Back from a productive business trip, complete with a flu that I picked up a day before my departure to Kuwait.

Here are some cryptic clues (nothing too incriminating).

The new license plates are obviously mierda.

Photograph from Mark’s Blog.

Is that the best our prison convicts and wardens could produce (I’m assuming our prison inmates make license plates, if they don’t then I’ve obviously spent too much time living abroad – but let’s assume they don’t, then maybe they should)? But seriously, if you are going to produce a decent license plate you need several elements (in my humble opinion):

1. A local or geographic fixture (i.e. The Kuwait Towers – if that is unacceptable a drawing of a Hubbly-Bubbly will suffice; if that is unacceptable then a picture of a dead horse).

2. Decent Font (and it would help to have the English word: “Kuwait” in BOLD as well) and a tag line as well, you know how Florida has “Sunshine State,” maybe we should have something like “Land of Broken Promises” or “Go With The Flow” under Kuwait.

3. One set of numbers – easier to remember so we can report that turd in the Hummer who almost ran over the senior citizen exiting Marina Crescent’s Johnny Rockets.

As horrendous as the new license plates are, they are a tad better than these:

Kuwait-Iraq Occupation License

Thanks to our good friend and Godfather Don Veto – who was gracious enough to create a TCK banner – we can now access the TCK thread anytime (the banner is on the right).

So anytime any TCKer passes by and wants to blow steam or post about anything, just click the banner and keep the thread going.

Madrid, The City I Grew Up In (Photograph by Pedro CZC)

I am a ‘Third Culture Kid’.

Even though I am a Kuwaiti, English is my first language and the bulk of my life was spent living abroad: London-born, five years in Rome, eight years in Madrid; two High Schools: New English School in Kuwait and The Oxford Academy, Connecticut.; a Washington DC graduate, who additionally worked abroad for a substantial number of years.

But I am not alone. There are hundreds of thousands of people around the world who have had my kind of life. Third Culture Kids are global citizens: creative, independent, cosmopolitan, multilingual, tolerant, higher than average I.Q., we can live anywhere but we never really belong anywhere.

Here are some characteristics from Wikipedia:

90% feel “out of sync” with their peers

More welcoming of others into their community

Some of them come to terms with the tremendous culture shock and loss that they have experienced. They gain a broader understanding of the world through their varied experiences, while others spend most of their adult life trying to come to terms with those same issues.

Lack a sense of “where home is” but often nationalistic

Depression and suicide are more prominent among TCK’s

TCKs share more in common with one another, regardless of nationality, than they do with non-TCK’s from their own country.

Some of them come to terms with the tremendous culture shock and loss that they have experienced. They gain a broader understanding of the world through their varied experiences, while others spend most of their adult life trying to come to terms with those same issues.

I have many Kuwaiti friends but I also tend to shun those who don’t know where I am coming from, the shallow fixated on the material and social aspect of society, ignoring culture and arts – Third Culture Kids need the intellectual stimulation, if it isn’t there those people might as well talk to a friggin’ wall.

I am positive there are thousands of us in Kuwait and elsewhere; people who went to foreign schools, lived abroad, or lived in Kuwait as expatriates and always seem bound here (the way I feel bound to Madrid or Connecticut or Rome). I have been fortunate, through the miracle of the internet to regain and maintain contact with old friends (some dating back to the early-70s); all my friends stem from different stages in life (elementary, high school, college), all religions (Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu et all) and countries, ranging from Brazil, to Egypt, to Australia.

A few years ago I had the opportunity to revisit Madrid for business (‘The Iraq Donor’s Conference’). However, I was unable to revisit old haunts (i.e. school, home) since it was a full schedule: wall-to-wall meetings. I didn’t even have the chance to walk down to the Villa Magna Hotel lobby and just reminisce about the old days.

Later on during a busy day I was standing on the hotel balcony with one of my colleagues, looking down at the beautiful, majestic city of Madrid; an emotional moment for me, I blurted out “You know my family resided here 30 years ago when we moved to Madrid.” He glanced at me, exclaiming “So? What’s the big deal? I stayed here too during the 70s.”

He just didn’t get it.

Most people are born and raised in one city or country. They grow up with the same friends, they watch their city gradually change, they have roots, they are part of their surroundings, and the tentacles of stability and familiarity are embedded in their psyche. However, Third Culture Kids feel like they’ve lived a dozen lifetimes; we are almost always haunted by a childhood memory: an old friend, a city, an old home we no longer live in. Nevertheless, we have the distinct ability to look at a problem from two different perspectives: insider and outcast.

It’s strange isn’t it? We spend half our lifetimes looking forward to living in our home countries; then spend the other half looking back at the past. We don’t belong anywhere.

Are you a Third Culture Kid? Is it a blessing or a burden? How do you feel about life and your purpose in it?

Resources :

Third Culture Kids

TCK World

U.S. State Dept: Third Culture Kids

Interaction International

People who are alert and cheerful before 10 am freak me out.

This post is directed primarily towards my foreign readers and members of the Kuwaiti community who may not have heard of Safat: A Kuwait Blog Aggregator.
If you are interested in a listing of Kuwait-based Blogs and their brief summaries please check out the aforementioned search engine. Dozens of very talented, creative and prolific writers are featured in the Blog Aggregator. Check it out.

An interesting Kuwait Times Article on the obstacles of importing into Kuwait.
Here are a few highlights:

Companies trying to import technology, software and hardware into Kuwait face a mountain of bureaucratic obstacles…
The cost of importing a particular product varies. The time a product will be cleared by customs varies. The process can take days, weeks or longer and many importers won’t know the final cost until they have bills in hand…
…According to the report, that has surveyed business people from the 175 countries ranked, the preparation of 11 documents for import in Kuwait takes 14 days. The customs clearance and technical control take another five days to complete. Another four days are needed for ports and terminal handling procedure, the report claims, in addition to four days allocated for inland transportation and handling.

Some of my friends were complaining recently that it took longer to load this blog’s webpages and I wasn’t sure of what the problem was.
Could the following be the problem:

Bandwidth (this month) 9618.76 / 10000 MB

And the month ain’t over yet.
For a very casual (and lazy blogger) I’m a tad surprised at the bandwidth increase.
I guess it’s time to buy more bandwidth.

I met some old Foreign Ministry compadres, whom I served with at our Embassy in Washington D.C., for lunch today at Burg Al-Hamam. We were all a little grayer, a little stockier, a little bit more cynical, but the spirit of friendship, of brotherhood was evident.

The leisurely, three-hour lunch was a bittersweet event; over delectable Lebanese mezze and grilled meats we discussed social and political affairs, real estate, pop culture and family – of course, the conversation would almost always be sabotaged by someone’s bawdy sense of humor (and by the occasional water trickling from the roof this rainy day).

For dessert? A thick slice of nostalgia.

I have just returned from The Hajj.

At this point in time I am at a loss for words to effectively describe my Hajj. Suffice it to say it was an amazing, spiritually-uplifting and moving experience. Additionally, I was part of a great group and made many friends.

Here is a gargantuan collection of pictures from the pilgrimage (taken with the Samsung SGH-X820). Unfortunately, the best pictures were the personal ones (and I am not publishing those!). You will have to settle for these.

Arriving in Jeddah

A Checkpoint

The View From The Hotel In Aziziyah

The Hotel Entrance

A Sermon Following A Regular Prayer

Continue reading A Pilgrim’s Voyage: A Hajj Pictorial →