thoughts on photosynthesis, dot dot dot

I think the air quality must be pretty bad here, all things considered.  I mean, with the oil fields everywhere, and the utter lack of green vegetation which would provide us with some much needed oxygen and air cleansing side effects.  The oil fields really are QUITE beautiful by the way in the evening or the early mornings before sunrise... and look very much like another planet.  They have this surreal, twinkly, and hazy kind of glow.  Incredible the vast amount of money they represent. 

Speaking of money, apparently the country will run out of oil in 25 years so the royal family is not giving away money quite as easily and freely as before.  Not too many years ago, one of the brothers was very ill and thought he was dying.  In his life's meaning reckoning, soul searching, and coming to terms with his imminent death time, he decided to forgive the debt of every Kuwaiti citizen who had purchased anything on credit.  Cars, homes, very lavish ones, anything.  From $40,000 cars to $800,000 cars.  All debts, forgiven. 

Not long after, he started to get better and was not going to die from his illness after all.  In his jubilation and excitement from this news he, in addition to the free housing and utilities, and monthly living stipend that is already given to kuwaiti citizens....he gave every single Kuwaiti citizen, of ANY age, the equivalent of $36,000 US dollars.  Just a sort of, "praise be to Allah, I am going to live" sort of bonus.  The royal family here make Bill Gates look a bit middle class.  It is the kind of money I have never fathomed and I don't think many in the world could grasp it without living in the culture.  And I am by no means an expert, mind you.  I am just living here now and hearing the stories and the stories, well, they are cool.  I am sure there are plenty of tales which are not nearly so cool and hopefully I can remain blissfully unaware of them.

Kuwait's crop is oil.  Pure crude petroleum.  You cannot dig here without hitting it. That's one reason there is no water.  You don't find water when you dig - only oil.  Or natural gas. Hence - the need for the extremely costly desalinization of the waters from the Arabian Sea.  The bottled water and the tap here are quite tasty.  The tap, however, is always hot.  You are hard pressed to ever find cold water coming out of a faucet. 

You say you like to wash your clothes in cold water only?  Perhaps to save the environment or to keep your colors from fading?  Impossible here.  The water comes out hot. Not lukewarm. Not tepid. Hot. Most of the water tanks for the houses and apartments and office buildings and military installations are located, get this - on the roof.  the freakishly hot, constantly exposed to the unrelenting desert sun and in metal or plastic tanks.  Hence - turn on your faucet.....and the hot water flows like lava.  In 2009, Kuwait exported 2.5 billion barrels of oil PER DAY. 

Kuwait has one other crop though....it is the only thing they grow except some poor unfortunate palm trees which struggle to live and are hand watered by whoever has the "water the plants" contract in the country.  This other crop you might be astonished to discover.  Watermelon.  Yes, that is right - WATERMELON.  The sweetest, reddest, juiciest, most delicious watermelon you will ever taste in your life if you get the fortune to be able to sample it.  The "farmers" (I guess?) are located all over on the roadsides with truck beds just overflowing with these luscious fruits.  I grew up in rural North Carolina and thought you could not beat the watermelon that came out of my grandma's garden.  Well. Kuwait has gramma's melons beaten with no contest!

Random notes about things to expound upon later....

