Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Some days, Kuwait is great. I might solve a problem at work, do something impressive which makes me feel like I'm REALLY doing G(eographic)I(nformation)S(ystems)... or it might be because I do something with a club. So far I've managed to join four. The Kuwait Offshore Sailing Association (as opposed to KOMA...;-)), Desert Bikers Club Kuwait, Kuwait Writing Club and Kuwait Bibliophiles (a slightly creepily named book club). I have also been invited to join another writing club run by a Kuwaiti but they are having a break over the summer.
I've never been a member of so many clubs in my life. I wish I had been though, as they're usually a lot of fun. I go sailing twice a week with KOSA, ride friday mornings with DBCK, write once a month with KWC and chat once a fortnight at KB.
Kuwait Bibliophiles
The book club is really only that in name only. I think it was started with good intentions but we just end up chatting about whatever we like and books are only ever the starting point. I guess we should try to discuss one book per meeting. The way it's supposed to go is that we tell the group about one book we have been reading in the past fortnight, advocating for it if it's good. There is also someone who has started a book loaning service where you pay a couple of KD and I think get refunded 1KD after returning it. We used to meet there but they're moving house. Now we're meeting at coffee shops and have no chance of staying on track. Most attendees are Indian and it's nice to hang out with such an articulate bunch. One of the organisors has a literature degree and likes to take the opportunity to give a bit of a lecture on something sometimes which we all dutifully listen to (just kidding, they're often quite interesting and make me wish I'd followed my instincts to study the same at university back before I struck out on this guilt and slavery based man points and status seeking careering thing). I remember someone else who'd done the same degree and had started a Master's in the same field attended last time. They started mentioning all of these official sounding books and authors that I suspect they thought people at that kind of club should know about. Me: blank stare. That's why I love Kuwait Bibliophiles. They don't refuse uneducated uncouth unread people like me. No offense to my dilligent English teacher at school.
Kuwait Writing Club
I found the Kuwait Writing Club via Google. It's great. When I first went I couldn't find it as it was literally in an underground bookshop. It also didn't help that there was no sign and the metal door I was supposed to go in was shut and had 'CLOSED' spray painted on it in big red letters. When I finally went inside I knew I'd found something special. The bookshop was in fact closing due to a government crackdown. They had a blacklisted book on their shelves (I forget which, it's probably standard reading at school back home and I'd love to see their response to our having to read Lady Chatterley's Lover in Grade 12!) And that meant they had to close. The writing club met in a large room in the book shop. Attendees are mostly Kuwaiti although there are a few Americans (although perhaps they're just Kuwaitis with Yank accents), they're mostly girls and most seem to be going to university. The first time I went there were about 25, second time about 10. I am very admiring of their excellent English skills. We have a single word every month that is the topic for the max 1500 words piece we have to write. This can be an essay, poem, song (yes, one girl even wrote a and sung a nursery rhyme!), story - haven't had anyone do a play yet. Perhaps I could do that. The topic of the first one I went to was socks, the second secret. Next meeting it will be glass. My suggestion of headshot almost won the vote, perhaps I can still work that theme into my piece ;-) Basically what happens is everyone prints out their piece, hands it round then stands up in front and reads it out. The first time I went there was a guy there who memorised and performed a poem! It was brilliant! It reminded me of the Brisbane Poetry Slam and reminded me of how much I missed it. I am so happy to have found the KWC because the poetry events I was involved in back in Brisbane were so much fun and I really need to do something like that regularly. Most pieces are stories, and they're often quite good. It's obvious many have had some training. Characters speak, I can see them, they ask questions, they move and emote. It works. I like it. It's my little dose of fiction, hand made, once a month. And it's great.
In Kuwait. An English writing club. Unbelievable. It's also a good place to find out about other literary and spoken literary things happening in Kuwait. The organisor of the Open Mic event came along once, for example. Good stuff.
Kuwait Offshore Sailing Association
KOSA is the best. In the past month there's been some great wind and we even won a race (on handicap)! Check out this video, lots of fun! I can't believe I'm sailing twice a week. Where did that come from? You don't just go and join a sailing club and start sailing suddenly. You have to be rich and know famous people. Maybe that's what's happened to me now. Maybe I do. But actually I don't. We have a s***ty little old ratty club boat called Wanderer (if anyone from KOSA is reading this come on be honest now!), and an even smaller one called Hotshot - which actually goes along quite well but you can't get all snooty about being on it (although not much of an opportunity for this is offered by the other one) as there is no cabin and it doesn't look like a yacht. Really, I love it. Who cares that the boat isn't shiny. It's fricking sailing. On the ocean, with the wind. It's navigation. It's looking for buoys to dodge on the way out (why didn't they put a light on it damnit?!), then other buoys to go around ... way out far from the shore. We pull ropes, and I've learnt they're called sheets, we hoist sails, trim them around ratcheted rollers through pully wheel systems. We tack. We shift the sails side to side, or jibe around - pivoting the wind across our tail (stern!) Knots are tied, stories are told, various drinks are drunk. We sail in the evenings now as it's summer and basically 40+ degrees every day even at night. 50+ degrees in the day really. Usually we have 3 on the boat although we've had up to 6 before the English teachers left for the summer holidays. I've started to record our voyages with the GPS, and make waypoints when we come across a buoy. One day I'll use it all to make a map.
Like the book club, it's as much an excuse to chat as anything. We often hear stories from the captain about other sailing trips he's done. There is a lot of trouble you can get up to on a boat and I plan to make sailing something I do a lot more of. It would be good to do a course some time as there's only so much I can pick up casually and if I'm to do any longer voyages over night it would be good to be a bit more confident in my abilities.
Desert Bike Club Kuwait
The DBCK are a good bunch. They've been going about 12 years. They're the only formal bike club in Kuwait. As with a lot of clubs here, it would seem, half of them are English teachers (another similarity between Cambodia and here). The main activity is of course riding in the desert but now that it's summer we just do 20-30km from 6am for a couple of hours Fridays, although they also ride Wednesdays. About 10-15 come on a ride. Everyone has mountain bikes, and they're all about 40 years old. That's one thing about my time in Kuwait, a lot of the people I'm hanging out with are about ten years older than me. But hey, they've got stories to tell and advice to give. Many have spent a long time in the Middle East and it's always good to hear their tips about places to travel and how to behave! So far I have been on 3 rides, one in the desert and two in the city. The desert one was great! I saw camels, we rode along a number of pipelines and saw a lot of sand. To be perfectly honest it was dead boring terrain wise and I wouldn't say we really needed mountain bikes except for the wide tyres in the occasional patch of soft sand. A cyclocross bike would do you fine. Apparently they go to Mutla Ridge sometimes and I'm really looking forward to bombing down there. Unfortunately one of them actually fell off though there and broke two ribs and fractured his neck!!! So it must actually be a proper mountain bike type place to ride. I sure miss Bunyaville and The Gap back in Brisbane but at least it's riding. Riding around in the city I've really perfected the art of curb jumping. It's handy having clipless pedals as I can whip the back wheel up once I've popped the front wheel over. Anything to show some style ;-)
So that's how I stay sane in Kuwait.
- comments
Alex Borgas Nice Post! I've just looked you up again and it's great to read all about your adventures
gisnoborders Thanks Alex, always nice to know my posts are not entirely unread in the vast oceans of the Internets!