Our year in 2012

24. December 2012 · 2 comments · Categories: Celebrations, Experiences, Family, Life, Travel · Tags: , , ,

We returned from our Central American Cruise on the Seabourne Odyssey in January all rested. I think it was one of the best cruises we had been on as we met and made friends with so many nice people: Sandra and Ray from Australia, Brigitte and Dieter from Switzerland and Jack and Linda from Mexico. Its certainly a ship we would like to go on again, even though we had a bit of a rough time on one of the sea days.

A week into the new year we heard the sad and tragic news of the death of hubby’s cousin, Daniel – it was hard to believe and hard to say goodbye to him. But we were glad that we had the opportunity to see him and his family in Valladolid in 2010. We spent a weekend in Dubai in the second week of January as hubby attended a conference and watched in horror as the Costa Concordia sank in an unfortunate accident. At that moment at least, I felt I wouldn’t go on another cruise…

The capsized Costa Concordia

Danial visited us in Kuwait also in January this year – what a great event that was as it had been quite a while since he spent some time with us in Kuwait. Thanks to a job change from Delloitte to AirAsia that gave him unspent annual leave to spend! It was a lovely start to a new year and I enjoyed every minute of doing “stuff” with my boy. We had our first shooting experience at a range in Kuwait, in addition to fooding, of course, and some shopping! Everybody’s always too busy when I go home! The first day we went out together again in Kuwait, like the old days when he spent his Australian summer vacation here in the winter, he said to me, as I drove us to the Avenues Mall, “We never get to do things like this eh, Mum?” *heart* Danial coming to Kuwait was a  bonus this year as we got to spend some quality family time together.

Dan in Kuwait

Three weeks later, I went home to Malaysia on my usual first trip home of the year. It was great to spend time with Mum and the rest of the family and of course more time with Danial, when he had time of course Smile. He was very excited in his new job and although I hardly spent that much time with him, I was glad for the opportunity we had to do a few things together.

As usual I took the opportunity to make some minor home improvements while I was home and this time it was to add the laminated wooden floor to that part of the apartment between our kitchen, guest bathroom and the casual dining area. Small as it was, that change did make a difference to the area! I was also concerned that the morning sun was the cause of the damage to our conversation piece of a sofa and tried to install some attractive and functional blinds on our balcony which we could pull down in the mornings. Somehow the building management had rules against the type of blinds I wanted to install so I had to contend with some sunscreen blinds behind our curtains instead.

Kuwait had not one, but two elections in 2012, once in February and again in December and also witnessed a couple of “firsts” – the first ever flashmob (incidentally an event choreographed and sponsored by hubby’s employer, Zain) and the first ever Guinness World Record event – the largest fireworks display in the world.

There were also a couple of other firsts for us in 2012 – one of which was the first time ever we participated in a cooking competition.  It was a Paella Cooking Competition organised by the Spanish community in Kuwait in April. The second first for us was that we won the competition! Smile

Our certificate and the unique trophy

The Malaysian Embassy in collaboration with PERWAKILAN Kuwait (the Association of Malaysian Ladies of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) held a very successful inaugural Malaysian Food Bazaar in 2012 and my friend Zaharah and I participated and helped to man the satay stall. That’s two food-related events for me this year!

Malaysian Food Bazaar 2012 011

In June we went on a weekend trip to Abu Dhabi to catch Madonna’s MDNA World Tour in the sweltering or should I say scorching, summer heat. A couple of weeks later we took off on another kind of tour – driving around Ireland and Scotland. It was a great 16 days in the UK and while we had been to Scotland before, it was our first time in Ireland. We kicked off the holiday driving from Belfast to the Giants Causeway then Galway where we spent my birthday. Despite all the places we visited in Ireland, certainly the highlight of our visit was our experience at Dún Aengus.

At the edge of the wrold at Dún Aengus

Scotland was just as green and lovely too, despite the cold and wet days we had. We only cancelled one activity and that was a visit to Dunnottar Castle at Stonehaven because of a really bad fog: this was all we could see of the castle!

Dunnottar Castle or what's supposed to be Dunnottar Castle, in the fog!

All the other days were great as we drove from one city to another in Scotland from Loch Lomond to John O’groats to Inverness..we loved the Fairies Glen, Skye, Lybster and all the glens, cairns and lochs we saw and visited! While in Scotland we also arranged to meet up a couple of times with my sis-in-law, Maria and her husband Iñigo, who were also on a holiday in Scotland. It won’t be our last holiday in Scotland as there is so much more to see and do there.

