Flying First Class....

I had grand plans to fly Business class from Kuwait to DC and then first class from DC to Omaha on my flight home. After flying first class last leave I realized how much nicer it is. Those plans were just squashed. United informed me they no longer allow pets in Business or First class cabins. What? You allow children in these cabins, they are worse then pets.

Now I have a choice to make. 1. Take Aeisha on board and sit in Economy plus and suffer or 2. Put Aeisha in “the hole” as the reservations agent so kindly termed it and sit in Business....Seems very selfish to make Aeisha suffer for my own comfort. What would you do?

I ran my first 7 mile run today.

And I didn’t collapse or puke which I figure is a great start. I won’t be breaking any records anytime soon, but surprisingly it was fairly easy. I downloaded the 12 week marathon training plan from Nike+ onto my Ipod and I have successfully completed week 1 of the training. So I registered for the Lincoln National Guard Marathon and Half Marathon.

It’s official; May 3rd I’ll run my first half marathon. I figure by paying the fee and putting it out for all to know that I plan on running this half marathon it will motivate me to stick to the training plan and not back out. Plus there is that competitive side of me that wants to prove I can do it. And for additional motivation I know I can’t let the sister-in-law and her friends smoke me so I need to be somewhat prepared.

Groceries

Grocery shopping is always an experience in Kuwait. Most items are written in Arabic prices only so always a surprise what the price is. The selection is also very limited, especially for non Arabic brands or types of food. Meat is questionable at best from the local grocery stores so usually must be bought frozen at the PX on base. Lest just say I LOVE grocery shopping when I go home. I am always overwhelmed by the massive selections, the cleanliness, and the great prices. I especially love the gourmet stores like Whole Foods, Harry and David, and Patrick’s Market. Until then it’s the local Co-ops (that is what the stores are called). This used to be where I shopped:

Nice eh? Even better you had to go next door to a different store to purchase any fruit, veggies, or eggs.

Jabriya recently upgraded to a new Co-op luckily. So I now shop here which is larger and cleaner than the previous option.

And finally I’ll leave you with a visual of what 19KD (approximately $73) will buy you at the store. Note it is limited and really no meat products other than turkey for Aeisha. Food here is quite expensive.

And this, which I will miss!

Coke light is a million times tastier than diet Coke. Trust me. I am actually going to ship several cases of Coke light home as part of my household goods. Nutty I know.

Bahrain

Where to even start? Overall not what I was hoping for. It all started with the beyond awful hotel room. I can’t even begin to express how disgusting this hotel was. Granted it was on the cheap side BHD30 ($80) per night, but still even for that price I didn’t expect it to be quite so dirty. The rooms were overly dated as you can see and they smelled bad.

The curtains and linens didn’t even match. And the linens were very scratchy. On top of that the bathroom was so uninviting that I couldn't even bring myself to shower in it!

Even the shampoo and conditioner were questionable.

To make matters worse there were stains all over the carpet and paint peeling off the wall.

And bars on the windows! I really wanted to cry when I first walked in.


I love luxury hotels, I don’t even like middle of the road hotels, and this was about as bad as it gets. It was even worse than my Red Roof experience in Tennessee several years ago. I did manage to pull it together enough to get dressed for an evening out. First we went to an Italian place for dinner, however the place was dead which concerned me a bit (and it was in a shady area of Bahrain). So I consumed a fair amount of wine and very little food (due to the questionable nature of the place). Probably where the night started to go wrong.

From there we headed to JJ’s a very cool bar on the right side of Bahrain. It was packed.


JJ’s was loaded with cute guys, the music and atmosphere were very fun. I even danced!


However by the end of the night I was quite ill and this continued into late the next evening. I can not remember the last time I was this ill! I don’t know if it was mixing drinks, the food, or the ice at the scary hotel but it was bad. By mid-afternoon I decided I could not stand the icky hotel any longer and just wanted to be home. So I booked a flight for that evening and left Bahrain early and headed back to Kuwait. It was a rough flight as I didn’t feel good but well worth the extra cash and sickness to be home early. I have never been so happy to be home in my nice classy clean bedroom!!


