Korea turned out to be a lot more fun than I expected. Most of that had to do with how nice the Korean people are. They went out of their way to make sure I enjoyed myself in their country. A couple people took me out to dinner one night where we cooked pork and vegetables on a skillet at our table. All during the meal, we drank Soju, which is the traditional Korean liquor. They taught me the custom of drinking Soju, which is usually consumed out of a shot glass. You hardly ever pour your own drink because it is custom for someone else to pour it for you. The younger of the pourer/drinker has two hands on either the bottle or the glass. The elder only holds the bottle or glass with one hand. And you don’t drink Soju without having some sort of food with it.

Thursday, May 24 was Buddha Day in Korea, a national holiday. Buddha Day celebrates the birth of Buddha. The shop was 90% closed for the day which meant I didn’t work. Two of the office people I worked with took me to two temples that are on the UNESCO World Heritage list to experience part of the tradition of the day. The first temple we went to was the Seokguram Grotto. It was packed with people, some for sightseeing and some for praying. It was about a quarter mile walk through a wooded, uphill trail to the temple. Along both sides of the trail, colorful lanterns had been strung up. The main Buddha is made of stone about 15 feet tall and is in a stone shelter. The 24th was the one day of the year you could walk up to and around the Buddha. Many people had placed food and other offerings all around the statue and people were praying in front of him. I was told the temperature in the room the Buddha sits is the same all year round, one of the Buddha’s mysteries. Unfortunately, I couldn’t take photos but this site shows a good model of what the Buddha looks like.

The second temple was the Bulguksa Temple. I didn’t spend as much time at this one but they allow you to take pictures of the Buddha’s at these temples. They were really beautiful and it was interesting to see all the different ways people were praying to Buddha. The best part about this temple was getting a picture with a monk. He didn’t look happy to take a picture with me but I was told that’s how they always look.

For lunch and dinner on Buddha Day, we ate sitting on the ground in the traditional style. I struggled with chopsticks all week but by the end of my trip I was getting pretty good. At restaurants, they usually give metal chopsticks with flat ends. They give metal because it doesn’t absorb the bacterial and is easy to clean. They use the one with flat ends because they like to laugh at foreigners trying to eat noodles, at least that’s my theory.

Friday I said good bye to Ulsan and headed to Seoul to catch my flight back to Kuwait. I didn’t fly out until midnight so I had some time to kill. Instead of flying back to Seoul, I took a bus to East Daegu and then caught a bullet train to Seoul. The train cost about $40 for a 200 mile trip. The trains were really nice and quiet. Similar to some planes, they had TV’s on the ceiling above the aisles. These TV’s showed Korean shows and the speed of the train. The fastest I saw was 298 km/hour or 185 mph.

When I got to Seoul, I hoped on a tour of the demilitarized zone, or DMZ, between North and South Korea. It is a strip of land 4 kilometers wide dividing Korea at the 38th parallel created in 1953. It was a pretty sad and interesting place as it is the most heavily protected border in the world. It was created as a buffer zone between the two countries and has been largely uninhabited for more than 50 years, but there are a few small towns within the borders. It’s not a safe place to go walking around. On the drive in, there are fences up on either side of the road with signs posted for land mines. Our guide said only 30% of the land in the DMZ has been cleared of land mines. That’s enough deterrent for me to not go exploring.

The first stop on the tour was the Dorasan Train Station. You may have heard about this station in the news last week. A train crossed from the south into the north from the Dorasan station. This was the first time in 56 years trains had crossed the border between the two Koreas. We walked around the station for a while and all took pictures with the guards inside as this is the only place you can photograph them inside the DMZ.

My favorite stop on the tour was the 3rd infiltration tunnel. This was one of several tunnels dug by North Korea under the DMZ to mount an attack on the south. It is called the third tunnel because it was the third tunnel discovered. This was is the closest to Seoul and we were told that 10,000 soldiers an hour would have been capable of going through. The tunnel wasn’t very big so vehicles or machinery couldn’t have fit through. Plus, the ceiling was at about 5’6” so you have to walk hunched over the whole way.

Of course, North Korea denied building these when they were discovered. They first claimed the south built them. When that was proved false, the north claimed they were mining coal (the whole area is granite) and painted the walls black. All pretty funny now. We did get to see North Korea through binoculars. You could see a North Korean flag which sits on top of tallest flagpole in the world.

