You Know Your House is in the Middle East When...

It's been a while! We've been busy on vacation back in France then back to Kuwait to move from our three-bedroom apartment to (finally) a house!

You know you live in a house in the Middle East when:

- your house is 800 square metres (that's about 8000 square feet);

- there is a room just for the driver (and it is possible that you even have a driver);

- there is a third floor (second floor in European parlance);

- there are two of everything: two kitchens, two living rooms, two dining rooms...except for bedrooms - of which there are at least four (not including the maid's bedroom), and toilets - of which you have lost count;

Dining room No. 1

 Dining room No. 2 (well, part of it - the table seats 12)

- there is a swimming pool next to one of the living rooms - enclosed in glass;

- your master bedroom is, in fact, a suite, complete with sitting room, walk-in dressing room, and bathroom;

- the grocery store is a theoretical ten-minute walk from your house but it's literally not possible to get there by foot;

- there are eight similar houses on your little street, and about fifty cars, motorbikes, and vans;

- notwithstanding the presence of eight other gigantic houses on your street and many many automobiles of all sorts, you have never met nor even seen any of your neighbours - ever;

- your kids ride their bikes inside; and

- there are 100+ channels on your Nilesat television satellite system, of which there are five in a language that you understand.

Dining at the old Kuwait souq

I've already written about how we avoid fast food outlets in Kuwait (and everywhere else), so now I'll write about a place where we do go to eat every now and then - the old souq in Kuwait city.  Here, not only do you get mouthwatering traditional middle eastern food like humous, lots of olives, special salty pickles, lots of veggies, a cheese whose name I don't know (but it's really good!), enormous wads of flat bread, and grilled lamb or chicken covered in some kind of yellow spice that I can't identify.  You get it on real dishes. Only the beverages are served in plastic cups (they're not allowed to serve them in glasses outdoors).

Here is where you sit.  I think we were the only westerners there that day.  Oh, and the menu is all in Arabic and the waiters don't speak English, so for non-Arabic speakers, the best way to order is to just point to the things that the people at the table next to you have ordered.

And best of all, what is possibly Kuwait's only playground that is new and in good condition is right next to the eating area!

Judging Kuwait by its playgrounds

Since having children, I have learned about the importance of public playgrounds.  Playgrounds give children something to climb on, swing on, slide down, and run around.  But they're not just for children.  Playgrounds are a meeting place.  They are the place where you bump into other mommies and daddies and grandparents in the neighbourhood, where nannies can meet up to chat every day, and where your children get to meet other kids.  In our travels, I have met many people and made many friends in neighbourhood playgrounds and I have failed to meet people and been prevented from making friends in places where they were no playgrounds.

The number of play areas in a country as well as the state of a country's playgrounds says something about that country.  In Italy, for example, there aren't many public play areas at all (although this is changing) because Italians view the family unit as a pre-emptive force.  Children stay at home (or in the restaurant or wherever) with their parents and brothers and sisters (and maybe cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents).  The state has no role in entertaining children.  There is no room for a neighbourhood playground in this scenario.

In Madagascar, there are no public playgrounds, because the country is far too poor to think of spending public money on such luxuries. Children play on the street, in the dirt.  This might sound romantic but in reality it is not.  Their are no parks, so children play on the street where they breathe in noxious car fumes all day long.  Their clothes and bodies get filthy from the red earth, the children rarely bathe and their clothes don't get washed.  Disease spreads.  Asthma is common.

In France (or at least in Paris), the playgrounds are numerous and of good quality.  Practically every church or public square has some kind of a play area, and sometimes even a sand box.  There are also the major play areas in the Champs de Mars, the Jardin du Luxembourg, and the Jardin des Tuileries (including trampolines), to name a view, not to mention pony rides and merry-go-rounds (but you have to pay for those).  It is a convenience that I will never tire of boasting about.  Where is the first place we go when we hit the ground in Paris, once we check into our apartment-hotel?  The local playground!

