ATV Man
Why would a grown man – this guy must’ve been in his 40’s – drive an ATV to the Sultan Center?
Kuwait conference calls for document on women rights
In yesterday’s Kuwait Times, there was a tiny paragraph in the reporting about Personal Law in Kuwait pertaining to women that stated
“Among the loopholes of that must be corrected is the provision empowering a woman’s father to marry her to whoever he likes or divorce her without consulting or even informing her . . . “
Is this possible? Does this still happen? I thought in Islam, a woman had to agree to accept a man as husband, and had a right to have clauses put into her marriage contract? And a father can have his daughter divorced from her husband without her even knowing about it, much less agreeing to it?
Here is today’s reporting from the Kuwait Times on the recommendations for legal changes:
KUWAIT: Participants in the Conference on the “Kuwaiti Women in National Legislations” have recommended the preparation of a comprehensive national document to facilitate women participation in the country’s development aspects under the sponsorship of the legislative and executive authorities as well as the civic society institutions.
At the conclusion of the one-day conference, organised by the National Assembly’s women affairs committee, the participants demanded improvement of legislative performance, promotion of the existing legislations and completion of the legal system in an introduction for the rise of women’s rights in the society.
To read the rest of the article, with the recommendations made by the committee, click on Kuwait Times, here.
The Kuwait Left Turn
I actually first came across the first left turn in Saudi Arabia, and would watch in horrified fascination at the stoplights. Saudi Arabian driving was the worst I have seen, ever, anywhere in the world, but the driving has some inner logic if you are there long enough to get used to it. (I had thought I would hate not driving, but in Saudi Arabia, I was happy not to drive.)
In Saudi Arabia, there was no respect for lanes at all. At a junction there might be four legal lanes; one marked for people turning left, one for people turning right, and two for going straight ahead, but when the light turned red, there would be six or seven or eight cars lined up, all squeezed together, almost door to door. If there is a space, a car will fill it.
And maybe four or five of those cars would turn left, but not necessarily the four cars closest to the left. One might be in the far right turn lane, but going left. Yes, there were accidents, but not so often as you would think.
In Kuwait, they have refined the right-turn-lane-left-turn down to an art. I’ve gotten so used to it I hardly notice it any more, and that is why I am blogging about it now, so I will have it down before it falls of the screen.
Here is how it works. The guy in the far right lane realizes he needs to turn left. First move – he turns the wheels left and inches forward. Second step – this is optional – he gets the attention of the guy to his left and indicates he needs to go left. This is done with a combination of desperate looking eyes and a hand motion. Third step – he continues inching forward. Last step – just as the light is about to change/is changing he shoots out into the intersection, across four lanes of traffic, making his left turn.
There’s no honking. People are used to it.
That the lane second to the left also often goes left, although it is marked to go straight ahead, is a given.
It happens so often, we take it for granted.
The second variation on a left turn is that in Kuwait there are long stretches between stoplights or roundabouts, but there are conveniently marked areas where you can make a u-turn. There are left turn lanes that make it easy. But often, there are people who don’t want to get in line, or maybe realize too late that this is where they need to turn. No problem. They just get right up next to you and start edging their way in. It can be really scary when that someone is a big cement truck, or a bus full of workers.
Sometimes there can be two or three cars making that left turn at the same time. You would think it would be a disaster, and somehow, it all seems to work.
All this is . . . . very creative, refusing to be limited to what the law says is permissible. The problem becomes switching tracks when you go back to a country where the laws are less flexible.
Adventures in Driving: Kuwait
I found this great road, 303, that goes all the way from Mishref to Fehaheel. It is a little slower than 30 (Fehaheel Expressway) or 40, with more stop lights, but I like it because it is like a European boulevard, several lanes in each direction, divided with a barrier, and it has a lot of public art – cool and interesting sabilles (the places put up for the people passing by to drink water) and all kinds of models of ships. It’s a nice drive.
(i am discovering that there are several of these roads in Kuwait; you just have to find them. If you always take the same route, you can miss some amazing sights.)
I was stopped by police checks twice, whipping out my freshly legal driver’s licence. At the second stop, every vehicle was stopped – except for the ATV with two boys on it that got on who got on somewhere in the south and went all the way to Mishref. The first I saw them was when they went whizzing by me at the second police check.
That’s them, over to the right, by the sign, with another car behind them. It wasn’t easy to get their photo because they were really hauling. Their little ATV was going faster than any of the cars on the road, and they didn’t bother stopping for red lights, or police checks.
I didn’t think those things had that much power. But I am also wondering why, when the police saw them, they didn’t stop the boys? These kids had no business being on a highway, no licenses, no helmuts, no protective clothing, on a vehicle going as fast as an average car. And they weren’t that easy to see – it was dusk. To their credit, they stayed in the right lane, and they did look both ways before going through the red lights.
I was amazed at how fast that little thing went.
Thursday? Friday? Saturday?
Today’s Kuwait Times quotes an “official source” as stating that Kuwait will move to a Friday Saturday weekend as of the 1st of September, and that Kuwait is also looking at daylight savings time starting next Spring. Seems like this trial balloon has floated a time or two before, do you think it will fly this time?
