Today Nathan and I had a date with Ben, since we were off of work and Caleb had school. Nathan and I have been wanting to visit some of the local art museums, and a friend recommended the Dar al Athar al Islamiyyah. More to come later in the post. After dropping Caleb off at school, we headed downtown for breakfast on the gulf.
Before going any further, I am going to go off on a slight tangent about the driving. All I can say is the way people drive around here is absolutely crazy. I know my driving is far from perfect, but we have seen some incredibly irresponsible and inconsiderate things these past 5 months that would cause some major road rage back in the states.
1. People drive very fast on the highways and the neighborhood roads. Now I understand why there are so many speed bumps on the roads, but that does not stop some people from driving 50 miles an hour for 20 feet, to only have to slam on their brakes and bottom out their sports car on a speed bump.
2. U-turns from all the way in the right lane. If you know you need to U-turn, get in the left lane!
3. Driving up on the sidewalk or through a parking lot to avoid sitting in traffic, even when the light is red when they merge their way back into traffic.
4. Merging from the highway at high speed, without ever looking up from the text message being typed.
5. Little kids riding in the front seat, or several little kids standing up in the front seat and playing on the dashboard while driving fast down the road.
6. Driving with your lights on at night appears to be optional. Apparently it is cool to drive really fast with only your parking lights on.
7. And the picture of the day is a little boy getting some wind in his hair through the sunroof on the morning commute! I took a picture this time, but we see this way too often when we drive.
8. We have seen the carnage of some tremendous wrecks on the side of the roads. It's hard to think about how fast the cars were driving to mangle their cars the way they do. This week our neighbor witnessed a Ferrari rear end a Lexus, and the Ferrari was probably totaled. I hope he has good insurance!
There is now there is very little I see about driving that surprises me. As crazy as the driving situation is, it is hard for me to stay angry about it. I do at times, but there is really no use because this is the norm. Ok, I am done ranting about the driving and it is back to our fun day with Ben.
We ate breakfast at a restaurant on the gulf. We had egg wraps, halloumi cheese, coffee, and fresh OJ. Ben can chow down with the best of us, it's a good thing the egg wraps were big!
After breakfast, we spent time by the marina and looked at the boats. Ben likes to point out boats he sees in pictures at home, and he enjoyed seeing a lot of them in the marina.
We had about an hour to spare before the museum opened, so we took a walk along the gulf, close to some of the major landmarks in Kuwait. Here is a little Kuwaiti history :). The National Assembly Building is the legislature of Kuwait. The house holds 55 seats that are elected every four years. In the past two years, two Parliaments have been dissolved, so elections have been held more frequent than normal.
Next is Liberation Telecommunications Tower. When the Iraqi invasion took place in 1990, construction of the tower was almost half-way complete. After the invasion in 1991, construction resumed and was completed in 1993. The tower is the 2nd largest structure in Kuwait at 372m tall, and it symbolizes Kuwait's liberation from Iraq.
Our final destination was the Amricani Cultural Center. The museum is currently displaying an art collection owned by Sheik Nasser Sabah al Ahmed al Sabah, and his wife. The center was originally built as the American hospital in the 1930's, and served Kuwait until 1967. The building was renovated in 2000 and opened as the museum in 2007. During the Iraq invasion in 1990-1991, much of the art was stolen and brought to Baghdad, and returned a few years later with the help of the United Nations The Dar al Athar al Islamiyyah organization hosts lectures, music concerts, workshops, and has a children's program. The pieces of art were beautiful, and dated back to Mesopotamia, early Iranian, Arabian, and Greek times. There was a unique Quoranic display that had different verses from the Quoran inscribed in books, tiles, and different pieces of art. No photography was allowed inside, but here is the outside of the building.
We ended our date with Ben grocery shopping, getting coffee, and eating a delicious pomegranate frozen yogurt with blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries!
It was fun to spend the one-on-one time with Ben today. Caleb was happy to see his brother after pre-school, and this afternoon we explored a new park that Nathan found. More on that next time.
As always, Nathan was a great coach and he kept me motivated through the race. It was a bit warmer than I prefer and not a good race for me, but I still had fun and it was a great way to involve the boys in something we love.
Nathan was a local celebrity on the race course. He was the only one pushing a stroller, and throughout the race, someone was clapping for him, or telling him way to go. When we crossed the finish line together, the crowd was cheering so loud. After the race, many people came up to Nathan and told him he was an inspiration to a lot of people on the race course today ;). We got our picture taken by a lot of people, and I have a feeling we may end up in the local newspaper tomorrow.
We hung around for a while after the race. Caleb was pretty excited about the medal and he wore it all day long. It was a real medal, and a nice one at that! It was a fun family event, and the boys did great at the race.
Thank you, Nathan for letting me go for long runs on Saturday mornings, for your encouragement, and for being my number #1 fan. I love you!
