For the love of food. and desserts. a.lot.of.desserts.

The million dollar question, as I probably already mentioned, has been.. So how do you like Kuwait?? I usually say that  I like it a lot, and that there are enough things that are familiar so I feel comfortable and enough things that are different that I am excited to be learning and experiencing new things. One of the biggest examples of this can be found in restaurants and shopping. Malls are really popular places to go in Kuwait, to hangout and shop, but also to eat. There are probably close to the same number of restaurants as there are stores in the mall. No, not Auntie Anne's Pretzels and McDonald's, but like legit sit down restaurants as well. All the malls here also have an area for children as well. Not  a little section with a small playground and padded walls but more like mini amusement parks.  

Also- side note- customer service is incredible. I've thought about this, and think maybe because I am in a new place and have no idea where things are or where to find exactly what I'm looking for at times, then I've been a little more willing to take advantage of sales people (unlike at home where I'm typically hoping to dodge them). It's been my experience that the employees genuinely care about their service, and I was actually asked to fill out surveys at several stores in the mall and found myself really excited and happy to fill them out. I mean, these people really knew their stuff and I was really pleased about it. It's even more exciting when you get to the register and you pay exactly what you see on the price tag, and not 10% more (ahem, California) for tax.

Back to the food. So I get really excited when I see places such as....

BTW- Urth Caffe is coming. Very.Soon.

But also, there are many "Kuwaiti Concept" restaurants and dessert places here as well. I cannot stop having dessert after each meal. It's honestly a problem. I had breakfast this AM, and immediately craved dessert. I did not actually do it, but the mere fact that it crossed my mind at 930AM is alarming enough.

 So there are a ton of great spots from breakfast to burgers, amongst many of the American chains. Here are some of my faves:

Chocolateness.
Little Chocolate Lava cakes (some with peanut butter) you can throw in the oven. 

Slider Station

Sliders. Amazing salads and fries.

Crowd pleaser- The Obama Burger (Fried chicken)

Slider Station.
Those who have completed the "The Beast Challenge" get their name on this board.
All you have to do is eat a burger the size of your plate comprised of: two 250g patties with bacon, eggs, lettuce, onions, pickles and a special sauce.

Prime and Toast
My new faveeee restaurant.

How cute is this menu?

Thyme and Rosemary along the walls

They made me. Super cheesy was the best I could do.

Brioche French Toast. To.Die.For.

The Living Room Lounge

Of course I got dessert after lunch... and swore that meant I wasn't having dessert after dinner.

Until I met this Pumpkin Cake. And had not one, but two pieces.

 

At restaurants and at home, this is a Kuwaiti dessert called Kanafa. It's basically cream, fried noodles, syrup and crushed pistachios. It's interesting... not my favorite, but I was encouraged to try it..

On top of this, Kuwaiti's love coffee and tea. like a lot. I'm talking 3 to 5 cups a day. I'm now trying to limit myself so I can actually sleep before 1 AM.

 Basically, thank goodness for the 10K and for the beautttiful day on Saturday. I am continuing to try to do my own personal 10k a few times a week so I can actually really take in all of this food and dessert without having to buy a new wardrobe. Just really trying to get the full cultural experience, you know.

Rasheed!! Finally. Also- his wife had her baby GIRL!

My hosts love making me take photos whenever we see an American flag. Luckily,  we were not quick enough to awkwardly pose behind the man in the white jean jacket with a huge American flag on the back...

Publish Post

Pretty kites by the sea.


xo Mary

BFFs... and a minor retraction.

Yesterday was my first day officially starting at the Fawzia Sultan Rehabilitation Institute. Meet Rasheed. Well, Rasheed is actually camera shy. He will not let me take a photo of him, but i will get one some day. Rasheed is A) probably my best friend, B) a wealth of information and C) one.crazy.solid.driver.

This is my best photo of Rasheed. That is his hand.

This is how close Rasheed likes to stop behind cars. Also- Rasheed's forehead.

