Category Archives: Kuwait

“I am so busy doing nothing… that the idea of doing anything – which as you know, always leads to something – cuts into the nothing and then forces me to have to drop everything.” – Jerry Seinfeld

It’s not like I’ve been literally doing nothing; I just don’t enjoy anything I do. I’ve been stuck in a rut lately with my days starting and ending with “late”. I’m late to work, I eat a late lunch, it’s too late for dinner, I try to work out if it’s not too late, and I always get to bed really late. Rewind and repeat, day in and day out. If you are currently in my situation, squeezing more commitments (that you could not care less about) into your already crammed schedule then you know how exhausting it can get. I can’t think straight.

In between work and a multitude of social obligations, I find myself wondering if I ever really went to Costa Rica. When was the last time I watched a movie, picked up a book, wrote in my journal or even looked at this blog? I logged in now and had to familiarize myself with the WordPress layout because it’s been that long! And in trying to pinpoint the culprit of this infinite state of busyness, I always come to one answer: Kuwait.

Life in Kuwait is a gigantic tornado that sneaks up on you and holds you victim as it whirls and spins your world, while you stand shakily at its centre. It’s hard to escape. It’s destructive and violent. But once you break away from this tornado (and I can only do so by getting on a plane), you’ll be amazed at the tranquility of the world outside. The last time I adhered to a healthy routine was in Costa Rica: long walks, simpler food, fresh air, early nights and earlier mornings. Pura vida.

The difference between being in Kuwait and abroad, for myself and many others, is not just about taking public transportation or in escaping a third cousin’s wedding. Breaking away from the fast-paced life in Kuwait is certainly refreshing but it’s the sense of freedom that puts a genuine smile on my face. When we are away from Kuwait, many of us are able to shed several masks – no social duties, no euphemisms, no tongue-biting in fear of offending someone.

These false pretenses are perpetuated by each and every person in society regardless of their age or gender: parents, siblings, educators, professionals, locals and expats. Don’t shrug your shoulders, we’re all responsible. Even when one of us wants to break free, we’re silenced by the crowd and told to sit back down. I don’t know what it will take for people to change in Kuwait and stop sacrificing individuality for the sake of culture and tradition. I know there are Kuwaitis out there who have retaliated. They spoke up regardless of the social stigma but they are outnumbered. Most people were stifled into silence. Some Kuwaitis have simply left, seeking refuge in more forgiving societies where they can blend with the crowds in places where they won’t be judged for speaking their minds.

When I was in high school I entered a public speaking contest where I was given the following prompt: “you can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time”. I don’t know how I interpreted that saying when I was sixteen years old but I do comprehend those words now. I repeat them to myself when I’m alone, hoping the mantra works its way into my being and stays with me.

I want to whisper those words to everyone I meet in Kuwait who happens to be bending over backwards for the sake of society: losing weight, stuck in the wrong major, wearing something that makes them uncomfortable, or worse, unable to escape an abusive relationship or receive treatment for a taboo illness. Breaking away from society’s restrictions doesn’t have to result in blind rage and hatred. It doesn’t even have to be drastic. Change is a gradual process. Repeat after me: I cannot please all of the people all of the time; I will focus on myself instead and do something for me every single day.

Try it. It should not be this hard.

Martha's vineyard MA

August, 2011. Martha’s vineyard: watching a gull.

Jaded?

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I keep taking what I like to refer to as a ‘blogging hiatus.’ But this last disappearing act was totally involuntary. The Ministry of Health should be held accountable. If you live in Kuwait, you’re probably familiar with the MOH’s shenanigans. If you don’t live in Kuwait… ah, just use your imagination! Health care is appalling everywhere. Except maybe in Switzerland.

So on Thursday morning, I went to our local clinic with a mild rash. Was it an insect bite? A reaction to a perfume I sprayed? Something I ate? I had no idea. And neither did the doctor. The closest the doctor got to me during her examination… wait, no, there was no examination. She merely listened to my description of the rash that started on Tuesday night, prescribed me an antihistamine and gave me some topical hydrocortisone. Wait, can I put this on my forehead and ears? I asked alarmed. She looked at me like I just asked if I can use the cream as a sandwich spread. (By the way, she’s the same GP who laughed at me before! Read about her here.) Yes, silly. The cream can be applied anywhere with no problems.

