International Festival Extravaganza!

Yesterday we had an international festival in my university that was part of the international world affairs. The Kuwait booth was popular as ever; although we didn’t do any shows and dances like the last two years. Here is a brief report of what happened there:

What did we do in our booth?

We had tons of up-to-grab items such as pictures, brooches, info sheets, post cards, and masabeeh. We served the old traditional Arabian coffee and Lugaymants. People thought that Lugaymants were chicken nuggets; we had to explain to them that they were sweet donuts. However they were popular….as….well….as hot cakes! We made a small tent and sado cochins were placed inside. The girls were inside the tent and provided Henna and old Kuwaiti fortune telling. We gave away Kuwait flags with people’s names written in Arabic. We offered the opportunity for People to wear Kuwaiti national clothes and have their picture taken.

Highlights:

- Some people didn’t know where Kuwait is, they sometime point at India or Iran. Maps of the world were provided at the entrance.

- We were suggested that we should not talk about politics, Iraq, and other sensitive issues before the festival started.

- A mean old hag asked me “Is Kuwait still the richest country in the world?” I answered her in a sarcastic tone “Umm…No, because if we were, we would have taken over the world.” And then she said, “why don’t you have a mustache” and she pointed at the pictures of Amir and the Crown Amir at the back of the booth?” I replied “well, I have my own lifestyle, isn’t America teaching us about individualism.”

- A man with his kids asked me “Do Kuwaitis still maintain a positive feelings to the US?”. I answered, “Absolutely, Proof? Well, I’m like thousands of miles away from my homeland just for education…and I chose to study in the US because I love the US.” The man smiled back “That’s good to know”. He then asked his daughter if she could locate Kuwait and she did…I was surprised.

- I had a conversation with a deaf man; we were using his Nokia SideKick phone to communicate with each other. He asked me about the coffee and my name. He was such a nice guy.

- The Japanese booth was next to us, so I was able to catch up with my Japanese friends that I met in the International English Center on the last two years. I even wore the male traditional Japanese dress.

- The Middle Eastern shows were the most popular and the most that receive applause from the crowds such as: Belly dancing and Iranian traditional dances.

The festival lasted from 4PM to 10PM. I was tired but had tons of fun. We then went to Cheesecake Factory restaurant to celebrate. Wish you were there.