Category: Life in Kuwait

Life in Kuwait

Life in Lockdown

Jessica Chiang2 Comments

As I lay here in my apartment, I’ve lost track of time. Has it been 4 weeks of online teaching? 5 weeks? Is it only Monday? What is time? Time is but a construct when you’re facing the same four walls all day, every day. Everything melds together. Sometimes you look up and the day has gone, and sometimes it just drags.

Life becomes a routine, but somehow remains unpredictable. We wake up every morning wondering what the new day brings. Will today be a full lockdown? Will deliveries stop? We have not yet advanced to hoping that the new day will bring changes such as airports opening or restrictions being loosened.

The airport closed indefinitely to all incoming and outgoing flights on March 13th. A curfew was imposed on us on March 22. No one is allowed outside between the hours of 5PM to 4AM. Any violators caught would be fined 10,000KD (that’s about $33,000!!) or jailed for up to 3 years. Even though these fines are heavy, daily reports show that there are still a handful of people who are caught breaking curfew each night. The majority are Kuwaiti, and some are expats, with expats facing deportation when caught.

Day 1 of 5PM-4AM curfew

On the second day of statewide curfew, we heard a big commotion outside. I realized that residents, cooped up in their apartments, were chanting “Allahu akbar!” or “God is great!” from their windows. Italy gets massive sing-alongs from their balconies, and we get this.

Shouts of “Allahu akbar!” spreading positivity across the city

This brings us to April 6, today. There are rumors of 3 major areas going into 24 hour curfew: Jleeb, Farwaniya and Mahboula. These areas have high concentrations of expat workers, among which the current outbreak has hit hard. The number of positive COVID-19 cases today was 109, which is a huge spike from the previous daily cases of about 25. As a resident of Mahboula, all I have to do is peer out the window and I can see the hoards of Indian workers piling off the buses, running into their apartments. It is no secret that they are crammed into these buildings, 5 to 6 per room. It is really no surprise that these communities have been hardest hit, but these are also the communities that we least want to have an outbreak. Rumors run rampant these days, and it is best to just take everything with a grain of salt and see how it all plays out.

There has been no official word on whether Mahboula really is going into 24 hour curfew, but it appears on Instagram that police are setting up barricades and roadblocks in the area in preparation for it. What HAS been announced is that the whole country will be extending our current 5PM to 4AM curfew by two hours, to 5PM to 6AM.

Inshallah that this pandemic will be over soon as we begin to see the effects of the current measures. Who knows what tomorrow will bring? All we can do is do our part by staying home and staying positive.

Life in Kuwait

Comfortable in your own skin

Jessica ChiangLeave a comment

Social distancing or self-quarantining at home provides a lot of time to self reflect. A lot of time. I’m actually quite content to be quarantined here in Kuwait, because honestly, my life pre and post-quarantine has not changed too much. There isn’t too much to do here to begin with, so I have to self-entertain a lot. I think it would be a lot more difficult to be forced to stay at home in a more exciting city, such as Shanghai or Chicago.

I’m actually quite enjoying myself these days and am slowly trying to make better use of my time. First of all, I started this blog! I’ve been thinking about and saying I’d start a blog for years, but I never get around to it, not because I don’t have the time, but out of sheer laziness. Oops. 

I’ve also started working out again. I’ve worked out about 3 times in the last week, which is more than I’ve worked out in a long long time so I feel pretty good about myself. I’ve been doing Barre exercises at home by watching Youtube videos. I recently found Barre Centric and am really enjoying their videos! I like Barre because it is so fast-paced, and I hate working out so I lose interest very quickly and count down the minutes until the end of class. Having a class that switches up moves every 8-16 counts makes time pass by so much faster. 

I’ve also started to cook again! I always make my own food, but I realize that I haven’t actually COOKED in a long time. I’ve just been heating things up or boiling things and adding ready-made sauces to dishes, not actually making my own sauces or combining different ingredients.

I also tried to bake my own bread, which kind of failed again. I’ve tried baking bread in Kuwait about 4 times, but for some reason, it is not rising as it should and the bread comes out a lot more dense than I’d like it. And I know it’s not the recipe because my mom tried it and got great results. Sigh. I blame the oven. My apartment here is equipped with a gas oven that you actually have to light with a flame, and it just doesn’t have the same effect. First of all, I can’t control the temperature, really, and the bread doesn’t actually brown. Even if it is fully cooked, it comes out looking very pale and unappetizing. I did buy more flour and will probably give it another go at some point. 

One recipe. Two very different outcomes.

What are you all doing to pass time in self-quarantine? Will take hobby recommendations!

Life in Kuwait

A Glimmer of Light

Jessica Chiang1 Comment
Source: Worldometers.info

It is our third day (I think?) in lockdown, although time melts together when you don’t leave your couch, so honestly, I’m not really sure how long it has been. My new routine now consists of checking Facebook, Instagram, Worldometers.info for updated coronavirus cases, and Google News to see if there have been any important news updates while I was asleep about coronavirus. Today’s number of cases around the world is at 146,008 which is up 21,085 cases from the last time I posted 3 days ago, which is just mind-boggling. Talk about an exponential increase. Europe has really blown up, and I’m pretty certain the United States is about to as well, as soon as they start actually testing. The number of deaths has also gone up by about 1,000 cases. It has now grown to more than 5,000 cases worldwide, with Italy being hit especially hard due to their elderly population and overwhelmed hospital systems. 

