Cultural Proposals.

Proposal/dating. Western culture gets down on one knee, and maybe speaks to the father beforehand. Maybe does something romantic, sings to her, the ring is inside of the cupcake...we all know how this goes down.

Middle Eastern culture is interesting. The man may be interested (from afar because dating isn't a thing). He tells his mother he's found the one. They discuss about the importance of being sure...is he ready?...how is her family?..etc. Then--the mother seeks to finds out for herself.

I'm blessed to be directly correlated into the culture and have these simple, but embracing experiences. Someone was interested in marrying Abbouds' sister. His mother contacted her mother and requested a meeting. This is what happens. They meet the family (women only) and discuss everything...how is her personality? How does she upkeep the household? Is she responsible? Smart? Determined?

Since his mother is sick, and his sister doesn't have any clue how to even work a stove--I did the cooking. We can't order food for an event like this! That would send a bad message like we-didn't-have-time or I-can't-take-care-of-your-son.  Side note: Thanks mom! The cheeseball was a hit!

If this meeting is a success...the men all meet. Father's, brothers, etc. Of course, I have no idea what happens here. But this is the opportunity for the father to decide if this could be his future son-in-law.

Again, if the mother-in-law-to-be likes the girl, and the father-in-law-to-be likes the boy...then they may date. This isn't just dating though. This is dating with a serious intention of getting married. It's usually brief, and never anything alone in private. Maybe they go on group-dates. Maybe a short evening out together, but no late night meetings.

After they have done this for a month or two. The proposal happens. The man will bring all of his friends, brothers, cousins, uncles, his father, and grandfather. Every man he knows. They take a trip to the girls house and he proposes at the door. Requesting from his future-father-in-law to marry his daughter. And she gets to approve or deny the proposal.

Abbouds sister and this boy decided against continuing a relationship, I'm sure we're all curious of that. Also, abbouds family is more open than this. They aren't as traditional, so this was a special treat for them as well. They allow their children to date...they just request knowledge of it. Obviously they're open--they allowed their eldest son to marry a Slovakian and second oldest to marry an American. HAHA.

Grocery Shopping

The longer I'm here, the more I forget prices of shopping for anything in the USA. So I'll post about prices of fruits, vegetables, and meat here in Kuwait and you can make your own comparisons. Let me just brag a little about gas prices first, since groceries here are costly. It's only $10 to fill my car, nah nah nah nah nah. Yet, this less costly convenience doesn't make up for the amount of salary that goes into buying berries or imported goods.

I miss strawberries, and blueberries. These are items that don't even make it into my cart anymore. At a high price of 2KD for one of those small trays--that means $7 for strawberries. I'll take vitamins.

Things I do buy, and must buy are:
Bread: referred to as toast here (at least the bread you and I are both thinking of)..their "bread" means those circle pita pieces, which are insanely cheap at 50fils a bag. I'm pretty sure that's less then 15 cents for 5 pieces of pita. Bread, oh yeah, our "bread". It costs 150 fils for a bag typically AKA 50 cents. I store it in the freezer because we take forever to finish the bag.

Milk: I hate to even admit to this, but we buy the long-lasting milk. You know, the kind you don't 'have' to refrigerate. We get a 4 pack of that for 1.5KD or something. So, probably $5.

Eggs: 1KD for 18 eggs. $3.50 for 18 eggs.

Fruits/Veggies: Here is where you can either win or lose. I've transitioned a lot to the 'arab' style of eating. So lots of zucchini, cucumber, and other cheap things. Anything they can grow here or nearby=cheap. Anything imported=$$$$$$, too expensive for me to even consider on a weekly shopping list. The $$$$ is just for occasional treats for myself. Carrots--$1 for 5 large. Cucumbers--  >$1 for a bag full. Zucchini >1 for a bag full. Seems nice, right? ....Mushrooms pack $2.50, Bell Peppers $1.50











Meat/chicken:  8 chicken wing pack for $1.50; 6 drumsticks $2
Whole chicken (small aka normal non-steroid sized) $3

6 burgers made from fresh 90% lean beef $7
2 packs of beef strips $7

Maybe I should become a vegetarian. All my money goes towards meat.

Sweets: arabic sweets and local sweets you can find decently priced, it's (yet again) the imports. We have doritos, lays, cheetos, hersheys, mars, etc. All of it is here. But...it's all overpriced. So let's avoid them all together.

The cost of living here is decent here. You can get a nice savings over time if you know how to budget. I'm still unsure of how I'll ever leave and be okay with paying taxes. I ponder this often...I'm still not an "adult" it terms of paying taxes and all. Living here I have accommodation and tax free lifestyle. When making the move to USA it'll be major culture shock when having to go to the doctor, paying gas, and all of that. I guess I'll just keep enjoying my youth now. Living in a Kuwait Bubble.

Summer Recap; Finally

Apple from play

A lot has happened since January. The months have escaped me, and every time I attempt to blog, something else comes up. But now: I have a mother whom calls daily and reminds me to post. :/ So, I guess it's about that time.

February: National day. I celebrated this month here and witnessed all of the crazies throwing water
balloons and squirting water guns. And not to mention, the completely-stopped-dead-non-moving-traffic.

May: Completed most of my school activities, including a play with my little ones. We performed "The Very Hungry Caterpillar". Of course, any thing you do with this age just looks adorable.

Apartment Living Room

June: Moving month..and let's just throw July in here as well, because let's be realistic; moving takes way more than 1 month. Abboud and I moved into a VERY nice apartment in Shuhada, South Surra (for if you decide to look it up on google earth). 2 Master bedrooms with a personal, rooftop terrace. It's glorious for Kuwait standards.

