The arrival:
After 54 hours in transit, being rerouted midair, having a flight cancelled on us and flying standby twice and three ten hour layovers, we made it! We arrived in Kuwait city at 6:00 pm on Sunday, August 17th. Many others who have now arrived fared similarly in their journeys and arrived late. This is not to deter anyone else’s potential journey over... they say it doesn’t happen often. But I must say, all things that “don’t work out” seem to bring unexpected gifts with them. For example, flying Emirates Airline, the most prestigious and luxurious airline in the world. It even has a night sky emulated on the ceiling of the plane so that you begin to adjust to your new schedule. They have a menu you order from for dinner, free drinks, Silk blankets and Individual computers for everyone to use that contain hundreds of movies and music.
The first class, although we unfortunately didn’t fly first class, has fully reclining beds for passengers and a spa service. We knew the UAE was rich... but this was amazing!
At the Winnipeg airport we met up with 3 other Manitobans who we would be teaching with; Shawna, Erin and Merike. They were great companions to have during our 54 hour transit. Much to talk about and we all became fast friends which has continued as we have gone through our first week of orientation.
We arrived with our VISA's in hand in Kuwait and when unsure of where to go I approached a security guard to ask a question and he checked my passport and stamped it allowing Ryan and myself to go straight through and avoid the long line up of 75 people... what a nice start.
To collect your baggage is like any other airport but you have these little men called porters who try and carry your baggage for you for a fee. They are great but very in your face. If you don’t want help you have to be very up front and yell “laa laa laa laa. Shukran wa La” which translates to “no no no no. Thank you but no”.
I am glad I took on some Arabic before I got here because it really helps you to understand the sounds associated with the language. Otherwise it can come across as an abrasive language. It really is quite beautiful sounding once you know the sounds that are associated. But then again that could be my traveller ears... it may be different once I’ve been here for awhile.
Once we got our luggage we made it through security checks for alcohol (since it is a dry country) and arrived to a smiling grey haired man with an ACA sign. That’s Bill Blanton, a veteran teacher with ACA in charge of Orientation. There was another group with him that had just arrived sitting at the Cinnabon coffee shop and we quickly sat with our bags and made some friends.
We managed to make it to our apartment alive... the highway from the airport to our home is the deadliest in the world according to Bill. In fact, fellow teachers saw an accident there yesterday.
We arrived at our apartment in good spirits even though we only had 5 to 6 hours sleep in the last 54 hours. We quickly unpacked our stuff and went to bed. What a journey! But we had finally arrived and it felt great!
Day 1-
We fell asleep at 8 pm last night and woke up at 9 am this morning. A 13 hour sleep was seemingly deserved after such laborious travels.
We went to school for 10 pm. The bus picked us all up at home and we all went together. Apparently this is something we should get used to because this is how we will travel back and forth to school. There are about 40 teachers in our building but right now only newbies are here.
It is amazing how everyone is so friendly. If only the real world was like this. We are all in the same boat so everyone is always excited to meet new faces and share their experiences. As soon as you see a new face it seems so natural to introduce yourselves and it’s like you’ve made an instant friend.
During the evening, we headed to the AWARE center. It ‘s an organization made to bridge the serious gaps between westerners and the Arabs. It hosts, Arabic classes and Islamic information festivals. We went to find out more about Ramadan since it is coming up right away.
Ramadan is the most important holiday of the year for Muslims. It’s like our Christmas. Lots of gift giving and lots of eating... but only at night. During the day Everyone Fasts... no water or food. Which is quite difficult to do in 45 * heat!
It has been interesting experiencing the culture first hand. As westerners we are ingrained with this fear of the traditional Muslim dress and we have this misconstrued idea of what the world is like over here. Everyone seems to think that men treat women like dirt and it’s one-sided and blah blah blah... it’s not really like that. Things are just different. Women are EXTREMELY respected. The reason they cover up is so they don’t have to deal with men hissing and catcalling. In the west, far too many young women thrive on negative male attention... not the case over here. Obviously customs vary throughout the middle east but I can speak for my experience so far. Kuwait seems to hold women is a very high regard.
For example, if I go into the local Iranian bread store and it’s filled with people. All the men must move aside and let the lady go to the front to be served first. If I get on a bus, I, because I am a woman, will always get a seat. If I am walking through the shopping mall carrying bags and Ryan is with me, he will receive dirty looks for not carrying at least some of the baggage.
Here are some pictures that we took of our journey here. Click on an image to enlarge.
Enjoy!
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