This year I spent half of Ramadhan here in Kuwait with hubby and half in Kuala Lumpur with Danial and my family. Closer to Eid, hubby arrived and this year as usual, we invited friends over to celebrate Eid with us at home on the second day.

Us at Eid

There was another first for me this year – during our trip to London, I finally met a Facebook friend with whom I’d been in touch not only on Facebook, but spoke to on the phone and Skyped with…but never met. Norlizah drove down with hubby, Anders from their home in one of the London suburbs to have dinner with us at Tok Din’s. We had a blast and it was a memorable evening. She happened to be in Kuala Lumpur during Ramadhan and of course we caught up with each other again.

We travelled again to Italy this year and spent 8 days in Milan during the Eid al Adha break. It was supposed to be our annual la dolce far niente break but we ran out of ideas as to where to go without repeating destinations – so we decided on Milan. We enjoyed the fooding and did a bit of shopping. Just a bit.. In a couple of days we will do the last bit of travelling this year – this time to San Sebastian in Spain to spend a bit of time with my sis-in-law, Maria and her husband and family. We will spend a couple of days in Madrid and try to catch up with hubby’s cousin and aunt there too.

2012 was a very busy year for me at my painting studio as my seasoned painters (and friends) continued to come and paint and many new students began their decorative painting journey. I kept classes to  two times a week so that I still had time to prepare for classes and also enjoy other activities. I still did not paint as much as I wanted to though.

My favourite painting this year

As usual, so many numbers every year. Hubby and I celebrated sixteen years of marriage this year and we are thankful for the good life we have had together. 2012 marks our ninth year in Kuwait and 12 years of life abroad. Certainly we are looking forward to the day we will “retire” back in Malaysia and I’m not giving away any dates here yet. Soon is all I can say. Smile

Danial turned 27 a couple of days ago and I find it hard to believe sometimes that he is my “grown-up” son and no longer the little kid I pampered and nurtured. I guess as far as I’m concerned, as a mother, pampering and nurturing doesn’t ever end. And don’t think for a moment that I tire.

2012 will go down as the year that the “Mayan Apocalypse” was predicted and did not happen…I wonder if, in the years to come, we’ll still remember the hype created about the 21st of December being the last day of civilisation or will it be just another day in history like Y2K.

So only one week to the end of another year. Time flies as everyone says and I get the feeling it won’t be long before I sit here again trying to remember where the year went and trying to write something new and different. Anyway, it has been a good year as always and we thank God for everything. We pray and hope for a year of peace and harmony around the world ahead in the new year and look forward to new opportunities to learn and do something better.

Thank you for removing your shoes…

30. January 2012 · 2 comments · Categories: Traditions · Tags: , , , ,

One of my expatriate friends – now happily repatriated back to Canada – wrote an interesting post on her blog about the issue of shoes-on or shoes-off in the home among various cultures. I started to write a comment and I think it was getting a bit long so I decided to turn it into a blog post!

For as long as I can remember, I have lived in a shoes-off environment because its a very Malaysian tradition. Its taboo to wear the same shoes you wear on the street inside your house.

When visiting another Malaysian’s house, we take off our shoes at the entrance without ever being told to. Its very unusual that our host tells us to keep our shoes on. Its also not a practice to provide guests with house slippers to put on after they take off their shoes, although I sometimes ask guests if they would like a pair of sandals to put on. But people take their shoes off without as much as a questioning glance. I hate the feel of the cold floor on my feet so I always wear a pair of specially dedicated sandals whenever I’m at home. I use a separate one in the kitchen because obviously there is where you may step on fat etc.

Shoe sign

I remember bringing guests from abroad to our home in Malaysia or inviting Western friends over for a meal and those who are culture-savvy have somehow read up about local practices or they are very observant: its not uncommon for friends who step in with their shoes and seeing that their Malaysian host is barefooted, exclaim: “Oh, I should take off my shoes.” And sometimes, we say to them, “Its OK, keep them on.” Then they say “No, we’ll take them off” and we insist they keep them on, and finally they come in, with or without their shoes depending on which option they’re more comfortable with!

