Some Initial Impression on Kuwait

Walking outside feels literally like stepping into a sauna.  The humidity, the heat, the sun, hits hard!  From what I’ve seen briefly in passing via bus trips back and forth from the apartments (The Dunes) to school and to shopping centers, Kuwait is rather bare.  I don’t know why, but there’s a lot of trash piled up outside on the sides of buildings and such – trash and chunks of cement. 

            I heard that Kuwait is “1^st world country run my 3^rd world people.”  I don’t really know how true that is, but I do know that Kuwait is a wealthy country.  And I do know that Kuwaitis have a reputation of being somewhat lazy and doing half-assed jobs on certain projects. (There was an electrical fire in our apartment because some wires were connected incorrectly.  And for some reason there are rusted nails sticking out of the wall in my bathroom.  I could go on but I want to save my energy.) 

            There’s also a definite class system hear.  Manual labor is reserved for the bottom rung: Bangladeshis, Filipinos, Indians…(Another teacher said that others see me in public and probably think, “who does he doing work for?”)  So I try to take every advantage of speaking up in public so they know I’m from America.            

            It’s only been a few days, but as time goes on I’m hoping to try and get more immersed with the culture.  Since Kuwait imports so many of their products, has so many Western stores and restaurants (Starbucks, Ruby Tuesdays, Johnny Rockets, Ikea, etc.)  and since it’s quite easy to spend a majority of one’s time with other Western teachers and faculty, one can easily avoid a significant integration into the Kuwaiti culture.  But…I guess that could be good or bad.