beach.

it's quite possibly one of my favorite places in the world. the ocean (or arabian gulf in this case) reminds me of how inconsequential i really am in this whole life. whenever i'm near the ocean it's my greatest desire to spend as much time there as possible. in kuwait, however, i face two specific obstacles (in no particular order). first, the heat. second, my gender.

well, the first one is easier to remedy than the second. after much discussion justin and i arose early this past saturday and hit the beach by 8:30 am. it made my day. really. being at the beach refreshed my soul in a way that made me question why i didn't do it more often. oh yeah, that second obstacle--my gender.

as justin aptly noted, it was odd to be at the beach with only guys--my sentiments exactly. well, correction. there were two women--both tending to children, and then there was me (if you'd like to see my swimsuit look no further than the picture on the left-- my running clothes doubled as a swimsuit). for those of you wondering, yes i swam in that, and no, it was not comfortable.

but honestly, i can get over the heat, and if i have some male to accompany me (i would feel pretty uncomfortable there by myself), i can get over the whole gender obstacle. but what i cannot get over is this--the trash.

you'd think the sand doubled as a trash can. well, it kinda did. justin and i sat in awe as we watched people just let food wrappers, and even an entire newspaper, fly away without second thought (don't worry, the crazy americans went and chased down the newspaper). and so,the beautiful aqua waters of the arabian gulf are littered with trash. and here's the thing--it's not really about the trash at all. it's indicative of an overall attitude, one of privilege and entitlement, that someone else (i.e. some slave-wage foreign national worker which i'll discuss in an upcoming post) will pick it up. and they do. see below for evidence.