It started out a normal day ...8am and the temp already up to 90f.
Blazing sunshine pouring into my bedroom window.
Abdul our local chef was going to teach me more recipes for my boss, I was in a private villa on the shores of the Persian Gulf, staring out at the endless lines of barbed wire that stretched into the ocean, marking off our private beach.
The master of this house had already gone to work,( I lived in the house of my boss's younger brother, my boss's house was a high walled palace further down the beach, to which I would be shuttled down by limo every day, at this time my boss & his immediate family where in St.Moritz,Switzerland, so I could be trained in more Arabic dishes) it was common practice here in Kuwait City in the late 70's for people to begin work, in high rise offices at 5 and 6am, as the local power company had problems and every day at some point around noon or just after we would have power outages, everywhere.
I was settling into my first cup of coffee when Abdul asked me to help with the 2 crates of fresh vegetables we had brought last night ( we had stopped as usual in Beirut Airport to pick up fresh vegetables and fruit)..today we were going to prepare stuffed vegetables and a light Curry....the stuffed vegetables took all morning..Abdul tended to work much slower when his Master was not around and his spoken English was up to my par of Arabic, but we muddled through, and just after 1pm the power went out.
We could not open any of the fridges, so ate a light lunch of bread and dates, and brought towels to cover the cooling foods.
Most of the stuffings we had made where vegetable with just one being ground chicken..and any (filler ..carbohydrate) was either basmatti rice or steamed bulgur wheat.
Abdul was also trying to teach me Arabic..later much to my Boss's humor and my horror..swear words!
As it was still sunny...(I don't remember ever having seen a cloud in Kuwait) and the wind had dropped..the sea looked so inviting, "calm as a millpond", I asked Abdul if it was OK for me to go for a swim..he was off to bed for a nap as nothing could be done until the power came on, he told me not to use the pool as the power was off so it would be too warm.
I got changed quickly the house was already heating up and was 100F and headed outside, the heat hit me first, taking my breath away ...120f and no shade.
The beaches around the house were pristine having been sieved that morning by a crew of local men( who came every time the tide went out to sieve the beach)..I decided to go for a swim in the ocean.....it was like getting into a warm bath.
This was nothing like my experience in Australia where the Pacific was freezing all the time, or the Mediterranean which was pleasantly warm in summer..this was very warm....I decided to swim further out as it should cool down in deep water.
I kept the barbed wire fence to my right as I swam out..it stretched well out to sea.
After about 20 minutes I watched someone water skiing behind me in a speed boat, then turned to shore and saw someone waving a white towel, it was Abdul..I waved back.
Slowly making my way back to shore but swimming parallel to the shoreline, taking my time as it was still very murky and warm water.
As I got nearer to shore I could hear what Abdul was saying as he frantically waved...he was telling me to get out of the water.
I slowed down to tread on the bottom and then I heard him say just one word. and pointing behind me.......Shark!
It was probably the quickest I have ever moved out of anything...I was telling him if he was kidding I would kill him..he was laughing and pointing out to sea as I stepped on dry land...shoals of sharks fins where breaking the surface just 10ft from where I had been standing!
I never swam in Kuwait City after that, not even the pool!
At night I would watch the massive ghost crabs, (through the glass wall that stretched around the beach side of the house), each about 2 ft across standing on their tip toes, white as the sand they had emerged from, locking claws and performing a "silent crustacean ballet" against the beach floodlights.
The crabs came out every night to "dance" for me, it is one wonderful memory I shall never forget.
This coming Thursday I am going to prepare some stuffed peppers along the lines of that Kuwaiti trip..stay tuned for more info...
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