First Month Impressions: November 2018

R and I found out we were moving to Kuwait a little over a year and a half ago. As I love all things travel and researching new places, I started to do a little research once the move became definite. I found a few blogs and people through Instagram that helped me in that endeavor:

               One is a British woman who is from the island of Jersey, and her blog posts are varied and interesting to read.

( https://adventuresofajerseygirlblog.wordpress.com/ )

               Another is a South African woman who has lived in Korea, Kuwait, and now lives in the UAE (United Arab Emirates, of which Dubai and Abu Dhabi are both located).

( https://expatpanda.com/ )

               A third is an American woman from Idaho who moved here around 7 years ago to teach school and is now married and has an adorable little son. She teaches Kindergarten here.

I found after reading their impressions and thoughts of life here, that I was a little more prepared for moving to this fascinating country.

Temperatures: 

            We arrived at the beginning of "winter months" where the temperatures stayed around 50*F-70*F, and it made me laugh because everyone kept telling us, "just wait until summer." It makes me laugh, because as I was looking through previous posts on here, I found one from the summer before R and I were married when I was living in my hometown. In that post, I shared a picture of the newspaper from that day (it was part of a grad school class assignment) and the high temp was 108*F. Not at all unusual for that part of north central TX, where we had super hot summers and very chilly and windy winters. In fact, that summer, I think the entire month of July registered above 100*F , and sometimes hit the 110s* , not including the heat index which made it feel even hotter. I think I'm prepared for the heat, and there is something to be said for the beauty of air conditioning!

From 2017 Arab Times: Source Heat wave hits 51*C (124*F)

         Also, we have had some of the strangest weather since we arrived. It rained and historically flooded the TX Hill Country the last week we were there in October 2018. Then we arrived here in Kuwait, and Kuwait also received historic levels of rain within a week with schools and businesses closed. Even the airport closed down for an evening, and they rerouted incoming flights to Dammam, Saudi Arabia.

Back to first impressions: 

           As we had to wait for our vehicle to be shipped here, I was given rides by friends to the grocery store and a few of the malls. I say malls, because that is definitely one thing that is popular here. They are popular not just for shopping, but also as a way to escape the outside climate as they are all very well air-conditioned. One mall, The Avenues, has a "Grand Avenue" section that is around 1 mile long, so people will go and use that as their walking path for exercise, stopping at one of the 7(!) Starbucks or numerous other coffee shops located within the mall for a light snack or beverage.
           This particular adventure also reminds me of something else one hears while shopping (this is not necessarily particular to Kuwait, but the entire Gulf region): the call to prayer being broadcast through store loudspeakers. I was at Shake Shack inside Avenues Mall with R's boss' wife and recorded this short snippet. I find it very interesting to listen to. The call to prayer is broadcast 5 times each day from each mosque in the country at the same time. If you'd like to hear the entire call to prayer with English subtitles, click here.

          For grocery shopping there are several options. Carrefour (French grocery store) locations in several of the malls, along with a place called Lulu's and The Sultan Center that I have found along with neighborhood co-ops. R and I have found we have had to make a few adjustments for our meal planning, as produce doesn't seem to hold up here as well as it does stateside. Not a complaint, just a note to ourselves that we will be shopping more than once per week.

         Driving can definitely be an adventure here. I have found a few videos on YouTube that show some of what that experience entails. My hands are not about to leave the steering wheel in order to take pictures or video of my fellow drivers. I have also decided that I will never again complain about stateside traffic after driving overseas.

         My favorite time/day to drive around and go through errands? Friday morning. The roads are mostly empty, and there is not a lot of traffic even within the stores. The weekends here are Friday and Saturday, with the work week going from Sunday-Thursday.