's the holy month of Ramadan. (Just a note; I lasted a day of fasting then thought nah bugger this I need some water!) However all Muslims are refraining from eating or drinking and pray it seems every chance they get, I wonder if they are praying for the road works to end? hmmm...But any way the mosques, which mind you are situated like Starbucks in America, on every street corner! Have this thing about calling people to pray they all have loud speakers attached to them and just about every hour some guy starts moaning over the air ways. It is probably fairly disrespectful to say the guy actually sounds like he is constipated but that's just what it sounds like! Although there is a little tune in his voice that does sound like he is enjoying him self a little, but he moans on and on if only I could understand what he is saying..It's probably like what Mum said when we saw the Pope speak at the Vatican. They are probably giving out their favorite recipes, ha especially during fasting time that would go down really well!
So there is just a few things I have observed of course there are many more strange things that go on in this city, my plan this weekend is to take some pics so fingers crossed I can put them up next week...I know I keep promising but I will try this weekend oh yeah which by the way is Thursday and Friday. Business starts here on a Saturday. I am now learning to hate Saturday's and Monday is hump day and Wednesday has the Friday feel....It's all very confusing I dunno what day of the week it is just another thing to add to the madness of the Middle East!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)