Kuwait: Ain't got no soul?

So I was talking to someone the other day about Kuwait. It is funny, but whenever you meet someone for the first time, within a couple of minutes, you are talking about Kuwait. The dialogue goes something like this: 

Stranger: So, how long have you been in Kuwait?

Me: Ohh about two months now

Stranger: ( laughing with a knowing laugh) ha ha ha...what do you think?

The conversation always goes like that with very few variations. The variation is in the tone of the 'what do you think?' which ranges from amusement to a 'what do YOU think?" as if we are comparing types of diseases. 

For some reason, Kuwait has this reputation in the international community  of being "not good" or not a good place to be working and I cant really put my finger on why. 

I am not saying I agree, or disagree with that general sentiment, but one cannot deny that the sentiment is there. 

So while I still have to ponder whether Kuwait is loved or hated by this author, I will write about what I do know:

1) Kuwait is not 'cool'. Sorry but it's true. 

Specifically, there is very little that is 'cool' about Kuwait.  Some of the architecture is cool, but somehow the cool buildings don't seem to belong here, they are more of an adhoc thing. Are they trying too hard? Kind of like an awkward teenage girl who wears too much makeup in an effort to look like something she is not?

I feel that Kuwait is trying to be cool, but somehow falls short. ( Dubai wannabee perhaps?). 

There is no cool graffiti, no cool teenagers trying to be hipsters or punk or goth, very few fashionistas that ooze that cool factor that the women of New York or London or Milan ooze. This is because by and large, the abaya prevents women from expressing any cool factor, and the sunglasses/hijab only can take them so far. When out and about, I am not inspired by a cool outfit, or a cool way of wearing a belt, or a cool advertisement. 

ie cool outfit, women: 



The men here are good looking, but they are not 'cool' in the way that men of London, UK can be cool, with their skinny jeans, blazers and scarves.

ie cool outfit, men. 


But on a broader scale, why are some cities cool and others are not? Why is Rome cool, and Kuwait city is not? 

Florence vs Munich

Paris vs Moscow 

Dubai vs Doha

Montreal vs Toronto

New York vs Dallas

Beirut vs Cyprus

Is cool factor determined by the demographic of the people? The history of the city? The fashion sense of the people? Their collective philosophy of life?

Kuwait is many things, but its not cool. It does try though, I will give it that.

2) Is Kuwait Soul-less?

While having this conversation with a British expat, she suggested an opinion that she heard from another expat. The idea was suggested that Kuwait is 'soul-less'; that there is no 'heart' in Kuwait. 

We discussed why that could be and it was determined that with the large population of expats who don't really belong here, perhaps that rubs off in the atmosphere? 

The majority of people that one sees when one is out and about are not Kuwaiti people. The drivers, clerks, shop keepers, delivery personnel, construction workers, waiters, waitresses, are Egyptians and Lebanese and Syrians and Filipinos and Indian and Pakistani and Canadian and American and Russian and Ukrainian and Serbian and, and, and, but not bred and born Kuwaitis.

Because the majority of people living in Kuwait, are not from Kuwait, their hearts belong somewhere else. Their soul is somewhere else. 

Honestly, they ( we?) are in Kuwait for the money or to get experience or to have a better quality of life then they would in their home country or for a combination of reasons--but their loved ones, their family, their kids, their wives and daughters and husbands and parents and friends...are all somewhere else. 

In turn, the hearts of the people living here are somewhere else, so the collective consciousness of Kuwait is not about Kuwait. 
The minds of the people are here, doing the work they were hired to do--but the hearts of the people here are back home, wherever that home may be.

With all that love energy consciously and consistently leaving the country and sapping it dry,  does that make Kuwait, soul-less?

I am not sure--just another thing for me to ponder on this great adventure of mine.