• abundance of skin "whitening" cream in the markets, by brands we are familiar with, but that are not marketed to the US.  (L'oreal, Neutrogena, Nivea etc.)  Wonder if this is where Michael Jackson shopped??
• office politics - learning the who's and what's and why's
• caste system of sorts alive and well here....rates of pay differences received by ex pat westerners  vs eastern workers is unbelievable.
• Life in a true welfare state
• Gas/petrol is about 60 cents a gallon with no tax...
• paranoia 101 class...what not to do, where not to go, what not to say to anyone you casually run into who engages you in conversation, did you sign up on facebook under your real name?  You did??? Are you crazy? How to survive an abduction / hostage situation.... fun.
• Unbelievably amazing Indian food - Oh my god.
• the taste of 0% alcohol budweiser products.  Yes, folks - they make 'em.
• will I eat camel while here?  the locals do...I guess we will wait and see. 
• the ridiculousity of going on base and getting fitted for a gas mask, sitting through a barrage of tests, signing my name and life to this gas mask only to hand it back over the counter at the NBC building. SOOOOOO, in the event of some chemical or biological attack, there is a gas mask assigned to me (and a bejillion other people) an hour away...I guess the name of the game is "if you survive long enough to make it to camp to sign out your mask - you're golden!"
• people and their stories here
• the extremely amazing service and niceness from the folks at the local Starbucks.
• indoor fish market - ugh....the stench.
• running in freakishly hot conditions...haven't done this yet, so can't write about it yet...
• working out my demons in my dreams...interesting
• the amazingly deep and sound sleep I get without the influence of alcohol and even with lots of background noise.  I have gone into near coma like states here without realizing it.
• Jet lag is a mother F*&ker.
• Driving in Kuwait...and the driving dichotomy that exists.  Kuwaiti drivers = Formula 1 Racing without the precision and safety knowledge....Indian drivers = extremely cautious, frequent brakers...Ex-Pat American and British etc drivers = just as crazy here as in the states and just as varied....all having to learn to curb their 1 finger salutes and road rage or suffer the consequences....
• my love affair with the bathrooms and sanitary standards here.  There is a bidet or a spray hose at every single toilet whether public or private - amazing!
• bathroom floors and kitchen floors have drains in the middle of the room and are all made of marble or hard tile, so you can spray your floor clean, squeegee and voila!
• Damn near everything is free here to the Kuwait folks except the water - which is very expensive because it is desalinized direct from the gulf.... the rest, housing (and we are talking NICE housing), electricity, cable, food allowance - all free.  Just for being born into a Kuwait family.  Not too shabby.
• body odors can get a bit overwhelming in this climate and under all those dang clothes many wear.
• Wishing there were a Tropical Smoothie Cafe nearby...
• Ramadan - coming soon - will have plenty to talk about then.  Looking forward to it - it should be cool and kind of a collective spiritual experience.  I understand that you need to stay off the highway at sunset though, because folks are high-taling it home to EAT after a long day of fasting!

maybe this is enough for now.....will expound later - or maybe not...depending on how the tides change.  If anyone out there in random blog reading land has thoughts or ideas or something they would like to know more about, just let me know!

ciao for now~

watched Syriana again tonight....

probably NOT the best bed time movie...not that sleep is my friend these days.
I'll close tonight with a simple quote that has been a mantra of mine for many, many years....

" I want to stand as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you can see all the kinds of things you can't see from the center."  Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

Of jetlag and other delights~

It is 3AM on Friday, so it seems it is going to be awhile before I sleep normally. I awoke around the same time last night. The past 24 hours have been a crash course indoctrination into the life and culture here in Kuwait, which would be and will be more fun when I feel rested and get back into an exercise routine...(TOMORROW FIRST THING!)

I've lived in two apartments already...first I was whisked to a hotel to check in and spend the night...upon arrival, I brushed my teeth, crawled beneath the covers and fell into a dead sleep for an hour only to be awakened abruptly by the ringing telephone. It was my new co-worker Julio, stating he was there to take me to my apartment. So I very groggily got up and schlepped my bags downstairs to be greeted by the Marine and the Floridian aka Ricky and Lucy. Nice folks - he has been here off and on since 1991 when he was a Marine, and she has been here around 6 weeks.

Fast forward to going to housing and checking out keys and being reminded of checkin / move in day all those years ago at NCSU....I was then briefed for a bit by my new boss who then drove me to my apartment. I ordered some mediocre chinese food from a nearby restaurant, caught up with friends on Facebook, then promptly went to sleep again. I awoke naturally and refreshed around 3AM...did a little more "facebooking" and went back to sleep around 5AM....and was again awakened by a loud knocking on the door and simultaneous telephone ring. The knocking was my new roommate and her sponsor, getting her moved in....the phone call was my boss asking "are you ready to move?"..... I asked for time for a shower, got repacked and went through the housing deal all over again and moved to another apartment to be shared with "Lucy" mentioned before. Lucy is from Florida and is a recruiter here as well, so we will be well suited to coexist and work together.

My first apartment was quite nice with a decent view of the ocean through and around several buildings as well as a view of a dusty and construction debris-laden parking lot..... my second apartment....well! Let's just say it is AWESOME! I am oceanfront, literally, with a perfect running path out front (which I don't think I will utilize till the weather changes in September or October...), a Starbucks in the basement...a Lebanese restaurant across the street that looks like a casino....a huge window in my bedroom and the living room facing the ocean. We have four bathrooms (nice...), a decent size kitchen, and all the comforts of home - almost. I must buy a coffeepot tomorrow as there is none here, and sadly, Starbucks doesn't open till 6AM and I have to be at work during the week at 6AM... (oh yeah - I forgot to mention - the workdays are 11 hours...6AM-5PM...but that is ok. The rewards are worth it and the weekends are free!!

