One Great Headline

I was doing my usual morning perusal of the Arab Times and came upon this headline. It was just too good and I had to share.


"3 camels die, 3 men hurt; Crossdressers arrested

Kuwait : A truck transporting camels overturned on the Seventh Ring Road, killing three camels and injuring three Asian men, reports Al-Anba daily. Traffic was blocked for three hours on the road.

Crossdressers arrested: Securitymen arrested three cross-dressers in a café in Salmiya and referred them to authorities, reports Arrouiah daily. "

Apparently the crossdressing and the camels were two seperate incindents but, my oh my, I got a good laugh out of that one. If anyone is worried that we are living in a dangerous place, take a look at the Arab Times Crime News sometime.

Goodbye Zain!

The ongoing saga of our quest to find a good Internet provider in Kuwait has a new episode.

We have not had the greatest time with Zain. Reasons:

- 30gb limit (hit that in about 1 1/2 weeks)
- iffy connectivity (downgrades speed if not using connection actively, you have to reconnect to get fast speeds again)
- Blocks torrent ports (slows it down)
- Bad tech support (had 2 calls in to help with port issues...never got the promised call back)
- Dongle takes up 2 USB slots (minor, but irritating)

The monthly cost for all of this? 30KD. Not worth it in our books.

We've decided to pay the 15KD per month for the service provided by our apartments until we've saved up enough to get a real land line (telephone) so we can get DSL.

To cancel your Zain service you need to go to an official Zain office/outpost. These are not terribly common. And of course they close from 2pm to 4pm, so when I found out about this requirement and it was 12:30, I thought no problem, I should be able to locate the nearest one in time.... Uh...no. Couldn't find it. So I tried the next one. Was able to get a guy to drive there and follow him, but I arrived at 1:40pm...and *this* office closed at 1:30pm (contrary to what the pamphlet says).

So it was off to the airport office which is the only 24 hour Zain office. Finally got it cancelled (no termination fees luckily).

Now that I know better, I think I'd have preferred to save a lot of money and go with DSL from the beginning...but oh well. Live and learn.

Aqua Park

Abu Khaled had promised us last week that he wanted to show us some fun times in Kuwait this weekend, so on Friday he rang us up and told us to meet him at the Kuwait International Fairgrounds, where we met his bevy of nieces and nephews (Saud, Sheikhra, Abdul Messen, Khaled, Deema) who were already racing around a go kart track. Rowan got to ride around a few times with Sheikhra, but was not yet able to reach the pedals and steer at the same time. After this he took us to a nearby amusement park where the kids all got to ride on some smallish but fun rides. Then we went to a small restaurant and got take out (shawarma, falafel, sandwiches, etc...) and ate it at the adjacent Burger King playground (heh).

The kids all begged to go to the Aqua Park by the Kuwait Towers on Saturday, so we said we'd see and if Abu Khaled called us in the morning we'd be up for it. Next morning, 10am passed by and we decided to run out to Ace Hardware and buy some items for our porch that we've been meaning to purchase. While there we got the call and headed over to the Aqua Park. It was incredibly fun, with a wave pool, constantly moving river to float on, and of course, the slides! We all (except for Abu Khaled) swam and slid for hours. They had a shisha place in the middle of the park, so Abu Khaled and I partook and discussed metaphysical theories of whether or not we would need our "asses" in heaven (seriously...I don't know how these conversations get started, I swear the shisha is just tobacco!). Then we left the nieces and nephews at the park and Abu Khaled took us down to the heritage souks where he wanted to buy us some dates to be had later with tahini, and insisted on buying some Iranian laban at a little restaurant there (served in metal bowls to be drunk out of...very refreshing on a hot day) and of course he couldn't resist buying some bread and a kebab as he was quite concerned by the fact that Rowan doesn't ever seem to eat around him. Later he bought us some candy like substances (not sure what they are called, but seem to be made out of sesame and are incredibly sweet, a paste-like substance), and some sesame balls. I do try to pay for things periodically, but if I'm not sneaky he won't let me.

