Head in a jar

I am not sure whether it is jet lag or just going non-stop. We have been trying not to nap during the day, but end up only going to bed around midnight and getting up at 7 am. I am exhausted, but so is most everyone else. We have today and tomorrow at school, and then the Eid holiday, which we are desperately looking forward to.

The Avenues Mall was quite an experience. We arrived there at 7:30 pm and the stores were just opening, only to close around 2 am. The restaurants had been open since just after 6 when the sun set. There were men in white dishdashahs and white headdresses, women in black abayas, or otherwise extremely dressed up. The kids also were very dressed up. The mood was a festive one, reminiscent of Christmases back home, with sales and specials abounding. It was a very glitzy place with all of the shops in any upscale US mall. Our first stop was Carrefour, a French-based superstore with groceries, electronics, housewares, and clothing. We got a cell-phone and lots of little household goods. Then Maria (a good shopper who also lived in Namibia in 2000 as a VSO volunteer) and I raced over to Ikea since we were on a time limit. Russ stayed home and finished unpacking. We could have been in any IKEA in the world, although I noticed that the prices were quite a bit higher than in the US. I found some things that we needed and also a few decorations to make the apartment seem more homey. Ikea is so great for design ideas, but we did not even make it through the whole store before we had to get back on the bus (the school rented a flat bed truck to bring all of our purchases back.) One Kuwaiti dinar is about 3.6 US dollars, so it is not hard to blow $100 just at one store.

The traffic going back home at 11:00 pm was insane. Everyone was out and it seemed more like a parking lot than anything else. Apparently speeding is quite a problem here and there are many fender benders. I don't think we will be getting a car; the taxi's seem safe and are a reasonable way to get around.