The title comes from a band (The Offspring) that was popular when I was graduating high school, and I'm not sure what they're doing now...I just have had that song stuck in my head for a while (the original song title is "pretty fly for a white guy") And so when it came to make a ridiculous pun for my blog-well there you go. Here's the video if you have NO CLUE, or you want to know what's wrong with my brain.
My most recent travels during Spring Break were to Thailand. I traveled to Koh Samui Island after having stayed in Bangkok for 1 night. (staying "1 night in Bangkok", I know, the song jokes keep coming!) Here's that 80's song if you want to listen to it.
Recently in Kuwait there have been a few food developments. Not to mention a few funny pictures.
In the food world we found some good eats. My neighbors and I went a really nice sushi place. They're always a little funny with names, so this place was called "Wok 'n Roll". It didn't have a rock 'n roll theme to it, it was actually very artsy inside and formal. Even though it was expensive, the sushi was great. I ate a lot of sushi and we all ended up saying we'd want to come back and try new dishes! (It didn't help that they had flat screens displaying slideshows of their dishes, which looked delicious!) Another place we discovered is an Indian cuisine restaurant that's walkable (and does take out delivery!) from our apartment. It's a very literal place called "Tasty Hut." They sure do live up to their name. Having good food options is key here in Kuwait. Food prices keep going up here, it's crazy. I think that even in the time I've been here they've nudged up a little. I try to bargain hunt where possible but it seems I always end up spending the same amount. When I try to spend "just a little" on groceries, my bill comes to 25KWD, which is about $90 US. I'm not piling it into the shopping cart either. There were strikes recently in Kuwait for government employees (demanding higher wages). The Kuwait Times posted an editorial in the paper saying that that will only contribute to food inflation because if everybody has more money, then prices will go up. This is taking into account the vast number of government employees in Kuwait since the bureaucracy is enormous...what's annoying is most people blame the expats and their salaries for the rising price of food, but there aren't as many of us as there are government bureaucrats I say. Okay, that was a tangent. Tasty Hut has really good buttered chicken and samosas, and mutton. Mmmm. I actually had all three last night so that's fresh in my mind. Otherwise, I usually try to take a few photos of random places to eat or food things that have funny signs.
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| First off, This IS a "spice" you can buy at the grocery store. MSG??? |
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| I don't think they serve bunny here... |
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| The market name says it all! Gaseous! |
There's another great place to get falafel, shawarma, and kebabs and other Middle Eastern cuisine called DoDo's. So we usually stretch the vowel sound out and call it "Doo Doo's" but I assure you, DoDo's doesn't taste like Doo Doo! :) They're funny because their colors are red and white and they have these guys that have red aprons with white uniforms that take your order at curbside and deliver it to you in your car! Kuwaitis are too lazy to go in, so the place is usually surrounded by parked cars. At least you know it's good!
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| I'm not a cobra, we got our own softball t-shirts. Mine says KASL and it's Yellow. I'm on the ACA team! We rock |
In the extracurricular realm I signed up for the Kuwait Adult Softball League. It's an affiliate of the Kuwait Little League. It's run by expats and we go to the Kuwait Hunting and Equestrian Club to play because they have little league fields and softball fields there too. So far I've played in 1 game and then we left for Thailand so I didn't end up playing in the second. The next game was this last Thursday but, since my moped accident in Thailand, my hands aren't quite healed yet to swing a bat so I didn't go :( The next game I plan on playing hard and trying to hit a homer if we are in the big field. Sometimes we have to play on the small little league fields and if you're playing on that field and you hit one over the fence, it's an out! So here's hoping we get the big kid field so I can try to swing for the fences!
Otherwise school went well the week before Spring Break. In the social studies department we had International Day, which was a huge school-wide project for ACA to show how the school is globally minded. My students were given a continent to represent and I let them pick their countries for their presentations. The objective was to research a country, and pretend that you're in Kuwait as a "minister of tourism" from your country and you had to give a slideshow presentation, come up with an attractive poster, and provide a brochure all in the hopes of persuading someone to travel to your country. I was proud of my boys; those who did the work anyway. On International Day, they set up their posters, laptops, and got ready to present to other staff out in the courtyard of our school. Fellow staff members judged my boys and I ended up judging a few of my students' presentations outside as well, along with some other grade levels. Overall I felt my guys did okay. Some people put a lot of effort in and some didn't...so it showed on International Day.
