Mouse Games II

The last time my husband left on a business trip, Bean was five months old and I was still getting my head, feet, and hands around this parenting thing. I had great trepidations about being a single parent for three weeks, but in the end it all went fine and Bean and I survived and dare I say, even thrived. However, when my husband recently left again, I felt secure in my parenting tasks, but it was the time-filling tasks where I had my doubts. So, lists were made, crafts were lined up, and Kuwait destinations for exploration were selected. We were set!

The first day of his absence didn’t start off well, though. Bean was a grump most of the day (either due to the arrival of four new teeth, or because she was missing Daddy), and after finally getting her to nap in the late morning, I happened to walk by the kitchen and saw it was flooded. There was water everywhere. I waded through it and tracked it back to our washing machine, which was happily spewing out waves. My first instinct was to grab towels; not the best idea (requires continued use of said-malfunctioning washing machine), but then I remembered the floor squeegee we have and I proceeded to fight back the waves and direct them to the drains in the floor.

I will admit that I did a second load after this. I wasn’t sure whether something was actually broken, or I had somehow over-loaded the machine. Following the next round of wave squeegeeing, I knew I hadn’t overloaded anything. Since I typically just call my husband when something breaks or needs repair in the apartment, I called his boss to get the number of the repairman. They were there within an hour and discovered a loose hose in back. They fixed it and suggested I let it dry fully for a few hours before using it again. I wasn’t taking any chances; I let it dry for 48 hours. The towels can wait.

Our time-filling list of things to do included “create Kuwait bucket list”, which I did, “visit malls”, which Bean and I did and you can read about all the excitement in my last mall posting, and “daily outings”. This last one was a bit nebulous, but I figured I had the car, I had a curious 10-month-old, and I had 12+ hours a day to entertain her; so we managed to go grocery shopping every few days by buying very little at a time, we walked along the Gulf and on our favorite shaded walking path in Mishref, we did quite a bit of mall walking, and we window-shopped and looked at things we couldn’t afford and wouldn’t know where to hang if we could afford them.

We did some pool-bobbing with a friend and her daughter, and Bean learned how to splash and pedaled her legs under the water like a budding Olympian (hey, high expectations are good for a child). I attempted to water our little garden three times, but for whatever reason the hose was always dry. I did manage to cart some watering-cans from a distant hose, but Bean’s patience level that day had been reached, so the garden only got a dribble. But regardless of the drought, I harvested seven pea pods and kept my eye on one small zucchini. However, based on the rate of growth, I wasn’t planning any large dinner parties anytime soon.

While at home, during Bean’s naptimes, I puttered around the house and attempted to address my list of tasks, crafts and other time-suckers. I bought some anti-slip decals for our shower and artfully peeled and stuck them down. During my next shower, as soon as the water hit them, I watched as seven of the nine decals wiggled loose, floated a bit and then gently rode the current to the drain where they all collided. Gotta love Chinese-made and Kuwait-bought products! I finally started to put together the mobile I designed for Bean’s room a year ago. And I attempted to burn down a jar candle that had broken during the move. So every day, for hours, we had geraniums and cedarwood wafting through the air. Yes, folks, that is the smell of expat-excitement.

All in all, it wasn’t horrible, but admittedly I was counting the minutes until my husband returned. It wasn’t that I needed his help with Bean, though it’s ALWAYS appreciated, and nothing unmanageable happened with the house, but my evenings were boring. And the last time I was bored I got a new job, self-published a book, and applied to grad school. And frankly, I just don’t have the time or energy for all that right now. So, welcome home, sweetie! Oh, and watch out for the safety decals in the shower.

Weekend Excursion: Closed Museums, Absent Nature and Some Bedouin Weaving

As we’re nearing our six-months-to-go point, I have amassed a list of places and things that I want to see in Kuwait before we depart. However, I did this with some trepidation. The last time I did our six-months-to-go list was on January 25th, Police Day in Cairo, and what officially became the first day of the Egyptian Revolution in 2011. Six days later, I was evacuated out and separated from my husband and our kitties for three months. But, feeling that I couldn’t live in fear forever, I made up our Kuwait list and have posted it on the fridge for all to see. Admittedly, I realize that the majority of these are probably of very little interest to my husband – for example, the Sha’ab Duck Park he could probably live without seeing, and the Japanese Gardens he might forego, as well. However, I did give him the chance to review the list and tick off any things he’d like to see, and surprisingly he actually chose a handful; which have been duly noted for future weekend family excursions.

