In a Starbucks, no other flatmates trying to go six different directions. Nowhere I have to be.
The Good News: it looks like I'll have wireless in my flat (apartment) by September 26, which means much more posting of details I forget by the time I'm in a clean, air conditioned coffee shop (like the whole country smells like gasoline). I'll be responding to your posts and emails much more quickly.
Bad news? None really. Here are the things I miss: the way the Bay Area smells during autumn; ANY sort of reasonably attractive male; being able to go, where I want to and how without mortgaging my left arm; fog; pork products; red wine. The majority of these can be had in Poland, where I will go as soon as I can if I have to walk there on my own tongue.
Other than that, it is hot, dry and boring. For the life of me, they do not have Pickled Beets here, so those of you reading this take note and buy a couple of cans to send.
I managed to find a coffee maker for 1 KD 950 fils (roughly 10 bucks) and it's been doing a mighty duty in my house. Better and better, there is a coffee and sweet shop around the corner that will provide, measure and grind it for you. This coffee is indescribable- it's like invisible lightning in your veins, or the reverse of Creeper. Drink it, and find your furniture in the foyer, having scrubbed the floors of three rooms in your apartment five hours later when you come down. Yes, all of you will get some when I get paid. I promise.
On the note of sending things- I don't have an address. The building was built less than two months ago, and the ministry will get around to registering it sometime around the Rapture and Molasses in January. Were I to give you an address, it would read something like:
Around the Ah Noor Building
Right Turn Past Creepy Oversized Baby Fujifilm Sign
Dodge Stray Dumpster
In the Middle of Three Buhkalas (Corner markets)
Left Turn at Pothole 16
Salmiya District
Kuwait
And don't get me started on dodging dumpsters. I'm a champion dumpster diver, and these smell like they've been used as morgue wagons.
Ah. More later
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Kuwait Tour, The Gulf
The first three pictures are of where we had our Welcome Brunch. yes, you can wander down and grab a Sheesa Pipe after your meal and look at boats you might or might not already own. The rest of the pictures are of Kuwait Towers and the Fish Market. Sorry for the delay, these are from a trip last Monday.
Get a look at the things in a net bag- that's a date palm, and those are fresh dates. The reason they are in a bag is that they belong to the King, and he takes them and gives them to the poor in all the Mosques during Ramadan.
Friday, September 7, 2007
Quick Post
This has been my first week of Semi-work. Kids don't arrive until the 16th.
Haven't forgotten about any of you- wireless is just ridiculously hard to come by. No pictures lately, either. Mostly, I've been getting my house together and I don't feel like showing you guys pictures of my laundry on the drying rack.
We went to the Friday Market today, and specifically the Carpet Souq. About a Football Fields' worth of every carpet, every color, every design you could think of, for sale. It is the most beautiful thing, all in silk wool and cotton. Yes, I bought one in gold and red and sage green. :-)
Thursday we had off. I'm not sure if I mentioned this, but the workmen who slapped the building together did not use (or believe in, or afford) dropcloths. No cleaning crew followed them either. So I spent from sunup to noon scrubbing out the living room, bathroom and kitchen. Paint on the tiles and baseboards, plaster and construction leavings. Cement dropped in piles here and there. I would have been better off abandoning the suitcase and bringing the toolbox.
Just a note- some of you whom I've called, have been sort of freaked by my vocabulary. It's changed. Let me help:
A Cooker= Stove
Pants, Knickers= Underwear
Peg= Clothepins
May-Oh-Naise= Mayonnaise
Chips= French Fries
Just ask me if I get totally off and you don't understand what I said. Oh, and even though it might sound totally revolting, here they dip their French Fries in mayonnaise instead of Ketchup. And get this- Burger King and McDonalds DELIVER.
The hardest thing for me to get used to is the Servant culture here. Ladies don't even pump their own gas- you stay in the car and someone else does it and you open the car window and pay. Someone is always there to carry your groceries, lift your things, watch your children, wash your clothes. Doing things yourself is markedly eccentric.
Last thing- I know I've mentioned that I want an FJ 40. Well, I found one to purchase, and I will let you know how it goes.
Temperature is still between 120-130. Kisses to all.
Haven't forgotten about any of you- wireless is just ridiculously hard to come by. No pictures lately, either. Mostly, I've been getting my house together and I don't feel like showing you guys pictures of my laundry on the drying rack.
We went to the Friday Market today, and specifically the Carpet Souq. About a Football Fields' worth of every carpet, every color, every design you could think of, for sale. It is the most beautiful thing, all in silk wool and cotton. Yes, I bought one in gold and red and sage green. :-)
Thursday we had off. I'm not sure if I mentioned this, but the workmen who slapped the building together did not use (or believe in, or afford) dropcloths. No cleaning crew followed them either. So I spent from sunup to noon scrubbing out the living room, bathroom and kitchen. Paint on the tiles and baseboards, plaster and construction leavings. Cement dropped in piles here and there. I would have been better off abandoning the suitcase and bringing the toolbox.
Just a note- some of you whom I've called, have been sort of freaked by my vocabulary. It's changed. Let me help:
A Cooker= Stove
Pants, Knickers= Underwear
Peg= Clothepins
May-Oh-Naise= Mayonnaise
Chips= French Fries
Just ask me if I get totally off and you don't understand what I said. Oh, and even though it might sound totally revolting, here they dip their French Fries in mayonnaise instead of Ketchup. And get this- Burger King and McDonalds DELIVER.
The hardest thing for me to get used to is the Servant culture here. Ladies don't even pump their own gas- you stay in the car and someone else does it and you open the car window and pay. Someone is always there to carry your groceries, lift your things, watch your children, wash your clothes. Doing things yourself is markedly eccentric.
Last thing- I know I've mentioned that I want an FJ 40. Well, I found one to purchase, and I will let you know how it goes.
Temperature is still between 120-130. Kisses to all.
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