Life In And On The Water - Surviving Summer In Kuwait

We have been in Kuwait a little over 5 months now and I realize that there are many things that I have gotten so used to that I hardly notice them anymore. This is of course completely natural and a sign that we are settling in and feeling more at home here now.

Our apartment has a wonderful view of the sea and a stretch of the city beach (as you can see on the pics from our apartment in my previous post Our New Home Sweet Home). With temperatures now rarely below 40 degrees Celsius/104F (that would be at night time) and often reaching above the 50 Celsius/ 122F during the day, people flock to the water even more so this time of year.

These pics are from back in May when it was already unbearably hot much of the time. This stretch of city beach quickly fills up with families bringing out the BBQ, chairs, blankets and coolers.


(People on the beach near the marina in the late afternoon sun with Kuwait City skyline in the background, May 2010)

I had wondered if the women would go for a swim as well - and indeed many of them did. Some wearing their black headscarves into the water, one in full abbaya and others opting for long-sleeved sports suits. I was happy to see that they too were enjoying themselves in the water.

Below the beach seen from the other side. When I stopped to take this picture, an Arab man (not from the Gulf) asked in broken English if I would take a picture with his wife. She looked shy and had covered all but her face but sent my a shy smile and a 'salaam aleikum'. I thought 'why not?' and went to stand next to her as he snapped a photo of the two of us with the Kuwait City skyline in the background. His camera was an old one - not digital and it seemed the two of them were traveling for the first time. He was all smiles and seemed happy to have accomplished his mission. It happened so quickly that I only afterward thought how strange it was - I mean here I am so careful not to take photos of women and then this guys ask - in front of my husband - if he can take a picture of me? Maybe he figured I live by other rules (as I do). I haven't been in strangers' photos since I lived in China and random people would stop me ever so often to join in their family photos in front of Shanghai landmarks.


(A stretch of the city beach full of people, May 2010)

The authorities have put up this barrier thing a few months ago - it seems to be thick plastic containers tied together - in order to keep the boats and jet skiers away from the swimmers. Of course it has added a new water toy - kids climb onto it and wait for some waves to make it wiggle like a snake:


(The water barrier to keep swimmers safe from boats and jet-skis, May 2010)

Jet-skis are popular here and I have seen them ever since I came in February so it's not only a summer pastime (apparently Kuwait has some of the best jet-skiers in the world which is no surprise considering how much time they seem to spend on their jet-skis!).

Racing up and down the long cost line with friends is an all-time favorite - there are small artificial bays to go in and out of like here - the glass pyramid is Hard Rock Café in case you were wondering (all the following pics are taken from my living room window (July) so I apologize for the poor quality but you can click on the pics to enlarge them - I really need to get that zoom lens...):


(Jet-skiing up and down the coast around the pyramid of Hard Rock Café- making the water more busy than the Gulf Road running along the coast)

And of course a short race among friends is always a favorite as well (anyone know if you can tune those things? They seem to go extremely fast here!)


(Racing friends on jet-ski)

With the addition of the water-barrier and since someone is almost always sitting on it, there's a new game in play (one that I see played almost every day). And it's not this one: (chatting to people sitting on the blue barrier - they seem to all be men but then again, most men have sisters...)


(A jet-skier chatting to some guys sitting on the blue barrier)

No, what I meant is this one: 1) spot some people sitting on the barrier and race toward them as fast as you can:



2) get up really close and almost drive past them...



3)...then make a really sharp turn and spray water all over them! (I have seen it done with normal skis in snow and with skates on ice):



4) before you make a quick escape to avoid any retaliation...



There is hardly any reason to feel sorry for the people - it seems to all be part of the game and some of the people sitting on the barrier even seemed to be encouraging it. I suppose that if you're sitting in the middle of the sea in 50 degrees Celsius, being sprayed with water is actually one of the best things that can happen...