You know what happened next, right? I applied the cream a couple of times only to wake up on Friday morning looking like this. Well, minus the red hair. My eyes were black and blue, puffy and swollen. My mother rushed me to another clinic where the shrewd doctor prescribed me two hydrocortisone shots in the muscle (ow!). Still no diagnosis, still no examination.

But this time, the shots worked like magic. I was fine all of Friday (and happily preparing for a family picnic) and I took my second shot on Saturday.  The mysterious swelling had all but disappeared, but I wore my sunglasses all day. Just in case Prince Charming dropped by unannounced.

I don’t know what happened that night but I woke up at 3 am on Sunday practically clawing my face off. Dear readers, I almost screamed when I looked in the mirror and saw myself. It was NOT pretty. What happened? Did I eat something that triggered it (the Thing that two doctors haven’t even named) again? Was it the exposure to the sun? Did the amazing drug wear off? By 4 am I had to be taken to the hospital. The swelling was getting out of hand and it was now accompanied by a spreading rash. Good times.

My mother and I sat in the emergency room an hour watching the worst horror flick ever made on a tiny screen. The queue kept getting longer. Nobody moved. People kept knocking on the doctor’s office, opening the door, peeking in and retreating quietly. I assumed the doctor was seeing a patient. An hour later, an Indian doctor appeared and was strolling around the waiting room, hands in his pockets, stethoscope limp around his neck. He peered at us curiously and walked into a different office. Then he stepped out and motioned for one of the young men to follow him, disregarding people’s numbers and how long they’ve been waiting. We were all baffled. Well it turned out that he was the only doctor on duty! He was in the wrong office. He didn’t bother calling people’s numbers. AND there were two people waiting patiently for him for over an hour in his office! Agh!

He finally saw me. I was in the middle of my narrative, trying to show him my neck (that was turning into a frightful shade of red) when he interrupted me. “This is simple. Allergy. You take a shot now.” He handed me the paper. I was furious.

I was even more irate after the intravenous hydrocoristone shot that only made me more determined to scratch my face off. At 10 am, I was sitting in front of doctor #4, at yet another hospital, repeating the story once again. He at least did not prescribe me anything. He gave me some calming lotion and told me to head to the Allergy Center the next day.

It was not until Monday that I was properly diagnosed and started receiving the right (!) treatment for acute urticaria (I think it’s just a fancy word for ‘random allergic reaction’). I had to see six doctors and consult another one over the phone. Granted that it’s a public holiday and the Allergy Center was closed, why didn’t any of these doctors take the right steps? Apparently urticaria is very common and is treated with oral steroids and antibiotics in case of inflammation. I don’t understand why our doctors are so jaded. I don’t understand why half of them didn’t bother examining me or asking for a second opinion. I don’t understand how they can be apathetic after taking an oath. I had to deal with the discomfort of swelling and a rash, but how many others have gone through worse?

We don’t need a new government right now, we need better work ethics in this country. Starting with our doctors.

On a funny note one of the doctors was asking me to describe the pain. She was apparently impressed with my (limited!) medical vocabulary — all thanks to Google and my minor hypochondriac tendencies. Are you a nurse? She asked me. I shook my head and told her I work at a small museum. In the medical part of the museum? she wanted to know.

Seriously? Seriously.

Suspend all logic. Then Tweet.

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I should start out by admitting that I no longer have a Twitter account – although I was an avid user in 2008 and until the end of 2009. I found it to be time-consuming and distracting, that is not to say I don’t see how it can be beneficial. Frankly, I just don’t have the energy to tweet nor a frenetic interest in my friends’ whereabouts, thoughts and musings. But apparently I’m one of the very few people who is not constantly tweeting.

A social media endemic is sweeping through the country. Individuals who were still trying to figure out how e-mails worked a few months ago are now actively tweeting, blogging and posting on Facebook. Social media literacy is critical today as the world recognizes the power of these tools, the lack of knowledge and true understanding of these media, however, is disastrous.

Time and again, I’ve heard people make some outrageous claim and when challenged they are quick to cite Twitter. Twitter (for the most part) is not  a legitimate source of information even though it must extremely tempting to take the written word for the ultimate, unchangeable and unquestionable truth (a concept philosophers have argued since ancient history). I’ve noticed that people in Kuwait have stopped thinking, quickly retweeting and often aiding the dissemination of false information. It frightens me.

