Dear Bloggers,
I want to say thank you for your time and interest in me, my culture and my world. I hope that you have had as much fun with me as I have had with you. I also hope that you will enjoy the best of luck and joy in your life.
Sincerely,
Dalal AlJaser
Hello Bloggers and Sports fans a like,
I was reading some of my blogs recently and I realized that one of the topics that we did not go into on my site is the topic of sports. I think that sports and the love for sports are one of the only things that can translate internationally. Well, no. That’s not true. Money is the only thing that can translate internationally, but sports is also still important.
Hello Graduates and Bloggers,
To those of you who don’t already know, I am graduating from OSU this semester and I’m really excited. After graduation I am planning on returning home to Kuwait and trying like the rest of you to find a job and to establish myself in the work field. So I wanted to share with you some of the things I am planning on doing when I return to Kuwait.
Happy belated Easter bloggers,
My friends’ boyfriend came to visit her from NY this past weekend and since I don’t own a vehicle, my friend and I rented a car to pick him up from the airport. This afternoon, I went to a gas station to fill the car up before returning it. I left the gas station cursing. I spent a total of $41 on filling up this car. I could not believe how much it cost. I totally can relate to people here now and how much they are upset at paying this much money for their cars, especially people who have to commute. Kuwait is part of OPEC (The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries). This means that we produce and export our own oil. Ok are you guys ready for this? This is gonna hurt! GAS is CHEAPER than WATER in Kuwait. I swear it. I had not paid any attention to it before, until one day I was telling my dad a bout how people complain here about the price of gas and he told me these facts.
This one is for the ladies.
I thought today that I would talk about shopping in Kuwait and Shopping in America. The reason behind this choice is the fact that I was just in OKC, shopping with one of my friends, and I thought that this would be a very interesting topic to discuss.
Dear Bloggers,
As the end of our semester gets closer, I get closer to having to say my final goodbyes. I’m graduating in May this year and after the ceremony I’ll be packing my things and going home. (So if anyone knows any good international shipping companies, please let me know.)
Recently, I’ve been thinking of all the things I’m going to miss about being a student and all the things that I will miss about living in the USA. The freedom that people have here and that a lot of people take for granted is really something to be cherished. Even though Kuwait is a relatively liberal country and citizens have the freedom to dress as they please and say what they want, they are still not completely free. We in Kuwait live in a society bound by traditions and moral judgments. People in Kuwait care more about traditions and what ought to be done and how a person ought to behave according to cultural norms, more than religion or personal freedom. It’s an interesting topic and one that I’m sure can be discussed at great lengths. But what I want to do is leave the space open for discussion. I want to know what your opinions are as Americans of the topic that I’m talking about. Let me make my self more clear. How much do you think traditions and moral values influence society and the way we behave in it, whether here in the U.S. or in other countries? I would be more than happy to answer any questions and to hear your comments about the issue. So please do share.
Dalal
Aloha,
I wanted to give you guys a taste of different types of Arabic music that are out there right now. I mean there are 21 different Arab countries in the world and they all have their own type of Arabic music. The language may be similar but the culture is not and there are slight variances between each country.
The songs here are from different Arab countries and some are older Arabic songs or what we call classics. I know you won’t understand the language, but I hope that you will still enjoy the tunes. If you really get stuck on a song and are dyeing to know what they are saying, just post a comment with the name of the song that you like and I will be more than happy to explain it to you.
1-Egyptian Songs. 
This song is one of the classics. It’s an oldie but really popular to this day.
Artist: Abdulhaleem Hafth Song: Ala Ad elshooa. (It means: As much as I miss you.)
These next songs are also by Egyptian artists, but they are more modern.
Artist: Amro Diab Song:Leily-nahary. (This title means: Night or Day)
Artist: Haytham Shaker. Song:Khaleek Ganby. (This title means: Stay by my side)
2- Lebanon.
This young lady is very popular and this song has true Lebanese rhythms and lyrics as well.
