Days 2 and 3, Kuwait City, Kuwait.

posted 10.19.10 at 12:00 am
 Saturday, October 8th
(For the begining of the trip, Click here...)

Arrived in Kuwait city, after a long, yet surprisingly comfortable 11 hour flight.  Flew commercial, that helped.
On the 20 minute drive to the hotel, we got briefed on what and what not to do while in Kuwait.  No photos of mosques or women, and absolutely no wandering beyond the compound we were staying on (A Radisson, but was very secure all around).  Doing any of these would result in something very bad.  Literally, walking on the wrong sidewalk can get you arrested, and taking a picture of a woman (or just taking a picture that a woman happens to be in) will 1) steal her soul, and 2)result in her husband having every right to forcibly take your camera away from you, with no repercussions.  Unless you have lots of money.
Makes you wonder what they think about caricatures.



We were allowed free time for the rest of the day, and many took a much needed nap before we all met for dinner. We decided to have our introductory Kuwaiti meal very close to the hotel, both for security reasons, and that we were all still hungover, so to speak, from the flight. Attatched to the hotel was Al-Boom, an Asian/Medittarenian restaurant. We had a leisurely dinner after a huge buffet of appetizers of hummas, babaganoush, rattatoui, chicken tikka masala and salad, to name a few dishes.  Since there's no booze in Kuwait, we toasted with our non-alcoholic cocktails, and called it a night.


Sunday, October 9th
Today is our first big day of events. We were split into two groups, and were given basically two different assignments. My group was the early group (natch!), so we met for breakfast at 6:45 and proceeded to our first destination at roughly 7:30. Our first stop was to Camp Arifjan, where we received an hour briefing from the Lt. Cn. on the military history and our goings-on in Kuwait, and lots of college football talk. Our group also received challenge coins from the Lt and a plaque, thanking us for our service.


Then we moseyed on over to the EEC (rec) center, set up at a long table and drew for 2 hours. The crowd was light; it was a holiday, so most of the military were sleeping in.
Then off to DFAC (Dining Facility) for lunch.  The food on these bases is great, nothing like what I've seen from M*A*S*H or any other military movie.  Fresh fruit, salad bars, carving stations, the works.

Our next stop of the day, Kuwait Naval Base, had to be cancelled, due to some unscheduled military exercises, much to Jeff 'Old Navy' Bacon's dismay. Instead, we headed to the stop the other group were also headed to, an Air Force base nicknamed 'The Rock', thustly named after a big... Rock, conveniently located in the center of the base. We drew here for two hours, then all hopped in the bus back to the hotel,  hoping Allah didn't have it in for us that day.
We were pretty beat by the end of the day; lots of traveling and drawing, all while still jet lagged from the 12 hour flight the day before. Many of us made it an early night.
Tomorrow: Iraq!

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