In France, if any part of public playground equipment gets damaged, it gets fixed, promptly.  If the play equipment is starting to look worn out, the local city hall takes it all down and builds another play area.  All play equipment has a sticker on it indicating what age the equipment is appropriate for.  What do French playgrounds say about the French?  For the French, children have their own sphere of activity separate from their parents and extended families, and providing activities in that separate "children's sphere" is part of the job of the state.

Kuwait is interesting when it comes to playgrounds.  The country is stinking rich, and the weather is decent for playing outdoors at least six months of the year.  So you would think that this country would be the ideal place for lots of good playgrounds.  Unfortunately, this is not quite the case.  There are many playgrounds, especially on the Gulf Road, and many families frequent these playgrounds. However, all the equipment looks about 20+ years old and is badly in need of repair.  20+ years.  Hmmm.  That would take us back to before the first Gulf war.  So it would seem that before the Gulf war, the Kuwaitis were very keen to have lots of great space for kids and families.  Since then, they have left it all at a standstill.  None of it has been maintained and nothing new has been built.   Amazing how a war can affect the mindset of a people.

It's not only the run-down playgrounds that need a facelift.  The public hospitals are on shoestring budgets.  The beaches have been full of sewage for the past 10 years.  There is litter all over the desert....

What does the state of Kuwait's playgrounds tell me about Kuwait?  It tells me that while Kuwaitis, for whatever reason, no longer think that their country is worth investing in.  The war seems to have made them cynics.  After all, why build a playground when it risks getting bombed?  

The Bambino's nursery in Kuwait

So we decided not to enroll the Bambino in one of the nurseries frequented by expatriate children here in Kuwait.  We figured that while he is still so young and his mind like a sponge, why not put him in a nursery with Arabic speaking children instead?  So he goes to a private, upscale Kuwaiti nursery.  The children wear uniforms (they're only two years old!).  The teacher-child ratio is one teacher for six children.  The materials are from Neinhuis.  The languages of the classroom are English, Arabic and French.

The nursery being the most "authentic" Montessori nursery in Kuwait (other nurseries in Kuwait call themselves Montessori but are more "Montessori-inspired" than actual Montessori), there are very few "toys" in the classroom.  The closest thing you get to toys are stacking blocks, puzzles and an abacus.  This being the toddler class, these toys are acceptable.

There is a practical life section, which real glass pitchers of water and bowls to practice pouring and transferring with a spoon.

There are also the standard Montessori mathematic and sensorial materials, like the pink tower and the cylinders.  These materials are actually meant for age three and up but the school decided to put them in the toddler room as well.

And here is the Bambino during his adaptation period at the school (no uniform yet - that came a week later).

We recently had parent-teacher interviews.  You read it right - a parent-teacher interview regarding our two-year old child.  Never before have we encountered a nursery that gives parent-teacher interviews for toddlers.  Not that I'm complaining.  It's always fun to hear how my two-year old boy acts at his nursery when we're not there.   Oh, and this "interview" didn't take place at the school, in the classroom, as you would expect them to.  No no.  We received a formal invitation to a tea at the very chichi Le Notre Restaurant and had the interview there.

So far, we're happy with our decision to put him in the posh Kuwaiti nursery.  Now if only I could understand the Bambino when he tries to say something in Arabic!

Bahrain

So, when we entered Kuwait on August 31st of this year, they let us in on visitor's visas valid for ninety days.  That means that before December 1st, we had to leave the country to get another visa; hence this week's quickie trip to the Kingdom of Bahrain.  

Based on our trip, I have been able to make a few comparisons between Bahrain and Kuwait.

1.  Bahrain has fewer lunatic drivers than Kuwait.  The speed whimsical and erratic behaviour of cars on this freeway to Manama City pales in comparison to drivers on the Fahaheel Highway of Death in Kuwait.

2. Bahrain has pubs that serve (gasp!) alcohol.

3. Bahrain has a Trader Vic's Restaurant.  And they serve alcoholic beverages.

4. Bahrain has Kumon.  And since I've recently enrolled the Bambina in Kumon and there's no Kumon Centre in Kuwait, it looks like we're going to be doing it by correspondence with the Kumon Centre in Bahrain, which is why we visited there during our trip.  It's run by Fiona, a lovely Irish woman who did a great job of encouraging the Bambina to do our worksheets every day.