Shooting Range

August: Finally, someone has actually visited me in Kuwait! I have proof that this country isn't a country made out of sticks and mud. Proof of civilization. :P Krista (a friend from college) happened to stop by last minute on her tour-of-the-world. She stayed for a few days, which in Kuwait left a day to rest. :/ We did all of the touristy things (i.e. saw the Kuwait Towers, trip to Mubarakiya Souk, Green Island, Avenues Mall, Largest sculpted tower in the world, and the house of mirrors.)

During her visit she was offered a relationship and a marriage proposal. Don't come to Kuwait as a single American. HAH. I think the men here can sense you're unattached or something. They aren't overwhelming or anything, but they always find a way to drop the "are you single" "do you want to be my wife" into any normal conversation. For her it was during a trip to Green Island where the ticket booth guy took us on a 'tour' for free. By the end, he was lifting tree branches out of the way for her to pass and not caring about Heather nor me. The second was while shopping at the souk. We bought matching traditional dresses and the salesman offered to marry her in exchange for free dresses. I told her to accept like any good friend would. I wanted free things.

Well, she left Kuwait with knowledge of a kind people, crazy drivers...no, asshole drivers, good food, and really really hot weather.

Arckie and Chansey

Side note: I've been taking up hobbies during this summer in Kuwait and discovered that...hmm...maybe I can draw.

"Do You Know Someone ______?"

"Do you know someone ______". The most commonly asked question here in Kuwait, I'm sure. Now it's no surprise to me, or probably you, that this happens here (it happens everywhere), but not to the extent it's happening. Ooooof. For nearly everything you need, you first have first to ask around to see if somebody knows someone that can help you. This is known as having a Wasta, or a middle-man.

Say you are getting your driving license. You would think, okay..there must be set procedure, rules, and steps to going about this. Well, you would be wrong. I know because I got my license here a few months back. The amount of paperwork you need to go through is endless...and that still won't even get you the license. Not until you know someone. The only reason, absolute only reason, I was able to finally get my license was because just as someone was telling us "no, I'm sorry. You still need to have a signature from blah-blah on this document", a friend of Abboud's father walked by. "Oh hey! How have you been. I haven't seen you since ___. What are you doing? Oh, a license! Come this way." He signs some papers of mine and tells us to take it downstairs and they'll print the license.

WHAT?! It's that simple?! I could've just seen you from the beginning...not gone through the months of court, to ministry, back to court, to DMV, to medical eye-check, to court, to.....If only I knew that before I started this process.

Well this practice, of nothing being processed until you know someone is so common here that you even use it with getting your computer fixed. In a friend of mine's case, people were telling her 100KD to fix it, 75KD there until her taxi driver knew this guy that knew another guy that since she uses him as a taxi would give her a discount--15kd.

Ever needed an apartment? Did you know that people will tell you the building is full--no openings--even if it has 5 openings! Until you know someone who knows the haras (security), you'll just keep hearing they have no empty rooms available.

How about residency (since in this county, only kuwaitis remain kuwaitis. Everyone else keeps their own nationality. No one can take the kuwaiti nationality). Every year you must update your residency--you must work, have somewhere you're renting, a family here, etc to be able to stay here. Which, btw, you aren't able to buy land unless you're a kuwaiti, own a store unless you are kuwaiti. So, if you do have things like this--it means a Kuwaiti signed off on it (aka wasta). -_-

Luckily, being in a school community where everyone helps each other, I have plenty of people willing to connect me to their wasta for this or that. Even though it sounds hard, especially with only knowing English in an Arabic country, but this wasta system--somehow--is working for me. I've adapted and made it work at least. But for those newbies here, make sure you build those connections fast. They're more important than you'd think. And remember that one time we met 3 years ago, could you please help me with _____? Doesn't matter...they'd probably still help you!  :D

Christmas in Kuwait.

Christmas "vacation" started of nicely. I only had a few days off, while others had weeks. Luckily, most of my friends were spending Christmas in Kuwait. We started off the month right by having a cookie decorating party/movie marathon. Rolled out the sugar cookies and cut/decorated our own ones. After finishing that, and having them cool, we ate them right up and watched How The Grinch Stole Christmas--the Jim Carrey version.

We also got to go to a Christmas festival...in Kuwait! WHAT? An international school hosted a market/concert/etc dedicated to santa. Weird snowmen and snowflakes wandered around for pictures, local stores and handmade artists sold items for charities or to advertise, and there was a gift raffle. Which I entered, and WON! Score. A haircut and blowdry. Hey, it's still a win! Even if i'm horrified to get my hair cut here and just need a trim.

Well, this was my first year, ever, spending Christmas away from my family. I was sure I'd be sulking under a snuggie watching A Christmas Story alone, but surprisingly that wasn't the case! Abboud and I had our Tree up since before Thanksgiving; the spirit wasn't the problem. We had santa hats, stockings, wrapped presents, etc. I was just worried Abboud would have work (since christmas isn't celebrated by the majority, they don't have off for it) and everyone else would travel.

Well, he ended up having work except he took off! :D So, even though I was away from everyone, he made it a very special Christmas. Our first one together and his first celebrated. On Christmas Eve we watched Christmas movies, snuggled up with our animals and stayed in. When we woke up, we opened presents!!! A new ipod for him, piano keyboard for me...and of course a bone for the dog and catnip toy for the kitty. We made a grilled lunch on his new toy (steak and ribs...couldn't get the oink oink ordered.) Did you know the US base here sells pork? So if you know someone there, they have anything and everything that oinks. But little did I know that everyone buys up the ham immediately around Christmas. Whomp. And at night we went to a game night over a friends.

Very well spend Christmas, though of course I was missing everyone :(