Year Two
March 22, 2008 | Filed Under Main | 7 Comments
Well… It’s a birthday.
I started this blog one year ago today. Just to talk with folks and write about what was in my head. Who knew where we’d be today? A year ago, oil was only $65 per barrel, gas was $2.50 a gallon and Bear Stearns still existed (and I hope none of my friends from the boat were hurt in that meltdown). If you had told me a year ago I would be working in the Kuwait, I would have laughed my ass off. And, surprisingly, we actually have a historic presidential race going on in the States. I hope it stays that way. I can’t vote between two old hacks again.
I want to thank my sister for setting me up out here on one of the Inter-Webs many pipes. One of the cool things about this site is that – on the back end – I can see how many people visit and from where. So I need to send a shout out to everyone who is stopping by from Canada, France, Sweden and the Netherlands. You are nearly a third of my readers!
So – welcome. Drop a line. I hope you keep reading. The coming year looks to be interesting from every angle.
Driving In Kuwait
March 18, 2008 | Filed Under Main | 2 Comments
I’m getting much better at it. Finding the groove the locals have when they drive. This week I was working on my route to the office and back. I think I have a pretty good one now. I’ve cut my near-death experiences in half!
There is ONLY aggressive driving out here. At times there are as many lanes on a road as traffic will allow. Merging is an art form. If it looks like it should be a two-lane-to-one merge, it’s really a five lane to one merge. If your car fits – go. You haven’t lived until you are passed on the right by a guy (or girl) driving on the white line between you and the person in the other lane. If there are four lanes at a stop light, any lane can make a left hand turn… if you can make it. This is the only place I have ever seen a Hummer weave in and out across three lanes of early morning local traffic. AND they do this on their cell phones. I did – once – see a police officer pull over a car. My only assumption is that either they actually hit someone or they had porn in the car. It couldn’t be for driving.
I now understand why there is no alcohol in this country. If alcohol were legal, the population would be halved in about two weeks.
Non sequitur of the month
March 17, 2008 | Filed Under Main, Music | No Comments
“Abba’s drummer found dead in his garden.”
??
Drummer?
Happy St. Patricks!
March 17, 2008 | Filed Under Main | 4 Comments
It’s Monday.
You should be drinking.
Let’s talk Cable…
March 11, 2008 | Filed Under Main | No Comments
I have 657 channels.
Only ten of them speak English (there will be ten more when the programming I paid for kicks in). Some of these are English-language news programs which include Al Jazeera, France 24 and Russia Today. The rest show occasional movies or sitcoms. I get a whole slew of Italian and French channels. There are about 100 music video channels which range from Western videos to traditional music performances from numerous countries. The two Iranian channels are music videos and they are similar to Western pop music. Arab videos are like small movies, with credits that roll after the song. There are also about five “god” channels preaching “geee-zuz” in a Muslim country. One is called “Loveworld” and you can find it in between the “sex” channels(yes - sex). The sex channels consist of pictures (or live) half naked European women asking for your phone calls. I’m pretty sure they are half naked but it is difficult to tell since the screen is filled with phone numbers. Very weird to see out here.
About 400 channels consist of “talking heads” – Arab men dressed in the traditional dishdasha and headdress talking to either each other or the camera. Since I don’t understand the language, they could be talking about business, politics, sports, religion or napkin folding. It all looks and sounds the same.
But it will be interesting to have access to programming from SO MANY countries. I can flip between Syria TV, Sudan TV, Kurdistan TV, Jordan TV, Ethiopia TV, Romania TV, Libya TV etc. etc. I watched the NART Network last night. That’s the National Adiga Radio and Television. When you go to their website, it says the channel hopes to connect “all Circassian people and their communities”. Turns out this is a culture of people found in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria who were run out of the Caucuses by the Russians hundreds of years ago.
It’s cool to have a real window on the outside world that goes beyond CNN.
Life In Kuwait
March 8, 2008 | Filed Under Main | 8 Comments
On Thursday night, I finally got to go out and see a movie. [That means I figured out the times, the places and had the night free.] I went over to the Avenues – a new mall - to see Sweeny Todd. Now, I had heard about the censorship in Kuwait. Recently, I saw an editorial in the paper decrying the fact that Charlie Wilson’s War had roughly forty cuts in it and made the movie unwatchable. But I had yet to see (or notice) any censorship… until now. It turns out they cut the parts where Sweeny cuts the throats. While I think it is better to censor violence rather than obsessing on sex, in this particular movie it is a mistake. The songs are intimately tied to the action. Once you start hacking away, you destroy the whole piece. So I had to leave.