Even though I did have a few fun hours in Bahrain, overall it was a bust due to the nastiness of the hotel and the sickness. Part of me wants to give Bahrain one more chance and stay in the nice part of town!

The real reason I get danger pay.

Having to drive in Kuwait. Seriously the drivers here are insane. This was on my way to work one morning, please note everyone using the emergency lane for driving!!

This happens all the time; and all it really does is make things even more congested and cause accidents. Crazy. Also note the sign, these signs are everywhere.

“Speed short way to prison or death” quite morbid but sadly true here.The accidents here are horrendous. The speed limit on most main roads is 120KM per hour, but at a minimum you must go 140-160KM or you get ran over. Even at 160KM there are always several cars flashing their lights at you to get out of the way. Times like this make me miss the US and their civilized drivers and traffic rule enforcement.

Pirated DVDs

I know it’s bad and I know I shouldn’t buy them….but I do. I just can’t help it. In my defense you can rarely get the original version here (or watch the shows as AFN is always at least one season behind), instead you have to order online, pay shipping, and it takes forever to arrive. Satisfaction is greater when I pay only 1KD per disc and watch the movie or show immediately. I even have a guy that comes to the office with a suitcase full – can’t get much easier than that!

Movies currently in the theaters are available, sure you might get a head in the way from time to time or hear the audience commentary, but that’s all part of the fun. I would rather watch from my own home than in a movie theater with some stranger next to me any day. I really dislike movie theaters, such a strange concept to me. Who wants to try to relax and watch a movie with a bunch of weirdos? I don’t buy fake watches, or bags, or sunglasses but I can’t seem to refrain from the DVDs.

Entrepreneur thoughts

Yesterday was a very unmotivated day. Internet/email wasn’t working properly. Not that I didn’t have loads of other work that could be done, but some days any excuse is a good reason to goof off. The American guys (I have an office of over 50 employees and only 4 of us are American! I love it) wanted to go to Early Bird so of course I was in! It is my second favorite restaurant in Kuwait.

Breakfast is definitely my favorite meal and very hard to find American breakfast in Kuwait. Most breakfast options consist of an entirely different concept than ours. However about a month ago I heard about Early Bird. It is this tiny little restaurant in Mangaf operated by an American living in Kuwait. It seats maybe 20 people and stays consistently busy.


It is open from 5 am – 3 pm daily and only serves breakfast. The food is excellent and very reasonably priced, actually cheap by Kuwait standards - KD 5 or so (about $20 per person for a meal, drink, and tip).

*To be noted – pork is forbidden as it is a Muslim country so bacon, sausage, etc… is not of the pork variety.

Of course I find these places when it is time to leave, not when I first arrive! I think this would be a fun concept for CB. Unless you want to drive to West Omaha, our breakfast options are scarce. I don’t like the chains (except for Cracker Barrel) and the Old Market only serves brunch on Sundays. We could cater to the worker bees during the week and offer up fancy Brunch options on Saturdays and Sundays (of course to include mimosas, bloody mary’s, etc…). I even found the perfect building for lease in the Haymarket area. This seems to be an up and coming area right now.

Any investors?

Jazeera sale

Of course,

This comes exactly two days after I purchased my ticket to Bahrain. Such is my luck, I could have saved over $100 (as the ticket price is KD 1 but you still pay taxes)!! The only saving grace is that it’s for travel as of January 18th and we are leaving on the 16th. But really I didn’t care what weekend we went, could have waited till the next weekend. I am staying at a bargain hotel – the Gulf Gate, its only BHD20 (about $78) a night!

