Bling Bling & Bang-Bang

I have watched Anthony Bourdain travel to several Middle Eastern countries and enjoyed the hospitality afforded to an American male. Many of the males here have been invited to the country clubs, the homes of Kuwaiti males for tea, for tennis, for boat parties. I didn’t anticipate any of these courtesies being extended to me and I was right. The only thing any TCN, Kuwaiti, or for that matter American male wants to know, is if I have a family. Meaning am I married with a husband and kids. I did ask around about the hand gesture with the two index fingers coming together parallel. It means married or boyfriend. The Kuwaiti and/or Muslims don’t believe in pre-marital sex so they rush to get married. As a result the divorce rate is very high in Kuwait.
As I am writing this on paper for later transfer to the computer I have discovered that it is either too hot or too dusty outside for my papermate pen to work. My page is covered in scribbles and angry slashes trying to get it to work.
Back to Kuwait. Some of the guys that were working here before say things are already changing. A few years ago the women were walking behind the men at the mall. Now you can see them walking side by side and talking to each other. I even saw a little finger touching and for a brief moment a couple intertwined their fingers in public. I don’t know if they were married; probably not, there were happy. Ha-ha just kidding. I also saw a pregnant woman and her husband walking in the mall, her holding his pinky finger. I saw another couple walking arm in arm.
The other thing happening to Kuwait is hip-hop. IT IS SO FUNNY. Pimp my ride has nothing on some of these vehicles. Lights all over, D&C upholstery, rims, the works. Hip-Hop, gangster rap, and money to blow is a dangerous combination that will lure the youth of Kuwait away from the traditional ways. In my high school, the biggest druggies and trouble makers were the wealthy kids. They were the ones who could afford expensive habits like clothes, cars, drugs, women, etc. The really crazy part is that the Kuwaitis are so wealthy that everything is disposable to them, even a $50k or $70k car. It’s nothing to them. They can buy a new one when they wreck this one. Nothing like a little “keeping up with the Jones” to change a culture.
There is a hierarchy on the roads too. The bigger or more expensive your vehicle, then that vehicle has the right away. They don’t wear seat belts; they drive with children on their lap (men & women) and talk on their cell phone which is illegal. So they’re driving all crazy, cutting people off and expecting all concerned to yield to them because they are Kuwaiti. They also drive at night without their lights on because it’s not cool to do so. The young Kuwaiti males like to talk like a rapper or dress like the people in the music videos on the multiple MTV channels that run over here. They like the bling bling and have the money to buy it.
The women are said to be promiscuous. They may be wearing an abaya or some version of covering but they will talk to a man without looking at him. Then they will pass their number to him and move on. There is enough physical abuse against women that they will chance trouble to meet an American. The American risks getting his ass beat too for seeing a Kuwaiti woman. A highly repressed person will behave in a counter effort to the repression seeking the withheld need. I can’t verify that this happens but it makes sense. Nobody wants to be alone, or beat, or put down. They are going to seek companionship, love, and freedom. Like I said, unfortunately most of what I will tell you will be second hand information since I am missing out on a lot.
I have even heard something that is extreme but still possible. The Romans were like this too: Men are for pleasure and women are for babies. They are extremely anti-gay in Muslim religion but something is amiss. Men walk hand in hand. They act in a suggestive way to each other. I have seen these two things. I can see a culture from another perspective, not just filtered with my own eyes, and I tell you – they are intimate with each other. They might not call it gay but they are together. I think something is being lost in translation. I am sure something is going on that outsiders are not told about. I am sure I will be writing about this again….