… Puts in brighter lights so she can see all the wrinkles and stray hairs in the mirror
… Lets her man cook for her
… Hires a maid
… asks, “is he bigger than me?” when the guys try to tell her this seat is taken
… can stand in front of room full of men and not flinch
… make decisions that are best for her despite the rumors
… answers, “all you need to know is it’s not you” when asked if she is dating anyone
… dates only people who bring positive energy to her life
… doesn’t feel the need to pretend to be an innocent babe to retain the affections of her man
… is strong and confident in her sexuality
… knows how to use WD40 when the door squeaks
… works long and hard to reach her goals, not waiting for a man to rescue her
… still hopes it might happen
… may fight aging on the outside but loves being her age on the inside
… needs a man to hold her tight at night and hold her up to her own standards in the light of day
… doesn’t regret a thing but always looks for the lesson
… realizes that not everyone is going to like her and that’s ok
… doesn’t expect a man to carry her bag but will be grateful when it happens
… appreciates every lame pick up line because sometimes you have to take the bad with the good
… walks around with a smile on her face and makes people wonder what she is up to ;-)
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
high fructose corn syrup & other health topics
I was trying to be healthy and drink one 10 fl oz bottle of cranberry every day but silly me just read the label. Water, cranberry juice, high fructose corn syrup, cranberry juice concentrate, ascorbic acid. 43g of sugar. So that's the end of that. But I do have some organic apple cider vinegar. I mix one tablespoon with water drink that before bed each day. It balances the ph of the body and does all kinds of other good stuff.
I also just got my order of jojoba oil in the mail. I will be using that everyday after my shower to help my skin stay hydrated. I really have to be vigilant to fight off the aging effect of the weather here.
Great service and product: www.jojobacompany.com
p.s. jojoba oil is an excellent massage oil. hee hee :-)
I also just got my order of jojoba oil in the mail. I will be using that everyday after my shower to help my skin stay hydrated. I really have to be vigilant to fight off the aging effect of the weather here.
Great service and product: www.jojobacompany.com
p.s. jojoba oil is an excellent massage oil. hee hee :-)
snap shot of life in Kuwait
Here’s a little story about life in Kuwait. A friend witnessed the following encounter and I consider him a reliable source so I feel comfortable sharing with you. All o the workers are called Third Country Nationals (TCN) which could include India, Bangladesh, and the Philippines to name a few. I would guess that makes a US citizen a First Country National. I’ve never heard of a Second Country National. Whatever. I need to Google that. Each apartment building has a haras which is pronounced harris, and he is the building handy-man. There is a building manager and he is a Kuwaiti with a nice office which is tucked away on the second floor away from the public.
So this particular story is about a haras who was having a fight with a little boy. The little boy kicked the haras in the groin. The man responded by slapping the boy. The boy ran off. The haras also ran off. Another haras came out. The boy came back with several female Kuwaitis and other children. The females were probably relatives and close friends of the boy and his mother. All the women and children began to beat the haras. They kicked him and hit him even after he was on the ground. If you were paying attention, you realize that this wasn’t even the original haras that committed the “offense”. Now we have no way of knowing if the 2 haras’ were related, or were friends, or were simply just countrymen. They both worked in the building by my friend. So the second haras took the beating for the first haras to allow him time to pack his bags and get to the airport. For you see, slapping the Kuwaiti was a crime punishable with jail time. My friend inquired later with his haras and found out that the fugitive successfully escaped and flew home to India. He can never return to Kuwait or he will face jail time. They will put a travel ban on his passport. He just lost his livelihood, his pay, his family will suffer now if he can’t find work at home. He’s lucky he has his passport. Many employers hold the passports and pretend that employee needs to pay a fee to get their passport back from the government. The worker is lucky if he ever is able to get enough money together to pay his employer. Essentially they are slave labor. Kuwaiti is considered one of the worst countries for human trafficking because the government allows this type of crime to exist. There is a lot of corruption in the labor department. Judging by the number of Indians working here, the money and risk must be worth it. Family is most important to the people of these so called Third World countries. TCN’s come here for years, sometimes 6 to 10 years to work and support their families back home. They work 6 or 7 days a week, live in cramped dirty housing, suffer the daily weather, and do it with humble austerity while being treating like a sub-human being.
So this particular story is about a haras who was having a fight with a little boy. The little boy kicked the haras in the groin. The man responded by slapping the boy. The boy ran off. The haras also ran off. Another haras came out. The boy came back with several female Kuwaitis and other children. The females were probably relatives and close friends of the boy and his mother. All the women and children began to beat the haras. They kicked him and hit him even after he was on the ground. If you were paying attention, you realize that this wasn’t even the original haras that committed the “offense”. Now we have no way of knowing if the 2 haras’ were related, or were friends, or were simply just countrymen. They both worked in the building by my friend. So the second haras took the beating for the first haras to allow him time to pack his bags and get to the airport. For you see, slapping the Kuwaiti was a crime punishable with jail time. My friend inquired later with his haras and found out that the fugitive successfully escaped and flew home to India. He can never return to Kuwait or he will face jail time. They will put a travel ban on his passport. He just lost his livelihood, his pay, his family will suffer now if he can’t find work at home. He’s lucky he has his passport. Many employers hold the passports and pretend that employee needs to pay a fee to get their passport back from the government. The worker is lucky if he ever is able to get enough money together to pay his employer. Essentially they are slave labor. Kuwaiti is considered one of the worst countries for human trafficking because the government allows this type of crime to exist. There is a lot of corruption in the labor department. Judging by the number of Indians working here, the money and risk must be worth it. Family is most important to the people of these so called Third World countries. TCN’s come here for years, sometimes 6 to 10 years to work and support their families back home. They work 6 or 7 days a week, live in cramped dirty housing, suffer the daily weather, and do it with humble austerity while being treating like a sub-human being.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Saturday 20June2009
We had a clear, dust free night. This week I learned the difference between a sand storm and dust storm. A sand storm is equivalent to hail or thunderstorm. It can last from a few minutes to a few hours. The wind is strong and the sand can do damage. Sometimes there is water mixed with the sand. It forms a nasty concoction of flying mud that is very difficult to remove once it adheres itself. A dust storm is like having constant cloud cover with the humidity hanging in the air that you could cut it with a knife – just replace the humidity with dust. You could reach out and grab it. A dust storm can last for long periods and just fluctuate in severity. Apparently this weather will continue until September - and get worse too.
I played with a fox tonight. The poor thing was so small I wasn’t even sure it was a fox. It had a long fluffy tail and large erect alert ears, a long narrow fox face. But his body. So small and thin. My buddy said that all look like that because of the general lack of resources for them. He came pretty close to me several times. They know we feed them. I was right in the middle of eating a piece of sweet potato pie so he got a nice chunk of that. A little vegetable for him. He came back for more. So I looked through my bag and tried the peanuts. I threw the first one shell and all. He took it off into the shadows. Came right back. I threw another one. But he didn’t pick it up. Ok. I shelled the next peanut and threw it. Gobble gobble. He was happy. Protein. Maybe a little dry. He kept smacking his lips and tongue like a dog with peanut butter. And so it went for a while until a vehicle came by. Off he went.
The ants and the birds woke up around 2:30 am. The rats came out at 3 or so. Still haven’t seen a snake!!!
I played with a fox tonight. The poor thing was so small I wasn’t even sure it was a fox. It had a long fluffy tail and large erect alert ears, a long narrow fox face. But his body. So small and thin. My buddy said that all look like that because of the general lack of resources for them. He came pretty close to me several times. They know we feed them. I was right in the middle of eating a piece of sweet potato pie so he got a nice chunk of that. A little vegetable for him. He came back for more. So I looked through my bag and tried the peanuts. I threw the first one shell and all. He took it off into the shadows. Came right back. I threw another one. But he didn’t pick it up. Ok. I shelled the next peanut and threw it. Gobble gobble. He was happy. Protein. Maybe a little dry. He kept smacking his lips and tongue like a dog with peanut butter. And so it went for a while until a vehicle came by. Off he went.
The ants and the birds woke up around 2:30 am. The rats came out at 3 or so. Still haven’t seen a snake!!!
How shall I judge thee?
How shall I judge Kuwait? Culture, economy, education, religion, weather, temperament, military strength, national resources, hospitality, charity, political structure, values,… the list goes on.
Who am I to judge? Can one person sit in judgment of another, of a race, of a country? I’m going to say yes. And I am going to call it “judging” for the very purpose of invoking the suggestion that my commentary is more than just perspective or opinion. I wish to develop an evaluation that would sufficiently analyze a country on a universal level. A person’s perspective on a country is simply their opinion of how that country suits them. And we all have different preferences. We use words like third world country to suggest we are talking about an economically, structurally, and politically under developed country. Our governmental and international groups rank countries by some of the criteria I mentioned earlier. I am sure someone somewhere has done this already but I need to do it for my one edification. And I get to use big words. Again, I seek to establish a set of criteria that is more universal and employees my theory of universal balance.
