Kuwait is quite different from other places that I have travelled. The very first thing I noticed when I stepped off the plane was the heat. It was so hot and dry that at first it hurt to breathe. Soon you get used to the heat and everything else about Kuwait begins to become part of your daily life.

School Year
Kuwait follows the Western school year, for the most part. School breaks are different because they follow the Islamic Moon Calendar. We begin at the end of August and go until we have a week or so for Eid break at the end of September or early October. Then we get time off for Christmas. The school I am at changes the break depending on parents and government desires. This year we have a week off for Christmas then a week back at school, then we are off for two more weeks while the government schools are on holiday. We sometimes get a break in February for the National and Liberation Holidays in Kuwait (Feb 25-28) but only if they fall during the week. If they happen during the weekend we get squat. Our final break is in April for a week.The end of the school year varies depending on when Ramadan begins. During Ramadan Muslims fast between sun rise (about 4am) and sunset (about 7pm). Nothing may pass their lips, not food, water, smoke or anything else. There are of course expectations for the young, the old, and medical needs. During this time schools are on break and the start of Ramadan is generally the end of the school year. In 2016 Ramadan begins in early June (June 6th) so students finish then but teachers still report to work until June 20th. During Ramadan days are shortened to 9am-1pm where we can get work done.

Students
In Kuwait the school system is segregated by gender. Classes after grade 5 (kindergarten in some schools) are single gender. In my school students are segregated after kindergarten. I teach a grade one class consisting of 24 five and six year old boys. In many ways this segregation makes things more difficult. Without the calmer girls class can get rowdy and it gets worse as boys get older.

Students in Kuwait are mostly less studious than in other places of the world. They have money and feel entitled. An attitude they get from their parents. Boys are taught that the world runs on an eye for an eye, if someone hits you, then you hit back. This leads to many fights in school. Schools tend to have low discipline in place (there are no detentions or anything that would inconveniences the parents).

Parents
As with any teaching job there are parents. Some are to involved and some are not involved enough. I have parents that I see everyday after school wanting to ask if their child has made progress. Progress from yesterday, sure we learned something new, we reviewed old knowledge to better connect it in our brains. Has their behaviour gotten better or worse, maybe for the day but we like to look at longer trends to see changes in behaviour.
I have parents that I have never met and never will. Some parents are completely distant and no help to their children. I have never seen so many maids/nannies/drivers come to pick children up from school. They also help students with their homework and take care of them day to day.
There are also great parents who express concern and want to know how to help and trust that if there is a problem with their child they will be informed and they don’t have to meet with the teacher everyday.

In private schools (especially for profit schools) parents have a lot of say and admin may give you a difficult time if parents so not like you. Things will be done that look good to the parents but put an unrealistic expectation on the teacher.

Housing
Rent starts at about 1000$ for an apartment in Kuwait, depending on size and area. As an international teacher this doesn’t affect me. My housing is paid for by the school as part of the benefits package or I get an allowance of 1000$ a month to help pay rent if I live outside school provided housing. Non-Western staff do not have a housing allowance and generally have a smaller salary. My teaching assistant is a hard worker who makes 1/3 of my salary, less than the average rent in Kuwait. He shares housing with 5 other men in order to save money to send home to his family in Egypt.

Transportation
There is a bus that takes people from school housing to and from work each day. So the main need for transportation is taken care of. When you want to travel around the city people generally take a cab. Cabs in Kuwait are generally inexpensive and it is possible to barter. Cabs do not use the meter.
There is also city bus transportation in the city. It is difficult to use though because not all the routes are mapped. Taking the bus is an adventure of try to look up where the bus goes and hope it still goes there. I use the bus because it’s 1$ and it goes most of the places I need it to pretty directly. The front of the bus is for women and men sit at the back. Mainly it is Asian or Indian workers taking the bus.

People can also get a car here and gas is cheap. I never did because people drive like maniacs and there are accidents everyday.

Food
Food is a big part of the culture here. There are not many things to do in Kuwait so people go out to eat or they have people over to eat. Local dishes are cheap. We go to a small place behind the school for breakfast. It has egg or falafel or eggplant buns for less than 50 cents. You can also go to the high end restaurants that charge you 12-15$ for a mock tale (because there is no alcohol in Kuwait).

Generally you can find most everything you want in Kuwait. But something’s are more expensive that others, depending on how far they had to import it.