Since my last post we visited Kuwait’s Parliament. Being the only political science major in the group, this was pretty much awesome for me. I was the only one who had been to the gallery (U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate) in D.C. and watched what happened there, like what you see on CSPAN to compare the two environments. We were able to sit in VIP seating (right behind the parliamentarians) and were given earphones (they looked twenty years old) to have the debate translated for us. The translator was pretty good (but, what do I know?) and it was an interesting discussion they had on worker’s wages and overtime for the private sector. Some people were walking around though and talking which I felt discouraging, but they do the same thing in Congress.
(this was before the debate started, so not everyone was there)Kuwait is known to have the most organized and democratic government in the Middle-East. I loved watching the four newly elected women participate just as an equal among the long robed and headscarf-covered men in the room. No one was in a business suit, but in the traditional long robe styled clothing which everyone wears here (they are called dishdisha). After three hours of listening, we left the room and bought something to eat in the cafeteria, which was really cheap as it was subsidized for the elected officials. I have been surprised how cheap the food is here, you can get a pretty good meal for about 1-2 dinar, which is about $3-6 US, pretty cheap. I was expecting to spend more here but have been pleasantly surprised.
(out VIP seats!)We then meet with the director of public relations, which Latifa (wife of Mr. Saleen, the man who is best friends with our professor and helped organize the trip) knew and we went in to sit and we talked to him for awhile. He gave us all parliament pens and pencils (I have no idea why). People tend to give you stuff here, it’s like a hospitable thing such as juice, sodas or gift bags. I am completely okay with this, except when everything is in Arabic and I can’t read a thing to save my life. I really need to learn this language. Afterwards, we left to head back to the hotel and all of us changed into some more comfortable. The rest of the afternoon we walked along the beach and just chilled by talking to each other about all kinds of things. It was beautiful outside (the weather is about 65 during the day and 50 at night). We walked to the Marina mall, which we had been before and mostly walked around the mall and talked. I kind of felt like I was in middle school again where your mom drops you off and you hang out there for hours (why wasn’t I learning Arabic instead during middle school? Would have been a better use of my time).
We called our professor at the hotel to come meet us and we met up at this cool Lebanese place for dinner. They had these flatbreads with chicken and vegetables which were soooo yummy. We ordered a chicken one and they brought it out on a long tray with the chicken prepared in different sections. It was really good. My friend John and Jessica decided to be adventurous and order goat. Oh, it gets even better, when they brought out the food they put the two trays down of flatbreads and then she brought out this tin box. Yes, a metal box on our table. The waitress opens it up and unfolds a tortilla like thing and inside is the goat!! It was mixed with rice and chickpeas and they ate goat out of a tin box. It was actually delicious and hilarious at the same time. I updated a photo for you to check out.
After dinner we went with Mr. and Mrs. Saleen to a Diwanya. This is a Kuwaiti tradition where you have a comfortable room with couches and go there to just talk about certain issues. Some of them are in a person’s home, but most are at a different place and open to anyone to go. The one we were invited to was previously owned by a member of parliament and was passed down to a current member of parliament. It was a pretty large room with couches lining the walls and snacks in the middle. We were hoping to meet some members of Parliament but it turned out they were still debating the same issue when we had left earlier than day at 11. They ended up debating until midnight. A man came in and offered us lemonade and tea which were deliciously yummy. It was a little weird at first because it was a bunch of college students and then all these older men in their traditional robes.
Eventually I became sick of just sitting there so I stood up and sat next to an older man and said hello. A younger man came by and helped translate because he did not know English very well. I asked him about the necklace he was holding in his hand and the younger man said they were called prayer beads and people just hold onto them to play with, he gave me his to look at and when I tried to return the necklace he held his hand up. The younger man said he wanted me to have them, he has plenty at home. I tried to resist but he was firm with his comment. That was pretty cool, met a nice man and adopted prayer beads. The younger man and I (I forgot his name) started talking and had the most amazing conversation. He went to school in the United States at Tulane University and did his masters there as well, then worked in the United States for two years. He was a political science major and worked on campaigns and knew a representative from AZ (Trent Franks)! What a small world, we talked all about campaigns because that’s what he currently does in Kuwait. We talked about campaigns in Kuwait and comparing them to the United States. It was such an interesting conversation and he was truly a nice guy. The other students in my group were falling asleep from our long day and Latifa told everyone thanks for inviting us and we left soon after that, but I loved who I was able to talk to while we were there.
I wish they had diwanyas in the United States.
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