Today I spent the afternoon at a cookout in Fahaheel, Kuwait. Rana’s family rented some space on Mangaf Beach and invited me to join them. As we drove up to the park I couldn’t believe just how many cars and families were already there and had the same idea. I don’t blame them; the weather was absolutely perfect. The temperature has been in the mid 70s all week and today was nice combination of sunny and partly cloudy. While 70 degrees sounds nice and warm, most people there were in heavier clothing, sweatshirts and so on. I suppose it’s all relative though, seeing that it is almost 5o degrees cooler than when I first arrived back in August.
Rana’s brother had arrived at the park nice and early and was able to reserve eight round tables right on the edge of the picnic area, looking out over the Gulf and right next to a boardwalk along the beach. While the male members of Rana’s family prepared the kabobs, I sat and chit chatted with several of her family members who I have met during Ramadan. It was so nice to spend the day outside and be surrounded by such a happy and friendly family.
There were around 20 adults, 10 children and 4 maids at our picnic area. The food was delicious! They made barbecued beef, spicy grilled chicken, kabobs and this really delicious pita with meat in the middle. Rana brought some delicious tabouli, sides of humus, baba ganoush and other salads. I ate so much… and that was just lunch.
I didn’t realize we were celebrating a birthday until one of the women brought out a beautiful chocolate cake from Mr. Baker and started trying to light four little airplane candles. We ended up singing Happy Birthday twice (each time we sang the song twice – once in English, once in Arabic) because the breeze from the ocean made it difficult to keep the candles lit. The birthday boy was very cute and shy, having so many people singing to him. The dessert table was just as impressive as our lunch. There were two cakes from Mr. Baker, along with some homemade donut holes rolled in coconut and sprinkles, a chocolate chip cake, muffins and a dessert made with Pakistani noodles, pistachio and cream.
The park was filled with families, gathered around and cooking all sorts of delicious food. It felt like a commercial.. kids were running around, playing soccer and cricket on the boardwalk, some men were fishing off the edge of the pier and it seemed like every other woman who walked by was pregnant. It was such a great day, Alhamdulillah.
One of the things I love most about being here in Kuwait is not having to worry about where I can pray. We stayed at Mangaf Beach from around 1:30 until 6:30 which meant that the athans for Asr and Maghrib from the nearby mosques were called. There were two small buildings for praying, one for men and one for women. While walking back to our tables, Rana and I could see that the men’s building was filled and there were 5-6 lines of 10-15 men in each outside the building, praying on the bare earth. It really was a beautiful sight.
This was a really nice change from my usual Fridays spent inside my apartment, catching up on sleep and lesson planning. I am so thankful that I have met such wonderful people in Kuwait and have the opportunity to be a part of a family here while mine is so far away.
Countdown update: two weeks from right now (9 PM Kuwait time) I will be getting ready to hail a taxi and head to the airport for my 12:20 AM departure to Washington D.C., inshAllah.
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