Yesterday I had my first hair cut in Kuwait. I was pretty nervous about this. For one – you have a relationship with the person who regularly cuts your hair. You walk into the unknown when you change – especially when there might be a language barrier. Secondly – over here – men cut men’s hair. Women cut women’s hair. I don’t think a man has cut my hair more than twice since I stopped getting haircuts from my Dad. Plus – men’s hair salons (or “saloons” as it is sometimes spelt) are everywhere! How do you choose? Do you gamble like that with your hair?? Luckily, I was able to track down one expat at work who actually HAS hair and he directed me to a place he goes. There was something about the folks there being Turkish and they - or Lebanese – are the best for haircuts. I guess he was right because I’m pretty happy with it.
Lastly – it seems I have an excellent sushi restaurant in walking distance! Yes – sushi is universal. Dinner last night was perfection.
She Said What…?
March 6, 2008 | Filed Under Main, Politics | 1 Comment
In the “people who live in glass houses” catagory, I think the Hill-meister needs to kill all the talk about Obama’s indicted donor. That guy and the measly amount of cash that needed to be returned is NOTHING compared to the mammoth grocery list of shady characters the Clintons have partied with over the years. Check out this link: from The New Republic.
It may be time for Obama to mention them…
My Dominos
March 2, 2008 | Filed Under Main | No Comments
…and for good or ill, the taste loses nothing in the 4,000 mile translation.
I’m working on some Kuwait pictures now. They should be up next week.
Guilty Pleasure
March 1, 2008 | Filed Under Main | 8 Comments
Have I mentioned that the apartment has no cable and no internet access? That latest word on that is there is no line to the building. We’re talking possibly a month before either of those items is available to me.
Now, for the past three weeks, I have been working ten hours days – six days a week. My work access is restricted, of course, but mainly – when I finally get home – I need some mindless diversion before bed. So, I have had to rely on DVDs (there is a TV, just no reception). The stockpile of “Western” DVDs in Kuwait is about as shallow as the music selection, but the intrepid shopper who keeps his eyes open at the random grocery or department store (“hyper markets”) is occasionally rewarded. Well, the most amazing bit of 70s TV culture dropped in my lap the other day. I found a DVD of three episodes from the first season of…
Are you sitting down?
The Bionic Woman! Yes – The original Bionic Woman. Lindsay Wagner in all her running, leaping glory. As members of my family will tell you, I had quite a teenage crush on Ms. Wagner for which there is no explanation. I haven’t seen this program in over 20 years. I wonder if those sparks are still there…?
National Day
February 24, 2008 | Filed Under Main | 12 Comments
Today and tomorrow are national holidays for most of Kuwait (I say most because I am working and so is the guy who got me my coffee this morning…). Today is National Day which recognizes Kuwait’s independence from Great Britain and the start of a sovereign nation. Tomorrow is Liberation Day, which is the celebration of (you guessed it) Kuwait’s liberation from the Iraq invasion. It seems that – among other festivities – these holidays are celebrated by people roaming the streets, waving flags, singing, honking horns and spraying everything they see with silly string and foam. Crates of this stuff have been sold in every store all week. The festivities shut down many roads, including Gulf Street.
My apartment building is on Gulf Street.
I have found a back way there of course (or I would not be in work). But the celebrations actually seemed to start over the weekend, as I discovered on my hour crawl on Saturday night down Gulf Street. Police were everywhere and I think their main goal was to keep traffic slow… because the streets were filled with groups of young boys walking back and forth across the highway, spraying cars with foam. Not only that, but younger kids were in cars (not driving of course) and spraying foam out the windows. It seemed mostly aimed at other cars with children in them. They would spray each other, sometimes hanging out windows, sometimes popping their heads out of sunroofs. It actually looked like a lot of fun. Somehow – I escaped the foaming, even though I was eye to eye with a can wielding youngster a number of times. I was kind of disappointed…
Lastly, I have officially completed one of the major “expat” rituals in Kuwait – my homemade wine is bubblin’ away as we speak. It should be ready by St. Patrick’s Day.
Cassettes
February 20, 2008 | Filed Under Main, Music | 5 Comments
So, where do you buy your cassettes?