So, always wanting to start checking things off a list, I suggested we head out for a few hours and start seeing the sites! Our plan was to visit the Kuwait National Museum and the Sadu House, located right next to each other, and providing there was time, maybe head out to the Sulaibikhat Nature Reserve. The Kuwait National Museum supposedly contains a Heritage Museum, an Archeological Museum, a Planetarium, and an old traditional Kuwaiti house (from pre-skyscraper days). The bemusing thing about this, is that the building itself is tiny; at least to hold all that. But the bottom line is, that we cannot prove or disprove any of these claims because by the time we got there, they were closed. Or quite possibly, they were never open. For whatever reason, our GPS that morning decided to take us in the complete opposite direction (it was only 4 miles from our house) and plunked us down in car-parts alley instead. So, thanks to horrendous traffic, an hour later we had done a big loop, passed our house again, and drove the four miles up the Gulf to the museum; and it was closed.

But, next to it was the Sadu House, and it was open. The Sadu House is an old-fashioned Kuwaiti house. It was originally built in 1936, and was the first house in Kuwait to be constructed using stone and concrete. It was built in the traditional style, with open courtyards with rooms jutting off like flower petals. Twenty-five years later, the government of Kuwait bought the house in order to preserve it for its historical significance. The house is currently used as a cultural center, with speakers and presentations, as well as housing a permanent exhibit on the history of Bedouin weaving.

“Al Sadu” is a Bedouin term, referring to traditional desert weaving done on a horizontal loom. The house also has some of the original wooden doors from Karachi, Pakistan and ornate iron windows; the details and designs on the doors are really stunning. While we were walking around the exhibits, they were setting up for a speaker in the main courtyard for that evening. They invited us to return, but we thanked them and declined the offer. My husband was probably just hoping to return home, but I still had designs on heading out to the nature reserve.

For a bit of background on this nature reserve, let me start a month or so ago. As I was poking around on Google Earth one day, trying to plan a route to some place or another (we’ve found that it’s far easier to do this ahead of time, than hope for street signs or building numbers, or – as we learned on our trek to car-parts alley – rely on GPS here), I saw “Sulaibikhat Bay Nature Reserve” located in a green bit just north of us along the Gulf. My wildlife-spotting reserves are perpetually low here, even with the ladybug I found in our lettuce the other day, so I was thrilled! I made note of the reserve’s location and tagging it on to one of our outings,

I dragged Bean along one day. And when I say “along”, I really mean a loooooong. We must have driven for three hours (luckily she slept most of the way). And once we left Kuwait City proper, and passed the Shuwaikh Port where all the container ships dock, we were in traffic-construction hell, which accounted for the drastically delayed progress. While dodging traffic cones, we passed Kuwait University, a whole pile of specialty hospitals, a falcon veterinary hospital (falconry is very popular here), and even Entertainment City (I’m assuming the sign was being ironic). I had mistakenly hoped that there would be a) a sign saying, “Nature Reserve, This Way”, and b) that it would be in English. I was wrong, on both counts, and I finally relented and turned around and headed home. Not ready to fully give in, I told my husband that we needed to use the GPS function on his smart phone so we’d know exactly where to turn. And somehow I managed to convince him to head that way following our foray at the Sadu House.

Unfortunately the endless road construction was still a factor, so we got some concerted family time in the car as we puttered along following our little blue triangle on the smart phone. As my husband was watching our progress on Google maps, he said with just a little concern, “I had no idea Basra was so close!” In actuality it’s about 80 miles, but he made it sound like we might swing by for tea on our way home.

Despite our alleged immediate proximity to Iraq, and our lack of passports, using Google maps and the GPS, we found it! We turned at the correct intersection, just passed all the hospitals, and there, located directly behind the Kuwait Ministry of Health was a sign (in Arabic) saying “Nature Reserve” positioned in front of a rusting chainlink fence that corralled knee-high dead grass, three trees, and bunch of trash blowing in the wind.

We parked, got out and verified the sign, and then laughed until we cried. So much for my nature needs. Now, in all fairness, the “nature reserve” part could be the shoreline, which we could not see from our vantage point. I did note that there appeared to be large white somethings floating in the water in the far distance. They could have been birds or just plastic bags, but until proven otherwise, I’m going with the former. So, we took a few pics to prove we were there, fed Bean her bottle, changed her diaper, and dove back into the traffic mess and headed home.

As we were musing about our rather unsuccessful outings that day, my husband said, “Next time you see something that looks interesting, see if there are articles written about it, or if anyone else has blogged about it, before we trek out to see it.”

“So we can only see things that others have discovered? Where’s your sense of exploration and adventure?” I asked.