5. Bahrain has a slightly nicer, less polluted skyline than Kuwait.

6. Bahrain is greener than Kuwait.

7. And finally, there are just as many Ferraris, Infinitis, Porsches, Mercedes, BMWs and other very expensive cars in Bahrain as in Kuwait (all owned by locals of course.  We poor expats get a rented Toyota.)

Avoiding Fast Food on the Road

Call it a parenting quirk of mine, but in all our travels, we have never, ever, stopped at a Mcdonalds.  Or even driven through.  This means that my 7-year old daughter has never been to Mcdonalds.  Or Burger King.  Or KFC.  Or any other restaurant that serves meals in throw away containers, with the exception of the time she had a slice of oven-baked cheese pizza in a food court in Sun City, South Africa.

How have we managed to avoid it?  Well, it was easy to avoid in Madagascar because there were no fast food restaurants there at all.  In Europe (and we have spent a lot of time in Europe), fast food outlets are abundant - French people love "Mac-DOE", as they affectionately call it. And here in Kuwait, there is a fast food chain restaurant of some kind about every 100 metres.  It's not surprise that obesity is such a problem in Kuwait, there is even a Wikipedia entry on it!

The answer is that we just don't go there.  In France, we just didn't when we were living there and we don't when we visit. We find a real restaurant or brasserie that serves food that our kids like, and we go there.  Sometimes, we go there again and again if we can't find anything else.  In Italy, the food is so good, why go for fast food?  In Kuwait, we don't eat out much anyway and when we do, it's usually Pizza Express, a UK restaurant chain that serves wood oven pizza the way they make it in Italy (or pretty close ;-)). It's eat-in and the food in served on real plates with real cutlery.

I know people who think that we can't, realistically, maintain our "abstinence program" in Kuwait, or who ask,"why continue with it?  Doesn't a fast food boycott just make your lives inconvenient?  And after all, everything in moderation, right?"

I can see greater, long term inconveniences in taking my kids there.  You see, my original reason for not taking the Bambina to Mcdonalds was only partly ethical and nutritional and more to do with keeping the whine factor to a minimum.  I knew that once she had been one time, she would ask, beg, and plead to go again and again and again.

Are all kids like this?  No (so please don't write in the comments that I must be wrong because your children never did this and you go to MacDonalds once a year, no problem).  But my daughter is and so is my son.  I'm very happy to avoid this trap.

As for the "everything in moderation" argument, that only counts for things that are actually *good* for you in moderation - like salt or brown sugar.  Mcdonalds isn't.  As a nutritional matter, Macdonalds meals are too calorie-dense, too high in fat, too high in sodium and not balanced.  The fact is that there is no good reason to have a meal at Mcdonalds if your kids will enjoy a meal elsewhere.  Not one.  Macdonalds is not good for nutrition, not good for calories, not good for agriculture and not good for the environment.

And the reality is that Mcdonalds is just one option when you're on the road with kids.  You don't need to take your kids to Mcdonalds at the Pantheon in Rome.  Take them for some yummy pasta and sauce at a local trattoria instead.  In Paris, take them for a delicious burger at Hippopotamus.  The beef is excellent and they even have mashed potatoes and green beans on the side as an alternative to fries.

Even on a highway in the States, surely stopping at a diner or other truck stop and getting a burger is better than stopping at Mcdonalds (or Burger King or Wendy's or KFC...).  At least at the truck stop, the hamburger patty is more likely to come from just one cow and not 20 different ones.  Here in Kuwait (and throughout the Middle East), Pizza Express is a good alternative.  There are also some good Italian and seafood restaurants.  And there is delicious Middle Eastern food if your kids are open to trying new tastes.  Wherever you are with your kids, finding a local restaurant, or even just a place where you can sit down and eat food on real plates, will almost always be a better choice nutritionally and environmentally.

Wordless Wednesday- Habits that could make me go broke in Kuwait