midnight at the oasis

We took a long walk tonight to go to a large bargain store. I bought some local sweets - don’t know what they are, but they looked exotic so I bought a variety of types. I’m going to eat one now.

Okay, here it is. It’s little ball of white doughy confection. It looks like window putty. It comes in a little white candy paper and all enclosed in clean cellophane with a tiny bit of Arabic writing on it in gold. Let me see if I can decipher the writing… I have learned all the letters of the Arabic alphabet, but I can’t always make them out. It looks like it says “Irwama” or something like that. Let’s have a little taste… Hm… not bad. I was kind of hoping that it would taste like Italian nougat candy, and in fact it does. But it has pistachios inside instead of almonds. Mm. Pretty good.

It sure was a long, hot, dusty, stinky walk to that store, so I’m glad something good came out of it. By the time I got home I was dying for a beer. I bought some Budweiser NA at the fancy foreigner’s grocery store yesterday. NA, sadly stands for “Non Alcoholic.” My supervisor says “All the calories and none of the kick.” But you know, it still tastes good. I’m on my second one now. I just had to open another. Beer sure is a funny drink. You know, it really tastes awful until one day you have a drink of it and all the sudden you like it. Maybe Kuwait will be like that.

I was in a bad mood tonight. I took a nap and woke up in time to join the bus for the Welcome To Kuwait reception for foreign teachers at AUK (American University in Kuwait). The lady who organized the program had scheduled a guest speaker who called and cancelled at the last minute, so she did the best she could and talked to us about teaching Kuwaiti children… it was kind of a drag, she didn’t have that much to say, but we did our best to be a polite audience.

Today I called the international clinic to make an appointment about my persistent cough and persistent back-ache. A chiropractor I saw before leaving PA mentioned that the two could be related, and it might indicate some kind of lung infection, so since I have medical insurance now I’m going to have it looked at. Kuwait employs a lot of people who speak English in various customer service jobs. You don’t always get real good English. You make a phone call and you hear the Arabic “chhashlllahmachhashlakan hummina hummina hummina” then “For English press two.” The girl answers the phone, a Filipino or something. She has an accent.
“Intearnational Kleenex, can I help you?”
“Yes, I made an appointment with Dr. Iman for the 18th because I know she’s on vacation, but I’d like to get an earlier appointment, even if it’s with a different doctor.”
“I’m sorry, madame, Dr. Iman is on vacation.”
“Please don’t call me madame. I’m a man.”
“Oh. I am sorry.”
“Do I sound like a woman?”
“Yes.”
“Oh… that’s embarrassing.”
“I’m sorry. Dr. Iman is on vacation.”
“I know. Can I cancel my appointment on the 18th and see another doctor please?”
“Yes, madame. What is your name?”
I told her my name and she made another appointment for me on Saturday. I think the doctor I’m going to see is Egyptian. I hope he’s good. My assistant told me to boil chunks of ginger and make a tea for the cough, and you know it really works pretty well, but it only lasts a little while, and the back pain doesn‘t really go away. I have been blaming it on the block of cement mattress I have in my apartment here, and maybe it will turn out to be nothing more than that.

Tomorrow I might try to get to the cathedral for mass. My assistant, the ginger tea recommender, is a Roman Catholic from Goa, India. She told me about seeing the relics of Saint Francis Xavier when his body was exposed for the faithful some years back. She says it was so wonderful to see him. I was rather appalled, but her sweet, devotional faith moved me. “Jon, you must go to mass while you are here in Kuwait,” she tells me. “Kuwait is a very hard place to be. You must go to mass while you are here.”
I think she’s right. I think I need to go.