Your world, My world and OUR World.

Hey Kids,

I hope every one is doing well in spite of this gloomy weather. Today in an attempt to cheer those of you who are upset with the weather up, I want to talk about something that may or may not make you appreciate the United States a little more. Unpredictability.

What I love most about being a student in the U.S. is that there is no specific routine to follow. My life here is unpredictable. I wake up in the morning and even though I have my whole day planned, and I make appointments and schedule meetings, I still don’t know where the day will take me. Anything can happen here. You start the day with an objective in mind but then everything can turn around, especially when you are a college student. Don’t you think?

In Kuwait, the daily routine really sucks the life out of you. You can’t just wake up and go out and not know what you are going to do. Everything is pre-planned, arranged in advance and if you cancel your plans or don’t show up it’s a big no no that reflects back on the way you were brought up. Now nobody wants other people to talk about there mother do they? I didn’t think so. So we have to adhere to these rules and be proper and stick to the plans. Where as here in America, people are more easy going.

Another thing also that is part of daily routines that is really boring is the way the day is structured in Kuwait. I wake up get dressed and have breakfast, read the papers, watch TV, go online, watch more TV, then Lunch. After lunch my parents take a siesta, always it’s a must and part of many Kuwaiti people’s lives. Long, long siestas. After that we wake up, have tea and dessert or fruit then we watch more TV. If we are going to go out it would be planned from the night before ha-ha. If we are not going out, then we will just stay at home and do nothing until dinner time after which we go to bed. Doesn’t that routine suck. Yeah.

I ‘m really going to miss my life here in the U.S. and its unpredictable nature. I keep thinking of how my new life will be after college especially as graduation is nearing. Wish me luck guys as I wish it to all of you.

Love

Dalal

Hey Kids,

Welcome back to my blog entries. Today I wanted to talk to you a little bit about my religion. Particularly one of the most celebrated and honored traditions in my religion, and that is Ramadan.

Read the rest of this entry »

Hello Bloggers,

It’s been a while. I hope I was missed just as much as I missed every one of you. This Blog is going to be a celebration in remembrance of my country’s Independence Day and liberation day. Hat’s right we get two not one day where we had our freedom back, Here’s a little history.

In 1962 Kuwait got its independence from Britain. Before that time Kuwait and Britain had an agreement where Britain would protect Kuwait form other Arab countries around that were bigger and more powerful and also from foreign countries that would want to take over our tiny land or our oil (Oil was discovered in Kuwait in 1938). That is basically the story of our independence; summarized of course.

Liberation is a much more entertaining story. In 1990, Kuwait was invaded by it’s neighbor Iraq whose rulers i.e. Saddam, claimed that we have always belonged to Iraq and we were one country and that it was time for us to go back to our roots. The real reasons behind the gruesome Iraqi invasion of Kuwait are much too political and complicated for our purposes. So if I was in Kuwait right now, I would go out with my family or my friends and we would join the thousands of people who would already be in the street with canned foam and silly strings flying everywhere. Kids holding Kuwaiti flags in their hands and just having a good time would surround us. You guys have nothing like it here in America except maybe for mardi gras, maybe, but in Kuwait you loose all the alcohol. Yeah we don’t have alcohol in Kuwait at all, it’s against the law. That’s a topic for another day, things that are against the law in Kuwait.

See you all soon.

Dalal

Bloggers,

Life has been hectic. That is the least I can say about how busy I have been. But don’t worry I return full of energy and ideas for things to talk about.

As I have mentioned before, I am graduating this semester and moving on from college life on to bigger and better things. I hope! I’m sure a lot of people here are graduating too and share m y concerns and fears of what the future might hold for us. One of these many concerns is the mission we have to endure of trying to find a decent job. I was actually talking to my parents about this today.

In America it is very important not only to be well connected, it is also equally important to be well rounded and experienced to get a good job. In Kuwait all you really need is a really good connection to hook you up with the job. I have friends who have had to wait up to a year before they found a job. Many reasons might be attributed to this problem. In Kuwait a lot of jobs are taken over by foreigners quite frankly because they work harder and accept less money for the work that they do. Kuwaitis are spoiled. Yes I’m ashamed to say it but we are. We want desk jobs and jobs that we can leave all day, yet still get paid for. That is not to say that there aren’t any hard workers in my country. It ‘s just that the ambition and the drive are different. People there grow up with so many privileges that they really don’t yearn for anything more as they grow up. We have a funny proverb in Kuwait that we use to describe the differences between things: Not all of your fingers are the same. What this means is that even though a general amount of the population might think the same way, there are a selected few who are different. They represent the hope that someday our country will be able to rely on its own citizens to work and build the country.

I personally can’t wait to go back home and start being a participant and producing member of my society. I will try to remember you all when I’m rich and famous. J/K. See ya soon.

Dalal

Salaam People,

That means Peace by the way in Arabic.

I hope that al of you are doing well. It’s Thursday night people, party time, drinking time, and drunken time. Thursday nights here are the big event nights. They are the nights when people go out and party, hang out with friends and experience the pleasures of alcohol. Basically here in the USA, the main activity for most college students on weekends is going to the bars. Other than that what is there to do right?

