Lunchtime

Every day we go to the same shopping center for lunch, because there's nowhere else nearby to go. There's a McDonalds, a Little Caesars Pizza and a Shawarma Express, which would be great, but none of them are open yet. Thought I'd take you along on our journey...

There seems to be a new subdivision popping up all around the 360 Mall, with streets of new homes and a mini shopping center built so far. Directly adjacent to the mall parking lot is what was supposed to be a huge new tennis center, but construction has been put on hold indefinitely due to a feud between the developer and contractor.

These are all new single family dwellings. Massive and ugly, although I've seen much worse. Also, notice the pick-up truck and suburban in the background. Both popular vehicle choices in Kuwait.

Continuing our drive to lunch...

Some images from the shopping center...

In addition to a grocery store called Zarra, there's a Starbucks and a Mr. Baker which has little finger sandwiches which are pretty good and cheap. They also have lots of dessert items (display case shown above). What Kuwait lacks in alcohol it makes up in sugar. Sweets everywhere, not to mention the super syrupy "cocktails" they serve. I've eaten more ice cream since I've been here then I have in the last six months. Haagen Daas, Dippin' Dots, Dairy Queen... everything that would be a bar in the U.S. is a dessert place here.

A backlit sign outside La Baguette (also, not open yet)

And now we're back. That's the mall/jobsite on the right, and the mosque for the mall on the left.

My Peeps

These are some of the people I've spent the past 11 days with. Since my primary job is to make sure everything is taken care of on the floor while the guys put glass on metal, I end up spending a lot of time chatting with everyone, from the clients to the workers to the Chair of Coffee Republic Kuwait (huh?). Today I think I may have agreed to trade a piece of glass for a fifth of Black Label Johnnie Walker, but I'm not entirely sure...

The workers are my favorite, though. We have around 4-6 of them assigned to us a day, and they all speak very broken english, if any. Since it's my responsibility to manage them, my habit of talking flamboyantly with my hands and penchant for overly honest facial expressions is coming in handy. If all else fails, I just start doing whatever needs to be done myself, and within seconds, there's an army of men relieving me from my task.

The guy in the middle is Tariq. The very first thing I noticed when I met him were his stunning green eyes - an unusual characteristic in this part of the world. Turns out he's from the Swat Valley, but thankfully doesn't have any family there anymore and never plans to return. Anshea, on the other hand (to the right), is also from the Swat Valley and his entire family is there. I asked him if he was worried about them, and he said they were safe because the army was surrounding their village. He also told me this afternoon that I'm the first female outside his family he's ever spoken to. His english is sometimes hard to understand, so I rephrased it back to him in about 4 different ways just to make sure I'd heard right. Holy crap! He explained that this whole time, he's been trying to stand on the opposite side of the work area from me because he felt ashamed. Strangely, I didn't even notice, since I'm grateful for any personal space I can get.

This is the guy at the security gate/rope who greets us in exactly this manner every time we enter or leave the property.

Lunchtime.

Shafaat has gotten very clever at making things out of our discarded attachment wire.

Is this supposed to make me feel safer?

Today they added a security post to the entrance of our hotel parking lot, where they make you stop and then search under your car with a mirror. Awesome. As if the metal detectors and bag scanner at the entrance weren't enough...

The Old Souk

Last night we ventured out of our neighborhood and headed downtown to check out the Old Souk.  It was definitely the most interesting thing we've done since we've been here, and I only wished we could have spent more time.  Here are some photos of our short visit.

We were immediately lured into this store by it's gorgeous displays of bottles.  Raven and I both bought some of the containers seen above which are from India and made of leather.  You can also see some on the shelf in the lower picture holding oils.  Some of these were crazy expensive - KD 100 for 2oz.  Pure patchouli oil, pure musk oil, pure rose oil, etc. (most of them smelled pretty foul by themselves). I left covered with perfume (since when does anyone need 6 sprays of anything?) and by the time I got home I had the worst headache ever and couldn't wait to shower.

Hookah vendor.

Prayer/Meditation beads.  Really gorgeous and surprisingly really expensive.  The few we asked about ranged from KD 70 - 90 (around $250). 

Just chillin'.

Pakistani men are incredibly affectionate with each other - something that takes awhile to get used to seeing.  As I mentioned before, about 60% of the workers at our job site are Pakistani, and it's not unusual to see them holding hands like these two men above or laying somewhat cuddled up to each other during naptime.

Notice the lack of women in all these pictures?  Especially uncloaked? Needless to say, I stick out like a sore thumb in this country.

The Souk equivalent of a food court.

The mist you see in the background is coming out of those lines that string across the eating area.  There are also giant fans that blow mist onto the patrons.  Pretty handy when you're eating dinner at 9pm and it's 93 degrees.

Probably the best and cheapest meal we've had since we got here.

Tiny tea w/ sugar.

Liberation Tower and the moon.

Driving in Kuwait...

... is not advised unless you have a death wish or are Thomas Gray.  I read prior to leaving that Kuwait has one of the highest vehicle accident and fatality rates in the world (60,400 accidents in 2006 with 460 deaths, not to mention a high number of unreported incidents).  And this is all without alcohol!  

