Sticking Out in the Crowd – Kuwait – Travels and Adventures of Joyful Stephanie

Friday is the one day of the week many laborers and domestic workers have off. As expected, there were many groups of East Indian men out enjoying the day. What I didn’t expect were the number of East Indian women! In Qatar, there are many groups of Nepalese and Filipino women out and about on Fridays. In Kuwait, there seems to be a large population of East Indian women out and about on Fridays.

As I walked among Arabs, East Indians and scatterings of Asians, I noticed I seemed to be the only caucasian Westerner out and about. Not an obvious expat in sight. (You have to live over here to understand the nuances of that sentence.) I did stand out as the only white female in the crowds.

As I walked I saw this cross on a building. I will say I was shocked to see this, a religious symbol not of Islam on such marked display. I went to investigate.

Here is what I found: National Evangelical Church Kuwait

I felt very out of place in that I looked like a tourist snooping around and quickly left.

I continued to walk towards my hotel when I saw this:

This really wasn’t a traditional souq – more like a discount shopping outlet….and I was the only white female in the place. The crowds were suffocating. Then a young man started following me. As I weaved and twisted my way through the crowds, he would either be directly behind me or go ahead and wait for me to walk by. Security was not an option for me to turn to, as there wasn’t any. Knowing he was behind me, I gathered all my courage, stopped abruptly, turned and stared directly at his face with a stern look. I then turned about and walked off. This seemed to work, as I looked over my shoulder he wasn’t there. I then exited the building, discovering with great relief he had stopped following me and then that my hotel was directly behind that crazy shopping place.

ps….no the guy in the blue shirt behind me in my selfie picture is not the stalker dude. I had just arrived when I took this.

All ended well though!!!!!! Tucked safely back at the hotel, I had my supper at La Mamma Pizzeria …. I enjoyed a delicious meal of creamy shrimp spaghetti, then a dessert of cannoli filled with flavored ricotta cream and an espresso….