National Day

Happy National Day! Oh, wait, that already happened :)-

National Day is a celebration of Kuwait's independence from the British. The day, February 25th, is the day they chose to celebrate because it's the day Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah died. He was instrumental in orchestrating Kuwait's independence from Britain. The Al-Sabah's are the ruling family of Kuwait.

For National Day, the students were allowed to dress in traditional costumes. The girls wore dresses and the boys wore their dishdashas. If you didn't want to wear that, you could wear jeans and the Kuwaiti colors. Obviously, I did the jeans thing.

Some of the teachers really got into it though:


If you'll notice the lovely scarf of contestant #1, hat and right above his left hand is a pin with the current Emir's face on it. It lights up. All of the teachers received all three of those fabulous items from the Seniors who organized the National Day celebration.

Contestant #2: I think she wins:)


During the assembly that the Seniors organized there was much singing and flag waving. The flags were on the chairs in the auditorium. Yes, I have a flag now! They put on skits, showed clips of the Iraq invasion, had a puppet show (that strangely looked like it was telling us it was okay to beat your wife). It was mostly in Arabic, but I think it was focused on Kuwait coming a long way and to hold on to their traditions. I think...

At the end, they had a whole bunch of balloons fall from up above along with confetti canons. Literally. They were loud! They also had servers bringing tea or coffee to the teachers and parents.



After the assembly the whole school went out to the courtyard where there was a huge buffet for everyone.

This area does not include the dessert tables!




There was even a schwarma station!


A student came by a table I was sitting at with some of the other teachers. Arabic coffee or tea was my choice, and I took the tea. It was delicious! The coffee I've had, so I was glad I went with the tea. You can also see a pretty glass of orange juice in the background of this picture. They're really great about having delicious juice here. It's very common to be able to order a fresh orange juice when out for dinner. They also have a drink called a lemon mint and it is spectacular. Because this is me, I do have to say it would be even more spectacular with tequila or vodka :)-


Here's an aerial view of the courtyard. The students brought in the huge rug, benches, fire pit and tent.


On the ground looking towards the stage:


This cake was HUGE! I swear, like 4 ft. x 5 ft. One of my students got shoved and her hand ended up in a corner of it...


The students had even hired a professional band who sang. Some of the male students got up on stage and danced. A few of the girls danced on the ground in front of the stage. They do not dance together.


On the opposite end of the stage they had a diwaniya tent set up:





There was even a henna station set up to the right of this tent. One of the other teachers and I were going to get ourselves a henna tattoo, but the girls had that place surrounded!

It was an afternoon of spending time together. It was really fun to see the students celebrate their culture and really get into the festivities. We pretty much hung out in the courtyard for 2 hours listening to music, watching the dancing and interacting with the students outside of the classroom. That was the best part:)


Kuwait National Day Article