The 5 most convenient things about Kuwait

Some of my spanish friends do not fully understand why I live in Kuwait, when I could be living in wonderful Barcelona. Far from family and friends, too hot in summer, no wine, no tapas, censorship, lack of cultural offer... "What the hell are you doing there?" they ask me over and over.

Is true that the fact of being far from home (in Kuwait or elsewhere) has many disadvantages, but in this post I would like to list some of the top conveniences of living in Kuwait, country where I fell very welcomed and happy.

[In another post I will talk about things I love about Kuwait, these are merely convenient things I don't have in Spain]

1. No taxes:

In Spain I could be paying about 30% of my income to the government. As a Spanish friend of mine used to say, I would be working from Jan to April for the government and only in May start to earn money for myself. IS NOT FUN.

2. No household to-do's:

I LOVE IT. No cleaning, no vacuuming, no ironing, no NOTHING. Siriyani, my maid, does everything for me. Still I cook, because I like it, but I do not have to clean all the mess and utensils used for the matter.

3. More flexibility:

Recently I went over all the bureaucratic procedures you can imagine for obtaining visa residence, civil ID, driving license, importing car... The process was very painful because was ever changing, specially the residence and car import processes, BUT at the same time, the government representatives would allow me for some flexibility. Specially, I have to admit, if you are a female and you know how to play it.

Ladies, if you have issues with bureaucracy, DO NOT SEND YOUR MANDOUBs (messenger), go yourselves!

A carefully calculated smile and a "help me please, me poor spaniard", would do magic...

A couple of references to Futbol Club Barcelona and a couple of spontaneous words in my rudimentary arabic, would make me obtain the necessary approvals....

4. No "sardine-box-sized" apartments

My apartment in Barcelona has 55 sq. m. It has a kitchen, living room, 2 rooms, a bathroom and balcony. My closed neighbor has only one room, instead of two, AND has a baby, which sleeps in the living room, since there is no space. ALL SAID.

In Kuwait I am leaving in 300 sq. m: 3 rooms, 2 living rooms, maid room, washing room... My parking places have the size of my living room in BCN and the maid room here in kuwait is as big as my masterbedroom in BCN... And we are talking of a 400.000 Euro apartment, no peanuts!

My mom always says that I will have to sell my clothes prior to moving back to BCN, since they wont fit in my 55sq. m sardine-box. I'm not sure whether she is joking...

5. Increased safety:

I have been robbed twice in BCN, (once with a knife!) and I have many friends and family members which also have been robbed. In Kuwait, I never had any issue and my perception so far is that it is a much safer country (at least regarding pick-pocketing, we'll talk about road safety in another post...)