What's goin' on...
Sorry for the late weekly update. You'd think that having an extra 90 minutes every day would allow me some leisure time yet with Theatre rehearsals and WORK I have been busy and tired. I have managed to swim two mornings this week and drink cappuccino most days (best investment ever).
Some lessons in Arabic and Kuwaiti culture:
Yella: (a very common word here) hurry up, get going, let's go, etc. Example: My friend was waiting for me in her car early in the morning before swimming. The haras (building caretaker) was waiting for me to leave so he could close the gate. "Yella!" he said (half-jokingly).
Wasta: (rhymes with pasta as in paw-sta) influence or power. For example, if you get a speeding ticket but you are a Kuwaiti with some wasta, you can usually get out of the ticket. You can gain wasta by having money, coming from a family with lots of money, or, as we call it in Canada, brown nosing the people that have more wasta.
Haram: forbidden. Example: SHowing your shoulders in public is HARAM.
Diwanyia: (dee-wan-ee-ya) a place where you can sit to have tea and coffee, snack on sweets and smoke shisha (water pipes). Traditionally, a diwanyia is strictly for men, and public diwanyias are still open only to men. The furniture in a Diwanyia is a set of firm cushions on the floor and possibly a little table or two.
KD: the Kuwaiti Dinar, the local currency. Exchange rate is about $3.3US to 1KD and about $3.8CAN Example: A cappuccino at a cafe is about $1.3KD (you do the math- it adds up!).
Fils: the "cents" in the KD. 1000 fils make 1KD. A fresh juice at a cafe is about 750 fils (.750KD). It's always a large glass.
I have hired a maid. I know, a maid, maybe some folks are opposed, but hear me out. It costs about $90 Canadian per month (25 KD) and it's employing someone who needs work. She dusts and mops and cleans the windows weekly. Sounds like something I could do, right? Except that I am away from home about 12 hours a day and I haven't even gotten busy yet. And unless you have been here or some other desert country, you cannot possibly imagine the amount of dust everywhere. My apartment looked pristine when she finished on Thursday. And she also IRONS clothes. Hurray!
I went to a Canadians in Kuwait Thanksgiving Dinner on Saturday. It was lacking in both Canadianism and proper Thanksgiving dinner items such as cranberries and pumpkin pie. The dessert was a raspberry mousse in a flan cake. How very Canadian? No matter, but I didn't realize before I committed to going that the dinner was going to cost 10KD- do the math, nearly $40CAN and the definitely did not include wine or any other such HARAM beverages. C'est la vie. The air conditioning in the hotel (The lovely Crowne Plaza) was SOOOOO cold that it was uncomfortable for a long time. Hottest country I've ever been in, yet I must always bring a sweater for indoors.
Today I saw a few clouds in the sky. Very light, small clouds, bows and flows of angel hair, but not enough to block the sun or rain and snow on everyone (catch the Joni Mitchell reference?) but it was the first time I've seen clouds since arriving in Kuwait. The sky is always blue or brown (on windy days and oil refinery smoke days).
The Happy 5th Grade Music teachers: Katie, me and Chad. We are in a traditional looking Diwanyia tent snacking on Arabic goodies the day before Ramadan. A Mardi Gras of sorts. Notice the coffee and tea pots and the skirt I had made here with fabric from Pakistan.
Some lessons in Arabic and Kuwaiti culture:
Yella: (a very common word here) hurry up, get going, let's go, etc. Example: My friend was waiting for me in her car early in the morning before swimming. The haras (building caretaker) was waiting for me to leave so he could close the gate. "Yella!" he said (half-jokingly).
Wasta: (rhymes with pasta as in paw-sta) influence or power. For example, if you get a speeding ticket but you are a Kuwaiti with some wasta, you can usually get out of the ticket. You can gain wasta by having money, coming from a family with lots of money, or, as we call it in Canada, brown nosing the people that have more wasta.
Haram: forbidden. Example: SHowing your shoulders in public is HARAM.
Diwanyia: (dee-wan-ee-ya) a place where you can sit to have tea and coffee, snack on sweets and smoke shisha (water pipes). Traditionally, a diwanyia is strictly for men, and public diwanyias are still open only to men. The furniture in a Diwanyia is a set of firm cushions on the floor and possibly a little table or two.
KD: the Kuwaiti Dinar, the local currency. Exchange rate is about $3.3US to 1KD and about $3.8CAN Example: A cappuccino at a cafe is about $1.3KD (you do the math- it adds up!).
Fils: the "cents" in the KD. 1000 fils make 1KD. A fresh juice at a cafe is about 750 fils (.750KD). It's always a large glass.
I have hired a maid. I know, a maid, maybe some folks are opposed, but hear me out. It costs about $90 Canadian per month (25 KD) and it's employing someone who needs work. She dusts and mops and cleans the windows weekly. Sounds like something I could do, right? Except that I am away from home about 12 hours a day and I haven't even gotten busy yet. And unless you have been here or some other desert country, you cannot possibly imagine the amount of dust everywhere. My apartment looked pristine when she finished on Thursday. And she also IRONS clothes. Hurray!
I went to a Canadians in Kuwait Thanksgiving Dinner on Saturday. It was lacking in both Canadianism and proper Thanksgiving dinner items such as cranberries and pumpkin pie. The dessert was a raspberry mousse in a flan cake. How very Canadian? No matter, but I didn't realize before I committed to going that the dinner was going to cost 10KD- do the math, nearly $40CAN and the definitely did not include wine or any other such HARAM beverages. C'est la vie. The air conditioning in the hotel (The lovely Crowne Plaza) was SOOOOO cold that it was uncomfortable for a long time. Hottest country I've ever been in, yet I must always bring a sweater for indoors.
Today I saw a few clouds in the sky. Very light, small clouds, bows and flows of angel hair, but not enough to block the sun or rain and snow on everyone (catch the Joni Mitchell reference?) but it was the first time I've seen clouds since arriving in Kuwait. The sky is always blue or brown (on windy days and oil refinery smoke days).
The Happy 5th Grade Music teachers: Katie, me and Chad. We are in a traditional looking Diwanyia tent snacking on Arabic goodies the day before Ramadan. A Mardi Gras of sorts. Notice the coffee and tea pots and the skirt I had made here with fabric from Pakistan.
posted by Granola Girl at
12:29 AM
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