the hangover

finally, the sun is shining again after 3 straight days of rainshowers. time to do the laundry and to clean my room. outside along the highway, at least 6 cars are in a mess. another road mishap i guess. the continuous rainfall is to be blamed making the roads slippery and muddy. outside, people are bringing out their rainsoaked furnitures and beddings. today is still a holiday here in kuwait, so people are busy cleaning out their rooms after the rains.
i checked my newly bought nike tracksuit and guess what? it's made in the philippines. hahaha. never thought i could by this here. nike products in the philippines are usually made in china or vietnam. i have yet to see a nike made in the philippines. now, i have one. not bad for a bargain.
i'm still nursing a light headache from drinking last night. sadiki, the local whiskey. bootleggged of course, since it is illegal here to buy and sell spirits. i'm still wondering how they make it. some say it is distilled from sugar cane though i still have to see a sugar cane here. some say it is made by boiling sugar in a pressure cooker, distilling the steam and letting the alcohol drip on a bottle using a long winding copper tube. hmm... is that even possible. i'll never know. stories abound regarding its components. some say it is diluted with water to make it mild to the taste. some say it is mixed with battery acid to give it that strong flavor. still some say, it contains auto brake fluid. hmm... i'm starting to suspect it's the latter. i put a bottle of sadiki once in the freezer. after a week in minus 0 degrees, guess what? it remained liquid! must be the brake fluid (brake fluid contains anti-freezing compounds). hahaha. but kidding aside, this local whiskey is quite strong. maybe at par with the filipino's lambanog and basi. and it tastes good, too.
being a holiday, bootlegged whiskey was on high demand. the price also skyrocketed from 1.500kd to almost 3.000kd. aaah, the law of supply and demand at work. nevertheless that did not prevent us from obtaining a bottle. paired with apple-flavored barbicana(a non-alcoholic malt beverage) and inihaw na tilapia and bangus, it was more than enough to keep us warm through the rains and to keep the stories flowing. stories about our first days in kuwait, about our jobs and bosses, about places we've been, about girls (a favorite topic among us men). time flew fast. the whiskey was at its last drop. time to go to bed.
woke up this morning with nary a headache or an upset stomach. the whiskey last night was good...

friday market

just got back from the souk juma (arabic for friday market). my shoes are splattered with mud and my sweatshirt is moist from the light rainshower outside. you must be wondering, rain in the desert? yes, you read it right. kuwait is entering winter season and the temperature is falling by the day. the locals say winter is setting earlier this year than usual. maybe because of the effect of climate change due to global warming. been two days straight now with this kind of weather.
that's why i had to go to souk juma earlier. i had to find a cheap but comfortable sweatshirt. see, i had this misconception that countries in the middle east always had a hot weather that is why i did not bring any jackets when i came here. my bad. good thing there is souk juma. it's like a rummage sale but only held on fridays. that's how it got its name. although in some parts of kuwait there are also rummage sales during saturdays and sundays. being a filipino that i am, i'm always on the lookout for bargains. the souk juma is a stone's throw from where i live so i put on my sweatshirt (got it from another rummage sale last week) and headed for it.
i had to rummage through all the stuff, haggle with the sellers, hop to another stand, rummage again and haggle again. in the souk juma, you would find all sorts of items for an absolutely low, low price (some bordering on the ridiculous). i saw a colored tv being sold for 3kd (PHP495), shirts and pants for 0.750-1.250kd (PHP100-200), food items for 0.250kd (PHP40). i saw boxes of cigarettes, bottles of perfume, computer keyboards and mouse, designer clothes and bags, everything, you name it, they have it. but beware some items have damage or are being sold beyond their expiry dates. you have to really check very carefully before parting with your hard-earned dinar or else you'd be going home with a reject. you might be thinking that you got the best bargain but then you'll find out later you were on the short end of the deal. so check, check and check again before making that buy.
by the way, i went home with a pair of nike tracksuits for 1kd. not bad for a bargain.

tin man

sometimes late when things are real
and people share the gift of gab between themselves
some are quick to take the bait
and catch the perfect prize that waits among the shelves
but oz never did give nothing to the tin man
that he didn't, didn't already have. . . . .
-america

ah, the familiar harmony of vocals and guitars by the group america. tin man. just one of their familiar songs. love its beautiful, though melancholic renditions of the guitars and drums. add to it the raw vocalizations. though until now, the meaning of this song still eludes me.
here's what i think about it: it's a song about believing in ourselves. sometimes when we are in the company of important persons or superiors (people share the gift of gab between themselves), we often find ourselves lost and confused, thinking that we should be this person or that (some are quick to take the bait ). we try so hard to impress others that we never find happiness in what we are doing. we forget to relax and take a breather all in the pursuit of our careers (catch the perfect prize). other times we become envious of them, we begin questioning ourselves. we begin to ask "why does he have everything?", "why can't i be him?".
all the while, we forget that we have other much more important possessions. like our families. our friends. and God. they are more important than anything else (but oz never did give nothing to the tin man that he didn't, didn't already have. . . . . ). we always look for other worldly possessions when in fact we already have what we need in life. what we have isn't always what we need. we must learn to accept what we are and what we have. and then let us build on them and later we will gain our greatest wealth.
how about you? are you a tin man?

(special thanks to the makers of the movie "wizards of oz" and to america for the image used, the wonderful song and the inspiration)

first blog

no work today here in kuwait. i've been here for four months and i'm still getting used to having a day-off on a friday. back in the philippines, today was supposed to be "thanks god it's friday"... a day spent at work preparing for our activities later in the night. all work would be rushed, all papers would be submitted, in anticipation of that "gimik" later. the "gimik" would either be a night-out with the boys at our favorite videoke place or a date with a special someone or whatever it is that would take away the stress off a long work week.
but not here in kuwait...today i'm in my room, bored with nothing to do but surf the internet. so here i am with my very first blog upon the advice of my good friend from way back in high school. he said this would help me overcome my boredom. so after following the steps to create a blog, i finally am starting to write. i thought this would be easy. but i guess i'm wrong. you see i haven't written anything about anything for a very long time. so i ask my friend what am i supposed to write? he said "just write". well, that would be a start. he said a blog is like a diary where you could write anything that you wanted to write. the only catch is anybody could also read it.
so why spoiled supper?
you see, i live alone here in my flat. i have to do all chores by myself...making bed, cleaning the rooms, laundry, and most especially cooking. God, i miss the philippines already. back home, i didn't worry about any of these chores. there was always someone to do it for me... a hired help, the laundrywoman, MOM (hehehe). i have a confession. i love to eat but i don't like to cook. when i cook usually it doesn't turn out that good (hehehe). but here it is different. if i don't cook i couldn't eat and that would be the end of me. back home, if i'm lazy to cook, i just go out and there would be carinderias and fastfood chains at every corner where i could buy my food. i wouldn't go hungry. but here it's different. i have to cook my own food. from the gathering until the cooking, i would have to do it by myself. food here is expensive. eating out would cost you about 2 dinar (about 320 pesos). so to save on expenses, i have to cook my own food. sometimes, it would turn out good. but most of the time, it wouldn't. some i could finish in two meals. but most of the time, i end up with spoiled supper. i guess, i'll have to learn more on how to cook and prevent a spoiled supper.
aaahhh...writing is hard, but i'll get used to it somehow. cooking?hmm...now that's a different story.