#43 The Holidays with good friends in Kuwait

I thought about my family and friends a lot in the last few days since it is
close to the holidays. When i got on my plane from Cairo to Kuwait and
found myself to be the only white person who didn't understand the arabic
instructions on the plane and found everyone looking at me as if to say why
are you here? what are you planning? you aren't one of us. It was the
first time I really felt like the minority where there was no place to hide
and no one to go to. I wondered if there was something on my face that they
were all looking at and realized it was the color. They had no idea about me but were so quick to judge which is when it really hit me how other people feel in other parts of the world when they are judged based on how they look.

I arrived in Kuwait to my friends waiting for me. Before I left people were quite worried about me visiting this part of the world and told me lots of people here would like to kill me. If they are trying to kill me with kindness and food then that may be true. I got to spend time with some people who I lived with back in the U.S at MSU. Shiggity S Hempz, King T, Boss, G, Bujasim, and Fry. I also met and got to know some of there friends during my viist; Saleem, Porks, Hussein, Njada and a few others. When I arrived Shiggity and T gave me a cell phone and a labtop to use. They checked me in to a hotel for the first few days so I could catch up on sleep and relax for a little before staying at their houses. We went out to eat most days for the meals someone didn't have me over to their house. For the days out I was never allowed to pay for anything.

It was such a difference from traveling in Africa in some of the poorest countries and staying with people who didn't have a car to cruising around Kuwait in the 06 Corvette, the 06 Porche, an escalade, or a top of the line Lex like Ali G wants.
I was taken to all of their homes and treated like one of the family everywhere I went. There was lots to eat!!! Everywhere I went there was food. I think in my 10 days here I put on at least a pound or two a day, but worth every bit of it.

On Christmas Eve Shiggity's family had everyone over for a big meal and I had a chance to get to know his Parents, 3 brothers and younger sister. I left stuffed and happy. On Christmas morning I awoke in my hotel room to Boss who was dropping off groceries for me. For Christmas dinner I went to T's house and had maybe the best turkey I've ever eaten in my life. I got a chance to get to know his Mom, his two sisters and two brothers as well. While we were talking and eating dessert they asked me how it was and I replied with a little of what my friends taught me in the States that you say when something is really good; binga7ba. When they errupted with laughter his mom told me that this is something you only say around your guy friends and that is literally means son of a bitch. She wasn't mad at all since she knew I was taught this but it brought a big laugh to everyone there and everyone that heard the story after.

Most days we would cruise around town catching up on each others life, stop to eat, meet up with some other people for tea or fresh juice, then go and eat again. I got to catch up on movies I haven't seen:
Lucky Number Slevin : I enjoyed this one, had a bit of a usual suspects feel.
Little Miss Sunshine: I had some good laughs during this movie, a few cheesy parts but I quite liked it.
Borat: some real funny parts but there were some real unnecessary parts too where he went overboard; but that's what Borat is about huh?
Rocky 6: It's rocky six, what do you expect. It was good ending for Rocky, some horrible lines and I was happy that I slept through most of it only to wake up for the ending.
The illusionist: a cool movie, I feel like an idiot doing my card tricks after watching this movie. Edward Norton is the man.
Jackass 2: painfull to watch. I wonder how many hours these guys rack up in the hospital. I was laughing so hard at some parts and wanted to puke at others, just what you would think you would get.
Click: Not to great, seeing it once was fine.

I learned (mostly from Porks) about gizzing. Gizzing is what you do to pick up women in Kuwait. There are very strict rules as far as PDA (public displays of affection) and interactions between men and women here. Gizzing is when you drive up and down the main streets and look for women in cars, if she looks at you and makes eye contact and smiles you can give her your phone number. Once you give her your phone number you follow her car for a while. When I suggested this is liking stalking I was told that "stalking is cool in Kuwait". Then they might call you for some weeks before you actually get to meet up with the girl. You might meet her with some friends for some weeks after that before going to dinner or something with just the two of you. It really is a long process that didn't interest me one bit. The time Boss, T, Porks and I went out to go gizzing we stopped for a emperor (mango juice with vanilla ice crea) after about 5 minutes of driving and then went over to another friends house to play the Nintendo Wii which is just an awesome video system and beats gizzing any day of the week.

