Retracing Kuwait

About 50 years ago my grandfather working for Gulf Oil at the time packed up his family in Oklahoma and moved to the tiny Gulf country of Kuwait. My father was in his early teens, liked go-cart driving and getting into trouble. He doesn't remember much from that time but has some funny stories about expat life, curry and the Middle East. A lot of what I attribute to my current love affair with the region. So 50 years on myself living in fellow GCC country Qatar, decided to make a visit to my fathers old stomping grounds. What I found was pretty interesting. 

The Anglo School on 5th street

Your across the street neighbors

Looking up the street at Hubara

Your old house 

I rang the door bell

The current owner is a CEO of KOC

Side of the house

hubara club

Tennis courts yah!

The old golf club

NOTHING has changed according to management.

This should cost more.

Had fried Hammour at Bin Hammour near TV round about last night in Doha. It wasn't great but it was HUGE. I thought it should cost more.

hello again..

Is it weird I haven't posted since I left for the Middle East last year? Too much to say? Too little time? Not sure what to share? Those are all good excuses. I'm even staring at the white space now and saying..."what do I say?"

It has been a crazy 11 months and I don't really expect it to calm down. The last 7 has been a whirlwind with the Arab Spring. I could say so many things but it wouldn't even do it justice. I just want to share that I am very proud of our work here at Al Jazeera and when I travel around the world people tend to like what we do.

I was in Thailand this last week and this girl told me I was her Idol...I thought that was weird coming from an American who had just spent the last 6 months traveling 12 countries. I'm not sure how much AJE she had even seen but apparently it had made an impact. When I turned on my TV in our tiny bungalow on phi phi don there were 5 channels total...one of them was Al Jazeera English. I was in France Last month, they had 3 Al Jazeera channels, Germany as well. I was able to watch AJE in Beirut, Amman, Istanbul, Samos, Tel Aviv, and Jerusalem in the past 11 months. The only place I haven't was the USA. It's weird going home (NYC/Denver/Tulsa) and not being sit down on the couch and watch what I do. Or even share. I get that the online product is there. It's being wildly watched in the states. But i'm still unsure if its being accepted or routine.

I hope you're watching. And yes, there will be more to come. I promise.

Post Bathhouse Tea. In Heaven.

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Turkish Bath House

We have been in Jordan for
Less than 8 hours and we have managed to become best friends with the owner of our hotel who in turn introduced us to the owner of a turkish bath house who invited us over closed down the bathhouse and let us roam around the saunas steamrooms hottubs and get massages. It was incredible. Women are not usually allowed. We were so lucky. Off to the Dead Sea tomorrow for more massages!

An iPhone Compass is Not a Compass

Also while visiting Australia, I had a chance to hear some great war stories from my grandfather. He served heroically on a submarine with the Dutch Navy in WWII off the coast of France and in a covert mission against the Japanese in Western Australia. He then went on to be a commercial ship captain, later a tugboat captain and later a fisherman. He has spent the majority of his life out at sea. I decided to show him my handy-dandy compass on my new iPhone. Maybe its not a nautical compass but it should at least show me East! He told me an iPhone Compass is not a Compass.

Peter Describes Underwater Welding

Last December I had the rare opportunity to spend a month in Australia with my mother's side of the family. Most nights were spent out on the back porch story telling. On this particular night my uncle told some stories of his days as an underwater welder. He was a diver who spent a majority of his career welding on oil pipelines and rigs. I wonder now what he would say about the disaster in the gulf.


Here is a story of him welding off of a ship stuck in a tropical storm.

The Dry Cycle

"I want my quarters back" I said to the laundromat lady.

"but u clothes wash." she said.

"Yes, but without water. That does not count." I said staring into the machine at my soap covered dry clothes.

This was the end of what has become my quest to wash my own clothes so they smell good when they come out of the dryer. I have been living in New York for some time and I have yet to figure out the secret formula for that "fresh-straight out of the dryer" smell. I'm pretty much convinced it does not exist unless you own your own machine.

I have tried several different laundry places, even in different boroughs. I have tried different detergents, dryer sheets, wash cycles, you name it.

I had one ray of hope recently while visiting my sister in Colorado. I noticed her clothes smell overwhelmingly good. and strong. I asked, "what is your secret?"

"Dreft."

"Never heard of it."

Probably because I don't have babies. Its a baby detergent. The #1 choice of Pediatricians.

But I thought, I'm on to something. When I got back to New York, I searched for this secret detergent. My friends with babies were like, yeah I've heard of it. You can find it most anywhere.

Well, not if you live in Chinatown. I finally found a bottle at a Duane Reed on the Upper West Side. There just happened to be a really cute guy in the aisle at the same time and I fumbled with the bottle. This is awkward. I turned to him and said. "I don't have kids...I ..I just like the smell." I have to admit it wasn't my best pickup line but. It didn't work.

Anyway, having thought I had finally found the secret to good smelling clothes, I excitedly waited for laundry day. (wednesday..sometimes Thursday depending on motivation).

Thursday, I marched over to the laundromat threw my clothes in the washer, with a certain sense of satisfaction mind you. Turned the machine on. Returned 28 minutes later to find my clothes spinning with no water in the machine. That's it! I went over to the Laundry lady which resulted in the above conversation.

I'm not sure if this is some wicked attempt at making me celebrate Earth Day with an absurd round of water conservation but I wasn't celebrating.

I'm done. I have given up. I surrender. I'm waiving the white sheet.
P.S. It's dry and its covered in Dreft.

Obama signing HC Bill on every TV

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