Rasheed works at FSRI and does pretty much anything and everything they need help with, primarily errands and driving. Rasheed picks me up every day to go to the clinic to work or, when I feel the rice, fried foods and desserts have headed straight to my thighs... to workout at the gym at the clinic. Although yesterday was my first day seeing clients, I've been to the clinic several times before hand for meetings and to workout, all courtesy of Rasheed. Anyway, Rasheed is from India. As I've been told and have noticed, most drivers, nannies, store employees and restaurant employees are either Indian or Filipino. There is still a class system that exists in Kuwait and you will never see Kuwaiti's working these types of jobs. Rasheed will go home to India every 6 months for about 15 to 30 days, or once a year for 30 to 40 days. He has a 4 year old boy and his wife is pregnant with baby number two, due any day now (don't worry I ask him every time I see him-- keep you posted). These vacations are also the same for the house staff at the house where I am living.

There is a new school going up across the street from the clinic, and Rasheed told me that the number one business in Kuwait is education. For private schools, it is 1000KD per student/year. That is Kuwaiti Dinar which is approximately 3.5KD = 1 USD. He said the private schools here have a different and better curriculum and many are also English schools. They are much better than the free, government schools. He told me this used to be the same in India, however they have recently changed this so that the curriculum at both private and public schools in India is the same.

Rasheed, like most drivers here, are not afraid to take some risks on the road. It should be noted (hi mom!) that I have never felt like I was about to die, but it seems like there are either no rules, no enforcement, or people really, really don't care. For instance, if you can visualize this...a left hand  only turning lane with a line of cars and a red arrow. People will just drive up to the front of the lane and cut in front of the line, in front of the first car that is actually behind the line, and sit in front until the light turns green. Also- I was sitting in the car one day next to a car at a light. Behind the car was a cop car with flashing lights. No one was pulling over, no one was moving and the cop didn't even seem mad. I asked, and apparently, if the cop wants you to pull over, he will announce it over a megaphone. OK fine- still so weird to see. Why are your lights on, sir????


FSRI was supposed to have a 10K charity race last Saturday for "Road Safety Awareness", which at first sounded funny to me. Now it's not. You see crashed cars frequently on the side of the road. I heard they leave them there to make a statement. I'll have to take a photo when I see one again, it's strange to see. Rasheed had been running errands all week to get ready for the race. He was talking about it and asked if I had ever seen anyone driving or in a car with a baby on their lap? I was like, "Yes, Rasheed. Britney Spears, duh" (and Ivy Kublin circa 2007--bahhh). He laughed and just said parents don't care and you see it all over Kuwait. Very scary. The race, thankfully, ended up being postponed due to weather. It has been the coldest here (30 degrees in the AM) in 50 years... and there was a mini sandstorm or "dust storm" on Saturday. Looking forward to running it in a few weeks, and hoping it warms up. It starts at the Crescent Marina which I will mention in a bit.

Anyway, It's pretty exciting starting right now at the clinic, not only for the new experience, but also because they just expanded to take over another suite, and now Speech Therapy get their own (brand new) room. There is only one other speech therapist, Latifa, as the speech therapist I am temporarily filling in for is an American woman who happens to be out on maternity leave the same time I'm here. Funny how things work out.  Latifa primarily works with adults in the afternoons doing home visits. I will primarily be seeing children, but also some adults, in the mornings and early afternoons in the clinic. The space is brand new so Latifa and I got to help design the space and get new toys and materials for children since the space was previously used mainly for adult clients.

On Friday (aka Saturday, aka the weekend), Latifa and I went to Toys 'R Us to get some toys for the clinic. She was asking me about how I liked Kuwait, etc. etc. and I told her some of the stuff I've seen and things I've learned. (This is where the retraction come in...) Latifa tells me, that that whole bit about the 10K for graduating is actually not the case. The family that I am working for here is actually part of the royal family of Kuwait. Thereforeeee, some of the information I am getting, may not be true for the rest of the population. Maybe note that. Latifa did not get any 20K for her academic achievements, although she did get a free education because she went to a public university in Kuwait. All are free. Oh- and they have valet parking at the university. (Kuwaitis really value convenience. You'd be surprised at how many places deliver or come to your home.)  Howeverrrr, she did inform me that she gets the seven weeks vacation that apparently every other place in the world except the US has (unless you're in education), along with 4 personal days and 15 sick days. Also, for bereavement, funerals here are after the burial and last for three days. So you get three days for each. Also, since the health care appointments are government controlled, you are granted 4 "excuses" a month (you can only take one a week) and these are essentially half-days you can take for appointments. Mustbenice.

