While the Kuwaiti's are ridiculously rich and have everything (houses, electricity, monthly stipend, etc) provided to them by the government oil reserves, they still haven't lost their bedouin heritage. They picnic anywhere and everywhere. Whole families start to gather close to sunset. They bring grills, coolers, pots and pans, pitchers of teas and juices, persian rugs, tables and chairs...and they plop down wherever they please and start cooking. It's very interesting. It is endearing, even. Family is extremely important to them. They are very tribal.
A popular Bedouin saying is "Me against my brother, My brothers and I against my cousins, then my cousins and I against strangers". This saying speaks to the hierarchy of loyalties based on closeness of kinship that runs from the nuclear family through the lineage, the tribe. Disputes are settled, interests are pursued, and justice and order are maintained by means of this organizational framework, according to an ethic of self-help and collective responsibility.
Bedouins traditionally had strong honor codes, and traditional systems of justice dispensation in Bedouin society typically revolved around such codes. They still practice the bisha'a, or ordeal by fire, which is a well-known Bedouin practice of lie detection.
What is maddening, is that they leave their garbage everywhere when they leave. Huge piles of it. With 100's of families doing this every single day, you can't imagine what the garbage looks like before the Bangladeshians (is that a word?) come and half heartedly clean some of it up.
As I have often shared, my view is amazing, the Gulf...but I would not so much as dip a toe in the water. At low tide the stench of sewage actually can take your breath away as I often find when on one of my later afternoon runs down the beach boardwalk.
Last weekend, I went to Dubai. It was lovely - very much like Kuwait visually EXCEPT that they pick up their garbage! It was clean everywhere and that was a welcome sight. There were still random picnics everywhere. Pink taxis (for the ladies, complete with lady taxi drivers....this charmed me beyond belief.) Yes, there are pink taxis in Dubai and they are specifically for solo female travelers like myself or for families with children. They don't pick up men and they don't pick up couples. It made me feel safe and my taxi driver was a drop dead beautiful young woman from Ethiopia. I can't remember and could not pronounce her name.
I was able to buy wine in Dubai and exercised my right to enjoy a full bottle by myself. In the end, though, I didn't finish it and was quite content to just sip and enjoy. I walked, took a water taxi, explored, sunbathed by the pool, did some reading, spent 4 hours in the Mall of the Emirates. What an enormous place, and that isn't the biggest mall in Dubai!! Being the non-shopper that I am though, after four hours (which I was of course really using for exercise), I purchased three books in English *(YAY!) and two bars of soap that were the scent of, well - clean soap. I think they are made of goat's milk or something. I passed Zara and Gucci and Chanel and Prada and Louis Vouitton and Armani and all the other high dollar designers without a purchase. I went inside, of course...and I tried things on, of course, but I haven't reached the place in life where I can justify spending that kind of dough. The indoor ski slope was a hoot, though! I didn't go in, but watched from the massive windows in the food court outside the ski slope.
The evening was topped off last night after a long workout when I went to the roof of my building to do my standard pushup and crunches, and was surprised by a wondrous fireworks display going on all around me in the distance in several cities. Amazing. Fireworks are always fun - but surprise fireworks? Well, that's just plain magical. I feel the winds of change blowin' in again. We'll see where they take me.
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