When we lived in England for a while, we noticed that people kept their shoes on at home and although we didn’t wear our shoes indoors we found it difficult to tell others to remove their shoes. I hated carpets inside the home for this reason and we put in a wooden laminated floor in the house we bought so that it was easier to clean. In Dubai and now in Kuwait, my Malaysian friends and visitors usually take their shoes off automatically. Sometimes when we have a women-only gathering and everybody wants to look elegant, we all keep our heels and stilettos on. Afterwards, my maid helps me to clean the floors, of course! Its the same thing when I visit them or when they have a gathering. When I visit my Kuwaiti and other Arab friends I always ask if I should take my shoes off and am always told to keep them on.

Shoes-on or shoes-off?

There is research which shows that 87% of the dirt found in our homes are tracked in. Mats by the door and inside the door to wipe shoes help to reduce the dirt on shoes but don’t keep all the dirt out. Taking outdoor shoes off at the door is intended to solve the problem of tracking dirt in from the outside. It helps to keep the home environment clean.

But its not the easiest thing to tell all your guests to remove their shoes. I once thought of painting a pretty sign (well, more subtle than the one above LOL) instead I decided to just be very tolerant.

I’ve gotten used to the idea that, depending on their own practices at home, some of my guests will take their shoes off when they come into my home and others will keep them on. Some will ask and some just look for the signs (pun intended!) like other people’s shoes at the door or whether we’re wearing shoes or not.

Signs...
But not delivery men or workers etc – I always tell them to remove their shoes at the door. Sometimes they don’t speak English so I look at their shoes, wave my index finger and tell them, “No shoes.”  They usually understand. Our janitor is familiar with this by now and he tells the workers he brings to our apartment to remove their shoes!

There is a lot of discussion about the shoes-off or shoe-on issue and obviously the views go both ways. And a Blog called “Shoes Off at the Door, Please” lists 37 reasons for a shoes-off policy.

Japanese "room shoes"
The Japanese have been practicing this since somewhere between the 8th and 12th centuries and Japanese homes have a shoe rack for guests to put their shoes and provide house slippers for them to wear. The Indians and Swedes also practise this and so do the people of Canada, Iceland, Finland and many more, I’m sure. In Finland, I understand its common practice for people going to someone’s home to bring with them a pair of their own shoes which are used specifically for indoors. There you go.

Personally I think its important to understand that it probably started with good reasons in various countries around the world which practise the shoe-off policy. Today, many people may think of it as purely a cultural thing but I think its not. Its a lifestyle choice and I think the best thing to do is best explained by the adage “when in Rome, do as the Romans do”.

If we ourselves keep our outside shoes on in our home and allow guests to keep their shoes on when they visit, fine. But when we go to someone else’s home, we should be decent enough to see what our hosts practice and not be offended if we need to take our shoes off.

Its the right thing to do, don’t you think? It mightn’t be elegant but its the right thing.

Eid traditions

05. September 2011 · Write a comment · Categories: Celebrations · Tags: , , , , ,

Like all the previous years of late, we spent Eid in Malaysia the same way. I was up at the crack of dawn preparing the Eid morning meal which we would eat together for the first time after fasting for a month. It was always difficult to eat at that time of morning but we do it – to break from the normality that was Ramadhan a whole month before. It was always a weird feeling to eat and drink on Eid day. Well, at first, anyway because as the day progresses, that was what everyone did all day long, and into the night sometimes, on the first day of Shawal.

Celebratory as it was, it seemed that the first day of Eid, was a day when eating was the order of the day!

After the non-obligatory congregational prayers at our neighborhood grand mosque, the Masjid Wilayah, we headed home to prepare to go to Mum’s where all the family would congregate.

Masjid Wilayah: Photo courtesy of Malaysia TravelGuide

But not before our now routine family photo shoot, something we started doing after getting our own home in KL again in 2009. It was actually something I really looked forward to on Eid morning. Once we leave the apartment, we go completely with the flow and see what happens. If we leave our Eid portraits to some other time during the day, it almost inevitably never happens!

One of my favourite Eid morning photos this year

Then it was off to Mum’s place. This was the third year we were celebrating Eid without Dad and I missed him. Especially with Mum in her condition. I couldn’t help wondering what Eid would be like if Dad was still around. Actually I couldn’t help wondering what everyday after Mum had her stroke would be like if Dad were still around. I really missed him.

Mum was as tearful as ever during the beraya ceremony. This was when all us children and our children took turns to salam (greet by clasping both our hands with the other person’s) with Mum and ask for her forgiveness. It used to start between Mum and Dad but now hubby and me get the ball rolling as the eldest members of the family.

