Workin' & Livin'

Well, life has certainly settled into somewhat of a routine here in Kuwait.

Our classes are going well; four weeks in and it's amazing how well a person gets to know the students. We've already had "the spectrum" of student interactions, from students bringing food for us at lunch to the inevitable "let's test the teacher" shenanigans. Kids'll be kids, wherever they are, eh?

This week we head into the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, where Muslims practice fasting through the daylight hours, give more to the poor, and increase their prayer-quotient, all in an effort to re-align themselves with the teachings of Allah and his prophet Mohammed (PBUH). More to come about that, of course, but from this side of Ramadan we're looking forward to seeing how a different people of faith will walk out their beliefs through challenging conditions.

And differing faiths, indeed! We've both been challenged about our knowledge of Islam, both from our students and from within. From our perspective, it's quite a blessing to be able to interact with Shiites, Sunni's, Sufi's, Egyptians, Lebanese, Iranians, Kuwaitis, Palestinians... all in the same classroom. Talk about keeping close guard of one's assumptions!

Anyhow, it's off to church.. blessings for the coming week, all!

B&R

B&R, Arabian (Persian) Gulf, Thursday, September 29. 

Breakwater detail. With all that sand, why not use concrete instead of rock? 

Flat, eh? Nothing but concrete and desert. (And the 5th largest communications tower in the world, of course!) 

Put a bunch of AIS`teachers on a skiff and what do you get? 

Kuwait City from the Arabian (Persian) Gulf 

Firsts...

Hi, all. Wow, busy week again.

Today's Thursday (or "virtual Saturday" to a few folks 'round these parts) so no work.

This week's firsts:

1. Brent's first run in 44 degree heat. Not bad, actually, if you drink lots and don't worry about speed. The locals honk at you too, the horn being the Kuwaiti communication-of-choice when a person really wants to say, "Wow, you Canadians are nuts for voluntarily running in this heat!"

2. The first cool breeze in the evening to signal that summer will only be around a few more weeks. Mind you, it could have been our imagination (really, 38 degrees does feel cooler on the far side of a few days of 49 degrees).

3. Brent and Rosalee's first time playing soap-soccer (see pictures below). Soap, water, enclosed space, and uncoordinated people... recipe for bruises and soreness. And we didn't even have to sign a waiver!

4. R&B's first discovery of an Indian restaurant in our neighbourhood. They better have naan bread and chicken curry in heaven...

5. B&R's first Kuwaiti bank account was set up. The bankers come to the school and we end up signing a lot of important, money-dealing papers. In Arabic. Trust is such a wonderful thing, eh?

6. B&R's first "Settlers of Catan Party." Sharon, Wayne, Dennis... can't wait to barter for some resources with you again. Does anyone have any brick?!

7. B&R's first city bus experience. High speeds, barely-functioning a/c, smelly bodies, and more Hindi pop-love-song-videos than you can shake a stick at. All for 150fils (about 60 cents). Two words for you: Bar-Gain.

8. B&R's first outdoor meal under funky cooling water-misters. Good schawarma, good hommous, and some Egyptian pasta-rice-spice medley.

9. Our first Kuwait swimming pool experience in a large--yet really shallow--outdoor pool. Rosalee and I wanted to swim together, so we had to settle for the "family" area, as men and women cannot swim in the same pool.

Salaam,

B&R

Soap-soccer at its slip-slidin', splashy best. This is what happens when one discovers that one doesn't stop on the slide-tackle and bodies in motion tend to stay in motion. Physics? Who needs physics? 

Rosalee looking fetching as always (not sure she realized I was snapping this pic), and new friends Rhonda and Derek waiting for the tow-truck. 

Ugh. After church, discover a broken fan belt and our ride isn't going anywhere. An extra fifteen minutes in 44 degree heat and ten of us in a car meant for six makes for an interesting Sund... er, Friday. 

Soap-soccer by the gulf. Sore muscles in places you never even knew you had muscles. 

Busy night at the mosque... 

Rosalee & Brent, Kuwait City, Thursday, Sept. 15. 

Because Kuwait's economy depends upon scores of migrant workers, ethnic foods are readily-available and very, very good. Here Rosalee and I are enjoying a very good Indian meal, complete with naan, yellow curry chicken, and biryani chicken.  

The backsides of buildings are often in a a state of less repair than the fronts. These are not wealthy people in these apartments... notice all the satellite dishes, however--not so different from Canada, eh? 

Brent: "is the self-timer working...?" 

Detail, old city gate. 

This is a very well irrigated park in the city centre... we don't get to see this kind of green out where we are, though. 

Kuwait is so busy modernizing that remnants of its bedouin past are quickly being erased. This is part of the old gate to the city, and is slowly--very, very slowly--being restored. 

As I mentioned, safety is a secondary concern here... if the demolition looks close to the man, it is. We had stood there ourselves. 

A few seconds before this was taken, the crane had picked up a tub of concrete and swung it out right over the street (over us... yipes.). Kuwait's safety laws are quite a bit more lax than we're used to... if you look closely, you might be able to see the man who had ridden with the concrete-tub as it went to the top of the building. Scary.  

New building around the corner. Brent just liked the lines of this one. 

Dust & Cinder-block

Construction, construction everywhere...

Folks who have been around a few years note that construction in Kuwait has increased ten-fold in the last two years. Apparently, the location of Kuwait's wealth has always been a bit of an issue for the local population: generally speaking, anything of value has been kept offshore out of fear of another Iraqi invasion. But since S.H. was overthrown and captured, Kuwaitis have been re-investing in the infrastructure and economy at a level never seen before.

