A day lost in the Kuwaiti hospital system

So it's my second day in Kuwait and already I've already managed a trip to the hospital.  I am visiting my friend Hanna and she works in an animal shelter called KS Path, where she is shelter manager.


Long story short. She got bitten by a feral cat and she was in a lot of pain, in fact her whole hand was swelling. So right after work we go to the hospital to get her tetanus shot, where she was told she may need to return tommorrow to get a rabies one too.


The next day, her hand had ballooned even further. Puss was coming out of her hand. OMG YUM. I love puss. We return to the original hospital and wait 30 minutes to be advised that she will need to go to the emergency room at another hospital. Already we don't know where the hospital is, so the doctor draws us a map. So off we go to emergency. 


Hanna's brother, Mattias is driving because she can't change gears and he doesn't know where he is going either, so he is following her lead. But then again, neither does Hanna. So it's the blind leading the blind. And to make things easier, there was not one single sign to the hospital. Go figure. 


2 long hours later we finally find the hospital because we decided to ask a fellow driver in the parallel lane where it was. But when we get there, there is traffic inside the hospital compound. Like an actual grid lock. OMG seriously? My friend was being sent to emergency, I would hate to think if she was in a real emergency, even though she kind of really was. 


So we make it through the doors and go to reception to get Hanna attended to. Nobody is there. Hanna's first assumption is, they must be on a tea break. "What? All at the same time? Not even in shifts? You have got to be kidding me right?" She responds "Probably, Kuwaitis love their tea breaks". 


A couple of minutes pass, then two ladies appear but already it seems very difficult to get their attention. Other patients start pushing in. 15 gruelling minutes later we are finally attended to and we are told to go to emergency which is in the next building.


We go to the other building and make it to reception and the lady is busily texting away, she takes one glance at Hanna and continues to text. "Ahem... excuse me... help?". I got nada, nothing, no sale. So we wait until she is done texting and she tells us where to go. We head to that room, and another lady tells us, "Where you need to go is,  down the corridor through the second door to the right". 


Ok. So off we trot, clippity-clop, tra-lah-lah-lah-lah, which brings us right back to the texting lady. SIGH.  Texting lady decides to ask her colleague where we are supposed to go. And she gives us, what we suspect are the right directions. We think...


These direction take us to another building. We arrive at the reception of that building and already I am greeted with a baby in a critical condition and a guy bandaged in a wheelchair in the reception area. Yep we definitely found the emergency section alright. Yippie!!


We make our way past the baby and speak to the gentlemen at reception and he is already hassling Hanna for being Kuwaiti and not speaking Arabic. He finally decides to drop it and tell us where to go, where we are to take a ticket and wait in line for the next available doctor.


We walk into the waiting room and I quickly notice something a bit left of centre.

Colour Code for Patient Identification

15 or so minutes later, our ticket number pops up and we go and into the doctor's office. He says we actually need to go to another hospital, a fever hospital. You have got to be kidding right?  We were lost for 2 hours looking for the hospital and lost for another looking for you. 


Even though it kills us (Hanna more so) we ask him to draw us a map to the other hospital. Oh and he also hassles Hanna for not speaking Arabic too and asks her "Where did you get her from?" and yes he was referring to me.

We eventually make it to the fever hospital, and surprisingly enough, this hospital was a much easier find. And no traffic either.  We walk straight in, took our ticket and saw the nurses. She took her rabies shot which didn't hurt. Funnily enough. Hanna had just one to go. It was funny because I thought this would be like the first one, painless. I politely looked away for her second injection which was going to happen on her butt. I thought it was over and I just happen to glance at it as it was coming out of her lady hump and I swear to god, I nearly fell flat on my face and yelped. The needle was the size of my forearm. 

Welcome to Kuwait and to the public health system.

Food Porn

Food porn and it begins in Dubai...

I had to get myself some Arabic food on my first day in Dubai. I just couldn’t wait. Every time I take a bite of something I have this insatiable desire to capture it on camera, it’s my thing, it’s my food porn. It annoys the hell out of my friends, especially when starved. But now, they find it kind of funny... like ha ha funny. I just have to take pictures of every thing I consume.

I picture it from up close and from a far. In different angles, then different positions, OH and even in different lighting. And if I am feeling particularly adventurous, I get them posing together, props included. Perhaps a San Pellegrino bottle, or a knife, or even a good action shot where I am in mid bite. Oh and a really good one is when you have the food split wide open exposing it’s revealing centre. Hmmm... All this for the sake of getting my perfect shot. And I’ve even discovered this really cool miniature effect on my camera. Because all I want to do, is get up close and personal with it and so do you, ya freak. 

Then I feel the need to publish it or at the very least show it to the person next me. I just need to get it out there. Heck, I even forage through my albums just so I can be taken back. Ohhh yeessss, that's the stuff right there.

I get knocked for it.  This is true.  I even get in trouble for posting it up on facebook via live feeds. But to all the people out there that just don’t get it, all I have to say is “Don’t knock it. It’s my food porn, just love it and embrace it”.

I love it especially, when I can get people going. They "pull their faces", they “ooo” and they “arrghh" and their symptoms of hunger pains are rising. I can tell. I can sometimes even get their mouths wide open and they give me the distinctive jaw drop with the "O" face.  Little do they know, they’ve just had their very own food-gasm. And honey, that was only a still shot.

Secretly... you know you want one too.

It's in my genes too. My sister is a far worse food porn addict than I am. She even has a food blog to boot. Have a sneak peek. And yes feel free to lick the screen, god knows I've done it.
agirlhastoeat.com

Here is my first collection of my eats and treats in Dubai. Feel free to me let know of your foodgasms about the collection. 