With this knowledge, we originally chose not to rent a car, but realized early on that we would desperately need one if we didn't want to waste hours of our day waiting for taxis.  So, every day we set off, Essential Club Anthems 2003-2005 rocking our tape deck, and risk our lives just to drive 5 miles to work.  The traffic is horrendous, people drive whatever speed they feel like, changing lanes without looking, slamming on their brakes in the middle of the highway... Tonight, we actually saw a guy driving in reverse on the shoulder of the freeway back to the exit he missed.  Not surprising, considering the popular practice of shooting directly across 4 lanes of traffic 50 yards from an exit, as if the exit suddenly appeared out of nowhere and must be reached immediately.  All highly entertaining, until you realize that you're actually in a vehicle and not behind the plastic steering wheel of a Pole Position arcade game.

Random Photos from the Job Site

Nap Time.  I'm jealous.

Moi.  Self portrait.

Nice kitty.  Feral kitty.  Feeding off the makeshift garbage dump on Level 4.

Shafaat

This is Shafaat with a pillow he made today out of packing foam, tape, cleaning diapers and hanging wire.  Shafaat is one of the workers who's been assigned to help our team every day and every hour we're at the job site.  The extent of his help ranges from hauling boxes, laying out floor protection, taking things out of my hand when I still need them, putting things away we're still using and bringing me candy every morning.  I adore this guy, but am incredibly grateful when he goes to prayer each day and I can actually walk without tripping over him. 

He's taken to calling me his big sister and at least once a day, asks if I'll take his papers to America with me and try to get him access into the county.   "You try.  You try.  No say impossible."  It's breaking my heart.

Safaat is Pakistani and works to support his entire family back in Pakistan - mother, father and a number of younger siblings.  He makes 150 Kuwaiti Dinar a month (about $500 USD).  Of this 150 KD, he spends 50 KD for room and board, 10 KD for his cell phone, and sends 50 KD to his family.  The remaining 50 KD goes towards paying back the cost of his travel over here.  

So many options

In the neighborhood directly adjacent to our hotel, there are about 10 barber shops in a 4 block radius. Either we're in some kind of grooming district or there's just a lot of hair to cut in this city. The latter seems more likely.

What there are also a lot of are fabric stores that sell more shades of white cloth then I ever knew existed. I suppose it's the single means of self-expression one can exercise when wearing a dishdasha (the traditional robe) day in and day out.

Here are some photos I took with my iPhone on our walk to Pizza Hut for dinner.

"Our" ice cream guy.

Getting High in Kuwait

I know you're all much more interested in reading about Kuwait, but holy crap!  I went up 74' in a bucket lift this week!  Talk about confronting my fears.  I HATE heights, and had a mini panic attack at the top, but then I went up again today and it didn't bother me at all.   This was the view from 60' as I was raising the chain hoist...

...and here's the view from the ground.

The Kuwait Pecking Order

I am quickly learning how segregated the population here is and the amount of racism that exists.  The job site alone is something of a microcosm of the community as a whole, at least in terms of expats, so it's been interesting to experience.  Most of the laborers are Pakistani, Indian or Egyptian.  They speak little or no English, are unskilled, work long hours doing back-breaking, often dangerous work and get paid very little (I'll go into more detail on this later). 

The discrimination I find the most interesting is less obvious, though.  You see, there are Kuwaitis and then there are Kuwaitis.  Interestingly, being born in Kuwait with Kuwaiti parents, grandparents, etc. does not make you a real Kuwaiti.  To be considered a real Kuwaiti, one must be from a certain lineage, tribe or origin.  Being a member of this "superior" class entitles one to a number of perks.  Not only will the government pay for private schooling and a university education at any school in the World, but they will also buy you your first house. What?! From what I can tell, it also implies that you will wear Prada and Gucci for the rest of your life and drive an Escalade, but I could be reading into this.  Needless to say, the amount of wealth is mind-boggling.  

Now, if you're a fake Kuwaiti (someone actually described them to me as this), you get none of the above.  Then again, not being able to claim "ownership" of this country doesn't seem all that bad...  

18 Hour Days = No Time for Blogging

We ran into a major hiccup yesterday that I won't go into detail about, but as a result, my day started at 7:30am and ended at 2:00am (starting again at 7:30am this morning). This is beginning to be a pattern, so I'm struggling to find time to blog as thoroughly as I'd like, let alone do anything else.  

Wish I had some more interesting pictures to share, but the Hotel to Jobsite to Hotel routine doesn't make for many great photo opportunities.  Even our eating and water run habits are repetitive, since we have few options let alone energy when we need either.   Typically, we just set out from our hotel into the surrounding neighborhood on the same daily route, which looks a little like this:

All of these photos are from a single block between our hotel and our usual destination.

75% of the retail spaces look like this - abandoned and littered with remnants of their former life.  Depressing and creepy at the same time.

This guy just set up his "office" in one of the gutted, windowless spaces.  Makes me laugh (and admire his resourcefulness) every time we walk by.

 
Our path.  Right behind where this picture was taken from is a small grocery store we buy water at every morning as well as three separate soft serve ice cream stands.  Raven and I both had two each yesterday - chocolate vanilla swirl.  You can actually pull your car up to the curb and someone will run out and take your order, which is wise seeing that eating ice cream in 100 degree weather is a losing battle.

Next block.

Kuwait "drinking fountains".  The water is desalinated and actually tastes great...well, out of my bathroom faucet.  Not sure about these, and not sure I'm willing to find out.

The best food option we've found so far - a Kuwaiti chain that serves yummy chicken kabobs and rice.

Much more to write about, but need to sign off for now and get some sleep.