In Kuwait, drinking alcohol is against our religion, which is Islam. It is forbidden for us to consume alcohol, sell alcohol, make alcohol, and the like. Some other Arab countries such as Egypt, our neighbor the United Arab Emirates, and Oman all allow hotels to sell alcohol and some even have drinking lounges or clubs. Kuwait and Saudi Arabia do not allow alcohol in the country at all. So we don’t have clubs, we don’t have bars, and we don’t have liquor stores. Alcohol is still smuggled into the country and sometimes allowed to be brought in secretively through foreign embassies in Kuwait for the workers there or for American soldiers, who by the way are everywhere in Kuwait.

So what do we do then on weekends? Our week ends start on Wednesday and end on Friday, which is our day of Sabbath. Wednesday night is a big night for us. We dress up always when we go out, and I mean dress up. Girls are always wearing full make up, high heels, and big pieces of Jewelry. Guys will be in funky jeans that are designer, Italian shoes, or if they really want to dress up, they would wear our traditional outfit.

Now for the action.

Places and Faces.

People in Kuwait love to gossip. They go out just to sit in cafes and restaurants and look at people and talk about people. What they are wearing, whom they are with and things like that. Girls hit the malls to find guys or to shop. Guys hit cafes where they can enjoy Hookah’s and coffee. Restaurants are always overbooked, and the movie theaters are always full. Sometimes people will just do what we call cruising. That’s when you get in your car with a bunch of your friends and drive 30 mph on the coast of the Arabian Gulf. Easier to check out people at that speed. Thursdays and Fridays are usually family oriented activities. For example, my family and spend every Thursday having lunch with all of my aunts and their families at my grandfather’s house. A lot of other families also get together with other family members such as uncles and aunts on these days also.

Another favorite past time on weekends is going to the family beach house. Most families in Kuwait own beach houses where they go to spend weekends and days off and holidays. I hear that teenagers have wild parties there too because they usually go there before their parents or sometimes without any parental supervision.

Typically this is what we do on weekends in Kuwait and how we do it.

Maybe someday one of you will be able to experience these activities with me. This is an open invitation to come and visit. All you need is your ticket and some spending money. Seriously.

Dalal

Greetings and Best wishes to you all,

It’s February. Valentine’s Day is nearing, and love, as they say, is in the air. Another thing that is also just around the block is of course wedding season. I wanted to talk to you guys about weddings in Kuwait and weddings here in America. I heard from some of my American friends that they are so busy being invited to weddings and attending lunches and bridal showers and the like. Sounds like a lot of fun huh? I wouldn’t know because I have never attended an American wedding before, I have however; been to many Kuwaiti weddings. Let’s just say it’s a world of difference.

First of all the whole wedding process is different. Here people meet, they are in relationships for a while before they decide to get married. At least that’s the story most of the time! In Kuwait by virtue of religious beliefs, men and women are not supposed to engage in relationships out side of business or educational situations. This means that we are not supposed to have boyfriends and boys are not supposed to have girlfriends. So how do we meet and get to know each other, you might ask? We don’t! Or at least we are not supposed to! Am I confusing you yet? No? Good. Girls and guys who are in college or even younger will meet in restaurants, malls, and other public places. They will exchange numbers, and call each other. Go out on dates and hang out. All of that happens in Kuwait, but it happens secretively, without parents knowing about it and without talking about it publicly because it is against out religion.
If things go well and the two lovebirds decide to get married, then technically the man is supposed to ask for the girl’s hand in marriage from her father.

The wedding:
I said before that I have been to lots of Kuwaiti weddings. They are fun and filled with gossip. What a surprise! Weddings in Kuwait take place at night, usually after 9 or 10 p.m., which is the first difference between American weddings and Kuwaiti ones. Another one is that women and men attend two different weddings. Again due to religious beliefs that call for the separation of men and women in sittings and social gatherings. So there are essentially two weddings.

Weddings are like a competition. Families compete to throw the best wedding, to show off the best bride dress, to reserve the biggest room, who can get the best and most expensive entertainer. Families in Kuwait invite these famous Arabic singers from Lebanon and Egypt and they fly them over and pay for their hotels and pay them about $300,000 just to sing in the wedding. Yeah it’s crazy. But all the guests have fun and eat the expensive food, and when the couple ends up divorcing in a year, hey you can always say you were at their wedding.

Dalal

Hello Fellow Bloggers,

Dalal

Hello to all you fine people out there. As you have seen from the horrible picture that Professor Dennis posted, my name is Dalal AlJaser. I am from Kuwait and I have been a student at OSU for about 3 years now. I used to go to school at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis before I transfered here. Over all I have been in the U.S. for about 5 years. I came here when I was 17 years old. I am 23 now and I’m going to graduate in May with an Advertising degree.

As many of you can imagine, Kuwait is a lot different than the U.S. People are different, names are different, food is different,… you get the idea. Lately I have been noticing a lot of daily life activities that are some times similar to activities that occur in Kuwaiti daily life and some are different. What I would like this blog to be is a view of these differences and similarities through the eyes of someone who has lived and experienced both cultures- ME.

Having lived in both countries and learned from both cultures I would say that I am somewhat qualified to talk about this topic- for all you skeptics out there!Think of it as a cultural journey into not only my world but maybe yours as well. By looking at the world through some one else’s experience, especially mine, you will be able to learn and notice many things that you normally would not have thought of. I hope that this topic won’t be too boring for all your tastes and I hope that I will manage to keep you entertained. Stay tuned to find out more about what I mean. Oh and remember! It may seem like it’s a really big world out there, but you will soon learn that it’s really pretty much the same. Pretty small. peace.

Dalal