The end of a very long day

I am finally at home after a very long day of standing in line. Even though we already did our extensive bloodwork and chest xrays in the US, we went through the entire process again at the Ministry of Health.

To start things off, the two buses designated to transport forty-eight of us were an hour and half late in picking us up at 6:00 am, but we did not know when it would arrive so we waited in the hot sun (it seems like the temperatures rise as soon as the sun comes up). When we did arrive at the first office, men and women were segregated and each group went to the head of their respective lines, ahead of dozens of other people already waiting there, simply because we are Americans and they are (mostly) from the Indian sub-continent region. It's an uncomfortable feeling of privilege.

The privilege ended when the women were bussed to a separate building on the other side of town where females could be screened separately. This was completely chaotic from the minute we walked in the door with what seemed to be an United Nations conglomerate of people from twenty different countries. Fortunately, we had a representative from the school who could speak Arabic. We waited in one room, standing room only. Then we were moved to another so-called line in small groups. That's when the herd mentality and pushing began. Kuwaiti women in abayas forced their way to the front, with hardly an "excuse me". It was more "I'm Kuwaiti" which translates "I'm first". Then the hordes of other people started making a loud commotion. A group of six of us had snuck in just before the door was locked behind us, but then it was still another hour before we took off our bras, donned gowns, and went into the completely unprotected xray room (no lead aprons, multiple people in the room). This may be a so-called first-world country but I've been told it has a third-world (or to be pc,developing country) mentality in many areas.

The men by this time had long returned to school. We were not finished until the end of the school day but the bus brought us back to school anyway. We were given the ok to leave but had to battle the traffic of cars waiting to pick up students. Not many parents pick up their children but rather send their drivers who created a parking lot out of city streets surrounding the school.

Luckily, three of us found a taxi but then dealt with traffic on the highway home. I met with a woman who will be our new maid, and then waited outside for the school bus to arrive to take us to the Hilton. That bus was thirty minutes late and what I am coming to realize is that Kuwaiti time is not a whole different than Africa time. Things will always take much longer than we think. It was ok though; I got through about half of a book I started reading.

We had a light meal of hummus, baba gannoush, pita, and veggies for dinner. It's not even 7:30 now and I am ready to crash. A quick peak at my school email showed 42 messages waiting for my attention tomorrow morning. I am glad to have the Hilton to unwind.