We really take the trouble to do this as ceremoniously as possible and that means being organized. It means waiting patiently for everyone and their families to arrive. Getting Mum ready and wheeling her out and telling the younger kids to wait in line for their turn! Oh, and making sure the duit raya packets were ready to be distributed. Duit raya is literally “Eid money” and in Kuwait it is called Eidiya. Its a gift of money which we give to parents and other members of the family especially little children. If you’re married and / or working, you usually are not “eligible” for “duit raya” LOL

Mum usually gets a neat pile of duit raya from all of us – her children and her grandchildren. These days we get some really nice raya packets from department stores, banks and other establishment to put the crisp banknotes that make up the duit raya. So all the kids and grandchildren collect and show off their colorful packets of duit raya. One of my grand nieces, who is probably 5 years old, carries her own little handbag to keep all the duit raya she collects going house to house during Eid. In the old days we had pockets in our baju raya (Eid outfits) to hold the coins that were given to us as duit raya. Times change.

So ends the beraya ceremony at Mum’s. As far back as I can remember, next on the agenda was the family Eid lunch which Mum would take the trouble to plan and cook. It was always so special and the menu was almost always a savory tomato rice, Mum’s special beef dalca, her signature crispy fried gingery chicken and either her mint sambal or coconut sambal. She would start cooking the dishes for lunch early in the morning and we’d usually have to force her to stop and take a shower and get dressed in her finest Eid clothes for beraya!

Missing Mum's special touch

I once told her (actually it was more than once) that it wasn’t necessary for her to cook lunch that day as everyone was happy feasting on her amazing Eid specialties: chicken rendang, beef rendang, satay sauce and her very secret snut, a kind of acar with all the different kinds of compressed rice like ketupat, nasi impit, lemang and ketupat palas. But I got a vehement “no” because Mum said it was only once in a year when every member of the family – well, almost everyone – was around and we could eat together.

The Eid lunch is only a distant memory now. The tradition is gone. It stopped when Mum suffered the stroke in 2010.

Hubby has a very cheeky way of motivating Mum to keep working on her strength and mobility: every time he spoke to her he would tell her that he couldn’t wait for her to walk and use her hands again. He really missed her cooking and he looked forward to her cooking her Eid specialties and her lunch dishes again. And she always said “InshaAllah”. God willing.

My parents’ home was always “open” during Eid, usually the first couple of days. They followed the old tradition of the true “open house” when visitors were always welcome – without an appointment or an invitation. Mum’s Eid specialties and her variety of home made cookies (sometime fifteen or twenty!) would be laid out on the dining table, plates and saucers, cutlery and glasses elegantly waited on the credenza. Well-wishers,  visitors and neighbours streamed in non-stop to say hello and celebrate Eid with us. I know it tired Mum and Dad but Mum said she enjoyed it because it did justice to all the hard work she put into preparing her Eid spread! It was difficult for them to rest because just as there was a lull and we cleared everything up, more guests arrived. That was how it was until a couple of years ago.

This was how it was in the old days for everyone. Nowadays, some people still have these open houses on the first couple of days of Eid when its a public holiday but its usually by invitation. We usually have our own at the apartment on the second day of Eid or like this year, on the third day because it was a public holiday too. Its more convenient these days to organise an event on a specific day at specific times and invite friends and family over. You know exactly how many people to expect and how much food to prepare. Ours is not usually a large affair. We try to keep it intimate in the twenties or thirties although sometimes it does get busy with friends bringing friends and their families with them. We so enjoy this annual event at which we put our culinary skills into practice and serve up our Malaysian and Spanish specialties.

These days people hold their Eid open houses throughout the month of Shawal. And I mean throughout. There are open houses every weekend which are usually big, big occasions sometimes with fancy tents being put up, catered food and hundreds of guests invited.

I’m not a big fan of large, busy open houses and prefer the small, intimate and friendly gathering where I can enjoy an engaging chat and catch up with old friends and family. But that’s me.

In Kuwait the locals don’t have such a concept as open houses during Eid. In contrast, all the celebratory eating and socializing takes place in Ramadhan! Eid is a time to spend with family, chilling out. Malaysians who happen to be in Kuwait during Eid will of course spend the first day of Eid at an Embassy gathering. Later, like we did one year, some will have their own open houses. These, in the true spirit of being Malaysian, will inevitably carry on during the whole month of Shawal!