My friend and her family are the latest victims of this craze. The proud owners of Pierre Marcolini’s (Kuwait  branch) decadent chocolate store, they have been operating in Kuwait for years with absolutely no problem. They recently moved the store to a new location in a large, busy mall, which obviously attracted a bigger crowd. It may even have attracted the wrong crowd.

The store has been shut down by the ministry for allegedly selling chocolates that contain alcohol, thereby breaking the law. This information is not true. Samples of the imported chocolate are systematically tested by the authorities upon entering the country and have never been stopped or questioned. The owners have requested from Pierre Marcolini that the products made for the Kuwait market to be alcohol free, a request honored and maintained by all parties involved.

This whole fiasco started when an unidentified woman made this claim (based on the European Marcolini website). Samples from the store were held by the authorities for several months for analysis – the delay, deliberate or not, is questionable. The chocolates were probably not stored at the right temperature and contained fruit syrups which would have perished. In addition to the first test, two independent analyses of the same product (carried in labs in Belgium and Kuwait) have proved that the claim is false, but the woman’s vindictive campaign pushed the ministry to shut the store. She maliciously spread the word on Twitter, blogs and through Whatsapp and text messages until the country was buzzing with the news. There are now horrific statements being made about my friend’s family adding to the slander and making abstruse arguments.

I hope you support Marcolini during these difficult times and remember that rumors are not to be taken lightly as they can destroy people.

Have a great weekend and here’s a song to cheer you up after that heavy post.

Thank you, K’s Path!

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Today we drove out to Wafra with my cousins to attend K’s Path Open Day. Although the drive was a little long (by Kuwait standards), it’s not bad at all if you’re carpooling – it’s even better if your barely-articulate four and two-year old cousins were trying to teach your American friend Arabic. And not any Arabic, their unique amalgamation of several Arabic dialects and a smattering of English. It was rather entertaining and distracted us from the vast nothingness stretching on either side of the road.

We got there at around 10:40 am and the kids were clearly a little confused because they kept asking about the sharks. No, that’s the Scientific Center, I told them. We’re here to see the cats and dogs.

And there were so many cats and dogs! And falcons, donkeys, turtles, tortoises and hares!

Try to be like the turtle - at ease in your own shell. - Bill Copeland

From the moment we got there, K’s Path team was extremely welcoming and helpful. We were greeted and the activities were explained to us. The kids run around trying to look at the animals and we at 11 am we were taken on a tour of the shelter by one of K’s Path employees. I was so impressed by the overall management and organization, it seemed like everyone knew what they were doing and were happy to be there. It didn’t feel like a sad animal shelter at all. The place was radiating with positive energy, the animals were accustomed to people (even to the little kids running around) and the volunteers were patient, knowledgable and friendly. My only concern was the electric fence enclosing the donkeys – there wasn’t a sign and it was almost pointed out to us too late. Our tour guide yelled out not to touch the fence just as my little cousin put his hand out to touch it. Thankfully nothing happened because that would have been a real bummer.

We spent the day playing with the animals and it felt really good. I’ve been telling people about K’s Path and speaking highly of them even before I saw their HQ – now I can praise them based on my firsthand experience. K’s Path is one of the organizations who do weekend beach clean ups in Kuwait and I already met a couple of their amazing employees. I was glad to see them today and chat with them briefly. It must take a lot of passion and dedication to drive to Wafra on a daily basis.

Here are a few pictures I took of my cousins.

Mesmerized

Enthralled

Love

Friends!

Thank you SO much K’s Path – keep up the amazing work. We had a great time and we can’t wait to visit again.

 

fish market

سوق السمك

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(Title reads: The fish market)

I love having visitors because I become a tourist in my own country.

I usually don’t need an excuse to get to Souq Al-Mubarakiya, but I do need to be taking people around if I’m ever going to get to the other museums for example or visit the fish market and the different mosques. The best part though, is seeing Kuwait with fresh eyes. I’m filled with love and pride when an old man in the market offers my friends tea and shares his stories, or when a smiling woman points us in the right direction. It’s endearing when people don’t stop and stare, they stop and ask my guests if they’re having a good time and what they think of Kuwait. I enjoy explaining the traditions that are so ingrained in our every day lives that we’ve become oblivious to their beauty and significance. It’s refreshing to focus on the positive.

Here are a few photos I took when S. was visiting Kuwait in the summer of 2010. [You can read about my Mississippi adventures with S. here, here and here.]