Right. That’s what I thought. Frankly, I can’t think of one store that sells a new release on cassette and only one or two that sell used cassettes.
Well here in the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council, which includes Kuwait, Bahrain, UAE, Qatar, Oman and Saudi Arabia), all your cars come standard with a cassette player. And since radio here is a bit miserable, you will need to use that option. Much Arab music is readily available on cassette (even at Virgin Records). Luckily there are a few shops that have enough of a selection of Western music to keep a music-head like me happily tooling around Kuwait. This is what I have so far:
Foo Fighters – In Your Honor
Moby – Play
Kaiser Chiefs – Yours Truly, Unruly Mob
Jimmy Eat World
Deep Forest
John Lee Hooker – Platinum Hits
Joe Jackson – Jumpin’ Jive
Pink Floyd – Atom Heart Mother
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Take Them On, On Your Own
That should work… for now.
I’m In!
February 20, 2008 | Filed Under Main | 2 Comments
Spent my first night in the apartment yesterday.
I want to thank the folks at the Mövenpick Hotel for taking care of me this past month. Now – I am a bachelor. Even drove in to work this morning and it took about 35 minutes WITH traffic. The apartment is nice. Furnished, too. But it will need some work. At the moment it is very… cold. The floors are tile. The walls are white and bare. All the lighting is overhead. And there is no cable or internet. Yet. And yes – my first meal in the apartment was peanut butter and jelly. But I had to work late and then unpack and set up the bed and the bathroom, etc. That was enough to do. I didn’t want to try and figure out the propane stove as well.
But at least I’m here. Now all I need is a store to purchase some big posters and I can have the place looking like a college dorm room in no time! Hell, there’s already a Domino’s Pizza place on the corner…
stuff
February 17, 2008 | Filed Under Main | No Comments
I want to point out that I have added a link to my local paper - The Kuwait Times. It gives a pretty good rundown of what’s happening here (even at the local, police blotter level) and how they see what is happening in the US.
Remember - all US election news will be under the “International” section.
You can also check out the other daily - The Arab Times .
Friday
February 15, 2008 | Filed Under Main | 4 Comments
Yesterday was a good day.
I was up early to drive. Someone at work had given me directions toward where my apartment will be and I needed to do a dry run first before “going live” on Monday. Friday is the first day of the weekend, so there are fewer cars on the road. Thus – I could take my time.
First – I had to put gas in the car. I found a station almost immediately, right on my route. My guess is you want to know how much gas is here, dontcha? Well, I paid KD 2.00($7.30) for 33.292 litres(8.8 gallons) of gas. This roughly translates into eighty-three cents per gallon. Jealous? Next, I had to find the turnoff onto my main road and that was a minute or two away. Left on to Arabian Gulf Street… Which is exactly what it sounds like. It goes right along the water and that is where my building is. It’s a very scenic drive – passing government buildings, shops, the iconic Kuwaiti water towers, parks, marinas and various fast food joints like TGI Fridays. Nice, easy, sunny day ride.
There are also a couple of good stores off this road, so I made a u-turn and parked along the water by the marina. I was warned that the stores lot was a nightmare and they were right. I’m very happy I didn’t go anywhere near it. So I walked over – not far – and started shopping. This particular store is well known in Kuwait and has all your food stuffs, fresh fruits and veggies AND a department store section. But I am there to shop for the apartment. Now – I’m setting up a home here. So as I go from aisle to aisle picking up essentials from toilet paper to salt & pepper to (I don’t know) Pop Tarts… I suddenly remember that I am parked three blocks down and across a major highway with no chance of getting any closer. I stop where I am, pay for what I’ve got and make the first of three trips from the store to the car. All in all – a good days work.
Some things just like home –
1) As I pulled into the Marina Park lot at 9:30am, the basketball courts were already packed with players.
2) There was some sort of street fair being set up in front of the store with balloons, inflated bouncy things and platforms. But right in front of the store itself… were vintage cars! Bel Airs, Impalas and Catalinas from the 60s.
3) At one point while I was walking, a phalanx of bikers roared by.
Not just like home – As I was coming out of the store for my first trip across, the wind kicked up something fierce and started blowing sand and dirt all over. The whole city was shrouded in a dense fog of dirt. The wind didn’t die down so it stayed like this the whole day. Needless to say, I needed a shower when I got home.