About once or twice a month, I have had the chance to go off base into Kuwait City. I usually go with my co-worker Doug, and sometimes we meet other weather people from another base in Kuwait. The city is very different than most places I have been before because of the Muslim culture, so it has been interesting to explore.
I have a lot of pictures, so I'll try to remember how to space them out in the post (it has been a year and a half since I used this, haha)! The first time Doug and I went into the city, we met some other weather people at a restaurant near the Liberty Tower, seen between the buildings in this pic:
The next time, we went to a mall called the Grand Avenues. It is absolutely HUGE! Doug compared it to the Mall of America (which I have not been to), if that helps you imagine the size. Here is a picture of one of the many, many hallways:
Since you can see some people in traditional Muslim dress in that pic, I'll take a second to say that the variety of dress is one of the most interesting things to observe. When we go to places like the mall, we see a lot of men wearing long robes, some with headpieces and some without, some men wearing suits, and some wearing more Western-style clothing. We also see women in burkas, women in slightly less-restricting robes and veils, some women wearing Western-style clothes but still covering their hair, and occasionally a few women without head coverings.
My sister Lisa studied Arabic and the Middle East in college, so she has been a convenient source of answers to many of the questions I have about things I see out here. She says that this mix of clothing is probably due to a few different reasons, the first of which being that a large percentage of people living in Kuwait are not native Kuwaiti. Their style of dress may be that of their home country. Also, she said that family tradition and level of religious beliefs play a major part in what Muslims wear. Thanks for the info, Lisa! :-)
As you may expect, the level of wealth here due to the oil industry is amazing. It is an awesome place to car-watch (I only wish Martin was here to do it with me!), as we regularly see Lamborghinis, Porsches, Ferraris, and the like in the city. The "houses" are also unbelievably huge, as you can see in this pic from the highway (yes, those are individual houses!):
One time we met the other group for dinner, Doug and I headed into the city early to catch the sunset at the beach. Here is a pretty sunset pic:
And here is me with my toes in the Arabian Gulf! :-)
I'll finish with one more thing... as the temperatures cooled later in the year, we started seeing "tent cities" popping up in the open deserts adjoining the highways. Lisa enlightened me again on this, explaining that camping is a frequent winter activity for the Kuwaitis. It may also be a tribute to their heritage, some of which are Bedouin. Sometimes families have camps in the same places every year, and sometimes groups of young adults will pitch camps to just hang out and spend time with their friends. It is really amazing just how many tents are out there, and though that can't really be conveyed in just one picture, here is an example of what the tents look like:
I have more pics, but that's a good overview of what we see when we go off-base. I'll try to work more of the pics into future posts! :-)
I have a lot of pictures, so I'll try to remember how to space them out in the post (it has been a year and a half since I used this, haha)! The first time Doug and I went into the city, we met some other weather people at a restaurant near the Liberty Tower, seen between the buildings in this pic:
The next time, we went to a mall called the Grand Avenues. It is absolutely HUGE! Doug compared it to the Mall of America (which I have not been to), if that helps you imagine the size. Here is a picture of one of the many, many hallways:
Since you can see some people in traditional Muslim dress in that pic, I'll take a second to say that the variety of dress is one of the most interesting things to observe. When we go to places like the mall, we see a lot of men wearing long robes, some with headpieces and some without, some men wearing suits, and some wearing more Western-style clothing. We also see women in burkas, women in slightly less-restricting robes and veils, some women wearing Western-style clothes but still covering their hair, and occasionally a few women without head coverings.
My sister Lisa studied Arabic and the Middle East in college, so she has been a convenient source of answers to many of the questions I have about things I see out here. She says that this mix of clothing is probably due to a few different reasons, the first of which being that a large percentage of people living in Kuwait are not native Kuwaiti. Their style of dress may be that of their home country. Also, she said that family tradition and level of religious beliefs play a major part in what Muslims wear. Thanks for the info, Lisa! :-)
As you may expect, the level of wealth here due to the oil industry is amazing. It is an awesome place to car-watch (I only wish Martin was here to do it with me!), as we regularly see Lamborghinis, Porsches, Ferraris, and the like in the city. The "houses" are also unbelievably huge, as you can see in this pic from the highway (yes, those are individual houses!):
One time we met the other group for dinner, Doug and I headed into the city early to catch the sunset at the beach. Here is a pretty sunset pic:
And here is me with my toes in the Arabian Gulf! :-)
I'll finish with one more thing... as the temperatures cooled later in the year, we started seeing "tent cities" popping up in the open deserts adjoining the highways. Lisa enlightened me again on this, explaining that camping is a frequent winter activity for the Kuwaitis. It may also be a tribute to their heritage, some of which are Bedouin. Sometimes families have camps in the same places every year, and sometimes groups of young adults will pitch camps to just hang out and spend time with their friends. It is really amazing just how many tents are out there, and though that can't really be conveyed in just one picture, here is an example of what the tents look like:
I have more pics, but that's a good overview of what we see when we go off-base. I'll try to work more of the pics into future posts! :-)
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