Season Two now streaming live...
I've been through the desert on a horse with no nameIt felt good to be out of the rainIn the desert, you can remember your name'Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain...
Life in Kuwait - Season two…
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| The daily queue for food donations |
To recap where we left off at the end of season 1... Mahboula, the neighborhood where we live was still on lockdown along with the rest of the country. Everyone was home restricted to their homes except for the ability to get outside and walk from 4-6pm. Daily, from our new 13th floor apartment we watched people line up for food donations and every night there were ambulances running through the streets.
We were lucky to get out May 17 to head lakeside in Maine for, at the time, was an unknown amount of time.
In early August, we got the first word from our school that some jobs would be cut and others would be modified. Everyone was on eggshells as we waited for the next update and set of layoffs. Once it was clear that Brigitte and I would indeed have jobs, then came the preparation for the return. Kuwait airport opened August 1 for incoming flights from all but 31 countries that were blackballed due to high Covid cases (how the USA Is not on the blocked list is a great question!)
Entry to Kuwait requires a negative PCR COVID test that has to be less than 72 hours old when you arrived. After extensive research, it became apparent that we could not complete this task by flying out of Boston. Qatar Airways, the only airline that flies to the Middle East and Kuwait only flies from Boston, Montreal, Toronto, Chicago, Dallas, and Washington DC. Our trick was to find a place to get a PCR test with at most a 48 hours turnaround in one of those cities. We settled on Washington DC and made our plans. We went from Boston to our nation's capital, woke the next morning, had our nose swabbed, and went back to our hotel to wait…Of course, that day Kuwait updated the rules and extended the testing to 96 hours...
The next morning, our negative tests arrived and we flew out that night.
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| two stores open, and only 2 gates used out of 85!! |
We had already flown internationally during the pandemic and it was surreal. Not much different for the return to Kuwait with one fairly big difference. Qatar airways mandated both a mask and a face shield be worn throughout the flight. With an 8pm departure and 13 hours of flight time, it would be great to be able to sleep. However, it might not come as any surprise that sleeping was fairly challenging with your face and mouth covered.
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| <<cue the audio from Darth Vader breathing...>> |
Our second tour through the Doha, Qatar airport in 4 months saw a bit more life, but still, a shell of its normal pace. (nearly 39 million passengers traveled through this airport in 2019)
Kuwait -
Upon arrival, we were led through a series of steps to set us up for their forced quarantine process. This included making sure that we had their app on our phones - named Shlonik(translates to “how are you” in Arabic), an interview about where we had come from and where we were going, and a scan for our temperature. We lucked out as this process can be quite lengthy if they are busy, but we were out to our luggage in less than 20 minutes. Due to the lack of traffic, everything else was super easy comparably. Our baggage was there waiting, no lines to go through their final security checks, and plenty of cabs waiting.
Quarantine -
With the app, you are quite restricted to your apartment. The app sends random check-ins requiring you to take a selfie to prove you are indeed at home.
For the first few days, it was ok as we settled into our apartment and work had begun with online professional development. Food and grocery delivery were fully operational so we could have most of what we needed delivered. As time went on, being held captive in the apartment began to drag on(for me anyway). We did buy a small elliptical machine to offer some options for exercise, and we did some yoga, but 14 days was a long haul.
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| The countdown.... |
Brigitte was happy that she brought her new sewing machine back for a nice diversion from hours and hours on the screen.
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| nice diversion from ZOOOOM |
Not that there is a ton of places to go or things to do in Kuwait, knowing you can go when and where you want is a good feeling. Our first day out of quarantine as a Thursday, a workday that allowed us to go to school for the first time since February 20
The reality in Kuwait -
COVID is still very much a reality here, as you can see in this graph.
The country has tried all manner of restrictions, curfews, lockdowns, etc and it really didn't have much effect. However, even with steady numbers, they have worked through their 5 stages re-opening plan, and life is mostly back to normal here. Restaurants are open with limited capacity, most stores are open, hairstylists, gyms, and mosques all open. The only thing still unavailable is movie theaters and shisha restaurants.
Oh, and those 31 countries that are restricted has grown to 34, including
France
😤
The entire education system, private, public, and higher ed is all online. This has had one huge benefit and that is the traffic! We travel 25 kilometers each way and last year, this trip could easily drag out to more than 45 minutes due to horrible traffic. So far, after 2 weeks, we have barely had to touch the brakes both coming and going.
At school, it is very strange to not have the students there. It is an empty feeling with teachers in their rooms teaching remotely via Zoom.
Another small benefit is that the bathrooms are always available and clean :)
Here in Mahboula, you may recall that we moved to a higher apartment affording us a view over the neighborhood. Now, instead of seeing people lined up for food donations, we again see people playing soccer and cricket, and normal traffic. In the distance, they are even dismantling the makeshift medical facility they built in March to handle the COVID outbreak in this area. The remnants of the lockdown are still around including the barbed wire fence…
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| Soccer at 110 degrees!! |
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| Mosques open with limited access inside |
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| Leaving this up for??? |
So here we are, remote learning for at least the fall and in all likely hood, the entire year. We have essentials delivered, go to the grocery store once a week the minute they open to beat the crowds and work away.
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| Pre-dawn moon and some bright star/planet? |
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