TLA

I Haven't Even Left Yet

Written by Stinni on Friday, June 13, 2008

And I'm already missing Kuwait.

Off the top of my head, here are some things I'll miss (besides people, natch) from Kuwait:

  • Hot and fresh Iranian bread, straight out of the clay oven for a whopping 20 fils. For those of you in the States, that's about 7 cents. One can never go hungry here.
  • Warm and fresh pita bread.
  • Pulling up to a bacala, beeping my horn and having friendly Iranians bring what I need to my car. Bread, soda, juice, milk - you name it. By the way, none of them hate Americans, not to my face anyway, and some are convinced that I'm Lebanese or Syrian even though I speak to them with full-on Khaleeji Arabic.
  • Having my eyebrows threaded for as cheap as KD1. In fact, I have a friend who owns a salon (a very good thing) and I can get anything done for KD1. My favorite hairstylist works down where I live though, and I'm faithful to her when it comes to my hair. Last night I had my roots touched up, had a color rinse to make my hair look more natural and not so streaky, had a cut and a blow dry (seshwar) and only paid KD25. Love it.
Sidenote: Speaking of the salon, there were about 30 women in my salon last night, and I'm guessing they were getting ready for a wedding. Wow. I mean, in what universe does looking like a witchy transexual corpse equal beautiful? They had their hair straightened out, poofed up, extensions put into already thick hair, makeup a la Lilly Munster, and these were just guests of the party, not the bride. Yuck. But then again, I prefer the natural look.

[Embedding the video wasn't possible, so check this video out to get a sense of what I'm talking about, and multiply it by about 100.)
  • Italian television. Even though most of my shows are on hiatus for the summer, I'm still going to miss programs like "Chi l'ha visto?" which is sort of like "Unsolved Mysteries".
Sidenote: One time my husband came into our room and I was watching "Lady Channel" (Videolina). He asked what I was watching and I said, "It's a Mexican soap opera, translated into Italian." He told me I was pathetic or crazy or that I had issues. And I replied that he should be content to have an eccentric wife who is satisfied with free Hotbird/European channels instead of a whiny average one who begs for Orbit AND Showtime.
  • Kuwaiti and Arab hospitality. Nothing beats it. Nothing.
  • Free medical and dental. The key is finding the right doctors and dentists and then you're golden.
  • Al Kout Mall. I love this place, it's beautiful and believe it or not, the weather is still good enough to sit outside. I took the kids there last night and we sat outside to eat our gelato (from Gelatini), watching the dancing fountains. It was perfect.
  • Palm trees.
  • The gorgeous light blue waters of the Gulf.
  • Oranges/tangerines from Lebanon, Turkish lebnah, Turkish kebab and shewarma by Pinar (if you haven't tried the turkey shewarma meat or turkey kebabs from Pinar, you're missing out. They sell it in plastic tubs in the frozen meat section, for just under KD2.)
  • Shish tawook.
There's more but I'm off to pack and call friends to say goodbye. I'm excited to be going to the States but at the same time I'm sad to be leaving people and pets behind. And yes, my country, I will miss my country.

About Me

American. Kuwaiti. Married. Two children. Housewife. Find out the rest in my posts.

Want to subscribe?

Subscribe in a reader.