And so, everywhere one looks, new buildings are going up, old buildings are coming down. As part of the process, rumour has it that Kuwait has passed a law that requires one to ensure that one's bulding remains presentable, in order to reflect Kuwait's stature as a wealthy, first-world nation.

Kind of makes it hard to discover those amazing, old-style alleys and souks, though...

Salaam,

B&R

Floor hockey @ AIS. Notice the rubber goalie between the posts... 

Despite the absence of a gym at the moment due to construction, Canadians will still find an opportunity for their floor-hockey-fix. Only 40 degrees, just before sunset--this was taken early, before we were all drenched in sweat. 

The "Ministry" Day...

Because over 30% of Kuwait's population at any given time is not Kuwaiti--i.e. ex-pat--the country has had to develop a method of processing visa applicants that can handle such huge numbers.

Enter "The Ministry." (Anything government-related has the designation "The Ministry" everything from roads and telephones to censorship and immigration.)

So, at 0730 yesterday morning Rosalee, myself, and Texan Kerrie were bundled into the Mandoub's car and off to the ministry for fingerprinting. Later, we went to the medical in-processing comound for bloodwork and chest x-rays... at the end of it all, we had spent about 5 hours running around Kuwait City.

The Mandoub said it was a very good day, as at times it can take much, much longer. Much longer, even when we as North Americans are hustled to the front of every line we encounter. The Mandoub's job is to make our transition into Kuwait smooth by handling the ministry's employees and get us processed quickly. People in Kuwait who have influence or the ability to short-circuit the system are said to have "Wastah," and the Mandoub has spent 16 years developing his contacts for AIS.

Fair? No, not really. But Rosalee and I had to wait an hour in the bank the night before--where we have no wastah--as wealthier and/or connected clients kept being shown service ahead of us, so the "system" has a way of equalizing itself.

Different world, this. One takes, one gives.

B&R

The dust storm, taken while leaning out of the apartment.  

We are in the middle of our first minor dust-storm. Here is the storm through our living room window. 

Rosalee in relax-mode in our living room. Looks as though I caught her putting her ring back on as Travel-Gumby (right) looks on approvingly. We don't own a TV, but do find ourselves occasionally on the couch watching DVD's on the laptop... who needs home theatre, eh? 

The green mosque at night. This was the first time the string-lights were lit, so I thought I'd snap a pic. It looks much nicer in person. 

Day 1 (sort of...)

We've been in meetings and doing prep for the last week, so today certainly isn't our first day "on the job."

But today is the first day of student contact, i.e. the first day of teaching. Aside from dealing with the expectations, the administrivia, and the lesson-plans, "Day 1" also makes us think of our colleagues back home who will begin their teaching in just a couple of days. At home, Monday is labour day; here, yesterday was a Muslim holiday where technically we had the day off. (Mind you with all the last-minute construction, cleaning, painting, etc. happening at the school, it didn't really feel like a holiday...)

We slept well, which is a bonus, and will head to the school in about 30 mins.

We've been connecting with some family members over the past few days; tonight we call the cottage and speak to the van Staalduinen side.

Anyhow, into the fray--have a great Sunday, everyone, and a restful Labour Day.

B&R

Sabbath, of sorts...

So it's Friday morning, the Muslim holy day. Our new "Sunday."

As I'm sure you can imagine, having Thursday as our Saturday is taking some getting used to. Friday as Sunday is a little easier, as today we go to church, thus having something somewhat more concrete to latch onto.

We'll go to the National Evangelical Church of Kuwait, a huge compound downtown (we have complete freedom to worship here in Kuwait as we please, but I guess the NEC figured a guarded compound was just good sense. I agree.) where services are offered in a bunch of languages including English.

Nice contrast there, interestingly, as every other congregation--Swahili, Korean, Tagalog, Farsi, Hindi, French, Spanish, and so on--seems to spill into the courtyard, while the English one doesn't. Inside, of course, it's hopping, but it's a nice snapshot of how the balance of nationalities in Kuwait is shifting: white, western folks are continually reducing their numbers here as investors, etc. pull out of the ME, while East Indians, Bangladeshis, Phillipinos, and others are flocking here.

But it is very, very cool to see other believers worshipping in such joy and numbers, eh?

Peace, and happy Friday (Sunday?),

B&R

The curve...

To answer a question that seems to pop up fairly often: yes, you can tell the difference between 45 degree and 49 degree heat. It's amazing, really, a question we would never had opportunity to answer anywhere but where we are right now. This summer's high here in Kuwait was reportedly a blistering 52 degrees, and it's not impossible, we've been told, that summer may yet bring temperatures back into that range. Yowza.

How hot is hot? A few examples:

1. It's cooler to wear light coloured pants and long-sleeved shirts so the sun itself doesn't touch skin--trapped heat feels cooler than direct sunlight. (UV protection aside...)

2. After dark, it doesn't really go below 30. Brent runs at 6am in that temperature.

3. Even starting with cold water, a 500mL Nalgene bottle will be warm by the time one arrives at school after only a 5 minute walk.

4. Ants close up shop and head underground by midday.

5. (Brent's favourite) To get cool water, we turn the tap to "hot." The water in the water heater (left off, of course) is cooler than the "cold" water, which comes from storage tanks kept on the roof of our building that much closer to the sun. We can't turn the tap fully to cold in the shower, as it is too hot.

6. You walk out of the front door, and it literally feels as though you're standing in front of a pre-heated oven.

7. Brent had thought he had felt a hot wind in Canada. He was mistaken--that was merely warm; here, the wind is uncomfortably hot. Wire-rim sunglasses, aside from doing little to filter out the glare, cannot keep the wind out of one's eyes.

8. It's illegal here to work outside between 1 and 4pm. It is a commonly ignored directive, however.