I am trying to remember to write about ordinary everyday things that, for the moment, are new and strange, or interesting, or very different, knowing that sooner or later we will adjust to Kuwait and stop being so observant. Some things that spring to mind are:
1. figuring out how the traffic works - I've mentioned the heavy traffic, and the only way to drive is incredibly defensively - and not too fast. People do odd things, rarely are indicators used, and cars just drift in and out of lanes. This is all similar to Singapore, but the main difference here is speed, which is terribly dangerous and causes accidents and death every day. I have yet to venture out in our car, but the day is coming soon when I will have to readjust my brain and gird my loins and get out there.
2. how and when the garbage gets dealt with - I don't actually know the answer to this, except that the wheelie bins outside fill up every day, and every morning they are empty, so I assume the garbos come early every morning. Where is the rubbish taken? Is there any real recycling? Sorry, i don't know, but will try to find out over time.
3. People seem to pay for most things with cash.
4. Government departments don't seem to use or even have computers. Everything is paper, and it gets shuffled around from department to department.
Last night (Thursday night) we were invited to the home of a Kuwaiti family - it is their holiday villa, about 15 minutes drove from our place, where the family meet up and spend the weekends and holidays. This was our first invitation as a family, into somebody's house, and it was a great honour to be invited into the heart of the family. I sat outside on the balcony with the women, while the men sat inside on large couches. Lenny ran off with a bunch of kids immediately, and I hardly saw him all night. He told us later he had been playing Iraqi Generals fighting - surely a kids game specific to Kuwait! We all had a wonderful night, and met some really interesting people. I felt relaxed and welcomed, and we had a buffet style dinner, where everyone helped themselves to all kinds of Middle Eastern and Western food, from baba ganoush, to salads, chicken nuggets (for the kids), macaroni, fried chicken, and for dessert, and really delicious local style creme caramel - cooked longer than the French style, so harder and cheesier, but delicious.
I found the women so easy to talk to - they were interested in all kinds of things - one of them had been to Sydney on her honeymoon and loved it. I look forward to the time we can invite them all to our rambling country home near the beach in Byron Bay. I know they will love it.
Things that really struck me that I want to remember - the way this house is set up is for maximum and relaxed, unpressured social time - so large spaces, lots of comfy seating, a large TV, spaces for the women and men to hang out, and the kids just ran wild all over the house and around the garden. The staff quietly organised everything - food just appeared and then was taken away, babies were looked after, kids were fed. Many wonderful old and new trinkets, photos and collections were on display on walls and in cabinets.
I learned a lot of new things about Kuwait - for example, I learned that the Gulf Road - where we had the car accident - is the party road where young people go to show off their cars, meet girls, and generally have fun checking each other out. We live on the Gulf Road, and we hear lots of crazy traffic, especially in the early hours - motor bikes racing along, fast cars and yelling. There is a guy who rides his motor bike on one wheel for long stretches, and a fad is opening the passenger door, hanging over the open window frame and skidding along the road at high speeds.
I also learned more about the Iraqi invasion, and how some soldiers were so affected once they got here, that they were in tears because of what they were forced to do by Saddam's men. Before the invasion, Kuwaitis and Iraqis were very close,but this has been badly damaged, and the current generations will not forget. We spoke about how future generations will forget, just as they must and always do.
Here are some videos I found on youtube of various driving antics in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
And this video is in Saudi Arabia, but it seems that it happens in Kuwait as well.
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