Also- because Latifa was heading to a wedding later that evening, she informed me that receptions are strictly women, and are held some time after the wedding/honeymoon. If a Kuwaiti man wants to marry a Kuwaiti woman, the government will give him 4000KD (~14K USD) for the dowry, half of which he must repay (without interest, obvi). Since times have changed, they are thinking about now changing in to 6000KD, but they will still be required to pay half back to the government, and the rest is a gift. Latifa informed me that dowries range from 7000KD to 20000KD ( 24,5000 to 70,000 USD). yowza. She also told me that there is one area of Kuwait that is not as modernized and is less cultured than where we live, however they are extremely wealthy, just not flashy. There they do not have the luxury cars or extravagant and elaborate houses, rather, they live in modest homes and drive average cars. These women, you will hear talking about dowries from 20,000KD to 25,000KD. Also- if you pass a home in Kuwait that is decorated tastefully with white lights and decorations, these are not their Christmas decorations, I assure you. Rather, when there is a wedding or a celebration, families will have their houses decorated with lights, and some are really,  really beautiful. Here is one I saw from the back from the highway.

The best, or my favorite part about the new suite is that, so far, we're the only office being used (very quiet), and it comes complete with a sizable kitchen space and a bathroom with a shower. So I'm able to use the gym downstairs and then shower before, after, or, like yesterday, in between seeing clients. It's essentially a small apartment. In fact, when coming to Kuwait, the family was going to put me up in a furnished apartment, which happens to be the same building that the clinic is in. Many of the staff members at FSRI actually live in the building. As part of their work contract, they are offered a placed to live (conveniently  close, and very nice). Many of the professionals are westerners. I would say most from Canada, but also the US (psychologist from UCLA- whatsup), and parts of Western Europe.

View from Office

Kitchen

                                 
The office is located in Salmiya, which is more of a downtown, city-like area with taller buildings, more traffic and shopping. It's located right near the Marina Crescent, which reminds me somewhat of LA (Marina Del Ray/Santa Monica pier-ish) but cleaner, with bluer water, and much, much less touristy. I went for lunch there at a Lebanese restaurant (think Mediterranean food) and then to The Chocolate Bar (everything chocolate. everything amazing)... because apparently it's OK to have dessert after every meal.

S'mores. Yum!

 

This post was a little all over the place, but I have so much information, little tidbits and things I want to share that it gets difficult for me to  organize. eeeeek.

xo Mary

Inshallah, Habibi!

This is preeettty much my favorite Arabic phrase. Not because it's said so frequently that I hear it approximately 371 times a day, and not because I only know about ten words... but because A- super fun to say (and doesn't sound like you're about to cough up a lung or are really angry), B- I can actually pronounce it correctly and C- it means "God willing, my love"... and I think that's very sweet (sweet like presh. not sweet like rad).

All of the family members at the family lunch today were asking me how I was liking Kuwait, if I was experiencing culture shock, and wanted to know what was my favorite thing about Kuwait. (It is tradition that every Thursday the mother's side of the family that I am with will get together at her parent's house for brunch with her brother and sister's families and all of their kids for lunch. In Kuwait, as I may have mentioned, socializing usually revolves around meals/coffee and family is very important, so they will generally have extended family meals several times a week.) Anyway, I typically say that I really like it here, which is true and that I haven't felt that much of a culture shock (I was chatting with the cousins about Gossip Girl all afternoon, come on). I would say the biggest shock primarily revolves around the religious aspects of the culture, and even so I would say it was more of a "difference" rather than a "shock".  Kuwait is very westernized, so I feel like I've been so happy here primarily because there are enough things that are familiar (restaurants, shopping, primarily everyone speaking/signage being both in English and Arabic) that I feel comfortable and enough differences (traditions, clothing, etiquette, religion, politics) that I am always learning (and taking notes/photos on my iphone to the point of embarrassing people I am with) and excited to be experiencing new things.

Most of the extended family on the mother's side lives on a compound in a "city" or "district" of Kuwait called Messila where all of the extended family have property together. It's pretty much right on the water so the view from many of the houses is just gorge.

