Day 4: The Old Souk

11pm ---

Okay, I think I'm finally starting to recover from this insane jetlag I've been having! Since today is one of our only "free days," we were able to sleep in a little. After going to sleep at 1:30am (Dana [my roommate] and I stayed up late because we found the Colbert Report on TV!), I didn't wake up until 10! A full 8 and a half hours: success. 

The day was ours until about 6pm. I basically relaxed most of the afternoon. I checked out the gym - but didn't last too long, because even though the air conditioning was blasting, it was still incredibly hot because the entrance door leads to the outside, where it was a scorching 110 degrees today.

In the afternoon I went downstairs to L’Aroma Café, a small restaurant in the lobby of the hotel open 24 hours a day. I did some reading and people-watched. One fun thing about Kuwait is that because there is no alcohol, they come up with all of these crazy drinks that have some of the most interesting flavor and juice combinations one can possibly imagine. Last night at dinner I had a “Natalia,” which was lemonade, cherry, and grenadine. This afternoon, I stuck to a favorite, “Pina Colada Mocktail.” This place is pretty much heaven for anyone who is underage anyway, like me, because I can still order any drink on the menu and they taste absolutely delicious. Also, since water is not free in Kuwait (you can't drink the tap water), there is no point in ordering water to avoid the cost of a drink (which is what I usually do, as Eric knows very well), so it gives me the perfect excuse to order a fun drink with every dinner, since it will cost about the same as a water would anyway. All of us are having fun with the drinks - it's fun to wait and see what everyone's looks like. One of the signature Kuwaiti drinks consists of mint and lemonade "mocktail"...it is to die for.

Another thing I wanted to mention from this afternoon is that you can smoke cigarettes pretty much anywhere in Kuwait. The guy sitting next to me at L’Aroma Café was puffing away…lovely. The only designated smoking area I’ve come across during the trip so far was in the airport, and it was so packed with people that they had to keep the door open, thus wafting the smell all throughout the terminal anyway. Quite different from the U.S.

Before leaving for the Old Souk, I snapped a shot of the view from my hotel room, because I realized that the only picture I had taken of the view consisted of the pool and workout room at night:

Kuwait apartment buildings

We left for the Old Souk in Kuwait City, and it was a really cool place. We stopped beforehand at the first Kuwaiti school, which has since been turned into a museum. They had some cool stuff on display, like this grade book from the 1940s:

Arabic Grading Book

The Old Souk was really interesting. I took a couple of pictures, but they didn't turn out very well. I also didn't want to seem like I was snapping pictures of people, because it was a very crowded place. 

Opening in middle of Souk

Older, shut down part of Souk

The Souk is basically a huge marketplace where you can buy pretty much anything. We're going to go back a couple more times during the trip, so I didn't buy anything today. Everyone was offering us a bunch of different food to try, like fruit, nuts, and deserts. Everything was delicious! One of the biggest parts of going to the Souk is negotiating the prices, which I'm a little nervous about. At least I have my Arabic to help me out, so that makes me feel better. We ate dinner outside in the Souk, and there were a bunch of misters over all of the tables. It kept us cool, but it was sort of like eating in the rain, which was kind of strange. The food was great, once again!

The Souk seemed to be the one place so far where Kuwaitis and ex-pats go together (or at least are there are the same time, doing the same thing, namely shopping). Some ex-pats are employed by the Souk to follow shoppers around with carts, carrying their items for them. They wear bright red jumpsuits - it was strange to see. It struck me as very degrading and unnecessary. I'm starting to be able to tell immediately who is a Kuwaiti and who is an ex-pat.

Tomorrow we are going to a place called Failaka Island, which is right off the coast of Kuwait. I'm super excited - apparently there is a camel farm, jetskis, and horseback riding. It should be really cool!

!مع السلامة