After this it was back to the water park to round the kids up, which took about an hour as they weren't keen to leave. It was around 6pm by the time we got everyone out, and we managed to assemble for a quick photo with the Kuwait Towers behind us. Then it was time for dinner, which ended up being a Palestinian restaurant (basically the same delicious assortment of arabic food we've come to love), with mostly dippnig dishes of hummous, fool, moutabel, yogurt salad, garbanzo beans, french fries, and eggplant fries. "Light" food so he says. We also tried a new desert, made of a light white cheese base, topped with crunchy orange noodle-like substances. Quite good, and not too sweet.

By this time it was 7:30pm or so, and we bid everyone adieu and headed home, in bed by 9pm. Lots of fun, and enjoyable conversation. The kids are incredibly nice, polite, and well behaved, though they know their uncle is a soft-touch and some of them do try to manipulate him to get things they probably normally don't get. Still they are all very pleasant and eager to talk about things. They all spent several years in the US and have been back in Kuwait for about a year. They have had some difficulty adjusting to life back here, but seem to be doing ok now.

We are planning on taking it easy today (Sunday) and not go out too much. I have shaved my beard off and must get a haircut to go with it. And Rowan will need to blow some steam off...I'm thinking more swimming later.

I may be going to night shift at the end of the month, which we are thinking will actually be good for being able to stay out later on weekends when all the fun stuff goes on. We'll be sure and post about that if it happens.

Game recommendations (DS and Wii)

Just a short note to recommend some Wii and DS titles, some coming out soon or at the end of the month.

Okami is a port of a PS2 game that garnered critical acclaim, and seems made to be implemented on the Wii. It's a mixture of several Japanese legends and is rumoured to feature an interesting story line and innovative game mechanics. I've been looking forward to it for quite some time.

Mario Kart for the Wii finally comes out at the end of the month. Ever since I played the DS version for the first time, I've been looking forward to the full Wii version and most of the reviews are quite positive. If anything, the only negative is that if you've played previous iterations (I haven't) then you might be bored. But there are motorcycles now!

Smash Brothers is another Wii title that we've had for a month or so. At first I wasn't too impressed, but I have to say it has grown on me. There is something viscerally fun about the gameplay: mash buttons til someone goes flying! There is a "single" player game that 2 people can play together that Rowan and I are working our way through.

Professor Layton and the Curious Village is a DS title that I had been hearing about long before it came out. Combining Miyazaki style animation with a mystery storyline (it's silly, but keeps you interested), and lots and lots of puzzles, it kept me occupied on the bus to and from work for several weeks in a row. I still haven't finished all the puzzles.

Lego Star Wars for the Wii (complete saga): A great one to play with Rowan because of how easy it is to drop in and out of, we have been making our way through the Star Wars movies on this one. We had previously owned the Gamecube Original Trilogy version, but this one contains all 6 movie plotlines, combined with the usual humour of the Lego series. The best part is how forgiving it is. When you die you just pop back in again and there are no such things as "lives" to run out of.

Super Mario Galaxy - Finished this one months ago, but Kerri is still working her way through it, and it is still Rowan's favourite. It's just so much fun, it would have to be on any recommended list.

Wii Fit - Looking forward to this, though it's a bit steep in price ($90). But I've been reading some posts out there that indicate if you use it consistently it can help lose some weight, and at least make it fun and interesting. We'll probably snag one when it releases.

Zak and Wiki: I think I've raved about this before, but we recently finished it, so I wanted to reiterate that this may be one of my all time favourite Wii titles. Innovative gameplay, great humour, really fun to play with other people (even though it is a single player game). I really hope they make a sequel.

Well that's it for now, just thought it had been a while since I posted something games related.

Oh, one last thing, Trackmania is my (only) favorite racing game and Nadeo has just made one version of it TrackMania Nations Forever free! You can download it from the sites listed, or if you have Steam, you can just add it to your game list and start the download from there.

So much to say

Fair warning: this post is going to cover a lot of ground. Lots has happened lately.