He didn’t reply, but I swear I heard him mutter something about his idea of adventure not being quite so close to the borders of Iraq.

Chatting Up the Locals, Finally!

A few months ago, my husband and I were invited by some expat friends of ours to a Thanksgiving dinner. They’ve lived in Kuwait for over seven years now, so they’ve been a great source of living-in-Kuwait information for us. But for all the find-a-framer, find-a-jogging-path, discover-a-good-movie-theater help they’ve offered, the best introduction they’ve made was to some friends of theirs: a genuine Kuwaiti family!

You may be a bit perplexed as to why I’m so thrilled with this. I mean, we’ve lived in Kuwait City for almost 18 months now and we’re just now getting to meet some Kuwaitis? Two years ago, when we learned we were heading for Kuwait, we were told by several people who’d lived here, that it wouldn’t be unheard of for us to spend two years and never meet a Kuwaiti. This was not due to an inherent reclusiveness on the Kuwaitis part, nor our part, but for the simple fact that most of the people we would interact with in shops or restaurants or typical places we’d frequent, would be expats like ourselves, most commonly from India, Pakistan, Egypt, or other Middle Eastern countries. So getting the chance to sit and chat with a Kuwaiti sounded like a pipe dream, at best.

I thought I had one opportunity on a plane, when I sat next to an Arab woman and we began chatting. I was trying not to show how eager I was to find out if she was from Kuwait, and when I learned she lived here I was thrilled! But then I learned she was originally from Morocco, but married a Kuwaiti. But we did chat and I learned that she loves the Kuwaitis and Egyptians, but had some rather strong opinions about Jordanians. In a funny twist, she was describing a neighbor of theirs, an American and his wife, who taught at the university. I’m not sure what prompted me, but I asked, “Is his name John? Is he really tall?” “Yes,” she said, “how did you know?” I have no idea, but I somehow knew instantly that she was talking about other friends of ours. Small world, indeed.

But back to last Thanksgiving. This family we met was delightful. The father was born and raised in Kuwait, and he told stories of growing up just ten miles away, in a small house with his parents and grandparents. His wife was from Greece, and their two adult daughters (who were there, also), had been raised in Kuwait primarily, but were also very well-traveled, and currently both lived outside of Kuwait. They were charming and chatty and at one point when Bean decided to projectile her stomach contents all over the floor, the Kuwaiti father was immediately at my side offering to take the drippy baby while I cleaned up.

Knowing how rare this opportunity was, and fearing I may never get the chance again, I just couldn’t resist asking all the questions I’d been dying to know, which basically came down to traffic, sewage, and tourism.

For the traffic question, Father Kuwaiti readily admitted that driving here is insane and very simply told me to avoid driving as much as possible. But if I couldn’t avoid it completely, to just stay in the right lane, the alleged slow lane, and stay away from as many other people as possible. When I told him that I sometimes gave a little wiggle of the wheel to get someone off my tailpipe, he admonished me and reiterated, “stay off the road, or stay to the right.” Both daughters felt very strongly that Kuwaiti women were the worst drivers on the road. Frankly when they fly by me at 120mph, I don’t have a chance to check the gender of the driver, so I don’t really have an opinion. Someone else pointed out that there were more and more traffic cameras about, and wondered whether that might help matters. Father Kuwaiti didn’t think so. Unfortunately, he held strong to “stay off the road, or stay to the right.”

I mentioned that we had recently visited Dubai, and casually commented that there seemed to be a lot of similarities between the two countries, in terms of money, land, and room for growth. What I was really trying to ask was, “Dubai has built this amazing global mecca, with gleaming skyscrapers, retail monstrosities, and pristine beaches; Kuwait has more money and more beaches, but lacks any tourism draw. Why?” Understanding my comment completely, one of the daughters said quite simply, “Kuwait has no interest in competing with Dubai. We have no interest in tourism.” She may not be an official spokesperson, but based on what I’ve seen around Kuwait, she’s definitely spoken for the people.

My final question required some delicacy, and I honestly wavered about asking it at all. But fearing I may never get another chance, I finally said, “Why do certain areas of town smell?” We’d been hearing rumors since we’d arrived that a sewer pipe had cracked and the foreign company who had built and installed it had been fired by the government, and no one else had been brought in to repair it. Frankly it seemed like a rather stupid excuse, but I’ve learned to never doubt the stupidity of any government. Father Kuwaiti’s story was similar, but involved aging sewage treatment centers that were in desperate need of repair. But it still comes down to the fact that a country with piles of cash, who proudly maintains an enormous desalination project so they can grow geraniums along the highway, should also be able to fix the poo smell.

