6 Months In!

I recently had a dream that I was attending an ANZAC day ceremony here in Kuwait. I was standing at the back of the crowd when I noticed a man standing in the shadows. I moved away from the crowd by my self and that's when he approached me. I recognized him straight away as the president of Iran! He explained that he had been watching me and then told me that he wanted me to join him in Iran to work as an international spy. The reason that he had chosen me for this unique position was because my cartwheels were so dam good! I thanked him for the offer but told him I had to decline as I didn't believe in what he was doing (re; the whole nuclear set up) I then turned and ran like buggery!

This, I think sums up the craziness I find my self living with these days. I must be the only person to take up gymnastics at age of 26 and defiantly the only one to attempt to do it in the Middle East. Hmmmm did I leave some of my rationality back in Ireland? Ha! I have been living here for six months now, yes that's right folks six months and the madness of it all is catching up on me.

To be honest even though I have often put up a positive persona and attitude towards the difficulties of trying to adapt to a completely different culture, I do regularly have my doubts about my decision to tackle something so unique. Especially now that the thrill is starting to wear off and I am falling into, god forbid, a routine. This is a regular occurrence for me that after 6 months of doing the same thing I tend to get restless. Never fear though I am committing my self to last at least until the summer before I reevaluate what to do next.

I absolutely love my job however, working with kids actually makes it so much fun and silly. Generally all of the children and families I have gotten to know through my work has defiantly increased the value of my experience here. But there are times when I just wish for "normality".

Driving is a challenge, going to the supermarket is a challenge, ordering pizza is a challenge. The reason is for this is some what my fault for not speaking Arabic, Filipino or Hindi but also because there never seems to be a simple system for any thing. To add to all that not only am I challenged with the mentality of Kuwaitis and the some times daftness of the Indians, I am also aware that just across the Gulf is Iran. Who I believe are having erection problems and now desire nuclear bombs in replace of viagra. Although I am not aware of being terribly worried about this it is obviously effecting my subconscious if I am having crazy dreams such as above!

It does feel like my time in Ireland happen years ago, even though it was only six months ago I was wining and dining with friends there and enjoying the craic! I have changed quite a lot from my experience here. It's difficult to explain how but I don't feel so naive about the world any more, I have opened my eyes to how a part of the world functions that I would have once before not even given a second thought. To witness the definite struggles between the mighty rich and the mighty poor is mind blowing. I've seen how religion is used and abused, from controlling the masses to simply taking away some of the basic human rights, which every human being should be allowed. It's hard to believe that I was once so ignorant, it's easy to watch the news and see the crazy Arabs its another thing to actually live amongst them.

Not that I think they are all crazy :) I have fortunately had the chance to meet lots of open minded easy going people here. To be accepted into their lives, as they share their stories and experiences I have come to realise that even though culturally we seem very different we still face a lot of the same worries and challenges in life.

Ultimately my first six months in Kuwait has been life changing and an experience I will never regret. Despite the fact the romance barometer is at an all time low, I have to rely on smuggled and home made brews to be able to have a drink and my idea of a good weekend is watching a DVD at a mates place. My Arabic is improving, I have grown a higher tolerance to dust and sand and I will now never need to do a defensive driving course. I guess I will just wait and see what the next few months will bring hopefully they won't include any advances from the Iranian President!

Take Care All

Love Ali

Friday's At Sherry & Steve's

I know sounds like a movie doesn't it? But no that is actually my local these days! You see as you can imagine the social front here in Kuwait is pretty barren. It's not like you can pop down to the pub for a few beers after work or anything. Also all there is to do here in Kuwait on your days off is to shop and when your trying to save money that's not really an appealing option. Not to mention the hassle of dealing with the bed sheets running around the place! So as it happens the last few Fridays I have been hanging at my mates Sherry and Steve's place.

The best thing about their apartment is not only do they have a fab view but also that their couches are just divine in that they cobble you up and its fairly difficult to move out of them. The other great thing is that they have a fairly well stocked bar! So a usual Friday for me (which mind you is my only day off) is to get out of bed at some ridiculously late hour, scoff down some breaky and then head on over to the their place where we spend the afternoon watching movies, drinking and swapping mad Kuwaiti stories.

Last Friday was a particular excellent day as Mads and Mark who have returned from their holidays also come over to enjoy the most happening venue in Kuwait. Of course after we watched Australia get slaughterated (yes that's a word I made up) in the cricket we got all patriotic and watched Mad Max hahahahaha what a dramatic piece of work that is!

So that's just a peak at the exciting happenings here in Kuwait. It is actually pretty good as the above mentioned folks are champions and my life in Kuwait would be god awful if it wasn't for their fabulous company!

Just a quick note to a few folks back home:
Congrats to Rose and Ian for tying the Knot. I hope the wedding went off with a bang and enjoy your trip around Europe, I am sorry I couldn't catch up with you any where.

Good luck to all those competing at the Australian National Surf Life Saving Champs. Not sure if they have been and gone or coming up but good luck any ways I know you guys will do great. By the way I expect some emails with the stories from Aussies as I know they are all ways good ones!!! What mischief will Jaz get up to this year? hehehehe

Oh and Happy Birthday to Conor in Dublin Big 30 hey, better watch that bald spot! :)

Miss you all love ya lots
Ali

Bad Photography!

