Vacation at Home

I am behind my journaling and blogging. The following photos were taken on July 2nd.

This is the Arabian Sea view from our living room. Our three bedrooms face the same direction (east) and have the same view! One of my long time friends said this is like a resort! It is indeed! It is extremely joyful to see the blue water when you get up and open the curtains! You can see there are several restaurants on the other side of the road. The beach is only 5 minutes away. A public beach is on the right side and it is about 600 meters away.

There are two swimming pools on the second floor and there are nine workers maintaining the building including the pools. I swim most of the time in the evening and afternoons after a 20-minute tread mill run. It is pleasant to see the stars shining in the night sky while swimming and later lie on the warm ceramic tiles by teh pool.

We went to the church in the morning and it was a great service. The pastor prayed for our visa. I trust that God will sort it out soon and I had a peace in my mind. 

This is the huge mansion beside the church. I am amazed how HUGE the houses are here, and I wonder how much they pay for the property tax…

It was hot outside, but it is comfortable inside.  Kuwaitis know how to adjust their air conditioners properly, so you would not feel a cold air shock when you get into any venue.

We went to the Al Kout Mall close to our home for lunch.  It is on the sea shore or a harbour.  You can see the wooden boats by the bay.

The mall has water fountains and I heard that there are beautiful lights at night.

There are lots of cafeterias around the place and instead of having the heating lamps we have in Canada for summer, they have cold mists.  :)

I love this flag – direction for where to pray. I am amazed by the faithfulness.

This is a sign for ladies’ prayer room. In the afternoon around 3:30 pm, women in the mall are supposed to come into this room and pray. But I did not know and entered it as I needed to go to a bathroom. Hope the ladies there were not offended.

The food court overlooks the harbour, where we saw lots of fancy yachts. It is so quiet here, as Arabs do not like to talk loudly, I guess.

There is an indoor farmer’s market that is fascinating!!!

Shark!

I bought 2 kg and they are delicious, although they taste different from cold water Canadian blue crabs.

Squids looks different too.

Hamour - the most popular fish from the Arabian Sea. The guy sat beside me on the plane to Kuwait told me so.

650 fils per kg!  I can read Arabic numbers now!! Yeah!!

Kuwait is a paradise of food!

Oh Canada, our home and native land...

Besides the upset situation of our visa issue, we enjoyed the Canada Day by furnishing our home in Kuwait.

In the morning, The furniture store sent two people to deliver our nine bookshelves/bathroom cabinets. Unlike Calgary, the furniture store is responsible for the furniture installation. I made a jar of ice green tea with honey and thought the guys would like them, but they asked for black tea or coffee instead. So I give them bottled water.  Maybe I should get a coffee maker and black tea later.

Also I found the furniture price is about half of what costs in Calgary.

My bestiful Shoe Rack made in Malaysia

Bathroom Cabinets (there is no built-in cabinets in all bathrooms.)

We were invited to the Canada Day Party that was hosted by a Calgarian (Canadian and British) in his rented villa. The villa is in a newly developed area, so we had to walk through the sandy (not dirt) road from and parking lot to his home.

There were 33 people invited to the party and most of them are from Calgary! How nice to see the people from Calgary!  There are some people from US, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Pakistan and Taiwan.

The tradition here is to start the drink first till 10:00 pm before a feast is on! The hosts ordered yummy Syrian food in and we had brought all kinds of fascinating deserts that I’ve never seen in Canada.  We enjoyed the new friendship and forgot to sing the Canadian Athems!

Mafi Mushkila

We drove to the Embassy of People’s Republic of China in the morning on June 29th to pick up the visa for our upcoming China trip. The driving on the highway was like an XBOX racing game! I did scream out of fear several times, as ExploreMan drove like the locals too (He got his new SUV from his company two days ago.)! In general I think all the vehicles on the road are bigger and newer than the ones in North America, so it is easy for the drivers to accelerate faster. Most of them are large size SUVs.

There was a line up in the Embassy and it was amazing to see many men in long white Kuwaiti consumes in the line. I wondered if they would enjoy their trips to China and if they would wear the traditional clothing there too. Wish them the best to China!

Later we drove through the residential area to Midas furniture store. The sizes of the houses are really HUUUUGE!

We decided to go to Midas wholesale center for our furniture hunt. We bought nine various styles of book/library shelves and bathroom cabinets for only 247 KD ($890 CAN)! It is about at least half of the price in Calgary. There are several streets that line up with many furniture stores close by. Most of them are run by East Indians, Iranians and Egyptians. We bought a beautiful shoe rack made in Malaysia for 45 KD and a night table for only 9 KD! And no TAX! And the shopping is like treasure hunting and is fun. And the price includes the delivering and installation! Can you believe it?

I always ask for permission for taking photos or their nationality with smiles, the answer was always “Mafi Mushkila (Arabic for “no problems”). The Midas service guy is from Palestine; the fancy villa furniture store clerk is from Egypt; and the shoe rack store man is from Karalla, India! See how many people have I ever met in short two days!