All in all, it was a delightful evening, in spite of baby projectiles and obnoxious expat questions, and I left wanting to see them again. I wonder how they’d feel to an invite for a vegetarian lasagna night and they can bring the Kuwaiti history lesson slides?

My Favoritest Thing (in Kuwait)

A year ago I vowed to come up with a top ten list of things about Kuwait. This is not it. This is, however, one of the top ten items, but it felt it deserved its own post. When we lived in Cairo, I had a thousand favorite things, but topping the list were the bread bikes and the families on motorcycles, oh, and the trucks, yes, definitely the trucks. Here in Kuwait, however, it's been a little more difficult to find a pile of favorite things. But I do have one solid leader: the Kuwait public drinking fountain. Betcha didn't see that coming!

But sprinkled all throughout the city, on the side of the road or tucked away in neighborhoods are these public drinking fountains (that we would never ever use, but I can admire from afar). Many are basic and purely functional, without flair or panache, but then there are the hidden gems tucked away in a suburban corner or on a quiet side street. Trying to spot a new, or unusual, one makes driving here marginally more interesting. So, it's not uncommon for Bean and me to peruse the neighborhoods on our weekly outings, looking for the unique versions; all the while, trying not to look like we're casing the houses.

So, enjoy my collection of my mostest favoritest thing in Kuwait:

Malls, Malls, & (sigh) More Malls

I know, here I go rambling on about malls again. But avoiding malls in Kuwait is like never seeing the Sphinx in Egypt. You just have to accept it, embrace it and go check it out. However, I will promise that this will be my last mall-specific posting. I had come across a few listings of malls in Kuwait on various blogs and thought that there might be a few worth checking out. So over the last week, Bean and I have been thoroughly mall-hopping just to make sure we didn’t miss something fabulous.

Marina Mall

This is just half a mile down the Gulf Road from us. It’s an average mall. We come here to pay our internet bill at one of the kiosks, but otherwise have never shopped here. The shops and atmosphere are nothing to do cartwheels over, however they do have a nice restaurant section called “Marina Crescent”. The Crescent is located across Gulf Road from the mall (accessible by an enclosed walkway) and has two levels of restaurants wrapping around the speedboat-strewn harbor. At night and on weekends it’s extremely popular, and it’s not uncommon to get run over by strollers, scooters, bicycles and big wheels, as you’re trying to maneuver through the throngs of people and the haze of billowing shisha smoke.

Al Kout Mall

Al Kout is located south of Kuwait City in Fahaheel and it intrigued me when I read on visit-kuwait.com, that, “The fountain at the Al Kout Mall is one of the largest in Kuwait.” Maybe not a reason to divert the family vacation, but certainly a reason to fill an hour or two on a weekday. So, Bean and I headed off.

Al Kout is located right on the Gulf, with expensive yachts and speedboats mooring on either side. It has two “wings” or “piers” (one with regular nothing-extraordinary mall shops and other with fresh veg, meat and fish stands). Between these two is the infamous fountain and lots of open-air cafes. For a lunch or weekend brunch it would be a lovely spot to relax with friends.

I had seen the fountain spraying high as I explored the mall, but when we wandered outside to get a better look it suddenly went on break and did nothing more than a few spits and spurts. We waited for five minutes, but it just burped a bit creating some random ripples, so we walked on. Luckily, as we were circling the final side, getting ready to re-enter the mall and head back to our car, it started up again.

Now, I have no frame of reference for whether it’s truly “one of the largest” fountains in Kuwait (though I can say that Kuwaitis do love a good water feature), and maybe this is an unfair reference, but after having seen the fountains at the Dubai Mall, this was like it’s distant half-bred cousin. Lovely in its own right, but I might downplay the “largest in Kuwait” as your expectations are grander than the real thing.

Magic Mall

It was on the visit-Kuwait.com website, where I first heard of Kuwait’s Magic Mall. It definitely sounded like something not to be missed! Especially when touted as a, “state-of-the-art retail mall in Kuwait, and is located … next to one of the best Sandy beaches in Kuwait,” [sic]. We passed it on our way to Al Kout mall, so on our way home, we stopped off to check out the magical wonders. In summary, disappointing, and yet, amusing.

The shops were less-than-average and overall it appeared a bit worn and tired, definitely not “state-of-the-art,” however I was amused by the décor. There was one whole wing decorated like an Egyptian tomb, with hieroglyphics and fake stone pillars.

