Kuwait Travels

So some have been asking about my recent travels to Kuwait, and seeing that this is the easiest forum to disperse that information, here goes.

For those of you that do not know, I am currently serving a one year rotation in Kuwait for a civilian contractor company. Essentially, I will send 90 days here, and then 30 days R&R, and then head back here until my year has been completed. If you can't follow that, please discontinue reading, as its only gonna get worse.(Seriously, some people have had trouble following it) Anyway, I was in Georgia for about a week, preparing to come over here. That week was filled with a lot of drinking, and impulse buying of supplies I would need while over here. I left Georgia on Fri afternoon for Washington D.C. From there, I hopped on a plain to Kuwait.

I'm gonna interrupt here and state that if United doesn't get their shit together in business class, I will probably never fly them again. Based on the length of the flight, my company authorizes me to take business class. My ticket to Kuwait was north of the 7K region, so obviously, I'm expecting a comfortable, relaxing flight. Boy was I dissapointed. For starters, if you are going to hang a sign in Chicago O'Hare Intl airport, that says that you have 180 degree lay flat seats on all international business trips, I suggest that you HAVE 180 DEGREE LAY FLAT SEATS ON INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS CLASS FLIGHTS!!!!! That way, everytime I walk through that airport, I don't have to point at the sign and say, "Bullshit." The food wasn't bad, but it wasn't anything to write home about either.

Back to the trip. I slept through the entire flight after the dinner meal, and when I woke up, was suprised to see that we were about a 1/2 hour from landing. I had just enough time to devour a turkey sandwich, which was pretty good, and prepare for landing. My kudos to the crew, that landing was amazing. However, since it was only 6, I was suprised to see that it was very dark outside. Got off the plane, got my visa, picked up baggage, and met up with sk8r boi(yes, there's a story, and no, I will probably never write about this one), who also works for the company. We grabbed some Starbucks and headed to the apartments.

I had previously been under the impression that him and I were going to share a 2 br, 2 bath apartment. However, on the drive, I found out that we actually have TWO 2 br apartments, and that I was in one, and he was in the other. The second bedroom would then be used for people coming in and out of country on their way into other destinations. I was forewarned that the maid(yes, thats right, I have a maid, who wants to fucking touch me) had 5 dogs that slept in the hallway. No biggie, dogs are ok in my book. So we get to the apartment, and he helps me carry my bags up in the elevator, and as soon as the door opens, we are greeted by 5 barking Pomeranians. Awesome. They bark... a lot! So he shows me which apt is mine, and I open the door to what can only be described as a condo disguised as an apt. This place is SWEET!!! I have a fully furnished living room, complete with tv, etc. A kitchen, a bathroom in the main area, and then two bedrooms, one of which has a master bath attached. Oh yeah, thats mine! Sk8r Boi leaves me to get settled in, and I start unpacking. I fire up the Mac and talk to the wifey for a little as i'm unpacking. Once i'm unpacked, I prepare to hit the sack so that I can be rested for tomorrow. So nighty night... right?

Yeah... about that..... not so much. I wake up at 2:30 to hear screaming going on outside my window. I am up on the 3rd floor, so I'm not that far from the ground, and I can only assume that either a war is breaking out outside my window, or there is a drunken brawl outside. I quickly remember that this is a dry country, so odds are, its just the terrorists trying to take over. Realizing that there is no way I can sleep like this, I go out and fire up the comp again. While I am doing so, the screaming and shouting is still going on, and I also hear noises outside my door. I know that Kuwait is supposed to be safe, but I figure it can't hurt to be safe, so I grab a knife in case anyone decides they want to bust in my door. Probably a little overkill, but it was also my first night, and I was freaking out. I talk to The Wife for a little bit, and what do you know, the FIRE ALARM starts going off. RIGHT OUTSIDE MY DOOR!!!!! I email(thats the only contact info I have) Sk8r Boi, and ask if thats the Fire Alarm i'm hearing. I get no response, so I go out to my balcony to see what is going on. Literally 20 feet from me is a ladder froma fire truck raising up to the bldg next to me. I start freaking out and decide that I should probably head downstairs. On the way down, I go to what I thought was Sk8r Boi's apt(I later found out I was at the wrong one) to let them know. No one answers the door, so I just head down stairs to see what the deal is. When I get downstairs, I find that there are about 20 people watching as smoke is literally pouring out of a window in the bldg next door, about 10 stories up. Seeing that there is no danger, I head back up to my room.

Just to recap, I had been in the country for about 10 hours, and my apartment complex was on fire. Yeah... this should be fun.....

Other then that first night, things have been pretty easy around here. I have a maid that does my laundry and dishes daily. Driving around here is an adventure because the drivers are crazy. Shopping over here is fun. Slightly more expensive, but not bad. All in all, its been fun(minus the not seeing family thing) and I am sure I will have some good stories as the year goes by. Stay tuned.....

- Bunny