Life in Kuwait

Life in Kuwait is very interesting. The homes are all stucco, and mortor, with a boxy look, and a flat roof. They are all some form of sand color. I'll try to take some pictures and up-load them.

I was without air conditioning the first night here. The air conditioner in my room was broken. I couldn't sleep so I went out and slept on the couch in the living room. The apartment has three bedrooms with two guys in each apartment -- so we have one room open for transients. It gets about 85-87 degrees here at night down from 115-122 (50 degrees celcius) they say it isn't warm here yet -- not until it's triple digits temperature at night. The humidity here is about 4-5%. The apartment is on a scale somewhere between a motel 6 and holiday inn.

There is very little grass here -- mostly sand and trash. A few trees that they plant along the highways etc.

When I went to the Airbase Ali Al Salem (1 hr away) this morning it was blowing and drifting sand across the road. We took a guy (my roommate) up there that was flying to Iraq.

I eat lunch on base with the troops/other employees. I guess I could eat breakfast and dinner there if I wanted. They pay me $71 a day for per diem (food/etc). I went shopping the other day for groceries -- most of the shopping etc is in two languages (arabic and english).

I've been out to eat at night quite a bit. Tried some Indian food last night. Little too much curry for my taste.

My roommate is kind of quiet. He is from Maryland. He doesn't like AC that much so he wears a coat a lot. So he wears his coat out in 100 degree weather -- kind of nutty. My boss and his roomate are from VA, so I have a lot in common with them.

I was without internet in my home till last night -- wasn't working. I also couldn't log on my computer at work until I got all my clearances/badges etc. Took till Friday. So basically incognito -- Everyone probably thought I had dropped off the edge of the earth. I am going to try to get a cell phone today so I can call. Requies a cell phone with a sim card here not just a serial number.

We are building up a group of contractors to do cost analyst work for the Army. Basically justifying costs/budgets etc.

Both the Prime and Sub-Contractor that I work for said they may have work for me when I get back from Kuwait. Hope so, the pay is sweet.

Where I work on Camp Arifjan is bascially a converted warehouse. But they have fixed it up. At least there is AC. It is in a secure area behind a fence with barbed wire. Takes about 30 minutes to get on post and into my office because of all the security.

The maid service is great. They wash and iron your clothes daily and put them in your drawer. They even iron my jeans -- unbelieveable. It is so dusty here they have the security guys wash the cars daily for about $10 Dinar monthly ($34.50), basically a little over a $1 a day.