Meet Pupoli.

Pupoli walks up and down the beach in Unawatuna, Sri Lanka selling fruit to the tourists on a daily basis. He sold us a mango and then later in the day, another. After the second piece of fruit he asked if we minded that he sat with us and took a little break. Pupoli began telling us about his country and his village. He told us about his wife and his two children. He asked us about our life and wanted to know why we had chosen to come to Sri Lanka on vacation. Before long our conversation turned 10 years back to December 26, 2004. The day Pupoli’s life came unraveled.

On December 26, 2004 a Tsunami spread across the Indian ocean killing 230,000 people, 30,000 Sri Lankans, and Pupoli’s mother, wife, and 3 year old daughter. In 2004 Pupoli owned a restaurant on the beach in Unawatuna. He was working that morning when he noticed something was wrong with the ocean, the water had disappeared. It had receded much further than the range of normal. Pupoli didn’t know what was happening but he knew something was wrong and he knew he needed to get away from the water and get to high ground. So he ran. He was running up the hill when the wave hit. He watched his people and his town get swept away below him. His restaurant was demolished, and when he made it to his home, he realized that his family was gone. Despite his efforts to find them, they had been swept out to sea, never to be located.

Pupoli tried, along with many other Sri Lankans, to rebuild his business. However, since the deed to the land had been swept away with the rest of his life, he had no way to claim the property as his own. Thus, the government sold the land to someone else.

Pupoli has since remarried and has a 6 year old and a 1.5 year old. He sells fruit to the tourists on the beach to try and support his family.

We have all seen the lists before:

You might be a redneck if….

You might be a Minnesotan if….

You might be a child of the 90’s if….

Well I am beginning a totally new list and it is going to be titled: You might be in the Middle East if….

• You might be in the Middle East if a 6 year old has said to you “You should really go on Arab Idol.” (p.s. I referred this poor child for a hearing check)
• You might be in the Middle East if you ask a group of children who they think the people are in the picture with Little Critter and the child you call on answers, “his sister, his nanny, and his driver.”
• You might be in the Middle East if your security guard is wearing a scarf and a winter hat when you walk out to the bus in the morning while it is 75 degrees outside.
• You spend more inside the gas station on snacks then you do outside filling up your gas tank.

I did something this weekend I only dreamed would happen during our time in Kuwait, I attended a Kuwaiti wedding.  It was such a beautiful and special event full of so much tradition.  There is no way I will be able to paint a picture with my words of how extraordinary it was but I know if I don’t try I will complete regret not sharing some of this amazing event.

How we got invited: Kuwaitis are known for being very hospitable but it still took me by complete surprise that on Thursday when my friend Jooles meet the mother of one of her students that she invited her to her daughters wedding….scheduled for the following evening!  Jooles of course did the polite midwestern thing and politely declined.  The Mom followed up with Jooles on Friday morning telling her how she really would love to show her a traditional Kuwaiti celebration and told her that she was more than welcome to invite a few friends, enter Niamh and Rachel!

What to wear: When Jooles texted on the morning of the wedding and asked if I wanted to go with her, I of course had a typical girl melt down, what do I wear?

Jen is a returning expat and has become our own personal Kuwaiti Encycoldia, she has been unbelievable helpful so if Jen says go fancy, we have to go fancy!

I knew I needed to put together a fancy outfit but here in lies the problem, I just moved to the desert to teach, and only had clothes that were suitable for circle time and recess duty. If teachers are nothing else though they are resourceful so somehow in my stash of cardigans and denim jumpers covered in apple appliqués I found a black dress, black heels, some tights, and a black scarf to cover my hair and shoulders if I needed to be more conservative.

Driver: The fabulous Kuwaiti hospitality jumped into affect once again as it was time to leave for the wedding.  The mother of the bride sent a driver for us  (as if she didn’t have anything else to think about, on the day her daughter was getting married.) Having a driver is a pretty typical thing here in Kuwait, Mitch and I have a driver in fact, his name is Abdul and he drives a white and yellow taxi cab.  The driver who came to pick us up for the wedding wasn’t in a white and yellow taxi, they were in a black Mercedes. We didn’t realize it at the time but we were his main responsibility for the evening.  He came and picked us up, dropped us off at the wedding and then stood outside and waited for us to be ready to go home…..for 6 hours.

Arrival: We arrived at the wedding at about 8:15 p.m. for a wedding start time of 8:30.  15 minutes early is very typical of how I would arrive to a wedding in the US, but clearly that wasn’t protocol at this Kuwaiti wedding.  We were one of the first to arrive and guests continued to arrived for the next two and half hours.  The bride made her first appearance at 11:00 p.m.

The Fashion: I followed Jen’s advice and went fancy with my clothes (or as fancy as I could scrounge up out of my wardrobe that almost exclusively has clothes from Target in it) however; I was not prepared at all for how significantly under dressed I would be. As the women arrived at the wedding they were wearing their hijabs and abayas but once they entered the ballroom (where it was exclusively women all the men were in a different ballroom having their own party) they uncovered to reveal the most amazing collection of gowns I have ever seen.  There was gold, sequin, hot pink, diamonds, tight dresses, and cleavage.  This party was clearly more than a wedding, it was a fashion show, and the guests were the models.  Every women who walked through the door looked as if she was just about to walk across the stage at the Oscars.

