Drving skills (#) 0

Driving in Kuwait is like driving around Arc de Triomphe in Paris, but constantly!!! (if you have never had that experience, here a basic rule...there are no rules in that roundabout..ah wait, there is one: the incoming cars have right of way, which is quite not smart)

back to Kuwait. rules basically don't exist, maybe only one:

survival of the strongest and stupidest (fittest..nawwh, not really).

• The turn light is turned on only when not needed, but when needed most, it is non existant. A good example are the highway ramps. So when you are on a one lane ramp with concrete walls on both sides and the ramp makes a constant right turn, people here think they have to use their turning light to the right. However, if you are passing by a car, left or right doesn't matter here, on a very busy highway with 120 km/h, the light is not used, ever. 

• Since there are no manual cars, driving is like F1 and Go-kart together..or at least for some here. I mean if you have a ferrari, you need to use it's acceleration once in a while, regardless of the faith of the person in the other cars. 
• ah yeah, driving on a motorbike with 150 km/h without a helmet, and doing slalom, is not really smart, but very ;) masculin.   (the same applies to those who drive a lamborghini with about 200 through the traffic jam)

• also very masculin might be honking and ligthing at the one up front whilst in the middle of a traffic jam, where every lane is occupied. but maybe his/her car can find the gap ;)
• another driving skill here is to go on the highway, without checking out if somebody is coming in the outer lane. why bother about that, right?
• or passing you, and then slowing down (probably because you have received a phone call)
  (since the government does not need extra income, the don't really have cops giving out fines, otherwise, like in Switzerland, the would make millions just with driving/phoning and speeding fines)

Communication problems #1

Finding something to eat is not too difficult here...lots of small shops and stands.
To actually get food in the end, however, does sometimes prove to be challenging...
so this one time, I went to a kebab stand..I asked for a nice big kebab..and all I got was a small something..
so this other time, I went to the shop next to it..there they produce the kebab bred before your eyes, put it in the oven, then put cheese on it, heat it on something hot and put in the meat... looks great..but it's not so easy to actually get it... so I went up to the shop and since there were people standing outside I waited in line.. after a couple of minutes when nothing moved I asked the foreigner next to me how this works and he said I can cut the line and go up and order...ok..done.. well, not really..the guy did not speak any English and he started telling me things in Arabic, so I settled for something he proposed, by nodding... then, nothing happens..so I ask the other foreigner to help me..he does and tells the dude to hurry up..ok... nothing happens...then, the foreigner goes into the store and tells that I would like the nice big kebab....so the waiter says I have never ordered...do I have a note with my order on it? so I tell my translator to tell the waiter that he never took my order...ah yeah...then sorry, he can't give me anything cause they are dealing with a big order...well..after 20 minutes it turns out I had to go to the kebab next door..(yeah, the one from last time) and I had to settle yet for another mini kebab..

1st pictures

London with the cucumber

Greater London

Oil fields somewhere in Iraq / sunrise

Kuwait

view from the roof... at night there are even more parked cars

the roofs 

one of the many minarets in the neighbourhood

sunset from the house door

some luxury cars next to my place

modern and traditional architecture
 (can coexist, not like in some cities in Europe)

no place is real without McDonalds

Water towers

view from the roof when the haze/sand/ "something-layer" lifts itself

the inside of a tower under construction

Liberation Tower

notice where the blue skies start

spices in the local supermarket 

The reception dilemma - staying outside or going inside

With temperatures being in the upper 30's and humidity uneblievebly high at around 8pm, the question at the German reception was to stay outside at enjoy the fine food, or go inside (the ambassador's residence) where air conditioning was fully working.
Well, after having stayed outside too long, going inside for a longer time was out of question (even though the desert buffet was delicious), due to the high chances of catching a heavy cold.
So not everything seems simple...even at a reception :)

First day

The first day was quite eventful...after having been introduced to the very friendly and helpful staff, composed of various nationalities, I already got my first job, namely to take over the preparation for the "settima italiana" which is an Italian week at the end of october. I'll be in charge because my superiour will be on vacation. We still have to decide if we'll be able to show the movie we wanted to due to the censorship....

Then in the evening followed two receptions, one at the French embassay, which was more a casual event and getting together in the library inside the embassy, and the other in the German embassy to celebrate their national day. Well, the food was outstanding, but the desert was just amazing :)  and yes, even at these suit-up occasions one can make contacts with the similar age group...even in Kuwait ;)...(even though the young folks confirm that life as a teenager is not overwhelmingly interessting here...only fast and expensive cars...but a way to date is..now listen carefully...to drive up with your expensive car on "Kuwait's date street" and pass out your number to girls you would like to meet...and you're hooked up...)..well, they said how else could you meet people if there are no clubs/bars allowed in town...;)

so all in all the first day was a very good beginning to the internship. Even though not all days will be like this, the experience has taken off in a nice way, so it was already worth the early waking up time :)
(sorry for not taking pictures in the embassies, but out of courtesy I left the camera at home ;)

Being here

After having had a sightseeing tour from the air of London, the journey continued over continental Europe at night...Brussels, the Saarland, Hungary, the Black Sea with its oil platform (recognisible from the airplane as a burning spot in the dark night), Turkey (mostly under clouds) and the Northern part of Iraq with Mosul clearly visible and the sunrise over the desert...

once there, exploring the neighbourhood and the city come first....so it can happen that:

• there are more fruits and vegetables availabe than in Europe (since nobody cares if they're seasonal or not)..this is also true for everything else..when you have two or three different butter in the supermarket in Europe, well, here you have like 20...
• the sun sets as a giant yellow ball (not red, because the haze filters out the red), at exactly 6pm, and then its dark...really dark...
• you cannot acces the Skype website, but you can use it if you have downloaded it previously in Europe
• you get a wake up call from the mosques in the neighbourghood every time at sunrise when its time for prayer
• the taxi driver might not take you back home, since he doesn't know your address

Since money is everywhere in Kuwait, high segment cars are nothing special.. (so a little bit like Geneva in the summer)...but prices vary just like the various degree of religiousness (from no headscarf to complete disguise)...so:

• the taxi drive into Kuwait City can you 12CHF, and back only 6
• a bottle of water is more expensive than gasoline
• honey can range from 3CHF to 35CHF for half a kilogram (the cheapest being the imported one)