Through someone else's eyes

I stole this from my friend HL's blog. I like her take on Q8. It's all true...

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2009

Entry #39 Observations

Here are just a few random observations about our life here in Kuwait.

While not as bad as Japan for its wacky signage and labels there are a few good ones.
 On a box of pencils: "Educational Healthy Pencil; Easy to Hold"
 A sign on a barber shop for kids: Virgin Kids
 On a barber shop for men: Saloon for Men (Jamie thought he could get a drink here)
 Sign reads, Ministry of Justice: Department of Experts (not sure what they are experts on but it sounds like they know what they are doing.)
 Sign on the side of the highway: Speed leads to Death (unfortunately, no one really follows this advice)
 Sign on a laundry mat: Future Hope Laundry
 Sign on car rental store: Rent: Top Secret Cars
 Sign on car rental store: Exotic Rentals: Cars for Rent (I am glad they have the second part of the sign to clear up any confusion. I wonder what they include in the rental to make it exotic?)

Cost of living..
Expensive
Groceries
Going out for a coffee or tea

Inexpensive
Cars
Tailors (to get a pair of dress pants lined it will cost me around $5.00!)
Nannies and Maids
Pedicures/Manicures
Gas

As you can see this gas run cost us 4.75 KD for a 73 liter fill up. That equals roughly $16.00 to fill up our SUV. The workers at this gas station thought I was nuts taking this picture.
Sadly, the items in the inexpensive list are often services offered by the Pilipino, Indian or Bangladeshi workers. If we paid our nanny what some families pay their help, we could afford two live in maids.

Our Address
Our address here in Kuwait is a bit of a mystery. There are no street addresses as we know it. When we order food for delivery the conversation can go two ways...
Conversation 1
Resturant: Where do you live?
Jamie: Do you know the teacher buildings?
R: For AIS
J: Yes, we are in the blue building.
R: Okay sir.
Conversation 2
R: Where do you live?
J: Do you know the teacher buildings?
R: No
J: Okay, we are in Salmyia, in Madian Hawally near the police station and traffic place, across from the blind association in the blue building. There is construction across the street from our apartment.
R: Okay sir.
And no matter the conversation, the driver usually calls to say he can't find it. However, we always get our food.

Zoe’s Observations
Zoe is starting to notice that she is a minority in her class. She does not articulate it as such, but there are a few little things that she says that surprise us. She wants dark skin and dark hair and when I ask her why she says that it is beautiful. She is also noticing that some women cover their hair, or their hair and clothes, or everything all together. On night we went to Kim and Blair's house for dinner and she insisted on covering her hair. She has only been a minority for a year and a half and already she feels she is different and her skin and hair are not good enough. It makes me wonder how minorities feel in Nova Scotia who live there for their whole lives!!

Temperature
For the record I felt cold on November 17, 2009. I think it was 23 degrees. It will start getting cold now in our apartment since we have no central heating. When we complain about the cold we always hear the comment "but you are from Canada!" Which we answer with, "yes but we have central heating!" We will soon get out the four little heaters we have to try and keep us warm.