Fun facts

So I was telling my family about some fun pieces of info I have discovered and my Dad thought I should blog about it. So here ya go!
In Kuwait City the Kuwaities can pretty much dictate how they would like to dress. For example there are basically 3 types of dress the women will wear. The completely tradtional outfit with black from head to toe, with only their eyes being shown. The moderate with the women wearing modern but somewhat tradtional clothing including the head-dress; we see a lot of these muslim women back in the states. And the completely modern, with no head wear, they dress like us but more fancy...or uppity. The men have two basic styles, the tradtional and non-traditional. The traditional; in a white man-dresses with a gutra and agal (turbin) or non-tradtional; completely casual. For those of you from Branford, th casually dressed look like Easties, completely over the top guido with gold chains, tight jeans and gold watches. Even the women look like they're from 'Staven, they have big hair stilletos and too much make-up. But the watches and make-up are very key. For the super traditional women since only the eyes are seen they completely whore up their make-up because it is the only piece of body they have to attract men, so they go ALL OUT. Even though over the top, they truly look pretty. And as for the watches. The tradtional men only have 3 status symbols, watches, sunglasses and rings. Their watch is a major symbol, so they will purchase $45,000 watches. The cheapest pair of sunglasses i saw out here were $200 and they were on sale! They also all drive Lexus', Bentleys, Ferraris, and tons of Porsches. Porsches are the honda civics of Kuwait. But both males and females have these nice rides, no discrimination there!
Now, socializing. This cracks me up! There is no drinking in Kuwait, it is a dry country...bummer. So for fun the only thing there is to do is go to the mall or an evening restaurant. They will attend juice bars or a sheesha shacks (sheesha is the flavored tobbaco smoked here, quite good actually, and Im not even a smoker!). But when they go out on a Friday or Saturday night they arent supposed to talk to each other, boys and girls I mean. They either signal across the room using hand gestures to give out their number or use Bluetooth to find people. Once they have exchanged numbers they will text each other to chat! How wierd is that!
Now clubbing. Oh this is hysterical. They do not even go to the same clubs, if they wish to go dancing there is a dance club for women and a dance club for men. Even weddings, once they are married, sometimes they wont even celebrate together, they celebrate separately!!! And dating is funny too. They date but its very very secretive. Think of Kuwait City like a miniature New York City, with all five burroughs. If two people in the Bronx wish to date then they have to go on dates in Brooklyn so no one will see them. Very hush hush.
Oddly enough, when my partner and i go out, it is perfectly natural for me to talk with a Kuwaity man or for Jon to speak to a Kuwaity woman directly. This is because they understand that it is our culture to do so and we are not bound by their traditions. Once more, when Kuwaities leave the country they can dress however they wish. Many women who wear the all black clothing will wear perfectly normal clothes underneath and sport that outfit when outside the country or when only around women. It is only in public when they cover up. Even on vacation, they may wear bikinis, but just not while in Kuwait.
So that is just some social insite to the Kuwaity lifestyle. I think it is so comical because they are so wealthy and so modern yet they have so many super traditional and out-dated cultural habits. Very interesting if you ask me.

Mom's Birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!! Hope you have a great day, Love ya!

First Day In Kuwait City

So here are some photos of my first day out in Kuwait City. Unfortunately my batteries died before I saw any of the good stuff. What you are looking at are some new homes being built, the highway and some other buildings. The photo of the grey building is actuallyone house for one family. But remember, over here the WHOLE family lives together; Grammas, Grampas, Aunts, Uncles, Mother's in law, you name it they live there.
The rest of the day was good. We say by the marina and had lunch outside. The boats there are incredible and the mall is aweosme! I hit a sale at H&M. Most of the stores are high end and WAY out of my price range, like Prada and Valentino, etc. But it is still fun to shop. Watches here are a HUGE status symbol. Which is funny because muslims seem to have zero concept of time. But they have watches here for over $45,000!
But the city is beautiful, I cannot wait to get some good photos. The architecture is quite unique. Along the coast is very pretty. Oddly enough, in the states we put our fancy restaurants by the water, but here the coast is lined with Burger King and McDonalds. But we aren't talking any McDonalds. This thing is like 3-stories of McDonalds Glamour style!
I dont't know when Ill get out next, but when I do I'll make sure to charge my batteries. Tomorrow is my day off so I'm excited to sleep. Oh! And by the way, if anyone wants, I use Yahoo Messenger a lot, under my name. Im usually on between noon and 4:00 EST. Take care!

Hunter, the best Puppy

Sorry, I know this is a lot, but i think he is just the cutest. Besides how often will i be able to put my boxer in my purse and pick him up onto my lap!! Enjoy, Im sure Ill be sharing more as I get them!

Life starts in Kuwait

Hey guys. So it has been quite a few weeks. I arrived around April 2 and on April 9 my apartment got robbed. So I flew home for ten days to take care of business. It was somewhat depressing but I got to spend some quality time with Angel, my sister visited, and best of all I GOT A PUPPY!!!! Thankfully we had insurance, unfortunately we lost all my jewelry including some of my Grandmother's, so even though everything else is covrered we are out a few thousand in jewlery. But my Hunter was a nice consolation. He is just soooooo darn cute and well behaved! Ill be posting pictures, don't worry. Now, onto the things i think you all want to know. Kuwait. Not much to say, desolate and boring. I live in a pod which is a connex (shipment cargo looking thing). Its grey metal. But Im working it to make it look like home. I am going to try to link photobucket to my blog. I hope you will all be able to watch videos through this as well. I cannot leave Camp Arifjan yet because i do not have my Representation Credentials. But hopefully Ill be going soon. The weather is warming up, high 80 low 90. The food is pretty good, we have a big PX (store) an amazing gym with a rotating climbing wall, AWESOME! And my favorite, A POOL!!! Even though the amenities are incredible, I do not expect to be to happy because the operations tempo is very low here. I like to be much more stimulated and I do not think i will find that here. I am on the liaison team so I will be speaking with a lot of government officials, generals and governors etc. But thats life in the Army, speaking of life in the army I have 463 days left!!! Woo Hoo, and Hopefully Ill save 30-45 days of terminal leave, so even less! Ok, Ill be in touch. Im gonna try to figure out how to post pictures. Take care everyone, I should have a lot of time, so Ill try to stay in better touch this year! love you all! Erika