I get back to Kuwait in the third week and I suspect, there will be at least one open house to go to – one of my Malaysian friends already told me she would wait for me to get back before having her Eid open house. And another of my friends who now lives in Basel, Switzerland was organizing an Eid get-together of Malaysians living everywhere around Basel on 24th September…So there we go – here, there or anywhere, Eid traditions will be upheld, the Malaysian way.

Girgean! O Girgean! Candy! O Candy!

13. August 2011 · 2 comments · Categories: Life in Kuwait · Tags: , , , ,

The first time we spent Ramadhan in Kuwait, I found it curious that, after iftaar, children went house to house ringing doorbells, and were given candy and sweets, almost like Halloween’s “trick-or-treating”. I had many friends with young school-going children and on a particular day in Ramadhan, they would be asked to dressed in traditional costumes and bring gifts of candy and sweets to exchange with their friends.

Lovely little girl at Girgean

This is the mid-Ramadhan Kuwaiti tradition which is celebrated from the 13th to the 15th nights of Ramadhan known as Girgean (“mixture of different things”). This special celebration for kids is also celebrated in  Qatar where it’s called Garangaou, in Bahrain – Gargaaoun, and in the UAE where they call it Hag Allah.

Since the old days, kids eagerly waited for this night of the year to dress up, go house to house visiting neighbours, lighting the streets with their special Ramadhan lanterns and letting everyone know they’re coming as they beat their drums and sing old Girgean songs. Each of them would carry a colourful bag, which would have been sewn specially for the occasion by their mothers, to collect all the candy they are going to get. Almost every house would have a basketful of candy, sweets, nuts and dried fruit waiting for the kids to arrive. The kids would come, sing a song and the owner would pour a handful of the treats into their bags.

It used to be a very simple occasion for children but like many things, it apparently has lost its genuine simplicity. It has become a great commercial opportunity for businesses since now, girgean parties are held, parents spend great sums decorating their homes for a first-born’s girgean, and womenfolk prepare months in advance to have the best and most unique and beautiful girgean presentations. Many even purchase specially made goody bags, toys or other favours from their travels so that theirs is really unique. One year, one of my close Kuwaiti friends sent me a beautiful birdhouse filled with girgean goodies.

Girgean presentations made to order

Of course, there are still kids ringing our doorbells and knocking our doors, but the celebration has become commercial. Even companies take the opportunity to promote their businesses with unique giveaways for their staff and clients. Hubby has brought home something different every year from his company.

Corporate girgean giveaway from hubby's office

From the early days of Ramadhan, supermarkets are filled with pre-prepared bags of girgean treats.

Bags of girgean mix on sale at the supermarket

And the souqs are filled with an array of beautifully ornamented traditional Kuwaiti clothing for children of all ages. And all kinds of bags and containers for girgean.

The first time the children rang our doorbell many years ago, we weren’t prepared. But thankfully I managed to put something together and the kids didn’t go home empty-handed!

I remember three years ago when I was last here for Ramadhan, we went with the flow and bought our girgean mix then eagerly waited for the kids to come. At first I took handfuls of girgean and put it in their little bags but later I just held the bag and asked them to take what they wanted! Big mistake, because everyone wanted to do it all at the same time! I asked them to sing and they did but unfortunately I didn’t record it.

Well, tonight is the night that Girgean begins, and I’m all set. I bought our girgean treats a few days ago and its in a bowl by the door just waiting for the little ones. I hope they come this year!

My girgean mix...waiting for the kids

Ramadhan Kareem!

01. August 2011 · 4 comments · Categories: Celebrations · Tags: , , , ,

Ramadhan Kareem 2011

The blessed month of Ramadhan is upon us again.

Ramadhan (also known as Ramadan or Ramzan) is the ninth month in the Islamic calendar which consists of 12 months and lasts for about 354 days. The word “Ramadhan” is derived from an Arabic word for intense heat, scorched ground and shortness of food and drink.

It is considered to be the most holy and blessed month and begins with a moon sighting. Fasting in Ramadhan is the fifth pillar of Islam and for 29 or 30 days (depending on when Ramadhan begins according to the moon-sighting), Muslims across the world fast during the hours of daylight. It is also period of prayer, charity and self-accountability. For many, it is a time of self-examination and learning about self-discipline, self-restraint and generosity. It also reminds them of the suffering of the poor, who may rarely get to eat well. Ramadan is also a time for many Muslims to donate to charity by participating in food drives for the poor, organizing a collection or charity event, and other  voluntary activities. Muslims are encouraged to be charitable during Ramadan.