If any of you out there know Eric Raasch, a friend of mine from U of I, I got an email from him that he is with Marines that are in the Persian Gulf and will soon be in Kuwait. Hopefully I’ll get to meet up with him. Here is an article that shows the ship he is on. It’s the in the center of the picture.

This week was the type I hoped I would have when I took this job. A lot of work but opportunities to do some unique things. This week, those were going to Ski Dubai and a Lotte Giants baseball game, a Korean team.

I had to leave Kuwait to renew my visa (it expires every 30 days) so I was asked to go to Korea to help on a project UOP has under construction there. Before going to Korea, I stopped in Dubai for a day to purchase some structural steel for my project in Kuwait. After spending the day climbing around steel yards in 105 degree heat, I stopped at the Mall of the Emirates. There is no sales tax in the United Arab Emirates and a lot of money there, so the malls are in constant competition. The Mall of the Emirates built Ski Dubai to bring in more shoppers. It is similar to the casinos in Las Vegas; each one is continuously improving itself to bring in more gamblers.

For about $50, Ski Dubai will rent you snow pants and a coat, skis, and boot plus a lift ticket for two hours. An all day pass is about $30 more but two hours was all I needed. Hat and gloves are not included but the cheapest set is about $15. I made the purchase and it was worth it.

The hill is not very big. It only takes 5 minutes to get to the top and less than 30 seconds to get to the bottom. Their website advertises 5 runs but there are really only 2. On the right is the more difficult run and the left is the beginner. At the bottom of the hill there is also a jump for snow boarders and a bunny hill for lessons. I’m not a very good skier and haven’t been in about 5 years so I was happy to not fall on the difficult run. It was a great time. It wasn’t crowded and the snow didn’t turn icy like it does at the end of the day in Wisconsin. Click here to see a video of a slow ride on the easy run. At the bottom of the hill there are turn styles where you swipe your card and it will tell you how much skiing time you have remaining.

So after skiing, I went to the airport for my 3am flight to Seoul. Not a great time for a flight but the airport was packed. There was hardly a seat because everyone had already claimed their bed for the night.

One of the inspectors at my new job site was a baseball fan and I asked him about baseball in Korea. He said there was no team in the town I was in, Ulsan, but in Busan, an hour away, there was the Lotte Giants. (I would post a link but it’s all in Korean) I got on the internet and found out they had a game Saturday at 5pm. The Koreans also work weekends (it feels like Americans are the only ones with 2 day weekends), so after work, me and a girl from work hopped on a bus to Busan. Everything was really cheap. It cost less than $5 to get there, $3 for the seat, and $1.50 for a beer. But I felt stupid for buying food or beer there because everyone else in the stands just brings there own.

We got there two hours early which was good because all the seats except for the ones directly behind home plate are first come first serve. And I don’t think they stop selling tickets until people stop buying them because all of the aisles and stairways were full of people watching the game. Luckily, we got great seats right on the first baseline, equivalent to the 200 level seats in Wrigley.

I don’t know if the game was played against a big rival but the fans there go berserk. I can only imagine the crowd noise is similar to a World Series game. The fans chant the batters name while he is at bat and cheer at the top of their lungs if he gets a hit. The home team didn’t hit a home run but I can only imagine what happens if there is one. And when the opposing pitcher makes a pick off move to first, the fans chat, “bah” at him for 20 seconds after it happens. Apparently bah is the same in English and Korean, it doesn’t mean anything but is just an easy word to yell at someone. Also, when there is a foul ball, everyone chants, “Give me the ball!” over and over at the person that catches the ball. No one actually turns the ball over though.

Between innings, there are cheerleaders and an MC on top of the home team’s dugout. They put on a show of singing and dancing. While the game is in progress, the cheerleaders are sitting but the MC is leading the fans in different cheers. At a MLB game, I’m sure they wouldn’t be allowed to be playing their music, beating on drums, and just making so much noise, but it really adds to the fun of the game. Call me a Lotte Giants fan.