Artist: Nancy Ajram Song:Loon Oyoonak. (The title means: the color of your eyes.)
This also is a Lebanese singer; she is older and represent one of the greatest classic singers of their time.
Artist: Fayrooz. Song:Fayeq ya hawa. (I can’t translate that one, it’s too hard.)
3- United Arab Emirates. 
The Arabian Gulf countries, which are Kuwait, Bahrain, UAE, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, all share a very close history and culture, so music from these countries pretty much sounds the same, except for some little differences.
Artist: Hussein AlJasemy Song:Resalah. (which means Letter.)
4- Kuwait. 
This is a Kuwaiti group. They are made up of two girls and two guys and they are graduates of the Music institute in Kuwait.
Artist: Guitara Song: Ya ghaly. (It means: Oh precious one. I think.)
5- Algeria. 
This is a type of music called rye- like the bread- it is very popular in north African countries like Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco. It’s kind of like the reggae music of the Arab world.
Artist: Shab Khalid Song: Ya ghaly.
6- Tunisia. 
This guy was on a reality show called Star Academy. It’s a talent search show where wanna-be singers audition to get the chance to live in a house together and get personalized music and dancing lessons from professionals, then perform on stage in-front of judges. All of this for the final prize of being named the Star Academy graduate. It’s a fun show. The show’s idea was taken from another British reality show. This guy was on it and he did not win, but he has a huge fan base and he is very popular.
Artist: Ahmed ElShereef. Song:Sahran Maak Ellaila. . (It means staying up with you tonight.)
Enjoy them with Love.
Dear Bloggers,
Those of you who have been reading my blogs-I hope all of you have been- might have noticed that my last two entries were about the gloomy topic of war and politics. So to make up for that this blog is going to cover the fascinating topic of music.
Arabic music is very very different than English music. We use different instruments, different tones in singing, different rhythms and different melodies. I wish I could explain more to you about the technical aspects of the music, but I’m not an expert and I do not want to mislead you. I will try to explain some of the instruments to you guys and also what the current trends are in the Arab music world. I will also try to explain some of the lyrics of a few songs that I chose for you guys to listen to. (Look for the page titled: Lyrics.)
The most basic and most widely used instrument in Arabic music is called the Oud. Oud This is what it looks like and it is played this way too, while the person is sitting down. It would be very difficult to play it standing up, and if you wanted to stand up while playing it, you would probably want to bend your knee.
This instrument functions like a base guitar I guess in English music and it sounds beautiful. There are many Arabic songs that are solely played using the Oud such as this one, Watan Omri. It is a song by one of my favorite Kuwaiti singers His name is Abdullah AlRuwaished. The song title means Home of my life.
Another distinctive instrument, which is heard in almost all Arabic songs, is the Dumbek.
This is a drum sort of like a bongo drum but it is held on the player’s thigh and played side ways instead of right side up. This is what it sounds like played alone. This is the music that belly dancers use when they are performing in Arab countries. If the belly dancer is really good, she will be able to follow the speed of the drum through her whole dance.
A third instrument is called Doff. 
This is a tambourine I guess, and is usually just played in the background. Arabic music also uses a lot of other types of instruments and piano’s. It just depends on what type of Arabic music the artist is trying to create.
Current trends in Arabic music are going towards creating more Western sounding tunes and sexier music. Music from the old days focused on the ability of the singer to carry a note and how well written the song and the music were. Singers in the past used to have concerts that would last for hours, and the songs were up to 15minutes long. Today songs are over before you can even enjoy them, and they are too influenced by English music, which I personally think does not mix well with Arabic.
I have uploaded some songs from my personal collection for you guys to enjoy, you can judge for your selves whether the music is too western sounding or not and then hopefully vote on it in my poll. Have fun and see ya soon.
Dalal
Dear Audience Members,
I hope everyone enjoyed their respective spring breaks and had a blast. Now that we are back in the real world, it’s time to talk about more serious issues. I was reading the newspaper this week-end and I noticed an article about protests that were held in New York City in opposition to the war in Iraq. That reminded me of my time during the wars on Iraq and I thought I should share that story with all of you. So here it goes.