I will admit to being a little self-righteous in my judgment of Kuwait. A younger me would have simply been self righteous but this current me, a little older and wiser, can say that my self righteousness has evolved into self confidence. I have judged enough situations in my life to know that I am on the right track to seeking a universal truth, to know that my wisdom grows, and that my evolution serves the greater evolution of mankind.
So you may sit in judgment of me, and so on and so on… And when enough people have judged, and evolved, I will know I am on the right track. It is truly one person at a time. Each person’s judgment does count. We must know our own truth to create a collective truth. There are a few quotes out there that serve my point.
“Believe in something, because if you believe in nothing, you will fall for anything.”
“If each person swept their own front porch, the world would be a cleaner place.”
Something about keep your eyes clear; they are your window to the world. I have to look for the exact quotes and the credit for these.
The fact that mob mentality exists shows how important individual opinion is to a stable world. Without individual self confidence, the herd of sheep follows a lion anywhere including down the wrong path. One person can make a difference (Knight Rider, TV series). One person can sit in judgment. One person evolves then one group, one race, one country, one world.
I will look at each aspect of Kuwait in future blogs.
Who am I to judge? Can one person sit in judgment of another, of a race, of a country? I’m going to say yes. And I am going to call it “judging” for the very purpose of invoking the suggestion that my commentary is more than just perspective or opinion. I wish to develop an evaluation that would sufficiently analyze a country on a universal level. A person’s perspective on a country is simply their opinion of how that country suits them. And we all have different preferences. We use words like third world country to suggest we are talking about an economically, structurally, and politically under developed country. Our governmental and international groups rank countries by some of the criteria I mentioned earlier. I am sure someone somewhere has done this already but I need to do it for my one edification. And I get to use big words. Again, I seek to establish a set of criteria that is more universal and employees my theory of universal balance.
I will admit to being a little self-righteous in my judgment of Kuwait. A younger me would have simply been self righteous but this current me, a little older and wiser, can say that my self righteousness has evolved into self confidence. I have judged enough situations in my life to know that I am on the right track to seeking a universal truth, to know that my wisdom grows, and that my evolution serves the greater evolution of mankind.
So you may sit in judgment of me, and so on and so on… And when enough people have judged, and evolved, I will know I am on the right track. It is truly one person at a time. Each person’s judgment does count. We must know our own truth to create a collective truth. There are a few quotes out there that serve my point.
“Believe in something, because if you believe in nothing, you will fall for anything.”
“If each person swept their own front porch, the world would be a cleaner place.”
Something about keep your eyes clear; they are your window to the world. I have to look for the exact quotes and the credit for these.
The fact that mob mentality exists shows how important individual opinion is to a stable world. Without individual self confidence, the herd of sheep follows a lion anywhere including down the wrong path. One person can make a difference (Knight Rider, TV series). One person can sit in judgment. One person evolves then one group, one race, one country, one world.
I will look at each aspect of Kuwait in future blogs.
Mid-June update on my social life
Somewhere in the middle of June I wrote this about 3 am at work sitting alone in a tower and happy as could be. I can’t believe I’m getting paid for this and having fun the whole time. I am totally chilled out, relaxed, and living for today. Thank goodness this job is so easy for me because it is a nice transition back into the work world after being off for a year. I am contemplating getting serious about work a little bit. Not going back to who I was before but starting to use my brain for some industrious purpose again is what I mean to say. I think I have learned to have fun no matter what I am doing. Could the rest of my life really be this fun? Is this what I was missing out on all these years? Damn, I wasted the last 20 years in some ways. I know I had to learn things to be where I am today but I have such a sense of urgency to love every minute because I wasted so many minutes not loving life. I work, I play, I sleep, I make money, I laugh, I get driven around,… my world is in order. I know things will change but I have learned to live in the moment. I have finally learned that precious lesson. And when the change comes; I will live that, experience that, and relish the glory of that moment too.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
chasing the green
I've been a little absent from posting... I've been posting for other jobs. I got a tip from someone about job openings and had to act on it.
And I once again have a niche for my computer skills here - I am reformatting resumes for people for 10 KD which is about 35 dollars. should be a nice little source of income... too bad my screen is 13" lol. So I had to work on the resumes given to me.
I have been hand writing my blog at work. I have about 6 pages that I will get up soon.
And I once again have a niche for my computer skills here - I am reformatting resumes for people for 10 KD which is about 35 dollars. should be a nice little source of income... too bad my screen is 13" lol. So I had to work on the resumes given to me.
I have been hand writing my blog at work. I have about 6 pages that I will get up soon.
Monday, June 22, 2009
settled into my apartment
Ok, I need to get an attitude adjustment in reference to my roommate. I cannot allow her very existence to send me over the edge. She doesn’t actually do anything to me other than breathe and maybe sing out loud. I just can’t tolerate people like her. I also might be a little mad that she out played me. I love my view, I really like living across the street from my man, I’ve got all new everything in my apartment, the dry cleaners and shoppette are right down stairs. All in all I am very happy with my living situation. So what comes around goes around and she will get hers in her own good time. She is not worthy of any of my energy. So I went to the wholesale center Sunday with a coworker and picked up all kinds of stuff and got my chores done:
•I washed my sheets and towels, and regular laundry
•Took my uniforms to the cleaners
•Recharged the prepaid minutes on my phone
•Bought a phone for my magic jack but it’s not quite working yet. Not sure what’s up.
•Bought 2 large 4 shelf units for the kitchen and the bath
•I put all my kitchen stuff on the shelves and told my nice roommate to use my cabinet space.
•I put my 90 day supply of toiletries on the bathroom shelf and that cleared up the floor.
•I hung the extra curtain rod in the bathroom for my towels and bathing suit
•I put 6 hooks up in my bedroom for my pants, shirt, purse, bag, bath robe, and jewelry organizer. That really cleaned the floor because it was all laying around before
•There are 2 access panels in the ceiling of my bathroom. The last time we had a sand storm, I had sand on the floor and in the tub. So I taped the panels shut.
•I sprayed WD40 on all the door hinges and locks to quiet things down a bit.
•I made my protein drinks for the week.
•I cleaned out my work bag
•I procrastinated working on these guys' resumes that I should have been doing because they helped me at work
•I washed my sheets and towels, and regular laundry
•Took my uniforms to the cleaners
•Recharged the prepaid minutes on my phone
•Bought a phone for my magic jack but it’s not quite working yet. Not sure what’s up.
•Bought 2 large 4 shelf units for the kitchen and the bath
•I put all my kitchen stuff on the shelves and told my nice roommate to use my cabinet space.
•I put my 90 day supply of toiletries on the bathroom shelf and that cleared up the floor.
•I hung the extra curtain rod in the bathroom for my towels and bathing suit
•I put 6 hooks up in my bedroom for my pants, shirt, purse, bag, bath robe, and jewelry organizer. That really cleaned the floor because it was all laying around before
•There are 2 access panels in the ceiling of my bathroom. The last time we had a sand storm, I had sand on the floor and in the tub. So I taped the panels shut.
•I sprayed WD40 on all the door hinges and locks to quiet things down a bit.
•I made my protein drinks for the week.
•I cleaned out my work bag
•I procrastinated working on these guys' resumes that I should have been doing because they helped me at work
Kuwaiti Krud
Apparently Kuwaiti Krud is the unofficial name of the diarrhea I had for 2 weeks. One of my coworkers is a former soldier that deployed in Iraq. He says that there are 32 microorganisms in the air here that we don’t have in the United States. When the sand blows for a sand storm or dust storm, it stirs up all the micro critters and we breathe them in. So almost everybody goes through some type of adjustment, even if they don’t drink the water, eat shwarma, or otherwise risk their health on the local economy. When the military comes home from the Middle East, every single piece of equipment has to go through the wash racks. I have heard second hand stories about people getting really mad about the assholes at the wash rack making them do it again. If this microorganism theory is true, I can understand the wash rack inspectors being tough. I haven’t researched the microorganisms. I like saying Kuwaiti Krud too much to bother digging up the truth. For once, I don’t have OCD about researching something. Kuwaiti Krud…… Krud…. aigh aigh hee hee (make a sound like beavis and butthead)
19 Jun -after work Friday morning
Last night was wicked nasty. We a bad sand storm that lasted several hours and then it kicked up again later in the morning. I was in a shack but we had to keep opening the door to conduct business. There was sand everywhere. After 2 hours I had to go to the bathroom. I put on my mask, sunglasses, and headed over to the porta-potty. The wind blows in every direction, sometimes it’s a wall of sand coming at you. I made it inside the potty and the sand comes in through the vents. Every inch is covered in sand but fortunately the seat lid was down the whole time so as long as it doesn’t blow around too much in the next 5 minutes I won’t have sand up my ass.
