Ramadan is officially over. Today marks Eid al-Fitr, the three-day festival which signifies the end of the holy month. I did what all good people do to mark the end of Ramadan - I went shopping. From what I have read Eid, as it is also referred to, is like Thanksgiving and Christmas all rolled into one holiday. For the malls, it marks the last day of sales. Apparently Ramadan is a good time to purchase things such as TVs stereos, clothes as well as other things, as almost everything is on sale. I do know that some of the things that I purchased at IKEA were specially marked down because of Ramadan.
I had not been food shopping since the18th, and I was in dire need of food. One of the High School teachers has a vehicle, and she drove myself and another teacher to one of the big malls here, The Avenues. It has an IKEA, a Body Shop, 3 or 4 Starbucks, an H & M, a La Senza and several other stores that you would see in Canada and the US. If you would like to see what all there is and what this mall looks like just click on the pink name above. The place really is quite something. Since Ramadan is over, the first thing that the three of us did was to go to Starbucks, buy a coffee, and sit and drink it. I must admit that it is nice to not worry about drinking and eating in public. I can totally accept the fact that as a foreigner, I need to obey the laws of the land, but I think that all the staff is very happy to be able to eat and drink without going into one of the "special" classrooms that had been ear-marked for us without fear of offending someone. Just to let you know how seriously the people of Kuwait take this time of Ramadan, if you are caught eating or drinking or even chewing gum in public, between sunrise and sunset, you will be sent to jail AND you will stay in jail until Ramadan is over. I must admit that the Muslim staff is very understanding but you still don't want to rub it into their faces. It is their country and religion and I certainly want to be respectful of that.
As I sit here and write this latest musing, I am listening to firecrackers going off. Apparently that is also common to hear at this time. I went out on my balcony and could see what I think might be a family, lighting and tossing firecrackers into the empty lot and watching them explode. I did notice that after one of the children tossed a firecracker rather close to the vehicle, that the vehicle got moved. Um, I wonder why? :)
I realize that some of you may be wanting to see what my apartment looks like, and very soon, I will let you know. I did want to get a few things set up and organized so that the place actually looked like someone lives here. I picked up frames today, so am hoping to get pictures hung soon. The walls are cement (?) so I need to talk nice to someone with a drill so that I can hang pictures. The upside to having walls such as these is that I don't hear any of my neighbours, beside or down below me. I guess having to drill holes in order to hang pictures is a small price to pay.
I had not been food shopping since the18th, and I was in dire need of food. One of the High School teachers has a vehicle, and she drove myself and another teacher to one of the big malls here, The Avenues. It has an IKEA, a Body Shop, 3 or 4 Starbucks, an H & M, a La Senza and several other stores that you would see in Canada and the US. If you would like to see what all there is and what this mall looks like just click on the pink name above. The place really is quite something. Since Ramadan is over, the first thing that the three of us did was to go to Starbucks, buy a coffee, and sit and drink it. I must admit that it is nice to not worry about drinking and eating in public. I can totally accept the fact that as a foreigner, I need to obey the laws of the land, but I think that all the staff is very happy to be able to eat and drink without going into one of the "special" classrooms that had been ear-marked for us without fear of offending someone. Just to let you know how seriously the people of Kuwait take this time of Ramadan, if you are caught eating or drinking or even chewing gum in public, between sunrise and sunset, you will be sent to jail AND you will stay in jail until Ramadan is over. I must admit that the Muslim staff is very understanding but you still don't want to rub it into their faces. It is their country and religion and I certainly want to be respectful of that.
As I sit here and write this latest musing, I am listening to firecrackers going off. Apparently that is also common to hear at this time. I went out on my balcony and could see what I think might be a family, lighting and tossing firecrackers into the empty lot and watching them explode. I did notice that after one of the children tossed a firecracker rather close to the vehicle, that the vehicle got moved. Um, I wonder why? :)
I realize that some of you may be wanting to see what my apartment looks like, and very soon, I will let you know. I did want to get a few things set up and organized so that the place actually looked like someone lives here. I picked up frames today, so am hoping to get pictures hung soon. The walls are cement (?) so I need to talk nice to someone with a drill so that I can hang pictures. The upside to having walls such as these is that I don't hear any of my neighbours, beside or down below me. I guess having to drill holes in order to hang pictures is a small price to pay.
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