Dancing: I didn’t expect to see any dancing at a Kuwaiti wedding because my understanding was that dancing was against Islamic beliefs, however; the ballroom was arranged with stadium seating couches on either side of the ballroom with the middle of the room left open for dancing. After some reading online it sounds like it is against Islamic beliefs to dance at mixed gender gatherings, since it was only women at this party we got our groove on. It was discovered that I have two left feet on both sides of the Atlantic.

Bride’s Entrance: At 11:00 p.m. we got our first sighting of the bride.  Her grand entrance consisted of her walking across the runway shaped dance floor to the opposite side of the room where a stage was set up with a large couch situated for her to sit on.  Once the bride made her entrance she never moved from that couch again.  People were allowed to walk up to her and get their picture taken with her but she didn’t move again until she exited the party 2 hours later.

Groom’s Entrance: As I mentioned earlier this was a segregated party.  All the men were in one ballroom and all the women were in another.  There was however one part in the evening where some of the men were allowed to enter into the women’s party.   As we were all dancing and have a great time an announcement was made in Arabic, which clearly meant that we didn’t have a clue what was going on, which caused all the women to scurry back to their seats and go from the glitter and glam that was the night to once again fully covered in the black that is their abayas and hijabs.  I still don’t know what the announcement was but I assume it was something along the lines of “quick, cover up….the men are coming!”  Once everyone was covered the double doors opened to a groom in his white dishdasha with the biggest smile you have ever seen spread across his face.  Entering with him was both the brides and the grooms immediately family and the band whom we had been listing to all night but whom we had never seen.  These men would be the only men allowed into the women’s party the entire evening.  Upon entering the groom walked toward his bride who was still sitting on the couch in the front of the room kissed her on the forehead and then hugged and accepted congratulations from the men in their families.  The men in the groom’s family had to immediately exit however the brides male relatives remained long enough to take family picture.

Food: At this point it was 1:00 in the morning when an announcement was made in Arabic and everyone began to stand up and move about.  We foolishly assumed that this meant the wedding was over so we gathered our things and began to make our way to the door.  The mother of the bride saw us heading in that direction and informed us that it was time for dinner and that everyone was just moving to a different ballroom where the buffet was set up.

We walked into the room with the buffet and were blown away with the amount of food that was being presented to us.

We proceeded to stuff ourselves on chicken, prime rib, sushi and shrimp.  We could have eaten there for a month and never be able to taste all the options.  

The Cake…..MY GOSH, LOOK AT THAT THING!!!!

The Bride and Groom even cut a piece out of it.

All in all in was a fabulous night.  I feel extremely fortunate to have been included in such an amazing opportunity to learn more about the Kuwaiti culture, and Jooles if you are ever looking for another plus one, count me in!

Please note, as fabulous as this event and the people were on this night we respected local custom and privacy by not taking pictures of the women while they were out of their hijabs and abayas.  Sorry that the only pictures you get are of three very happy American girls!

Yesterday, Mitch and I went to Happy Hour with a group of people he works with. While we were there a woman Mitch works with asked me two questions about our move to Kuwait:

1. What are you most excited about?
2. What do you think you will miss the most?

I answered both questions with little hesitation. I am most excited about the travel opportunities and I will miss my nieces and nephew the most. Once I answered her though, I got to thinking that I really am going to miss quite a few things from once we move – so I started to jot them down – and realized how scattered and all over the place this list is. So, no judging, but here are a few things I am most positive I will miss next year:

Stitch Fix: It has only been in the last couple of months that I discovered this online clothing styling service, and let me tell you getting those little blue boxes in the mail will be greatly missed.  Basically you fill out an online style survey and then you get clothes hand-picked and sent to you.  To read more about Stitch Fix and to give it a try, check out this link.  Full disclosure, if you sign up under that link i will receive a referal credit of $25 and you will be participating in feeding my addiction to these cute clothes!  

A few examples from my latest Stitch Fix delivery

Stitch Fix does a great job putting different styles together.

 Family Gatherings: I already know I will experience homesickness, especially on those days when I know our families will be having special events or celebrating holidays. I am also sad we will miss family traditions, like signing the table cloth at Thanksgiving or the annual boot hockey game at the Johnson family Christmas party.  I will also miss not being at the triplets first birthday party, or other family gatherings. I know these days will be amongst the hardest.

The annual boot hockey game at Christmas is one of my favorite traditions

Chipotle: This will be missed. Seriously, seriously missed.

My favorite restaurant

The Library: Even though I have a nook that is significantly overstocked with books, being able to walk into the library and grab a physical book will not be something I am able to do.  As much as I love technology and the ease of traveling with e-books, I will miss holding books. 

Meme found here.

Snow: I love Minnesota and all that is has to offer, including the winters, (well maybe not when it is -40, ain’t nobody got time a big enough down jacket for that) 

A photo from our backyard last winter, after a recent snowfall

Kelsie, Carter & Cora: I was right when I said that I was going to miss these three….a lot.

My nieces & nephew (L to R): Cora, Kelsie, and Carter