The family that I am working for lives in Qortuba, which is probably a 15-20 minute drive. As I mentioned before, they live closer to the father's side of the family. Side note--- (I have a lot of random facts and I don't know where to put them): out of respect, you call parents by "Mother of ____" or "Father of _____" fill in the blank.. the eldest son of the family. If there are only daughters and no sons... you call the parents by the name of what the father would have wanted to his son to be named had he had one. Also, which is also something you can change. For instance, I was told one family had all girls, and the father had wanted his son to be named Saad, if he had had one. So therefore everyone called him Father of Saad, up until the time his father passed away. At the time he changed it to his father's name, so people called him Father of Hamad, instead. Very interesting.  Anyway, This is my view from my window in the house. It looks out to this home across the street.  Which is considered to be a middle class home. To me, many of the houses look like either apartment buildings or government buildings because of their shape or how grandiose and over the top they are with detail.

Middle Class Home

Not-So- Middle Class Home/Princess Jasmine lives here?

Every "city" --I feel like they're not cities.. like in LA every place is called a "city", outside Chicago is a "suburb", in Connecticut we'd say "town", New york has "boroughs"... I mean, I feel more comfortable, based on my own judgment, to called it a "Suburban Borough"-- anyway, they each have a little Co-Op, almost like mini-mall areas which are really central and convenient and have things like a dry cleaner, pharmacy, bank, grocery, nail salon, dollar store-like place, etc. Also there are usually a few mosques in each "suburban borough", which I have yet to get a decent photo of one.

Oh-- I probably sounded like the biggest brown noser, but I was actually serious... when asked about what my favorite thing about Kuwait was, I said I really like the "Call of Prayer" or the Adhan. As you may know, Muslims pray five times per day. The times change slightly throughout the year based on the length of days. The minarets, which are the tall spires on the top of the mosques,  these days have loudspeakers attached to them as to amplify the "Call of Prayer" to notify everyone that it is time to pray.  It's actually really soothing and has a melodic quality to it, even though it's all in Arabic and I have no idea what they are saying. After the Call of Prayer, men will go to the mosques to pray. There is something about that time that I really think is cool to see all the men walking to the mosques in their traditional garb going to pray. Traditionally, women do not typically pray in the mosques except during the month of Ramadan, so they will pray in their homes. Little fact- women wearing a burka with a veil (the veil covering the front of their face) is actually not traditional, because actually in the mosques you are not allowed to wear a veil, you have to show your entire face. During prayer, even women who do not typically wear burkas or traditional clothing, must cover most of their bodies and cover their heads (not faces) with scarves. One day the mother of the family had to pray, and her sister explained to me what each phase of the prayer was about. Essentially there are mandatory verses you say each time, and then part of the prayer you can pick your own verses from the Quran.  You have until before the next Call of Prayer to pray... so maybe a window of few hours or less to get in each prayer. 

Thanks to my model and special friend, "A", which we'll call him for now, I have nice photo of two ways to wear the traditional headwear for men. I saw him on his way out to pray and asked him why the scarf-like head pieces are either white, or red and white checkered. Clearly these were the only two types I saw and I was thinking of all the different possibilities and patterns these men were missing out on and how they could really ring in spring with a pop of color. As I've learned... the white colored piece (as featured below on this handout I received about the upcoming elections. Based on the flyer, all that I've really gathered is that this gentleman, is running for an office of some sort) he is sporting is called a Ghatra, which is always white, and light for summer or warm weather. (note: this is not my special friend "A")

This photo below, however, is. He is Jordanian and has lived in Kuwait for quite some time. He's close with the family and also lives in the house. I primarily see him for coffee and breakfast in the morning, and he's been begging for me to take him to Thailand with my friend from high school and me in a few weeks. He also thinks LA is the best place on earth, and I think he's a doll. He also pretty much thinks I'm Nancy Drew since I'm constantly asking him a bazillion questions. "A" (which is a terrible nickname I've realized as I'm typing this especially when "A" is a word itself, and when I try to use this nickname at the beginning of a sentence it's really difficult to get my point across sans quotations) is sporting the red and white version which is known as an Eshmagh and is made of a heavier material, better suited for the winter months. (I've actually been very cold here). The black rope worn around the top is called an Igal.

My favorite part about this was when I went to put my camera down, and "A" stopped me, flipped up the two sides of his Eshmagh and insisted I take another photo of him. When I asked why/when people wear it like that sometimes he said, in the cutest accent you've ever heard in your entire life, "you know, for fashion."

Oh, in case you were wondering what I usually have for breakfast in the morning when I see "A", it's nothing really that special. Pretty much just normal toast, with butter, a banana and coffee.

xo Mary