Beware of affection

At the end of the last month, one of those life changing events, worthy to celebrate again and again, took place. After almost one year together, my couple and I married in the embassy of Thailand, with two girls as official witnesses and some friends, most of them from Thai community, who didn’t want to miss that moment. Besides formalizing our relationship and changing our civil status, this important step implies upgrading the quality of our lives as couple since, finally, we can live together. This is something that Kuwaiti laws forbid between persons of different genders unless they are married. This affects both local and foreigners. I will talk about this and other aspects related to the expressions of love in this country.

Regarding the cohabitation between men and women in Kuwait, here the residential buildings can be apartments for bachelors or families. In the first ones, couples are not allowed and, if you want to rent a room in the family ones, it is necessary to present a legal document stating that you are married, and this marriage is recognized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Justice. This applies to short stays at hotels too. In case the authorities would find that a boy and a girl are living together without being married, they could face penalties ranging from deportation (if they are foreigners) to some years in prison.

Source: www.npr.org

Besides the legal policies concerning sharing a residence, it is also important paying attention to the way we express our feelings in public places. There is no problem if we walk with our couple holding hands or even putting our hand in his/her shoulder. However, kissing can be a problem. A simple peck on the lips can be a scandal. For example, last April, an Indian guy and a Filipino girl were deported because of “indecent behavior in public”, after they were caught kissing in a public place. You can check this incident in this link:http://www.atimes.com/article/couple-deported-kissing-public-kuwait/

Source:Twitter @Almajlliss

It is incredible how a simple kiss can be perceived depending on the culture where one lives. My wife and I didn’t stay here so long as a couple but, this constant state of restraint when we are going out in the streets is provoking, little by little, a modification in our pattern of behavior in public, and we are starting to see this as something normal. I am sure that, although we could be traveling in other country with more open attitudes, we will keep restraining our actions until we can get used to the new local costumes. When we started our relationship, it was not easy but, we already reached a point when even a hug of two seconds looks kind of daring for us.

I hope this post, besides warning the couples who are considering coming Kuwait, can make those people who are out of here valuing more the place where they live and their freedom to display affection without fear of penalties. People don’t appreciate these details till they don’t have anymore.

Long live love!

The calm after the storm

I guess that out of Kuwait nobody is commenting anything about what we are experiencing here during the last days. We are having a tremendous streak of rain and thunderstorms, beating records in this land. The weather conditions and its consequences are being so awful that three-quarters of the country have been practically collapsed. This provoked that schools and other public institutions have been closed four of the last fifteen days for safety reasons. I let you here a small compilation of the most shocking videos I received these days.

According to the Kuwait Times, just in the night of the past November 5th, the number of liters per square meters (58) was more than a third of the annual average of rain in Kuwait, between 75 and 150 liters. Besides this, there were strong winds with a speed of more than 60 Km/hour. On the other hand, the infrastructures are not so ready for this kind of inclement weather, what ringed the alarm bells in a good portion of the country.

But despite what these Dantesque images show, not all the areas have been harmed in the same proportion. The worst part happened in the South and West of Kuwait, where most of the roads were blocked. In my district, Salmiya, things are more under control, although the authorities recommended staying at home until the end of the thunderstorm.

Even in this disaster, there are still people who takes it with humor and innate curiosity for a phenomenon which, possibly, they won’t experience for a long time. At first, I see it as something stupid, considering the risk of goofing around in the middle of flooding. However, I also understand what some people, who maybe never experienced a storm like this in their lives, can think. It reminds me, differences aside, that time when it snowed in my hometown in Spain (Cordoba) and everybody ran to the streets to take photo, no matter if the ground was very slippery and going out was not the best idea. What do you think of these videos? Recklessness or over excitement because of the novelty?

The weather forecast says that it is going to be sunny during the next days, although there could be some showers within next ten days. I hope that normality will be resumed soon. Will keep you updated!

If you want to be informed about the last images and videos of these days, you can follow the account of Kuwait UPTO DATE in Twitter (@kuwait_uptodate).

Finding the right tune

Among the new things at the school where I work this year compared to the previous ones, I have to highlight the fact of not including the subject of Music in the school curriculum. The music, logically, is present at the life of every student, teacher and other staff member, but here they prefer to keep it for private life and leisure time. It is perceived as a entertainment and distraction, rather than a learning source and interaction with the environment, as it should be inside my mindset. This matches with the Islamic values at my school, very conservative as I could realize in these two first months.

The topic of the music provokes some controversy in the Islamic world. While some orthodox approaches see it as a something as offensive as drinking alcohol, other persons understand it as admissible and even as a element to be included in religious rituals, like the dervishes in Turkey. At the end, as it happens with other cultural characteristics such as using the veil, everything depends on the interpretation of each person has of the Koranic scriptures. I would like that some Muslim person correct me if I am wrong, but I couldn’t find any concrete verse prohibiting music, although it is suggested that it can be connected to sinful acts.

Sufi musician in the Muslim quarter of Nizalmuddin in Delhi (India)

Besides restrictions and prohibitions, actually in Kuwait the music is present in many events. Only in the last month I could attend a musical Broadway style, a performance of Korean dance groups, both traditional and break dance, and a concert of traditional Andean music. It is true that most of the performers are foreigners, resident or visitors, but there are also some local groups trying gain some recognition.

I don’t think that someday we will enjoy Music lessons at my school, but I guess it could be possible to arrange a short musical performance for some special event, such as the international week, for example. I have to check it with caution because you never know what might happen. Living inside a different culture is good for learning to perceive things from different points of view and mindsets. Many situations that we can see completely normal in our countries, here it could be a scandal, and vice versa. The most important, as always, is respect and tolerance in order to adapt and understand that there are multiple ways to perceive the World.

Raiders of the lost bargain

Few days ago I visited for the first time a place which was in my agenda last year and finally I couldn’t have time to go, the Friday Market (or Souk al Jumma in Arabic), a bustling open-air market where one can finds almost everything. Despite its name, I think that, besides Friday, there are open stalls from Thursday to Saturday, from morning to night.

 The amount of products and sections I saw exceeded my expectations. I thought it would be smaller, with only clothes and antiques. but, apart of this, you can find all kind of items for home and furniture at an excellent price. Each part of the market, whose total area is around one square kilometer, is reserved for a type of goods and the variety is huge.

The Friday Market is an ideal spot to practice the ability of bargaining, something totally expected for the vendors and practically mandatory in this scenario. It is especially recommended to go around during the last hour of Saturday, when they are about to close the stalls and it is more likely to negotiate a better price.

My main goal there, beyond exploring that labyrinth of bargains, was finding a white cloth for an activity we did last week at my school. I needed 18 meters and finally I got a roll of 25 for 11 dinars, less than half dinar per meter. A very good deal indeed.

Before...

...and after

If someone is interested, the Friday Market is located at Shuwaikh area block 1, not far from The Avenues mall, another classic of Shopping in Kuwait, which I should write about someday too.

Have a great week!