Here are some pictures I took in Dubai, Sorry about the bad photography and the lack of images but since I was there to run around like a mad woman I didn't get a chance to do a lot of site seeing. But here is what I did manage to get snaps of.....

A Mosque all lite up for a night of prays!

A blurry shot of the city from my Hotel!

Ahhhh Guinness!

No matter where you are in the world you can always find an Irish Pub! Even in the Middle East!

Bits and Pieces

Just thought I might throw out there a few bits and pieces of information I have picked up in the last 4 and a half month stay in Kuwait.....

Single White Female:

Kuwait as most of you know is or at least should know is a Muslim country. That is why alcohole is illegal and pork is unavailable. But also makes the dating scean in Kuwait close to impossible. Muslim Woman and Men are segregated in a lot of places and is taboo for a single muslim girl to be seen socialising with a man with out family members present. It can sometimes result in death. Even at the movie theater there is segreated seating. One time when buying a ticket the guy behind the counter asked me to choose my seat from a seating plan infront of me I said to him how about here and pointed to a seat on the right hand side of the theater. "Ah no thats the bachelors section." said the guy. Oh ok how about over here i said pointing to the other side! Also as I said for single muslim girls dating is a dangerous past time. This is how it works over here.

• Guy sees a girl thinks I might want to marry her.
• Goes to her family says i want to marry your daughter.
• If the family is an open minded family they will ask the daughter what she thinks and she can decide if she wants to be engaged to him or not but sometimes the family will go OK no problem. Especially if the family the guy is from is a well known respectable one.
• Then the lovely couple become engaged, they are normalyl engaged for 3 months but can be longer if she girl chooses.
• Over the engagement period the couple get to know each other through supervised visits. Normally a family member would be present during all their meetings.
• The girl then will decide if she wants to marry him. She does sometimes have the choice too cut it off if she doesn't like him.
• They get married! In some families its also ok for the man to take 2 to 3 wives although I have been told this can be expensive and sometimes more of a problem than just having one wife!

As I said sometimes if a single girl is found socialising with men with out of family members being present it is decided that she is a disgrace to the family and the family then has the right to kill her if they wish, this is called honour killings. It doesn't happen a lot in Kuwait but it does happen. Thankfully the family i work for does not believe in this or multi wife taking although their daughters won't be able to date like we might date they do get to have a say in who they marry. I asked 15 year old Sharoq how she felt about the process here and she said, "well I don't know anything different its the way its always been here. " And the thought of having a few boyfriends or one night stands or just having lots of male friends were strange and she asked me how it all worked and doesn't it feel weird. Hmmm strange. You know what though it seems that the divorce rates seem to be pretty much the same in both systems!

What Class Do You Belong to?:

Kuwait is huge and i mean huge on racial profiling and there is a definate class system in operation here. Generally the Indians and Pilipinos are at the bottom of the rank and are treated like shit. Its really horrible. I was driving along the other day when I cam to a check point, which is were the traffic police actually do some work and check every ones licence. Now I only had my Qld licence on me. I handed it over to the police guy he asked me if I had a Kuwait Licence, I smiled battered my eye lids and said no I am still waiting to get my papers sorted out. He just looked me over and said, Ok have a good day. And I drove off. If I was an Indian or philipino I would of been escorted out of there. It was surprising that they even stopped me they normally just wave you through.

The Mysteries of Arabic:

Working where I am I get to interact with a lot of nationalities and am surrounded by lots of different languages. Sometimes I will be sitting at the counter with a few different conversations going on, one in Arabic one in french and one in Hindi. I just sit there not understanding a word going I hope their not all talking about me? Ha! It amazes me how some people can just swap from arabic to english and back again sometimes they will have a conversation that is just a mix of the two. Like English, arabic is a little different depending on the country. In kuwait they have some words that you wouldln't hear in Saudi and some in Saudi you wouldn't hear in Yeman. I have been able to pick up a few words but am laughed at most of the time because I can never get the pronouciation right. You kind of have to speak the words like you have a huge golly in your throat. Its pretty funny! Trying to read arabic is another story. I can recognise numbers 1-10 now but letters well just forget that. Its just way to hard. They write from right to left and all the letters just join up and to be honest I know a few Kuwaitis that can't write it them selves hehehehe! Here are just a few words I have picked up though which I have started to use:

Halass: This is my favourite, it means finsih. And i often go Halass when ever I finsih entering things into the computer or telling the kids we have finished a game. Or if a drama that has been going on is finally resolved. And when ever I use it people just laught at me....i still don't know why.

Yella: Come here! I use this one a lot telling the kids to line up! Yella Yella hahahaha also a good one!

Shonada: Pronounced Shoe Na Da! Bassically means what all swear words mean. Or you can say it at someone and your basically calling them and idiot!

Inshala: This is can be used in many different ways but generally it means its in gods hands. If something goes wrong its inshala but I have also heard my boss use it on the phone like the way we would go yeah uhuh yeah, she goes inshala, inshala!

So thats just a few points of interest I though you all might want to know about. Life here is actually proving to be a challenge in keeping my mind open and I have learnt not to have any expectations about anything because as everything is Inshala things change from hour to hour. It can be frustrating sometimes but is a huge learning curve for me. I know this expereince would not be for every one but I am taking it as it comes and often can't believe I am here! Any ways Halass I need to go :)