Luanne's Visit

Luanne is a professional photographer, so virtually all the photos you will see above are taken by her.

My aunt Luanne is teaching in Saudi Arabia and had a long weekend to come up and visit us about a week ago. She was feeling adventurous and decided to take the bus that runs between here and Dammam. We picked her up downtown Kuwait late Thursday night and then had crazy whirlwind adventures the rest of the weekend, which is pretty par for the course when it comes to Luanne.

On Friday, we lounged around the house for a bit, introducing Lu to our new cat Milo (we hadn't told her we had gotten a cat yet...) but luckily she liked him well enough even though she generally doesn't like cats. We then went to the
Avenues Mall so that we could go grocery shopping at Carrefour for a lamb roast that we were going to cook for dinner as our (late) Easter celebration. Also it gave us an opportunity to show Luanne a typical Kuwaiti past time: going to the mall (whee!). She is also an IKEA fan so we also ran through IKEA while there.

We came home and cooked the lamb roast the rest of the day, while she got more of a tour around our compound and took more photos. After dinner (which was terrible I must say), we drove up to the Kuwait Towers and Kerri, Rowan and Luanne got to see them for the first time. It was a very enjoyable experience as the towers are quite spectacular at night and the lighting was very interesting and made for some great photos as you can see in the slideshow. We also found out that there is a buffet in the restaurant that is pretty reasonable, so Kerri and I will be going back some time for one of our Saturday night outings.

On Saturday, we again slept in and lounged about for the morning, then towards lunch we all walked over to Mangaf and got some juice at our local juice bar, and also got more stew from the Afghani's store, and next door some of the fresh bread that you can get for real cheap. We made a good lunch of all that, and Kerri and Lu went out clothes shopping in the afternoon.

That night we (Kerri, Lu and I) headed down to Fahaheel to walk about and eat dinner. We showed her our seaside shisha spot, walked to the mall and had some coffee by the fountain, and then walked over to the souks so Lu could help Kerri buy an abaya and hijab. Kerri's been wanting the option of wearing one, and Luanne has more experience then any of us with that living in Saudi. I also got to inquire regarding the cost of having a dishdash made and generally we had a great time.

On Sunday morning we walked down to the Al Kout fish market to try and catch the auction before it closed down. We just missed it, but were able to buy 2 fish from one of the stands in the market and then walk down to the Fish Oasis restaurant where our fish were promptly deep fried (grilling is an option too) and we ate fried fish for breakfast (delicious!). Then we walked up to the Al Manshar mall, to the Rotunda Hotel, asking if there was a viewing deck to take some pictures from. We were told to take the elevator to the top, and were stunned to find a swimming pool, restaurant, and shisha bar up there, along with an amazing view of Fahaheel spread out below us. The pictures she got almost don't even look real, more like a model of a proposed development, but they are! Then we went home and swam some. Later Kerri and Lu went to a salon to get a pedicure, while Rowan and I went to the best restaurant in Fahaheel (a hole in the wall) to get a couple of roast chickens, hummous, moutabel, fresh bread and pickles for dinner.

All in all, I think Lu got a really good taste of our lives here, and I think she had a good time. Ok, so it was short on adventure, but there was plenty of fun had all around.

Kuwait's First Hurricane?

On Friday night, we went to a Bible study that meets in our complex, and on our way there, we noticed very dark clouds and some lightening. We never see this kind of weather here, so it was notable, and the thunder continued throughout the night. There were a couple of rain drops, but nothing more.

The next morning, the news on all the Kuwaiti blogs and news sites was quite amazing! Apparently, there was a genuine storm that swept the tip of Kuwait City (Salmiya) that sticks out into the Gulf. There were very powerful winds that shattered glass, hail the size of marbles fell, and rain like we NEVER see here! The damage is quite extensive and one friend estimates 2 weeks of cleanup before things return to normal. Street signs broken, trees uprooted. It's a mess. Anyway, quite a bit of excitement all around. A good blog with lots of pictures and video on it is 248am if you are interested in more information.

