Drive Through Town/Back To The Avenues Mall To People-Watch

Driving through Kuwait City is always an adventure. You never know what you'll see or what will happen, but it's guaranteed to be unexpected. One interesting thing that we saw was a Kuwaiti man in a Cadillac blatantly throw trash out of his window on a very busy street. J said that the Kuwaitis always litter like that while others clean up their mess. We continued to follow the Cadillac for another mile or so. At a red light, a Filipino worker was picking garbage off of the street. The Kuwaiti man rolled down his window and handed the worker a handful of money--paper bills. I'm not sure if he felt guilty for littering, or if he littered to ensure that the workers actually had work to keep them employed. Very strange indeed.












At The Avenues Mall with the intent to people-watch. There are about four Starbucks in this mall. The Kuwaitis love their coffee, especially Starbucks. We found a table at the upstairs Starbucks which provided a great view of the downstairs Starbucks and atrium. Great place to check out the culture!

The men tended to wear the same white robes with white or white and red checkered head pieces. Whether the women wore the black robes or western attire, they personalized their look with high fashion scarves, handbags, heels, and make-up.





Finally, on one of the last days in Kuwait, I had a personal interaction with a Kuwaiti. It was actually in a restroom at the mall, one of the most nerve-wracking places, in my opinion. The public restrooms are tricky because they usually have a prayer room attached to them. I was always nervous about walking through the wrong door! Our previous restroom visits were also strange because they were SO QUIET. I never knew if there was dead silence because that's how they do things...or because WE had just entered the room. Regardless, we always got lots of stares. So on this day, I took our oldest child to the restroom first, then returned with the youngest. There was a beautiful, unveiled Kuwaiti woman about my age applying make-up and talking loudly on her cell phone for part of the time. She smiled (the first smile I saw from a Kuwaiti) and asked if we needed a tissue. I said "No, thank you," as I reached for a paper towel. She asked how old my youngest was and told me about her 2-year-old son. She said that in the Kuwaiti culture when they meet a new child, they say, "I wish you well in your new life, Child." It was kind of like a blessing. She spoke it in both Arabic and English for me. She said that she hoped I had found my time there to be agreeable. It made me very happy that she made the effort to connect with me. Even though Kuwait is a beautiful and mysterious place, it can be a very lonely place for foreigners.