It is a special month in the lives of Muslims when many will try to become better Muslims by praying more than the obligatory five daily prayers, reading and studying the Qur’an or meditating in retreat. Special congregational prayers called the tarawih prayers are also held in mosques and at homes only during the month of Ramadhan.

The first verses of the Qur’an were revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) during the last ten days of Ramadhan, making this period especially blessed. The actual night on which the Qur’an was revealed though is called Laylat al-Qadr or The Night of Power and is believed to fall on one of the last odd nights of Ramadan (21st, 23rd, 25th, 27th and 29th).

To  prepare for the fast, it is recommended to have one meal known as the suhoor just before sunrise or fajr. Some prefer to eat something just before they retire for the night so as not to break their sleep and yet others get up some other time during the night to eat suhoor. Some are able to fast without any suhoor meal at all.

The daily fast is broken at sunset with an evening meal known as iftar which means “opening or breaking the fast”. In Malaysia, iftar is called “buka puasa” which means exactly the same thing literally.

Ramadhan ends with another moon sighting on the 29th day of fasting. When the first crescent of the new moon is sighted, marking the start of the next lunar month, Shawwal, Eid-al-Fitr is celebrated.

The Muslim world has an almost staggering diversity of cultures and each Muslim country may have its own special customs and things associated with Ramadan, especially when it comes to food and eating.

In Malaysia, one of the things you will find ONLY in Ramadhan is the Bazaar Ramadhan. Everyone, and not just Muslims, in Malaysia, looks forward to and enjoys the local delights that are sold in the myriad of hawker stalls at various locations organised by the local municipality. Some of the food sold at these Bazaars are only available during Ramadhan. Its quite an experience to shop for local cuisine for “buka puasa” at these Bazaars, and mind you, its very easy to buy too much!

There is no such concept in Kuwait though. All kinds of Ramadhan sweets and breads are available all day in various supermarkets and other than that, all food establishments are closed until after iftaar. So Kuwaiti households prepare many local dishes at home, those especially associated with Ramadhan, and just before iftar, it is quite common to see maids or houseboys carrying large trays of food to share with their neighbors.
Food trays in Ramadhan

Ramadhan buffets, though, are something that is common both in Malaysia and Kuwait although, in practice, the experience is quite different. I have to say that its an aspect of Ramadhan that we much more enjoy in Kuwait, not Malaysia. Many restaurants in Kuwait serve buffets from iftar right up to suhoor and some others serve separate iftar and suhoor buffets. Some hotels also set up “Ramadhan tents” either indoors in one of the ballrooms or even on the beach if the hotel has a seafront venue.

In Kuwait there is also the concept of “Ghabga” (or “Ghabka”) which is a light meal by invitation, a get-together, usually held at homes and “dewaniyas”, and now sometimes at hotels. “Ghabgas” are usually held between iftar and suhoor usually sometime between 9pm and midnight and is an opportunity to socialise with family, friends or colleagues during the holy month.

Ramadhan Kareem and selamat menunaikan ibadah puasa, mubarak aalaikum as-shahar, wherever you may be.

Adding new countries

12. June 2011 · 4 comments · Categories: Travel · Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Gosh, has it been a week that we’ve been on the Allure of the Seas? Time flies when you’re having fun, as they say.

Today we have completed the first leg of our Caribbean cruise and added three new countries to our list. On the Western Caribbean leg. We did a very fast turnaround after docking at Fort Lauderdale by getting off the ship for them to satisfy US Immigration’s “zero count” and then got on again for the second leg to the Eastern Caribbean.

Cruises are the best way of seeing new countries and learning about new places and this cruise was no different. On the first leg of our Caribbean cruise, we docked at three new ports-of-call and added three new countries to our list: Haiti, Jamaica, and Mexico! These are not necessarily places we would normally book a vacation to and some of them, like Haiti on this cruise, are probably places we would never ever make it to if not for a cruise.

On the next leg we’ll stop at Nassau in the Bahamas and that will be country number four on this trip. The next two stops are St Thomas and St Maarten, which we had already been to in 2006 so they don’t count as new countries!

By now we have a routine when visiting new countries: a fridge magnet for every new city visited and a bracelet charm for every new country. We find this to be the highlight of all our trips and stops, believe it or not. Sometimes we don’t find the magnet we want so we get creative and create our own. Once in Klaipeda, Lithuania, we didn’t find a magnet but we were lucky to find an old commemorative coin with the word “Klaipeda” written on it. When we got home, I stuck a magnet behind it and voila, we have a fridge magnet.