Abu Khaled strikes again!

Last night was Saturday, and we began our time without Rowan by walking down to our favorite shisha spot, intending to then find a restaurant, have dinner and head home like usual. I hadn't spoken with Abu Khaled, my Kuwaiti friend, for quite some time, and each time I've called him recently, he's been busy in Ras Al Khaima, one of the Emirate states. I figured it had been a while, so I'd give him a ring and see what was up. This is always a bit dangerous, as you never know what he might end up doing, but it had to be done.

Turns out he was nearby and wanted to stop and have some shisha and tea with us. So he drove his brand new Landrover (he was eager for us to see it) over to where we were, and we sat out by the sea, watching people fishing and enjoying shisha and tea for an hour or so. After this, he said he wanted to show us something he'd been working on, if we could join him. We were concerned that our maid should know we would be late, so we asked if he could drive us home so we could let her know, and asked if we could show him our place. He agreed and came up. He had previously been very concerned when I told him we lived in Mangaf, as it's not a very nice area at all (generally). I had tried to tell him that our place was different, but he didn't get it. Once he saw our place he said he totally understands and thought our place was excellent. We then got back in his car and he drove us a short distance to where is friend's house is being built. Abu Salem (his friend) is very busy these days and can't be in the country to oversee his house being built, so Abu Khaled is covering for him. The house is still being built, and is pretty much just concrete now, but the outlines of it are pretty much done, it just needs finishing touches (i.e. paint, plumbing, electrical, etc...). Oh...my....goodnes....this house is amazing. It's very nice architecturally, apparently Abu Khaled is responsible for the design, the house (er...mansion?) forming a quarter of a half circle, which is then completed by an arch of trees that surround another quarter of land which will be a garden. The house has a sunken courtyard, from which the basement area is accessed. The basement area will have a pool, jacuzzi, sauna, etc..., kitchen, and general family area. The second floor is where the main reception area will be located, the two wings to either side probably for formal hosting and dining. There were 2 more floors above this, so a total of 4 floors. It will be stunning when complete. Abu Khaled has great plans for the lighting and little details of design. He said this is not really his style personally, but since his friend has asked him to oversee it, he definitely has opinions on how to make it as tasteful as possible. The bizarre part of all this being that we were traipsing around this empty construction site, in the dark, alone, dressed nicely (him in his dishdash, Kerri in her skirt), stepping on stones to get over standing water. It was a very surreal experience, but quite fun.

Then he insisted on driving us to where he'd like to take us next weekend which is the Kuwait International Fair, where they have rotating displays, kind of like an Expo center. There is a mini-go kart track there for the kids to enjoy, so hopefully next weekend we'll get to hang out with him and his family again.

After this he took us to a restaurant in Hawally (by the way, this is bouncing all over Kuwait) where he showed us what he described as a "very clean" but nice simple food restaurant, where he insisted on buying us some shawarma and fruit juice that was very good. At this time, we said we *had* to get home so our maid could go home after staying late to watch Rowan.

All in all, a very fun but strange experience. Abu Khaled is a fascinating guy with very interesting opinions on everything. Never a dull moment, that's for sure!

I think that brings us up to date. We'll try and be better about about posting in the future so we don't do monstrous posts like this.

New Family Member

Meet Milo! We actually got a pet that doesn't have gills. I know in the past we have said that we would never do such a thing, but the time was right and Rowan really wanted a pet. He has always wanted a cat and Jesse likes cats so was easily won over. We got him from a shelter (Kuwiat Animal Friends) at which some people who live in our complex volunteer at. It's a nice place and they take very good care of the animals.

Milo is a little boy kitten of about three months. He is very easy going and doesn't seem bothered by anything. Rowan can sling him over his shoulder and he doesn't even bring out the claws. Not to say he's lethargic! He can tear around the house like crazy. He really loves us to play with him. Actually he really loves being with people in general and is not one of these aloof cats, which is what we wanted.

He has never had an "accident" for which we are very grateful. We are now going to try to toilet train him. I'll let you all know how that goes.