Don’t be fooled, I didn’t choose the hotel and am actually quite worried about it. One review on tripadvisor.com stated it was “disgusting”. Perfect! I wasn't even able to find a good photo of the hotel.... Had I been the planner it would have been the Ritz Carlton Bahrain.

Or if I had a sugar daddy, the Banyan Tree Al Areen.

I am trying to not be a Diva and go with the flow – so the Gulf Gate it is. I will definitely purchase alcohol at duty free and begin drinking immediately upon arrival to ease any pain I may encounter.

This sale makes me contemplate squeezing in one more last minute trip to Dubai or Doha! Bargain flights I like, whereas bargain hotels - not so much.

Arraigned marriages

Today I was informed that N, one of my maintenance contractors, got married while on leave (most of the maintenance contractors are Indian). It was an arraigned marriage. Before N left he told his fellow coworkers that he was NOT going to get married as he wasn’t ready (he knew his mom had picked out a bride for him). In the end N gave in but does not plan to bring the new wifey back to Kuwait. N wants “to keep his freedom”. Doesn’t that sound like most of the American men working overseas sans wife, aka Geographical Bachelors!! Some thought processes cross all cultures.

During the discussion I asked S and A if their marriages were arraigned or not. One was and one was a love marriage. 90% of marriages in India are arraigned and the success rate is higher when an arraigned v. love marriage. Interesting. One of my real estate agents, W, was recently married and it was arraigned as well (W is Jordanian), his mother picked out his bride and W had only met her twice before the marriage. Just another example of how different other countries and cultures are from the US.

I was told by S that I should get married this year when I return home as I am bordering on too old already, that in India by the time you hit your 40’s you have grandchildren not new babies. Thanks S.

Aeisha says thanks!

I know I know, this post makes me a crazy cat lady. But I can’t help it. Since Aeisha wasn’t in Council Bluffs for Christmas I brought her Christmas present from Grandpa and Grandma back with me to Kuwait.


Playing with her new toys. They were a hit.


The red feathers all over the place were from another of the toys from Christmas – she destroys feather toys! Thanks Grandpa and Grandma can’t wait to see you in a month!!

Christmas Break Recap

Christmas break was amazing. The highlight was definitely the offer of a new position as an attorney with the US Army Corps of Engineers in Omaha!! I can’t wait to start in March.

Christmas was great – between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day I was able to spend time with my entire family which is rare. What recession? The aftermath of Christmas Morning.

A little last minute tree preparation – hey I have an excuse I didn’t get home till December 23rd and we went to the Manheim Concert that night so really no time.

Christmas dinner at my house.


My wonderful family.





My 30th Birthday party hosted by my super generous parents – even though my dad was none to thrilled, or at least had to pretend not to be – at the Indian Oven.







From there the Dubliner which turned into after hours at my house.



A new 4X4 to navigate the crazy winter weather that comes with living in the Midwest, so not looking forward to that part of moving home. It’s rugged, 4 wheel drive, but luxurious all in one.


I of course should have never taken the little brother along as instead of purchasing the bare minimum standard Jeep I ended up with the Jeep Unlimited Sahara which includes leather seats, GPS navigation, Sirius radio, the works.

The break wouldn’t have been complete without celebrating New Years Eve! We started off with Champagne cocktails at my house.

Next up Regal Lanes for very classy bowling. Hey it was entertaining and better than sitting at the bar all night.




And finally Barleys for a final drink (or two).





These are only a few of the fun events. Many more I don’t have photos of such as Court and I’s girl day, my mom and I’s fun filled Happy Hour at the Saki Bomber Lounge, my dad and I's traditional Xmas Eve shopping and lunch at La Bouvette, lots of dinners with my grandpa, time in DC with Kimberly, the list could go on.

I also attended a funereal for an Uncle that lost the battle he was fighting with cancer. Very sad but he is in a better place now enjoying life with my grandmas and grandpa. It was a great chance to see his family, as these are relatives I really like and have fun with.