We love our fridge magnets and we ran out of space on our fridge a looooonggggg time ago so they are proudly displayed on a long magnet wall in our kitchen!

Our Magnet Collection

We also ran out of space on this wall so I recently started another wall in the kitchen :)

As far as bracelet charms go, I have to say I have also run out of space on my bracelet and must reorganise it soon or I have to stop adding countries LOL!

The charms we buy have to be a symbol of the country we visit or else remind us of something we did there. Its usually very straightforward, like the Colosseum for Italy, the Parthenon for Greece, a Dutch klomppen (clog) for the Netherlands, etc. We got a diver for the Maldives because we went snorkelling there for the first time and a helicopter when we went to Antigua because we flew over the Montserrat volcanic island in one. Sometimes of course, we also don’t find a shop selling charms or else we didn’t find a suitable charm, in which case we make a note of it and decide what kind of charm we want for the country and look out for it in future travels.

So far, we’ve got our new magnets in Labadee (Haiti), Falmouth (Jamaica) and Cozumel (Mexico) but found our charm only in Cozumel. You guessed it – a sombrero! We will look for charms to add for Haiti and Jamaica…we were thinking of a banana for Haiti because it used to be called “The Banana Republic” :-) and maybe a guitar for Jamaica because the iconic Bob Marley hails from there. Ya mon!

So, adding countries is a lot of fun! We used to buy all kinds of souvenirs which, after a while, became dust collectors. Sometimes we wonder why we bought them at all. But we love our magnets and charms collection!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:SE 30th St,Fort Lauderdale,United States

Kuwaiti Amir grants KD 1,000 to every citizen!

19. January 2011 · Write a comment · Categories: Celebrations, Life in Kuwait · Tags: , , , , ,

Hubby told me about this last night when we Skyped. What an incredible way to celebrate a country’s independence and liberation.

1000 Kuwaiti Dinar bill photoshopped by a Kuwaiti blogger!

Lucky Kuwaitis!

KUWAIT: HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah has ordered the distribution of KD 1.12 billion ($4 billion) and free food for 14 months to citizens as the state prepares to mark national occasions. Each of the 1.12 million Kuwaitis will get KD 1,000 ($3,572) in cash as well as free essential food items until March 31, 2012, State Minister for Cabinet Affairs Roudhan Al-Roudhan said. Roudhan said the Cabinet approved a draft decree for the financial grant which will be sent to the National Assembly for approval. He said the government will ban any bank deduction or seizure of the grant.

The state, whose financial assets top $300 billion, will next month mark the 50th anniversary of independence, 20th anniversary of liberation from Iraqi occupation and the fifth anniversary of the Amir’s ascendance to power. The announcement was made following an overnight meeting of the Cabinet. The 2.4 million foreign residents of Kuwait are excluded from the grant and the free food.

MPs yesterday welcomed the Amiri grant but urged the government to step up control over prices so as to prevent merchants from raising prices artificially. MPs Khaled Al-Adwah, Waleed Al-Tabtabaei and Saadoun Hammad among many others praised the grant that will be of a great help to citizens but urged the commerce minister to strictly monitor prices of commodities so the grant money is not absorbed by greedy merchants.

Head of the interior and defense committee MP Shuaib Al-Muwaizri thanked the Amir for ordering the grant that brought happiness to the Kuwaiti people, but called on the prime minister to admit that the government has breached the constitution by causing the death of a citizen, suppressing the people and curbing freedom. He said the government has squandered public funds, remained silent on financial and administrative corruption and deprived people of the most basic right of employment.

Inflation in Kuwait soared to 5.9 percent in November, the highest in 20 months on the back of high food prices which rose by 12.3 percent. The fifth largest OPEC producer has posted budget surpluses in each of the past 11 fiscal years, totalling more than $140 billion, and is also headed for another healthy surplus this year thanks to rising oil price. The government has made similar but smaller grants in the past.

The state provides a cradle-to-grave welfare system to its citizens who receive most public services and petrol at heavily subsidised prices and pay no income tax. Some 80 percent of Kuwait’s 360,000-strong national workforce are employed in government jobs, where the average monthly wage is more than KD 1,000.

By B Izzak, Staff Writer & Agencies

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