It must be desert Karma. After I write how bad the drivers in Kuwait are, I get in an accident. On the way to work on Tuesday morning, I was the 7th car in an 8 car accident. Long story short, an American woman driving too fast on the shoulder caused the accident. She was with the military so she was the only one who didn’t go to the police station. Never saw her after heading to the police station. We were all lucky, there were no injuries. My white Camry wasn’t as lucky. I hit the guy in front of me and then immediately after got rear ended. It was an interesting day after that, spending most of it in 3 different police stations and giving a statement to a police officer in a white robe through a translator. I saw most of the people from my office on the highway as we all take the same way to work. But it seemed like everyone knew and they treated me like I had finally been initiated into Kuwait. Below the picture of my car is a copy of the police report. Any idea what it says?

I’ve been reading the Kuwait newspaper everyday and have read some interesting things. One was about a guy who was passed out in a park from drinking. Someone had called the police to report a corpse and when the police went to the park, “the corpse got up and started walking towards them” to quote the paper. He was arrested. Another thing I read this week was about Hamas Mickey. This is an Islamic show for kids whose host bears a striking resemblance to Mickey Mouse but his message is a little different. After reading about him in the Kuwaiti paper I did some searches and it looks like he popped up in the US papers too. Check out the link.

The other picture above is me with the guy I work with the most. His name is Kiran Thuse. Almost all of the guys I work with are from India, which doesn’t make learning names easy. I’m about average when it comes to remembering the names of people I meet but it’s a lot harder when I’ve never even heard the name before. Anil, Subodh, Debasish, Shashidar, Natarajan, Praveen. I’ve got those down but tomorrow when I meet someone else, it’s right back to the beginning.

I’m off to Ulsan, South Korea on Wednesday. UOP has a two other projects being built there that need babysitting so I get a week break from the desert. I’m looking forward to seeing a new place but with a 40 degree drop in temperatures I don’t think I’ve packed enough warm clothes. I’ll let you know what interesting things I find in Korea.

If you’re interested in seeing what the weather is like in Kuwait, check out this link. It’s the weather in the town closest to me.

No, this picture wasn’t taken in Kuwait. It’s from my trip to Kenya last year and I’m working on getting those pictures posted on a photo sharing site. Maybe next week. No pictures of Kuwait this week. I’m sorry. The one I would have taken if I’d had my camera was a Kuwaiti woman dressed in full burqa and robe getting into a swimming pool, swimming around for a few minutes, and then getting out. I’ve seen it all now.

Having a car the last 2 weeks I’ve seen how crazy some of the locals drive. Imagine two left turn lanes and the car in the right lane pulling a U-turn in front of the car in the left hand lane. I’ve seen this 5 or 6 times since I’ve been here. They also drive amazingly fast, probably since there are few police and speed is enforced by cameras. But the cameras are in plain site and some even have signs posted before them. Just memorize where the cameras are and you won’t get a ticket.

FYI – After the metric and currency conversions, gas here is about $0.85/gallon.

The weather has started to heat up. The highest I’ve been out in so far was 109°F and it felt like standing in a blow dryer. But I’m told that it will get a lot hotter. Maybe up to 130. OUCH! And I saw a dust storm. I could only see about ¼ mile and had to breathe through a piece of cloth.

On Sunday morning, I was getting ready for work and flipping through my 3 sports channels and found the Oscar de la Hoya – Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight on. This was an HBO pay per view fight so I was surprised to see it televised. Not a great fight but still fun to see. I guess that’s one of the tradeoffs in Kuwait, no beer or bacon but free pay per view.

A work trip to Korea is possibly in the works so maybe that’s where go for my first visa run. I’ll keep you posted.

P.S. Zoe Wee, thanks for the tip. And they were U.S. Senators. I don’t know what hockey players would do in the desert.

I have been living in Kuwait now for a week and I feel like I’m settled in. The people I have met have been great with helping me with the little things, getting a phone, car, finding the grocery store. But even though someone told me the general direction of the grocery store it still took me 30 minutes and asking 4 other people, 2 of whom I’m sure didn’t speak English, to finally find it. The littlest things that were once easy are now a big challenge.

So last week I got a car and could do some exploring. Before that, I would be picked up and dropped off at the hotel every day and not be able to see anything. The first thing that I noticed was that every American food franchise was in Kuwait. McDonald’s, Burger King, KFC, Pizza Hut, Friday’s, Chili’s, Starbucks. I even saw a Tumbleweed Grill, which I didn’t think was that big of a chain.

One the subject of fast food chains, I broke down and at a McDonald’s last week. My new Iranian friends took me to get a cell phone and afterwards wanted to go to dinner at McD’s. I haven’t eaten at a McDonald’s for lunch or dinner in while I don’t know how long. But I was glad I went because I got to try the new McArabia. I had never heard of the McArabia and it was actually pretty good.

