There's something about Kuwait

My Russian boss (haha sounds like a mob boss!) who's been here in Kuwait for more than 20 years warned me, "There's something about Kuwait, you'll get used to the easy life. Before you know it you've been living here for a decade."

When I heard that I was in denial. No, that will never happen to me! Hubby promised will just stay here 5 years max and that's it. He's a man of integrity...

It's not that I hate Kuwait. I am honestly growing to like this country. After all it's safe here and having none of those internal conflicts that some Arab nations are experiencing. I just don't want to stay here long. Because of the following reasons:

Bawal ang pork

Coming from the the land of lechon, this is a sacrifice for me. But it's not too bad, we can occasionally have it. There are ways to get it. Also when friends come back from vacation in Philippines they usually share the bounty (usually Purefoods tender juicy hotdogs) they're able to sneak in. But it doesn't compare with having fresh, succulent, cholesterolly pork. Aside from lechon I miss having my favourite pork meals; pork adobo, sinigang na baboy, chicharon...etc. Sigh. Although I just console myself with fact that because of this forced no pork diet I am healthier.

The hills are not alive

Remember the "Sound of Music"? Remember the opening scene of the movie - a sweeping view of the beautiful green hills and Julia Andrews suddenly runs and dramatically breaks into the song, "the hills are alive, with the sound of music...".?

Well, there are no rolling green hills here. Sigh.

I miss going for walks by the river where sometimes I chance upon swans a swimming (not usually seven at the same time) or gorgeous hunks canoeing topless (ooohhh). I miss seeing tall, green non-palm variety trees. It seems that the landscape here is just plain brown. So I have to be content with bringing in greens (potted plants) inside the house.

Nothing but malls and restaurants

Though there are no green fields there are still many outdoor activities to do here like picnic by the sea, yachting (which we haven't done yet, LOL) and sports. However during the summer and winter when it's challenging to stay outside there is nothing, absolutely nothing to do except shopping and eating out. There are no theatres, museums or art galleries to visit. I wish it will improve in the future because truly the government can afford it.

One must drive

Since I don't drive yet as I have to complete 2 years stay before I can qualify to apply for a license, mobility is a serious problem for me. There are no reliable public transportation options - no trains. There are buses and taxis but more often than not, they stink. I also wish the government will improve this too and ban stinky buses and taxis!

Laid-back life

This shouldn't be one of the cons for most of you but for me it is. A typical day for me is; Wake up (after snoozing the phone alarm many times), hubby drops me off to my office before he drives to his, work (or pretend to work for that matter) until 3:30 PM or until hubby picks me up. That's it. That's my routine for more than a year now. Except weekends of course

The travel to/from the office usually takes 15 to 20 minutes tops. We are usually guaranteed to be home before 6 pm unless we dine out somewhere.

Okay this is a charmed, peaceful life especially if we have kids. But we don't have one yet anyway. I am not a fan of this laid-back lifestyle. I like action. I like crowds. I like noise. I don't like traffic but a part of me somehow misses it. Sometimes I am bored because life here is so provincial.



But you see, Kuwait has its advantages that as of the moment outweigh my above complaints. My fear is that I might get used to this laid-back life and choose to get stuck here until it's time to go home to Pinas. I can't say for certain that this will never happen as no one can predict the future. I will most likely turn out to be a different, hopefully better person than who I am now; A person with different set of priorities. But one thing I am consciously putting an effort on is this - I vow to have fun, to build meaningful relationships, to be alive while I am here (or wherever I am).