Back to the traveling. For St. Patrick's Day back in March I took a long weekend and flew to Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It was a short weekend but we packed in a lot of fun. I went up the Burj Khalifa, enjoyed a day at Atlantis water park on the Palm Island, and then celebrated St. Paddy's Day at the Irish Village. Dubai is amazing. I'd consider it the New York City of the Middle East. Prices reflect that as well, but the UAE is really making an effort to showcase Dubai as the "jewel of the Arabian Peninsula." To this end it really is for an expat. I actually saw a guy mopping the sidewalk. It was just a regular ordinary sidewalk that this guy was mopping to keep it clean. The whole city is spotless, it's a huge difference from Kuwait. The streets were clear and traffic flowed nicely and there wasn't a single dumpster cat! Amazing! I really would recommend that if you're in the region to go visit Dubai. There are some really simple and fun sights and wonders to visit. Also, the train system is awesome as well. We took the train from the airport to where our hotel was and it was easy to navigate. Most cabbies use their meters too, which is a huge relief from having to haggle with the driver over the rate. So if you're willing to get there, it's a relaxed environment and very Westernized. Very clean, and they have Segway Police (cops on Segways!)
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| Overall plan of islands (partially completed) |
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| One of many man made islands in Dubai. |
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| Clean streets and Segway Police! |
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| Burj Khalifa-World's Tallest Building |
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| Inside the Burj Mall, a waterfall! |
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| This was also in the Burj Mall |
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| Only took about 5 minutes. Cool! |
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| This guy made layered sand bottles with cool designs |
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| view from the Burj Khalifa observation deck |
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| Gnome don't jump! |
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| The "world map" island under construction |
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| Looking down at the fountains below |
You can find the rest of my Dubai photos here!
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| great concert in the Irish Village |
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| The wig I ended up with! |
We eventually ended the weekend with a nice "contraband" breakfast. Since pork products are verboten in Kuwait we enjoyed a nice scrambled egg, pork sausage, and bacon breakfast. That was a good breakfast after a night of drinking and partying Irish style. I came home with some souvenirs and trinkets as well, but I didn't take photos of that...
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| YUM. We rented an apartment since there were 7 of us so we whipped this up in the kitchen |
Dubai was a good getaway in the middle of March and got me through school up to Spring Break which was Thailand. Fast forward through lots of school and International Day and finish March and make it through the beginning of April
Here's the link to my Thailand photos
Thailand was a great vacation. I plan on going back there. The one night in Bangkok was enough for me to see the "night life" factor but like I would like to go back and see more cultural landmarks. Your first impression is pretty nice; the airport is amazing. We arrived in the afternoon and made it through customs pretty quickly. They also let you drink beer openly in the airport. Now I may seem like an alcoholic because I'm always talking about beer and drinking but when you work and live in a country where it's illegal, you tend to appreciate those "little things." Ha! so I ended up drinking a wide variety of Thai beers. They included: Tiger, Leo, Singha, Chang, and Beerlao (the only beer brewed in Laos). I also tried a Thai rum, Sang Som. It was readily available in Koh Samui (the island where we stayed) and I had a thing going at the beach tiki bar where they cut open a coconut and made my rum and coke in that! I also did a little experimenting with the coconut milk, pineapple juice, and Sang Som. That was not too shabby of a drink. Anyway, in Bangkok, the place to go for the ultimate in Bangkok decadent experiences for an expat is Khao San road. There, you can make almost anything happen. There are vendors selling pretty much anything and everything and if you're looking for sex trade options, they have that too. You see lots of prostitutes and guys hawking "ping pong shows" and all kinds of crazy stuff...not to mention you can play "spot the ladyboy" or find the man dressed up as a woman. It's quite the experience. Next time I go, I'm going for the temples, floating market, baby tigers, reclining Buddha, and all the other cool cultural stuff. Even though the sex trade industry is basically a huge tourist revenue generator, it's not for me.