The weekend here is Thursday and Friday but where I work, everyone works Thursdays too. So Thursday night is the one night a week to go out. The same guys that helped me get my phone took me the local Kuwaiti hot spot, Marina Mall. After we found a parking spot, after driving around for almost an hour, we walked around the mall and then went to dinner. We ate a Lebanese restaurant and I had my first non-alcoholic beer. After dinner, we had a couple shisha, or what I would think is a hookah. I think the shisha is a special type of tobacco. When in Kuwait…

Friday is the one day a week I don’t have to go into the office so I mostly just relaxed. Since the Persian Gulf is right outside my door, I took advantage of the beach. After than I went to town and found it empty at two in the afternoon. I did find an empty barber shop and decided to go in for a shave (I can already hear my brothers laughing as I type this.) If you have never gone to a barber for a shave with a straight razor, I highly recommend it. It took about 10-15 minutes and afterwards I felt like I was wearing a new, smoother face. I think I’ll be frequenting Waseem’s barber shop.

Last night I stayed up and watched most of the first round of the NFL draft. ESPN is part of the cable package and I can usually catch the 11pm Eastern SportCenter in the morning before I go to work. I hope they have the Bear’s games on this fall too, but 3pm kickoffs this year are really going to kill me on Mondays.

My new home

What a crazy week! I spent two days in Kuwait for project meetings, went to Dubai for a day, and then back to Kuwait. I was excited to go to Dubai because I had never been there before and heard so much about it. We got in late at night and didn’t have any time for site seeing. I’ve been told that 20% of the world’s tower cranes are in Dubai. It’s hard to fathom until you actually get there and see that EVERYTHING is under construction. There are buildings popping up everywhere and they all have cranes on top of them.

The few sites I did get to see were from the car on the way from the airport to the hotel. One of the recognizable sites was the Burj-al-Arab Hotel. (Check out the link) You may have seen it because it looks like a sail on the beach. The hotel offers Rolls Royce and helicoptor transportation plus 24 hour bulter service. The cheapest room runs about $2000/night and just to get inside to take a tour costs about $100. Needless to say, I didn’t stay there for the night. Maybe next time…

Another site, which I didn’t see but stayed close to, was the Palm Jumeirah. This is one of the manmade islands being built off the coast. We drove by the exit to get to the Palm Jumeirah but the driver told me security wouldn’t allow us to drive out there. But I did get to see a part of another set of islands being built. Leaving Dubai, my plane flew over the east side of The World.

Friday, I had my first day off in two weeks. It was my first time to relax and hit the beach. The weather here has been great, mostly in the 80’s and some 90’s. I tried to get some sun on my pasty white skin but didn’t get too much. Maybe this weekend. I was wondering what the beach etiquette was and the hotel staff told me anything but naked was acceptable. I half expected to see women cloaked in robes on the beach but it looked like most other beaches I’ve visited.

And I moved into my apartment on Friday. I’m staying at the Hilton Kuwait . My apartment is great, a 2nd story apartment with access to the roof. I’m a two minute walk to the beach. I’ve posted a few photos of the view from my roof. If you’re in the mood for a relaxing vacation, you are all welcome to stay as long as you’d like. Only thing is that Kuwait is under Islamic law – alcohol, pornography, and pork products are all illegal. But I'm going to figure out a way to smuggle in some bacon. And the work week is Saturday through Wednesday, though I’m sure I’ll be working Thursday and Fridays also.

I haven’t done any site seeing in Kuwait because I don’t have a car yet. I’m hoping to get a car and phone this week. Maybe next week I’ll some more interesting photos. Have a great week!

Kuwait - Day 1

Well, I made it into Kuwait safe and sound. The flight from Washington, D.C. to Kuwait City was uneventful but I heard there were a couple senators on the same flight. Tomorrow starts the beginning of a busy week so I probably won't be able to post again until after it's finished. 2 days of meetings in Kuwait, a quick one day trip to Dubai, and then back to Kuwait for 2 more days of meetings. I'm excited to go to Dubai for the first time but am not too optimistic we'll have much free time to explore. I hope to at least get a few good pictures. I have attached a picture of the Kuwait Towers from last time I was here in December.