I need to buy a pair of goggles at the PX that cost around $60. I should have brought my swimming goggles or yellow safety lenses with me tonight. I keep forgetting to put them in my bag! It seems like we are getting into sand storm season this week. This is just the first storm I had to work through.
When the storm was over, I began to clean up the shack. Sweeping sand with a half chewed up broom is so ineffective but that’s all we got. I used my baby wipes to clean up the table and equipment.
It sucked big time.
I need to buy a pair of goggles at the PX that cost around $60. I should have brought my swimming goggles or yellow safety lenses with me tonight. I keep forgetting to put them in my bag! It seems like we are getting into sand storm season this week. This is just the first storm I had to work through.
When the storm was over, I began to clean up the shack. Sweeping sand with a half chewed up broom is so ineffective but that’s all we got. I used my baby wipes to clean up the table and equipment.
It sucked big time.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
I just slept for 9.5 hours
I guess all the fun I've having for the last 5 weeks has caught up to me... and the physical demands of the job... I had to carry my rifle on my last shift slug at the ready... my shoulder and neck are all jacked up again. My neck hasn't bothered me since I got here until now. It will take days to work out the knot and the ache.
But otherwise I feel great. I have written several blogs on paper and need to put them on here. so watch for those soon. I just wanted to drop a quick note and let everyone know I am ok. Nothing going on in Iran is affecting us here - status quo - All these countries huff and puff a lot of hot air. Things are appear to more unstable to you at home then when you are here. It's partially a cultural difference and partially the news sensationalizing everything.
But otherwise I feel great. I have written several blogs on paper and need to put them on here. so watch for those soon. I just wanted to drop a quick note and let everyone know I am ok. Nothing going on in Iran is affecting us here - status quo - All these countries huff and puff a lot of hot air. Things are appear to more unstable to you at home then when you are here. It's partially a cultural difference and partially the news sensationalizing everything.
Friday, June 19, 2009
got my first shot at impressing the big boss
well, I know they've been watching me but.... my trainer told the big boss I was good at the computer and I am a spreadsheet guru (mostly true). The big boss asked me how to do something in Excel and I told him I would get him the instructions.... now I have to figure it out!!! Anybody know how to use a date field with color changing alerts as the date approaches? lol, it's all good. I'm willing to bet that he knows the answer and is testing me. They do dumb stuff like that here. He'll have my answer in 24 hours no matter. Admin here I come!
Thursday, June 18, 2009
I hate sand, always have, always will
You know I'm not a beach person, don't like sand in my toes, grit of any kind.... We've had 4 days of sand storms. I've never seen it rain mud. We get a few drops and they are filled with sand. It leaves mud that dries instantly. Because it was mud, it doesn't blow away, it somehow is more permanent than sand. The windows are covered. It's nasty. I hate sand.
on a side note, I have strange little red dots on my feet. hmmm.... something new everyday. I'm going to guess sweat blisters. I've been rubbing bag balm on my feet before bed to prevent swamp feet. I hope the blisters clear up, at least not itch, so I can sleep!
good night. need to shower and get my 6 hours sleep.
on a side note, I have strange little red dots on my feet. hmmm.... something new everyday. I'm going to guess sweat blisters. I've been rubbing bag balm on my feet before bed to prevent swamp feet. I hope the blisters clear up, at least not itch, so I can sleep!
good night. need to shower and get my 6 hours sleep.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
sand storm
Last night was wicked nasty. We a bad sand storm that lasted several hours and then it kicked up again later in the morning. I was in a shack but we had to keep opening the door to conduct business. There was sand everywhere. After 2 hours I had to go to the bathroom. I put on my mask, sunglasses, and headed over to the porta-potty. The wind blows in every direction, sometimes it’s a wall of sand coming at you. I made it inside the potty and the sand comes in through the vents. Every inch is covered in sand but fortunately the seat lid was down the whole time so as long as it doesn’t blow around too much in the next 5 minutes I won’t have sand up my ass.
I need to buy a pair of goggles at the PX that cost around $60. I should have brought my swimming goggles or yellow safety lenses with me tonight. I keep forgetting to put them in my bag! It seems like we are getting into sand storm season this week. This is just the first storm I had to work through.
When the storm was over, I began to clean up the shack. Sweeping sand with a half chewed up broom is so ineffective but that’s all we got. I used my baby wipes to clean up the table and equipment.
It sucked big time.
I need to buy a pair of goggles at the PX that cost around $60. I should have brought my swimming goggles or yellow safety lenses with me tonight. I keep forgetting to put them in my bag! It seems like we are getting into sand storm season this week. This is just the first storm I had to work through.
When the storm was over, I began to clean up the shack. Sweeping sand with a half chewed up broom is so ineffective but that’s all we got. I used my baby wipes to clean up the table and equipment.
It sucked big time.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
irritated, misunderstood, and otherwise engaged
Those of you who know me, know how much I hate seams that irritate my skin. I am wearing an underarmor compression t-shirt and the seam around the neck is rubbing. I buffed it with a nail file and it helped a little. I need to do it some more though.
Yesterday I was irritated by the language barrier. There is a mosque across the street. I am not sure if they are buidling it, redoing it or what but there is construction material all over the place. There are some shelves sitting there that would go nicely in the kitchen! I went over early in the day. Some Kuwaiti pulled up in a BMW. I asked if he spoke English but he said no. This was going to be hard. I tried to ask if the shelves were garbage or trash. I tried to show that I wanted to pick them up and carry them away. He thought I meant the wooden pallets and said yes. when I grabbed the shelves, I got a flurry of No No No. He gestured they were going back inside the mosque. Damn. Then he starts making hand gestures and asking family questions. Family, married, kids? etc. He was holding his hands in front of him with the index finger extended, other fingers curled. He moved his hands side to side bringing the fingers together. I vaguely recall seeing that before somewhere and didn't like where this conversation was going. I think, I can't say for sure, but I think that gesture means sex. I started saying No No No and backing up. I will tell you that I have a spring loaded gerber knife in my pocket at all times. I practice. I wasn't in any danger really. I just kept backing up and walked away. I am lucky that he didn't follow but the guards are by the building.
So my attempt to negotiate with a Kuwaiti failed. No news there really.
Yesterday afternoon, I walked down the street a few blocks to get something to eat. I called for delivery but they said the driver was out. It's not far but the roads are narrow, full of garbage, rif-raf, and vagrants. This is an internet, pool hall, and restaurant geared for Americans. It's a target because of that. It things get heated up, we won't be able to go there anymore. Just delivery to the buidling maybe, definitely not your room. As if they don't know where all the Americans live.
Anyways, the staff was very nice. I think she said her name was Ursa and after some conversation, she said she would deliver just for me. Which isn't true, but what she was saying was that now that we had a "relationship" started she would deliver to me. It's all about building that relationship here. So while I was waiting for my food a Kuwaiti came in. He of course sat next to me at the bar/waiting area. I was getting my food to go but ordered ice tea while I waited. I knew I didn't want to be here long. He sat a sachel on the counter and flipped it open. There was a pistol in a holster inside. Mental note to self. He struck up a conversation. He was a Kuwaiti policeman in civilians. He asked where I was from. We tell people Canada but they know I'm American. The 2 Asian staff, probably Phillipino, translate a little for us. He decides to show me his pistol. Great. He's showing off. He doesn't remove the pistol completely from the holster or the clip but he shows he his spare clip. Only 4 rounds. Good intel. Wish I was getting paid for this. And the bullets are worn and old looking. I'd actually be afraid to shoot with them. The staff is worried that I am getting scared. I smile at them and we make gestures behind his head. The conversation continues. He's asking about my family which seems to be another way of asking if you're married or have kids. Since I'm not married or have kids, the word family still means siblings and parents to me. He offers to pay for my food and drink. There is a little of tone from the staff when they explain to me that will allow him to pay for my drink but not my food. I'm not really sure what is happening but I say thank you trying not to be rude. To redirect the conversation, I ask him where the police station is but the conversation comes back to me. Some where in the confusion, marriage came up I think. I begin to get my money out to pay and gather my belongings. There are 4 people talking at once. I lay some money down and start to head out. The staff try to reassure me that it's safe to come back. I smile and slither away. He doesn't follow me which is surprising. I keep an eye out all the way home and enter my buidling through another door far from my own side. Just another day in paradise.