There is another jet-ski game that I saw for the first time the other day:

Quite a lot of people own boats here - it's part of the culture (this is after all a nation that started out as fishermen and pearl divers before they struck oil) and it's one of the more obvious activities to engage in considering the climate and geography (can't think of too many desert activities in this heat...). Try playing tennis in 50 degrees Celsius and you'll understand why the outdoor activities seem to be limited to those involving the sea/water...

Boats setting out for a trip around Salmiya area (it's almost a peninsula so you can sail around it and further down the coast toward the Saudi Arabian border):


(Boats, Salmiya)

Now to the game: 1) the jet-skiers will spot the boats as they leave from the Marina (you can actually see one end of the marina in the lower left corner of this pic) and race the boat for a while:



2) then, once they catch up to the boat, some jet-skiers will get onto the side of the boat and others will stay in the water right behind the boat:



3) then - for the brave ones on the side of the boat - they will make a very sharp turn into the waves created right behind the boat. This will send the jet-ski flying pretty high!!:


(A brave jet-skier breaking the wave of the boat and being sent flying high)

The other had to try it as well, of course - and even those keeping behind the boat had some fun waves to fight:


(Another brave jet-skier breaking the wave of the boat, sending his jet-ski into the air while his friends are fighting some waves)

I saw it done a lot of times and not once did any one of them fall of their jet-ski!! I'm quite impressed.


(Brave jet-skiers)

...especially considering that some of them are hanging almost vertically in the air (I know the quality is bad but check out the angle of this guy):


(Jet-skier hanging almost vertically in the air - without falling off his jet-ski)

In case you are wondering why I am not going to the beach, too, there are 2 main reasons (apart from the fact that I am not a big fan of water):

1) I simply cannot stand the heat for more than 5-10 minutes. I see plenty of people who just stand in the water and cool down (not sure how cold/warm the water is - but it looks funny when all you can see is a bunch of non-moving black heads sticking out of the water) which leads to the reason why I don't go and stand in the water like everyone else:

2) back in March the Al-Watan newspaper reported that 'harmful substances four-centimeters thick cover the seafloor of Kuwait shores' - a cocktail consisting of 'sulfur, ammonia, phosphate and bacteria, and is the result of the continuous pumping of approximately 280 million gallons (1,059,915,300 litres!) of sewage water into the sea daily'. 'The danger of the sulfur substance lies in the fact that a concentration of sulfur can cause a chemical reaction and result in a deadly hydrogen sulfide gas.' 'It is believed that the summer season, with higher temperatures and humidity, will experience a mass death of fish.'

If this has been going on since March (or before) you do the math! It was mainly due to a damaged sewage plant but I don't know if they got it fixed yet - and it is a problem in other areas as well where sewage oil waste from the industrial zone is being dumped into the sea. I understand why people enjoy the beach but with this information in mind it's not for me... (Could this possibly be the reason the jet-skiers never fall off their jet-skis :-)? Because they know what is in the water - great motivation to stay out of the water!)

In that case there is always the air-conditioned mall left - as these 3 local men (crossing the parking lot to enter Marina Mall) have realized:


(Local men on their way to the air-conditioned mall on a warm July day)

Our New Home Sweet Home (With A Month's Delay)

More than a month after we moved in, we're now ready with some pictures of our now not-so-new home. Thanks to all of you who offered your support and encouraging words when we were fighting the bed bugs - your support was much appreciated.

In the mean time we have new beds and sofas and have not seen any live bed bugs for several weeks. We did find what might have been a dead one the day before yesterday but we aren't sure. K also had something resembling two bites but they looked different and we are hoping that it's just insect bites. So I am not completely ready to declare victory over the bed bugs but we have come a long way.

