The Old American Hospital
I discovered the beautiful building we park in front of when we got to church is the Old American Hospital. I don’t know what it is used for now, but it has been beautifully renovated.
From Kuwait Toplist Places of Interest.
Old American Hospital:
Located on the left side of the gulf street facing the bay, stands the old American Hospital. This was the first hospital run by the Christian Missionaries. An architecture from the early part of the 20th. century.
Google Earth Fantasy Flight
The same good friend who shared the quotes with me, sent this connection yesterday to an 8 minute video compiled with music by a GoogleEarth fan who takes you to some of the oddities you can see with the high resolution of GoogleEarth, including sunbathers and what I can only describe as EarthArt.
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.
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.
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.
Andy’s Flour Power
Breakfast in Panama City Beach is a treat – there are so many places from which to choose! But we found ourselves going back, again and again, to Andy’s Flower Power, a locally owned and operated bakery/restaurant, only open for breakfast and lunch on Panama City Beach, in Florida.
The place is packed. No matter when you get there, you need to get to the front of the line just to get your name on the waiting list. The good news is that the crowd moves in and out fairly quickly.
They specialize in wonderful baked goods, omelettes and waffles made fresh as you wait. Service is fast and friendly, the atmosphere congenial. This is where the locals come to eat and greet one another.
The food is delicious. I have had the custom omelette, with my choices – spinach, swiss cheese and bacon, and the vegetable fritatta, which is to die for, made with marinated and grilled fresh veggies, including asparagus and eggplant.
The decor is lively, fresh and smart:
Kuwaiti Customs
As we came in through Kuwaiti Customs, I had a few seconds concern – would the vanilla I had packed among my cosmetics be detected? Would my vanilla be confiscated (it contains a tiny bit of alcohol)? Would my DVD’s be objectionable? Would my books be a problem (in addition to the fact that I can barely lift my suitcase)?
I needn’t have worried. Everyone is so well trained, the bags are loaded on the conveyer belt, into the machine, and gathered on the other side. My husband is chuckling and I ask “what’s so funny?” and he says:
“There’s no one checking the bags.”
And he was right. Bags were going through the screening machine – and there was NO ONE there watching the screen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
In spite of all the NO SMOKING signs in the airport, I smelled like cigarettes when I got home, just from the time waiting in the airport for the bags to arrive. I hate it. One guy waiting for his bags made it a point to blow his smoke in my direction. Pure evil or just bad manners?
And at the exit, pure chaos. Huge police presence – squad cars, lights flashing, lots of police – and they are doing nothing! They are greeting their friends, chatting – but no traffic flow control, and we all know how quickly the airport arrivals and departure areas can gridlock.
Our taxi driver was an older guy, not friendly. He got us home in nine minutes, normally a 20 – 30 minute drive. Ahhhh, Kuwait!
Easter Sunday 2007
For the second year in a row, we were able to celebrate Easter in the United States. Today was so special to us. We went to church surrounded by many families. Although we were strangers, people were very friendly and happy to see us. We were very happy because we were with family!
Although it was our style of worship, every church does things a little differently – and this church does two things I have never seen done before. As the priest entered the church, he knocked at three different doors and said . . . something, and the entire congregation responded with “Allelujia! Christ is risen!” and then as the priest and choir processed down the center aisle, they made a joyful NOISE – and it was a huge noise, every choir member and many members of the congregation had BELLS which they rang as they sang the opening hymn and it was unexpectedly marvellous!
Here is a photo from the entry to the church:
The church entry has several shadowboxed collections of crosses from around the world – totally gorgeous. This is just one part of the collection:
After church, we had a wonderful family dinner with the parents of our daughter-in-law. The dinner was fabulous. We are in the Southern part of the United States where the cooks have a reputation for being THE BEST. They are the best because they use all the ingredients that make food truly tasty – fat, sugar, eggs, real cream, etc, things that we forbid ourselves most of the year, and oh, how delicious everything was. We had a big green salad with a choice of dressings, green beans with slivered almonds, a big ham, scalloped potatoes and freshly baked biscuits with butter and jam.
I would have to say, this was a wonderful Easter meal; fabulous food, great conversation, lots of laughter. For dessert, the hostess made two of my husband’s very favorite things, coconut cake with a white/coconut icing, and banana pudding with a baked meringue topping – oh oh oh! We hated to leave.
A note of interest – my neice, Little Diamond says that this is one of the rare years when Easter is celebrated on the same day by all the major Christian religions – a rare occasion indeed.
And for those of you who are going to ask, no, I am not going to take up swearing again just because Lent is over. The whole goal was to break myself of a very bad habit that crept into my life on the roads of Kuwait. I will continue to strive to clean up my act!
In Passing
“Uhm, Mom, I have to sit there” said my son as I slid into a booth in our favorite Vietnamese restaurant and prepared to order some of those tasty salad rolls with peanut sauce that we love.
“Why is that?” I ask territorially, unwilling to move.
“I like to see who’s coming in,” he states flatly.
“So do I” I argue back.
“But I’m the prosecutor,” he says with a sigh.
I move. His need trumps my preference.
He has to watch his back. It’s not one of the happier realities in life. People you “put away” don’t always stay there. And they’re not always happy to see you when they run into you in the gym, or in the Target, or in the grocery store.
My son laughs and tells stories of running into former associates, usually when you are unarmed, and vulnerable in some way. Most of the time it is OK. We’re glad he is careful.
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