So a day of moving, and cleaning and putting clothes away and a trip with Lorraine to the Sultan Center (an incredible mall with world class shopping that is not even considered the NICE mall - yikes!) - a fantastic dinner in the mall at a Japanese restaurant called Wasabi....edamame, sushi, miso soup, and the most delicious green tea. Yum...

I finally went to sleep here on day 2 and slept soundly for all of 3.5 hours and am now awake typing this blog....

Tomorrow is Friday - the holy day here, so I will get to make an event free run to the grocery store. We tried going tonight and it was impossible to even park at the LuLu Hypermarket (yep - hyper, instead of super...I like it..) I look forward to getting some soups and fruits and veggies to stock my fridge with so that I can be a little more self reliant.

anywho....I am going to try to sleep again....a few things I learned and saw over the past few days...
Men hold hands here with each other when walking or talking, but homosexuality is strictly forbidden. It is simply a gesture of friendship...and a way to convey the importance of what they are trying to say.   Women can hold hands and link arms here for the same reasons - but as a rule, men and women do not hold hands in public...although this is getting a little more lax....but there is NO hugging or kissing in public by members of the opposite sex. No way, no how.

From what I have been told, the people are very rich and many do not work because they have no real need to and have not grown up with our drive and hunger for success. They are provided housing by the government and get a monthly living allowance as well- much more if they are married with children. The housing is NICE housing also. And- sometimes, in a particularly profitable year, if a citizen has taken out a loan for a house or a Ferrari and the end of the year arrives and the government sees fit - they pay off the citizen's debt and they own their car or house, etc and are debt free. How 'bout them apples?  It makes the "welfare state" really sound pretty good.  It is fascinating to me to learn about the differences in our culture and the cultures of others.  So often we think that others are "just like us" or should "act like us" when really - we do what we do because of what we know and how we are raised, in many cases.  Nurture/Nature - both play their parts, but an entire culture and way of life contribute significantly.

Fifty years ago, these folks lived in tents in the desert....I cannot even imagine.  Fascinating!

My roommate, "Lucy", likes the men here, alot. She is open about giving her number to the many younger men who ask for it to entertain herself and because she has an attraction for the dark, dangerous looking type, as she described it. This may end up being our biggest area of separation, especially when together, as I do not wish to nor plan to give out my number nor be followed by any of the hungry young or older fellows who have noone to date because it is not allowed and because their marriages are prearranged. Just not my cup of tea... ah well, c'est la vie.

It is 3:41AM now and I am going to attempt to go back to sleep~

bittersweetness overfloweth...

I've been so fortunate in my life to meet and become friends and family with some truly marvelous people...and have inherited some amazing "nieces" and "nephews" through this good fortune.

Today, I took several of these kids to see the new Steve Carell animated movie, Despicable Me, and what fun it was! I am always amazed a how choked up I get during these cartoons and how skilled the writers are at providing content that tugs at the heartstrings so skillfully. The kids all just thought it was funny.

I hear they edit the content of movies in Kuwait pretty heavily with regards to skin exposure and romance, so that should be interesting....I shall pretend to be Toto from Cinema Paradiso and imagine myself in another time - for surely that is how it will seem....

I'm off now to have a workout, pick up my Kuwaiti dinar from the bank and figure out what else needs to be accomplished before D-Day next week.

counting down to the unknown~ excitement abounds!

I have entered the stage where I can now say..."this is my last weekend in the states" or "this is my last Thursday in the U.S." or some other such dramatic time marker that assigns value and reveals angst about my impending move to Kuwait. I almost said "visit" or "trip" to Kuwait - but the fact of the matter is, that this is a MOVE. As in, picking up, leaving everything and everyone I know and love behind, getting on a plane and flying to a country I have never been in order to live and work and explore the world.

I don't mind telling you that this is extremely exciting and I will try to keep posts on this blog entertaining or insightful and positive and hopefully with some occasional humor threaded within.

Who am I? What a great freaking question for the ages and one I have asked myself since I knew how to formulate the question. In the quickest of descriptors, I am a 42 year old, thrice divorced woman with no children who is about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime. I have had many of those, by the way....adventures of a lifetime.... a job I loved with people I loved even more; a marriage that took me places I never dreamed of and left me feeling as if the skin had been peeled from my body and then doused all over with lemon juice (raw, tired and forever changed with an arsenal of lessons learned that would rival Marcus Aurelius').

I am just getting started in blog world and will have more time to give to this effort once I have settled in over in the desert.

So, if this tickles your fancy, piques your curiousity or interests you in any way - stay tuned and read on....