08/22/2010 9:50

Not your everyday water there... but it is here.

Good morning all. I’ve been spending a bit of time on Facebook and when I first logged on, I thought about my friends and what you all are doing at this point. It’s about 1150 at home so most of you are either asleep or will likely be soon. This time difference is rather tough to get used to, but I’m sure we’ll all eventually get there.

I’m still in Kuwait. We arrived late Friday night/early Saturday and have been doing our best to try to adjust to the time change. It’s not easy but we’re all starting to make it. This is the first morning that we haven’t checked in then gone right back to bed until 3 in the afternoon or so. That’s a good start.

Pano of the view from my room.  Not too shabby, huh?

Kuwait is beautiful to me. I’ve hear a lot of grumbling from some other people, but I don’t know what the use in complaining about things is so I just look for the beauty.

More of the view from the room

Rooms and the elevators on one side of the lobby.

Hotel lobby. Very gorgeous.

Our hotel room is on the 7th floor and provides quite a nice view of a Mosque, a few streets, and a lot of buildings. It’s very toasty during the days (okay, it’s very toasty at night too…) and much of the hustle & bustle is confined to cars. We’re right in the middle of Ramadan right now so the daily workings are a little bit different from normal. Stores don’t open until around 8pm. That’s actually perfect for us since it appeals to our schedule a little bit more, but it’s tough to adjust to the rules we have to follow right now. We can’t drink, eat, or chew anything in public (basically anywhere outside of our rooms) until around 6:30 pm. Women can’t wear shorts, any public displays of affection are strictly forbidden, and there are a few other things to conform to. One of the guys was reprimanded for chewing on a toothpick during day hours. You don’t often think of those things, but we’ll get accustomed to it soon enough.

The pic of the restaurant from outside was a bit blurry,
but this one worked fine.

Our days are boring by many standards. There isn’t much to do other than sit in the rooms and wait. We have to check in twice a day just for accountability. 7:45 and 5:45. We’ve gone to two malls and looked around a bit. Last night, we wanted some good old fashioned American food so we ventured to the “big mall” and had Chili’s. That mall just happens to house 6 different Starbucks shops! Needless to say, it’s rather large. There is an Ikea, Sephora, American Eagle… quite a few familiar shops. That was pretty funny to see for most of us. The traffic amazed me last night, both going to and coming back from the mall. I read last night that the traffic during Ramadan is insane, and apparently the last week of Ramadan is even worse than what we’re seeing now! It’s hilarious to us to see the way they drive here.

At home, we are governed by so many rules on a daily basis—“Don’t run”, “Drive between the lanes”, “No smoking”, “Wait your turn”—but the rules here are much different. Kids run. There are no lanes, no normal standards like we know, more honking than you’ll hear Downtown Anywhere. There are only a few places I’ve seen where people aren’t smoking. If you try to wait your turn, you’ll never eat! If I saw a broken sidewalk at home, I’d know that the city would be by in a matter of days to smooth it out for fear of being sued. Here, you’d be hard pressed to find a stretch of sidewalk that isn’t broken. Crossing the street is pretty eventful. It actually reminds me of those great signs we used to see along the I-5 through Pendleton where the family is running across the road, holding the little girl in the back with her braids and feet trailing behind her… At least that’s the image I have in my mind each time.

I got suckered into singing Karaoke with one of my buds here. It was awful, yet hilarious. These little funny memories will last forever. The friendships I’m making now will last as well. One of the guys in our group has a Snoopy who is getting his picture taken everywhere we go. It’s so much fun to see the places he’s gone. Had one taken outside of Ikea, one in Chili’s, a few down in the lobby (one on top of a Cannon, because there really is no better place to take a picture of Snoopy, right?). He’s got all of his friends back home excited to see where Snoopy goes next. It’s very cute.

Snoopy in front of some lanterns

I’ve gone down to the Jacuzzi for the past couple of nights with Tim, the guy who is doing the Snoopy pics. We’ll sit there for at least an hour and watch the show at the pool. Since Muslims aren’t allowed to drink during Ramadan, the pool is closed until the ban is lifted each day, but at that point, it gets insane! It’s so busy around there and so much fun to watch. I’ve been amazed at how little the kids mind the adults. There are lifeguards at the pool who spend so much time blowing their whistles only to be ignored, and the really ironic part of the whole show is the parents who are screaming at their kids during a time when they don’t get angry. Of course that probably doesn’t count. These are kids after all and every good parent knows that children inspire anger in ways that no rules govern.  Or was that just me?  :)

Because everyone needs a two-story McDonald's...

Things start to slow down around midnight. That’s when the kids have to be out of the pool, most of the big groups of families head home, and close to the point when a lot of the shops close. The hotel restaurants are currently open until 2am because they are eating so late in order to better tolerate the fast the next day. I think it would be rough to fast every day for 30 days, but their mindset behind it is admirable. It’s a time to deprive oneself in order to focus on what is important. Something I read last night likened it to New Year’s resolutions. I didn’t know that, but I get it. We have our once a year when we often resolve to be better people, to take better care of ourselves, and to try to make the world a better place. They spend a month figuring these things out and try to apply it to everyday life. Yet another way that we humans are all so similar in little, but very significant ways.

Oh, so one of the most amazing things I’ve seen thus far is the C-130 flying overhead when we were in the Jacuzzi. I know those bad boys are large. I’ve seen them up close and personal. They are, in fact, my third favorite plane thus far. I have never been under one as it flew over with what felt like a few feet of headspace. Granted, it did clear the top of our 9-story hotel, and I was outside in the Jacuzzi on the first floor, so I know that I had more than a few feet of headspace, but it felt a lot closer than that. I was almost stupefied by it. Loud, beautiful, and powerful. I’m really hoping to be able to get a picture of that view before we take off.

The other thing that I really enjoy here is the prayer that is played over the PA system here. It is hauntingly beautiful. I guess the guys on the other side of the hotel are being woken up by it during the night, but from our side, it is simply gorgeous. I heard it once when we were walking to the mall, and it really is neat to hear. I’ll miss that when we leave. I guess it’s about as comforting as hearing a grandfather clock in the middle of the night. They are things that you start to take for granted if you’re not careful.

My very adorable roommate

Alright my friends, my roommate is sleeping and I think I’m going to look into the possibility of the same thing. Hopefully this one will be just a nap and I’ll be able to stay awake for the rest of the day. Anything to help me go to sleep before 4 am would be great. There are a lot of sickies running around here and I don’t want to be one of them so keeping my sleep reserves up is probably a good start.

I’ll talk to you soon.

My very adorable roommate's very adorable roommate.

Or so I think...