By the sweat of someone else's brow

A couple of weeks ago, I read an article about a study from the World Health Organization, which analyzed the frequency of physical exercise in 168 countries. The result places Kuwait in the last position of the list, ranking as the laziest country according to this. The surveys showed that 67% of Kuwaitis don´t practice enough sport. According to the WHO, the physical activity should be at least 75 minutes per week if it is intense, or 150 minutes if it is moderate exercise. Here you can see the complete report in case you want to check in detail:https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(18)30357-7/fulltext

One of the reasons of this shortage of sporting habits can be the weather. Everyone knows that heat provokes drowsiness and the high temperatures limit the chances of running or biking outside, for example. However, this shouldn't be an excuse since the number of sport clubs and gyms in the country is increasing. On the other hand, there are several sport competitions, especially from November to April. Other cause, related to the previous one, is the huge car dependency of many people to go everywhere. The most remarkable situation I ever saw is when some drivers stop outside any shop or restaurant, using their horns to call someone to come and attend them, and then asking for what they wish without leave their cars. I think I never ever watched a bigger sign of laziness in my whole life.

A group of aerobic entertaining and motivating the participants before the Run Kuwait For a Cause race

This data regarding the low frequency of physical exercise in Kuwait could be seen as a simple anecdote if it was not for the health hazards related to sedentary lifestyle. This factor plus the increasing tendency of consuming fast food among the Kuwaitis, lead the country to be the first in the ranking of obesity in the World, with a 42% of people with this characteristic. This is something I realize when I go to some mall, the place where locals spend more time. What is especially worrying is the prevalence of child obesity. I hope they can react soon and organize some awareness campaign about this matter because it is getting serious.

 

For my part, at the moment I didn't go running since I came back, mainly because I don´t want to faint. These days I am just doing push ups, abdominal crunches, skipping and other exercises at home in order to keep fit. I am waiting for the weather to start being a bit better, at least in the night, to recover the running habit as last year. I also would like to play badminton again but first I need to find a good place in Salmiya area for this. Let me know if someone would like to join!

In the name of the father (and the grandfather's, the great-grandfather's...)

In these first days at the school, one my usual tasks is to manage the personal files for each student, arranging those who just joined this year. After checking the names and surnames of the students before entering their files in the archive, I could noticed, in certain cases, the remarkable length of some of them. That leaded me to investigate a bit more about the interesting world of the Arabic onomastics.

The 99 names of Alah, in the dome of the Grand Mosque of Kuwait

Abdullah Ahmed Mohammed Faisal Ali Abdul Aziz Al-Mubarak. This is a fictitious example of what any name could be in the Arabic countries. Nowadays, it is true that the way to name a person became more simple, using just a first name and a family name (called nisbah), but traditionally the name of a person also includes the name of the father, the grandfather’s and, sometimes, even the great-grandfather’s and other previous generations. Technically, each of these names should be followed of the particles ibn (“son”) or bint (“daughter”), but in most of the Arabic countries they are omitted.

Monument of the Cordoban poet and philosopher, Ibn Hazm (source: Wikipedia)

Sometimes, there is a word preceding the name, called kunya, expressing respect and honor towards other person. Some of the most common are Abu (“father”), Umm (“mother”) or Abdul (“servant”). One of the most frequent mistakes we commit in Western countries is separating the kunya from its related name, considering it as a name apart. For example, if we call someone just Abu, it would be like if we call him “someone’s father”, it wouldn’t make sense without the posterior name.

Kareem Abdul (servant of) Jabbar (source: Pinterest)

This way of naming could explain why, since I am here in Kuwait, every time that someone submits an official document with my name, most of the times they use just Francisco and my second surname (in Spain we have two surnames), assuming that it is my family name. My second name (I have a composed name) and my first surname usually are omitted since, possibly, they can be considered as my father’s and my grandfather’s name. Do you have any experience like that with your name being in an Arabic speaker country?

See you next time!

Night and day

When someone asks me my opinion about any country, I always thought that it is something more related to the circumstances and conditions of life, rather than the place itself. One year ago, after my first month in Kuwait, when people asked me about my experience of life till that moment, my impressions were mostly negative and I couldn’t imagine living here longer than a academic year. However, once the situation changes, my perception did a 180 degrees turn. There are still a lot of things in this country which I don’t like (hear, traffic, few leisure places, etc.) but, at least, I think that, according I saw since I came back two weeks ago, this time everything will be more bearable.

First, the location of my apartment has nothing to do with last year, in the remote district of Fintas. This time I live in Salmiya area, very close to my working place (just 25 minutes by foot) and the main leisure facilities. I also live in the same neighborhood than my girlfriend and most of my friends here. All of this implies better quality of life (no more buses) and more social life, with more and better possibilities for going out. On the other hand, the accommodation is awesome and big enough for a second person, who I hope she can share this place with me soon.

In terms of job, the school where I work offers better conditions and more opportunities to grow in my career. Besides this, this time we are two counselors and we will have fewer students in our ratio (last year I was the only counselor for Primary section, with approximately a thousand students…). Furthermore, there are fewer teachers, so the atmosphere is more familiar and there is less tension. The principal is a good professional and he supports our proposals, giving us the chance to develop our career. This time it seems I am in the right place.

My office, still it needs to be decorated

But among all the good things of this new course, I highlight above all the relationship with my couple, which became even stronger after a long period without meeting. She is my main support here and everyday I am more convinced that there can’t be anyone better for sharing the rest of my life with. With her, all my life in Kuwait makes more sense.

Reading all this post, you will be able to understand better why I smiled when this last summer in Cordoba, my hometown in Spain, a neighbor said to me “I hope you can be lucky and find a job here”, and I answered “or not…” One person is not luckier or less lucky living further or closer to his or her hometown, each person makes a life wherever he or she is more loved and valued. My family and friends support me and they will be very happy if I return but, according to the circumstances in my country, with a high rate of unemployment, precarious wages, corruption, low investment in education, etc., right now I am not so willing to come back. Who knows how it will be in the future, but in this moment I would prefer to focus in the present moment, enjoying the new opportunities and getting more and more experience, not only at work, but also as inhabitant in Kuwait. 

Greetings to everyone in this new beginning of the year I hope I can continue updating the blog weekly as I was trying to do last academic year.

                                                                                                                       مَعَ ٱلسَّلَامَة