In August, 1990 Iraq invaded Kuwait and basically took over our country in about 5 hours. The reasons behind the attack are debatable and very political. For those of you, who are curious to know why it happened, hit the library. No just kidding. I will post a page with a few links to help you out. Anyway moving on…..
I was in Kuwait when the Iraqis attacked us. I was about 8 years old so my memory is a little faint, but I do remember that it happened on an early Thursday morning. My brother, my father and I were in our beach house waiting for my mother to arrive since it was the week-end. (Week-ends in Kuwait and other Arab countries start on Wednesday and end on Friday which is our Sabbath.) I woke up and turned the TV on and noticed that our regular cartoons were not on. Instead there were messages of patriotism and strength on TV and the radio urging us to defend our country against what is happening and to stay strong. It was pretty bad. After two months, Iraqi soldiers were infiltrated in almost all parts of the country and they were starting to enter houses at their will and do horrible things to whoever would not cooperate. They would find military personnel and take them as P.O.W’s; sometimes they would kill them in front of their children and their wives or vice versa. It’s pretty graphic and disturbing what they were doing to the people of Kuwait. We resided in an area in Kuwait were the Iraqis were facing lots of resistance from the residence, so it was becoming a really dangerous area to live in. My father was the only man in our house at that time, since all of my aunts and uncles were already out of the country on vacation when the incident had happened. Because of fear that something might happen to us or to my father, he asked us to leave the country. Our journey began…..
My mom packed our things and I remember that she hid her passport and my eldest sister’s passport by tailoring them into some clothes that we had packed. The Iraqi soldiers at the border were taking everything away from the people that were leaving the country. Passports, money and any other form of identification. I guess it was a way of just completely stripping us of our identity. So we left with what ever we had and we headed to Saudi Arabia. The road was dark and very rough, and I remember that we were traveling in a huge troop of other cars that were also coming from Kuwait. While in Saudi Arabia, we stayed for a while in some public schools that had been turned into refugee camps. After that we proceeded to another area where we had some family and we were able to stay with them. After that we left and went to London, where the rest of my family was. We own a house in Brighton, England and that is where we stayed for about 3 months. After that we left again and went to the United Arab Emirates. There the government was setting people up in all kinds of places. Hotels, apartments, schools and other places. We stayed at a hotel that was called the Metropolitan and it was completely filled with Kuwaitis who had fled the invasion. We stayed there until the February, 26, 1991 when Kuwait was liberated with the help of the U.S. and other allied countries.
Quite an adventure I know. It was the happiest day of our lives the day that Kuwait was liberated. I remember watching the whole thing on none other than CNN. We were jumping on the beds and screaming as every bomb went down and as all the soldiers entered Kuwait and took the Iraqis out. The war was not only devastating to our country, it was devastating to out lives. It tore a part families, left hundreds homeless and penniless, killed fathers, mothers and children. It is something that I wish upon no one and hope that none of you ever experience in your lives.
Hello All,
Sorry this page took so long. I wanted to write some more information about other activities that are also part of Ramadan. Just a couple of random things that I remembered and thought would be interesting to share.
1. We break our fast at sunset, and when we do we eat a big big meal, which is called Fotoor. It means breakfast in Arabic because well that is what we are doing, we are breaking our fast. LOL.
2. We break our fast with dates ( which actually have lots of nutritional value) and buttermilk or regular milk. We do that because it was the tradition of our prophet Mohammed. It is called Sunna and all Muslims are to follow the Sunna in many of their daily activates and decisions.
3. Just like Christmas and Halloween, there are certain foods that we only eat during Ramadan. Some of these foods are deserts and some are salty foods. I’m not really sure why we only eat these foods during Ramadan? Maybe because they are harder to make and thus we save them for special occasions. I will ask my mother and then update you guys.
Hit me if you guys have any questions.
Dalal