However, not all is dark! I’ve joined a new Facebook group called “Educator Temporary School for Online Learning,” which has recently been started as schools around the world begin to turn to virtual learning to mitigate the spread of the virus. I’m just scrolling through the hundreds of posts, and see a familiar name pop up: Dale Ethridge. Turns out Mr. Ethridge’s wife, Tara, posted a link to his music website to help other music educators as well as anyone who wanted to spend their time in self-quarantine learning new music! I haven’t been in contact with Mr. Ethridge at all, but he was my 8th grade English teacher back when I attended Shanghai American School 16 years ago! I commented on her post saying just that, and what happens after that? Ms. Newcomb, my high school biology teacher, replies to my comment! It became a little blast from the past SAS reunion that really made my day. Here we are, quarantined to our own homes around the world, but making connections through a Facebook page that has 63,000 members, from Prague to Kuwait to Qatar. Truly, I LOVE how small the international school community is! 

Another thing that stood out to me is just how multi-talented educators are. Mr. Ethridge often played the guitar for us, but he taught us 8th grade English. Now it seems that he is teaching music and various types of instruments in Prague! I know many people who have taught a variety of learners and subjects of different ages, and I think it is awesome that they are so knowledgeable in so many different areas.

I did break my self-quarantine today and went to Lulu’s to stock up on groceries again. It’s the first time I’ve really been out since public places have been closed, so I was curious to see what the difference would be. I heard yesterday that police have been patrolling diligently, telling everyone to go home and not gather in parks or be outside in general unless they are running essential errands. I did notice that there are a lot fewer people outside, and the groups of Indian workers that I can usually see from my window playing soccer on the sand fields are no longer there. 

I chose to go in the morning, as Lulu’s is often pretty empty in the morning because people here wake late. I want to come into contact with as little people as I can! Surprisingly, or maybe not, everything was very normal at Lulu’s. All the shelves were fully stocked, and it was business as usual, to my relief. I don’t know what I was expecting. I guess from all the social media posts online, I thought that all the food, pasta, canned goods and toilet paper would be gone due to all the panic buying. I am happy to announce that there is a lot of toilet paper available at Lulu’s. I know because I bought some, not because I want to hoard it, but because I really only have one roll left. 

The situation is dire in Australia, but not in Kuwait!
Life in Kuwait

And so it begins…

Jessica ChiangLeave a comment

BREAKING NEWS: The WHO has just officially declared the COVID-19 coronavirus to be a worldwide pandemic.

Source: CNN, Arab Times Kuwait, ladieswhodolunch Instagram

Everyone around me is freaking out because rumor has it that all of Kuwait will be going on a 2 week vacation starting tomorrow. This means all public spaces- public and private, including restaurants, cafes, gyms and malls will be closed. All commercial flights will also be suspended. The only people allowed to fly are Kuwaiti citizens and their immediate family. There has been a lot of fake news and rumors circulating social media recently, so the closure isn’t 100% certain yet, but it does seem pretty official. Videos from social media are also showing people panic buying at grocery stores right now, stocking up on essential supplies before everything shuts down. Admittedly, running to the grocery store to buy food was one of the first thoughts that popped into my head, but then I thought that everyone would be panic buying right now. Turns out I was right. When things get shut down because of the coronavirus, the last thing you probably want to do is rush into a crowded grocery store and potentially get the virus from someone else. I’m also pretty certain that supermarkets will remain open even if everything else is closed, because they just have to. Right?! Worse comes to worst, I still have rice, noodles and a bunch of Asian snacks that will tide me over for the next 2 weeks. Good thing I shop like it’s the apocalypse regularly, even without the coronavirus. This is mostly because I’m cheap and try to save money on cabbing to the supermarket. Everytime I go I stock up on frozen meats and other foods so I don’t have to make grocery runs too often. 

Source: Worldometer.com

Wow. As I’m sitting here writing this post, so many more things have been brought to my attention. Granted, it has been about an hour, but traffic is piling up outside, particularly near the grocery store behind our building. Also, there has been 2313 new cases in Italy today. TODAY. That is INSANE. It blows my mind. I cannot even comprehend what that must be like. It is currently March 11, 2020 9:19PM Kuwait time, and there are 124,923 coronavirus cases reported in the world. These days, the first thing I do when I wake up is search for coronavirus news and updates, both globally and locally. Since I started about 2 days ago, the number was at about 118,000 and it has increased by more than 6,000 cases in the last couple of days. Again, this is insane! 

I remember when the most panic-inducing thing this year was when the US was on the verge of war with Iran. Tensions were high for about a day, but blew over quickly. It was long enough for us to lose a teacher though! She hightailed out of here pretty quickly, which I don’t totally blame her, as it was pretty scary for a bit. This pandemic, however, has kept tensions high for awhile, and realistically, probably will for another month or so. We are currently wrapping up our second week of online learning, with 2 more to go. Now with the announcement that all public and private sectors are off for the next 2 weeks, I wonder if we will still have to hold virtual lessons?

Note: This blog post was actually written on March 11, 2020 but I didn’t get a chance to post it. I never thought that my first blog post would be about such a heavy topic, but hey, it is all thanks to the coronavirus that I’m actually getting around to writing a blog post, right?