Dry country

The crew at LFPP.(notice the handsome bugger in the middle)

Once again I must admit that my updates have been few and far between. Life has been good so far and I am slowly getting used to the change of pace in Kuwait. Nothing here happens very fast. It seems that when dealing with people over here the biggest thing to get used to is the fact that nothing needs to get done today, that is whats tomorrow is for. There is always a tomorrow. I must be getting the hang of it, since that seems to be attitude I use when updating this blog.

Most of my time here since the last post has been fairly uneventful. I have been keeping busy with work and have kept out of trouble for the most part. Probably the most exciting thing I have done in the last 2 weeks was to get a haircut. Although it doesn't sound that exciting, I must say that it was an experience. I decided at around 7 o'clock in the evening that a haircut was in order, so out the door of the apartment I go in search of a barber. Walking around town I see alot of places that give the resemblance of a regular barber shop or hair salon. Here the signs outside say "Saloon", and not the type I prefer. Down the street from my apartment I find a barber shop or Saloon that was open and there was no one else waiting other than the Indian guy in the chair getting all dolled up. I am glad I got to see what I was in for before sitting in the chair myself. First off I would like to say that this barber, or whatever they are called here, does not speak any english. So the adventure begins.

I sit in the chair and as I tell him how I want my hair cut, he just smiles and nods. Now I have seen this smile and nod before, I get it from my driver every day. It means I have no friggin clue what you are saying. After some hand jestures I think we are on track. As he is finishing with the hair cut I tell him that it is short enough. Well that just so happens to be one word he knows. Short. Forget about short enough or not any shorter. All he understands is short, so back to work he goes. After some more hand jestures and comments I find one more word he understands. Stop.

So with my new do you would think that the episode is over. Oh no, it is just beginning. He proceeds to start smacking me upside the head with the sides of his hands. Any loose hairs that were still on my head have now been swatted half way across the room. After smacking me around a bit, he then begins to give a head massage. after that he begins to grab my hands and crack all the joints in my hand and shoulder by yanking on my arm, apparently this is supposed to feel good. Now this is the point at which I was glad I had seen the last guy in the chair. The barber walks behind me and grabs my head as if he is Steven Seagal and is about to break my neck. Watching the previous guy gave me the privelage of knowing that he was about to jerk my head in such away that it is amazing anyone lives through it. Once again this is supposed to feel good. Not today, not ever. When he grabs for my head I swatted his hands away and once more used one of the only 2 words he understood. Stop.

So that was my first experience with getting a hair cut over here. I walk out after paying what would be the equivelent to 4 dollars canadian and carry on my merry way. No broken neck, but a little dizzy from the slaps upside the head. The picture here shows my new cut as I am giving a safe driving award to one of our technicians.

Other than the hair cut, my adventures have been somewhat limited. I must have been getting a little miserable at work though, so I was given a gift from who is now my favorite Indian(from India, not native). About a week ago he walked into my office and handed me a bag. He tells me "here you go Mr. Brett. This stuff works really well". Inside the bag is a 2.5L jug of ethanol. This is analytical lab grade ethanol. 100%, 200 proof, straight alcohol. His only word of warning is, "you best mix it with some water". Thanks for the tip.

Well that is all for now, hopefully I will have more to share in the near future.

Till then,

Baldwin Out

Enjoying the Winter

I know it has been awhile since my last post. I hope everyone had a good holiday season, and a very white Christmas. I willl say that I enjoyed my very brown Christmas. After hearing the weather reports from back home, it has reaffirmed my decision to move to the desert. Christmas day here was 20 above and that was just fine by me. I have been lucky enough to meet some very nice people since being here. One couple in particular has spoiled me on numerous occassions. They had invited me over for Christmas, and had the works. I had the turkey, the tree and even christmas carols. I even enjoyed a couple barley sandwiches. It was quite different sitting around at christmas and in the background around 5 o'clock hearing the loudspeakers from the mosques blaring out their muslim prayers. It was different to say the least.



New years here was also quite the time. I rang in new years 9 hours before everyone back home. The new year came in in pretty much the familiar way, lots of booze and even quite a few women, a majority of which are school teachers from all over. Even though kuwait is a dry country, there is still a time and a place for everything, including getting a buzz on. Instead of having bars here, the people have house parties, where the booze flows freely. I have been to a couple of these parties, and will say that I have met some of the most interesting people I have ran into in my life. I would like to go into more detail, but you never know who reads these things. We will just say that I am not going thirsty here in the desert.





While enjoying what is the middle of winter here, I have managed to get out a bit more lately. I was lucky enough to have a tour guide the one evening, who I met at the new years party, take me around and show me some of the shopping areas. The picture above overlooks the fountain in the middle of the mall. Even the palm trees here deserve their own spot light. This mall is along the coast, and there you can see the fishing boats as well as the yaughts which will forever be far above my means. It is a quite interesting contrast of old and new. The place, along with many others is interesting to see day or night. I will post more pictures later, after I get a chance to travel around on my own. Once I am driving myself it will be much easier, rather than with my driver who cringes every time he sees me reach for my camera.




I hope to post again sooner than the 3 weeks it took me for this one. There is alot going on, and I have been keeping busy with work, probably more so than neccessary. I am sure once things settle down and become more familiar, I will find more time to take pictures and write about them here.



Till then, take care and have a happy new year.




Baldwin Out!!!
(doesn't sound near as cool as when Seacrest says it, does it?)