What does one do on the Holy day in Muslim society? Apparently they shop... the malls are very busy during the day on Fridays! Today Ryan and I took our first journey out on our own. We took a cab with a driver named Waheed (he is the taxi driver of the teacher’s of ACA). He always looks out for us and makes sure we get where we need to go safely. He’s this hilarious Syrian guy who has been in Kuwait for 24 years and knows it like the back of his hand. He loves teaching people about the city when they are new. So we not only had a ride to “The Avenues” mall but also a lesson in navigating and dealing with Kuwait’s transportation systems.
The Avenues is basically a huge shopping mall with all the designer labels. Versace, D&G, Anna Sui... you name it... it’s there.
We ate at the Applebees in the middle of the mall and found ourselves yet again wondering... Is this really Kuwait? It seems so similar to home...
After our mall adventures the bus came to get us at our apartment and a pile of us headed out to Souk Mubaraak. A Souk is basically a traditional open air market where people sell anything from Fendi purses to carpets to food and Abayas. I bought my first Abaya... and for those of you thinking... ha ha ha... she has to cover her head... you are wrong. The women here are very smart to dress as they do. Their clothing breathes very well so I picked up a beautiful abaya for CHEAP by bartering with this East Indian man for a good 5 minutes. It was a fun experience.
What was best about the Souk was the food. It’s outside and +45 so you’d think it would be unpleasant. Don’t get me wrong... it’s hot as hell... but they have fans that blow mist at you while you eat. It’s Cheap to eat and you can try many different kinds of food. We ate FAR to much Iranian bread, hamsa, Karachi (or something like that!!), and assorted other middle eastern dishes. Our table was filled with food and 15 of us managed to eat for 30 dollars total!
After the Souk, we got to experience the closest thing to a night club that you can get in Kuwait. There was a house party at the house of an Australian fellow and his Canadian Wife. What an experience. They basically made their entire upstairs into a nightclub complete with black lights. It was truly an amazing experience. We were out until 4 am partying with not only teachers but some pretty cool people from all walks of life. The US, Australia, South Africa, India, Singapore, Kuwait, UAE, Lebanon... there were people from over 16 different countries. It was so cool to meet so many new people.
Reidwaan (A fellow teacher from Johannesburg, South Africa) and I kept looking at one another and laughing because we both couldn’t stop saying the same thing: I can’t believe this is Kuwait! So we have now been introduced to the underground party scene that we’ve heard so much about and we’ve only been here for 5 days.
The house was a typical Kuwaiti style mansion. Big, beautiful and well decorated. Ryan was rather intrigued by the vehicle covered up in the driveway. He asked Danielle (the host of the party) what was under the cover and she informed him it was a Lamborghini Diablo. Apparently their Aussie friend, who used to live in Kuwait, bought many cars here and shipped them back to Australia and sold them for a six figure profit. This Lamborghini had been in their driveway for 2 years and she told the owner if it wasn't picked up by October she was putting the battery in it, tires on and hitting the streets. This was his deadline. She promised Ryan a ride in it in October.
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