Sorry I’ve been gone for so long, I took a longer vacation than I intended. Over the past days a lot of things have happened and I can’t wait to share it all with you:
First of all let me continue from where I left of, Christmas. After getting our tree and some decorations, all we needed were some lights to give it the finishing touch. We searched and searched and if you noticed from the video on the previous post, they were being sold at the supermarket we usually go to, Sultan Center. But five days before Christmas they were nowhere to be found. They had run out. My husband went to other places to see if he could find any but he had no luck. I was so shocked.
Going down Gulf Road, one of the main roads here, I could see Christmas lights in every building. There were at least 4 to 6 windows filled with Christmas decorations; that was another shocker. My husband had told me that a lot of people celebrate it here, but I guess me and my Western mind couldn’t conceive the thought of Christians celebrating freely in a land, that we are told, does not tolerate other religions.
The perception of the Middle East grabs every single country in the region and blends them into the stereotype. Did you know that one of the tallest and the most expensive Christmas tree in the world was in Abu Dhabi? The decorations were worth $11 million.
Yes, there are countries in the region where having your decorations on display may be a dangerous thing to do, but there are also many places, one of them being Kuwait, where not only is ok to display your decorations but churches had several times for mass and even in different languages.
I believe it is ok to have different perception of various places and people, but I also believe that we have to give each person and place a chance to either confirm or to change those perceptions accordingly.
On my next post I’ll tell you more about the Health Care Services here, blunt discrimination, the new world Guinness record, my visit to Kuwait Towers and many many other things. Hope you enjoy it, and if there is anything you would like to hear about, just send me an email.
Cultureness's 