Yesterday I was irritated by the language barrier. There is a mosque across the street. I am not sure if they are buidling it, redoing it or what but there is construction material all over the place. There are some shelves sitting there that would go nicely in the kitchen! I went over early in the day. Some Kuwaiti pulled up in a BMW. I asked if he spoke English but he said no. This was going to be hard. I tried to ask if the shelves were garbage or trash. I tried to show that I wanted to pick them up and carry them away. He thought I meant the wooden pallets and said yes. when I grabbed the shelves, I got a flurry of No No No. He gestured they were going back inside the mosque. Damn. Then he starts making hand gestures and asking family questions. Family, married, kids? etc. He was holding his hands in front of him with the index finger extended, other fingers curled. He moved his hands side to side bringing the fingers together. I vaguely recall seeing that before somewhere and didn't like where this conversation was going. I think, I can't say for sure, but I think that gesture means sex. I started saying No No No and backing up. I will tell you that I have a spring loaded gerber knife in my pocket at all times. I practice. I wasn't in any danger really. I just kept backing up and walked away. I am lucky that he didn't follow but the guards are by the building.
So my attempt to negotiate with a Kuwaiti failed. No news there really.
Yesterday afternoon, I walked down the street a few blocks to get something to eat. I called for delivery but they said the driver was out. It's not far but the roads are narrow, full of garbage, rif-raf, and vagrants. This is an internet, pool hall, and restaurant geared for Americans. It's a target because of that. It things get heated up, we won't be able to go there anymore. Just delivery to the buidling maybe, definitely not your room. As if they don't know where all the Americans live.
Anyways, the staff was very nice. I think she said her name was Ursa and after some conversation, she said she would deliver just for me. Which isn't true, but what she was saying was that now that we had a "relationship" started she would deliver to me. It's all about building that relationship here. So while I was waiting for my food a Kuwaiti came in. He of course sat next to me at the bar/waiting area. I was getting my food to go but ordered ice tea while I waited. I knew I didn't want to be here long. He sat a sachel on the counter and flipped it open. There was a pistol in a holster inside. Mental note to self. He struck up a conversation. He was a Kuwaiti policeman in civilians. He asked where I was from. We tell people Canada but they know I'm American. The 2 Asian staff, probably Phillipino, translate a little for us. He decides to show me his pistol. Great. He's showing off. He doesn't remove the pistol completely from the holster or the clip but he shows he his spare clip. Only 4 rounds. Good intel. Wish I was getting paid for this. And the bullets are worn and old looking. I'd actually be afraid to shoot with them. The staff is worried that I am getting scared. I smile at them and we make gestures behind his head. The conversation continues. He's asking about my family which seems to be another way of asking if you're married or have kids. Since I'm not married or have kids, the word family still means siblings and parents to me. He offers to pay for my food and drink. There is a little of tone from the staff when they explain to me that will allow him to pay for my drink but not my food. I'm not really sure what is happening but I say thank you trying not to be rude. To redirect the conversation, I ask him where the police station is but the conversation comes back to me. Some where in the confusion, marriage came up I think. I begin to get my money out to pay and gather my belongings. There are 4 people talking at once. I lay some money down and start to head out. The staff try to reassure me that it's safe to come back. I smile and slither away. He doesn't follow me which is surprising. I keep an eye out all the way home and enter my buidling through another door far from my own side. Just another day in paradise.
Monday's post June 15
I am now writing in Word, then copy/paste here. This allows me to spell check as well not sit on this webpage where others can see what I am doing.
I can’t believe I haven’t posted anything since the 10th. You know that can only mean one of 2 or 3 possible things. I was working a lot, I was sick, or I found a new man. Fortunately it’s the last one. I have a new man. I am just having the time of my life.
My last post said 5th and final day of work but I must have been delirious from lack of sleep because I had another night to go. I have truly been discombobulated. I walk into things, bump my head getting in and out of the car, forget words, forget was I was doing at any given moment. Thank goodness folks around me are looking out for me, or looking for me, looking at me,…. Any which way, they are helping me. I am liking the night shift. I get a decent amount of sleep and staying awake hasn’t been too much of a problem. If I am working alone, I can sit and amuse myself with my creative mind. I am going to start writing some of those books I talk about. I have to do it on a tablet though because we are not allowed to have our laptops or other technology at the job site. I’m still too new to push the limits of what I can and can’t do.
Since I got paid Friday, I paid bills and whatnot that afternoon. That was a good feeling. I have money to spare too! I have to spend some extra money to get a few things for the apartment and clothing I need for work. I have 2 days off a week and I’m afraid I’ll spend too much on my weekends consequently not saving as much I want to. It’s the balance between having a life and working towards a goal. I am trying to get a job that I call “up north” meaning Afghanistan or Iraq. It’s more money, more hours, worse conditions, and less opportunity to spend/screw around wasting time. Is my goal of getting to school worth sacrifice a year of my life working 6 or 7 days a week? If I stay in Kuwait it will take me a year and half or maybe even 2 to save enough money. I can make the financial goal in one year up north. I don’t know the answer so all I can do is try and see what opportunities present themselves. Do I really want to go to a war zone as things are escalating? Iran is acting up... North Korea is acting up… things are relatively safe here in Kuwait. We would become a target at this location if things light up. You know I never make decisions on what is safe. The riskier the better is my motto lately. Go for it. I may also get some other interesting jobs with this company that would make even better money and the same risk so that would be nice. I’m working all the angles.
So a quick summary for the last few days – I’m feeling better, stomach is calming down, got some sleep, found a groove, work is going well.
I can’t believe I haven’t posted anything since the 10th. You know that can only mean one of 2 or 3 possible things. I was working a lot, I was sick, or I found a new man. Fortunately it’s the last one. I have a new man. I am just having the time of my life.
My last post said 5th and final day of work but I must have been delirious from lack of sleep because I had another night to go. I have truly been discombobulated. I walk into things, bump my head getting in and out of the car, forget words, forget was I was doing at any given moment. Thank goodness folks around me are looking out for me, or looking for me, looking at me,…. Any which way, they are helping me. I am liking the night shift. I get a decent amount of sleep and staying awake hasn’t been too much of a problem. If I am working alone, I can sit and amuse myself with my creative mind. I am going to start writing some of those books I talk about. I have to do it on a tablet though because we are not allowed to have our laptops or other technology at the job site. I’m still too new to push the limits of what I can and can’t do.
Since I got paid Friday, I paid bills and whatnot that afternoon. That was a good feeling. I have money to spare too! I have to spend some extra money to get a few things for the apartment and clothing I need for work. I have 2 days off a week and I’m afraid I’ll spend too much on my weekends consequently not saving as much I want to. It’s the balance between having a life and working towards a goal. I am trying to get a job that I call “up north” meaning Afghanistan or Iraq. It’s more money, more hours, worse conditions, and less opportunity to spend/screw around wasting time. Is my goal of getting to school worth sacrifice a year of my life working 6 or 7 days a week? If I stay in Kuwait it will take me a year and half or maybe even 2 to save enough money. I can make the financial goal in one year up north. I don’t know the answer so all I can do is try and see what opportunities present themselves. Do I really want to go to a war zone as things are escalating? Iran is acting up... North Korea is acting up… things are relatively safe here in Kuwait. We would become a target at this location if things light up. You know I never make decisions on what is safe. The riskier the better is my motto lately. Go for it. I may also get some other interesting jobs with this company that would make even better money and the same risk so that would be nice. I’m working all the angles.
So a quick summary for the last few days – I’m feeling better, stomach is calming down, got some sleep, found a groove, work is going well.
damn she just walked in
wasn't even home for me to annoy. She's got one of the goofy guys with her. can't deal. time to get ready for work. I finished eating some vegetable and fried noodle from down the street. still hungry.............
Monday, June 15, 2009
it's war of the roommates
It's on. I can't even believe they moved psycho roommate to admin or operations. First off I can't believe that she is still here. She is not dealing with a full deck and has intentionally not done well at work. Bitch. It worked. She's sitting in an office in the air conditioning while the rest of us are working. She's getting the same hours and the same pay. I was told that if I fell out of a truck I would be moved to admin. I can't fake it. can't do it. There's nothing worse in my book than her type. Weak, crazy, lame, fake, manipulator.
She left a cutting board with crums on the sink and crums everywhere. I was a millisecond away from putting the board under her door with a note to clean up after herself. I've been contemplating other actions. Evil me is making plans. I know any negative action on my part will come back at me ten fold. I'm doing well at work. Don't screw it up now. I like my room. I like my other roommate. I like living across the street from my man. But there are nicer places. Apartments with gyms and restaurants. Do you know how much shit I have? It would be such a pain to move. Really, that's the only thing holding me back. I was hoping she'd quit. If she's admin, she's not going anywhere. she's sitting pretty. Fuck. I don't want to assume it will be better where I will go. grass isn't always greener. But now she's under my skin bad. I can't let her fuck this up for me. got to get the right perspective on this situation.
In the meantime, I have MTV blasting on the TV. I hope she's trying to sleep. She never leaves her room so you can't tell what she's doing in there.
I have the room change form. Well, if this is the only bad thing that happens to me..... I can deal. Time to fill out the form.
