the nod

i just got it. i was out for a run on the boardwalk and there it was again. the nod. i've received the nod in the coffee shop, grocery store, and mall. it's the "hey, you're familiar nod." not familiar as in i know you from somewhere, but more of the you aren't from around here either nod. but the nod isn't unique to kuwait. the nod is cross-cultural and normally occurs in situations when one finds themselves in unfamiliar territory (or so it appears.)

if you want to get all academic about it it's called homophily (you can even check out this great book all about it.) essentially, most people like situations and faces that are familiar to them. the thing is we normally don't notice this since most people around us are similar. it's when we're around others that don't resemble us racially, culturally, gender etc., that we become congnizant of said difference. hence, the nod. the end.


(here's a few pics for those not on facebook. we took a little trip to the desert today. right behind me is the boarder to iraq. apparently it was too hot for the camels today too.)

sorry to disappoint

it's just not that different in kuwait. today i told neil i just didn't feel like blogging much lately (you may have noticed.) his response, there's really nothing to blog about. that's the truth. i know there's some biggies i haven't touched yet, and don't worry, i will. but the truth is life here is no different than life where you are. 

the other night was movie night. how fitting the movie of choice was "syriana." i know we all don't believe everything the media tells us, but if we did, here are some of the messages we would receive from syriana: all  muslim women wear a burka and walk five feet behind men,  all muslim men wear dishdasha's, the persian gulf is a mass of undistinguishable countries, muslims are religious fanatics, the middle east is not modernized. in other words, the opposite of the united states. 

the longer i am in kuwait the more i'm convinced it's the same. different geography, different religion, different politics, same human experience. in class today we talked about how language helps us understand cultures. i decided to "go there" and brought up a study that found israeli students who learned arabic had more favorable attitudes towards arabs than those who did not learn arabic. makes sense, right? did you know the united states is the only country in the world where you can receive a college diploma and not learn another language? you connect the dots. 

driving

remember when you first got your driver's license and your friends would say things like, "stop signs with white outlines are optional," and for the geometry lovers, "stop signs shaped like octagons are also optional"? if you lived in kuwait those little jokes wouldn't apply. first, there are very few stop signs. second, stop signs are always optional.

every day i risk my life, and not in the way you may think. crossing the street. where few stop signs abound, traffic circles abound all the more (please don't be fooled, there are four-way intersections, like the one by my apartment that have neither.) seem like a good substitution? wrong again. traffic circles are tricky, especially when traffic lanes are obsolete.

imagine this. you are walking home from school in at least 110 degree heat (neil likes to remind me we're in the desert and this should come as no surprise. it doesn't, but it's still hot.) you have just passed the kuwait karate federation, the landmark which signifies the end is in sight. and then you hit it. that intersection with no stop signs, no traffic circles, and cars coming from literally every direction. who has the right of way? no one? every one? surely not the pedestrian. you wait on the corner. a taxi honks asking if you need a ride. you think, "yeah, across the street." finally, a break in traffic. there's your chance. you're about to go for it. then what!? where did that car come from? still on the corner. waiting.

drivers in kuwait are acutally quite good. not in the organized two-lane fashion we all may be used to, but in the, how are there not more accidents kind of way. apparently one explanation for aforementioned driving is something called wasta, or influence. please remember kuwait is an extremely rich country. rich in a way i think few of us, myself included, can really understand. for starters, kuwait has oil (which makes gas about 0.85 cents/gallon!) so, wasta, i guess it works similarly across the board. people with power and money get things. in kuwait one of those things is a driver's license. no questions asked, no test required.

the whole being rich thing also means people drive ridiculously expensive cars. ridiculously fast. i've seen about five honda's here, no joke. it's brand new bmw, jaguar, mercedes, and land rover's galore (ugh, i have never seen so many suv's!) and that's just the low to moderate end. so, right now i'm thinking about walking home. only problem is i'll have to face everything i just told you about.