The last 30 days in pictures (sorta)

For starters, my blog is fine, thank God. I just accessed it the other day and all I saw was ImageShack's logo all over the page. Needless to say, I started to freak out. But all's well now and no, nothing special was missed :)

So I had quite a blast last month. I went to a lot of neat places and events including John Gray's gig that was held at Crowne Plaza in Farwaniya. As usual, I got lost on the way there (thank God for helpful taxis) and on the way back to my house (I ended up at the airport, don't ask). Anyway, the event was great. He didn't say anything new but just being there and taking a picture with the graying John Gray as well as his autograph on my worn out copy of his book was a lovely experience.

In the beginning of January, my older brother a.k.a. Big Brother told me about Hamad Khalifa's honorary ceremony that was to take place at the end of the month in the theater in Dasma. I was thrilled. I love live music especially anything that has to do with traditional Kuwaiti songs. The last time I went to something similar to this was last year's Ferqat Ma'youf at Dar Al-Athar Al-Islamiyah in Maidan Hawalli. The music and performance was so contagious that I had to restrain myself from running down the aisle and dancing with the rest of the crew. I'm exaggerating but that pretty much shows my enthusiasm. Anyhow, the big day came and unfortunately, Big Brother stood me up due to being stranded at the office. My husband was out of town so I asked my father out. Luckily, he was willing to be my date for the night.

Both my father and I understood that Hamad Khalifa's son would accept the plaque on behalf of his father. We were sitting there waiting for the show to start when the crowd started to stir. Turns out, Hamad Khalifa was alive and kicking! Along with a mob of people, he was slowly escorted to sit in the front row. He looked so small and feeble as he rose up to accept his award while being photographed by about three dozen photographers. My father was more surprised than I was about his appearance because Hamad Khalifa was well-known when my father was in high school. We did the math and turns out he's in his 80's mashallah.

The show itself was fantastic. I did not want it to end. It was endearing, organic and beautiful. I especially liked the part when Al-Ammari sang. He had such an amazing and unique voice. Hamad Khalifa's son sang as well and his style was very similar to his father's. You can read more about the performance here (sorry, couldn't find an article about it written in English).





Two weekends ago, my husband and I woke up early Friday morning and decided to go to the Friday market. I think I was twelve years old the last time I went there and it was probably with my father. It didn't change much. I was, however, surprised at how many things that were being sold there. Everything you can ever think of was there.



I fell in love with these baby bunnies as soon as I set my eyes on them. I found their little costumes cute but suffocating. "I'm going to save them!" I told my husband. And by save them I meant buy them and take them home with me. And that I did!


I named my two bunnies after one of my favorite stores, Bimba and Lola. Bimba is the gray one and Lola is the white one. I gave them lettuce and water. After a few days, Bimba started to act a little strange. It was sitting down in a normal position but it teetered from side to side a little bit. I don't want you to lose your lunch, but Bimba's poop was a little bit runny. The morning after, Lola had the same symptoms. That's when I rushed them to the vet. "They have diarrhea because you're not feeding them proper food," the vet told me. Apparently, these types of rabbits eat a special kind of leafy vegetable similar to parsley and another kind of rabbit food (I call them tiny bunny biscuits). But worst of all, Bimba and Lola needed to get a shot. "It's just an antibiotic," the vet said as I put on my husband's old goalie gloves since the vet needed someone to hold Bimba and Lola down as he gave them the shot in the nape of their neck. I remember my heart was beating fast and I yelped when both Bimba and Lola started to cry out in pain while he administered the antibiotic. Apparently, the antibiotic stung them as it entered their tiny body. Apart from the food, I also bought an antibiotic (powdery substance) that I had to mix into their water and a proper cage. A day later, Bimba passed away. I buried him in my garden. He looked so small and peaceful in the dirt. On the bright side, Lola is alive and well. I'm planning to take him to the vet again soon to get him vaccinated. The only other time I had a rabbit was when I was in my single digits. My father had bought two for my sister and I remember one of them got rabies. It would make a gr-ring sound whenever someone got close to it and it once chased one of our housekeepers and actually bit her.


This is Bimba and Lola the day I bought them. Aren't they the cutest things ever! Speaking of things that make you smile, my husband and I went to see Ahmadi since we heard that it was lit up with all sorts of wonderful lights on the occasion of Kuwait's National & Liberation Day. We went late last Thursday night. The place was pretty packed with cars but we were entertained throughout our slow ride into the area. After we parked, we took a nice long walk in the neighborhoods and saw the KOC building and the big, fenced garden in front of it. The weather was great that night.


My husband and I decided to stick around for Kuwait's National & Liberation Days. I was surprised at how organized everything was especially the roads. I think banning the usage of foam has really paid off. We went to a friend's place that's by Gulf Road to see the fireworks display. That was another great night.


The other day, my husband and I enjoyed a walk on the beach. We walked by Indian or Pakistani men playing cricket. I was surprised at how serious they looked. Every player including the umpire was in uniform. It was a pleasant sight to see.


On our way back to our car, my husband said, "Shark!" Turns out, there was a shark's corpse on the walkway! I put on my investigator's hat on and concluded that it was a large hammerhead shark. "Maybe it was curious to see what lied beyond the sea!" I said. Well, I guess now he knows. Poor shark.


That's all folks! I really hoped you enjoyed your time this February. The moral of my post is that there are a lot of things to do in Kuwait. You just have to open your eyes and get creative.

I wanted to upload Hamad Khalifa's music (a CD was distributed to some audience members) but could not successfully convert the AIFF files (!) I hope this video will suffice.

UPDATE!

Thanks to a fellow blogger, I managed to convert Hamad Khalifa's songs that are in AIFF format to MP3s! If you're interested, just download the following songs:

مني مساك الخير

أقمتم فؤادي

يا ساريا الليل قوم

at 8:30 AM