She left a cutting board with crums on the sink and crums everywhere. I was a millisecond away from putting the board under her door with a note to clean up after herself. I've been contemplating other actions. Evil me is making plans. I know any negative action on my part will come back at me ten fold. I'm doing well at work. Don't screw it up now. I like my room. I like my other roommate. I like living across the street from my man. But there are nicer places. Apartments with gyms and restaurants. Do you know how much shit I have? It would be such a pain to move. Really, that's the only thing holding me back. I was hoping she'd quit. If she's admin, she's not going anywhere. she's sitting pretty. Fuck. I don't want to assume it will be better where I will go. grass isn't always greener. But now she's under my skin bad. I can't let her fuck this up for me. got to get the right perspective on this situation.
In the meantime, I have MTV blasting on the TV. I hope she's trying to sleep. She never leaves her room so you can't tell what she's doing in there.
I have the room change form. Well, if this is the only bad thing that happens to me..... I can deal. Time to fill out the form.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
5th and final night of work tonight
I worked outside last night, watching the sand blow. Work is in the desert, like everything else here. There is only a chain link fench with some barb wire that delineates in and out of work. To the wild life, the chain link fence has become a habitat. The garbage, i.e. potential food and water & shelter, collects on the fence line. It's actually a little like national geographic out there - varmin, hedge hogs, birds, snakes, scorpions, camels, horses, wild cats, wild dogs, and all kinds of weird bugs. If you can catch a scorpion and camel spider, I heard it makes a good fight. I am sure I'll be brave and/or stupid one of these nights and try it.
Right now I am not feeling well. I've had stomach issues/diahrrea off and on for the last 2 weeks. I am sure it will settle down but last night was rough. The lack of sleep and schedule change probably made it all worse.
almost home, good night..............................
one more night to go and I have 2 days off.
Right now I am not feeling well. I've had stomach issues/diahrrea off and on for the last 2 weeks. I am sure it will settle down but last night was rough. The lack of sleep and schedule change probably made it all worse.
almost home, good night..............................
one more night to go and I have 2 days off.
work schedule & roommates
so to finish up my work schedule, I get home around 7:30 am. I usually run to the bathroom, take a shower, eat a little something and try to get to bed. But the rest of the world is waking up. My phone starts buzzing. I try to be in bed by 8 so I can get 7 hours but if I end up on the phone with somebody, It's 9 and I get 5 hours sleep. Some of the shift goes directly to the pool when we get back to our building to cool off and settle in. It's hard to go straight to sleep. You'll be sitting on the bus home, ready to zonk out, but then as soon as you get home and start your routine, bam, you're awake. So you either have to go straight to bed and literally not do a single thing other than take off your clothes or hurry to get things done & take a sleeping pill. I have discovered that if I take one tylenol PM, I can get up in 6 hours no problem. I don't think I can do the straight to bed routine because that means your going to bed dirty and nasty. There's no way I have time to wash my sheets sufficiently to do that.
After a paycheck or two I will get a maid. It is so cheap and I've heard good things. I think it's like 7KD a month for once a week which is $26. That way I can enjoy my days off and I won't tick off my roommate.
oh, so let me update you on the roommates. During the initial weeks, my first roommate accused me of stealing stuff from her room. She also accused one of my friends and had a whole paranoid view of what was going on in the world. I filed a 7 page report with my sargeant. I don't have a printer so I had to hand write it. ugh. I don't need to disparage her or go into details because her world is spinning around as a result of who she is right now. It's her situation to deal with more so than mine. I filed my report and the powers to be know how it is. Suffice to say, I was offered to move into one of my superiors apartments but unrelated circumstances prevented that from happening. Now that we are on opposite shifts, she's day shift, we don't see each other. I was worried that she would accuse me of stealing her food, laundry, etc but like I said, the report is on file, and my ass is covered going forward. They are "monitoring" her.
Then last week another roommate shows up. She is super nice and sweet. I totally hit the jackpot with this one. She is originally from Ethiopia but her English is pretty good. She was living in US prior to coming here. She cooked a dish from Ethiopia the first night and shared with me. It was delicious and flavourful. You would have been surprised that I ate it. Then she went to the market that night with a friend of hers that lives here. She bought 2 scarfs and let me pick one out that I liked. It was Aqua/light teal colored. perfect. matched half of my stuff. And then 2 days later she left some spaghetti dinner in the fridge for me.
I was going to move to another apartment but I think I'll hang out for a while. Hopefully roommate number 1 will move on to something else. Win some, loose some.....
After a paycheck or two I will get a maid. It is so cheap and I've heard good things. I think it's like 7KD a month for once a week which is $26. That way I can enjoy my days off and I won't tick off my roommate.
oh, so let me update you on the roommates. During the initial weeks, my first roommate accused me of stealing stuff from her room. She also accused one of my friends and had a whole paranoid view of what was going on in the world. I filed a 7 page report with my sargeant. I don't have a printer so I had to hand write it. ugh. I don't need to disparage her or go into details because her world is spinning around as a result of who she is right now. It's her situation to deal with more so than mine. I filed my report and the powers to be know how it is. Suffice to say, I was offered to move into one of my superiors apartments but unrelated circumstances prevented that from happening. Now that we are on opposite shifts, she's day shift, we don't see each other. I was worried that she would accuse me of stealing her food, laundry, etc but like I said, the report is on file, and my ass is covered going forward. They are "monitoring" her.
Then last week another roommate shows up. She is super nice and sweet. I totally hit the jackpot with this one. She is originally from Ethiopia but her English is pretty good. She was living in US prior to coming here. She cooked a dish from Ethiopia the first night and shared with me. It was delicious and flavourful. You would have been surprised that I ate it. Then she went to the market that night with a friend of hers that lives here. She bought 2 scarfs and let me pick one out that I liked. It was Aqua/light teal colored. perfect. matched half of my stuff. And then 2 days later she left some spaghetti dinner in the fridge for me.
I was going to move to another apartment but I think I'll hang out for a while. Hopefully roommate number 1 will move on to something else. Win some, loose some.....
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
not pinched yet but...
I just got off the phone with one of my cab drivers. He made up some story about sorry he missesd my call last night. yeah, I didn't call him. He was flirting hard. But he's cool. He's a local resource. He's from Yemen, lived in the US and speaks several languages. His english is excellent. I told him I want to talk about the muslim culture and women's rights. I want to see about helping women with whistles like we do in the US.
Anyways, he is like 10th guy on my tail, seriously on my tail. This is not to mention the casual one hit wonders. I had to verbal beat down this co-worker today. He comes over trying to correct what he perceived as a deficiency in my uniform. Then telling me he's doing it for my own benefit because other people might say something. Let them. I'm right, he's wrong but he thinks he has seniority. He keeps on other stuff trying to tell us how to do things. Then he wants to know my age, then where I'm from, blah blah blah. Have I been to Kuwait City? Would I like a city tour? I told him I had friends that I was going to go around with. Then he really starts. Come on, I'll rent a car, and give you a tour. Don't you want to go? Don't you at least want my number? What about my e-mail? I said, "how about your social security number?" He persisted. I said, "look here, you come over here giving me a hard time and then ask me if I want to go on a tour? I don't think so." It took about 7 no's to get rid of him. Little punk ass too. He ignored me the rest of the morning.
Anyways, he is like 10th guy on my tail, seriously on my tail. This is not to mention the casual one hit wonders. I had to verbal beat down this co-worker today. He comes over trying to correct what he perceived as a deficiency in my uniform. Then telling me he's doing it for my own benefit because other people might say something. Let them. I'm right, he's wrong but he thinks he has seniority. He keeps on other stuff trying to tell us how to do things. Then he wants to know my age, then where I'm from, blah blah blah. Have I been to Kuwait City? Would I like a city tour? I told him I had friends that I was going to go around with. Then he really starts. Come on, I'll rent a car, and give you a tour. Don't you want to go? Don't you at least want my number? What about my e-mail? I said, "how about your social security number?" He persisted. I said, "look here, you come over here giving me a hard time and then ask me if I want to go on a tour? I don't think so." It took about 7 no's to get rid of him. Little punk ass too. He ignored me the rest of the morning.
third night of work.
Ya know, it's funny what a person can get used to and live with. A lot of people sitting in a comfortable or complacent point in their life say things like "I would never tolerate such and such" or "what was that person thinking" or "why didn't so & so know better/demand more". Tolerating inequities around you, knowing that you can't change certain things and existing in a life than perfect world is not a sign of weakness or low self esteem. Quite the opposite. A person who toils with the daily struggle to achieve a goal they have set, take care of their families, or simply exist without perishing has achieved the greatest possible level of self evolution and understanding of their own existance.