After shopping, we were extremely hungry. ExploreMan drove us to Sultan Wholesale Store that is like Kuwaiti version of the combination of Costco and farmers market. I love the store so much immediately! At the food corner, we ordered lamb rice that contains all kinds of spices, cilantro, raisin and etc. It tasted like home made dish! I’ve never had such great lamb rice before, although ExploreMan know how to make it. The most interesting thing was the sandwich making. There was a slow spinning meat roster at the corner and a guy stood there waiting and cutting the meat (either lamb or chicken) off the roaster and mixed it with herbs before wrapping them into fresh breads. There were two ovens too there! One is made of brick with fire inside a huge hole where freshly made bread lying on the oven floor; and another is made of clay and the breads were patted into the roof of the oven belly. Yum… We paid 5.3 KD ($19 CAN) for 3 Pepsi, 1 bottled water, 3 boxes of lamb rice, 1 salad and 4 wrapped sandwiches! What a deal! Bottled water is extremely cheap in Kuwait. A 600 ml Aquafina is only 20 cents (CAN). Local made water’s price is even more competitive with the similar quality. Bathroom tissue paper doubles the price of Calgary’s. I love the bulk food section, where I found all kinds of spices, and grains. I hope they keep the habit of having less processed food here in Kuwait. In general, grocery shopping is much more fun over here and the goods are much healthier.

In the evening, ExploreMan and I walked about 30 minutes along the Coastal Road. The dry warm air was so comfortable that I did not even know it was 38 degree. We went into two bakery stores that have all kinds of beautiful sweets and chocolates. I also saw a couple of beautiful women in black silk Hijab too. They walked and talked slowly with elegant manner. I felt suddenly that I was too casually dressed (Capri and T-shirt) and not appropriate for the store. It was such a beautiful evening! I fell in love with Kuwait!

Ghader Al-Bula

We have accomplished millions of tasks yesterday. :) Friends know that both ExploreMan and I are task oriented people. We hope we will become more relaxed like Arabs and more people oriented.  We went to a photo studio in Ahmadi town (where ExplorMan’s company is located) in the morning for ID photos taking, and then we went to ExploreMan's company (Social Affairs/ Immigration Traffic Department) for our permanent residence visa application. After these this major task, ExploreMan offered options for lunch, and we screened out western style fast food in a mall. Then ExploreMan drove us to a Syrian restaurant called Ghader Al-Bustan where the photo studio was close by. From outside, the restaurant does not have English signs, but has some attractive pictures of the food plates. The interior decoration looks like a typical Muslim restaurant that I have been in Xin Jiang province, China. The waiter suggested us to order the 5 K.D. ($17.5 CAN) huge Family Grill Meal (Small size) after he saw that we were struggling to figure out what is what on the menu and what we should order. Soon he brought a huge basket with about 20 thin soft pita breads to us! Then a plate of pickled olives and hot green pepper! 2 cans of Pepsi and 2 bottles of water cost about $2 CAN. When the grilled plate was brought to us, we were stunned how big it was! It had lamb, beef, chicken, meat breads, roasted tomatoes and onions, and Syrian French Fries!  They are so delicious! Of course we only finished 60% of the plate, and asked the waiter to pack the rest for dinner.

Welcome to Kuwait!

After nine and a half hours flying from Calgary to Frankfurt and five hours from Frankfurt to Kuwait on June 26th and 27th, we arrived in Kuwait Airport with twelve checked-in luggage and six carry-on luggage. There are so many things that I want to write to you my dear friends, but I would like to share some stories about the first couple of Kuwait people I have met.

The first Kuwaiti I’ve ever met in my entire life was a young beautiful lady. I went to the washroom by gate C4 at Frankfurt Airport when we were about to board flight KU172 The washroom was a tiny little one that has a tiny little sink. I excused myself to the tab and a pretty young woman with a black head scarf smiled to me and asked me if I was from Japan and was going to Kuwait. Telling her that I was from Canada and was moving to Kuwait for good, she was so excited that she offered me her mobile phone number. I was not used to being offered with a cell phone number by a stranger before, so I did not know what to say and responded with my name , “nice meeting you” and a huge smile. She told me if I needed any help in Kuwait, I should call her any time! I was so moved by her words and beautiful eyes that I did not know if I should give out my contacts. In the end I did not; I truly hope she is not offended by my action. I will remember her forever, as she represented Kuwaitis in my eyes.

The second Kuwaiti I met was a gentleman who sat beside me in the business cabin on the flight from Frankfurt to Kuwait. I was worried in the beginning with my sleeveless dress skirt (I had a long sleeve shirt that I had planned to wear once I got off the plane), so I was quite nervous that he being offended (Some books suggested that some Middle East men do feel offended). But we started a great one-hour conversation ranging from teenager problems comparison in North American and Middle East countries, traveling in Middle East countries, Iraqi invasion consequences, housing in Kuwait, government issues, sea food, family values, last names of Kuwaitis and etc.. Of course I asked about how foreign women should dress as well. He ensured that what I was wearing was absolutely appropriate. He also gave his business class gift to my children and offered his business card to help our family’s settling in. When the countless meals were offered to us, he explained all the food for my selection. At the moment the plane touched down on the strip of Kuwait Airport, he looked into my eyes and said, “Welcome to Kuwait! Hope you enjoy living here!”

I found that Kuwaiti people like to help anyone who needs assistance. When they talk, they look into your eyes with honest and warm words; and huge smiles.  Friendship means huge for them.  They like you when you smile, especially with the typical Canadian smile.

Canmore

M and I drove to Canmore town (100 km west of Calgary) for touring and shopping. I bought a Phasha journal book (hand made camel hide cover and 100 percent cotton paper – made ion India!) for my future adventure in Kuwait. Later we went to Jason’s photograph studio and I bought a framed picture of two polar bears hugging together and another framed one with a polar bear mom and two cubs. They will look great in my Kuwait home. Then we had a lunch at Harvest recommanded by the studio clerk. Our final destination was the quilt shop called Pine Lake, that has unique Japanese desinge fabric. Since I no longer work, spending needs to be watched! Canmore is such a great town to live and its breath taking senery made me feel sad to leave.