Somehow, it feels in Kuwait like the weekend now is Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The expats seem to be working a six day week (except for the maids, who work 24/7) and everyone seems to take it easier all three days. Wonder if this is really going to happen?
Big Brother and ‘The Look’
Last night I was caught up in the hormone laden chaos of Marina Mall.
Surrounded by hundreds of thuggy looking 11-year-olds and adolescent trollops, I wondered what kept the atmosphere from becoming explosive? All that testosterone, all that rampant estrogen, what an unpredictable combination! So I watched, and then I saw it.
The girls are mostly behaving themselves. Most are dressed modestly, but are ready for that “we had a moment” glance, and half-hoping, half-fearing that it will come. “Eeeeeee!!” they scream, thinking someone might pass them a phone number.
But what keeps the young monkeys, hopped up on testosterone, from getting carried away?
Big Brother.
Not is a mean way, not in a threatening way, just being a big brother.
I would see the gangs of kids, and I would see a white thobed guy, maybe with a friend, maybe with his family.
And I would see “the glance”. “The Look”.
The look said “I see you.”
The look said “I know who who you are, underneath the gel and goofy clothing.”
The look said “I know your family.”
The look said “Remember your manners, little brother.”
And I saw the boys catch the look, and remember who they are. The look was enough. The look is effective. It breaks through the mob mentality and reminds the boys that they will soon have the responsibilities of young men, and that this mob mentality roaming around the Mall will pass. The look reminds the boys of the need for SELF control. The look might even say “I remember those days, and those days are over.”
It’s enough.
Amazing Dubai
Today AOL’s Money section has an article on “Amazing Dubai. It starts off:
The Wonders of Dubai
“As one of the seven emirates that make up the oil-rich United Arab Emirates, Dubai has attracted world-wide attention through some mind-boggling, innovative real estate projects.
Sit back and peruse our photo gallery of some of the most amazing construction being done in the world today.”
You can access the article and the fabulous photos by clicking HERE.
Qatteri Cat’s Amusement
This week, my window washers were back, but this time they did not catch me by surprise! I had read the notice posted by the elevator, and closed my sheers so that they couldn’t look in and see me blogging.
The Qatteri Cat, however, thought this was great stuff. He yearns to be an outdoor cat. He remembers the early street life, and then the green garden he called his own, and the occasional escape over the wall and down to visit the neighbors. In his innermost cat nature, he wants to be free to roam, free to follow his cat nature.
So this morning, the window washers provided great excitement in his hum-drum contained life. The window washers stopped briefly to “Miao” at him and tap the window to tease him a little – great fun, if you are a cat. I could hear his loud purring from ten feet away!
Sunset Inn, Panama City Beach
Last year we were in Panama City Beach for a family wedding, and discovered a wonderful old fashioned Florida beach motel near St. Andrew’s Park. Panama City Beach has been discovered – there are long lines of high rise condominiums blocking the view of the powdery white sand and endless turquoise waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Between series of these high rises, you will find an occasional beachfront motel – and the Sunset Inn is – we believe – the best of this lot.
Family owned and operated, the owners work hard. . . running a family motel is endless work, cleaning out the rooms, keeping the pool sparkling, providing information to the guests. They know all the best local restaurants, they know who delivers. This is the kind of motel where they provide small kitchens in each unit, including microwaves and stove-tops, some dishes and glasses, a pot and a pan and a coffee maker. They also provide grills, for your fresh fresh seafood, or your hamburgers or steaks.
They have regular units – one room and small kitchen – and they also have two bedroom units for larger families. There is a washer and dryer on site which guests may use.
If you want a beachfront room, you will want to reserve – they go fast. The lower level has a huge deck with deck lounges just out the door, and the upper level has individual balconies. The units across the street cost less than the units directly on the beach, but have full use of the pool and amenities.
Sunset Inn
8109 Surf Drive
Panama City Beach, Florida
TEL: 850-234-7370
Tudo’s Vietnamese Restaurant in Pensacola
While back in the U.S., we focused on Vietnamese food and Mexican food, two cuisines we miss while living in Kuwait. We ate several times at Tudo’s, and there are still many items on the menu we want to try.
Here is my very favorite thing – Vietnamese salad rolls. In France, they are served with a vinegar-y sauce, but in most places in the U.S., they come with this delicious peanut sauce:
My husband loves Pho, a big bowl of soup with either meat or chicken or tofu, plus tasty vegetables and lemon grass, cilantro, mint leaves, all fresh:
I like Pho, too, but this time I discovered a shrimp and meat dish served over vermicelli, utterly fresh and delicious:
Oh, how I would love to be able to eat Vietnamese food in Kuwait! It is all so fresh, so delicious, and (relatively) healthy food.
UPDATE: When I wrote this blog entry, I never dreamed one day we would be living in Pensacola; it wasn’t part of the plan. Plans change 🙂 Tudos is just one reason we are happy to be here.
Tudos telephone number for take-out: 850-473-8877
Tudo’s is located just north of Creighton on N. Davis, on the right hand side just after Ronnies Car Wash if you are going north on Davis. Coming South, you would have to make a U-turn at the Creighton and Davis light.
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