Many of you have asked why I would come here and subject myself to the harsh conditions, hard work, and possibly danger. I have begun to feel a bit of the pain this week as I start working the night shift. The first night was easy, everything was new and fresh so the stimulus kept you going. Second night, the drag from the lack of sleep and food starts to catch you. The newness is gone, the routine begins. Third night, hmm, might be ok. I am starting to develop a routine. So here it is:
2pm wake up, eat breakfast, check e-mail, check bank account, brush teeth, wash face, stretch, push-ups, sit-ups, put my hair up, clean out my bag, prepare food and protein drink for ride, put on uniform, double check everything I just did, and head out to the bus 2 hours later. Ride to work with a bunch of other smelly tired people wearing the same uniform they had on yesterday, covered in the same sand, having the same conversations. When we get to work, we have about an hour and some to draw our weapons from the armory, put our gear up, bathroom, admin, supply check, text message the new man, formation, orders, post assignments, ass chewing, and then we are sent to work.
We rotate positions to keep things fresh. On of the assignments is checking ID's at the gate as people come in. Apparently the new people are always assigned there. So every 2 weeks, the "customers" coming on post are checking out the new meat. I have already been asked to handcuff some guy. Some of the guys are going to get whiplash looking at me. It's really funny. I am wearing a baggy tan uniform, a safety vest, hat, etc, nothing to get excited about. Yeah, I have a nice smile, but not nice enough to warrant the overt and ridiculous behaviour of the deprived men coming through my lane. Oops, I digress from my topic of suffering. So I am standing out front for several hours before my shift ends. The sun is just coming up high enough to need sunglasses as we move out to the buses. I keep my sunglasses in a pocket in my shirt, behind velcro, and under the safety vest. When I take them out in the morning, it looks like saw dust covering them. This stuff is on my clothes, in my nose, on my bags laying on the pallet by the guard shack. I'm tired, been on my feet for most of the shift, been harassed, put up with bullshit company politics that would make for a really good movie if I wasn't in it, and haven't eaten very well. The night shift gets to eat chow at 11:15 pm and the menu is limited. I am juggling my menu around trying to figure out what to eat when to keep my energy up. The night time temperature right is nice, mid 80's but humid. The effective temperature on our bodies is much higher. I need to my final prep for arrival at work. The bus has cleared the first gate. see you in the morning :-)
I haven't forgotten the topic at hand, I can't, the sacrifices are on going and I am surrounded by other foreign nationals making the same choices, much harder than mine as they have spouses and children they left behind.
Many of you have asked why I would come here and subject myself to the harsh conditions, hard work, and possibly danger. I have begun to feel a bit of the pain this week as I start working the night shift. The first night was easy, everything was new and fresh so the stimulus kept you going. Second night, the drag from the lack of sleep and food starts to catch you. The newness is gone, the routine begins. Third night, hmm, might be ok. I am starting to develop a routine. So here it is:
2pm wake up, eat breakfast, check e-mail, check bank account, brush teeth, wash face, stretch, push-ups, sit-ups, put my hair up, clean out my bag, prepare food and protein drink for ride, put on uniform, double check everything I just did, and head out to the bus 2 hours later. Ride to work with a bunch of other smelly tired people wearing the same uniform they had on yesterday, covered in the same sand, having the same conversations. When we get to work, we have about an hour and some to draw our weapons from the armory, put our gear up, bathroom, admin, supply check, text message the new man, formation, orders, post assignments, ass chewing, and then we are sent to work.
We rotate positions to keep things fresh. On of the assignments is checking ID's at the gate as people come in. Apparently the new people are always assigned there. So every 2 weeks, the "customers" coming on post are checking out the new meat. I have already been asked to handcuff some guy. Some of the guys are going to get whiplash looking at me. It's really funny. I am wearing a baggy tan uniform, a safety vest, hat, etc, nothing to get excited about. Yeah, I have a nice smile, but not nice enough to warrant the overt and ridiculous behaviour of the deprived men coming through my lane. Oops, I digress from my topic of suffering. So I am standing out front for several hours before my shift ends. The sun is just coming up high enough to need sunglasses as we move out to the buses. I keep my sunglasses in a pocket in my shirt, behind velcro, and under the safety vest. When I take them out in the morning, it looks like saw dust covering them. This stuff is on my clothes, in my nose, on my bags laying on the pallet by the guard shack. I'm tired, been on my feet for most of the shift, been harassed, put up with bullshit company politics that would make for a really good movie if I wasn't in it, and haven't eaten very well. The night shift gets to eat chow at 11:15 pm and the menu is limited. I am juggling my menu around trying to figure out what to eat when to keep my energy up. The night time temperature right is nice, mid 80's but humid. The effective temperature on our bodies is much higher. I need to my final prep for arrival at work. The bus has cleared the first gate. see you in the morning :-)
I haven't forgotten the topic at hand, I can't, the sacrifices are on going and I am surrounded by other foreign nationals making the same choices, much harder than mine as they have spouses and children they left behind.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
work hard, play hard
I now know what that means, well again, I knew it before but that was mental hard at my last job. This is physical down and dirty hard. Bring it on! I will only get 5 hours sleep today. good night. it's 08:30
omg I have to go to work
Today is my first full day on the night shift. We've worked a few 11 hour days before but I am anxious today. Did I get enough sleep, did I get up early enough, do I have all my equipment ready to go, what was I supposed to do at the cleaners today?, .... I did a lot of running around this weekend and not much preparation. But it's the same thing everyday. Same pair of pants, shirt, socks, shirt, bag, same protein bar, same apple, same pear, what I am freaking about? Ack, a little preparation would have been good. But there are some things here you can't control. Like what time of day the english speaking guy is at the cleaners because even though I went twice, he wasn't there either time. Or how long it takes the cabs to come get you and it takes hours to go anywhere. I really should have gone to the grocery store last night on the way home. My food supply is low and we only get one trip to the dining facility on shift. Unlike training where we usually had 2 trips - breakfast and lunch. I also can't control when my roommates use the washer. One of them turned on the water heater and it was on max. I don't think either one of them know to adjust it, so I turned it down. The water comes out of the faucet slighter hotter than luke warm. We don't need to heat the water people! Because at the end of the shower, you could turn the handle from cold (which is luke warm) to hot and get about 10 seconds of cold water from the pipes from the hot water heater before the water got hot again. It was just enough to feel refreshed. And the paper towels are all gone, and my first roommate "cleaned up" one day last week and threw out the napkins I had saved from the restaurants. She's a real treat.
ok, all I need to do in the 1.5 hours is shower, eat a pear, pack my bag, and get dressed, maybe stop at the cleaners down stairs. I should be able to do that in 1.5 hours. And work shouldn't be too rough. I keep forgetting I've got an easy job. I keep forgetting I have a job. It's time to stop running so much and learn to be at home here. Take care of business and remember my purpose for coming - to make money, not spend it all on sushi and sheesha. I am sure things will settle into a routine this week. Up until now my schedule changed daily and that is very unsettling. I wish I knew how to spell discombobulating. That word correctly expresses my feeling right now.
the spell check is still not working. I don't know, something about java script...
ok, all I need to do in the 1.5 hours is shower, eat a pear, pack my bag, and get dressed, maybe stop at the cleaners down stairs. I should be able to do that in 1.5 hours. And work shouldn't be too rough. I keep forgetting I've got an easy job. I keep forgetting I have a job. It's time to stop running so much and learn to be at home here. Take care of business and remember my purpose for coming - to make money, not spend it all on sushi and sheesha. I am sure things will settle into a routine this week. Up until now my schedule changed daily and that is very unsettling. I wish I knew how to spell discombobulating. That word correctly expresses my feeling right now.
the spell check is still not working. I don't know, something about java script...
Saturday, June 6, 2009
It's been a wild couple of days!
we had to get up Thursday morning at 2 am to take the PT test. Of course, when you have to get up that early, you worry about not getting up on time, and you end up sleeping poorly. We were trying to get to the running track before it got too hot. But by 6:30 am it was hot and the dust was blowing. I busted out my sit-ups and push-ups to standard which was noticed by many. Even some of the men and most of the women were sagging in the middle or not going down all the way for the push-ups. lame. We ran the test and a bunch of us had so much dust in our lungs we were coughing and basicly having an allergy attack to sand. We were bused to the gym to shower and change. Then we took our test to graduate from training. I got a 100% on that and was trying to focus on recovering from the run. My face was flushed and I was still coughing hours later. By the time I got back to my apartment in the mid-afternoon, I was exhausted from lack of sleep, heat, and having a major allergy/sand attack. My eyes were swollen, nose running, wishing there was a way to "throw up" out of your lungs. I sat in the tub with the shower running for a long time. soaking, deep breathing. For some reason, I don't think about wasting water here because they "produce" the water by desalinization. Anyways, I finally took an allergy pill and was thinking about going to sleep around 6 for a nap. But then a new roommate showed up in the apartment and that took some considerable time saying hello and helping her settle in as I weezed all over the place. Then I ended up on IM with a friend, I called Mom to let her know I graduated, and then Dad, and then hours had passed at this point. So I got back on IM until finally around 9:30 pm I was truly wiped out and went to sleep.
