(funky intro music)
- Hi everyone,
My name is Alison I'm taking over ITA's story
to talk about life in Kuwait.
And my day's just started.
It is 7:15 in the morning where I am.
First Kuwait story, I'm very excited.
So I've just posted a little box for you guys
to ask questions in, in the previous stories.
So if you have any questions that you're dying to know
about, please let me know,
and I will do my best to get back to you.
We do have a curfew here in Kuwait at the moment
and it's also Ramadan.
So it's a little bit crazy,
at the moment,
but I will get to all of your questions promptly.
So I have been in Kuwait since November 2020
and have been teaching here since that same time
at the American international university in Jahra,
I am originally from Boise, Idaho,
and I have been loving my time here.
So I came outside to my hallway because I'm going to
give you a brief tour of my apartment,
that I am renting myself.
It was a hassle finding it, but I am
so, so happy I found it and here we go.
This is my front door,
and it doesn't have any numbers yet because it's brand new
and I'm having my breakfast here.
I have to furnish all of this, but I'm very excited.
It's a little extra expensive, but I love my windows.
It's wonderful.
I can see the road.
This is fifth ring, which gets very, very,
very, very, very busy.
Over here We have a city called Sabah Al Salem
and then you can see the ocean from here.
It's very, very beautiful.
This whole place is just absolutely amazing.
So this is my kitchen.
This was all here given to me with the apartment.
I, of course, have my AirFryer and the espresso machine
which I just made coffee in.
And I bought my dining table,
having a very Arab breakfast with my coffee.
The washing machine and dryer
also came with the apartment.
Everything else I have basically put in myself
like my little shoe rack coat rack.
And then this is my bathroom, very Western bathroom.
Just very normal.
Yeah. The only difference is the hose
which I'm very grateful for.
I enjoy being clean and the shower, which is very normal.
And I do have a one bedroom apartment.
This is my bedroom.
I have furnished everything here.
The closets, of course, came with the place.
I have my TV in here, because as you saw,
I don't have a couch yet, but all of this is just mine.
I still have to get some other furniture.
I bought my bed.
I have to get curtains
because it's so bright here in Kuwait.
The sun is absolutely, I would say hot
but it's hot everywhere, but not like in Kuwait
the absolute hottest place I have ever lived in.
It's absolutely insane.
But yeah, this is my little, my little place.
I'm going to eat some breakfast.
- I just posted my expenses, my monthly expenses.
That's usually every month.
Of course, right now, since I am
in the new apartment, I have a lot more expenses
but I do drive,
and I just wanted to touch on that really fast
because everyone is always really shocked that I drive here
and I love it.
It's really fun.
You get to go really fast.
You just have to, of course, watch out for the speed limits
and everyone else around you
to make sure you're following the rules
so that you stay safe
and that everyone around you stays safe
because it can get a little crazy
especially with the traffic
and the curfew just makes the traffic even worse.
So it's good to be aware.
So normally I would go shopping after work, but because
of the Ramadan schedule and the curfew
I was shopping in the morning.
Usually my uni schedule is from about 9:30 or 9 to 3
but because of Ramadan, my schedule is from 10:30 to 2.
And so is the shopping.
This is the avenues.
It's a very popular place for people to come and shop.
It's also very, very, very, very large.
There's like three of the same shops in the entire place.
I just finished my first class
and I thought I'd show you guys the classroom
that I'm usually in.
It is very empty because we're online.
So this is basically everyone's classrooms.
We have a monitor for when we're in person,
projector, it's a smart board.
I don't know how to use them because we haven't had
any students here.
Projector and some tables for the students.
We have a podium, which is nice
and a very nice view of the B building
which is where the cafeteria is.
Unfortunately, everything is closed.
We also have a gym here, which I love.
It's one of the perks of working here.
I also wanted to show you guys the faculty offices,
we do share as the English foundations department.
An office, basically what it is.
There's someone in here with me, everyone else is in class.
We do also have privacy pod, which is very nice.
And yeah, everything basically has very large windows
which is nice for the sunlight.
And it also has a very nice view of the courtyard.
Hi, I'm getting a question
about what the qualifications are to work in Kuwait,
especially when teaching.
The majority of people do have a bachelor's degree
but some schools do require you to have a master's
or be working on your master's while you are teaching.
This is quite standard.
Some experience is sometimes needed.
I had about a year of teaching experience,
especially in ESL, and it's really helped me get this job.
So if you can get experience before you get here,
it really, really helps.
I got certified of course, with ITA and I'm so happy I did
because it really, really prepared me to come here.
I also was in South Korea before this
and I really liked the cultural research part of it.
It really, really prepared me to come here.
I did it on Kuwait cause I have it set
that I wanted to be in Kuwait.
So it really helped me understand the culture
and the traditions and things that had to be done.
I took the online part-time ITA certification.
I was working full time in the past
as an admin assistant.
COVID, we have curfew right now
as a measure of safety, masks are mandatory.
If they find you, if the police finds you with no mask
you could be fined or even deported.
And so I wouldn't risk doing that.
At the university, everyone is supposed to wear masks,
of course.
There is no in-person teaching.
We are all teaching online.
They're thinking that perhaps we can get back
to in-person teaching in September,
but at the moment we have the curfew trying to help
to make the situation better.
Hopefully it does.
When it comes to visas,
I am here on a special visa for essential personnel
because teachers are seen as essential personnel here
and I have to do renew it every three months
and the university takes care of that.
So I don't have to be doing it to myself
which is very nice.
I don't want to have to deal with the government as much.
I don't speak Arabic.
But it is all really up in the air
at the moment because of COVID and because
of other politics,
things that are happening here in Kuwait.
Hopefully I will be getting a civil ID here soon,
which is kind of like a residency card that will last
as long as my contract lasts.
Our contracts here,
usually take they're about two years.
There isn't anything shorter that I have seen.
It's usually two years.
I have a question in the DMs about how many hours I work.
And that's a funny question because I work,
I teach 20 hours a week, but I'm basically working the rest
of the time.
I do keep my weekends to myself, of course, and myself
and my friends getting my nails done, which I really
need to do taking a spa day, just going to the salon
or going in to get food.
We have in car dining at the moment
because dining in a restaurant is not possible.
You either get delivery, pick up or you eat in your car.
They have these like special tables, things,
they go in your car and then you eat in your car
which is really interesting.
Really cool.
Maybe I'll do that later.
Not today, but it will take place of
in restaurant dining
which I'm excited to get back to because it's a whole vibe.