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.