I woke up Friday morning around 8 so that was a nice night of sleep. I felt a lot better. I had plans to go to spend the day with 2 of my classmates. We went to the Avenues Mall and a fancy lunch at a steak place. They are both weight lifters and huge guys (so of course they are hanging out with the little girl) so they had steak. I had a delicious vegatable platter and tiramisu for dessert. The guy from Honduras has never had tiramisu so that was a treat to see him enjoy something new. I had to fight them off for my share though! just kidding. There was some sword play with the spoons. They needed bathing suits so we went shopping. The guys are very sweet and make sure they walk on both sides of me. One is 5'11", 200 pounds, and the other is 6'4", 260 pounds. I'm 5'3". HeeHee. It's a sight.
We came back to my building and went swimming. We played volleyball in the water for a long time with some other people. Of course the females got more of a work out then the guys. Their arms are long and strong. They were having a good time hitting the ball out of the pool and watching me go get it. bastards. I gave them the evil eye. When I had swallowed enough water, we called the game, showered, and headed to another friends' apartment. How lucky is this - one guy likes to cook and the other guy likes to clean? the perfect pair. So we all had a cook out with steak, sausages, chicken (for me), homemade salsa by the Mexican in the group, and rice. At this point it's like 9 o'clock. We're still ready to go. Half of the group is 25 or 26 years old and the other half, 3 of us, are all 39 years old. It keeps things fresh.
You're not going to believe this but I smoked sheesha at the hooka house! We piled in 2 taxis and headed to the happening area in Fahaheel. It's not the nicest area in Kuwait but it's pretty nice and the closest hooka house to our location. Sheesha is flavored tobacco that perculates through water making the inhalation very smooth. It's legal and a traditional social custom for Arab males. It's not like a cigarette or anything else. The contraption looks like a bong and makes a gurgling noise when you suck on it. We had lemon and strawberry flavored sheesha. Lemon was better for me. You get a little light headed but the effect is short lived. However we combined the sheesha with an accelerant. The guys like redbull and monster. I had 2 cups of Turkish coffee. wowzers. We were all silly. We finally all came home about 1 am. This was actually a good thing because I wanted to stay up late, sleep in, and start adjusting to the night shift.
But my stomach didn't know this plan and woke me up at 6 am with an urgent bathroom visit. After a few trips to the head and and hour later I popped half an anti-diahrea pill. It could be the water in the form of ice cubes in the drinks, the chicken, the coffee, the dining facilities on post,... take your pick of the source, the pill still works!
I woke up Friday morning around 8 so that was a nice night of sleep. I felt a lot better. I had plans to go to spend the day with 2 of my classmates. We went to the Avenues Mall and a fancy lunch at a steak place. They are both weight lifters and huge guys (so of course they are hanging out with the little girl) so they had steak. I had a delicious vegatable platter and tiramisu for dessert. The guy from Honduras has never had tiramisu so that was a treat to see him enjoy something new. I had to fight them off for my share though! just kidding. There was some sword play with the spoons. They needed bathing suits so we went shopping. The guys are very sweet and make sure they walk on both sides of me. One is 5'11", 200 pounds, and the other is 6'4", 260 pounds. I'm 5'3". HeeHee. It's a sight.
We came back to my building and went swimming. We played volleyball in the water for a long time with some other people. Of course the females got more of a work out then the guys. Their arms are long and strong. They were having a good time hitting the ball out of the pool and watching me go get it. bastards. I gave them the evil eye. When I had swallowed enough water, we called the game, showered, and headed to another friends' apartment. How lucky is this - one guy likes to cook and the other guy likes to clean? the perfect pair. So we all had a cook out with steak, sausages, chicken (for me), homemade salsa by the Mexican in the group, and rice. At this point it's like 9 o'clock. We're still ready to go. Half of the group is 25 or 26 years old and the other half, 3 of us, are all 39 years old. It keeps things fresh.
You're not going to believe this but I smoked sheesha at the hooka house! We piled in 2 taxis and headed to the happening area in Fahaheel. It's not the nicest area in Kuwait but it's pretty nice and the closest hooka house to our location. Sheesha is flavored tobacco that perculates through water making the inhalation very smooth. It's legal and a traditional social custom for Arab males. It's not like a cigarette or anything else. The contraption looks like a bong and makes a gurgling noise when you suck on it. We had lemon and strawberry flavored sheesha. Lemon was better for me. You get a little light headed but the effect is short lived. However we combined the sheesha with an accelerant. The guys like redbull and monster. I had 2 cups of Turkish coffee. wowzers. We were all silly. We finally all came home about 1 am. This was actually a good thing because I wanted to stay up late, sleep in, and start adjusting to the night shift.
But my stomach didn't know this plan and woke me up at 6 am with an urgent bathroom visit. After a few trips to the head and and hour later I popped half an anti-diahrea pill. It could be the water in the form of ice cubes in the drinks, the chicken, the coffee, the dining facilities on post,... take your pick of the source, the pill still works!
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
the heat
Ok, everyone wants to know how I'm handling the heat. It's not that bad, yet,... I like to think I'm coping well. so here's how it goes...
It's 80 or so when you wake up but it feels nice because the sun isn't up. I don't know why the sun comes up early here and sets earlier than Florida. Dad said he looked at his globe and we were the same longitude (?) as northern Florida. The sun is coming up at 4:45 am today and setting at 6:44 pm. It's strange. It's a challenge, since being in the Army, we're supposed to do more before sunrise than what you do all day long.
I was swollen and bloated the first few days here, it completely went away within a week. I have lost a few pounds from sweating and burning calories to keep my body cool. I think I already mentioned that I was standing in the shade at 7am last week and sweat was running down my back. The highest it's gotten has been around 110. That is also tolerable. What makes it difficult is that when the wind blows, it actually makes you hotter because it's like standing in front of a giant blow dryer on high. And throw in a little microderm abrasion treatment on top of it. My sunscreen is working and don't have much of a tan and no burns. However, I get flushed with heat. It's freaked a few people out. It looks like I'm wearing a red mask because my face is perfectly outlined along the jaw line and the edge of my hair. I told them as long as I am red it means the blood is flowing. If I turn white, let me know, then we got a problem.
In the evening around sunset, things get a little nicer. The wind comes in off the water and the sun is behind a building on it's way down. The concrete and the streets continue to give off ambient heat for hours. Your still sweating, still drinking water.
I drink one rehydration drink a day, a juice or two, and water the rest of the time. My skin is doing ok. I put moisterizer on once a day like I always do. My hands - well I do them all the time as always. They are starting to dry though because we are required to wash our hands at a hand washing station before we enter the dining facility. The soap is viscious and removes all forms of life or any hope of life from your skin. I am going to order a gallon of jojoba oil and coat myself it every night to make sure I leave Kuwait with some skin intact.
So you sweat, your clothes are drenched, the wind blows, you dry, you sweat,... it never ends. If you are wearing cotton and not the under armor heat gear, you feel like a giant spit ball somebody's been working on for 5 minutes to get it good and juicy before launch.
The instructors try to scare us and tell us that it gets up to 150 degrees and this was the hottest place on earth. There was some scuttlebutt about that since people were saying Death Valley and somewhere in Africa hold the record. But when you realize what goes on around here it may be true. The Kuwait government controls everything, including the weather, or at least how it gets reported. They have labor laws that restrict work above 120 degrees. So guess what, it never officially gets above 120 degrees. I have a little hand held thermometer but it too only goes to 120 degrees. hmm...
I came over here with the attitude that I wasn't going to discuss the temperature or complain one time about how hot it is. That's the way it is. You could complain about it every second of every day. But I prefer to spend my time talking about something other than the obvious and uncontrollable. So I'm done with the temperature topic.
It's 80 or so when you wake up but it feels nice because the sun isn't up. I don't know why the sun comes up early here and sets earlier than Florida. Dad said he looked at his globe and we were the same longitude (?) as northern Florida. The sun is coming up at 4:45 am today and setting at 6:44 pm. It's strange. It's a challenge, since being in the Army, we're supposed to do more before sunrise than what you do all day long.
I was swollen and bloated the first few days here, it completely went away within a week. I have lost a few pounds from sweating and burning calories to keep my body cool. I think I already mentioned that I was standing in the shade at 7am last week and sweat was running down my back. The highest it's gotten has been around 110. That is also tolerable. What makes it difficult is that when the wind blows, it actually makes you hotter because it's like standing in front of a giant blow dryer on high. And throw in a little microderm abrasion treatment on top of it. My sunscreen is working and don't have much of a tan and no burns. However, I get flushed with heat. It's freaked a few people out. It looks like I'm wearing a red mask because my face is perfectly outlined along the jaw line and the edge of my hair. I told them as long as I am red it means the blood is flowing. If I turn white, let me know, then we got a problem.