Welcome to Dubai and some much needed food porn.

Hummus

Moutabal
Eggplant with Tahini 
Looks similar to hummus but can you spot the difference?

Falafel

Fattoush
Typical Arab salad - YUM!

Labna w Garlic
Easily the best I've had in my life!

Group shot

More hummus

Another Fattoush Salad - hmmmm

Fresh bread 

Olives

Pickled vegetables
a typical accompaniment w Arabic dishes

Kibbeh
A meat version looking falafel

Haloumi

Kibbeh exposed

The money shot.
Arabic desserts dripping with a vanilla cream sauce 

The Mecca of Ex-Pats

90% of Dubai's population is made up of ex-patriates. Which I find, is a very fascinating statistic. It is essentially a hot pot of different nationalities and Dubai appears to be a manufactured city designed to cater to their needs. So far, I've managed to meet people from the Philippines, Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Australia, America, Lebanon and the list continues to the point where I can't even be bothered. Heck, even Kiwis are here too.



I even met a real life snake wrangler from Australia in a Salsa club. I didn't believe him at first but through further convincing and he seemed sincere enough, he told me that when commercial property developers begin construction, the land usually contains snakes in them. His job is to be on call, capture them and remove them from the site. Funny.


I was also told that if you manage to land an interview in Dubai from your home country, wherever that may be. Corporations are likely to fly you into Dubai to interview you and if successful, they will pay a decent tax free salary, provide a company paid car and cover your apartment. Hmmmm... Dubai is looking more interesting as a workplace destination already.


This is because they just don't have the talent and Dubai is willing to do what it takes to attract top talent. And I know through a friend, of a friend, of a friend, that going to Dubai is a great way to work your way up the ladder swiftly, earn good money, save it and return home loaded.
But then, I spoke to another fellow ex-pat at the same salsa club and asked.


"So do you enjoy living here?"
"No."
'Then why are you living here?"
"I still have no idea."
"And how long have you been here for?"
"Just four years."


Of course I would find this interesting. I am in HR after all.


Weekends are Friday - Saturday. They used to be Thursday - Friday but since 2006 this was changed to Friday - Saturday to compromise between the holiness of the Muslims' Friday and the Western weekend of Saturday-Sunday. The western weekend was taken into account to minimise the loss on international business they were experiencing.


Obviously this affects happy hour, site seeing and how you should be planning your visit.


Welcome to Dubai, the Mecca of ex-pats.

Welcome to Dubai

When I think about Dubai it is kind of a weird place. Its Arab meets West with a touch of Vegas containing a thriving ex-pat community and a tourist hub that glues it all together. There’s no place quite like it.

You come here to party, shop, beach and eat.

You have a clash of Arabic and Western culture, where the consumption of alcohol is illegal except when you hold a liquor license. Either that, or you hop into a club or a hotel that has one. As a woman, you should dress modestly but when you are out in the clubs, all rules are out. Oh and let’s not forget the beaches where you can wear bikinis in full view of the public. Contradict much?

And you don’t want to get yourself too drunk. Arrests can occur for unruly public behaviour. I met this lady on my flight to London years ago whilst stretching my legs. Her husband was a Doctor in Dubai and she told me of a patient that her husband had come across.

This gentleman was incredibly drunk one night. He was doing nothing to hide it and was arrested. He was taken to prison that was located in the middle of nowhere , out in the desert. He was left there in the blistering prison cell with no water. He was extremely dehydrated and began violently convulsing. Prison guards didn’t know what to do with him, so left him. The situation didn’t improve so they decided to take him to the hospital, which was a few hours drive back into Dubai. By the time they got to the hospital it was too late. They treated him and now he is paralysed because they couldn’t get to him in time.

True story.

And the thing about Dubai is, it is very easy to forget where you are. That you are in a Muslim country. Myself included. I just got away with it. Girls that we met one night told us that they potentially got arrested because they had a couple of guys head back to their hotel to kick on for drinks. Clubs close at 3pm and they didn’t want the night to end. So they went back to the hotel room to get stuck into their duty free alcohol, (the only place you can purchase alcohol in Dubai) only to have reception call them and demand for their passport, lecturing them that they are not allowed visitors into the hotel and that this is a Muslim country. That this is not the custom nor the right way. Their visitors were personally escorted out by security.

Also, a true story.

But I can perfectly understand why these things happen. When the lines are blurred and filled with shades of grey, you are bound to get tourists falling outside the social decorous expected of them.

And I've been told, you can do whatever you want in Dubai, just don't get caught doing it. Doing what? Right? :)

Dubai is like one big party and everybody threw up. 

And those are always the best parties.

Welcome to Dubai.

Hello World

Up, up and away again...


So I've finally decided to quit my job and leave the corporate world to embark on another world tour again. Every time I do this I go through the motions of being excited and extremely nervous. More nervous if anything. And why is that? I've done this before, time and time again but something about it always scares the shit out of me. But you know what they say, you should do something everyday that scares you. So here I am, the self-masochist, exploring the world and scaring the bejeezus out of myself each and everyday for a good four months. 


I've packed my bags, finished all the loose ends at work, shit - I even worked the Saturday, the day after my last day, hungover and in the same farewell clothes. And for some reason, everyone decided to work the weekend too so they all bore witness to my dirty self. Classic.

At this point I am sitting on the plane and it hasn't really hit me that I've left it all behind and nor does it when I am in Dubai Airport. Just seems like I am at an airport. 


Despite it all, I remind myself, what are you nervous about? You LOVE travelling. You have four months to indulge in all of life's pleasures. That's the plan. I will get the chance to meet, see, taste and smell so many exotic things about the world and I just can't flipping wait. 


So here my journey begins.


Welcome to my confessions.