One side of the elevators had a lovely fountain, and the other side had a woodland scene, with plants, rocks, a dribbling creek and little wooden bridge, overseen by a fake mashrabiya window. Another section’s ceiling was painted in deep sky blue with puffy white clouds. In a country where you get sun 93% of the time, this seemed a bit silly. Some skylights would have been just as effective, plus would have allowed some light in.

Despite my poking around, I never did come across anything remotely magical, either from a retail standpoint or an entertainment standpoint. But just when I was ready to call this a completely wasted trip, I came upon Wee Amusement Land (my name for it). It was a fairly large area housing lots of rides that you’d typically see in any amusement park, spinning tea cups, swinging pirate ship, merry-go-round horses, bumper cars, train, etc. But everything was miniature and designed for the average four-year-old. It was quite amusing and if Bean were older I’m sure we’d be forking out the dinars to let her bob on the lazy river. Admittedly I did not find out how much these rides cost, and considering I just learned that a can of spray paint is $30 (I opted not to purchase it and tried not to gasp audibly), I wouldn’t be surprised if they were not cheap. But for a summer day of 130 degree temps, this would be a nice spot to spend an hour and let junior spin until he pukes.

Al Hamra Mall

Al Hamra Mall: affectionately known (to me) as the Spiral Mall because the skyscraper it's connected to kind of spirals up, although another friend said she thought it "wraps" more than "spirals"; she's probably right. Two attempts to gain access to the parking garage were met with failure, so I eventually just parked on the street one morning and plunked Bean in the stroller and headed off. First comment, the area is not stroller-friendly area at all. I think we bumped up and over about 27 curbs, and stumbled our way over potholes and broken sidewalks until we finally reached the front of the mall.

My troubles didn’t stop here. Once we finally made it to the front of the mall, I couldn’t figure out how to get in without scaling multiple stairs. I wandered back and forth along its front and finally dragged the stroller up the stairs and got in. I’m sure that for those in “the know” who can find the Narnia-like parking garage, entering the mall would be very far less arduous. Upon entering the mall, I was definitely impressed with its modern design and overall feeling of far-too-posh-for-you-dear. My husband had been there once before to see a movie (and he highly recommends the theaters, and go on a Friday to the 1 p.m. show, it’s practically empty), but when he heard I was planning this outing all he said was, “look don’t touch.” And after perusing the shops, I saw why. Definitely out of my tax bracket. I did gaze at the Vera Wang Bridal store with fairytale-like longing, but otherwise I didn’t pause too long anywhere for fear that either they’d realize I didn’t belong there and boot me out, or they’d suck me in and I’d be dropping $3k for some stiletto Louis Vuitton boots (which would look lovely sitting next to my crocs in the closet). I did attempt to explore more than the ground floor but I couldn’t find a lift to save my life; and frankly I wasn’t actually interested enough to ask someone. So, we took one last glance at how the other half shops, and headed out, down the stairs, around the potholes and back over the 27 curbs to our awaiting car.

Sharq Mall

Allegedly posh, but in comparison to Al Hamra and the 360 Mall, I’d disagree. From the exterior it’s really nice; reminds me a bit of the Venetian Hotel in Vegas, with yachts and speedboats mooring at their door. But the interior is non-impressive and slightly disappointing. They do have a lovely promenade along the Gulf, though.

Laila Gallery Complex

This was a very small mall, however I thought it was a lovely design (which you can see by the photo I took quickly before the security guard told me “mafeesh” – which means “There are none”, which I took to mean “There are none photos allowed”). We wandered the two floors and quickly realized that it apparently specializes in shops selling ball gowns, wedding dresses, and accompanying bling. The one store that didn’t seem to fit in with the general theme, was the Saeed & Samir Bookstore located in a corner of the basement. It wasn’t large, but it had mostly English books, lots of children’s books, and some fiction and non-fiction for adults. May not sound like a huge gem to folks who can still pop by a Barnes & Noble for a few hours of browsing, but for those of us in Kuwait, a bookstore of any kind is a delight.

A year ago, I was looking for a travel book before our trip to Oman and Googled bookstores and found that the Virgin MegaStore was touted as the largest bookstore in Kuwait. Always excited to explore a new bookstore I headed off, only to find that they were having a huge clearance sale. What luck, I thought! However, as I was looking through their small travel section, I overheard a woman ask a salesclerk why they were having a sale. “We’re closing,” he said. Apparently Kuwait is not an easy market for book sellers. Hence our appreciation for those few who remain.

So, based on my latest (and final) round of mall explorations, I think I can conclusively state that despite any and all claims of "biggest" or "largest" or "tallest" or whatever other -ests they can tout, there’s really nothing more to discover. When it comes down to it, a mall is a mall is a mall; unless you're in Dubai.