So, welcome to our home in Kuwait:

Two apartments on each floor - ours is the one to the right:


(Our apartment seen from the elevator)

...And looking towards the elevators from our front door:


(View of the elevators from our front door - fire escapes/stairs to the left and right)

Our living room as it looks when you enter the front door (it's with the old sofa set that was rotten but it was the best picture I had):


(Our living room - dining table to the left and sofa area to the right)

From the windows there is a nice view - this one is the window close to the dining table:


(View of the sea from a living room window)

Here is the full view from that window (sorry, I have no photo software with me to make a decent panorama picture):


(View from living room window 1: the sea, parking lot in front of a mall)


(View from living room window 2: the mall and views of Salmiya area, at the front are some restaurants)


(View from living room window 3: the mall, views of Salmiya and more restaurants in front)

So what a few weeks ago looked like this...:


(Our living room in April)

...now looks like this:


(Our living room in May - new leather sofa set and traces of white powder poison...)


(Our living room May - new sofa set. On the right hand side the hall.)

From the right hand side of the living room (next to the sofas), a hall leads to the rest of the apartment. On the left hand side is our guest bedroom, on the right hand side is our guest bathroom. Further down on the left hand side is our bedroom and on the right hand side our kitchen:



Our guest bedroom with a brand new bed - we are still using it to store our things, most of which are still in plastic bags just in case...:


(Guest bedroom)


(Guest bedroom)

Our guest bathroom:


(Guest bathroom)


(Guest bathroom)

This is our master bedroom - and what a few weeks ago looked like this...:


(Our master bedroom a few weeks ago as the poison spraying was still ongoing)

...now looks more like a real bedroom again (with a new bed):


(Our master bedroom in May - with powder poison to keep any potential survivor bed bugs out of our bed)


(Our master bedroom in May - the built in cabinet wasn't torn down as we had demanded but I completely sealed off all cracks and joints with silicone and we had poison sprayed into two holes at the back twice)


(Our master bedroom May)

One of my absolute favorite things about this apartment is that when I wake up in the morning, this is exactly what I see from my side of the bed:


(View from my bed - before I even get out of it)

Right before exiting the master bed room is our bathroom:


(Master bathroom)


(Master bathroom)


(Master bathroom)

Across from our bed room is the kitchen:


(Our kitchen and access to the small balcony)


(Our kitchen)


(Our kitchen and the maid's room)


(Our kitchen - washer and dryer behind the door)

Although our apartment is not a luxury apartment by any means, it is still intended for people who are fairly well off and therefore has a maid's room. In this part of the world it is common to have a live-in maid to take care of children, household, cooking etc. I think most of the people who live in our building just have a cleaning lady who lives somewhere else and comes in once or twice a week - and then they use the maid's room for storage (as we do).

As seen on a previous picture, the maid's room is behind the kitchen - away from the family and close to her main workplace (kitchen). It has a very small bathroom:


(Maid's bathroom)

And the room itself is so small that it was difficult for me to take the picture (when I stretch out my arms I can almost touch both walls!):


(Maid's room)

This is taken from the bathroom - as you can see it's only as wide as maybe twice the door and about the same length. K and I spent some time pondering how you can put a bed in there - if you put it on the left hand side, the door will not open. If you put it on the right hand side, you'd have to climb over it to go into the bathroom...


(Maid's room)

From the kitchen there is access to a small balcony:


(Balcony)

I was quite surprised when I first saw that the gas is kept on the balcony in the direct sun - with a hose leading through the wall into the kitchen (the stove is right on the other side of the wall). However people say there has never been any problems with this...


(Gas on the balcony - with the hose leading to the stove on the other side through a hole in the wall)

The view from our balcony (from left to right):


(View from our balcony - on a clear day the sea can be seen. Salmiya is almost like a peninsula which is why we can see water from both sides of our apartment)


(View from our balcony, restaurants)


(View from our balcony)

Despite all the problems we had in/with this apartment (problems that by the way could have happened in any country and in any apartment) we are very happy with our choice of location. We are within walking distance of the nearby mall as well as an area with restaurants and cafés by the water and the restaurants right below our building. It takes 15 minutes to walk to the nearest supermarket (which is doable outside of the midday heat) and it takes K about 25-30 minutes to get to work in the morning.

If any of you would like to come see for yourself, you are more than welcome!