BLING!

Here we are again, another week at school. This Tuesday is the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan. Please note that this follows the lunar calendar so Ramadan is not a fixed time (sort of like Easter/Lent). Essentially, it is three weeks earlier every year.

Ramadan means that school will start at 9:00am (hurray!) and all classes will be shorter so we still finish at 2:30pm. Since it is a month of fasting for Muslims, nothing is to be consumed during daylight hours in public. Loosely translated, this means no food, water, gum, cigarettes are consumed from sunrise to sunset unless in the privacy of your own home or classroom. There will be classrooms set up at school for non-Muslim students to use for eating lunch during the holy month of Ramadan. When do people eat? Well, between sunset(6:30pm) and sunrise (4:30am) there is feasting, praying and family time. The city becomes a ghost town at the dusk call-to-prayer. Are you wondering what happens if you are caught eating in public? This applies to Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Let's say, for example, that you are on the way home from school and you are parched. Instinctively, you take a big swig from your water bottle and suddenly you are pulled over by the police and fined. Or taken to jail. Legally, this is what can happen. More likely that you'd get a fine, bribe the person writing the ticket with a little sum of pocket change(this is called baksheesh) and be on your way. Restaurants that open during daylight hours...well, they just don't open. You can still get groceries from most stores, you just won't see people sampling the almonds, cashews, dates and figs.

The last week has been fairly uneventful. I did teach a yoga class last night in the apartment lobby but people couldn't make it for various reasons. So for you Corner Gas fans, it was a bit like Lacey's Pilates class in Dog River, except I had 3 students. I found it rather funny but nobody else had seen Corner Gas so they didn't get the reference. I'm sure business will pick up.

On the weekend I spent a couple hours at the gold souk with some friends (all girls, of course). I found one lovely turquoise necklace that I cannot stop thinking about. Medium sized turquoise beads around the neck, a bit larger of a neckline (not a choker style) and a large (perhaps 2cm by 3cm recatngle) medieval-looking silver pendant with a few inlaid turquise beads. Not surprisingly, it is very expensive. I am sure I can find a way to justify puchasing it. Although it's not a timeless piece, it is something that (as my friend Jen put it) comes back into style every five years or so. Most things at the gold souk contain too much of the Kuwaiti's favourite element, BLING!, for my liking. Bling is the sparkle in an item, and Kuwaiti (women) are all about the BLING! There should be at least a fine dusting of sparkles (sequins?) on every outfit, if not every article of clothing from shirts to skirts to shoes, even if the shoes are Birkenstocks. So jewellery is the sure fire way to have some BLING! in your wardrobe. If the preceeding did not make sense to you, then you simply haven't spent enought time in Kuwait.

Looking forward to a bit more R&R this month. Except that next week we have extra rehearsals and the performances for KLT. Should be fun, though. I am anticipating getting in some extra swim time during the holy month as well.

Hope everything is good wherever you are. Please consider visiting Kuwait, you really have to see it to believe it. Perhaps more on the fashion next time.