The only bummer during the trip was my moped accident. I hit a patch of sand on my moped and lost control and went over the handlebars. Since I was moving forward I landed on my chest and hands (trying to save my face from hitting, which I did). My palms were carved up nice and so were my knuckles (when my forward momentum made me slide on my belly and hands for a little bit). I ended up going to the barbecue anyway (our destination) and just soaked my bleeding mitts in the ocean on a regular basis to clean them off. I rode back to the hotel and after I parked my moped, I walked to the pharmacy on the corner and got all the medical supplies I needed. After the second day, I went back and bought a course of antibiotics because the swelling and redness in my hands hadn't gone down at all and was starting to get worse so I knew something was up. After that, it was just only healing time. But let me tell you, the traffic in Thailand is intense, and if you're a novice rider on a scooter/moped, you're going to be nervous. I'd recommend renting a car instead. I had an absolute blast despite the injury. The next night we went to a Muy Thai kickboxing match and what was funny was that, with my hands all bandaged up, I looked like my hands were taped up ready to get in the ring! That was a cool experience. Otherwise, I did lots of swimming, sightseeing, and relaxing. We went out to a bunch of clubs and saw lots of crazy stuff, and people. I made it to a bunch of Buddhist temples and landmarks on Koh Samui. There are some photos of those in my album. I would've taken more photos but after the moped fiasco my hands were more or less out of commission and most movement hurt, especially reaching in and out of my short pockets getting things because that would force me to bend my fingers and also rub my knuckles on my shorts. I was also planning on going on a kayaking tour over to Koh Tao and also scuba diving but after my accident I didn't want my bloody hands in the water making me shark bait. So the next time I visit I'll make sure I go to Koh Tao. There's supposedly ziplining that you can do from one island to another! That sounds awesome. Next time.
Other than that, the return flight was okay. On the way to Thailand from Kuwait we had a layover in Mumbai, India. On the way back we had the same layover. It was for 4-ish hours and let me tell you, Mumbai airport sucks! There are mosquitoes in the terminal that swarm around you if you sit still for too long. They make you go through security again and, like Heathrow, they take all your liquids, gels, etc. away even though in Kuwait it wasn't a problem. There is a currency exchange booth that is closed and relocated so you CAN'T exchange money. Half the stuff in the terminal is closed (restaurants, bars, lounges, shops) so it really just sucks. Also, if you have a smart phone, you have to sign up for the network BEFORE you get to the international terminal or else you can't access it. They won't let you leave the terminal to get that figured out so if you don't do it immediately when you land before you go through security to get to the international terminal, you're screwed for phone service. It feels like a prison. With Mosquitoes! And since it's India, you keep thinking...malaria, malaria, malaria. LOL! You couldn't escape them, it was really frustrating!
More school news is that after dealing with my lung problems here due to the dust, I finally decided not to return to Kuwait next year. Each time I've left Kuwait and gone to someplace else, be it Jordan, home, Dubai, or Thailand--I've experienced the same effect: my lungs clear. Whenever I return to Kuwait it only takes a matter of hours for me to feel my airway become irritated and inflamed. At this point, since I've been back from vacation for a few weeks, my lungs have that smoker's-cough-like effect of chronically having crap in your lungs that you have to cough up. I don't smoke, and I'm not an asthmatic but apparently this country makes me feel like one health-wise. The one time I DID smoke sheesha quite heavily, I ended up with pneumonia, so apparently the desert is not for me. :( I'm going to keep looking and we'll see where I end up next!
The good school news is that I wired home enough money to pay off my school loans completely! I just barely managed to cover the total so right now I'm going to be living off PB&J sandwiches for a little while but it's a good feeling to be free and clear from both my private loan (bankloan) and the federal student loan programs! So basically the rest of my money is MINE! haha. I did a happy dance when I submitted the e-payments (thank God for those)
Hope everyone is well and I know lots of big things will be happening soon with many of you so I wish you all the best and I'll try to post on a more regular basis. I know I've forgotten some good nuggets of information so the more frequently I post the less of a chance there is for me to forget the funny-quirky stuff!
One funny quirk is that in Kuwait, the Parliament passed a blasphemy law that carries the DEATH PENALTY. So if you're caught taking the Prophet Mohammed's (PBUH) name in vain or cursing/insulting the Prophet (PBUH) you can get into some serious trouble! Intense!
Stay Cool! It's going to start getting HOT here...
Derrick