In the evening around sunset, things get a little nicer. The wind comes in off the water and the sun is behind a building on it's way down. The concrete and the streets continue to give off ambient heat for hours. Your still sweating, still drinking water.
I drink one rehydration drink a day, a juice or two, and water the rest of the time. My skin is doing ok. I put moisterizer on once a day like I always do. My hands - well I do them all the time as always. They are starting to dry though because we are required to wash our hands at a hand washing station before we enter the dining facility. The soap is viscious and removes all forms of life or any hope of life from your skin. I am going to order a gallon of jojoba oil and coat myself it every night to make sure I leave Kuwait with some skin intact.
So you sweat, your clothes are drenched, the wind blows, you dry, you sweat,... it never ends. If you are wearing cotton and not the under armor heat gear, you feel like a giant spit ball somebody's been working on for 5 minutes to get it good and juicy before launch.
The instructors try to scare us and tell us that it gets up to 150 degrees and this was the hottest place on earth. There was some scuttlebutt about that since people were saying Death Valley and somewhere in Africa hold the record. But when you realize what goes on around here it may be true. The Kuwait government controls everything, including the weather, or at least how it gets reported. They have labor laws that restrict work above 120 degrees. So guess what, it never officially gets above 120 degrees. I have a little hand held thermometer but it too only goes to 120 degrees. hmm...
I came over here with the attitude that I wasn't going to discuss the temperature or complain one time about how hot it is. That's the way it is. You could complain about it every second of every day. But I prefer to spend my time talking about something other than the obvious and uncontrollable. So I'm done with the temperature topic.
dirty dirty dirty
the spell check isn't working... please forgive any errors, I'm on a moving bus at 4am and working on 6 hours sleep which is actually a decent amount of time.
I didn't write on the way home from work yesterday because I was covered in sand and grime. I didn't want to get my computer gunkified. I think I pretty much need to plan on using things that I don't want a year from now because the conditions here are so harsh. I back up my computer once or twice a week on an external hard drive. I can see the dust sitting on the vents and it freaks me out. I love my laptop. My one true love in my life right now! ha-ha
So I need to add hand wipes and that little bottle of spray air for cleaning computers to my shopping list.
So what has been hard to get used to? The dirt, sand, and sand dust - everywhere.
The first morning here we got up at 2am and departed at 2:45am for work. The wind was strong and the sand was blowing around. I have now learned that if it is sandy in the city than there is a sand storm in the dessert. Realize of course there is nothing between the dessert and the "city". There are no tree groves, no hills, no walls, or barriers of any kind. So we were on the highway to work and we could only see 20 or 30 feet in any direction. The sargeant in charge pulled over and we had to wait on the side of the road for about 30 minutes. It eased up eventually but the whole day was hellatious. Sand in your hair, ears, nose, eyes, the seams of your clothes. But when all that sand blows around, it breaks down into sand dust. That gets even more places. Inside your house the dust covers everything. It's just like the black soot in Florida or California, or the pollen in North Carolina, or the coal used to be in Pennslyvania. The workers in the buidling are constantly hosing and squeegi-ing the common areas and the stair wells. I thought what a waste of time, it will blow away. Kind of like how the leaves in the fall eventually blow away and dissintegrate. But no, this is the sand's home, we abide in it's domain, it's not going any where unless we make move.
I didn't write on the way home from work yesterday because I was covered in sand and grime. I didn't want to get my computer gunkified. I think I pretty much need to plan on using things that I don't want a year from now because the conditions here are so harsh. I back up my computer once or twice a week on an external hard drive. I can see the dust sitting on the vents and it freaks me out. I love my laptop. My one true love in my life right now! ha-ha
So I need to add hand wipes and that little bottle of spray air for cleaning computers to my shopping list.
So what has been hard to get used to? The dirt, sand, and sand dust - everywhere.
The first morning here we got up at 2am and departed at 2:45am for work. The wind was strong and the sand was blowing around. I have now learned that if it is sandy in the city than there is a sand storm in the dessert. Realize of course there is nothing between the dessert and the "city". There are no tree groves, no hills, no walls, or barriers of any kind. So we were on the highway to work and we could only see 20 or 30 feet in any direction. The sargeant in charge pulled over and we had to wait on the side of the road for about 30 minutes. It eased up eventually but the whole day was hellatious. Sand in your hair, ears, nose, eyes, the seams of your clothes. But when all that sand blows around, it breaks down into sand dust. That gets even more places. Inside your house the dust covers everything. It's just like the black soot in Florida or California, or the pollen in North Carolina, or the coal used to be in Pennslyvania. The workers in the buidling are constantly hosing and squeegi-ing the common areas and the stair wells. I thought what a waste of time, it will blow away. Kind of like how the leaves in the fall eventually blow away and dissintegrate. But no, this is the sand's home, we abide in it's domain, it's not going any where unless we make move.
Monday, June 1, 2009
it's the little things
It's funny the things you come to miss. I miss the aerator on my bathroom sink faucet. They don't use aerators here. You know, it's that little mesh covering that the water passes through. Well, without that, the water stream splashes around in all different directions. So every time I go to rinse my mouth out, my whole chin gets wet. Don't think it's a big deal? Try it. Remove your aerator and brush your teeth. Then I have to reapply whatever moisterizer or sunblock I already applied. A waste of precious expensive sunblock. I could use a cup to rinse with but theres' no room on the back of the pedestal sink for it to sit. Hmm, maybe I'll look for some self space inside the cabinet. What to do with all those other bottles? I brought a 90 day supply of cosmetics and toiletries with me.
I miss a top loading washing machine. The front loader apartment size washer locks the door so you don't accidentally open it during the cycle. This has the effect of holding your clothes hostage. You can't throw in the last minute sock you dropped in the hall on the way there. You can't end the spin cycle early when you are standing there right before bedtime and all you want to do is put the crap in the dryer and go to sleep. You must wait. It stops and then it thinks about maybe giving you your clothes. You have to wait for the light to blink. Time is passing, your loosing sleep, give me my clothes you piece of shit.
oh, and the dryer vent. Ha Ha. I actually got a flexible dryer vent hose but no where to stick it. My friends didn't even get the hose in their apartment. Their dust blows all over the kitchen. I tried putting in the window and then blocking the open space with cardboard but the wind blew the cardboard out. I also think my roommate is noncompliant in the proper technique for venting a dryer out the window.
The building manager is called a haras. Hair-ous. He was supposed to send somebody one day to put a vent in the window itself but the guy never showed up. I have to catch him my next day off and try again.
I miss carpet and I miss a vacuum. Each room in my apartment has a throw rug. You have to sweep it with a broom or squeegie it. Brooms are not very effective against sand so most people in these climates use a squeegie. It works really well on the tile floor but requires a good bit of elbow grease for the carpet.
I should mention at this point how lucky I got with the apartment. I have all new appliances, tile, linens, etc. I have heard about the the crappy conditions in some other apartments.
And the view, wow, I have a very nice view of the water from a double window looking out over the Persian Gulf. Back home I had a very nice view from my third floor bedroom window so I very much enjoy my little piece of sky. Just a few minutes a day looking out over the water can really help clear your head.
I miss a top loading washing machine. The front loader apartment size washer locks the door so you don't accidentally open it during the cycle. This has the effect of holding your clothes hostage. You can't throw in the last minute sock you dropped in the hall on the way there. You can't end the spin cycle early when you are standing there right before bedtime and all you want to do is put the crap in the dryer and go to sleep. You must wait. It stops and then it thinks about maybe giving you your clothes. You have to wait for the light to blink. Time is passing, your loosing sleep, give me my clothes you piece of shit.
oh, and the dryer vent. Ha Ha. I actually got a flexible dryer vent hose but no where to stick it. My friends didn't even get the hose in their apartment. Their dust blows all over the kitchen. I tried putting in the window and then blocking the open space with cardboard but the wind blew the cardboard out. I also think my roommate is noncompliant in the proper technique for venting a dryer out the window.
The building manager is called a haras. Hair-ous. He was supposed to send somebody one day to put a vent in the window itself but the guy never showed up. I have to catch him my next day off and try again.
I miss carpet and I miss a vacuum. Each room in my apartment has a throw rug. You have to sweep it with a broom or squeegie it. Brooms are not very effective against sand so most people in these climates use a squeegie. It works really well on the tile floor but requires a good bit of elbow grease for the carpet.
I should mention at this point how lucky I got with the apartment. I have all new appliances, tile, linens, etc. I have heard about the the crappy conditions in some other apartments.
And the view, wow, I have a very nice view of the water from a double window looking out over the Persian Gulf. Back home I had a very nice view from my third floor bedroom window so I very much enjoy my little piece of sky. Just a few minutes a day looking out over the water can really help clear your head.
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