All the way to the chalet is desert on either side of the road. Most of the year you only see sand but at this time of the year all you see are lights at night. Because it is the winter and a little cooler, EVERYONE in Kuwait sets up tents for month or more and goes there on the weekends. When I say tent I mean 3-5 tents that are each as big as a garage and if you were to look inside would look like a permanent home with beds, couches and the works. I found this quite interesting, we didn't go there, we had a Chalet.

We spent a couple days at the Chalet which is about a 45 minute drive from the city which to people in Kuwait is VERY far. This is because it takes about 3 hours to drive from the southern most tip to the northern most tip of the country. It is a country of around 1 million people which is strange after leaving Cairo which holds about 22 million. Lots of our friends went to the Chalet which is right on the ocean. Here we just hang out, play video games, watch movies, listen to music, play cards and of course eat loads of food. It was very relaxing and way to cold to swim which was dissapointing since I have never swam in the Arabian Sea before.

Alcohol is illegal in Kuwait. We had it whenever we wanted it. Not in bars or anything like that but there was a way to get it. Since I spent a bit of the time trying to recover from a cold I didn't drink at all but they had gotten some for the holidays. You can buy a regular bottle of vodka or whiskey on the black market for about$100, or you can get it from your dad who got bottles as gifts through work.
Yeah, and marijuana is illegal in the US; doesn't mean you can't get it.

I have to say that one of my best friends that I lived with for a couple of years at MSU who is from Kuwait was not able to be in Kuwait while I was here. Big MO style is in the US now training for work while I am here in Kuwait living it up. We did listen to some of his rap songs and talked about him quite a bit. He says that he will meet me in Bangkok though so that will be alright.

Pirating is huge in Kuwait because there aren't really any laws against it. We went to Rehab which is a huge building where you can buy any video game, movie, tv series or pretty much anything in the electronic world at a great discounted price.
I was also taken to the friday market which is where you literally can buy ANYTHING. They sell, fish, chicken, dogs, sheep, parrots, monkeys, shark, pigeon, rugs, tv's, antiques, perfume, jewelry or really whatever you want. I really enjoyed this trip to the market. They sold tons of little chicks that they dyed all different colors (see picture in winkflash).

I spent a lot of time with Boss who is Big MO's cousin. I stayed at his house quite a bit and got to meet some of his family also. We went to his Grandmas house one day for lunch and all of his relatives laughed when I made his little cousin cry by playing a trick on him, it was innocent I promise.

Eid is one of the biggest holidays in the Islamic religion. They celebrate in honor of the people who have died in their family and for the people in Mecca. It specifically celebrates when Abraham was told by God to sacrifice his son and then when he was going to do it God sent down a sheep for him to slaughter instead. I stayed at T's house the day before Mecca so in the morning I could wake up and celebrate it with his family. They had bought sheep a couple days before and so this morning of Eid I got to watch the slaughtering of sheep. They donate one to the neighborhood and then keep the meat of the other which will last for a few months.
It was interesting to watch just because I'm not accustomed to seeing it. Most of the meat I get comes in a plastic wrapper with a pricetage on it. Another custom that goes with Eid is that the parents will give kids money, and it is usually new, fresh money. So when I got out of bed his Mom handed me a $100 bill. I tried to refuse but was told it is part of the custom and it would be insulting if I didn't take it; you know I don't like to insult people.

The time I was here went by so fast and it was exactly what I needed in the middle of my trip. Being with friends, relaxing and being able to pick on people who know me well enough to just tease me right back. Especially hearing about the death of my friend Tom made me really appreciate having friends around to support me with love and kindness.

When I went to the airport to leave, 4 cars went with me, parked and walked me in to say goodbye. Not just anybody does that.

The only way to have a friend is to be one.
* Ralph Waldo Emerson