Day 1

MENTAL, culture shock, friendly and off white .... words I might use to describe my first day in Kuwait.

I am staying a 10 minute walk from the city centre, I can see the sea from my apartment however the area feels somewhat "rural", not in the green sense but in the sense that there is not a lot going on and the buildings seem to be mostly hotels and residential. With the sea in view I got dressed and set out for a stroll towards the waters edge....on the way out my blonde Romanian flat mate asks "where are you going", I reply "for a wander" she then proceeded to say something along the lines of this is not Europe you can not just walk around outside, you have blonde hair it is dangerous, don't speak to anyone and avoid men, especially the covered guys in black.... yikes. So ignoring this advice I set off downstairs, I tell the man on reception my plan and ask if it is safe, he assures me it is and so I set off on my way. The highway runs close to the edge of the sea in this area, in a stretch of about 5 minutes walking every 5th car or so toots their horn at me and 3 or 4 male drivers pull over and usher me to talk to them...of course I shoo them away, two of the drivers were rather persistent and proceeded to follow me for some time! The experience I guess is not that different from walking down a busy road in London in a mini skirt and high heels, the difference being I am wearing black harem trousers, a loose fitting round neck top and a leather jacket...and I have no Idea what they are saying! I see groups of men in traditional dress ahead and I feel somewhat intimidated at this point so regrettably
I give up and turn back to the hotel, however with every building and road an off white colour I get a little lost! Scary! Eventually find my hotel, RELIEF!

I have a brief chat with the guy of reception who is very friendly, I tell him that for the first time in 26 years (minus the one disaster I created with red hair dye back in 2005) I may consider dying my hair, to my delight he understands my sarcasm, score! We engage in some light "banter" and general chat about life in Kuwait ....I think this guy will be a good source of knowledge!

Back in the flat I get chatting to my new Romanian flat mate who explains to me she is working 12 hour days in store for the same company that I will be working for, she is paid 550kd-which actually works out to be around 14.5k a year(tax free), comparable to the UK I think, however, some store assistants are earning less than 300KD a month and living in cheaper accomodation far out of the city, they travel to work in a mini bus which costs them arounf 15kd a month, her contract does state 8 hours a day so she is not happy with the hours, or the pay......  not sure how this leaves me feeling about my company, I think it is normal but the class divide is just so large here, I don't like it....She goes on to tell me about her Arabic bf(interesting!) and invites me to a boat party....unfortunately it starts at 2am in the morning, with my first day of work the following day, and with the thought that there is nothing more obvious than a load of drunk expats tumbling off a boat in the middle of the night... I decide against it! She goes on and shares her experiences of feeling like an alien because of her blonde hair (which is evidently died from a very dark brown?!).


I did plan on a trip to the aquarium today but I think I will save the giant spider crabs for another day as I have the flat to myself and I think the dark circles under my eyes will soon fall down to my chin!


Lessons of the day...

-ALWAYS take a cab(for now)!
- Learn Arabic ASAP!